CHAPTER INFORMATION

Hobbyist: John Shaffer, US White Dwarf Design Supervisor
Name of Chapter: Astral Claws (Red Corsairs)
Homeworld: Not known – rumoured to be somewhere in the Maelstrom.

MARKS OF CHAOS

Mark of Chaos Undivided

COMMAND SQUAD ARMY LIST ENTRY

SQUAD SELECTION AND TACTICA

John Shaffer: For those unfamiliar with the events that transpired during the Badab War, there was a rebellion that pitted loyal Space Marines against one another long after the events of the Horus Heresy. By employing misdirection and subterfuge, the tainted Chapter Master of the Astral Claws, Luft Huron, fooled the Space Marines of his Chapter and others into participating in an open rebellion against the loyal forces of the Emperor. Eventually outnumbered and desperate, Huron took the scattered remains of his once-mighty Chapter and fled into the turbulent area of space known as the Maelstrom. Now the Astral Claws and other traitorous Space Marines have become the Red Corsairs, an elite cadre of bloodthirsty privateers that attack supply routes without mercy in the name of the Undivided glory of Chaos.

There, now that I've brought you up to date on the background, on with the hobby stuff. This retinue is a new unit that I'm adding to an older army that I made some time ago. The way I figure it, with all these new Space Marine Command squad bitz available to tinker with, why should only the loyal Astartes have all the fun? The release of the new Command Squad Boxed Set in particular got me thinking about how I might revamp that Red Corsairs army collecting dust in the corner. As it stands, the force has a lot of basic troopers in it – lots of bolter-armed Space Marines and basic hand-to-hand fighters with a pretty standard assortment of wargear. Not surprisingly, the opponents that kept giving me trouble were heavily armoured units and vehicles. Thus, I decided to make up a Command squad (retinue) to take down tough targets without totally breaking the bank on points.

The selections I made are pretty self explanatory: meltaguns crack tanks quite easily, while a power fist can make quick work of most things. I figured I should take one of each. I gave the Aspiring Champion Daemonic Aura for added survivability (represented by the cool new combat shield) and Daemonic Strength. This way, when he charges, he'll be at Strength 10 with the Furious Charge! The last thing I wanted for this small unit was for it to run away, so I added a Space Marine toting the Icon of Chaos Undivided to make the whole unit (and any other friendly unit within 6") Fearless to ensure they stay in the fight. Although it was quite tempting to add another meltagun or another Aspiring Champion, I'd rather not put all my eggs into one kick-butt basket. I've had far better luck spreading upgrades over several units and not concentrating all my points into a single Ordnance Template-sized unit. Besides, this unit will be led by the Chapter Master Huron Blackheart himself, and he'll carry a pretty hefty price tag when I'm done with him. Oh, and I plan on mounting the unit in a Land Raider, and maybe adding a couple of veterans with Terminator armour (hmmm, what was all that talk about eggs and kick-butt baskets?). I suppose there's something to be said for moderation, and I'll probably have to play a few games with the new unit to get the proper balance of upgrades. That way I can make sure that all those points are being put to good use and not being stuffed back in the figure case on Turn 2.

THE CONVERTED COMMAND SQUAD

Most of these conversions are pretty simple. The majority of the models on this page combine plastic components from the Space Marine Command squad, plastic Chaos Space Marines, and the Space Marine Commander boxed sets. The remaining Astral Claws (and the rest of the Corsairs) have only recently turned to Chaos, so I wanted to achieve a sort of middle-ground look between the loyal Astartes and Chaos Space Marine ranges. The look I was going for was not too mutated or corrupted, but a bit more spiky and sinister than the standard Ultramarine. After seeing some art for the Astral Claws done up by the GW Design Team, I decided to pattern the backpacks after the artwork. I feel that these backpacks are a nice compromise between the Imperial and Chaos Marine backpacks and are pretty easy to make. Simply take two meltaguns from the Chaos Biker models, drill a larger hole into each end, cut off the excess length at the back of the meltagun, clip off the round vents on a Space Marine backpack and glue the meltagun barrels in place. I wanted this unit to be a traitor equivalent of a standard Space Marine Command squad, complete with Champion, Apothecary, Specialist, Standard Bearer, and Techmarine. Although the unit won't have all the neat special rules the loyalists have, they'll sure look cool on the tabletop.

COMPANY CHAMPION
The unit Champion was pretty straightforward. I replaced his power sword with a Chaos power fist. Next, I covered up the triptych on the front of the model with a round disk from the bottom of the Slaanesh symbol from the Chaos Vehicle Accessory sprue. I also shaved off the detail from the combat shield and replaced it with a Chaos star from the same sprue. Then, I tattered up the cloak from the Space Marine Commander with a drill and a hobby knife.

	APOTHECARY
	The Apothecary was the simplest conversion. I just replaced his hand with a chainsword taken from a Chaos Raptor and glued the sensors and lights from the Apothecary backpack on top of one of the Astral Claw backpacks (described above).

STANDARD BEARER
The Standard Bearer uses Chaos Space Marine legs and shoulder pads, and I embellished the standard with bitz from the Chaos Vehicle Accessory sprue. For the standard itself, I drew out the Chaos shape with a fine-point marker first, carefully cut it out, and then raised up the edges with a small bit of Green Stuff. I plan on painting the Astral Claws Chapter symbol on the banner so it looks like it was defaced by a faithless Space Marine ripping a Chaos star out of the centre.

	SPECIALIST
	The Specialist uses a head and bionic arm from the Commander sprue, legs from an archive Devastator, and a few other bitz from the Command Squad for added flair.

TECHMARINE
Even though the Techmarine is no longer an HQ choice under the new Codex, I still see him as related to this Command squad, so here he is. Plus, Chaos doesn't have Techmarines, so despite his looks, this Chaos Space Marine is just a regular trooper when it comes to rules. For the conversion, I used components from a variety of sources. The Techmarine torso and shoulder pads are from the Space Marine Vehicle Sprue. I got the legs and bolt pistol arm from a generic plastic Chaos Space Marine. I pulled the lascannon sight from the Space Marine Devastator lascannon. Lastly, the left arm of the model is from the Iron Warrior lascannon arm. That arm required the most work for this conversion, but it looked great in the end.

Blair Mackey	Bryan Barnes	Dave Sckrabulis	Dave Taylor	Jason Buyaki	John Shaffer	Ross Watson	Stuart Spengler	Ty Finocchiaro

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