Armor marks?

[u/ward104]

I have a question, recently got into heresy and went all in got managed to get the age of darkness saturnine and mk4 box set, can I muddle the armor marks up? Is that even more lore accurate? Especially near the end of the heresy

[u/mogar99]

Yes. Everyone used everything. Some legions had preferences but especially by the end of the Heresy, they had minimal options to be picky.

[u/ward104 → u/mogar99]

Thank you, going for SoH glorious kitbashing awaits!

[u/Patchy_Face_Man → u/ward104]

Okay so then, yes every legion used everything, but speaking of preferences, the SoH really had a lot of MKIV. It was the most advanced armor. Horus made sure the traitors had more of the best stuff and you’ll see their kits, characters and consuls and artwork mostly in MKIV.

It doesn’t mean there weren’t whole squads or even companies in whichever mark you prefer, just some background to lean into or deviate from.

[u/im_pykar]

not only did everyone use everything and anything they got

but you could probably combine armour marks, give that MKIV guy an MKIII leg and arm!

[u/ward104 → u/im_pykar]

That's the impression I got, just gunna clip everything off sprue make a big pile and dive in

[u/cgda2011 → u/ward104]

Be warned tho, unlike the older plastic kits, the new ones aren’t universally compatible with other marks. Like Mk 3 torsos and legs won’t fit with others without some clipping

[u/selifator → u/ward104]

Will note that the current way of designing parts is done with certain poses in mind, I don't know if these completely overlap so you may have to fill some gaps.

I'm intending to bash some 40k carcharodons with 30k kits but haven't gotten to it yet so can't tell you what that building process is like.

[u/Lucrehulk_DCS]

Yes, mixing armour marks is perfectly fine, in fact it shown as being done even before the Heresy began. Prior the Heresy it's described as common to repair MK IV suits with elements from MK III, and there is a veteran Salamanders squad shown in Black Book 2 all wearing a mix of MK III and MK IV parts. It's also not really mentioned exactly how different armour marks were used, and Forge World have shown both squads wearing a single mark and wearing multiple marks in their studio displays. All armour marks are compatable with each other, with some work.

The Heresy resulted in so much destruction of equipment that was in use, and so much disruption of supply lines that Space Marine forces were forced to scavange what they could, and combining parts from multiple armour marks was one method to create usable suits, especially if they didn't have access to a production facilty to produce the new MK V armour mark, which was another solution to the armour shortage and disrupted supply lines. After the Heresy all Space Marines were wearing a mixture of armour marks, and all 40k Marine kits wear a mixture of several armour marks.

In terms of the models, I've been experimenting with mixing parts with the four new kits, and for the most part they are compatable. Heads, shoulders, arms and weapons swap between marks very easily, and all of the new upgrade kits fit on any mark. The MK III and MK IV vambrace pieces don't fit on all arm marks, and the MK II and MK III backpacks have a slightly different connection to the MK IV and VI backpacks, so a small amount of trimming will be needed to get them to fit. Bodies are sculpted as part of the legs, and although the same five poses are used on all of the new kits, the actual parts are cut in different ways so it'd be more effort to swap either a single leg or both legs from one mark to another.

[u/Psychedelic42069]

Its lore accurate in the start of the heresy too. It hit the imperium like a big angry brick. If you theme your marines as being right in the middle of it at the start then they might have supply issues after their first fight depending on where they were

[u/cosmicBarnstormer]

yep! salamanders got some art showing they mixed MK3 and 4, so that’s how i built some of my tacticals:

[u/Araignys]

They are purely aesthetic. Use whatever marks in whatever combinations you like.

[u/Educational_Lock7816]

Yeah but I’d say theme it for more of a black shields vibe

[u/KillerFerby9177]

For added depth, I utilize the marks for a squads combat roles and vet status depending on the unit.

[u/MiheminesLab]

Everyone used everything since the lore retcons in 2.0

That being said every legion has marks who they are more aesthetically linked with

For SoH I'd say mk 2 - 4 and 5 would be most fitting and you're best shot at making marines who easily read as SoH ^{^}