[Giantkid7292]

Well ive started W40k reciently. Right now ive got a tac squad of Sm. BUt ive been looking around and the Chaos terminators caught my eye fast. Not sure i like most of the chaos troops, tenticles arent really that great in my mind.
But what my question is purly from painting/conversions, whats more fun to mess with? CSM or SM?

 

[Moschaboy]

conversion and strange colors screams chaos IMO.you don't really have to make tentacle sm to play chaos. some spikes here and there do it.
after all you don't need to field units with tentacles, since most of them aren't considered the best army choices either (possessed and spawn aren't considered the best units in the chaos code). the chaos codex allows for really massive conversions based on counts-as rules. for example: you could model a terminator squad with large shields and having it counting as a tzeentch icon, since the effect of storm shields and an icon of tzeentchon terminators are similar to some degree. and just imagine those chaos termies with badass shields, that should look really awesome

 

[general]

CSM or SM

CSM! I've started a khornate army recently, and I've found the conversion possibilities are far larger than those for my previous SM force. For example:
Raptors - wings not jump packs
Terminators - khairn heads
Dreadnoughts - loyalist dread+spiky bits+green stuff
Lord - based on mephiston.
Have a think, read some background and see which appeals more. And like moschaboy said, they don't have to have tentacles. It's your army - you can choas it any way you want (I go for spikes!).
Good luck!

 

[DeusMortemEst]

CSM! I've started a khornate army recently, and I've found the conversion possibilities are far larger than those for my previous SM force. For example:
Raptors - wings not jump packs
Terminators - khairn heads
Dreadnoughts - loyalist dread+spiky bits+green stuff
Lord - based on mephiston.
Have a think, read some background and see which appeals more. And like moschaboy said, they don't have to have tentacles. It's your army - you can choas it any way you want (I go for spikes!).
Good luck!

Here's a similar list of the stuff in my army:

Chaos Lord 1 - based on a SW wolf priest
Chaos Lord 2 - chaosified Ork warboss
Marines - Chaos marines thinned out with a mix of Space Wolf, Khorne berzerker and Chaos aramuder bits
Khorne berzerkers - chaosified Ork boyz, with a looted IG chimera to count as a rhino.
Posessed - mutated orks and wulfen.

So yeah, go for Chaos, as they offer you almost unlimited possibilities. Loyalist marines make a good second place, but nothing really beats Chaos.

 

[Silb]

As much as I hate to admit it, Chaos is probably a better army to start with. Unfortunately, I didn't learn that until I already had a 1000 pt loyalist marine army with a whirlwind and scouts (units that can't be used in a chaos army). Their termies are better, they have tons of conversion options, they have massive troop options (marines, berzerkers, etc.), they have daemon princes, and a ton of other stuff that loyalist marines don't have. In fact, other than a lack of scouts and whirlwinds, the only disadvantage that chaos has is their lack of a "They Shall Know No Fear" rule, but they partly make up for this with their higher leadership value.

 

[morfangdakka]

If you are looking for conversion and painting fun then Chaos offers you more chance and opportunities to go wild and do some crazy conversion. I think orks are the only army that gives you more opportunities than chaos. You don't have to have tenticles or horns popping out of every place. They could be recently convert to chaos or your army is not as prone to mutations as other choas armies. But chaos does allow you to pull things from fantasy, bloodbowl, morhdhiem and Inquistor range.

 

[Giantkid7292]

Woo thanks a bunch guys.
Now ive got a bit of posting in the painting forum.:victory:

 

[Dirge Eterna]

I think orks are the only army that gives you more opportunities than chaos.

If you're reading the instructions, you're doing it wrong. lol!

Seriously, Chaos is much better for modelling and painting bizzare minis. Eyes, horns, claws, teeth, wings, etc. Plus you get Demons (which are a nice break from 60 uniform-painted Word Bearers...ugh.)

Also, the Chaos tanks are better. Demonic Possession is a much better choice than PotMS, and it's cheaper. You can get bigger squads, the Lord is better than the Force Commander. In fact, the only reason people play SM instead of CSM is that CSM don't come in Battle for Macragge.

Weedy Ultrabeakies.
-Dirge

 

[Silb]

the only reason people play SM instead of CSM is that CSM don't come in Battle for Macragge.

Weedy Ultrabeakies.
-Dirge

That is not true. As I said before, marines have whirlwinds, scouts, land raider crusader, the They Shall Know No Fear rule, and you can easily take any marine army and turn it into a blood angels, space wolves, dark angels, or black templars army by simply adding or removing 1 or 2 units and giving them a new paint job.

Now that I think about it, as a starting army, loyalist marines are better because their they shall know no fear rule makes them very forgiving to new players. As for conversions, although chaos has more options, the marines still have a lot of options and are easier to model and convert.