Here There be Monsters: Balgo's Thrice Cursed

So this is a unit of 20 chaos space marines that I told myself I would convert every one. Some are painted, some aren't and a bit here or there may have fallen off a few of them, but I wanted to post up the group shots as I realized such shots don't exist anywhere just yet.

Their aspiring champion is Balgo. The story behind the thrice cursed name is as follows. Balgo was a sargeant of a squad of space marines from the third company of an [as yet unnamed] Ultramarines successor chapter. When the captain of the third company turned on an attached Ecclesiarchy group the chapter was split between those who supported the captain and those who supported the Ecclesiarchy. Since the loyalist faction were eventually victorious and the chapter master had been a staunch supporter of the Ecclesiarchy, the chapter was allowed to engage in a penitent crusade in and around the Maelstrom to reclaim its honor. Balgo was promoted to the head of the remains of the third company. Because that company had been the greatest supporters of their first traitorous captain they were thrown into the vanguard of battle after battle.

Not only were they thus cursed by heavy casualties they began to suffer from subtle mutations and gene-seed corruption. Balgo, recognizing that the worst of these mutations could never be allowed to be seen by the rest of his chapter started to cleanse his own ranks. The third company accepted their fate and began to keep the names of the lost within their armor, so as to not forget that they were fighting for not just their own honor, but that of their fallen brethren. Miraculously the chapter managed to survive toward the end of its crusade. Unfortunately, upon investigations into the high rate of inoperable wounds and geneseed destruction in the second company, the chapter master discovered what Balgo had really been doing. In horror, he ordered the second and fourth companies to destroy what he saw as mutant harborors and traitors, the third company. Balgo and his troops received early warning from one of the ships sent to destroy them and fled into the Maelstrom. There, whether on his own accord or perhaps due to whispers of some denizen of the warp he nurtured a deep bitterness.

When next the third company returned to realspace, they did so in a raid on an imperial planet. They used their mutations as powerful if unwanted weapons and several chaos spawn were seen at the front used callously as cannon fodder and shock troops. Different members amongst their number had found refuge in the worship of various warp entities from the minor to the four themselves. Balgo has dedicated himself to chaos undivided in order to better seek his vengeance. He despises himself but hates the Imperium that cursed and cast him out all the more. He fights just to see the servants of the God Emperor fall. This bitterness has since been harnessed by the Tide of Blood for good effect. As long as the Tide continues to provide Balgo with an outlet for his fury he will lead his men against any of their foes as his hatred toward every being not under his command only grows and he cares little for who he slays each day as long as his blade remains slick with their blood.

UPDATE: 18.05.2015

ETL IV approaches, these guys are getting finished for it.

After a few licks of paint: One of my favorite things about chaos is that units don't need to follow any one given paint scheme. Therefore each of these guys will be a slightly different variant on the themes I am weaving through this unit. Since some are ore given to certain gods then others, their dedication will be revealed in their paint schema.