The best answer isnt really a legion at all but a blackshields army. They’re the marine force designed to be customizable, and the nice thing is if you like a specific legion you can still build the lore around them being from that legion and take one of the army traits to use some of that legions special equipment.
As far as kit bashing goes:
Dark Angels can benefit from some of the 40k Dark Angel bits, but not the broken sword symbol.
Space Wolves often have a fair amount of kit bashing with pelts and totems added to their armour.
Iron Warriors don't have a lot of kit bashing. Mostly it is just painting hazard stripes.
No other legions have as many parts available for customising your guys as the VIth. All of their kits from 40k are absolutely drowning in spare parts that are just crying out for kitbashing with. Dark Angels and Blood Angels used to be second but with the primaris-fication and culling of firstborn kits from their ranges, they’ve lost a lot of options. Not sure why you think Iron Warriors, they don’t have any kits specific to them that have parts good for kitbashing and customising.
I think you want play either [Blackshields](https://www.goonhammer.com/goonhammer-review-the-battle-of-beta-garmon/#Blackshields) OR [Pride of the Legion](https://www.goonhammer.com/horus-heresy-an-introduction-to-rites-of-war/#Pride_of_the_Legion).
Pride of the Legion lets you field a lot of 2 wound infantry (both Terminators and Veterans), so you will have less models to convert.
Now, IMHO Iron Warriors would be easiest to make, simply because they are supposed to be "throwaway" Space Marines. You probably could get away with just [painting some battle damage](https://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/04/adding-battle-damage-to-plain-metal.html), maybe adding some tubing/cables/rivets/armour plates. Check out this Contemptor!
https://preview.redd.it/9i4pf99vft6d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=249b35f89e2b6423dbd03bc27871e3cd2854ec6b
Space Wolves could also be cool subject for that, think of *Space Viking themed veteran soldiers* (yarrr?). You could sculpt fur, use heads with beards (or [embrace your inner furry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URKCy7ZZPPE))
As for "buy" list, I think [2 of those Boxes](https://preview.redd.it/lvwrpro12rnb1.jpg?auto=webp&s=232f61b447eff885df1f2b0dcbf3ed105453a733) (if you can find them, big greads can be fielded in pairs, just be careful with assembly as instructions have error that tells you to mix guns, you need to pick either autocannon or plasmas for arms), some Cataphractii Terminators (they can ride in Land Raiders), set of Missile/Bolter heavy weapons (Veterans can have those, and are Relentless! I think Missiles are better, 15 points for Heavy Bolter is cruel joke, they would be better used in HSS, converted with longer barrel, as Autocannons) and it should start to look like an army.
You also can get some drop pods, Veterans have those as dedicated transports (and are absolutely great choice to use those!)
Thousands Sons. Buy 2 Boxes of 40k rubic marines and 1 box of 20 MK4, and you have 40 mk4, half of all bits are TS styled.
You also get bolt pistols instead of plasma pistols, flamer and roto cannons in TS style, force weapons for champions and 20 mk4 torsos per 10 rubic marines. All bits are fully compatible with the MK4. It's just mixing bits from both boxes for every marine.
The TS tartarors terminators also are 100% compatible, with the heresy ones. What gives you terminators worh power weapons, instead of fists.
The 40k HQ's, mixed with the plastic ahriman and some bits can build you a lot of different consuls, amd in the worst case you need to replace the legs.
Close are Blood Angles. They benefit greatly from the new mk6 assault squad, also the MK4 and combining both with the sangunary guard and 40k (non primaris) death company boxes.
The 40kn oxes offer mk4 and 6 bits in BA style, all legion unique weapons, shoulder pads, heads, tosos, a lot of bolt pistols and chainswords, power weappns, pistols (flamer, bolt, plasma, melter)...
Just great, to work with.
Dark Angles can do also a lot with the 40k dark angle veterans/fallen, as well as the black knight bikers. A lot of mk6 or non MK bits, that are great, to mix and mash, with heresy kits. But better, when you mix mk6 in wkth mk2, that would needed to be printed. (The black knoghts btw also have mk2 bits)
And THE heresy kitbash army is blackshields. This army can take bits from every legion and every armor MK, mash them and call it a day. My blackshields, became my favorite army, over the ladt 8 years. Pure joy to paint and build them.
I'd vouch for Space Wolves with bits/pelts from other kits. There aren't a ton of heresy players collecting/playing Space Wolves, Dark Angels however are super popular and I see them everywhere, same with Iron Warriors. Both are probably in the top 3-4 most played legions.
Dark Angels (sans broken sword iconography)
iron hands/iron warriors (admech heads/limbs)
ultramarines (the upgrade stuff is not bad for them)
blood angels (the sanguinary guard kit is GREAT for fancy stuff)
death guard (plague marines are in mkIII)
space wolves (the 40k space wolf stuff, but even things like the chaos marauders can provide bare, feral looking heads)
thousand sons (pretty much everything from the 40k range works, except the more over the top characters)
imperial fists (specifically the black templars for the...templars brethren)
word bearers (some of the 40k chaos marines could work, as well as the possessed)
night lords (chaos marines and raptors, but maybe not go too overboard, I know the night lords are full on, but they aren't full-on daemon praisers)
obviously you can do stuff for salamanders, raven guard, world eaters, emperors children, etc, but the above I think are the simplest to do with just kitbashing.
one i don't see mentioned: Ultra marines. A lot of firstborn 40k bits are roman themed, and fit in quite well with ultramarines. Also every generic upgrade kit for heresy will fit automatically. Also Also: the firstborn ultramarine upgrade kit will work
Besides bits, with DA you can sculpt greenstuff capes and hoods. You can also use those small tilter shields for DA too.
For SW, you can use greenstuff to make skins and pelts. Greenstuff is also great to sculpt hair and beards.
For IW, greenstuff can be made for cables if you have the cable roller. Additionally you can use jewelry chain for IW to make them look cooler.
If you really want to, you could do blackshield. If you want those legions, you could do shattered legions, which veterns/ survivors of multiple conflicts. For conversion, irons would use a lot of cybernetics to replace body parts, and wolves are just scribe work for runes and adding pelts, but still a fun conversion project.
I'd say anything that has kits for 40k really. Makes it easy to use bits and have them mostly fit the aesthetic. So pretty much the loyalists, with special attention on Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Space Wolves due to them having their own fancy chapter specific plastic kits
Blackshields: You can do just about anything with them.
Space Wolves: Plenty of 40k Bitz to cannibalize.
Thousand Sons: Rubric Marines from 40k can add plenty of flavor.
Alpha Legion: While specifically Hydra looking bitz are few and far between, there’s plenty of potential with them AND with the Rewards of Treachery, you can steal units from other Legions and that increases your options significantly.
I wanted to offer a little more detail for Thousand Sons, since they are my legion of choice. I think some people are overstating how many kits work in 30k, it’s really just three:
Rubric Marines, Scarab Occult Terminators, and the Infernal Master. Other kits are just too mutated or otherwise overly chaosy/tzeentchian to really fit.
However, with those three kits you get a TON of options.
The Infernal Master can be an Esoterist by literally swapping the top of his staff.
Rubric marines can be veterans, command squads, or kitbashed for sergeants or other consuls.
The aspiring sorcerer can be a librarian.
The Scarab Occult Terminators are really the best thing for kitbashing thousand sons. It’s a remarkably flexible kit. You can use them as Tartaros terminators. You can use them as a Tartaros command squad. You can kitbash them with Cataphractii terminators to make Sekhmet. The sorcerer can be a librarian (or even a praetor) in Tartaros armor.
The best thing about the scarab occult kit is that most of the overtly “tzeentchy” bits you see in pictures are decals or painted on. The molded tzeentch bits can pretty easily be scraped off or converted away from.
Bear in mind, this is absolutely fantastic for thousand sons players primarily because the vast majority of generic 30k stuff doesn’t fit the legion.
Quick note on Ahriman: yes, his 30k model is in plastic. No, I can’t personally recommend him anymore. He’s an older model introduced right before the scale creep really kicked in. As a result he feels super small and doesn’t fit with the reality that he is possibly the fourth strongest human psyker in existence. Also, on the table top he just isn’t that good. He’s got a nice weapon and a great warlord trait, but you’d probably be better off in most circumstances with a praetor in cataphractii armor and the magister of Prospero WL trait. You could use him as a librarian, but I think there are better options out there, particularly the new Thousand Sons Librarian in resin. If you spring for *one* resin model, it should be that one. Even over Magnus.
I’ve been finding surprising success with kitbashing for WE a good amount of legionnaires, bezerkers, or even just basic arms with different weapons works too, personal favourite combination I’ve done for a set of meteor hammers was using the spiked ball tips from a bunch of deathwing terminators and putting them on a chain mounted to a group of mark 3 (older ones) hands and wrists, very worth a try.
Depends on what kind of kitbash you're talking about for your conversions. IW and IH have a long history of people scratchbuilding bionic limbs and such for them, for instance, while certain Legions can use cleaned-up de-mutated CSM parts and sometimes models appropriately in mid-late Heresy-themed forces (SoH and NL wear it best IMO).
Meanwhile other forces can be kitbashed with WHFB parts; TS used to be marines + Tomb Kings bits, for instance, and WB make good use of Empire Flagellant bits (many Legions can make use of the skulls in particular). I imagine DA could use the keys.
SoH/LW can make good use of SW bits as well.
Well, I’ve certainly done well with the 40k parts for my Thousand Sons.
https://preview.redd.it/cdb0ajypa57d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fe4a7ed1c288bdd304e1349ed1f25c7be38a781
The easiest army to do up would be Death Guard probably. Not much kit bashing needed and the paint scheme is rather easy. Plus mistakes in painting can be easily considered battle damage.
The best answer isnt really a legion at all but a blackshields army. They’re the marine force designed to be customizable, and the nice thing is if you like a specific legion you can still build the lore around them being from that legion and take one of the army traits to use some of that legions special equipment.
Note for OP: The only issue with Black shields is that I believe you can't field primarchs, but if you don't care about that, then go crazy!
Thanks a lot, i think you might just have convinced me!
As far as kit bashing goes: Dark Angels can benefit from some of the 40k Dark Angel bits, but not the broken sword symbol. Space Wolves often have a fair amount of kit bashing with pelts and totems added to their armour. Iron Warriors don't have a lot of kit bashing. Mostly it is just painting hazard stripes.
I know it isn’t really kit bashing, but I spend a lot of time adding bonding studs and wires to my iron warriors
Broken sword is fine as unit/order marking. I personally don't bother hiding it when I use them.
You can get away with a lot of 40k CSM bits for late heresy Word Bearers or Sons of Horus, especially on veterans and characters.
Yup, a single legionnaires kit goes very far.
Iron warriors is my pick. Been for over a decade
No other legions have as many parts available for customising your guys as the VIth. All of their kits from 40k are absolutely drowning in spare parts that are just crying out for kitbashing with. Dark Angels and Blood Angels used to be second but with the primaris-fication and culling of firstborn kits from their ranges, they’ve lost a lot of options. Not sure why you think Iron Warriors, they don’t have any kits specific to them that have parts good for kitbashing and customising.
We Iron Warriors have bit of theme of not getting legion specific models, so we have to make our own.
Alpha Legion - just build the model any way you want and just slap a hydra decal on it.
I think you want play either [Blackshields](https://www.goonhammer.com/goonhammer-review-the-battle-of-beta-garmon/#Blackshields) OR [Pride of the Legion](https://www.goonhammer.com/horus-heresy-an-introduction-to-rites-of-war/#Pride_of_the_Legion). Pride of the Legion lets you field a lot of 2 wound infantry (both Terminators and Veterans), so you will have less models to convert. Now, IMHO Iron Warriors would be easiest to make, simply because they are supposed to be "throwaway" Space Marines. You probably could get away with just [painting some battle damage](https://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/04/adding-battle-damage-to-plain-metal.html), maybe adding some tubing/cables/rivets/armour plates. Check out this Contemptor! https://preview.redd.it/9i4pf99vft6d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=249b35f89e2b6423dbd03bc27871e3cd2854ec6b Space Wolves could also be cool subject for that, think of *Space Viking themed veteran soldiers* (yarrr?). You could sculpt fur, use heads with beards (or [embrace your inner furry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URKCy7ZZPPE)) As for "buy" list, I think [2 of those Boxes](https://preview.redd.it/lvwrpro12rnb1.jpg?auto=webp&s=232f61b447eff885df1f2b0dcbf3ed105453a733) (if you can find them, big greads can be fielded in pairs, just be careful with assembly as instructions have error that tells you to mix guns, you need to pick either autocannon or plasmas for arms), some Cataphractii Terminators (they can ride in Land Raiders), set of Missile/Bolter heavy weapons (Veterans can have those, and are Relentless! I think Missiles are better, 15 points for Heavy Bolter is cruel joke, they would be better used in HSS, converted with longer barrel, as Autocannons) and it should start to look like an army. You also can get some drop pods, Veterans have those as dedicated transports (and are absolutely great choice to use those!)
Thousands Sons. Buy 2 Boxes of 40k rubic marines and 1 box of 20 MK4, and you have 40 mk4, half of all bits are TS styled. You also get bolt pistols instead of plasma pistols, flamer and roto cannons in TS style, force weapons for champions and 20 mk4 torsos per 10 rubic marines. All bits are fully compatible with the MK4. It's just mixing bits from both boxes for every marine. The TS tartarors terminators also are 100% compatible, with the heresy ones. What gives you terminators worh power weapons, instead of fists. The 40k HQ's, mixed with the plastic ahriman and some bits can build you a lot of different consuls, amd in the worst case you need to replace the legs. Close are Blood Angles. They benefit greatly from the new mk6 assault squad, also the MK4 and combining both with the sangunary guard and 40k (non primaris) death company boxes. The 40kn oxes offer mk4 and 6 bits in BA style, all legion unique weapons, shoulder pads, heads, tosos, a lot of bolt pistols and chainswords, power weappns, pistols (flamer, bolt, plasma, melter)... Just great, to work with. Dark Angles can do also a lot with the 40k dark angle veterans/fallen, as well as the black knight bikers. A lot of mk6 or non MK bits, that are great, to mix and mash, with heresy kits. But better, when you mix mk6 in wkth mk2, that would needed to be printed. (The black knoghts btw also have mk2 bits) And THE heresy kitbash army is blackshields. This army can take bits from every legion and every armor MK, mash them and call it a day. My blackshields, became my favorite army, over the ladt 8 years. Pure joy to paint and build them.
I'd vouch for Space Wolves with bits/pelts from other kits. There aren't a ton of heresy players collecting/playing Space Wolves, Dark Angels however are super popular and I see them everywhere, same with Iron Warriors. Both are probably in the top 3-4 most played legions.
Dark Angels (sans broken sword iconography) iron hands/iron warriors (admech heads/limbs) ultramarines (the upgrade stuff is not bad for them) blood angels (the sanguinary guard kit is GREAT for fancy stuff) death guard (plague marines are in mkIII) space wolves (the 40k space wolf stuff, but even things like the chaos marauders can provide bare, feral looking heads) thousand sons (pretty much everything from the 40k range works, except the more over the top characters) imperial fists (specifically the black templars for the...templars brethren) word bearers (some of the 40k chaos marines could work, as well as the possessed) night lords (chaos marines and raptors, but maybe not go too overboard, I know the night lords are full on, but they aren't full-on daemon praisers) obviously you can do stuff for salamanders, raven guard, world eaters, emperors children, etc, but the above I think are the simplest to do with just kitbashing.
All of them. None of them rank any higher or lower in terms of kitbash-ability.
one i don't see mentioned: Ultra marines. A lot of firstborn 40k bits are roman themed, and fit in quite well with ultramarines. Also every generic upgrade kit for heresy will fit automatically. Also Also: the firstborn ultramarine upgrade kit will work
Blackshields
Besides bits, with DA you can sculpt greenstuff capes and hoods. You can also use those small tilter shields for DA too. For SW, you can use greenstuff to make skins and pelts. Greenstuff is also great to sculpt hair and beards. For IW, greenstuff can be made for cables if you have the cable roller. Additionally you can use jewelry chain for IW to make them look cooler.
It is pretty easy to use green stuff to make tabards/robes for Dark Angels.
If you really want to, you could do blackshield. If you want those legions, you could do shattered legions, which veterns/ survivors of multiple conflicts. For conversion, irons would use a lot of cybernetics to replace body parts, and wolves are just scribe work for runes and adding pelts, but still a fun conversion project.
I've been kitbashing my Blood Angels and I like the feel of it. They look nice to me and have a lot of potential.
Try some blackshields mate. Basically made to be kitbashed and customised
I'd say anything that has kits for 40k really. Makes it easy to use bits and have them mostly fit the aesthetic. So pretty much the loyalists, with special attention on Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Space Wolves due to them having their own fancy chapter specific plastic kits
Blackshields: You can do just about anything with them. Space Wolves: Plenty of 40k Bitz to cannibalize. Thousand Sons: Rubric Marines from 40k can add plenty of flavor. Alpha Legion: While specifically Hydra looking bitz are few and far between, there’s plenty of potential with them AND with the Rewards of Treachery, you can steal units from other Legions and that increases your options significantly.
I wanted to offer a little more detail for Thousand Sons, since they are my legion of choice. I think some people are overstating how many kits work in 30k, it’s really just three: Rubric Marines, Scarab Occult Terminators, and the Infernal Master. Other kits are just too mutated or otherwise overly chaosy/tzeentchian to really fit. However, with those three kits you get a TON of options. The Infernal Master can be an Esoterist by literally swapping the top of his staff. Rubric marines can be veterans, command squads, or kitbashed for sergeants or other consuls. The aspiring sorcerer can be a librarian. The Scarab Occult Terminators are really the best thing for kitbashing thousand sons. It’s a remarkably flexible kit. You can use them as Tartaros terminators. You can use them as a Tartaros command squad. You can kitbash them with Cataphractii terminators to make Sekhmet. The sorcerer can be a librarian (or even a praetor) in Tartaros armor. The best thing about the scarab occult kit is that most of the overtly “tzeentchy” bits you see in pictures are decals or painted on. The molded tzeentch bits can pretty easily be scraped off or converted away from. Bear in mind, this is absolutely fantastic for thousand sons players primarily because the vast majority of generic 30k stuff doesn’t fit the legion. Quick note on Ahriman: yes, his 30k model is in plastic. No, I can’t personally recommend him anymore. He’s an older model introduced right before the scale creep really kicked in. As a result he feels super small and doesn’t fit with the reality that he is possibly the fourth strongest human psyker in existence. Also, on the table top he just isn’t that good. He’s got a nice weapon and a great warlord trait, but you’d probably be better off in most circumstances with a praetor in cataphractii armor and the magister of Prospero WL trait. You could use him as a librarian, but I think there are better options out there, particularly the new Thousand Sons Librarian in resin. If you spring for *one* resin model, it should be that one. Even over Magnus.
I’ve been finding surprising success with kitbashing for WE a good amount of legionnaires, bezerkers, or even just basic arms with different weapons works too, personal favourite combination I’ve done for a set of meteor hammers was using the spiked ball tips from a bunch of deathwing terminators and putting them on a chain mounted to a group of mark 3 (older ones) hands and wrists, very worth a try.
Depends on what kind of kitbash you're talking about for your conversions. IW and IH have a long history of people scratchbuilding bionic limbs and such for them, for instance, while certain Legions can use cleaned-up de-mutated CSM parts and sometimes models appropriately in mid-late Heresy-themed forces (SoH and NL wear it best IMO). Meanwhile other forces can be kitbashed with WHFB parts; TS used to be marines + Tomb Kings bits, for instance, and WB make good use of Empire Flagellant bits (many Legions can make use of the skulls in particular). I imagine DA could use the keys. SoH/LW can make good use of SW bits as well.
Well, I’ve certainly done well with the 40k parts for my Thousand Sons. https://preview.redd.it/cdb0ajypa57d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fe4a7ed1c288bdd304e1349ed1f25c7be38a781
The easiest army to do up would be Death Guard probably. Not much kit bashing needed and the paint scheme is rather easy. Plus mistakes in painting can be easily considered battle damage.