There are some aliens that can penetrate the massive ceramite plates of powered armor that Space Marines wear into battle. The alien menace knows as the Tyranids are one such xenos species. Their scything talons and lethal claws resemble power weapons in their ability to slice through the thickest armor.

How It Was Done
Use an X-Acto knife to cut deep grooves into the plastic. To make the gouged mark deeper or wider, make repeated passes with the knife but keep to the same path. To make the claw marks more convincing, make sure they travel in the same direction.

Rick, inspired by the art of Kev Walker (at the bottom of the page), created this Space Marine that has been the target of quite a bit of bolter fire. Power armor in this state can really give your army the look of being on an extended campaign where repairs have to be postponed.

Bolters fire self-propelled, armor-piercing, mass-reactive explosive missiles called bolts. These detonate a split second after penetrating a target, blasting it apart from within. With this in mind, I added the massive craters in the Space Marine's shoulder pad, power fist, chest eagle, and leg.

I wanted the Space Marines to look as if they had to repair their armor on the fly while they also took some small measure of revenge on the aliens who dared to damage them in the first place.

How It Was Done
Assemble the Space Marine as normal but gouge out damage in the areas that will receive the extra plating. Next, cut out small rectangles of plasticard and "weather" it with an X-Acto blade. Cut out thinner plasticard for the teeth on the Space Marine's new chestplate. Bend and glue the plasticard plates to the Space Marine with superglue. Once the glue has dried, drill holes into the plates and insert brass nails (available at HobbyTown USA) to finish the improvised look.

With his armor deeply scarred by acidic blood, this Space Marine has torn the heads off two Tyranid Rippers and the armored plates from some larger Tyranid creature to affect repairs. He has hastily bolted on these new armor plates onto his existing power armor to protect himself on his weakened flank.

This conversion could also work well for Ordo Xenos Kill Teams, Ultramarine squads that have faced the Tyranid onslaught and survived, trophies and totems, or possibly a very barbaric Space Marine Chapter of your own devising.

How It Was Done
First, use a pin vise to add pock marks as described in the Tyranid Bio-Acid Space Marine section below.

The ferocity of battle does not allow the Space Marines a lot of time to make repairs to their power armor. This Space Wolf has taken it upon himself to make his limb combat-ready once more. Many Space Marines, when in desperate situations or far from friend and battle barge, fall back on more primitive ways of bringing death to the enemy – especially when they are wounded in some manner.

How It Was Done
Assemble a Space Wolf Grey Hunters Sergeant as normal, except for the arms. Cut the right arm with an X-Acto knife above the elbow pad, pin it, and reassemble it so that it is bent more to the right. Now for the left arm.

Stuart created a Space Marine that has some sort of Techmarine-developed prosthetics and equipment to repair a hearty dose of battle damage.

"The idea I went for is kind of like Mega Man. These Space Marines are wearing some burly armor, so why aren't their guns just part of the armor?"

Because...because...the Emperor said so!

How It Was Done
Assemble a plastic Space Marine as normal, but remove the right hand at the wrist. Leave off the plastic Space Marine backpack. Attach a plastic Chaos Plasma Gun in place of the hand and glue a Skaven Poison Wind Globadier Backpack to the Space Marine's back. Add the Steam Tank Vent bit to the top of the backpack to finish this powerplant off. Use guitar wire to create cables that run from the Space Marine's backpack to the Plasma Gun arm.

When fighting a Hive Fleet, it goes without saying that those battling the Tyranids will be up against all manner of biological horrors. Some mutant swarms have a powerful, corrosive bio-acid instead of normal circulatory ichor. When wounded, these Tyranids can injure those individuals unlucky enough to be nearby. The larger the genus, the stronger the acid. This Space Marine has been hit by a gout of acid – most likely from a mortal wound he inflicted on his enemy.

This conversion for Tyranid bio-acid could also work for caustic environments such as planets whose atmosphere has a high acid content.

The next two conversions were very straightforward and represent something you might see if a Techmarine was a part of the strike force that these two Space Marines were a part of. Care has obviously been taken to reconnect essential components to the power armor much like the other case shown below where the backpack has been temporarily welded to the legs of the Space Marine.

These are easy conversions to accomplish with only minor cutting and drilling required.

This Space Marine has been repaired in a more permanent manner. Techmarines have applied a sanctioned field-repair to this Space Marine's backpack by welding the damaged thermal waste distributors to the legs of this warrior.

How It Was Done
Assemble the Space Marine model as normal, but leave off the backpack so that it can be converted more easily. Use an X-Acto knife to cut the top portion of the backpack free from the bottom half. Cut the top portion of the backpack in half and glue one half to each leg. Use small, thin strips of green stuff to create welds for the jury-rigged distributors.