Warhammer 40,000 Homebrew Wiki:How to Colour Your Homebrew Space Marine Chapter

"The uniforms of the Imperial Guard are camouflaged in order to protect their wearers by hiding them from sight. The principle is that what the enemy cannot see he cannot kill. This is not the way of the Adeptus Astartes. A Space Marine's armour is bright with heraldry that proclaims his devotion to his Chapter and the beloved Emperor of Mankind. Our principle is that what the enemy can see, he will soon learn to fear!"

- Chaplain Aston, 10th Company, Fire Hawks Chapter (Extinct)

This is a guide for those who wish to have a better understanding of How to Colour Your Homebrew Space Marine Chapter. As anyone who has ever decided to create their own Chapter knows, one the more challenging aspects is coming up with your own unique colour scheme that fits within the established 40K Universe as well as the dictates of the Codex Astartes - the great and sacred tome that guides the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in military organisation, strategy, tactics and heraldry. This penultimate guide dictates what colours, patterns, iconography and symbols one should display for ease of identification on the battlefield. There are a number of suggested variations on this basic system and each Chapter is advised to periodically revise their markings to counfound the foe. This has led to myriad differences between the many Codex-oriented Chapters (those Chapters that strictly adhere to the tenants of the Codex Astartes) and to some having varied appearance over the millennia.

This guide focuses on uniforms and heraldry of these incredible futuristic transhuman warriors. As you shall see below, each of the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes has their own unique heraldic pattern of armour and markings. Each Chapter follows ancient traditions and rules that govern these patterns and colour schemes, and this guide will hopefully provide an insight into some of these traditions.


 * Note: Much of the text here, was taken from the Games Workshop's official publication, Insignium Astartes (2002), written by Warwick Kinrade and illustrated by Alan Merrett.

Background
In the wake of the Horus Heresy the newly formed ruling council of the Imperium, the High Lords of Terra, set about rebuilding and repairing the damage wrought during this terrible civil war. In most need of reorganising and restructuring were the devastated Space Marine Legions as these great armies had borne the brunt of the treachery done by the Warmaster Horus and his Traitor Legions. The High Lords tasked the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman with the job of reordering the Imperial military forces. His first duty was to revise the organisation of the Space Marines and to codify their institutions, doctrines and armorials. His conclusions became the almost mythic book known as the Codex Astartes, a work so important its contents still form the basis of Space Marine organisation and tactics ten thousand years after it was originally compiled.

The original twenty Space Marine Legions were vast armies numbering thousands of warriors amongst their ranks. During the Horus Heresy this was both a great blessing and a great curse when half of their commanders were corrupted by Horus and threw themselves and their warriors behind his unholy insurrection. The ensuing civil war that erupted between these titanic forces nearly destroyed the Imperium. After the traitors of Horus and been defeated and banished the High Lords of Terra decreed that never again should so many Space Marines fall under the sway of one man, however noble his intent. Thus it was that Roboute embarked on the creation of the Space Marine Chapter. The exact means and timescale of his efforts are lost to memory or record, the result however was that each of the Legions was split into a number of Chapters of roughly a thousand fighting Marines. There is some debate among scholars as to whether the older Legions were already subdivided into Chapters but there is no record of this prior to their reorganisation.

As the old Legions were divided into new Chapters they each adopted new names, badges and colours with only one of the new Chapters retaining the old Legion name and iconography. This was known as the Second Founding of Space Marines. It is not known exactly how many Chapters were created at this time as the Imperial records are incomplete or vague. Most of the new Chapters were derived from the Ultramarines Legion, presumably because it was the largest of the loyal Legions. The Apocrypha of Skaros records that twenty three Chapters were created from the Ultramarines Legion but does not name them. There have been further foundings since then so that by the 41st Millennium there are reputed to be a thousand or more Chapters of Space Marines.

The vast majority of the newly created Chapters took up the Codex Astartes and its doctrines as their guiding law. These Chapters were and are still known as the Codex Chapters. They pride themselves on following the ancient text and applying its principles of warcraft and devotion to the Emperor. In the 41st Millennium there are relatively few of the original Codex Chapters surviving as they have been either destroyed in battle or disbanded. Through the ages other Chapters have developed organisations and heraldries that are so variant with the Codex that they can no longer be considered as such. In truth most Chapters retain the basic organisation and markings or something close to the original though only a few can claim to be Codex Chapters.

Every Space Marine Chapter has a unique basic heraldry consisting of a specific colour or colour scheme and an icon or badge. The Chapter badge is always prominently displayed on the Marines' armour, banners and war machines. The heraldries of the Space Marine Chapters are bold and striking, more akin to a medieval knight's costume than to a uniformed soldier. This is quite deliberate as the Space Marines have little need or desire to disguise their presence on the field of battle. In fact they wish their foes to know that it is Space Marines they face and to be suitably cowed. In addition they are justly proud of their Chapter's heritage and of the honours it has won in battle.

The Codex Astartes
Roboute Guilliman's greatest work describes and prescribes how the entire Imperial military should be organised and how it should fight. Within its hallowed pages are long treatises on all manner of tactics and strategies for virtually all of the soldiers, warriors and war machines known to the Imperium. Of special interest is the volume devoted to the Space Marines. This volume sets out how a Chapter should be structured, recruit, train, fight and dress. In fact every aspect of being a Space Marine is covered in some detail.

The original Codex was compiled approximately ten thousand years ago in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy. It is not known what form the original took: it may have been a manuscript or it may have been a compilation of holo-files or even some combination. Of course manuscript copies were made and distributed. The oldest surviving copy of the Codex is reputed to be the Apocrypha of Skaros. The Liber Arcanum of Grand Marshall Tolof and the Holo-Record 442/33508; Gant Manuscript v2 of the Ceris Archive have some claim to this honour as well. Over the millennia the copies have been copied and recopied many times in order to preserve them. Inevitably, mistakes occur and so it is unlikely that any two copies of the Codex will be identical. Furthermore, the work is constantly being reanalysed and reinterpreted. The original prose style of Roboute is at best archaic and in some cases almost unintelligible. This has led to many varied interpretations over the centuries and to many situations where two entirely different doctrines have been legitimately claimed as 'official Codex' at the same time.

Primogenitor Chapters
The Primogenitors are the Chapters created from the old Ultramarines Legion during the Second Founding. There are conflicting records as to exactly how many Primogenitor or 'First Born' Chapters were created at this time. However all of these Chapters venerate Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, and their own founding father and patron. All of them are also strict adherents of the Codex Astartes.

Known Progenitor Chapter include:

Heraldry
"This symbol I wear upon my shoulder and I bear upon my banner. He who defiles it defiles me, and shall be damned for all eternity."

- Brother Ukadi, Adeptus Astartes Flesh Eaters, prior to the conclusion of the Alvatine Suppression

Battle-Brothers of a Chapter proudly display the symbol by which their parent Chapter is known on their left shoulder pauldrons. Chapter symbols are simple, striking and easily recognisable, and very often related to the Chapter's name. The Blood Angels (for example) use a simple blood drop with two wings attached, while the Omega Marines use a character from a long extinct Terran script. Some Chapters use symbols drawn from ancient heraldry, the elements or even arcane sources such as alchemy. Plenty of Chapters use more generalised icons such as the Imperial aquila, skulls and wings, combined in various forms. Many Chapter utilise iterations of common Imperial icons, such as the eagle, eagle wings, skulls and armoured fists.

At a Chapter's Founding the newly assigned Chapter Master must name his Chapter and chose its heraldry. There are strict rules to govern this process. The Codex Astartes provides the Chapter Master with approved naming elements and also forbids the use of certain names. New leaders are careful to try to avoid duplicating the name, icon and livery of an existing Chapter. However this is more difficult than may be imagined. There are approximately a thousand Chapters spread across the galaxy and only the priests of the Adeptus Terra have anything approaching a complete catalogue of these units and their heraldry. Many new Chapter Masters create new heraldries to avoid any possible duplication. Over the millennia this had led to a vast proliferation of icons and liveries.

Example Heraldic Devices
Provided below are some example heraldic symbols:

Livery
"Camouflage is the colour of fear. My colours I wear openly. They proclaim 'I am proud to live, I am proud to die'."

- Lord Commander Carab Culln, Red Scorpions Chapter.

Space Marine Chapters employ a wide range of colours and patterns of their uniforms, and wear them with pride. Some sport a single colour, applied to the entire surface of the armour while others use several colours, halved or quartered to produce a striking and recognisable pattern. Some employ the same scheme across the entire Chapter, while others modify it or change it entirely depending on the squad and company a Battle-Brother is serving in.

Below are examples of the most common colour patterns utilised by Codex oriented Chapters:



Company Colours
Each Company has a unique colour that its members wear, commonly on their power armour's shoulder pauldron trims, but some Chapters re-colour their Aquilas or Imperialis, bolter cases, poleyns (knee guards), helmets or other parts of a Space Marine's Power Armour.


 * 1st Company - White or Silver - Members of the 1st Company should also paint their helmet the company colour.
 * 2nd Company - Yellow or Gold
 * 3rd Company - Red
 * 4th Company - Green
 * 5th Company - Black
 * 6th Company - Orange
 * 7th Company - Purple
 * 8th Company - Grey
 * 9th Company - Blue
 * 10th Company - Nominally white, however the company colour is not displayed on the members' armour because they are Scouts.

Company Colours Non-Codex
Below are a few examples of some non-Codex oriented Chapters variant company colours. Although many of these Chapters might adhere closely to the organisation laid down in the Codex Astartes, they nevertheless deviate significantly when it comes to the use of icongraphy, colours and markings, as dictated though necessity or by each individual Chapter's culture:

Codex Chapter Squad Specialist Markings
The following shows the tactical shoulder pauldron markings for each of the squads within a typical Codex Chapter. These markings are displayed on the right armorial of the Marines' armour. In this example the rims of the shoulder pads display the Company colour. The white tactical symbols indicate the designation of the Squad and the numerals simply refer to the Squad number within the Company.

The Codex provides for a number of variations on this basic system and also suggests that each Chapter periodically revise its tactical markings in order to confound the enemy. This has led to many differences between the many Codex Chapters. It also explains why it is that some Chapters have varied their appearance over the course of millennia. In fact, some Scholars within the Adeptus Administratum use the changes in the Ultramarines iconography as a means of dating ancient files and monuments. The Ultramarines are particularly useful for this because they are the most documented Chapter in the history of the Imperium. Even so their records are not complete or are vague and this leads to much speculation within scholarly circles about the exact dates for events in the distant past.

Squad Specialist Markings
Squad specialist markings are shown upon a Battle-Brother's right shoulder pauldron, except in the case of some older marks of Space Marine Power Armour that instead display them upon knee plates, greaves, vambrace or within the Chapter badge itself. The right pauldron displays the Squad Specialty Badge, which indicates the specialty of the squad (Tactical, Assault, Devastator or Veteran) the individual Astartes belongs to as well as the number of his squad within his company. Veteran Squads display Maltese Cross, Tactical Squads use an arrow vertically pointing upwards, or an older variant of a horizontal double-pointing arrow, Assault Squads use four perpendicular arrows pointing outwards in the shape of a letter 'X', while Devastator Squads use an inverted letter 'V'. Older variant symbols utilise an upside down delta (triangle) or an explosion symbol instead.



Helmet Markings
A Sergeant's badge of rank is a skull and is often displayed on the left shoulder pauldron. The Codex leaves the display of back banners to the Sergeant's discretion. Space Marine helmets frequently display rank and battle honours, either through colour or insignia. Red helmets, for example, are reserved for Sergeants, whilst a white helmet or laurel design denotes Veteran status. Veteran Sergeants typically wear both colours, incorporating a white stripe down the centre of their helm. Whilst company colours are typically displayed on the trim of a Space Marine’s shoulder pauldrons, they can also be displayed on helmets, chest Aquilas, knee plates or even on the squad markings.