Legion Colors

[Buster]

I've really been into the Heresy series lately, even been thinking of starting an army from that era. One thing I've noticed is that while the Luna Wolves changed their colors when they were renamed I haven't found anything about the other legions doing this. Like, when do the World Eaters go from white and blue to red and.... well gore I guess? How about the Dark Angels too, when did they change from black to dark green?

 

Just something I've been wondering about.

[Octavulg]

I've always liked the idea that the World Eater still are white and blue. They just haven't cleaned their armor...

 

Dark Angels switch when they have their little schism at Caliban, IIRC. The green is for those loyal to Jonson.

 

The Death Guard change during their time in the warp. The Thousand Sons...dunno, presumably after their time in the Warp. Emperor's Children...it's harder to pin down. Word Bearers change upon defecting (I'd assume).

[JEFF4i]

Space Wolves probably after Russ leaves, to signify those who didn't go with him.

[Buster]

Wait, how did the Space Wolves colors change? I thought they've always been grey except for that one 'Eavy Metal painter who thought "baby blue power armor" equaled grey.

[Ufthak]

As far as I know:

 

- Ultramarines

- Imperial Fists

- Iron Warriors

- Night Lords

- White Scars

- Iron Hands

- Raven Guard

- Salamanders

- Blood Angels

 

...all never changed their colours.

 

- Death Guard

- Emperor's Children

 

...strictly speaking didn't really change their colours either; the Death Guard just rotted in the Warp, and the Emperor's Children just starting painting all sorts of perverse symbols on their armour and draped black leather and human skin over it to honour their god. The Death Guard DID change their colours earlier on, when they were known as the Dusk Raiders and became the Death Guard.

 

- Thousand Sons

- World Eaters

- Sons of Horus

- Word Bearers

- Space Wolves

- Dark Angels

 

...all changed their colours. The Word Bearers and Sons of Horus did so just before Istvaan III, the World Eaters and the Thousand Sons presumably just before the Siege of Terra, the Space Wolves and Dark Angels at the end of the Heresy or just after.

 

As for the Alpha Legion, it's a bit unclear whether they changed it. ("Unclear" is a word that fits the Legion well...) Before the Heresy, they appear to have had either blue or purple armour with a silver trim. After the Heresy they are seen blue with a silver trim and (often) green scale motifs added. I wouldn't say they changed their colour scheme except in the detail.

[BrotherAtrox]

when they were known as the Dusk Raiders and became the Death Guard.

 

Huh? :huh:

[Ashe Darke]

The marines fathered by Mortarion's genetic identity that were made before the Emperor found Mortarion were called the Dusk Raiders. When Mortarion met his legion he renamed them the Death Guard.

[BrotherAtrox]

The marines fathered by Mortarion's genetic identity that were made before the Emperor found Mortarion were called the Dusk Raiders. When Mortarion met his legion he renamed them the Death Guard.

 

This was in one of the HH books?

 

I don't remember any of that. Wow. <_<

[Octavulg]

It's in the IA series.

 

Y'know. The good stuff.

[Ian MacKay]

It's in the IA series.

 

Y'know. The good stuff.

 

I thought it was also mentioned in Flight of the Eisenstein? I know it's referenced somewhere in the books besides the IA series.

 

And don't forget the World Eaters were originally the War Hounds. The name changed after Angron was found. I think they were still blue & white at Isstvan III & V.

[Vodunius]

The new Horus Heresy boardgame has the Thousand Son counter as blue and the Death Guard counter as green - but the World Eater counter is blue & white.

[Gree]

It's in the IA series.

 

Y'know. The good stuff.

 

Not exactly, the IA article for the Death Guard makes no mention of the Dusk Raiders.

 

Mortarion was true to his oath. When he recovered, he bent his knee to the stranger and swore himself and the Death Guard to his service. Only then did the Emperor of Man reveal himself as the young Primarch's true father, and the destiny such service would bring: command of the fourteenth Legion of the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines.

 

The Libram Primaris, or Book of Primarchs, tells how Mortarion brought the relentlessness, remorselessness and resilience of his personal Death Guard to the Legion built of his own genetic material, and how in turn they adopted his retinue's title as their own. The resulting prowess of the Death Guard was recognised from the moment Mortarion took command, but the young Primarch never settled in Imperial society outside of battle. Mortarion was a grim, driven Primarch, fixated on reckoning with the oppressors of the galaxy. The easy camaraderie of the other Primarchs was alien to him. The Shadow Journal of Bellerophan, Dark Angels Librarian, confides that, of them all, he found kindred spirits in only two: Night Haunter, the dread master of the Night Lords, and Horus, the Warmaster of the Imperium, the right hand of the Emperor. Horus above all others recognised the value of the Death Guard. He would often place Mortarion and his Legion in the centre of his battleline, counting on the enemy's inability to oust them so that he could either lever his advance from the rock of Mortarion's immovable position, or use it as the anvil upon which the Imperial hammer, in the form of his Luna Wolves, or the Haunter's Night Lords, would break the foe. It was a mercilessly effective combination.

 

They changed their name yes, but no mention of from what.

 

Instead Flight of the Eisenstein makes mention of the Dusk Raiders, Garro even uses on their former name and combat tactics. He mentions their color scheme.

[Octavulg]

They changed their name yes, but no mention of from what.

 

Ah, gotcha. Fair enough. Could've sworn the Dusk Raiders were mentioned somewhere else, but never mind.

 

Ah. It's first mentioned in Artbook #1, apparently.

 

* * *

Vodunius:

The new Horus Heresy boardgame has the Thousand Son counter as blue and the Death Guard counter as green - but the World Eater counter is blue & white.

 

What color is the Blood Angels counter?

[Verythrax Draconis]

The Dusk Riders name change is mentioned en passant a couple of times in HH. I believe one of the times it gets mentioned is when Horus is suggested to changes his Legion Name, and in that short story about Angron changing his legion name to world eaters.

 

I'm not sure if I saw reference for a change of colors, though.

 

EDIT: I didn't read the "Flight of..." yet.

 

EDIT2: the DG counter is green not because a "color change", but because at the Siege of Terra, the DG is already that lovely nurgleish green bloated pustule that we all know and love :down:

 

EDIT3: World Eaters armor STILL is blue and white - you just need to wash 10k years of blood stains out of it :D

[Vodunius]

What color is the Blood Angels counter?

 

I've no idea what the designers were smoking, but for some strange reason the Blood Angels counter is red.