Individual Legion Company Markings

[Kassill]

I was wondering, the Legion's individual companies probably had distinct markings (i.e, colored trim on pads). Was their a set standard, as in, An Ultramarine 1st co. would have the same white trim as say, a IF, or whatever. Probably not, but I figured I'd ask. Also, do you reckon the colors of the 10 companies of the Ultras stayed the same once they became a Chapter, as in, 1st=white, 2nd=gold, etc etc?

 

Reason I am asking is I have been toying around with the idea of a Pre-heresy Ultra army and I am set on doing the 9th Company, but not so set on light blue trim for a company marking.

 

Any helps would be most appreciated! :D

[Legatus]

I would assume that the company markings were similar to today's standard. The more interesting question is how individual Chapters of the Legion would have been denoted.

 

Also, since the "Chapter" was a known formation from the Great Crusade era, it is likely that the individual Chapters of the Ultramarines Legion were organised similar to as they are today. So teh 9th Company (of whatever Chapter you pick) would still consist of exclusively Devastators.

[Kassill]

I would assume that the company markings were similar to today's standard. The more interesting question is how individual Chapters of the Legion would have been denoted.

 

Also, since the "Chapter" was a known formation from the Great Crusade era, it is likely that the individual Chapters of the Ultramarines Legion were organised similar to as they are today. So teh 9th Company (of whatever Chapter you pick) would still consist of exclusively Devastators.

 

 

 

Really?

 

I would think it would be much like a Legion Company = SM Chapter in that, out of say, 1,000 marines in that company, the first 500 would the equivelent to a battle company and the other 500 would all be split up into FA, Hvy, Troops, etc, etc... Or so I would think. :P

[clanfield]

chapters are a established legion formation not all legieons had them thou aka the great company or brotherhoods also some had diferant internal make ups like the imperial fist which had a large tactical core acording to index astartes

[Razhbad]

Also, do you reckon the colors of the 10 companies of the Ultras stayed the same once they became a Chapter, as in, 1st=white, 2nd=gold, etc etc?

 

Well technically the Second Company use to be yellow and later changed to gold in updated additions. I think that was a GW change and not an Ultras changing in the fluff.

 

However, it does state in the Codex Astartes that Chapters should every so often change the company/squad/rank markings so as to confuse the enemy, but i can see no fluff sign of any chapter ever doing this.

[Legatus]

I would think it would be much like a Legion Company = SM Chapter in that, out of say, 1,000 marines in that company, the first 500 would the equivelent to a battle company and the other 500 would all be split up into FA, Hvy, Troops, etc, etc... Or so I would think.

Some Legions were already sub divided into "Chapters", which in turn were sub divided into companies. So the Ultramarines Legion would have had 25 Chapters (or 250, depending on the numbers you go by), and each of those Chapters had 10 Companies. The Dark Angels were said to have used Chapters in one of the novels, and seing as they codified the organisational structure in their Codex, it is likely that the Ultramarines had them as well. Some Legions had other formations, like "Great Companies", but those were largely similar formations, i.e. 1000 Marines per Great Company. Though those Great Companies were not neccessarily organised in the way a Codex Chapter is.

[Vodunius]

I would assume that the company markings were similar to today's standard. The more interesting question is how individual Chapters of the Legion would have been denoted.

 

The White Dwarf archive on the GW site has the Evolution of the Space Marines article that was in.. er.. some WD (forget the issue, it was the one with the same cover as the current vanilla codex), it includes the concept sketches for the original Smurf MkVII scheme from WD129 - from the labelling it appears to have been intended to accompany the Heresy era rules/fluff from WD126 rather than be post-heresy. They don't sport any evident markings for Chapter/Regiment.

 

Personally I'd just stick a roman numeral on the banner and maybe on a few of the marines in random places.

 

Well technically the Second Company use to be yellow and later changed to gold in updated additions.

 

Well technically in heraldry yellow and gold are the same colour, so its not really a change (GW have been alternating gold and yellow chest eagles for BA since RT)

[Legatus]

Well technically in heraldry yellow and gold are the same colour

Gold and yellow are quite distinct, even if for the purposes of recording heraldry they may have been used interchangeably. For specific denotion of Chapter, Company or Rank they are most certainly not. The Imperial Fists have yellow armour, while the Celestial Lions have golden armour. Blood Angels Assault Squads have yellow helmets, while Blood Angels Honour Guard or Veterans can have golden helmets (if their entire armour isn't painted golden). Clearly one cannot just paint Blood Angels assault squads with golden helmets instead.

[Doghouse]

With ultramarines I'd say that you'd be safe using the current company markings but just on a larger scale. Chances are Guilliman based the codex on his own legion. If you are doing the Ninth then you could easily just paint them the same blue as the rest of their armour if you don't like bright blue.

 

Back in the day (might have been late first edition) I remember reading that the Ultramarines often went into battle without any markings of any kind to deny the enemy valuable intel and they looked really nice that way to be honest.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

With ultramarines I'd say that you'd be safe using the current company markings but just on a larger scale. Chances are Guilliman based the codex on his own legion. If you are doing the Ninth then you could easily just paint them the same blue as the rest of their armour if you don't like bright blue.

 

Back in the day (might have been late first edition) I remember reading that the Ultramarines often went into battle without any markings of any kind to deny the enemy valuable intel and they looked really nice that way to be honest.

 

i really like that idea...

 

WLK

[Kassill]

With ultramarines I'd say that you'd be safe using the current company markings but just on a larger scale. Chances are Guilliman based the codex on his own legion. If you are doing the Ninth then you could easily just paint them the same blue as the rest of their armour if you don't like bright blue.

 

Back in the day (might have been late first edition) I remember reading that the Ultramarines often went into battle without any markings of any kind to deny the enemy valuable intel and they looked really nice that way to be honest.

 

i really like that idea...

 

WLK

 

 

Same here!

 

 

Thanks Doghouse! And thanks all! :P

[Vodunius]

Back in the day (might have been late first edition) I remember reading that the Ultramarines often went into battle without any markings of any kind to deny the enemy valuable intel and they looked really nice that way to be honest.

 

Sortof, they would leave off icons and adornments but they still had company and squad indicators:

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r155/khromash/ultra1.jpg

 

Tho not noted (since it was from an article on tactical squads) his armour still denotes him as a tactical marine.

[Doghouse]

Ah yeah that was the one I was thinking of, wasn't it in WD with the release of the space marine strike force boxed set or something?

[Vodunius]

I can't say for sure but its most likely - the marines in the article (WD129/RT Compilation) were from the Strike Force box and those pics were on said box *sigh* the first boxed set I ever purchased from GW..

[Doghouse]

Yeah I think you're right there mate. I remember that boxed set well.