DA colors

[SanguineSon]

Would anyone happen to know when the Dark Angels adopted their dark green scheme? I only ask because a lot of models that people have made of Lion have him in green armour and I didn't know if it was just a lapse in attention to detail since I know they wore black pre-heresy, or if maybe there was some old tradition perhaps from the Order or something else from the culture of Caliban.

[The Shadow Guard]

Would anyone happen to know when the Dark Angels adopted their dark green scheme? I only ask because a lot of models that people have made of Lion have him in green armour and I didn't know if it was just a lapse in attention to detail since I know they wore black pre-heresy, or if maybe there was some old tradition perhaps from the Order or something else from the culture of Caliban.

 

It's all lost in the sand sof time after 10,000 years and the intermittant confsion caused by GW artists, games designers and hobbyists...

 

Generally we understand that the Darkk Angels Legion wore Black Armour to represent the fact that they were originally the Emperor's own personal guard before the Great Crusade began and also that they were the only legion to be personally led by the Emperor until his their primarch was found.

 

After the heresy and the sundering of their homeworld the legion split in to second founding chapters and the Dark Angels chapter wore dark Green livery. The first and second companies retained the black livery to commemmorate the traitorous actions of their fallen brethren. Sometime later, after the actions of thirty DW terminators on the Plains World, their armour was repainted to honour those in their colour of death, Bone White.

 

Now, exactly when the 3rd to 10th companies changed their colour to green remains a matter of contention - was it during the heresy when news of the fall of Caliban was received or after the death of their world and the loss of heir primarch. Many tempers have frayed and many bans instituted on this board becaus eof ehated discussions on the subject!! :)

 

Hope that helps confuse you a little more!! ;)

 

SG

[EPK]

The Shadow Guard makes good points. I'd point out that some BL literature actually notes that the changing to green may have happened pre-heresy at least in a subtle way. In Gav Thorpe's short story Call of the Lion, we have Belath, a Caliban-born Chapter Master, wearing a green shoulder pad with the livery of his order, the Raven's Wing. Astelan, Terran-born Chapter Master, seems insulted by the change in armor and Belath actually says that the order came from the Lion himself saying that the Caliban Marines could change their armor as such.

 

From collected visions, you can see this green has been added to the shoulder - http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:Astelan.jpg

Of course it says it is Astelan which is somewhat in contention with the tid bit I gave you above. It may also simply be a Chapter signifier. But at lest you get the idea.

 

Of course this is a newer book and like The Shadow Guard implied, GW material is always involving, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a way that simply spreads confusion.

 

As for the Lion, I don't know for sure, but could it be that he had always wore green?

[Ragnarok Project]

I think the Lion's original heraldry was green, even when he was in the Order. It was supposed to represent his discovery in the forests or something like that. I think I may have read it in one of the DA Horus Heresy books, can't remember which one though. ^_^