Grey Knights coloring

[jeffersonian000]

My thoughts, too. And the twin-linked bolter halberds obviously went away as they are Custodian standard gear. No need to be too much the same!

 

SJ

[Valerian]

Well, other than the fact that I remember them when they first came out, there's the old Index Astartes articles which actually show their original color scheme side-by-side with their more current scheme. As to the Psycannons, a bit of the same, although Psycannons first appeared in Space Marine as a Psy-Titan main weapon, and was only later seen wielded by GK Terminators and OM Inquisitors. The first time I read that they required ammo and worked like a heavy bolter was in the Daemonhunter codex.

I've noted in past posts on 3rd ed GK that the psycannons seen on our metal minis appear exacttly like the Adaptus Titanics ones, only scaled to Marine size (those were post from back in 2008-2009).

SJ

SJ,

I am going to have to disagree with your memory then. Please allow me to produce some sources:

As we all know, the game of Warhammer 40,000 was first released in 1987 in the form of the Rogue Trader rulebook. A lot of universe development and adjustments occurred in that first year, and the Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness supplement was released in 1988, which included a ton of new fluff, rules, and several army lists, including lists for the World Eaters, Emperor's Children, Black Legion, and the Grey Knights. In Slaves to Darkness there are a couple points that differ from what you said above.

First, it is noted that the Grey Knights' "are specially screened to exclude all but the strongest and most resilient psykers, a measure designed to prevent any Daemonic contamination. As a result, very few of the Grey Knights have any psychic power whatsoever."

Second, the Psycannon was also introduced in Slaves to Darkness, and was described as "a long elegant handgun, a development of the trusty and brutal bolt pistol. It fires a tiny bolt which is heavily impregnated with negative psychic energy, as used in the manufacture of psych-out shells. A Psycannon bolt does some damage by bolt impact, and causes one

Wound

. However, its devastating effect on the psyche (as well as the physical body) is only apparent when it is used against a psychic target..."

Lastly, in the original background material and army list from Slaves to Darkness, there was no description of the colour scheme used by the Grey Knights. All of the artwork in this section was black and white "line art", so there was no way to extract an official position from this supplement. I believe that most folks assumed at the time, as I did, that they should be painted some version of Grey, given their name, the Grey Knights.

Original Psycannon: from Slaves to Darkness, 1988.

Rogue Trader era Inquisitor with Psycannon model:

The concept of Tactical Dreadnought Armour, or Terminator Armour, didn't arrive to the game until White Dwarf #109 (January, 1989), and the first rules for Grey Knights Terminator Squads was released a few months later in White Dwarf #114 (June, 1989).

When the Grey Knights Terminator Squads were released, the background material that most Grey Knights had no psychic potential was repeated. However, a new section was added: "Some, however, are extremely potent psykers, judged strong and pure enough to pit their powers against creatures from the warp. Equipped with Nemesis Force Weapons and protected by Tactical Dreadnought Armour, these elite warriors can hope to oppose even the Greater Daemons of Chaos." "The Grey Knight psykers are trained to work in small, extremely mobile strike forces, typically in squads of five men each.

"

The Nemesis Force Weapon was largely as you described, but incorporated a short range, limited ammunition, bolt weapon (only 3 shots in a game) in the weapon's haft

.

One page of the article included the entry for

Army List Additions

, which were selection that were to be added to the Grey Knights section of the Ordo Malleus army list found in

Slaves to Darkness

. The new entries included a Grey Knights Terminator Captain and up to four Grey Knight Terminator Tactical Squads. Again, these were new units that were meant to be added to the original army list.

White Dwarf pictures of the first Grey Knights Terminators:

As you can see from these original Rogue Trader era pics from White Dwarf magazines, the original color scheme appears to be a base of silver (perhaps grey) with gold trim, and the familiar red, white, and black heraldry.

Now, skipping years ahead to the 3rd Edition era of the game, the Index Astartes article for the Grey Knights (and Death Watch) was released in White Dwarf # 259 (August 2001). This article doesn't mention anything about the colour scheme in the text, but did include a this picture, which has the Grey Knights in the heretofore unseen Black scheme:

Despite the significant change from earlier versions of the scheme commonly seen in White Dwarf magazines, and studio painted models,the change to Black was shortlived, as the Grey Knights were back to their base Silver scheme by March, 2003, when the Codex: Daemonhunters was released, which also included the fluff blurb on their unpainted armour. This was repeated in our April 2011 5th Edition Codex: Grey Knights as well.

I hope this was helpful and informative for all Grey Knights players, young and old.

Regards,

Valerian

[jeffersonian000]

Very good history lesson. My thanks to you, sir!

 

Actually, you missed the Adaptus Titanicus also came out in 1988, with the infantry and vehicle rules published in White Dwarf 109. Following this was Space Marine in 1989, followed by White Dwarf articles and the release of Realms of Chaos: Slaves of Darkness, which added more depth to the game, such as rules for Psy-Titans and their weapons.

 

I'll admit, I missed the character-scale psycannon segment, but I stand by my comparison of the Titan psycannon with the 3rd ed Grey Knight character-scale psycannon, which are identical.

 

Memory is a fickle thing, but I can only remember what I owned and read, and the only thing focused on in Slaves of Darkness was the Heresy era Titan battle rules. My bad! :)

 

SJ

[Valerian]

Very good history lesson. My thanks to you, sir!

 

Actually, you missed the Adaptus Titanicus also came out in 1988, with the infantry and vehicle rules published in White Dwarf 109. Following this was Space Marine in 1989, followed by White Dwarf articles and the release of Realms of Chaos: Slaves of Darkness, which added more depth to the game, such as rules for Psy-Titans and their weapons.

 

I'll admit, I missed the character-scale psycannon segment, but I stand by my comparison of the Titan psycannon with the 3rd ed Grey Knight character-scale psycannon, which are identical.

 

Memory is a fickle thing, but I can only remember what I owned and read, and the only thing focused on in Slaves of Darkness was the Heresy era Titan battle rules. My bad! :D

 

SJ

 

No problems mate. Absolutely the 3rd Edition era Psycannons were the spitting image of the old Titan weapons, no doubt; I just wanted to correct for the record that those weren't the original version. Since this thread was originally about colour schemes, i wanted to make sure all of that was historically accurate for everyone, too. Also, I skimmed through the old Space Marine and Adeptus Titanicus rules when they came out, but never got into the supplemental games. As a poor college student at the time, I made the decision to just stick with "core" 40k, which is a decision that I've stuck with for over two decades now.

 

Regards,

 

V

[Something Wycked]

Valerian, what are the last few words under each armor picture? "... with built in aegis suit." ? Can read everything just fine but those two words.

[Valerian]

Valerian, what are the last few words under each armor picture? "... with built in aegis suit." ? Can read everything just fine but those two words.

 

Yep, that's exactly what it says under the two Knights from the Index Astartes article. Admittedly, it's a little odd, but apparently the artist considered "the Aegis" to be an additional "suit" that would augment a Knights power armour or terminator armour. But then again, the fact that they were in all Black armour was, and still is, a surprise to me. To my knowledge nothing before or since has had them in Black. However, I like the Black, so had my guys done like that.

 

V

[Vash]

Wow, Vash! Those are fantastic!

Awesome colour scheme, kindalooks like the Deathwing crossed with Menoth.

Any more you can show us?

 

Thanks mate. And thanks all others who commented.

 

At the moment I don't have more pictures, as I am studying for my finals. But once I have finnished them off I'll start painting again.

[number6]

Really awesome history lesson. I may be an old man, but I am a relative newbie to the game of 40K. I didn't actively pursue playing until 4th edition hit the streets. I've been lucky enough to be in a group that has seen it all since the game's inception, so I've picked up quite a lot via osmosis, but nothing so complete and entire as this.

 

There are a few of my gaming friends that have quite a few of the original GKT models. For their time, they definitely would have stood out! I've had opportunities to pick a few of them up from time to time, and though I haven't yet bit, I may have to after having read all this. :(

 

I did not realize there were ever any kind of psycannons that didn't look at least somewhat like the 3rd ed metals, nor did I realize that the black color scheme was limited to a single piece of art in Index Astartes.

 

Thanks. :P

[Gentlemanloser]

Ah, Jinx and Temporal Distortion. How I miss you!

 

4 Psyker Levels and limited shot Cyclones (that you could fire all at once!). And Thunderhammers that worked like the Staff of Magus (you could overload your TH and blow yourself up! :P).

 

Reminising back to R.T. always make me remember the game we had where we killed the entire opposing Ork horde in a single turn with Toxigas Grenades.

 

What? None of your Boyz have sealed systems? Uh oh...

[Seahawk]

Wow! That original Psycannon is 100% based off a Tommy gun (minus its butt stock and with different styling)! Awesome.

 

It fires a tiny bolt

Ha! A tiny, .45 bolt! I suppose in comparison to the .75 bolts yea they're tiny...:D

[Something Wycked]

Wow! That original Psycannon is 100% based off a Tommy gun (minus its butt stock and with different styling)! Awesome.

Haha, yeah, a Thompson and a Luger had a baby and called it the Psycannon XD

 

@ Valerian, thanks again, appreciate all that info. If I ever actually buy any Grey Knights (what with the coming price increases and my lack of funds...) that's going to also be my paint scheme. It matches my black & silver Marines which just so happen to match my family colors ;)

[Valerian]

Wow! That original Psycannon is 100% based off a Tommy gun (minus its butt stock and with different styling)! Awesome.

Haha, yeah, a Thompson and a Luger had a baby and called it the Psycannon XD

@ Valerian, thanks again, appreciate all that info.

Certainly! I'm very pleased that the post was so well received. For those that enjoyed the last post, here is a bonus, one of my very favorite miniatures from the Rogue Trader era.

Ordo Malleus Daemonhunter Inquisitor with Psycannon and Force Rod:

---note the same style Psycannon as on the other RT era model.

Here he is with a good paintjob (artist, however, swapped out weapons for a Combi-Weapon and Force Axe):

In my opinion, this is one of those timeless models, that would still look great as an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor today. You'd just probably want to give him updated/modern arms from the plastic Terminator boxed set.

Enjoy,

Valerian

[Grand Master Caloth]

ive been itching to get my hands on a squads-worth of old GK models, just to run them in the old IA colors (which yes, i also run my Knights in)

[WimvH]

Funny, I just posted my colours in a separate thread... But here it is, still WIP!

 

[Seleucus]

Now, skipping years ahead to the 3rd Edition era of the game, the Index Astartes article for the Grey Knights (and Death Watch) was released in White Dwarf # 259 (August 2001). This article doesn't mention anything about the colour scheme in the text, but did include a this picture, which has the Grey Knights in the heretofore unseen Black scheme:

In The IA article, there is also a similar picture for Deathwatch on the next page, and, if you compare the two, you will see that the Deathwatch is much more clearly a black, with the GK colour a VERY dark grey, especially when you look at the 'highlighting' of the armour.

WimvH is close to this GK colour, but still too light! A wash or two with Badab Black (or whatever it is now called) should bring it back to the darker shade.

This is what I am doing with my old 1990s GK figs (with later metal GK Termie arms), to represent my Ghost Knights.

[Valerian]

True, it's more of a charcoal grey than a true black. Or, a 'smoke' color, as the official shade of my truck is advertised.

 

V

[T3mpl@r Crusade]

I went with a mithril silver drybrushed on top of boltgun covered which was covered in azurman wash. edge highlight of 50/50 skull white and mithril

tanks are done with a base of boltgun, azurman in corners and creases, then a light mithril drybrushing. again the 50/50 highlight. add some battle effects, and presto

its hard to tell with the pictures, but they have a blue hue to them, I like to think its a result of the aegis aura