30k Salamanders heraldry and markings

[Master Ciaphas]

Hail frateris!

 

Last year I finally surrendered to my desire to do a Horus Heresy army. As I for some time have wanted to play a (morally) good force, I could not go wrong with the sons of Nocture, the Salamanders.

 

Having bought the following:

 

LE Praetor in Cataphractii armour with combi-Volkite and Thunderhammer

LE Primus Medicae in Cataphractii armour

Legion Champion

Master of Signal

2 Apothecaries

5 Firedrakes

10 Pyroclasts

Salamander Contemptor dreadnought with multi-melta and close combat weapon

Legion Rapier Quad Launcher

20 MkIV Tacticals

 

and having finished 10 Tacticals, the Primus Medicae and one Pyroclast, I am only missing one important thing: how to mark the brave and noble warriors! Naturally, they carry the drake on the left pauldron...but what of the markings on the right?

 

And what of the specialist units - such as the Firedrakes and Pyroclasts? Do they have special insignia on the right pauldron? I have seen some scans of the fantastic black Forge World books, where I can see that some units have a diamond marking on their greaves and/or knees. What do these mean?

 

I am well looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

Kind regards,

Master Ciaphas

[Carlson793]

And what of the specialist units - such as the Firedrakes and Pyroclasts? Do they have special insignia on the right pauldron? I have seen some scans of the fantastic black Forge World books, where I can see that some units have a diamond marking on their greaves and/or knees. What do these mean?

Salamanders Cuneiform Diamonds correspond to the Heresy Era company for the unit. See my Salamanders Cuneiform Code Cracked post. Also see the Salamanders Cuneiform decal sheet I posted last year.

 

The diamond glyph Honour Markings are one of the earliest decal sheets I prepared. There's been no listing of what each of those means, but with the number appearing on any 30K Salamander, I don't think specifics matter in those cases - just plaster 'em everywhere.

[Master Ciaphas]

Excellent. That covers the cuniform diamonds on their knees. How about unit markings on the right shoulder pauldron?

 

Cheers!

[Carlson793]

Excellent. That covers the cuniform diamonds on their knees. How about unit markings on the right shoulder pauldron?

 

Cheers!

There are too few examples of different Heresy Era Salamander squad types to determine. Considering how individual the XVIIIth's members are, something inconsistent and personalized for each model would be called for. If you go pre-Vulkan Saturnyne Rams, however, standard 40K Space Marine designations would appear be appropriate.

[Master Ciaphas]

Cheers!

 

Would I be correct in assuming that the same goes for 30k HH  Salamanders?

 

Regards,

MC

[Carlson793]

Would I be correct in assuming that the same goes for 30k HH  Salamanders?

That's specifically in reference to 30K Salamanders. By 40K, though there is still a level of individualism, the unit markings generally become more uniform, probably due to them following the Codex Astartes (at least to a certain degree). This is really evident when you compare images from HH2: Massacre to those from IA Ten: The Badab War Part Two. Basically, you can divide Salamanders iconography into four general periods:

 

Crusade Era - Common Crusade Designations - Saturnyne Rams - prior to the discovery of Vulcan, the XVIIIth legion followed used a common scheme: Rams head with legion number on the left shoulder; unit type (Tactical, Assault, etc.) icon on the right with the unit number in Roman numerals overlaying it. 

 

 

 

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/f/f6/XVIII_Legionary_2.jpg

 

 

 

Heresy Era - Variable Unit Designations - Between discovery of Vulkan and Isstvan V. Loads of variety, loads of individualism.

 

 

 

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/d/d1/Salamanders_Tactical_Legionary.jpghttp://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/c/c9/Salamanders_Breacher_Mk_III.pnghttp://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/e/e4/Salamanders_Pyroclast_2.jpg

 

 

 

Badab War Era - Common Designations - The common unit icons we're familiar with. There's some variety, but that seems to mostly account for different armor marks. 

 

 

 

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/0/00/Pre-Hersey_Salamander.jpghttp://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/1/17/Vet_Bro_Mark_III.jpghttp://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/9/96/Salamanders_Space_Marine.jpghttp://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/a/a4/Salamander_Assault_Brother_Mark_VI.jpg

 

 

 

 

'Late' 40K Era - Flame Designations - By this point, with chapter icon color/background designating company, and set company organization within each company, no unit designators are needed. Instead, all units take the flame icon with Gothic Numeral denoting squad. If you see orange drake/black background on the left and flame with Gothic 8 on the right, you are seeing 3rd Company 8th Devastator Squad; same with Gothic 7 would be 3rd Co. 7th Tactical Squad; and with Gothic 11 3rd Co. 11th Assault Squad. See here for details.

 

 

 

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/f/fd/Salamanders_4th_Co.jpg

 

 

[Master Ciaphas]

Cheers!

 

Ah, ok. So basically they go by the idea of: "We are master craftsmen and smiths. We will wear what we like, and we know each other from how we have wrought our armour, to identify which unit you are from"?

 

Regards,

Master Ciaphas