1st Company helmet colors

[Arch69]

All great replies. I appreciate the help.

[dread05]

 

As noted the white blood angel chapter symbol in the 9th ed transfers is a new thing noted for veterans we've not seen before, equally interesting, there is a total lack of white skulls for the right shoulder pad so i wonder if that will no longer be a thing for them.

 

I think that's because on both sternguard and vanguard GW uses the crux terminatus shoulder pad on their website. The only official model that has the Archanges skull at this point is Karlaen.

 

 

Also I'd like to point out that ultramarines terminators have white helmets in accordance with the other 1st company veterans. Just as a counter argument to the point of terminators being in termiantor armor already marks them as veterans, hence there is no reason to have gold helmets.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

Fair point, but isn't it because the Codex Astartes dictates that whole 1st Company shall display their company colours (white or silver, heraldically the same thing anyway) also on the helmets?

[dread05]

You are right about that but I think the argument still stands, just because terminators are veterans by default, that doesnt mean that they dont have to display 1st company/veteran markings.

 

(although as a counter argument to myself, Archangels on official GW models do neither; terminators dont paint their helmets gold and sternguard/vanguard veterans display the crux terminatus instead of the Archangels' white skull on their right shoulders)

 

tl;dr everything goes and you can do w/e you like. I give my 1st company marines the crux terminatus shoulderpads myself.

[Arkhanist]

If veterans have the crux, they're entitled to wear it; it's entirely feasible for all members of a vanguard/sternguard squad to have it, but not wearing terminator suits for tactical/shortage reasons. IIRC, the vanguard vet kit has a full set of crux shoulder pads, while the sternguard has some but the rest are random bling - eagles and wreaths and the like.

 

Though given they're only making new Primaris marines now in the fluff, and the rubicon being a thing, they'll get to the point where all the remaining firstborn marines are crux-bearing veterans, officers or Death Company!

[Klod]

So the short answer is no, Terminators have always been red helmeted, however often with one black fist (left side, never explained as far as I can tell.)

 

I don't remember the source, but I read that they paint their left glove (doesn't have to be a power fist) black in memory of the 'Sin of Damnation' disaster. To honour the Terminators that died on that Space Hulk.

[Master Sheol]

It Is difficult to give a consistent answer with GW because they keep changing things

Like in 1st/2nd edition all BA captains wore gold armour then GW started to paint them red with only Thyco and Dante in gold then they stated that gold armour was for artificer armour instead of admitting that the painters made a mistake

And the shoulder pads that in 2nd edition were red with black trims and chapter badge while the squad leader and sergeant had inverted colors (black with red trims) with the squad leader had red chapter badge while the sergeant had yellow one

The squad leader was the guy that leaded one combat squad when you split a 10 men squad

The in 3rd edition squad leader dissappeared cause there was no more the combat squads rule and the black trim started to dissapear too

Then sometimes GW said that black pads trims were BA from a certain company

In the end even if the combat squads rule emerged again there is still no sign of the squad leader (it dissapeared from Codex Chapters and DA too)

 

So also the gold helmet for veterans had various incarnations trough the codexes

It was born with Dante bodyguard and then became the mark of comnand squads (Honor Guard in BA) and finally it was extended to all veterans

But BA are not totally a Codex Chapters cause normally a veteran sergeant of a tactical, assault, devastator squad should wear gold helmet but he actially wears the same color of his squad

And there is still the issue of Company command (ancient, champion, company veterans) that sometimes wear the white skull right pad even if they are not part of the 1st company

 

The thing about terminators always wearing red helmets is the same thing of Black Legion terminators that wear black helmets while the BL chosen in PA wear gold helmets. GW stated that the TDA is already a badge of veteranship so a different colored helmet was not needed

Edited June 18, 2020 by Master Sheol