Deathwatch past service

[Skywrath]

Greetings, brothers.

 

Lore-question: Let's assume a Dark Angel who had served in the Deathwatch finishes his vigil. Would he be allowed to keep the deathwatch pauldron in place of his chapter one after he finished the service?

 

Practical question: If the above was allowed, would that be acceptable on that table-top? So for instance, I have a trio of DA aggressors, but I also got the Deathwatch upgrade sprue. I would paint them green, and leave one shoulder with the insignia of the Deathwatch (proper colour and everything). Would that be legal?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Black Knight]

Yes they keep their pauldron and left arm as silver. There are many places in the lore that this is described but I cannot think of a specific example right now except the Deathwing game where one of the Terminators has his pauldron + arm silver. I think its a choice though they could choose not to wear it.

 

Painting wise yes that would be legal as it is just one arm and shoulder and the rest is in whatever colour you choose.

 

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/298900/ss_41aa78b831a66f82623db92bc77c4bbccec8c57d.1920x1080.jpg?t=1473355705

[Skywrath]

Well, that clarifies that, thank you brothers!

 

:thumbup:

[Grotsmasha]

Greetings, brothers.

 

Lore-question: Let's assume a Dark Angel who had served in the Deathwatch finishes his vigil. Would he be allowed to keep the deathwatch pauldron in place of his chapter one after he finished the service?

 

Practical question: If the above was allowed, would that be acceptable on that table-top? So for instance, I have a trio of DA aggressors, but I also got the Deathwatch upgrade sprue. I would paint them green, and leave one shoulder with the insignia of the Deathwatch (proper colour and everything). Would that be legal?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Typically the Deathwatch pad is moved to the right shoulder on return to the Chapter, and the Chapter Pad takes it's correct place on the left.

[Brother Tyler]

Here are two quotes from previous similar discussions (you can click the links to see the full discussions). The first is specifically about veterans of the Deathwatch.

A common practice is for veterans of the Deathwatch to switch the Deathwatch pauldron and silver arm over to the right side when returning to their parent Chapter. However, there is at least one example of a veteran of the Deathwatch not following that practice - Uriel Ventris. His armour evinced no signs that he had served in the Deathwatch. Granted, this may have been a plot device because his previous service in the Deathwatch wasn't a consideration until the plot demanded it.

As with any other issue of Adeptus Astartes heraldry and livery, there are plenty of options. The Imperial Armour (and Horus Heresy) books from Forge World do a really good job of showing the diversity in marking options, including variations within a squad (e.g., members of the same squad having their squad badges/numbers in different locations/styles). While the Forge World books haven't (yet) shown any Deathwatch veterans (that I can recall), it would be easy to apply the variation in other markings to Deathwatch veteran status. For example, a battle-brother might display the Deathwatch icon, or a stylized version of it, some place on his armour like a kneepad or the chestplate or a tilt shield. Or perhaps a purity seal with the Deathwatch icon might be affixed to his armour. Alternately, he might wear his oath as a scroll or seal or even engraved/painted upon his armour.

Here is a post in which I demonstrated some of these variations (the topic was about Deathwatch veteran honours and terminator honours, but the examples work for any number of heraldry/livery concepts).

Note that the link in the post above takes you to the post below in its original discussion.

The second topic was also about veterans of the Deathwatch, though my examples likened methodologies for showing this status to terminator honours.

There are the obvious ones (that you've most likely already read): the codex, the novels, the FFG Deathwatch RPG.

Other than that, the Forge World books are/were great at showing Adeptus Astartes with variations in armour decorations and honours, especially the two Badab War books and the Horus Heresy books. The old Imperial Armour books are much more difficult to come by since 8th edition, and they might not be worth it if all you're looking for is armour decorations.

Here are two Angels of Vigilance Space Marines that I created (started with the Space Marine Painter and then modified using Paint and Photoshop):

The one on the left is a veteran. He has the typical Deathwatch shoulder pad, worn on the right arm as is typical for veterans of the Deathwatch. He also wears his Terminator honours as a badge upon the right gauntlet (the yellow cruciform device).

The one on the right is a company master. He is not a veteran of the Deathwatch, but wears his Terminator honours as a decoration added to the heraldry on his right pauldron (the white cross).

Both of these are personal images created from my imagination, but are patterned after images shown in a number of the Forge World books.

And here is an image of a model that I never finished (please excuse the craptastic paint job, I was working under a time crunch):

It's an old 2nd edition Veteran Sergeant model that I used to represent a Marines Exemplar captain. He is a veteran of the Deathwatch, bearing the icon of the Deathwatch upon his right kneepad. He also has Terminator honours, symbolized by the white cross decoration upon his right pauldron.

(I really need to go back and fix him up.)

Here's an image plan for a model for my DIY Chapter, the Nova Hawks:

He's a veteran, indicated by the squad badge upon the right pauldron. This veteran has Terminator honours, symbolized by the black and orange cross decoration upon his right kneepad.

All of the images above are based on my interpretation of what the lore allows for both veterans of the Deathwatch and Terminator honours. You'll find plenty of other similar examples by other players here at the B&C.

[Skywrath]

Thanks for responses, both of you. In light of this information, I've decided to go ahead and do this. However, unfortunately, I put the pauldrons on the wrong side (oops) of the model - I was assembling the figurine before I got to that part, sorry! 

[Master Sheol]

 

 

Greetings, brothers.

 

Lore-question: Let's assume a Dark Angel who had served in the Deathwatch finishes his vigil. Would he be allowed to keep the deathwatch pauldron in place of his chapter one after he finished the service?

 

Practical question: If the above was allowed, would that be acceptable on that table-top? So for instance, I have a trio of DA aggressors, but I also got the Deathwatch upgrade sprue. I would paint them green, and leave one shoulder with the insignia of the Deathwatch (proper colour and everything). Would that be legal?

 

Thanks in advance!

Typically the Deathwatch pad is moved to the right shoulder on return to the Chapter, and the Chapter Pad takes it's correct place on the left.

Correct

Former DW marines returning to their original chapters repaint armour in the original colors, put the DW pad on the right and chapter pad on the left

Markings that were usually associated to the right pad (squad or company according to the chapter) are moved elsewhere like on one of the kneepads

 

In the case of the above mentioned DA marine he will probably have:

Green armour

DA badge on left shoulder

DW badge on the right shoulder

Company badge on the left knee

Squad badge on the right knee

Edited July 9, 2020 by Master Sheol

[Skywrath]

Bit of self-advertisement, decided to go for this color scheme - finished painting them right now.  

 

[Master Sheol]

I love these agressors! :)

Usually the DW pads would be on the right and the DA ion the left but hey these are your models and you can decide how you like them ;)

[Grotsmasha]

Nice one :tu: