Primaris Vanguard in camo armour?

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Pfft, no camo for Black Templars! Camo is only to be used sensibly.

 

 

Like on Titans...

[nusphigor]

To be honest, the quote of "camouflage is the colour of weakness" is from Carab Cullin from the Red Scorpions, a chapter very proud of their colours and who obviously wouldn't use that in their armour.
Buuuuuuuuut that is not common place in the other chapters, some maybe but not all of them as the codex astartes actually has a section on camo (mainly for the scouts, and i suppose now for the vanguard with the recent redaction made by the primarch)

 

I have invited to the forum the author of that beautiful marine in camo, hopefully he can share with us how he did it.
As for what i could see from the picture it's a zandri dust base with some bone, yellow and brown paint stippled on top, and then an agrax earthshade wash. But i don't know if it's an overall one or just in some places.

What i have don with my Fists is a basecoat of Zandri Dust, then stripes of Dryad Bark, Screaming Skull and XV-88, then an overall shade of Agrax Earthshade, but i can see that i will have to retouch some parts with the original colours.
Now i'm on the process of painting white, black and freehanding the chapter's symbol.
I will upload pics as soon as i'm don painting the fists and the metal parts :)

[Sandlemad]

To be honest, the quote of "camouflage is the colour of weakness" is from Carab Cullin from the Red Scorpions, a chapter very proud of their colours and who obviously wouldn't use that in their armour.

Buuuuuuuuut that is not common place in the other chapters, some maybe but not all of them as the codex astartes actually has a section on camo (mainly for the scouts, and i suppose now for the vanguard with the recent redaction made by the primarch)

 

Ironically, despite Culln’s quote and their distate for it, Imperial Armour 9 does say Red Scorpions will use camo "when strictly needed”. 

 

Out of universe their RT background shows use of camo on a ‘Pursuit squad’ at Angstrom and a land raider at Galan V. The latter was kind of referenced in Imperial Armour 9 with one Brother Dorras, a marine in the “Angstrom Infiltration Force” who is suffering from “Ash Zone Armour Contamination”, i.e. his armour’s darkened and less visible due to the terrain he’s moving through. You can be proud in your colours and still perhaps not brush off some useful dust which stops enemy scouts from spotting you. 

 

Proud to live, proud to die with colours showing, sure, but in the right circumstance even the most starcharsed marines can see the use of camo in some form.

[Closet Skeleton]

One of the 4th ed chapter customisation traits was 'don't use camo', implying that it was a perculiarity not the norm.

 

 

HAVE PRIDE IN YOUR COLOURS

Although all Space Marines proudly display their heraldry to intimidate the enemy the Codex Astartes makes provisions for the use of stealth where appropriate. Some Space Marine Chapters take an extreme view and reject stealth in all its forms as an act of cowardice.

No models may use the Infiltrate or Scouts special rules.

 

Space Marines aren't usually painted in camo because camo is environment specific and wargaming armies will usually be used in multiple scenarios not themed around a single campaign.

 

There are camoflage schemes listed in the Codex Astartes, there are more planets in the galaxy than pages in that book so its probably not complete for all environments. A dogmatic codex adherant chapter might insist on using schemes straight out of the book, a pragmatic captain might adapt them to local environments while a codex divergeant one might discard the concept entirely.

[Dr. Clock]

"So impressed was Guilliman with the performance of Vanguard troops that he made a number of amendments to the Codex Astartes to better accommodate them into Space Marine ranks. These new amendments sees most of the great Chapters typical operating around 100 Vanguard Space Marines attached to the 10th Scout Company. These troops fall under the command of a Captain known as the Master of Reconnaissance who is in turn supported by two Space Marine Lieutenants that have displayed an aptitude for covert operations. Even chapters that are not codex-compliment [sic] such as the Space Wolves and Black Templars ensure that they maintain a standing formation of Vanguard Space Marines." (https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Vanguard_Space_Marine)

 

So I've been mulling this over a bunch as I paint up my Reivers (I know)...

 

But my main takeaways have been:

 

1) 10th Co. officially have 'no heraldry'; they can have any colouring as dictated by mission, and don't even have a standardized 'company colour' for trim etc. They do have a standard company badge, but beyond that they can be any colour(s).

 

Chapter badges are still used, as are squad designation markings: (https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/2/20/VanguardHeraldry.jpg)

 

2) Not all Vanguard units are necessarily 10th Co.! Primaris marines are trained in the use of all Mk. X loadouts and systems for a simple reason: flexibility. Between missions there's no reason that, for instance, a Battleline squad couldn't swap between Tacticus Intercessor and Phobos Infiltrator kit, or even combat squad out for a 5+5 of each. As Strike Forces are expected to operate on their own, over a period of many years they could end up with their own little 10th Co. Vanguard sections for situations where they have recruited beyond the units otherwise seconded to them... So if a Strikeforce goes out with a full Battle Company, there may come a point where all their units have a full 10 brethren, and new scout 'graduates' will have to form new Vanguard units as a 'waiting area for promotion' to a different squad as attrition continues. Obviously this will be somewhat rare, as most marine units may be expected to be below full strength during a protracted campaign. Of course, if a Strike Force is formed to include 1-2 Vanguard units from 10th Co., then the Commander will have the option of promoting new Brothers into those as-needed. Thus it would not be surprising to see one or two 'camo vanguard from 10th Co.' units attached to any given strike force of Battle and Reserve Co. units.

 

The important distinctions for Primaris are Battleline/Close Support/Fire Support, and there are both Tacticus and Phobos loadouts for both (also Gravis, but I digress). Thus, my Reivers are '5th Co. Close Support Squad Two', while Squad One is currently broken out to 1x3 Outriders + 2x3 Inceptors. To my mind Reivers make decent sense as Vanguard in a Battle Company mission because their heraldry can be part of the terror tactics: you want the enemy to KNOW who is violently gutting them lol.

 

Thus, for the OP's purposes, camo is perfectly acceptable and indeed often expected for 10th Co. Vanguard from a Codex perspective. Think of Vanguard as basically 'Scouts in power armour', and you're not far off.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Son of Sacrifice]

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

That was a high quality post and I appreciate the effort.