Watch Company / Team Markings

[techsoldaten]

Working diligently on models for my army. Trying to wrap my head around Watch Company and Team Markings.

 

As I understand it:

 

- Each Watch Fortress has a Watch Commander, with a number of Watch Companies reporting to him.

 

- Kill Teams belong to a Watch Company. They are identified as Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus and Quintus.

 

- There are icongraphs specific to each Watch Company. They are generally displayed on the knee plate. They don't have to be displayed, but when they appear, they appear there.

 

- Each Watch Company has 4 Kill Teams. The Kill Team number (1 - 4) appears on top of the icongraph. It does not have to be displayed, but this is where it would appear.

 

Think I got this right, but would appreciate any corrections. Some other questions come to mind.

 

- Looking through various photo galleries, I don't see that many models with Watch Company or Kill Team painted on the model. Is this just something most people don't bother with, or is there another reason?

 

- Are there any guidelines about what kind of Kill Teams go into what Watch Companies? Would a Proteus Kill Team ever serve in the same Watch Company as an Indomitor?

 

- Are there Watch Companies that include more than 4 Kill Teams?

 

- For modelling purposes, what transfers do people generally use for the Kill Team markings? I've seen the numbers / roman numerals on old SM transfer sheets, but I'm not sure they're still going around.

 

- For display purposes, would it look tacky if I had a Kill Team with mixed HT designators on the models? Not that I think most people would care, but someone experienced with the fluff - would they look at this as a major defect?

 

- For Dreadnoughts, Land Speeders, Land Raiders, other support units - how do they fit into the organizational hierarchy? Do they belong to Watch Companies or some other part of the Watch Fortress organization?

 

Appreciate any responses.

[Inquisitor Trinity]

Ah this is a great topic! I've been very organised with the company markings as well. I've even got a spreadsheet to keep track of who is in which company/squad and from which chapter. I've been trying to not repeat chapters so i have to remember which i've used.

Working diligently on models for my army. Trying to wrap my head around Watch Company and Team Markings.

As I understand it:

- Each Watch Fortress has a Watch Commander, with a number of Watch Companies reporting to him.

- Kill Teams belong to a Watch Company. They are identified as Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus and Quintus.

- There are icongraphs specific to each Watch Company. They are generally displayed on the knee plate. They don't have to be displayed, but when they appear, they appear there.

- Each Watch Company has 4 Kill Teams. The Kill Team number (1 - 4) appears on top of the icongraph. It does not have to be displayed, but this is where it would appear.

Yep this is all correct! As we now have lieutenants i've assumed that there is also one of those per company.

Working diligently on models for my army. Trying to wrap my head around Watch Company and Team Markings.

Think I got this right, but would appreciate any corrections. Some other questions come to mind.

- Looking through various photo galleries, I don't see that many models with Watch Company or Kill Team painted on the model. Is this just something most people don't bother with, or is there another reason?

- Are there any guidelines about what kind of Kill Teams go into what Watch Companies? Would a Proteus Kill Team ever serve in the same Watch Company as an Indomitor?

- Are there Watch Companies that include more than 4 Kill Teams?

- For modelling purposes, what transfers do people generally use for the Kill Team markings? I've seen the numbers / roman numerals on old SM transfer sheets, but I'm not sure they're still going around.

- For display purposes, would it look tacky if I had a Kill Team with mixed HT designators on the models? Not that I think most people would care, but someone experienced with the fluff - would they look at this as a major defect?

- For Dreadnoughts, Land Speeders, Land Raiders, other support units - how do they fit into the organizational hierarchy? Do they belong to Watch Companies or some other part of the Watch Fortress organization?

Appreciate any responses.

I imagine that most people don't bother with it, it's more of an extra mile thing i think. Always like to see people do it though! Not sure if you've seen my army but i do it for all of them. The current lore would suggest only 4 kill teams per company but you can do what you like really. I don't often use transfers, i just paint roman numerals on the knees. You could definitely use transfers though. Not sure what you mean by HT designators? I imagine that all the vehicles belong to the central armoury of the watch fortress and are lent out to companies as they need. But also there could be some allocated to each company. I imagine it differs from fortress to fortress so either works.

As for which squad type go in which company i think any can go in any. This is my current structure:

Yellow is primaris and orange is firstborn.

Hope this helps and happy to answer any other questions if you have them!

[techsoldaten]

As for which squad type go in which company i think any can go in any. This is my current structure:

Yellow is primaris and orange is firstborn.

Hope this helps and happy to answer any other questions if you have them!

This chart is impressive, you're so well organized...

I've painted up 40 firstborn marines and need to organize them. This is enough for me to get them into companies if not teams.

Where I'm still confused is with how Dreads / Vehicles / Flyers / Tanks fit into the overall command structure and how that relates to markings.

In the 7th edition Codex, there are illustrations that include a Dreadnought with company markings on the right leg. In the 8th edition Codex, there's a painted Corvus that includes numeric markings on the wings (the stylized 3 in black on white.) But there's also the "Structure of the Shield" page in the 8th edition Codex, which has Strategium / Armoury separate from the kill teams, reporting to the Watch Master.

Not sure how to interpret these. Are the markings specific to a structure that's part of the Armoury / Strategium, or does it indicate they are attached to Kill Teams? I think it's the former, but I'm not 100% sure. If it is, not sure how the numeric system actually works.

9th edition has the added complication of being able to access most things in the Space Marine Codex. I'd like to add some Land Speeders to my army but I'm not sure how heraldry would work.

[Inquisitor Trinity]

This chart is impressive, you're so well organized...

Thanks! You should see the whole document, loadsss of stuff in there. Check out my painting log to see what i've done

Where I'm still confused is with how Dreads / Vehicles / Flyers / Tanks fit into the overall command structure and how that relates to markings.

In the 7th edition Codex, there are illustrations that include a Dreadnought with company markings on the right leg. In the 8th edition Codex, there's a painted Corvus that includes numeric markings on the wings (the stylized 3 in black on white.) But there's also the "Structure of the Shield" page in the 8th edition Codex, which has Strategium / Armoury separate from the kill teams, reporting to the Watch Master.

Not sure how to interpret these. Are the markings specific to a structure that's part of the Armoury / Strategium, or does it indicate they are attached to Kill Teams? I think it's the former, but I'm not 100% sure. If it is, not sure how the numeric system actually works.

9th edition has the added complication of being able to access most things in the Space Marine Codex. I'd like to add some Land Speeders to my army but I'm not sure how heraldry would work.

So there's this in the 9th codex :

This gives you an indication of what markings they use for vehicles, i think the implication is that the various vehicles are loaned out to each company from the central armoury and that they temporarily paint them with the relevant markings. I personally don't bother putting company/squad markings for the vehicles so i just paint a stripe of red on them somewhere for fun. But you can do whichever you choose really. The same rules apply for any vehicles coming from the main marine codex.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Of the night