Veterans, Sergeants and whatnot

[Rasclomalum]

As per the Codex Astartes, sergeants wear red helmets, veterans wear white helmets, and so on. 

 

What happens if a Codex compliant Chapter wear red armor? Is there an alternative Sergeant helmet colour in such cases? Same thing with marines in white armour - do their Veterans wear helmets some other colour than white?

[Tokugawa]

Why this topic is in "space marines" subforum , not "ultramarines"? I don't think any other chapter really respect and follows the codex to every details.

[apologist]

As per the Codex Astartes, sergeants wear red helmets, veterans wear white helmets, and so on. 

What happens if a Codex compliant Chapter wear red armor? Is there an alternative Sergeant helmet colour in such cases? Same thing with marines in white armour - do their Veterans wear helmets some other colour than white?

 

While the details of the Codex Astartes are touched on through various publications, it's worth bearing in mind the snippets we get are insights into it, rather than the whole thing. It's perhaps best understood in-universe as a religious text rather than a pure military manual. It's open to interpretation and different groups will place emphasis on different aspects. Similarly, like heraldic style guides, they're frequently concerned with the general theory rather than providing set examples. 

 

In general, the Codex seems to emphasise adaptability and flexibility – far from the staid and rigid rulebook as it's sometimes portrayed. Thus we're told that Space Marines are encouraged to vary and change their iconography over time to confuse the enemy and prevent them identifying things. That's a fairly sensible military principle (and one that's mana from heaven for people wanting to add their own spin to things), but obviously doesn't translate very well to a company trying to sell miniatures with a clearly uniform heraldic feel, identifiable at tabletop distance.

 

As a result, the studio Ultramarines show a 'standard' Codex approach – red helms on sergeants, white helms on veterans, and all the other markings in the army book. It's not the only way that the Ultramarines in-universe would appear: we've got references to camouflage, alternative schemes, independent heraldry, different ways of showing company colour (arm, rather than shoulder trim, for example) and lots more. 

 

Other Chapters apply the Codex Astartes more or less rigidly. The Black Consuls, for example, are noted as being more tied to the strictures of the Codex Astartes than even the Ultramarines, while others – like the Blood Angels –  show some small deviations. Both Blood Angels and Black Consuls, however, remain 'Codex-compliant'.

 

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On the specifics of helmets for red or white-armoured armies, I think the point the Codex makes is to make the sergeant/veteran distinguishable in some way. As an example, White Consuls bear a reversed version of the Ultramarines heraldry. Their armour is mostly white, so they might use blue helms to denote their sergeants. Equally, they might use blue to denote veteran status, and some other device to denote sergeant rank. 

 

Blood Angels, in red, leave their sergeants helms the same colour as the rest of the squad (again, designating squad type by helm colour is a perfectly Codex-adherent practise). They instead mark out their sergeants by reversing the colour of their pauldrons: black fields with red trim, rather than the other way round.

 

In short, there's no single way for even the most Codex-conservative Chapters to mark particular roles within a Chapter, merely a series of suggestions. The over-riding implication is that you as a player have free range to paint your models as you like, with in-universe justification for whatever you choose :)

[Son of Sacrifice]

I love that answer ^^^^

 

Absolutely spot on.

[Rasclomalum]

Thank you, apologist! Spoken like a true son of the Emperor. That was a wonderfully helpful answer.

[Closet Skeleton]

Why this topic is in "space marines" subforum , not "ultramarines"? I don't think any other chapter really respect and follows the codex to every details.

 

Imperial Fists certainly use all the same markings as the Ultramarines.

 

Technically there is no such thing as 'The Codex Astartes'. Guilliman wrote the original after the Heresy and then gave a copy to every first and second founding chapter. Then 10,000 years past and the first second founding chapters altered, updated, copied and recopied their own versions. Third founding chapters then had to get their own copies from some source that wasn't the original any more and later founding chapters were in an even worse position if they wanted to try and get access to a 'standard version'.

 

Chapters that don't use the standard codex markings don't disrespect or ignore parts of the Codex, they instead respect and follow a version of the Codex that doesn't agree with the other versions. Salamanders are still Codex compliant, their codex just has a different company structure.