Scout markings post-vanguard inclusion

[spiros14]

Hey,

 

Recently I got the idea of space marine scouts stuck in my mind. I don't really recall what triggered it, but it's enough for me to want to grab a squad and use them in either kill team or 40k crusade.

I noticed that there's been a slight change in the Scouts' lore that I think should be reflected in the Blood Angels' marking of them, and I wanted to know if you were of the same mind or if I'm way off.

Effectively, Scouts aren't a restricted part of chapter organisation any more. Previously chapters had ten squads of scouts and an indeterminate number of "Aspirants" but since the introduction of a wider phobos roster this has been changed: There are now ten units of Phobos Space Marines who I think are regarded as chapter specialists in stealth rather than marines-in-training (basically taking a leaf from the Space Wolves scout), and any number of scout squads who get a chapter badge, a squad number, and dumped with whatever company that will have them for training (and given the more recent quotes about them, it seems they're given the same respect and survival rate of your average Necromundan juve).

So I think where before a Blood Angel scout had the tenth company badge on his pauldron in their old artwork, really that should be the badge on phobos only, and scouts should now be given more traditional numbers seen on codex-compliant chapters, especially as by the time of 8th edition, the Blood Angels had 400-odd Aspirants, because any mortal survivors of the Devastation of Baal got a free pass into the chapter. (and the colourful squad markings on the knee only go up to 20 - half the number of scout squads there should be!)

 

TL;DR: Scouts aren't people in the eyes of the chapter any more. Why are we marking them up like they're people?