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Caution stripes are wonderful gifts that the Emperor gave to the Iron Warriors before they turned against his light. He then gifted the Sisters of Battle with caution stripes, and they've spread ever since, to bolters, powerfists, and all sorts of things.

So, why is there a plethora of caution stripes in the 41st millennium? Is safety that much of a concern in a time where lives are counted not in men, but in planets? More importantly, why do we love caution stripes so much?

Discuss.

Brother SRM wrote:So, why is there a plethora of caution stripes in the 41st millennium? Is safety that much of a concern in a time where lives are counted not in men, but in planets? More importantly, why do we love caution stripes so much?Discuss.

The contrasting colors , it symbolizes danger to all animals . We just cant get our eyes off it.

( example : wasp / centipede on insects , coral snakes , poison salamanders , yellow octopus )
etc etc

I agree with LunaHound, it screams "this is dangerous", and as wargamers we all like the dangerous things on our vehicles and guns, I guess.

same reason 99% of things in 40k stick to their contemporary versions, but often spacier! (laser-rifles, CHAINswords, jetbikes, etc.) Because we like things familiar

same reason every war in 40k isn't decided by who virus bombs who back to the stone age. Because it's more interesting that way

EDIT: orks with hazard stripes have always been worth a chuckle to me; THIS SLUGGA'S DANJERUS! SPECIALLY IF I BARSH YER 'EAD WIF IT!"

Its due to the annoying occupational health and safety regulations that are imposed by the Imperial Administratum.

Thats the real reason the traitor legions are banished to the eye of terror - their just too spikey for a safe workplace.

I like it on the inside of land raider assault ramps. It stops my terminators tripping up and making fools of themselves. Without the caution stripes they would miss all their attacks!

Kyoto Sensei wrote:The Construction Worker Space Marines like to paint Yellow and Black Stripes on Everything. This is for Safety. They also like to Blow Up Stuff. This is for Unsafety. They are very complicated people. This is why they are very (x2) popular. – Sneak Preview of Construction Worker Space Marines

Construction Worker Marines, or Iron Warriors as they are sometimes called, are my favorite army.
In fact I started the army because of the caution stripes. When I was first getting into 40k I briefly considered playing Dark Eldar (dodged one bullet), and then decided to go with loyalist ultramarines, because I saw a picture in the 3e codex of UM terminators with caution stripes on their power fists. However one of my friends was already ultramarines, so I had to keep searching. I found Iron Warriors in the 3.5e chaos codex, and they fit the army I wanted perfectly. Paranoid, serious warriors, focused on siege warfare and engineering. Only turned to chaos because they were fed up with being stretched so thin and never being recognized. This was probably Horus's plan in the end, but all the Iron Warriors wanted was a bit of rest and recognition for doing the hard work. They aren't the same MAIM KILL BURN/kill entire planetary populations in the night/render down star systems into super crack/etc.
Unfortunately fun doesn't last forever, and my super-happiness from 3.5e chaos giving me an army list was snatched from me in the 4.0e codex. Couldn't dodge that second bullet. Oh well, maybe I'll start up again when Traitor Legions Volume II comes out some time in mid 2014.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and as I do love caution stripes so much, I put them on all power fists, chain swords, flamer gas tanks, and other such dangerous items.

You think angry marines are just yellow for fun?
Each of them is one yellow stripe that when united with their Super-angry-emo-marine-with-black-armour allies forms an army wide set of caution stripes.

in short, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

corpsesarefun wrote:You think angry marines are just yellow for fun?
Each of them is one yellow stripe that when united with their Super-angry-emo-marine-with-black-armour allies forms an army wide set of caution stripes.

BY YOUR POWERS COMBINED...

Cheese Elemental wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:You think angry marines are just yellow for fun?
Each of them is one yellow stripe that when united with their Super-angry-emo-marine-with-black-armour allies forms an army wide set of caution stripes.

BY YOUR POWERS COMBINED...

I AM CAPTAIN CAUTION STRIPE!

I think caution stripes on a power fist should be considered something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's no wonder the Eldar are dying out; they aren't using caution stripes! Because of their foolishness, traffic accidents on Craftworld Saim-hann are at an all-time high.

ahhh you're all mistaken. The real reason is down to the wonders of paint. You see when the emporer 'died' the secrets of paint manufacture also went with him. The only paint readily available is what was stockpiled on Earth, Black for the Undercoat and Yellow because the fists pretty much do whatever they want and had lots of yellow paint produced to keep themselves looking shiny while trying to hide in the Emporers parapets. Now when the edges of armour gets scratched (particularly chainswords, power fists that have regular contact with the enemy) they are repainted in the only colours available, and due to rationing there is only half of each colour required for the size of the scratch, hench the funty two tone stripes we all enjoy today.

When the Black Templars Land Raider door opens the Frag Assault Launchers go off.
When the Iron Warriors Land Raider door opens the tannoys go off: 'Please mind the gap.' 'Caution - Ramp' 'Mind your head'

The OC-D

Because a caution stripe looks better than a sign that says "CAUTION: Gun/glove/chainsaw-sword may be fatal when in use and should not be operated while intoxicated"?

Although I could see that working in Guard.

I put caution stripes on my Ork Powaklaws because I imagine them looting the power sources (aka batteries) from humies. And anything with that sort of power outage NEEDS to have some sort of warning attached to it!

(And because the colours look awesome with the red from the rest of the klaw)

I blame the mechanicus union bylaws....

Because I couldn't resist painting two 4 inch long, inch wide ones on top of my land raider.

Lunahound has the idea.

Iron Warrior's are dangerous, and their too cool for a patron god.

They were in fact my first army, all repainted to EC though D:.

And Sometimes the giant walking tank need's to them to kindly let you know to step out of the way.

Because the guns and such were colored black and boring, so some people decided to smear cheese on them

Why aren't there caution stripes on plasma guns?

Probably because anything glowing green/blue/red with heat doesn't need a caution stripe. Or maybe simply because we all know you are going to roll a "1" with that guy anyway, so no amount of caution will save that poor chap. I know I sure do.... every time. Like clockwork.

Because it gets burned off too often to be cost effective anymore.

I really never understood why people are in to the whole caution stripes thing. I don’t like them at all. Besides, with all the spikes, blades and demonic claws on my vehicles, it’s a bit of a moot point.

Cheese Elemental wrote:It's no wonder the Eldar are dying out; they aren't using caution stripes! Because of their foolishness, traffic accidents on Craftworld Saim-hann are at an all-time high.

I kinda thought, for IW, that it might have something to do with their rivalry with the IF. Perhaps the IW (black) are using the yellow/black striping to represent the IW crossing out, or overcoming the IF and crushing them. Kinda like the way the US flag red/white stripes mean something.

Best. Falcon. Ever.

Warboss Lockjaw wrote:I kinda thought, for IW, that it might have something to do with their rivalry with the IF. Perhaps the IW (black) are using the yellow/black striping to represent the IW crossing out, or overcoming the IF and crushing them. Kinda like the way the US flag red/white stripes mean something.

Iron Warriors had caution stripes when they were still loyalist.

They're just more awesome now that we're covered in spikes.

I think I found Perturabo...