Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I am greatly confused by all the differences between space marine chapters in displaying chapter, company, and squad markings. So here I've broken it down.

Ultramarines and variants (salamanders, raven guard, crimson fists, imperial fists, iron hands, white scars, etc.) :
Well, I don't have much trouble with marines from 2nd-9th companies--those are just chapter marking on the left, squad (tactical, devastator, assault) on the right. Company is designated by the color of the border of the shoulder guard. But what about marines from the 1st and 10th companies? Do scouts have any special squad markings or do they just have chapter markings on both shoulder pads? They don't have either squad or company markings, right? And terminators confuse me no end. They reverse the shoulder pads or something? Veterans and command squads are normal, just with only one squad option (skull for command, cross for veterans).

Dark Angels:
Again, 2nd-9th are easy: chapter on left, squad on right, and company on knee. But again there's nothing about scouts! They get a squad marking or not? At least no knee pads to worry about with them. And what about veterans? Do they have a company marking? I'm assuming they get the cross as their squad icon, like ultramarines, but is that so? I guess they also get robes to help set them apart. And do command squads have a squad icon?

Blood Angels:
At least here the 1st and 10th companies have special markings designated. All companies do the chapter on left, company on right, squad on the knee. But what's the veterans' squad marking? And command squads? What about terminators?

Black Templars:
All on their own, no worries here except with the Terminators, as usual. I think all terminators in all chapters follow the same principle? Crux Terminatus on left, chapter on right? Oh, and command squads, they don't seem to have any special designation...

Space Wolves:
Not gonna worry about them, they have all their own special stuff.

Oh, and sergeants. Ultras get red helmets, blood angels get black shoulder pads since they already have red helmets. But how do you set apart Dark Angels Sergeants? And Black Templar Sergeants? (BTs only have them in the command squads though, so not a huge deal).

Thanks to everyone in advance!

The thing to remember is that they are your miniatures, paint them as you see them. It is always a better option to add your own version of markings etc as it makes your army more unique. Things like knee pad markings are purely optional ,again solely up to you whether you want them or not. I'm making a sternguard unit based on the standard tactical set. The way I'm making them into sternguard are simply doing something like painting the trim on the shoulder pads black; as basic as that.
Sergant markings do not need to be red helmets, it is just something to identify that figure from the rest of the squads on the tabletop. As far as I know there are no scout markings apart from maybe the chapter symbol. As for terminators anything from chapter symbols to your own design; that is to say a squad design that is different from other terminator squads in your army.

it in the end comes down mainly to the chapter and as Slipstream said, its all about how you see your Chapter.

Okay, yeah, that's what I assumed. I just wondered for fluff reasons.

Considering we are playing a game that potentially spans the galaxy and 10,000 years of history, fluff should be made to serve your purpose, rather than limiting you

Good point.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I love making up stuff because it makes sense and is cool and there's no rule against it.

If you can find a copy of Insignium Astartes, it goes over the "codex approved" means of marking company/squad markings.

Even the Raven Guard do not mark their companies/squads/unit type the same way that the Ultramarines do. In most existing fluff, the Raven guard use different colors for their unit types: White for command/vets, Red for assault, Yellow for Devastators, green for tactical (but none other than chapter black for scouts).


Realistically, I mark my squads in such a way that it is easy to distinguish from a "distance" while playing. so using a different colored knee pad, or shoulder trim may help your games along, because you can ID your units much quicker for shooting, casualties etc.