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About a year ago I started painting a custom Space Marine chapter before I really knew much about the fluff. As the project advanced, and I learned more about the universe, I decided I wanted them to adhere strictly to the Codex Astartes. The problem was, I had already painted up almost two full squads of tactical marines with blue shoulder pauldron trim (link to my P&M Blog is in my sig, if you care). According to Codex: Space Marines 5th Edition, blue shoulder trim is restricted to the 9th Company, which is a reserve company consisting entirely of Devastator Squads.

I guess my question is, have I already violated the Codex Astartes too much to be a "strict" Space Marine chapter, a la the Ultramarines or Imperial Fists? What alternatives do I have to show differences in company and squad? I'm not sure how to develop my fluff. I'm now considering diverting from the Codex entirely, giving my Chapter a mutated gene seed, and doing elite squads in a different paint scheme, like the Dark Angels or Gitzsplitta's Mantis Warriors.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

Raatcharch wrote:About a year ago I started painting a custom Space Marine chapter before I really knew much about the fluff. As the project advanced, and I learned more about the universe, I decided I wanted them to adhere strictly to the Codex Astartes. The problem was, I had already painted up almost two full squads of tactical marines with blue shoulder pauldron trim (link to my P&M Blog is in my sig, if you care). According to Codex: Space Marines 5th Edition, blue shoulder trim is restricted to the 9th Company, which is a reserve company consisting entirely of Devastator Squads.

I guess my question is, have I already violated the Codex Astartes too much to be a "strict" Space Marine chapter, a la the Ultramarines or Imperial Fists? What alternatives do I have to show differences in company and squad? I'm not sure how to develop my fluff. I'm now considering diverting from the Codex entirely, giving my Chapter a mutated gene seed, and doing elite squads in a different paint scheme, like the Dark Angels or Gitzsplitta's Mantis Warriors.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

I would probably just say go your own Chapter and have fun with it. You haven't really botched anything as it's all paint, you can just paint over it again to fix your mistake. However, if you are doing a Codex Astartes Chapter might as well choose one that is already in the lore. Otherwise work outside of it so that you have an option to make up cooler lore IMHO.

Violated the codex ?

Don't let Sicarius find out...






Seriously, the codex is a collection of advice and not to be taken as " Law ".
Especially if its a chapter of your own. Different colors to represent companies? No problem.
1) in the HH series , the 'author' of it, robot gullyman himself intended it as guideline and not as Word set in stone.
2) the example of a 100% adherence in insignium astartes are the Ultramarines. Still markings aren't shown as one set but a few variantions of them so IMO a bit flexibility with colors is no codex violation at all and considering the combos you may get with certain colors in a paint -scheme its almost impossible to follow the codex scheme absolutely all the time.
3) don't let your opponent get used to know your force organization too well. Colors used for 10 millenia? Make sure no one survives to tell.
The enemy shall know who was his/her doom. But they don't need to broadcast the size of your force just by identifying your colors..
4) adherence to codex is flexible. Its a widely used tome and distances and different traditions may influence the emphasis on certain passages of the codex .
5) Ultras are obviously 200% codex adherent.
6) any chapter accepting more than 50% of the codex as guideline adheres to the codex. Somehow.

Color schemes are not proscribed by the Codex Astartes, nor are other 'cultural' traditions like awards, ceremonies, and unit names.

The Codex is a practical guide to warfare, a living breathing compilation of the tactical knowledge of generations of Space Marine Commanders. It's more of a library than a book. Being Codex adherent does not mean you are identical to the Ultramarines in tradition and tactics. It means adopting the Codex and following it's guidelines. There is lots of room for variation within codex chapters.

And again, color schemes and other cultural trappings are not proscribed by the codex.

Awesome! Thanks for the advice guys. I'm still pretty new to 40k fluff, and pretty much all I had to go on was the 5th edition Codex: Space Marines book and the online wikis. Considering the general feel of the GrimDark, I wasn't sure if minor deviations from the Codex got the attention of the Ordos Hereticus or something.

Raatcharch wrote:Awesome! Thanks for the advice guys. I'm still pretty new to 40k fluff, and pretty much all I had to go on was the 5th edition Codex: Space Marines book and the online wikis. Considering the general feel of the GrimDark, I wasn't sure if minor deviations from the Codex got the attention of the Ordos Hereticus or something.

The only thing the Ordo Hereticus cares about when it comes to the codex is making sure a chapter isn't extending their power beyond a certain limit. Everything else, they don't care about as long as the chapter is shooting at the enemy.

The colours are just for Ultra's...not for all units. The codex says that because the Ultramarines are the poster-boys of the SM. Be as free as you like with your colours (as long as they are not chaos inspired)

There was a fantastic article in UK WD 299 (I think, don't have it to hand) That had loads of advice on custom chapters, but basically, the company markings are not restricted to shoulder pad trim, there are other codex-adherent areas where the company colour can be denoted. For example the helmet or knee pad. The blue trim could be part of the chapter's colour scheme, common to all marines, whilst the company colours are shown elsewhere. That's the way I've worked it with my own chapter, I love the red trim, and am doing the 3rd company, but decided to have one of the knee pads marked in the company colour, so I could add 2nd, 7th or 9th company or whatever without losing the red trim.

If you want to see how deviant a 'codex adherent' chapter can be, read 'The Gildar Rift' by Sarah Cawkwell. The Silver Skulls are out there in more than one aspect.

Imperial Monkey wrote:The colours are just for Ultra's...not for all units.

Well, that's not entirely true. The marking guidelines are supposed to be for all Codex chapters, but there's really nothing that makes this absolute. Some chapters use the colors, but put them elsewhere.

It was said a couple times here, but "Codex Chapter" is a pretty vague term. Technically the Blood Angels are a Codex Chapter. They just have a few variances required due to their gene seed taint. Being a "Codex Chapter" just means following the organizational guidelines, training and recruiting standards, etc, laid out. The Codex is essentially two parts. The first half is a bunch of boring stuff. Standards for recruiting, training, indoctrination. Organizational guidelines, chain of command, etc. When they talk about being a Codex Chapter, it is only referring to this part. And it's not as rigid and stupid as it often gets made out to be. Being "Codex Adherent" is actually supposed to be a good thing, not a bad thing. No matter what silly Space Wolves and Black Templars players using too many first person plural pronouns will tell you. If a Chapter wants to alter its markings, that's a very small portion of the Codex guidelines. You can have a Codex Chapter and ignore the prescribed company color markings. You can keep the colors, and put the marking somewhere else. Some chapters use helmets, or knee pads, or just numerals. Some may not even bother with company markings at all.

The other half of the Codex is all the military wisdom. And, again, it has been portrayed rather poorly (Graham McNeill's terrible Ultramarines novels are always the first thing to mind), but again, being Codex Adherent is supposed to be a good thing. The Codex is a guideline for warfare that compiles all the military wisdom of thousands of years into a book for commanders to use in order to develop plans and react quickly to changing battlefield situations. It isn't some kind of idiotic "If A, then B" instruction manual for dummies.

So yeah, have fun with your paint scheme. Don't worry about the colorings. Use the painting advice as a guideline, not a restriction.

The Raven Guard for example, use the shoulder pad rim color to designate troop types, tactical get green, assault red, devestator yellow. Likiwise, some chapters denote companies through the color of the chest eagle, knee pad and what not. It'd still be within the codex to combine these ideas. Of course, if you chapters livery had blue shouler pad rims, they'd just find a different way to show the parent company.

My personal favorite is the company heraldry on the knee pad, lets you play around a great deal with the rest of the scheme.