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Hi all,

just started a GK army for fun and have yet to decide on a heraldry scheme for the shields. I do not like the official red dominated colour scheme for the GK themselves so I use a blue one, complementing the blueish white glow from their psi power, as in their eyes on most models.

However, I would like to have the blue in my heraldry as well, and not that red. The new codex only says that the official heraldry limits to red, white and black. Does anyone know, maybe from older codices, if there is official GK heraldry other than that. GK really have to be the army with the least official colour varations.

Don't get me wrong, if there is none I will still create my own scheme, but if there is an official one other than the red I would like to see it before deciding.

Thanks a lot!

The only variation I've ever seen is the 'black and gold' grey knight armour which was in the Index Astartes artwork.



I've only ever seen red, black and white in the heraldry shields. Fantasy Flight fleshed this out a bit more, by explaining the elements which each knight uses to make up his heraldry - in each case, the heraldic 'item', the stylized form used as a background or secondary detail, and the meaning:

Book/Horizontal line - Wisdom, Knowledge, Scholarship - especially associated with Purifiers

Imperator (Inquisitorial =][= symbol)/Vertical line - Duty, command authority, leadership

Sword/Diagonal Line - Skill at arms

Skull/Circle - Courage, sacrifice, willpower

Cog/Crenelated or serrated line - Tech-skill, intelligence, logic - associated with Techmarines

Paint them however you want. There's no official anything.

The first Grey Knight miniatures in White Dwarf were actually painted a brownish-red, with no grey or silver to be seen.

Yeah, I guess I will simply paint them with what I came up with. I was just curious since usually GW do present quite some options and encourage people to do their own stuff. I think the only official scheme I ever used in my armies was the Ulthwé scheme in 2nd edition - and I even changed this over the time.

I understand you wanting to do something different. GK has one of the most cemented color schemes and I wanted to make them my own, too. What I did with my GKs was put the bright red heraldry on the shoulder pads and turning shields only. Then the tabards, stormbolters, and other details were washed with a light purple to tie in with my royal violet Inquisition units as well as complement the blue weapons and eyes.
You could try something like this and even leave the shields variations of black & white only. Basically, be flexible and I don't think anyone will begrudge you doing something unique.

I personally hate individual iconography on a army based on no knowing they exist. For me, at a glance, the only thing an eye witness should be able to say is "I think it was a an Astartes, but I'm not sure. It was as big as one, and it was armored like you would think one would be armored, but it was all shadows and blinding reflections. Might have been an Arbite, but it would be so much cooler if it was an Astartes!"

I paint my GK in silver and good with brown and black inks and washs, with the heraldry selected by shape (all members of a squad have the same shape heraldry shield, half with device, half without) and painted in grays and black. The only ones that should know which guy is Ted is another Grey Knight, not some Eldar douche bag or some Marine in clown colors. I still use the heraldry patterns, to differentiate the squad members, with the Justicar the most detailed.

Looks good, looks uniform, and definitely does not look clownish with all those reds and whites. We are a secret order, not palace guards on parade!

SJ