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Hi! I am looking to add a Librarian to my army, but one problem occurred to me today. I dont know what colors a Imperial Fist Librarian has.

I have seen some Librarians have their armor match that of their chapter, but the majority all seem to have the majority of their armor be blue with some red highlights. So whats the deal with that? I assumed at first that the surpluss of blue/red wearing Librarians was due to the abundance of Ultramarines, but I have seen other chapters with the same scheme.

Librarians primarily wear blue with the color of their chapter featured somewhere on their armor. Typically it is one of their pauldrons and a kneepad.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Librarians primarily wear blue with the color of their chapter featured somewhere on their armor. Typically it is one of their pauldrons and a kneepad.

Not quite true anymore. Or originally, for that matter...


Way back on Rogue Trader, specialists typically painted some or all of their armour in their appropriate colour (blue, in the case of Librarians.)

2nd edition codified that a bit, with the colour being applied to the whole suit, with the one shoulder pad in the Chapter colours.

In the time since, that's relaxed again somewhat, with Librarians once more being given the freedom to paint all, some, or none of their armour blue. It's ultimately just down to personal preference.

Blue

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Librarian (look at the healdry part)

 insaniak wrote:

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Librarians primarily wear blue with the color of their chapter featured somewhere on their armor. Typically it is one of their pauldrons and a kneepad.

Not quite true anymore. Or originally, for that matter...


Way back on Rogue Trader, specialists typically painted some or all of their armour in their appropriate colour (blue, in the case of Librarians.)

2nd edition codified that a bit, with the colour being applied to the whole suit, with the one shoulder pad in the Chapter colours.

In the time since, that's relaxed again somewhat, with Librarians once more being given the freedom to paint all, some, or none of their armour blue. It's ultimately just down to personal preference.

If that were true, why is EVERY Librarian depicted in the books wearing blue armor, whether they are Ultramarine, Blood Angel, or Dark Angel? The only specialist that has had a change in regard to how their armor is painted consistently has been the Techmarine, who normally wore red, but some of the imagery for an Ultramarine one has it wearing red and Ultramarines blue.

Alright so I suppose I can be flexible with my choices for my IF Librarian then. Awesome! ^_^

"According to the guidelines of the Codex Astartes, the armour of Librarians is blue with gold and yellow highlights, regardless of chapter colours. The left shoulder plate of the Librarian's armour displays the chapter symbol in the case of power armour; for Terminator armoured Librarians, the chapter symbol is displayed on the right shoulder armour (leaving the Crux Terminatus for the left). The free shoulder pad displays the Librarian symbol, its exact form denoting the rank of the Librarian. Librarians wear golden yellow tabards which are edged with black patterns, the complexity of the pattern denoting the Librarian's rank."

So for codex chapters they are blue and gold (most likely because of papa smurf) but for non codex chapters it is most likely the chapters colors.

KingGarland, where is that quote from? A quote without a source is...Not a credible quote.

Regardless, Tibs, paint it how you want to. I keep mine blue partially so that it's obvious on the field.

It's how I have always painted my Librarians, with the exception of one for a Deathwatch Squad,

 AegisGrimm wrote:
It's how I have always painted my Librarians, with the exception of one for a Deathwatch Squad,

I paint mine with both shoulder pads in the normal chapter color. I used a brighter blue for my Blood Angels librarian and gave him red shoulder pads. In the case of my Crimson Fists librarian, he has both fists red, but is in Kantor Blue. He would look really weird compared to the rest of the army otherwise.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
It's how I have always painted my Librarians, with the exception of one for a Deathwatch Squad,

I paint mine with both shoulder pads in the normal chapter color. I used a brighter blue for my Blood Angels librarian and gave him red shoulder pads. In the case of my Crimson Fists librarian, he has both fists red, but is in Kantor Blue. He would look really weird compared to the rest of the army otherwise.

Yeah I imagine he would look a bit off without the crimson fists ..cuz ya know.. Kinda the entire point of the chapter..

 Tibs Ironblood wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
It's how I have always painted my Librarians, with the exception of one for a Deathwatch Squad,

I paint mine with both shoulder pads in the normal chapter color. I used a brighter blue for my Blood Angels librarian and gave him red shoulder pads. In the case of my Crimson Fists librarian, he has both fists red, but is in Kantor Blue. He would look really weird compared to the rest of the army otherwise.

Yeah I imagine he would look a bit off without the crimson fists ..cuz ya know.. Kinda the entire point of the chapter..

Yeah, but I didn't paint him in the brighter blue(Ultramarine) that Librarians tend to be in. My Chaplain also has red fists, but only his shoulder pads are in blue, the rest is black.

Lets play the game of what color would the librarian be

blood angels


Red scorpions (loth)


Dark angels starter box librarian


Dark angels Ezekiel


ultra marines Tigerius


Njal


Mephiston

I paint mine how I feel they are easy to spot in tac squad or group of termies from the other side of the table. Blue with some green bits/embellishments/cloak/hood. I play dark angels

The Dark Vengeance librarian is really neat in this regard - because he's wearing robes, you can use them to show his chapter colours while retaining the blue Librarius armour, like I did with my Mantis Warrior librarian;

Some schemes from 3rd:

Mine uses my normal chapter colors of dark red, black and gold with one shoulder pad painted blue. I don't want my most frequent HQ looking like an ultra marine.

I paint my Librarians the same blue as my Ultramarines, but without company trim, as they aren't in a company, with the classic yellow robes. My Blood Angels Librarians al so follow the same colour scheme, but with red pauldrons.

I reverse the colours for mine, blue shoulders with green armour.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
If that were true, why is EVERY Librarian depicted in the books wearing blue armor, whether they are Ultramarine, Blood Angel, or Dark Angel? .

See the picture posted by Nevelon above. While the codexes have tended to go with 'Codex' colouring, the painting guides and other articles have shown various variant colour schemes for them over the years.

As another example on top of those below, Sarpedon of the Soul Drinkers wore his normal Chapter colours rather than blue. (That's really all that you need to know about those books, though...)

The Eavy Metal team does tend to paint Librarians in the standard Codex Approved scheme (including the Salamander - as opposed to the markings used in the IA, which could be interpreted as variation within the chapter, ie: varies per individual), but then a few codices back they also painted up a vast number of non-1st company non-veteran Terminators, Sternguard and Vanguard..

 insaniak wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
If that were true, why is EVERY Librarian depicted in the books wearing blue armor, whether they are Ultramarine, Blood Angel, or Dark Angel? .

See the picture posted by Nevelon above. While the codexes have tended to go with 'Codex' colouring, the painting guides and other articles have shown various variant colour schemes for them over the years.

As another example on top of those below, Sarpedon of the Soul Drinkers wore his normal Chapter colours rather than blue. (That's really all that you need to know about those books, though...)

I am perfectly fine with that too. It makes me want to strip the paint off my BA Librarian though since he is blue and would actually look pretty cool in red. But he is one of only three complete BA models I have at this point, so blue he stays. I have been meaning to read the Soul Drinkers books (have had them spoiled long before this though). I still think it is weird that every depicted Librarian, regardless of the codex (besides Njal and Mephiston) is in blue, not chapter colors. Regardless, I play Crimson Fists and they don't follow the rules anyway (no special helmet colors for Sergeants and Veterans, no Company rims on pauldrons).

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
I have been meaning to read the Soul Drinkers books

As a more enjoyable alternative, heat up a rusty spoon and use it to gouge out your eyeballs.

I still think it is weird that every depicted Librarian, regardless of the codex (besides Njal and Mephiston) is in blue, not chapter colors.

Not just Njal... None of the Space Wolves Rune Priests wear Librarian blue. But then, they don't consider themselves Librarians.

 insaniak wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
I have been meaning to read the Soul Drinkers books

As a more enjoyable alternative, heat up a rusty spoon and use it to gouge out your eyeballs.

I still think it is weird that every depicted Librarian, regardless of the codex (besides Njal and Mephiston) is in blue, not chapter colors.

Not just Njal... None of the Space Wolves Rune Priests wear Librarian blue. But then, they don't consider themselves Librarians.

I would consider them hypocrites. :p

I always painted them blue, techmarines red and aphothecaries white. Didn't know (or care) the painting rules had changed over the years.

i quite enjoyed the Soul Drinkers novels...
i look forward to converting up a few of their characters, especially Sarpedon...

Rune Priests and Mephiston are the only ones that i paint without at least some blue on them...
the Salamanders and White Scars, with just the right arm painted blue look as cool, if not cooler, than an all blue guy, so it is really just a matter of personal taste...
for instance, the Raven Guard Termie Libby, with no markings, needs a blue tabard in my opinion, like the Grey Knights Termie Libby...
standard armor color, and a blue loincloth, do the job of making a model stand out, especially combined with the force weapon and psychic hood...

in the end, it all comes back to the "they're your models, paint them however you like" stance, as the fluff has varied so much over the years that nobody can really tell you that your wrong, even if you are painting Hello Kitty Marines...

cheers
jah