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I have absolutely no idea if this is at all supported in the fluff, so I'm just asking; would/could an Imperial Knight or titan change it's iconography and colouration to fit more closely to that of other military forces it is fighting beside?

Say, a Titan gets a new red colour scheme and winged icons during a long campaign with Blood Angels, or an Imperial Knight gets adorned in pelts while campaigning with Space Wolves or perhaps even fitting the colours of a Guard Regiment that it's fighting with?

As I said, I do have no idea as to how plausible this is - not that it will stop me from painting my titans to fit my amries - but I'd just like to know if it is fluff supported.

Thoughts and interpretations are all greatly appreciated if you know a thing or two (or even if you don't) Thanks, guys.

Heraldry is a complicated matter, but there's certainly fluff precedent for Imperial forces earning the right to display symbols of another. There's a naval fighter wing displaying Black Templar icons, IIRC - the marines were so impressed with their support on campaign that they gave them this right. And marines of different Chapters that have served in the same Crusade etc might share a common badge or exchange some piece of heraldry.

Yes it is plausible. Campaign forces are noted as typically having some kind of unifying iconography across all of the differen Imosrial organisations for identification purposes. Similarly the fluff is full of cases where units get special colouring or icons to commemorate memorable or heroic actions. So a knight that helped a Blood Angel company out of a real jam could easily pick up the right to the winged blood drop.

I would think there is also a big difference in the particular changes. Repainting an armor panel to cover up a family crest and replace it with a temporary ally's iconography might be a huge no no. Hanging a wolf pelt from an armor panel might be totally fine.

From an in game standpoint, such a repainting might easily "offend" the Knight's machine spirit, causing it to function at a lower performance level. For backup, in one of the Ultramarines novels, two Ultramarines are on a crusade alone to recover their honor. They are without armor when they run across a crashed ship (or something) containing full suits of painted Mark 7 intended for (I think) the Sons of Ultramar chapter. The two Ultramarines take the armor and paint it all blue, leaving one shouldpad as Sons of Ultramar. They do so to honor their own chapter, but also to placate the armor's machine spirit. They thought it would be insulting to fully repaint the armor.

Someone on this forum a while back painted up a Knight Errant in Blood Ravens heraldry. It looks sexy as hell. In that case, I'm sure the walker was a "gift" to the chapter .

Its not unusual for Marines to give certain forces they fight alongside the honor of displaying their heraldry if they feel the honor is merited.

IIRC one of the knight's in the Knight Codex has some Space Wolf symbols from a campaign where he fought alongside them and became buddies.

That said, a Knight would not change his entire heraldric scheme. Each Knight's heraldry is unique, a combination of his own personal heraldry and that of his house. He would never abandon those things for something so minor as a campaign honor.

The only way I could see it happening is a Freeblade who has renounced his house for some reason(maybe they fell to chaos or something equally horrible). Then maybe over time he's become sort of a permanent tag-along with the chapter in question, and they've allowed him to wear their heraldry.

Heraldry is more than pretty colors. In ancient times, it was basically how you identified everyone. It also was how you displayed your personal accomplishments, so it could act as a sort of resume. Each geometric pattern and symbol had meaning within that particular society. The Knight codex continues this with each pattern meaning something. Abandoning your heraldry means you've consigned yourself to a nameless death on the battlefield and are abandoning your family, traditions, etc... Basically your entire identity is getting tossed in the gutter.

Spetulhu wrote:
Heraldry is a complicated matter, but there's certainly fluff precedent for Imperial forces earning the right to display symbols of another. There's a naval fighter wing displaying Black Templar icons, IIRC - the marines were so impressed with their support on campaign that they gave them this right. And marines of different Chapters that have served in the same Crusade etc might share a common badge or exchange some piece of heraldry.

This, and if I'm not mistaken, some battle automata of the Cybernetica were considered honorary members of the Space Marine Legions, and allowed to wear their heraldry/Legion symbols, during the Great Crusade.

I don't think it's entirely outside the realm of possibility, but as was said it'd be a freeblade. It could be that the freeblade's house was destroyed, and the Blood Angels were doing their best while suffering huge losses and got some techs, serfs, and persons out but weren't able to save enough to keep the house going, and so the knight turned freeblade and dedicated its service to the Blood Angels. It could also be that a particular enemy that the BA also dislike had eradicated their house, and so they help the BA against them whenever possible, eventually turning into an almost permanent presence.

There are many ways to make the fluff work, those may not be the best but are semi-plausible.

how long until someone models a titan without the back hatch and with a mass of tentacles inside to represent a corrupted princeps, or a freeblade with tau iconography?

In one of the HH novels, possibly the First Heretic, a particularly badarse war machine is made an honorary member of the Legion. The Tech-Adept is not, just the war machine, and it pleases the machine spirit. So it could definitely have had Word Bearers colours and heraldry