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Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum.

I started playing 40k 13 years ago in 2004 the Armageddon Codex had just been released and as soon as I saw those green space marines I knew there was only one army for me...

Back then the Salamanders had normal brown and "black" skin tones, as in they were essentially an African inspired Chapter alongside the White Scars (Mongoloid) these two Chapters were the "token" ones that made the 40k universe and more importantly the Astartes (40k flagship army) more relatable for a wider audience.

I'm just getting back into the hobby and was appalled to see what they've done with my beloved Salamanders. Radioactive mutation has caused them to have black skin... Does anyone else find this ridiculous / absurd and a tad unsavoury based on racial implications? Can't they just be normal space Marines with darker skin tones?

Henceforth I'm at a dilemma, it appears the new generation gamers won't remember the original Salamanders? Would my Salamanders be brought into disrepute at a gaming event if painted as normal human beings with more melanin?

 Prodigal wrote:
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum.

I started playing 40k 13 years ago in 2004 the Armageddon Codex had just been released and as soon as I saw those green space marines I knew there was only one army for me...

Back then the Salamanders had normal brown and "black" skin tones, as in they were essentially an African inspired Chapter alongside the White Scars (Mongoloid) these two Chapters were the "token" ones that made the 40k universe and more importantly the Astartes (40k flagship army) more relatable for a wider audience.

I'm just getting back into the hobby and was appalled to see what they've done with my beloved Salamanders. Radioactive mutation has caused them to have black skin... Does anyone else find this ridiculous / absurd and a tad unsavoury based on racial implications? Can't they just be normal space Marines with darker skin tones?

Henceforth I'm at a dilemma, it appears the new generation gamers won't remember the original Salamanders? Would my Salamanders be brought into disrepute at a gaming event if painted as normal human beings with more melanin?

New generations of players remember their first edition (ie, the edition they entered not 1st Ed/RT) as the most canon. If you painted african skin tones, no one would blink because its personal interpretation. If you have someone who complains, ignore them.

Supposedly they were always supposed to have coal black skin, and it was a misunderstanding by the eavy metal team when told to paint them with black skin.

That said, I'm not a fan of the coal black skin. Maybe if they didn't combo it with red eyes for full on edgelord, but alas. I too have been painting mine up with more African black inspired skin tones (and white hair because I love that contrast). Some people have said they loved it, a few have complained it's not correct. Regardless it's what I prefer and it paints up nicely.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And in case one is so inclined;

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/734299.page

They're your models, you should paint them how you like. Although if anyone was bothered by you painting them as regular human beings who happen to not be white then I would say that they were being racist, plain and simple. Besides, there's no good reason for the default space marine skin tone to look so white anyway.

Not saying GW is racist on purpose, but I haven't seen a lot of guardsmen or marines with darker skin tones on the web store images and I really doubt there would be such a high proportion of people with such pale skin in the year 40,000.

That super black modern Salamander skin is a pain in the butt to paint without looking like trash anyway. Normal African skin tones both look and paint much better.

Heck you could even say that new Primaris marines brought with them cleaned up salamander geneseed that's had the 'ultrablack DNA' gene taken out, that's been messing up their skintones since the Heresy.