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We all know Shrike is the Chapter Master of Raven Guard, so shouldn´t he wear white on his right shoulder trim to depict his elite status? I know he used to be Shadow Captain of 3rd company so it made sense then. Is he still wearing the red as a homage to his old company? Is there any other reason?

I'm not sure the codex says chapter masters have to wear a specific colour.

He's a Chapter Master, he'll do whatever he wants.

But the answer actually is that Raven Guard are, apparently, swapping identifiers/markings with each deployment(exception is the 9th Company...which in and of itself is acting as a kind of disruptiveness) to disguise their deployments and dispersions.

It's implied/mentioned that First Company, for example, are using Primaris in Phobos gear with no white arms--except when they want to. They're also, when seconded to other companies, utilizing those companies' coloring for shoulderpads. Shrike's been running around with the Ghostwalkers still so he'd naturally keep the red.
The 10th is mentioned as occasionally running with zero identifiers, even disguising/obscuring the Raven Guard insignias.

BrianDavion: No it does not

Kanluwen: 10th is always anonymous since it´s the scouts and they haven´t earned the right to wear the colours yet.

In conclusion, I´ll just assume he honours his old company . thanks guys!

 Luusormi wrote:
Kanluwen: 10th is always anonymous since it´s the scouts and they haven´t earned the right to wear the colours yet.

This is actually incorrect as of now!


The 10th Company consists of a permanent standing force of 100 Vanguard Marines plus the Scouts that a Chapter has.

Huh, weird. Vanguard are supossed to be 1st only :S

 Luusormi wrote:
Huh, weird. Vanguard are supossed to be 1st only :S

Negative.
You might be thinking of the "Vanguard Veterans"(the guys that are glorified Assault Marines), who aren't 1st Company only either.

The brief rundown:
A Chapter, usually, consists of 10 Companies. The First Company is exclusively composed of veterans. The other Companies will have some veterans, usually in the form of Sergeants or sometimes full on Veteran Squads.
The 10th Company is where the Recruits/Scouts are located.

With the advent of the "Vanguard" Phobos armored setup, the 10th is considered a specialized Company for most Chapters. The makeup is:
1x Captain(Master of Recruits)
2x Lieutenants
1x Company Ancient

100x Vanguard Marines(This means: Eliminators, Incursors, Reivers, Infiltrators, and Suppressors)
Scouts/Recruits(no set number)
Associated vehicles(the 'new fluff' is that the smaller sized squads[Suppressors and Eliminators are 3 man squads] provide the vehicle operators when not deployed with the squad)--things like Invictor Warsuits, Land Speeder Storms, Bikes, etc.

 Luusormi wrote:
Huh, weird. Vanguard are supossed to be 1st only :S

Vanguard Veterans, or Primaris Vanguard?
Either way, as Kanluwen says, it's not strictly true either way. While I'm not personally familiar with non-1st Company Veteran Squads in Codex Chapters (though I may be mistaken), Primaris Vanguard Marines (basically anyone in Phobos Armour) are a permanent feature of the 10th Company now (and may also be present in any of the other companies, as Phobos Armour can be worn interchangeably with any Mark 10 suit).

As per the Codex, their heraldic colour is a dark blue than the light blue of the 9th Company.

Does that mean that with 100 vanguard in 10th company, chapters exceed the 1,000 number guideline for regular marines?

 Smirrors wrote:
Does that mean that with 100 vanguard in 10th company, chapters exceed the 1,000 number guideline for regular marines?

No, Scouts do not count towards the maximum number of Marines a chapter is allowed to have.

There must be some hard limit? Otherwise wouldn't chapters just fill their forces with scouts as a bypass.

 Smirrors wrote:
There must be some hard limit? Otherwise wouldn't chapters just fill their forces with scouts as a bypass.

Some do, both Ultramarines and Raven guard are noted for having very large 10th companies. the 1000 marine number is more an approximation not a ahrd limit. it doesn't include the librarium, the recluisliarchy, the Honour Guard, Command Squads, the armory...

It's worth mentioning that Raven Guard have large 10th Companies because of the fact that they keep Neophytes longer before they get the Black Carapace.

Meanwhile the Ultramarines do it, presumably because of their large recruitment pool.

 Luusormi wrote:
We all know Shrike is the Chapter Master of Raven Guard, so shouldn´t he wear white on his right shoulder trim to depict his elite status? I know he used to be Shadow Captain of 3rd company so it made sense then. Is he still wearing the red as a homage to his old company? Is there any other reason?

He realised Red is the best colour.

 Smirrors wrote:
There must be some hard limit? Otherwise wouldn't chapters just fill their forces with scouts as a bypass.

Why would they want vast amounts of marines or any kind? They don’t conquer territory and keep it for themselves like warlords trying to get rich. Their job is to be a military unit of 1000 marines. If they’re fighting at anything larger than a few companies, they’re part of a bigger crusade command structure with other chapters, so if they need more numbers they just... ask more chapters. Also they’d need extra ships, and there still isn’t any incentive for them to get bigger in the first place.

pelicaniforce wrote:

 Smirrors wrote:
There must be some hard limit? Otherwise wouldn't chapters just fill their forces with scouts as a bypass.

Why would they want vast amounts of marines or any kind? They don’t conquer territory and keep it for themselves like warlords trying to get rich. Their job is to be a military unit of 1000 marines. If they’re fighting at anything larger than a few companies, they’re part of a bigger crusade command structure with other chapters, so if they need more numbers they just... ask more chapters. Also they’d need extra ships, and there still isn’t any incentive for them to get bigger in the first place.

Not necessarily true, that's exactly the reason why the Astral Claws went renegade to begin with was because as part of the Maelstrom Wardens, they weren't given enough manpower or chapters besides the ones on hand to secure the Maelstrom's increasing pirate activity. Since Terra was non-responsive, they took matters into their own hands and started withholding gene seed tithes to boost their numbers to do what they thought was within the bounds of their duty. And in many cases, like in Badab and Ultramar, the SM are in charge of their system/several planets so of course they'd want more numbers to project their power in their region.