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Hi guys, help needed.

I'm fully embracing the combined arms/regiments approach for the new codex so am adding some additions to my 327th Dkok. Mainly things I've always liked etc to add flavour but also trying to keep it realistic lore wise in terms of the regiments/forces having crossed paths in the lore prior. So, essentially, 3rd war for Armageddon.

Anyway, now that is the justification for the forthcoming request...

Those in the know in regards to steel legion, can you help me out with a guide to decals/spot colours for them? I only know the red lightening bolt symbol on vehicles really, and they use red, then sometimes red and white on panels? Only doing some sentinels at the moment, with an eye to expand into some armoured fist squadrons.

Pictures massively help btw.

So there is the lightning bolt emblem but apart from that, the scythe from the IG vehicle transfers apparently represents the assault to retake Hive Acheron from Herman Von Strab.

There is not a lot of information on this, and what I am about to share is incomplete.

Armoured companies typically use the standard tank markings as laid out in the Apocalypse 1st edition core rulebook. Unfortunately I do not have access to this at present, but the images below are from a White Dwarf article released alongside the (then new) sentinel kit and are in keeping with the Apocalypse guidance (they explictly reference it). Tanks are given a number corresponding to their position with the company- the command tank of the first company being number 10. The tank in the Image below is no. 14, which would make it the lead vehicle of squadron 2 of the first company. The third vehicle in squadron 3 of the 5th company would be no. 59 under this numbering convention. The 1st company has red and white stripes, the second yellow and black. The other company colours are in the Apocalypse book I don't have access to. Here it is painted on the turret, I am pretty sure I have seen the standard hull position for the stripes on a studio vehicle too.




You can also see the sentinel unit markings on two different vehicles- the triangular armour panel on the right is red with the vehicle number in white. It is unclear how this scales, or whether the colour changes for subsequent companies. However, scout companies are usually part of a larger regiment, so it will be rare to have more than one company in a single regiment. I suspect a second company would be yellow etc. The number presumably refers to the vehicle seniority within the company- 0 is probably the company command vehicle.

The next image is from Codex Armageddon and includes Chimera markings. I have a strong feeling there is a better source explaining these somewhere, but it appears to revolve around a variable two colour strip plus a number. I suspect the number is referencing a squad or platoon with the colours referencing company + platoon, or company or platoon alone.



I have never seen any infantry markings beyond the regimental badge, but I would think they'd match the chimera markings on the vehicle transporting them. I'd put these on the side of the helmet.

I've done some digging. The studio Steel Legion army was built for the 3rd War for Armageddon global event in the year 2000. Its markings match the concepts laid out in the 3rd edition Imperial Guard codex 1 released in 2009.

Under that scheme, the above chimera markings represent two vehicles from red company, one carries the first infantry squad of white platoon, the other carries the first infantry squad of yellow platoon. The number denotes the squad number, with command squads represented by a "C". The 3rd edition codex has 6 colours listed- red, green, blue, white, yellow, and black- for both companies and platoons. 6 platoons to a company is pretty standard, but Imperial Guard regiments commonly have more than 6 companies, so I am unclear what colours are supposed to represent higher companies (perhaps they cycle round and repeat, but some distinction would be needed).

The accompanying battle report in White Dwarf 248 and 249 has the platoons labelled as 11th platoon (using the yellow tanks) and 64th platoon (using the white tanks). These actually match the platoon markings correctly- 11th platoon would be the 5th platoon (yellow) of 2nd company and 64 would be the 4th platoon (white) of the 11th company. However, that would make red a regimental marking, not a company one, as red would ordinarily denote 1st company under the codex scheme, and both platoons have red markings. I think it would be reasonable to add a company number on the vehicle in lieu of a company colour.