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I know a lot of personal heraldry is on tilting plates,etc. but what is the heraldry on shoulder pads for strike squads and the sort for? Is it a squad marking, personal heraldry etc? Is it just to look cool? I notice that the marines on box art usually never have the same shoulder pad heraldry as others in their squad.

Example:https://www.warhammer.com/en-IE/shop/Grey-Knights-Strike-Squad-2017?queryID=b2f4426a152b8908bd620c3d540aa9e8

Its personal heraldry. IIRC the Grey Knights all wear their own personal heraldry on their right pauldron, while the Tilting Plate has the squad type marking.

The 9th edition Codex has this to say:

Grey Knight Personal Heraldry
Battle-brothers display their unique heraldry upon their oath shields. The simple design
represent their deeds, though to outsiders the meanings of these mysterious symbols
are unknown. As a Grey Knight advances in rank he will add to his shield to reflect his
elevated standing. For many Grey Knights, this is the only record of their actions.

Esoteric Symbology
Each icon, from colour to positioning, has its own arcanocryptic
meaning within the Chapter. Skulls indicate the
quelling of daemonic foes, and swords denote deeds that
turned the tide of war. A stylised Imperial Aquila represents
a great act of service to the Emperor, and is typically only
worn by Grand Masters, Brother Captains and elite Paladins.


Presumably, since most power-armoured Knights lack tilt shields, they just wear their heraldry on their pauldron (or because Terminators lack a free pauldron they wear theirs on a tilt shield...)


Back in Codex: Daemonhunters, there seems to have been some confusion, with the studio's power armour models being painted with personal heraldry, and the text in the colour section describing it as such; but the text on the inside back cover saying that while Terminators wear personal heraldry, power-armour bears squad markings.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Its personal heraldry. IIRC the Grey Knights all wear their own personal heraldry on their right pauldron, while the Tilting Plate has the squad type marking.

Thanks, much appreciated!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The 9th edition Codex has this to say:

Grey Knight Personal Heraldry
Battle-brothers display their unique heraldry upon their oath shields. The simple design
represent their deeds, though to outsiders the meanings of these mysterious symbols
are unknown. As a Grey Knight advances in rank he will add to his shield to reflect his
elevated standing. For many Grey Knights, this is the only record of their actions.

Esoteric Symbology
Each icon, from colour to positioning, has its own arcanocryptic
meaning within the Chapter. Skulls indicate the
quelling of daemonic foes, and swords denote deeds that
turned the tide of war. A stylised Imperial Aquila represents
a great act of service to the Emperor, and is typically only
worn by Grand Masters, Brother Captains and elite Paladins.


Presumably, since most power-armoured Knights lack tilt shields, they just wear their heraldry on their pauldron (or because Terminators lack a free pauldron they wear theirs on a tilt shield...)


Back in Codex: Daemonhunters, there seems to have been some confusion, with the studio's power armour models being painted with personal heraldry, and the text in the colour section describing it as such; but the text on the inside back cover saying that while Terminators wear personal heraldry, power-armour bears squad markings.

Thanks, you were a great help! If I may ask, do only Justicars get to wear the golden shoulder pads with the text printed on them, or can any squad member wear them? Because the Justicar with the Monty Python knight hood and the blade impaled through the nurgle daemon head is wearing two of those shoulder pads, with his heraldry on the tilting plate

I do think that is kinda meant as a sort of signifier of rank, but it seems inconsistently used so I would say it doesn't need to be.

It could as easily just be a personal honor of some kind, while rank gets worked into the knight's heraldry. Personal heraldry is not necessarily set in stone, and someone could adjust theirs in response to events.

"Congratulations Knight, you have killed your 500th daemon. you unlocked the golden pauldron"

The pre-5th ed. Justicars had their right pauldron blank, and the heraldry on their tilt plate.

I suspect that the text pauldrons are just fancy for the sake of being fancy and to help identify Justicars.
The studio army also uses them on non-Justicars, so they don't appear to be specific.

Thanks Grey Templar, thanks Damocles! Great help, probably going to paint up the GK combat patrol at some point. Coming up with heraldry should be fun. I really am grateful for all your help.