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I'm going to paint a Space Marine army with Salamander chapter colors and want to be as fluffy and accurate as I can. I've looked at GW artwork and models and noticed some differences from other chapters, but not everything looks to be consistent. I wanted to see if anyone who has known and kept up with the lore over the years could set some of it straight.

Things that I know for sure

-Salamanders break several Codex Astartes rules when it comes to their armor appearance.
-The way they handle chapter symbol and shoulder pad rim colors are clearly identified on the Lexicanum. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Salamanders
-The squad symbols are all replaced by a flame

And that's it. A short list, I know, but other things don't look so obvious.

-Other than the occasional money shot, heroic looking artwork of a single powerful dude, I haven't seen much indication that Salamander sergeants go into battle helmetless.
-Speaking of sergeants, they don't follow the red helmet rule or have any other way I've seen that separates their armor from their troops. The exception is the pictures I've seen of Veteran Sergeants wearing gold helmets with gold shoulder trim, but is this just veterans?
-Any colors or symbols on knee pads haven't been consistent on artwork I've found during my browsing.

If anyone could give me more insight on this, that would be great. I have a thing for accuracy, but I don't have a deep enough knowledge of Space Marine/Salamander lore to be confident that I'll get it right.

And yes, I know they are my models and I can paint them the way I like, but being fluffy and "correct" is just a thing of mine.

I would look into the Forgeworld book that features them. It has a lot of information on their heraldry.

I don't know if Salamander sergeants have different coloured helmets, but it seems that veterans (they also all seem to have golden shoulder trims) have golden helmets instead of green (except terminators)
Realistically, Space Marines would never fight without helmets (it beats the entire purpose of power armour), removing your guys' helmets is just rule of cool and allowes for more identification.
Salamanders do not appear to have any knee symbols. Any symbol on the knee pads is probably just decoration.

The picture of the minis on the lexicanum article are what are on the box of tactical marines I bought way back when.

That's the same scheme I am going to paint my Salamanders, whenever I actually get to it.

At least in my opinion/experience thats the proper color/design that represents the Salamanders.

The way I picture my Salamanders are as super duper warrior blacksmiths who do what they have to do to save the day and the civvies. And they do so with awesome armor, weapons, and vehicles.

They are essentially bros with all of humanity, including most of the Astartes and Adeptus Mechanicus. They probably don't like the Inquisition much, given their knack for treating civilians like fodder.

The big issue/retcon for the Salis is skin color.

In 3rd edition they were shown with African dark skin and features.

But later (5th? 6th?) they suddenly became grey skinned with glowing red eyes.

I really hate that recon since there are so few non-European 40k armies, but you should be aware of it.

The 6th Edition C:SM has a Sallie librarian miniature who looks like an ordinary black dude.

 Wyzilla wrote:
The 6th Edition C:SM has a Sallie librarian miniature who looks like an ordinary black dude.

Good to hear.

I mean the grey skin and red eyes were striking but seriously did GW really need to make the only dark-skinned marine chapter into hideous mutants?

Couldn't they give that to another new chapter?

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:
The 6th Edition C:SM has a Sallie librarian miniature who looks like an ordinary black dude.

Good to hear.

I mean the grey skin and red eyes were striking but seriously did GW really need to make the only dark-skinned marine chapter into hideous mutants?

Couldn't they give that to another new chapter?

Salamanders are neither gray, nor are they the only dark-skinned chapter. They're coal-black. The Celestial Lions are much more traditionally African in look and culture and most fleet-based chapters are going to recruit from several different worlds as well.

Jesus who cares they look much much better as Coal-Black than some racially homogeneous African Chapter.

I don't get all this "THEY SHOULD BE AFRICANS" ranting, There are Dark Skinned Marines in every other chapter if the painter chooses to display it.

Anyway on topic...

Honestly the colors tend to change and get retconed a lot or in generally is inconsistent. if anything go about and look at the pictures off the C:SM book and try to keep it consistent base of that. or base it off the forgeworld heresy style book. just keep it consistent,.

 Khonsu wrote:
Jesus who cares they look much much better as Coal-Black than some racially homogeneous African Chapter.

I don't get all this "THEY SHOULD BE AFRICANS" ranting, There are Dark Skinned Marines in every other chapter if the painter chooses to display it.

No they don't, they look unpainted. Back in 3rd/4th edition they had African skin tones and that looked good with the green armor. Now they are just white guys in blackface.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BigBossBob wrote:

-Speaking of sergeants, they don't follow the red helmet rule or have any other way I've seen that separates their armor from their troops. The exception is the pictures I've seen of Veteran Sergeants wearing gold helmets with gold shoulder trim, but is this just veterans?

According to IA 10 The guys with the gold helmets are sternguard veterans assigned to the Chapter's Instruction Faculty. Temporarily reassigned to combat duty because of the Badab War.

I like the new change. The same goes with the Dark Angels. Don't understand what the emphasis on skin tone is but whatever. TBH I'm not sure what the ranking and armor decorations are for the Salamander chapter.

 Khonsu wrote:
Jesus who cares they look much much better as Coal-Black than some racially homogeneous African Chapter.

I don't get all this "THEY SHOULD BE AFRICANS" ranting, There are Dark Skinned Marines in every other chapter if the painter chooses to display it.

Are you familiar with the history of blackface?

Let's just say that in America.... Salamanders' jet black appearance would raise some questions if you uploaded high rez photos on non-40k forums.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Khonsu wrote:
Jesus who cares they look much much better as Coal-Black than some racially homogeneous African Chapter.

I don't get all this "THEY SHOULD BE AFRICANS" ranting, There are Dark Skinned Marines in every other chapter if the painter chooses to display it.

Are you familiar with the history of blackface?

Let's just say that in America.... Salamanders' jet black appearance would raise some questions if you uploaded high rez photos on non-40k forums.

But Games Workshop is a British company, and we don't have as much of a problem with racism, or people getting offended by something that was meant to be entirely different.
People also need to remember that a Space Marine without any dodgy mutations will adapt to his environment, so his skin changes colour.

Chapter heraldry and colors varies a lot in the fluff, so it's hard to paint Salamanders in their "proper" colors. The colors of the backpacks varies, and the colors on the pauldrons varies from black-in-green, to green-in-black. Gold coloration seems to be common on leaders, but it's not clear whether there's a system for that (e.g., should sergeants have gold lines on their pauldrons?) They're also inconsistent about their skin color - the present fluff indicates that they're supposed to be jet black with red eyes. I usually paint mine using regular dark skin pigmentation, and you'll see them that way in the fluff sometimes. I use a lot of scouts, and I also give them dark skin (as I think the inhabitants of Nocturne are supposed to be dark-skinned anyhow).

With regard to dark-skinned minis it's completely player preference. I try to throw some ethnic variations into all of my armies because it's the 41st millenium and there's no such thing as "Europe" or "Africa" anymore.

With regard to Salamanders, I also seem to remember seeing a lot of what looks like reptile pelts (dragons? crocodiles) used in the same way SW use wolf pelts. And random flame motifs wherever you feel like it. There's a lot of fun to be had.

Their skin turns dark as a response to the planet Nocturne's radiation.

from 40k wikia: "It should be noted that the people of Nocturne have been slightly mutated by their constant exposure to the high levels of radioactivity present on their world due to the radioactive rare earth elements often uncovered by the extreme volcanism. They have developed deep ebony skins and the irises of their eyes now glow red in the darkness because they developed over many generations the ability to see in the infrared levels of the electromagnetic spectrum to deal with the constant volcanic pollution that blocks out their world's sunlight. These same physical characteristics are also present in every Salamanders Space Marine. The Imperium's Ecclesiarchy does not consider these mutations heretical as the Salamanders and the Nocturnans themselves have always been among the most staunchly loyal to the Emperor of the Space Marine Chapters and the Promethean Cult prevalent on the world is an accepted variant of the Imperial Cult."

I am a little bit confused but just to clarify, GW have now retconned salamanders to have grey skin (instead of coal black!)?
If so I am little disappointed....

Ebony black face with red eyes.

 Inkubas wrote:
Ebony black face with red eyes.

So they have merely gone from coal/jet black to ebony black, correct?

An important aspect of the Salamanders to remember is that they are smiths, and each brings an element of their own personality to their weapons, armor, etc. Thus some will have drake mantles, others dragon heads in place of a standard flamer nozzle, even slightly different colors based on the individual's taste when working on their armor. Basically, if you stick to the black-and-green, the shades won't matter so much (well... predominantly Moot Green might be a bit much...).