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Like for example, I would like both Ultramarines 2nd company, and Ultramarines 4th company units - because I like both colours.

I could expect different companies having exchanged squads for a duration of some campaign/crusade. Perhaps not in completely 50/50 configs, but more like a couple of squads to another company, something like that (buut again it could vary between chapters)

Would only bolster inter-companial sense of bond with the brotherhood - add in all sorts of "competitions" (playful or dead serious) the members of differing companies might have with each other, could see some Chapters encouraging this sort of behaviour with their Fraters

Absolutely. Normally it’s a battle company reinforced with elements from the 1st, 10th, or reserve, but it’s a big universe.

Chapters part out forces to fight all over the place. Very rarely do they fight in big cohesive blocks. It could be the element on the 2nd was returning from a mission, or had wrapped up their part of the deployment, so is coming to assist elements on the 4th.

Plenty of room to build your own story.

Yeah that's never been a problem. Has no bearing on the tabletop whatsoever.

Crispy78 wrote:
Yeah that's never been a problem. Has no bearing on the tabletop whatsoever.

It used to be a good way to differentiate between allied factions of marines if you were mixing and matching rules, but wanted to keep your force looking uniform. Not an issue these days.

As others have said, there’s no problem doing that.

Rather than farting about the Galaxy in Company strength, an Astartes task force may be comprised of but a mere handful of Astartes, aboard one of the Chapter’s Naval Assets.

Yes a Battle Barge or Strike Cruiser is just gonna have a larger complement more or less by default, but a Gladius or Nova Frigate may have not more than a Tactical Squad.

As such, whilst it may be arguably more common for a Company to call in other assets from the same Company when needed, it’s just as likely any Chapter Brothers in the vicinity will respond.

One probably could argue squads from the same company would be the ideal, as they’re likely to have operated together before. But we’re not exactly talking massive degrees of difference.

Could even be the remains of a Shattered Chapter, akin to the Scythes of The Emperor, who got such a kicking off the Tyranids they remained as a handful of 1st Company squads, and a 10th (Scout) Company. The last reserves operating together for vengeance, bearing their original company insignia and colours to keep the memory and rituals etc intact.

Thanks everyone, thats great. I like the green trim and the gold trim.

I'll just say they are a special taskforce or something

The 'official codex' organization isn't conducive to companies acting solely as self-contained units. It just doesn't work.

It almost does for 2nd to 5th (though they have no scout or elite elements), but 1st and 6th-9th just aren't functional as units in battle, they're entirely one-dimensional and can't handle a lot of strategic and tactical problems, and pure reserve companies doesn't make sense for how SM chapters operate across a galaxy.


Some of non-codex (or 'less codex compliant') chapters work a bit better, with their 'company' equivalents out and about (and often broken down further) with 1-2 rotated back home for a spell on a regular basis.

Of course you can. It's your army after all. And Space Marines tend to not deploy by company anyways but by taskforce. And if, on your homeworld, you have parts of the second and fourth company around that's what you'll send somewhere.

The only time the specific company has potentially mattered was when Imperial Fists got Codex: 100 dudes with Sentinels of Terra.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The only time the specific company has potentially mattered was when Imperial Fists got Codex: 100 dudes with Sentinels of Terra.

Because no DA player has ever fielded a pure Deathwing or Ravenwing force....

A task force can be put together comprising elements of multiple companies, or multiple fragments of multiple companies of multiple chapters, depending on circumstances (assuming of course said chapters are able and willing to align temporarily and can agree on who should lead). There are loads of circumstances that could require such an ad-hoc organisation - casualties, coalition missions, things got lost in the warp, companies had split deployments, units scattered by deployment, individual squads could be on special assignments away from their 'regular' companies etc etc etc.

Marines are quite pragmatic and flexible when it comes to this.

ccs wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The only time the specific company has potentially mattered was when Imperial Fists got Codex: 100 dudes with Sentinels of Terra.

Because no DA player has ever fielded a pure Deathwing or Ravenwing force....

If Codex: Ravenwing was separate from Codex: Dark Angels, you might have a point...

 Lord Damocles wrote:

ccs wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The only time the specific company has potentially mattered was when Imperial Fists got Codex: 100 dudes with Sentinels of Terra.

Because no DA player has ever fielded a pure Deathwing or Ravenwing force....

If Codex: Ravenwing was separate from Codex: Dark Angels, you might have a point...

So because the IF players had to cough up $$ for a 2nd book at the end of 8th edition the DA 1st & 2nd Co don't count?
Or are you choosing to ignore that the DA players got that same opportunity come 9e?

I'm sorry, but the DA have had separate/additional rules for running thier 1st & 2nd companies for decades. 2e they were in the main Codex, 3-7th they were either in the codex or required WD/Chapter Aproved articles to alter the force org, 8th was all Codex, 9th was a costly supplement.
And it looks like 10th will repeat that.

Where your company special rules come from doesn't matter. Just that you have them.

ccs wrote:
So because the IF players had to cough up $$ for a 2nd book at the end of 8th edition the DA 1st & 2nd Co don't count?

Not in this case, no, they don't.

Nobody has ever put down two Dark Angel Terminator or bike squads and had them have different rules depending on the colour of their shoulder trims, whereas that WAS the case (potentially) if an Imperial Fist player put down two Tactical Squads, one with red trims and the other with black.

To answer the original question -
not only is it "legal" its even potentially fluffy.

The Chapter Master (and Primarch if applicable) do not have a company to command. They would be leading a conglomeration of their chapter - In fact I usually work my Guilliman lists with that in mind. One squad/unit from each of the companies as his "guard".