Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, do marines clean their armor? After a fight when it's all banged up, to they break out the krylon and paint it again? Or do they leave the battle damage for braggin' rights? And what about the tanks? Do they patch up every bullet hole and give it fresh coat of paint after every fight?

I'm going to be painting up some marines to go with my guard for apoc games. My guard army is the planetary defense force for the marine homeworld, so in my fluff they fight together a lot. My guardsmen are pretty beat up, tanks have a lot of weathering, etc. But, do marines take better care of their stuff? would marines generally be all banged up, or painted to be crisp & clean all the time?

yes they do, Loken is described in the HH books many times as meticuliously polishing and looking after his armour. Its kinda sacred to them.

Marines, yes, between engagements. Guard, yes, depending on the regiment's standards and availability.

The thing is, do you want your troops to look like they are fresh from the drop ship, or have been engaged with the enemy on and off for the past few months? Either is a fine starting point, justifying anything from very clean gear, weathering and mud, or a good bit of battle damage.

Well as far as painting goes I've really been getting into the whole weathering thing. I did it for my guard tanks really just for looks, and I imagined them as being in battle almost constantly, never really having time to even hit their tanks with a powerwasher. I carved a lot of bullet holes, even smacked some parts with a small hammer to give it a dented look, etc. And I think in the end it the dirty and beat up look really helped tie it all together and make everything look cool

My marines on the other hand have some battle damage I did on just the tanks, it's when I was first starting to try weathering out and it doesn't really match what I have on my guard stuff. In the fluff I wrote for my marines, they're on a planet right by the eye of terror, kinda like Cadia, so they're constantly under attack. Hence the overused look of the guard stuff, but I take it no matter what the marines would still find some time for a break to care for their gear. So maybe I'll paint them with some dings and scratches, but just not as hardcore as the guard who do all the fighting while the marines are busy praying and polishing.

Personally, I prefer the weathered look as opposed to the factory-fresh look.

As far as background goes, I would say that when they get the chance, yes, marines will repaint and repair their armor. However, this goes for IG as well. Given the chance they would as well.

Something to keep in mind though - any marine or guardsman who has been in combat for any period of time is going to have dirty equipment, and possibly battle damage. Even in extended battle, marines and guardsmen both are going to be working hard to keep their equipment in working order, because their survival depends on the reliability of their equipment.

That said, "in working order" is a lot different from "crisp and clean." Marines on campaign are only going to repaint their armor if they have both time to waste (which is unlikely), and a supply of paint (which unless they're operating out of a long-term and well supplied base is also pretty unlikely). Marines on campaign or in extended battles are probably more concerned with things like ammo, fuel, and food. Paint would be towards the bottom of the list.

In extended campaigns, I imagine a lot of stop-gap measures would be used until they get resupplied or a chance to refit. That could mean applique armor plates to cover damage on vehicles and armor, battle damage, chipped paint, etc. Maybe even some patches of paint over damage that is a slightly different shade or color, to represent the use of captured paint stores.

Also, if in your background, the guards and marines fight together often, it would seem a bit out of place for the guard to be banged up and the marines to be factory fresh, unless your story is the marines are relieving the guard, and just arrived five minutes ago.

Basically what I'm saying is you should go for it.

In real life, US Marines clean their gear all the time. The most important thing to keep clean is their weapon lest it jam, and they get shot instead of the enemy. During a campaign, it won't likely be cleaned, but afterwards, you'd better believe it'll get scrubbed. I imagine the Adeptus Astartes would do the same.

The only bunch of loyalist marines I know of that don't, are the 13th company of the Space Wolves. They've been too busy fighting for the past few millenia to worry about such things.

Sturmtruppe wrote:In real life, US Marines clean their gear all the time. The most important thing to keep clean is their weapon lest it jam, and they get shot instead of the enemy. During a campaign, it won't likely be cleaned, but afterwards, you'd better believe it'll get scrubbed. I imagine the Adeptus Astartes would do the same.

Yeah, weapons and such would definitely be kept as clean as possible in between missions. Also, how dirty your marines get would depend a lot on the terrain they're fighting over. I would guess marines in a barren low-gravity environment (like on the Moon) probably wouldn't get super dirty, besides a bit of dust. Marines on a desert planet with a lot of storms are going to be really sandy and dusty, marines in a swamp environment are going to be really muddy and wet, etc.

I'd say the Terminators in particular would clean the armor more often than any other Imperial. I forget the whole fluff, but they've got a piece of the Emperor's armor or one of his tears embedded in the Crux on their left shoulder don't they?

space marines after every battle( if supplies are handy) will clean their armour extensivly, check their weapons and have all their equipment reblessed incase of tait by chaos or xenos.