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Relatively new hobbyist here. I’ve been painting for a few years, but don’t have a ton of free time so I’m still decidedly amateur. Never played with anything GW, either. Recently, though, my brother encouraged me to try 40k, and he’s right - the models really are higher quality than the stuff I’ve had before, and they’re more fun to paint.

In any case, I’m starting my own homebrew space marine chapter (Salamander successor). I’ve finally got the color scheme nailed down, all except the bolter casing. Here’s a work in progress photo of the finalists, after basecoating.

Green casing: 1) honors our Salamander heritage, and 2) according to my amateur grade understanding of color theory, provides a nice accent to the brown and blue main colors.

Black casing: 1) fits in easier and doesn’t distract from other colors, 2) is the color most chapters use these days.

I’m kinda stuck, and want to make a decision before I make any serious progress on the army. Just want to be done second-guessing myself and move along. Those filthy heretics and xenos won’t just purge themselves, after all.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ideas/advice!

For the bolter casing, I would say the black looks better. I think green is underused as a casing colour, but in this specific case it looks a little odd next to the blue and brown.

The other thing I would say - and I mean this constructively - is that the brown at the moment looks a little flat and "dirty" next to the crisp blue. I think it's because the brown is both darker and less saturated than the blue, and the metallic being bronze doesn't help either.

I'd suggest going for a silver instead of a bronze for the trim / chestplate, and using a more vibrant reddish brown. With that being said, it might only look like that to me because it's still in basecoating, and the highlighting might help that issue a lot. I'd still suggest the black casing though.

Bolters should be red, its heresy not to

 Rybrook wrote:
Bolters should be red, its heresy not to

Says the radical inquisitor...