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Do any (current) Space Marine Chapters (besides Raptors) use camouflage?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in us
Morally-Flexible Malleus Hearing Whispers






Tapping the Glass at the Herpetarium

Can't seem to find any current lore (just some old Badab War and older stuff–no Indomitus Crusade Era) if Space Marine Chapters use camouflage (outside of the Raptors).

Is there anything? Or is this going to be one of those "Just create your own chapter and you won't have to worry about it" type of things?


 BorderCountess wrote:
Just because you're doing something right doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing...


"Vulkan: There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age."
"Ferrus: Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?"
"Vulkan: I do not understand the question."

– A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs


 
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






Howling Griffons had a night camo scheme i.e. they wore black armour but still had their red and yellow Chapter heraldry, so like not really.

Raven Guard wear black for stealth and some of their Successors follow in Corax's goth footsteps by also wearing dark colours.

Rogue Trader Badab War has some examples that are still considered legit like the Mantis Warriors Tranquility campaign camo (yellow/sand with black triangle shapes sort of like grassland camo).
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern






Possibly?

In Game, camo is the reserve of Scouts and those lads with the ludicrous but cool sniper las cannons.

Very, very broadly speaking? Marines don’t need camo, as they’re a sharp pointy thing to be rammed down the identified gullet of the enemy with extreme prejudice. And so all that sneaking about just doesn’t come into it.

In their preferred and ideal theatre? They want you to see them coming, and shrugging off all but the most serious of your weapons. All the time advancing rapidly and annihilating anything and everything you can throw at them.

They’re a rapid, alpha strike shock and awe force multiplier. Or at least, that’s their ideal situation.

Outside of that? Again it mostly falls to the Scout Company to have a good old scuttle about behind enemy lines doing naughty sabotage, assassination and generally being an elusive pest doing what they can to disrupt the enemy as much as they can.

But! That doesn’t mean full Battle Brothers won’t adopt camo of and when it suits.

Having Full Colours Astartes thrust themself good and hard exactly where you want it least is one thing? Having them sneak up on you, and then pop up without Drop Pod trails is quite another.

If we go right back to Rogue Trader? There are canonical examples of Marine Camo Schemes.

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Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







An older codex had a True Colours trait, or some such, where the chapter would always wear their colours, implying that all other chapters were happy to camo up as required.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Morally-Flexible Malleus Hearing Whispers






Tapping the Glass at the Herpetarium

I was thinking about the Black Templar (who don't have traditional Scout companies) and was trying to rationalise how their phobos/Eliminator squads would look on someplace like Armageddon.

Would they stick to the all black and white or would they adopt a more ash-waste scheme?
[Thumb - 1000067829.jpg]
This is what I was thinking about.


 BorderCountess wrote:
Just because you're doing something right doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing...


"Vulkan: There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age."
"Ferrus: Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?"
"Vulkan: I do not understand the question."

– A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs


 
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Chief Deputy Sub Assistant Trainee Squig Handling Intern






Sorry to lazy cop out? But this is 40K.

A given Black Templar Marshall or equivalent will wage war as they see fit, being trusted to make the best use of the forces under their command.

It might be rare for Marines to camo up. But, if that’s how you get the edge in a given operation? You’re free to do so, even if peers within your Chapter might not agree. It’s the results that matter, not the approach.

Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?

Goodness me! It’s my 2026 Hobby Extravaganza! 
   
Made in fi
Posts with Authority






At this point, I must remind that in the RT lore, "camouflage" was just a colour scheme that was used in a particular campaign. Some Chapters revered certain campaigns by retaining the colourscheme used within. What does it matter if you are either a brightly coloured blob, or in a highly contrasting camouflage scheme? Running around in a desert camo on an ashy black planet, they will still see you coming, no doubt about that. I sort of consider many of the RT camo schemes more as fancier armour paint schemes, heraldric things, like on knights of old. My interpretation always was, and still is, "its a sandbox", do whatever you want as long as you can write it into the nerrative fluently enough.

Having said that, there was also a mention stating that some chapters consider any sort of camo as "colors of cowardice" and avoid em. You're just going to have to rely on your personal headcanon here...

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2025/12/30 15:01:54


"The larger point though, is that as players, we have more control over what the game looks and feels like than most of us are willing to use in order to solve our own problems" 
   
 
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