Hard to distinguish specialists

[Quixus]

We all know, librarians are supposed to be blue, chaplains black, apothecaries white and techmarines red. That way they are easily distinguished from other marines, however that is not so much the case if the chapter's main color is one of the above.

 

Is there any precedent for those specialists getting a different color in some chapters?

 

What do you do to set your specialists apart? Do you limit yourself to giving them the signature gear and emblems (psychic hood, force weapon, crozius, skull helm, cog symbol etc.)? Do you use a different shade of the main army color (e.g lighter blue for Crimson Fist librarians)?

[Lucien Eilam]

You don't have to use the colours, or you can use them but in a different way than painting the whole model that colour.

 

I can't think of a precedent for using an entirely different colour to distinguish them, but there's no reason you couldn't do it in a DIY Chapter.

 

There's so much signature bling on the models nowadays I think you can get away with just about anything in terms of colour scheme without confusing your opponent.

 

Remember yellow is almost as much a Librarian colour as blue (yellow tabards are common on blue-armoured Librarians), and the same for Apothecaries and red (red iconography and pad trim on white armour). Arguably bone for Chaplains too (skulls everywhere), and black/white for Techmarines (the Cog Mechanicum/Opus Machina icon).

 

Some non-standard examples from GW:

 

The Index Astartes series showed White Scars and Salamanders Librarians in standard white and green respectively, with a blue tabard, right arm and helmet.

 

The Studio Ultramarines army has a couple of blue Techmarines with red helmets. Their Librarians are painted in a much darker blue.

 

There was some old fluff about Salamanders Apothecaries being marked by a red helmet and left arm, to hide the blood.

 

The Apothecary in the Studio Black Templars army just has a white helmet and red/white pads, with black armour.

[Grand Master Belial]

There really is no precedent to change the colors, if anything the reverse would be more likely to be true. Ultramarines are blue and GW paints their Librarians identical to the rank and file. Iron Hands retain their chapter colors even though they are closely tied to the Mechanicum. Space Wolves Chaplains are the Apothecaries and the Rune Priests are not blue.

 

Most specialists do have recognizable wargear to help set them apart: Servo-harness, skull helm, psychic hood, narthecium. I could see Apothecaries inverting their scheme (a White Scar Apothecary would be red) but no one else.

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

If you're trying for a layer of realism (ironic as it may seem in a hobby involving tiny soldiers), bear in mind that most specialists would be identified on the field via IFF-style tags in the visor feeds of their battle-brothers. Personally I don't go for colour identification of Techmarines, Apothecaries and Librarians beyond a shoulderpad rim, or at most a full pad (with the relevant iconography).

 

At the end of the day it'd likely matter little what colour Brother-Techmarine Fixit is wearing on his armour as he'd be easily recognisable even without a helmet feed thanks to the paraphernalia and wargear of his position. I can't see colour really mattering for any position except Chaplain, where it's supposed to be a direct visual confirmation of the Chaplain's investiture as the Emperor's chosen representative on the field.

[appiah4]

I remember several examples of specialists bearing their chapter colors on the armor and specialist colors on the shoulderpad in the 4th edition C:SM.  I recall things like a blue chaplain with black shoulderpads or a blue techmarine with red shoulderpads etc.

 

I think it was a good idea, and looked quite decent.. Though I didn't do it for my own army.

 

Prior to 4th ed. I never saw such a thing in 2nd or 3rd.  I wasn't around for RT though.

[The Yak]

I would go with what you think looks best. I've gone with all black for chaplain except for left pad. For my others I have just added hints of the "designated specialist colours" on various parts of the model, that look cool.

 

However it should be noted that I do have a reckless disregard for the Codex Astartes!

[Kaedes Nex]

I think this is a pretty case by case basis as to what looks best for a specific army, because not all the official ways to do it end up looking good or easily identifiable.

 

For me, chaplains are always black. If your army is mainly black, make sure the chaplain has a bone helmet and perhaps more bone on his torso and other areas as well. If your army has black helms and bodies like BT, this is a lot easier to do. The crozius is also very prominent so make the model hold it aloft.

 

For everyone else, the wargear is identifier enough. A single shoulderpad in red with the AdMech cog and giant servo harness, or blue with the large force weapon + psychic hood makes it very obvious as to what that model is.

 

The real kicker is trying to distinguish between chapter masters and captains, and sometimes honor guard, sternguard, and even company/chapter champions if you don't use the standard knight-looking armor.

[Cornelias]

Behold a white chaplain :) heh

[The Yak]

And one of my favourite memories... Twas on the cover of one of my earliest white dwarfs, back in the day.... Tears

[Slips]

Well, yeah, I can see white chaplains being a thing for predominantly Black Armored Chapters; would make them stand out a lot. And in the case of an apothecary, just do their shoulders + Narthecium arm in white, the rest black.

[Kaedes Nex]

Behold a white chaplain heh

The reclusiam welcomes brothers of all ethnicities!

[Seleucus]

The Mortifactors chapter bucks the trend in having chaplains in blood red (dark red, not Blood Angel red) and it's chapter master in pure bone white armour instead of their chapter's mixed black and bone colours in the 'Warriors of Ultramar' book, and so that's how I've painted mine.

[shandwen]

When I did tech marines for my ba I just used a darker shade of red for the armour. Same could be done for the apothecary with an off-white. A slightly differing shade will stand out when mixed in.