Hello,

I'm planning on doing a model for a kill-marine in (slightly modified) Corvus armour. That has led to a question. As far as I remember Marines that enter the Deathwatch ritually paint their armour black except the left pauldron, the left arm silver, add the Deathwatch pauldron to the left arm and put the left pauldron that usually displays the chapter symbol on the right arm. They do that so the original heraldry isn't completely obscured and the machine spirit isn't offended (man, Black Shield armours must be annoyed). Now the problem is, the left pauldron of a Mk VI is a heresy style one with bolts instead of any heraldry. Would a Marine in that case keep the other pauldron or strictly follow the ritual and go without any sign which chapter he belongs to?

Mjoellnir said:

My inclination is that you replace the studded pauldron on Heresy and Corvus armour with the Deathwatch one - the Marine's heraldry is more important to the rite than the studded pauldron's significance.

Thanks, I guess that's the way I'll make it. I'm just wondering how it is with Heresy armour. It had to studded pauldrons, did they have the heraldry on the legplates?

I agree with the heraldry being more important & no, typically there would not be heraldry on the legs. As a matter of fact, the Mark VI Corvus was developed towards the end of the Heresy & the studs were a commemoration to the Mark V "Heresy" armor. Astartes used the Mark IV during the war, but over time it became harder to replace the damaged or destroyed armor due to resources becoming stretched thin. The Mark V was created with lower quality materials because of this. The studs were used in this process for some kind of bonding of the armor layers (I don't remember exactly). The studs were on the left shoulder, lower legs, and helmet. The heraldry wasn't on the left shoulder until the Mark VII armor was developed. I never understood why it moved...

Gah, sorry I somehow got the idea stuck in my head that the Heresy had both pauldrons studded. That should teach me not to read Rites of Battle after 12 pm.

No apology needed, although you will find that the armor spirits are not as forgiving than I am.