Edge the pads in gold or whichever company colour you’re aiming for. (I used S75 Elven Gold and blended it with some silver while it was wet). Typically, the 6th and 7th Companies both comprise ten battleline squads, while the 8th Company consists entirely of close support squads and the 9th entirely fire support squads.

A Chapter also includes a number of officers and specialists who exist outside of the formal organisation of the companies. These individuals are known as the headquarters or command staff, and they will often stride out to lead a strike force in battle, or provide essential battlefield support, spiritual leadership, psychic capability and destructive combat prowess. Ultramarines • White Scars • Iron Hands • Raven Guard • Salamanders • Imperial Fists • Silver Templars Terminators - Veteran battle-brothers, usually of the elite 1 st Company, who make use of Tactical Dreadnought Armour. In normal power armour, their Veteran status is often designated by a white helmet and a Maltese cross worn on their shoulder plate as their tactical specialty symbol.

Who Are They?

It is also not uncommon for the Reserve Companies to form hard-hitting specialised forces in their own right. They may be deployed to seize or defend important objectives in larger conflicts, the concentrated firepower of so many fire support battle-brothers or the line-breaking fury of massed close support warriors proving the decisive factor in many such engagements. In comparison to the teeming multitudes of the Emperor's original Space Marine Legions this is few indeed, yet history has proven time and time again that such an elite gathering of martial strength can conquer star systems and even alter the fate of the galaxy itself. Many Chapters, especially the older and more established amongst them, also retain a handful of battle barges; these potent voidcraft are every bit as formidable as Imperial Navy battleships, and often serve as the storied flagships of each Chapter's fleet. All gene-seed would be subjected to the greatest genetic scrutiny before being used in the creation of new Space Marine implants. To maintain firm genetic control over the Space Marine gene-seed lines and prevent the emergence of potentially dangerous mutations or hybrids, the Codex rebuked the practice of sharing gene-seed between different Chapters. From then on, each Chapter would have to rely solely on the gene-seed produced in the bodies of its own Space Marines. The Primaris battle-brothers keep their Vanguard skills honed even after they move on to other companies, meaning that at a moment's notice they can don any of the various types of Mark X Phobos Power Armour and go to battle as Vanguard Space Marines. Even Veterans of the 1st Company can swiftly reprise such duties, combining the benefits of their vast wealth of combat experience with the specialised and wholly lethal infiltration-and-sabotage tools of the Vanguard.

Unheralded, the peaceful skies are torn asunder with a violence so sudden that the Human eye can barely follow. Across untold planets since the days of the Great Crusade, the arrival of the Angels of Death has signalled defeat for the enemies of the Imperium. Included amongst their rarefied ranks are the psychically-empowered Librarians of the Librarius, the bellicose Chaplains of the Reclusiam, Apothecaries from the Apothecarion, standard-bearing Ancients and the mechanically adept Techmarines and their servitors. In structure, the Deathwatch does not adhere to the strict organisation of squads and companies that the Codex Astartes dictates. The only relevant tactical unit is the Kill-team, which may be organised and equipped in any way the Watch Captains deem appropriate. In one mission the team may go to war on Space Marine Assault Bikes, and in the next mounted on a mighty Land Raider.Space Marines • Chaos Space Marines • Grey Knights • Death Guard • Astra Militarum • Adeptus Mechanicus • Craftworlds • Tyranids • Dark Angels • Blood Angels • Chaos Daemons • Adeptus Custodes • Thousand Sons • T'au Empire • Necrons • Drukhari • Deathwatch • Harlequins • Imperial Knights • Space Wolves • Gellerpox Infected • Elucidian Starstriders • Orks • Genestealer Cults • Vanguard Space Marines • Daemonkin • Chaos Space Marines II • Chaos Knights • Space Marines II • Adepta Sororitas While not all Space Marine Chapters in the Imperium adhere to the Codex's dictates with the same rigidity as the Ultramarines, most obey the spirit of the Codex if not the actual letter. A Space Marine Chapter that generally follows the guidelines of the Codex Astartes is referred to as a " Codex-compliant Chapter." The Horus Heresy had revealed previously unknown genetic weaknesses in the gene-seed of the primarchs and the Space Marines among the original 20 First Founding Space Marine Legions, weaknesses that left the Legions in question greatly exposed to corruption by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. In lore, the reasons are more complicated than that. The Ultramarines were for the most part entirely codex compliant, which granted them a level of prestige amongst a lot of other astartes chapters, mostly due to the dogma of the Imperium and of the Space Marines. The largest discrepancy between the Ultramarines and the Codex, at least until the return of Roboute Guilliman, was the Tyrannic War Veterans.

The Ultramarines have been in a really bad place ever since the Illustrious Grand Vizier himself, Matt Ward, decided to put down in writing the following: I have a feeling my method is going to align fairly closely with JD’s, as we’re likely working from the same half-forgotten White Dwarf from ages ago.I will not be covering basing; we have other articles for that. The most important step in my process, and one you’ll see appear whenever I do edge highlights, is the cleanup stage. Always try for crisp highlights, but if you clean up any shaky lines after the fact with a thinned version of your basepaint, you’ll get cleaner results. This step will also be useful later for cleaning up wherever recess shades may have spilled over. Step 1. Basecoat

Before you even begin to paint to your models here are some steps that everyone should take regardless of whether they are painting Ultramarines. The Ultramarines are also renowned for their realm of Ultramar. This being a region of space in Ultima Segmentum which has prospered with efficient bureaucracy, just and righteous leadership, and the defence of the Ultramarines. This isn't to mention the various (and plentiful) victories won by the Ultramarines in various operations across the Imperium. Yet it is a risk often worth taking; a hundred Terminator-armoured Space Marines supported by Land Raiders and Stormravens possess more than enough martial might to lay low the most monstrous of foes, or conquer an entire world in the Emperor's name. Our Guide to Painting Space Marine Heraldry the Codex Astarteshas everything you need to know about painting Codex Compliant chapters, with a particular focus on the Ultramarines.