Dark Angels History and Army Variations
History & army choices
Keep official precedent and our choices distinct
Our collectionapproved sergeant convention
Owner-approved · 17 October 2026
Owner-approved, 17 October 2026: sergeants, including veteran sergeants, follow their normal unit and formation recipe everywhere. Their rank identifier is a red skull waterslide decal on a tilt shield.
Greenwing: armour-green shield; optional vertical bone centre stripe.
Deathwing: armour-bone shield; optional vertical green centre stripe—the inverse arrangement.
Normal unit treatment
Helmets, rims, aquilas, and other details: normal unit treatment. Sergeant-specific bone-helmet recolouring and extra gold rank details are superseded; normal Deathwing bone helmets remain normal formation livery.
This is our deliberate heraldic variation, not a claimed universal rule. Higher-officer distinctions and Ravenwing-specific shield variants remain undecided. No new paint palette or complete Deathwing armour recipe is selected here. Current Intercessor guide
Practical use: choose the chapter, company, and era first; apply its documented markings, then add only the explicitly approved army conventions.
How to read these differences
Published history, an author’s interpretation, and our approved army conventions serve different purposes. An authentic older scheme is not automatically the current chapter standard. This page explains those differences; the companion organization and markings pages provide the working reference.
Historical schemes: genuine, but tied to their edition
Ely’s publication survey traces black armour in Rogue Trader (1987), a seventh-company “Raven Wing” in White Dwarf 96, the 1989 Deathwing expansion’s white Terminators, and green studio miniatures by WD123 (1990).
WD129–130 also depicts Deathwing power armour and company-coloured chest eagles and shoulder trim. Those are historical precedents, rather than instructions to add coloured rims to our models. By WD166 (1993), the familiar green armour, bone chest eagles, red weapons, and plain shoulder trim appear. Codex: Angels of Death (1996) consolidates the Fallen, Unforgiven, and robed aesthetic. These publication references come from Ely’s 2021 survey; the original scans were not independently inspected for this collection.
Interpretation: why black became green
The change is documented; the story that studio painters misunderstood green reflections in Jim Burns’s artwork is unconfirmed hearsay, acknowledged as such by Ely. His earlier article apparently misnames Angels of Absolution when discussing a successor retaining black Legion armour; Angels of Vengeance are the black-armoured example. Do not perpetuate that apparent slip. Ely’s black-to-green article
Successors: check their own heraldry
Shared ancestry does not require identical colours or specialist-company names. Angels of Absolution wear bone throughout, including vehicles; Angels of Vengeance retain black and have Dreadwing and Raptorwing formations; Angels of Redemption call their first two companies Redwings. These examples prevent the parent chapter’s green/bone/black arrangement being imposed on every successor. Absolution, Vengeance, Redemption
Ely also offers homebrew suggestions. Those are creative options, not evidence for a named chapter. His Angels of Defiance quadrant description repeats a left-side label, so use a checked illustration for exact placement. Successor article
Worked example: Ely’s personal fourth company
Personal collection choices and the era-specific commander roster
His “The Feared” demonstrates six battleline, two close-support, and two fire-support squads using a particular selection of modern units. It is an example allocation, not a compulsory shopping list. His commander Larathiel Adellum, named Lieutenants, bare-headed sergeants, flowers identifying sergeant bases, helmet-sword combat-squad leaders, and right-greave crusade badges belong to his collection. Personal fourth company
The uploaded chapter chart instead names Korahael, a published fourth-company commander associated with the 13th Black Crusade. That makes its named roster era-specific, not a timeless list of incumbents. Korahael and publication references
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Collection approvedoverview sergeant convention
Owner-approved, 17 October 2026: sergeants, including veteran sergeants, follow their normal unit and formation recipe everywhere. Their rank identifier is a red skull waterslide decal on a tilt shield.
This is our deliberate heraldic variation, not a claimed universal rule. Higher-officer distinctions and Ravenwing-specific shield variants remain undecided. No new paint palette or complete Deathwing armour recipe is selected here.· Current Intercessor guide
Practical use: choose the chapter, company, and era first; apply its documented markings, then add only the explicitly approvedApproved army conventions.variations