>>9578398Some colors were less easy to rationalize than others, never did come up with a satisfactory one for pink, heh. Yellow was an interesting case as the idea developed accidentally. One of the downsides to those early Halo waves were the lack of weapons in general, both in selection and quantity. On top of that they'd gone with the practice from the beginning of arming some blind bag UNSC figs with Covenant weapons, resulting in a surplus of those and a dearth of UNSC small arms (this predated the first armory sets). Somewhere along the line I was switching weapons around and dumping extra Covenant weapons on the yellow figs, which got me thinking when I started rationalizing the colors.
Yellow squads serve as "false flag" specialists, exploiting the known rivalries, frictions and outright hostility between the various members of the Covenant (along with the inter-clan feuds of the Sangheili). Many of the Covenant forces favor bright colors to stand out on the battlefield - from this the UNSC has trained units of Spartans and Marines to conduct ambushes and raids on pockets of Covenant forces identified by ONI and other intel as having the potential for setting off some "blue on blue" action. Equipped with captured Covenant weapons, employing Covenant tactics and even using voice scramblers broadcasting orders in Covenant languages, these squads seek to sow paranoia, fear and rage among the shaky ranks.
The units have met with mixed success but it does not appear that the Covenant ever caught on, and once the Great Schism took place they were largely disbanded and returned to regular units.
