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They Eat lead and drink the blood of their enemies.

Melissia wrote:
They don't get the absolute best of everything. For example, they don't get Exorcists, Leman Russ tanks, Baneblades, or Titans. And they hardly get weapons suitable for long, drawn-out battles (bolter weapons are very inefficient for anything but short engagements).

Marines get what they need to perform their job.

Marines by nature are a lot like our Marines, shock troops,they hit quick, heavy, hard, for longer fights carry or convoy in extra. Besides how is a Laz gun a better weapon? Sure you can recharge the magazine by tossing it into the fire... but come on.. really. Having used 9mm in the field training, and my own Sig .40 in the same op, I would take the "Bolter" over the Laz Pistol any day. I fact when I worked in Alabama collecting medical records from abandoned flood areas.. I TOOK THE SIG.

A crackhead will still come at you with 3-4 9 rounds in him, however hit him with a .40 and watch his knee joint, elbow, shoulder, or chest vanish. Bolter stops them, Laz Guns, they can but come on..

thegrav wrote:Besides how is a Laz gun a better weapon?

Because with a lasgun, you're incredibly unlikely to run out of ammunition for a long campaign. With a boltgun, you're incredibly unlikely to NOT run out of ammunition for a long campaign. Furthermore, a lasgun requires less maintenance for said long campaign, while a boltgun requires constant maintenance. Finally, a lasgun is easier to replace than a boltgun if it gets damaged due to constant use or enemy fire (it's also less likely TO get damaged due to constant use, too!)

Marines are not suitable for long campaigns or frontline combat. That's why they strike quickly, decapitate the enemy, then get the hell out of there. They cannot do what the Guard does as well as the Guard, because they are not equipped to do what the Guard does. Just like the Guard can't do what Marines do as well as Marines do it-- rapid deployment, quick strikes, and so on.

I think you have failed to understand the meaning of the term "Supply Lines" if you think a marine only has a clip or two for the duration of a campaign.

Also... Marines have a saying.. "One Shoot One Kill" I am sure the SM have the same mentality.

thegrav wrote:I think you have failed to understand the meaning of the term "Supply Lines" if you think a marine only has a clip or two for the duration of a campaign.

Also... Marines have a saying.. "One Shoot One Kill" I am sure the SM have the same mentality.

Ground-based supply lines can be cut off or captured, and aerial supply lines can be disrupted or shot down. Guard can handle that, they're made for it, their equipment is designed for it.

And typically, Marines don't carry much more than a few clips of bolter shells for a single battle. If they're unable to extract, then they can run out of ammunition very easy. And so what if they have one shot one kill? I sincerely doubt that is possible against the various enemies of the Imperium even with a Marine's marksmanship (Which are considerable indeed). It's easy to say one shot one kill in theory, but in the chaos of combat? Not so much so. Besides, how does that matter when there's hundreds more even after you've spent all your ammunition?

A boltgun clip has 24 shots in it, while a bolt pistol clip has 8. Assuming that they carry four clips (three and the one in the weapon) into battle, that's 96 shots per Marine. Compare this to a lasgun and lasgun pack-- one lasgun and four packs would be roughly 1200 shots per Guardsman (depending on which source you use, the exact number varies from author to author but three hundred shots is roughly normal from my experience). Considering that there'd probably be at least twenty times as many Gaurdsman deployed as Marines, this adds up considerably. And furthermore, this means that each Guardsman that is killed or wounded beyond combat effectiveness is no great loss to the Guard force, while each Marine killed or rendered ineffective is a huge loss to an Astartes force. And even more importantly, if the Guardmen are cut off, they can still keep fighting because their laspacks can be recharged in a fire or via sunlight, or using electricity if they're in a hive city. Marines, if they're cut off, will have to use their ammunition conservatively.

Marines aren't able to do what the Guard does as well as the Guard does it. Simple as that.




As for on topic, I imagine most of them eat chemical diets-- lots of drugs, hormones, and chemicals.

thegrav wrote:I think you have failed to understand the meaning of the term "Supply Lines" if you think a marine only has a clip or two for the duration of a campaign.

Also... Marines have a saying.. "One Shoot One Kill" I am sure the SM have the same mentality.

"One Shot, One Kill" is kinda hard to do when your enemy has a pretty good chance of deflecting the bullet entirely, like with Chaos or similar..

Or they can regenerate, or they have armor which deflects it, or they're ridculously fast, or there's just a metric fuckton of them...

As much as it pains me to admit it, I agree with Melissia.

Marines are suited to the lightning strike, not the long, drawn out campaign. And for the ongoing campaign, the lasgun is the far more effective weapon. The Space Marines are not intended for the long ground war. Not only does it waste their abilities (during one ground war lasting five years, they could have conducted dozens or hundreds of lightning raids) but it means that the guard ends up having to do what the Space Marines should have been doing.

Although I can't back Mel's statement about the hormone/chemical diet. It just conjures images of Marines pounding down forty-o's of testosterone, which, while funny, is probably not accurate.

Canned chicken soup.
Unopened.
Or Canned, for that matter.

I read somewhere once that many chapters, when ever stationed on their homeworld at least, will often have some members go out and hunt what ever big game is in the area, preferably something dangerous and poisonous.

marines also eat pellets that have ceramic componds that make up a portion of their bone matter, the ceramic is absorbed and incorperated into the bone structure.



in a combat situation there are nutriant packs they can eat, but they are tasteless and most marines do prefer real food. Space Wolves in particular, but any marine likely has good tastes.

Ultramarines are known for their love of wine, Wolves their love of beer, meat, and occasionally women.

Grey Templar wrote:and occasionally women.

Which makes even less sense than their love for beer, since they're effectivly neutered.

SM breakfast: a bowl of Trix, using a 40 of King Cobra as the milk!

thegrav wrote:I totally want to make my own SM chapter now... Inspired by Angry Marine...

You do know the Angry Marines are already a chapter, right?

with a fan dex & everything. Its on here somewhere.

Fafnir wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:and occasionally women.

Which makes even less sense than their love for beer, since they're effectivly neutered.

Space Wolves aren't neutered. Lukas the Trickster's codex entry has some details about his exploits(12 beds-1 night, Legend among the Women of Fenris)


Most marines simply have lost the urge somewhere along the creative process, but it doesn't mean it can't happen.

I'm gonna go with nutrients/chemical diet to get them to their best and real food depending on their tastes, traditions or craveings.

They eat only 3 things: babies, hobos, and beef. They drink only 3 things: Protein Shakes, Blood, and beer.

I think since they can survive off anything, the Imperium would give them left overs.

Hence I second the Chili Dogs motion.

White Scars must be jacked off their arses on Kick, Red Bull, Emerge and the like as well as snorting sherbert like cocaine, then mixing it with cocaine. That's why they like to drive so fast.

The OC-D

As most have said they can ingest almost anything. Depending on the chapters traditions their food will vary accordingly. They will obviously need food with LOTS of energy in. Depending on a marines development their diets will change accordingly, e.g a developing neophyte has to eat far more nutrients than a standard marine.

theocd wrote: then mixing it with cocaine. That's why they like to drive so fast.

Actually... If space marine constitution is such that they can resist poison, it would make sense that they are basically jacked up on enough stimulants to make a regular human heart explode.

That and I bet they get fed bricks of steroids, etc.

I based my chemical diet off of something I read in a previous SM codex, but I can't quite remember which one. Regardless, SM initiates at least do need special chemicals in order to ensure their bones and muscles grow properly.

Grey Templar: You are correct about Lukas bedding twelve women in a night, but I do believe that that was prior to his indoctrination as a Space Wolf.

I wouldn't be so sure.

in the Space Wolve omnibus, Ragnar and Hagar are sizing up a dancing girl in the Navigator house. Nothing happens, but i wouldn't say that the urge wasn't there.

now you could argue that a Space Wolf might be more in touch with his carnal side then other marines, but its not to say a marine that wasn't a space wolf wouldn't have reproductive urges. A Marine could certaintly tell when a female was sizing him up.

Oh, I think Marines have normal urges and whatnot, I just don't think that the majority of human women can handle sex with them without sustaining serious injury. It's possible a scout marine could do it, but I don't think a normal marine could do the deed without harming their partner. Of course, I don't think that's going to stop Chaos marines from doing it. Especially not the Emperor's Children (with their guitars and their Prince outfits...)

Why would one assume their genitilia grows larger than the normal human?

Their muscles and bones are grown larger. Not their boners.


edit: And I can't believe this discussion has brought me to say that.

I'd always assumed that SMs just had their waste recycled until there was no nutritive value left in it, paired with some kind of sporadic cocktail of supplements. Not that I read it in any source mind you it's just what came to mind as most fitting given exactly what they are.


On the side note about the space marine's... love life. I can't imagine they have one.

Even our modern steroids basically destroy your sexual function, and can even shrink the organs in question. They don't necessarily kill desire but certainly hinder the ability to act on those desires. What we have is pretty mild stuff compared to what marines go through. I can't imagine they have much left in their pants other than something resembling a small scrap of jerky. (Not that I'm saying the extent of human sexuality or even most of it is about the phallus but I think it's relevant to what most people in this thread would be talking about)

Again, hoping to keep this mature and clinical rather than grotesque and fratboyish.

I would ASSUME that...you know what? Never mind. I am sure that any point I can make about marines having sex or not having sex has already been made here, there, and everywhere in between. I am sure that you have read a dozen and a half arguements for, against, and indifferent to the idea of Space Marines having sex. And since I am pretty sure that this is one of those topics that cannot possibly be handled with any deal of good grace or tact, I am going to beg off. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject and no amount of posting is going to change it.

So, how about them Blackhawks?

Melissia wrote:Why would one assume their genitilia grows larger than the normal human?

Their muscles and bones are grown larger. Not their boners.


edit: And I can't believe this discussion has brought me to say that.

Even if their genitals are the normal size, imagine the muscles in those pelvic thrusts!

In all seriousness, I bet only Space Wolves even think about it. The rest of them are all too holy, prayerful, meditative and concerned with the smiting of the Emperor's foes for any love making.

Which would hurt them as much as the woman. Male genitalia can be torn and burned by that kind of activity as well.

I doubt even the Space Wolves actually go through with it, even if they think about it. As noted, steroids-- which Marines take a lot of during their formative stages, as well as plenty of other hormones, artificial and otherwise-- stunt that part of one's physiology.


edit: And you know, it amuses me that we're talking about penises in a thread entitled "What do Space Marines Eat?".

Melissia wrote:
edit: And you know, it amuses me that we're talking about penises in a thread entitled "What do Space Marines Eat?".

Why else do you think they have bald, polished heads?

They love their favorite food so much that they've taken to emulating it in appearance.