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themocaw wrote:I always figured their armor could change colors, and that the chapter colors are like their "Dress Uniform."

I don't believe they've addressed it recently, but at least in the older fuff the armour was painted.

There was some old fluff about how the spirit of the armour would sometimes object to being repainted... Marines wearing armour parts that had been salvaged from battlefields and repainted in their own Chapter colours would find the paint wouldn't stay on, and they would wind up with armour parts in the 'wrong' colour.

Grey Templar wrote:a giant 8ft dude charging at you is going to be just as visable if he is wearing the color of the local terrain as if he is wearing neon orange and green pokadots.

10 feet. But the point stands.

In either the 4th or 5th edition codex I believe I remember reading a passage on this and it basically went.

"What they see they learn to fear."

I know that was part of it but I can't remember the whole quote.

Monster Rain wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:a giant 8ft dude charging at you is going to be just as visable if he is wearing the color of the local terrain as if he is wearing neon orange and green pokadots.

10 feet. But the point stands.

its 8ft,

10 feet doesn't have enough evidence and goes against GWs official word on it. the HH books have this fact wrong.

It was certainly 10 feet in the Realm of Chaos days. I don't know why they'd retcon them shorter, unless you're referring to the Grey Knights, who were mentioned as being shorter and stockier than regular marines as a result of their intensive training on Titan and it's massive gravity's effects on them.

Grey Knights are like Wolverines of space marines.

The Thousand Sons were listed as being even taller, due to Magnus' genetic influence.

they are making them shorter because they realized 10 feet is abit extreme.


its a bit of a streach to turn a boy, who at best would be 6 feet tall under normal circumstances, into a 10 foot monster in just a few years(marines typically gain the Black Carapace around 18 and Initiates are normally gathered between the age of 10-14)

8 feet is alot more reasonable.

10 foot tall is the new height for Terminator armor.


that and their are some humans who grow to the same height that Astartes are. in the Ravenor and Eisinhorn Omnibuses there is a planet mentioned where the Women get to Astartes height(its an Amazonian society)

10 feet would be approaching an absurd level if Ravenor's observations are true.

Grey Templar wrote:Most space marines favor a fast shock and awe approach to combat which doesn't require camo. a giant 8ft dude charging at you is going to be just as visable if he is wearing the color of the local terrain as if he is wearing neon orange and green pokadots.

Who says a marines first course of action will be to charge?

you are right,

he might just come down in a drop pod on your head or teliport right next to you

MeanGreenStompa wrote:It was certainly 10 feet in the Realm of Chaos days. I don't know why they'd retcon them shorter, unless you're referring to the Grey Knights, who were mentioned as being shorter and stockier than regular marines as a result of their intensive training on Titan and it's massive gravity's effects on them.

Grey Knights are like Wolverines of space marines.

The Thousand Sons were listed as being even taller, due to Magnus' genetic influence.

You do know that Titans gravity is 1/5 Earths gravity... right? Where did this bit about GKs being shorter come from, cuz it sounds like absolute bs...

anyway, now that weve got yet another thread on marine height: in before guy claiming marines are 12 feet tall and guy claiming marines are the same height as an average human.

Camo does you zip good anyway, when the battlefield is being viewed from orbit (player's eye view) with all sorts of scanners, psykers and tech.

This data is relayed down to the troops, who then know where every fething unit is, it's strength and what it ate for brekkies.

There are a few units that can throw a wrench in this (deathleaper, ymgarls, CREED! etc) but that's the general gist, as far as i can tell, even with armies that wouldn't know, or couldn't care less, exactly what they are facing..

Faaaairly certain it's 10 feet. Let me get a page reference.

Camo is a little bit outdated when you have scifi targeting technology etc... but it would probably work on some opponents!

Grey Templar wrote:they are making them shorter because they realized 10 feet is abit extreme.
its a bit of a streach to turn a boy, who at best would be 6 feet tall under normal circumstances, into a 10 foot monster in just a few years(marines typically gain the Black Carapace around 18 and Initiates are normally gathered between the age of 10-14)

8 feet is alot more reasonable.

But being able to spit acid and read a creature's memory by eating it is reasonable? In the novel Space Marine, 3 marines kill and eat a titan crew and then pilot the machine!

chaos0xomega wrote:
You do know that Titans gravity is 1/5 Earths gravity... right? Where did this bit about GKs being shorter come from, cuz it sounds like absolute bs...

It was from 'back in the day' when the GW fluff writers didn't read up on 'science' for their science fiction. And, if it eases the conscience, I guess it was after the terraforming...




Regarding the Original Topic.


Marines in camo.

If I recall correctly, the book Blood Reaver makes mention of some Marines being 3 Meters tall.

Unless I'm terribly mistaken, that's right about 10 ft.

And 10 foot tall Astartes is just about as reasonable as genetically modified super soldiers fighting angry and violent fungi with fully automatic rocket launchers with "deuterium" filled explosive ammo.

what annoys me is that the marine models are as tall as the guardsmen. they might be wider, or a BIT taller, but they are roughly 6 feet tall (relatively speaking). is it so hard to make SM's half and inch taller than the weaklings they protect?

I remember seeing a space marine chapter with blue and white camo.

also i think the photocopied page is a bit dated. the pictures look years old, are they even still valid?

Yes, they are still valid.

IG models look tall because ordinary people in the 40K millenium are taller than modern day people. Most IG are probably about seven feet tall, thanks to better diet and being picked as the best and strongest of their population.

Admittedly SM models should still be a lot taller given that SMs average over nine feet tall, but the price per figure would have to go up because of the extra material that would be used.

They don't wear camo, and they dont cower in cover because their the emperors finest

Monster Rain wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:a giant 8ft dude charging at you is going to be just as visable if he is wearing the color of the local terrain as if he is wearing neon orange and green pokadots.

10 feet. But the point stands.

no, 8 feet is accurate for a Grey Knight. Haven't you read the fluff? Because of the higher gravity on Titan, they then to be about a foot and a half shorter, and about a foot wider. An 8 foot space marine would be ridiculously short, but a 8 foot Grey Knight sounds about right.

Titan has 1/7th gravity of earth. Looks like GW messed up their research.

Where does it say GKs are shorter? On topic, they don't wear camo because it would hurt their pride and because it isn't needed. They are supposed to the ultimate Angels of Death, hiding isn't something they do. I also suppose there's no need to hide when you drop from a massive bright yellow Thunderhawk or crash to earth in a Drop-pod, slamming right in amongst the enemy. It would make sense for Scouts though.

Kharn is a Space Marine, he doesn't wear camo.

But seriously, I would almost assume a marine to have something better than camo, considering that most effective uses of camo in modern combat revolves around you becoming as small as possible (your footprint in the area, not actual size) So I'm thinking that a 10 foot man might have some issues hiding in leaves and twigs.

Alfndrate wrote:Kharn is a Space Marine, he doesn't wear camo.

But seriously, I would almost assume a marine to have something better than camo, considering that most effective uses of camo in modern combat revolves around you becoming as small as possible (your footprint in the area, not actual size) So I'm thinking that a 10 foot man might have some issues hiding in leaves and twigs.

And for those marines who keep fighting in warzones on a continuous basis are liable to be fifteen feet tall.

Ascalam wrote:Infantry does you zip good anyway, when the battlefield is being viewed from orbit (player's eye view) with all sorts of scanners, psykers and tech.

This data is relayed down to the troops, who then know where every fething unit is, it's strength and what it ate for brekkies.

There are a few units that can throw a wrench in this (deathleaper, ymgarls, CREED! etc) but that's the general gist, as far as i can tell, even with armies that wouldn't know, or couldn't care less, exactly what they are facing..

Corrected your typo

Kilkrazy wrote:Yes, they are still valid.

IG models look tall because ordinary people in the 40K millenium are taller than modern day people. Most IG are probably about seven feet tall, thanks to better diet and being picked as the best and strongest of their population.

Admittedly SM models should still be a lot taller given that SMs average over nine feet tall, but the price per figure would have to go up because of the extra material that would be used.

Not really.

That was the White Dwarf article on the Badab War, which has been superseded by the Forge World books.

There's still mention of "camouflage" to an extent, but the majority of it came about due to conditions beyond the Astartes' control, such as acidic atmospheres stripping the paint and scoring the armor.

I just finished reading 'Victories of the Space Marines' and in one of the stories about the Emperor's Warbringers, they describe them in green olive armor with brown and black camo, with their left shoulder just olive with chapter symbol. Their scouts prep the attack site, and then they drop pod into the city after the place goes dark.

So, camo is being mentioned in the BL books at least, and I would assume tends to be very situational. And as we all know, the fluff is ever-changing.

Ouze wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:a giant 8ft dude charging at you is going to be just as visable if he is wearing the color of the local terrain as if he is wearing neon orange and green pokadots.

10 feet. But the point stands.

no, 8 feet is accurate for a Grey Knight. Haven't you read the fluff? Because of the higher gravity on Titan, they then to be about a foot and a half shorter, and about a foot wider. An 8 foot space marine would be ridiculously short, but a 8 foot Grey Knight sounds about right.

Oh I didn't realize we were talking about Grey Knights at the time.

You're right, since they're much shorter than average Space Marines 8ft wouldn't be out of line for them at all.

Indeed. I just wish they'd model the new Grey Knights to be that much shorter and wider and make them really distinct from the regular marines.


But then I'm a purist and I'd love to see the Thousand Sons towering over the rest at 11-12 ft tall.

And now we know what happened to the Squats... they moved to a low grav world to grow taller, and put on silver armour


I would love to see wraithguard sized Thousand Sons

Monster Rain wrote:If I recall correctly, the book Blood Reaver makes mention of some Marines being 3 Meters tall.

Unless I'm terribly mistaken, that's right about 10 ft.

And 10 foot tall Astartes is just about as reasonable as genetically modified super soldiers fighting angry and violent fungi with fully automatic rocket launchers with "deuterium" filled explosive ammo.

3 meters is 9 ft