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I don't know how i came round to the subject it may be the bordem or that im flicking through the SM codex but it dawned on me where do they hold all their ammo when they are in the field. If you look at the minatures they only have whats in their weapon and even the ones whith ammo pouches have only 2 more mags so where do they hide it? Hmmmmmmm a tough one i think maybe there is a neophyte running around reloading them ha ha

I don't think they have to worry about extra ammo, the battles are so huge and have giant tanks and crap shooting all over the place I think just about everyone dies before running out of ammo. And if you live long enough you probably just pick the gun up from the dead guy next to infront of or behind you. Also they have a backpack.

maybe in some battles but in the fluff there are times when its just infantry fighting for hours at least where does it all come from they are not orks who if there is something rattling around inside it will fire. Also their back packs contain a power supply, sensors and stabilisers

In some of the stories, when they start to get low on ammo, they switch the Bolters to Single shot than the "Spray and Pray" setting. Or they Nick it from the late Holy battle brother sitting next to him.

Generally they keep their ammunition in their gun, I doubt they would bother taking a bolter if they didn't.

(Sarcasm off)

But honestly, the standard bolt gun mag holds what? 20-30 rounds? Lets go with 20. So usually they will carry one mag in their gun plus 2 for every ammo pouch (lets assume he has 2). Thats one hundred bolt gun shots. Now, let's look at space marine missions. Most of the time, it is reconnaisance, search and destroy, assasinations, rapid insertions, search and rescue. Now, most of the time 100 shots would do would it not? In the event marines do get bogged down and run out of ammunition, they carry combat blades.

However, when they are deployed en masse (which I assume is what you meant) I'm sure they would have plenty of support (tanks, gunships, what not). So after they arrive out of their pods, ammo and supplies would be dropped in once they establish a perimeter.

This is how I would assume it would go.

Ok yeah that seams plausable enough thanks for clearing it up

No problem.

Plus they have a pistol. So it's all good.

I still don't think 100 rounds is enough, the SAS go on reconissance missions with well over a thousand rounds each.

nickmund wrote:I still don't think 100 rounds is enough, the SAS go on reconissance missions with well over a thousand rounds each.

Modern rounds are much lighter and smaller than bolter rounds though, and modern soldiers have the mystical powers of webbing to hold everything they need.

Also, In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future there is no time for Logistics!

nickmund wrote:I still don't think 100 rounds is enough, the SAS go on reconissance missions with well over a thousand rounds each.

This is true (I have read many stories and accounts of SAS patrols, I remember that one of the troopers had a machine gun and its bullets took up most of the space in his back pack, and had to put some ammo in another troopers bag) but marines I would imagine would need less as they have a reputation for putting a round where it's needed. Thus, they would be able to pull of with a 100 rounds, something that would take thousands of rounds for the modern trooper.

E.g. You could spend over 200 rounds trying to take out someone in cover (Imperial guard combat doctrine *cough*) but it would take a marine one, thanks to the super human awesomness and painstaking training.

Don't forget, Bolters fire .75 calibre mass reactive explosives. This is massive. Given a clip of 30 rounds (sickle mags hold up to 30), and a few extra mags in pouches, this is plenty of ammo for a short engagement against soft targets. They wouldn't even need to burst fire, which is the point of a bolter.

Putting a single .75 calibre bolt into a humanoid soft target, centre mass, would destroy that target, no question. This is also part of the Space Marine effectiveness - their standard weapon will obliterate a soft target with one round. Bolters terrify opponents.

Each Space Marine, with only 2 spare mags, should be able to kill around 90 targets. Given their accuracy, that's certainly likely. Coupled with the fact that they move in squads of 10, there's plenty of potential for killing in a short term battle. Long term battles, they'd move in ammo supplies.

This is all fluff though. In game, they're certainly a lot less effective.