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I was thinking about havin a SM army and wanted them to ride horses instead of bikes.
But normal horses would be crushed by a SM sitting on them.
So to make the horses stronger could the chapter implant geneseeds into the horses to make them stronger? or would it kill the horses?

I think it would kill them. It would also make the horses larger than they already are. Have you considered 'metal crafted' horses?

That is a good idea I hadn't thought of
Thank you

Yes, that is indeed a good idea. You could use the Empire`s mechanical horses.

That would be very expensive. It's a single metal model.

Scrazza wrote:That would be very expensive. It's a single metal model.

For normal bikes yes, but it would be good for a Captain or Chaplain.

If Spacewolfs can ride giant wolves then your marines can most certainly ride giant/ geneticaly modifed horses.

Geneseed is specifically created to work with human males, it can't be used with anything else.

BluntmanDC wrote:Geneseed is specifically created to work with human males, it can't be used with anything else.

Yeah, i'm pretty sure that'd be blasphemy of the highest degree too

Put them on Shire horses.

KingDeath wrote:If Spacewolfs can ride giant wolves then your marines can most certainly ride giant/ geneticaly modifed horses.

Those wolves are the size of rhinos...
By rhinos i mean the animal not the APC

Magos Biologis, I demand horses with the strength to carry fully armored space marines on their backs, the speed and stamina to gallop at fifty miles per hour nonstop without tiring, and twin linked bolt guns for eyes so they can lay waste to the enemy just by looking at them. I know this request may sound insane, but are our enemies not also insane? I have already spoken with Marneus Calgar and he agrees that this isn't heresy against the Codex Astartes so long as the horses can match the performance of space marine bikes.

I eagerly await my horses,
Chapter Master Bucephalus of the Space Horses

Raxmei wrote:Magos Biologis, I demand horses with the strength to carry fully armored space marines on their backs, the speed and stamina to gallop at fifty miles per hour nonstop without tiring, and twin linked bolt guns for eyes so they can lay waste to the enemy just by looking at them. I know this request may sound insane, but are our enemies not also insane? I have already spoken with Marneus Calgar and he agrees that this isn't heresy against the Codex Astartes so long as the horses can match the performance of space marine bikes.

I eagerly await my horses,
Chapter Master Bucephalus of the Space Horses

= epic win, and quoted for truth.

It may just sound off if you wouldn't go for metal horses. It would fit in really good with a steampunk themed chapter.

Hrm, Spaceponies...

http://www.farmtoysonline.co.uk/products/SEARCH_BY_BRAND/Britains_Farm_Toys/Heavy_Horses/605/

There you go. Four pre-painted heavy horses for £4.

They are 1/32 scale so they will be about 2.25 inches tall at the shoulder.

That should easily be big enough for SMs.

Raxmei wrote:Magos Biologis, I demand horses with the strength to carry fully armored space marines on their backs, the speed and stamina to gallop at fifty miles per hour nonstop without tiring, and twin linked bolt guns for eyes so they can lay waste to the enemy just by looking at them. I know this request may sound insane, but are our enemies not also insane? I have already spoken with Marneus Calgar and he agrees that this isn't heresy against the Codex Astartes so long as the horses can match the performance of space marine bikes.

I eagerly await my horses,
Chapter Master Bucephalus of the Space Horses

Yikes horses with pairs of Bale Eyes. When there are giant horses (Adeptus Equidaes), their wargear would be Power Hooves and their mane are missile pods. Perhaps implant them with genesteed.

Thanks Kilkrazy
I must get some of those
And I wanted them to ride hoses as they were going to be a white scars successor chapter

Import horses from Khador !
they would be big enough

Chaos rode horsies back in the day

I see no reason imperial science couldn't genetically modify a line of horses large enough for Astartes.


Empire barded steeds look like they could hold a space marine. for chaos we have chaos steeds.

I had the same idea awhile back, but you also don't need to resort to being artifically modified in order to carry Astartes. Remember that when humanity spread out amongst the galaxy they took animals with them including horses. And if humans could adapt to their environment (abhumans) what's to say that the horses didn't either? I can't remember if it's low gravity or high gravity that would make something bigger but if the horses lived in the same gravity conditions as say Ogryn for thousands of years they would grow larger then normal.

As far as modeling them go to Sciborminiatures and look in the Gallery at the SW 13th company they have there. Instead of bikes they have horses, the modeler used Brettonian horses and just modified the SM to fit plus a little GS here and there on the horses but it's nothing too special.

well it would make sense that if they were in heavier gravity they would get bigger since they would essentiallly weigh more.

Also since this is 40K you can pretty much say what ever you want. The fluff doesnt even have to be good (look at some of the other crud out there) Just throw your guys on horses and make something up. And it would be a counts as unit as long as the people you play with dont object.

dmthomas7 wrote:well it would make sense that if they were in heavier gravity they would get bigger since they would essentiallly weigh more.

I don't think this is right. By this logic humans are smaller in size on the Moon because we weigh less

I think it's the other way around. It's not 40k but in Avatar Pandora has lower gravity then Earth but everything that lives there is larger and stronger then it would be on Earth because there is less gravity pushing down on what lives there. So the same principle applies, if the horses evolved on a low gravity world they would be bigger.

Lower gravity leads to greater height, but higher gravity leads to greater bodymass and stronger muscles(to combat the gravity)


for example, T'au Air Caste members are about 25% taller then their land based cousins, but their bodies are super thin and muscles atrophied to living in a weightless enviroment.


for Astartes horses, you would want a highgravity planet.


the higher gravity wouldn't lead to shorter animals, just stronger ones.

This could lead to some interesting background for your chapter. Techmarines who like to fiddle around with geneseeds (or would that be the Apothecaries?), a planet rich with wildlife, perhaps some kind of native-american flavour to them.

thats kinda what the DA Ravenwing's background is, but it has been lost to the depths of time.

Grey Templar wrote:Lower gravity leads to greater height, but higher gravity leads to greater bodymass and stronger muscles(to combat the gravity)

Lower gravity leads to greater size. The largest animal in the world reaches the size it does because it's less affected by gravity. That dosen't mean it's large but weak.

for example, T'au Air Caste members are about 25% taller then their land based cousins, but their bodies are super thin and muscles atrophied to living in a weightless enviroment.

With respect this is a bad example because there is a differance between having low or high gravity and having no gravity at all.

for Astartes horses, you would want a highgravity planet.

the higher gravity wouldn't lead to shorter animals, just stronger ones.

This is based on relativity. On the moon I'm stronger then I am now but on a high level gravity planet I'm weaker.

And it's also slighlty hypocritical, you say that low gravity makes something taller with less muscle mass as if it's that way all the time with no exceptions but that something with high gravity dosen't have to be short it can be tall and strong. So by that same point something that evolved in a low gravity environment can be tall and strong as well.

And just for the record higher muscle mass does not means something is stronger. Bodybuilders train for muscle mass, strong man competitors train for strength. That dosen't mean that a Bodybuilder could do what a Strongman does or vice versa, and ever notice how differant they look?

Another example. I'm 19, 5' 5 1/2" tall and weigh 212 pounds. I worked out 5 days a week at least 2 hours a day for all 4 years of Highschool. I am no where near being "musculure", yet when I graduated from my HS I held the schools deadlift record of 515 pounds 1 rep.

No-one knows what the effect of varying gravity might be on human physique.

The high grav = short, wide and strong, and low grav = tall thin and dextrous, are stereotypes from science fiction.

If you want your horses to be big, just say they are genetically engineered for size and strength.

Kilkrazy wrote:No-one knows what the effect of varying gravity might be on human physique.

The high grav = short, wide and strong, and low grav = tall thin and dextrous, are stereotypes from science fiction.

Except for just about every Sci-fi stereotype is based off of actual science.

The horse would have to be the size of a small elephant to carry a fully armored marine. That's alot scarier than a bike.