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Made in ca
Drop Trooper with Demo Charge



Canada

What would be some of the smallest forces a Space Marine Chapter might send out on their own?

The Gladius class frigate is the first thing which springs to mind, it's described as having a crew of "Only a single squad of space marines" along with chapter serfs.

So, that's maximum ten, and while Frigates normally function as close in escorts, they can also be employed as scouts, though usually in groups.

What about ground forces?


Imperial Guard - 1500 GSC - 250  
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

VonGerrow wrote:
What would be some of the smallest forces a Space Marine Chapter might send out on their own?

Send out where & how? Gaunt's Ghosts had 3 Marines (from different Chapters) assigned to them for special missions, but they were drawn from larger forces in the wider Sabbat Worlds Crusade. One of the Iron Hands books has a 5-man squad assaulting a hive IIRC - I'll see if I can dig it out.
   
Made in ca
Drop Trooper with Demo Charge



Canada

Let's say send out to assist a minor war; something within the chapter's area of responsiblity, but not high up the list of priorities.

Say, some backwater planet 20 light years from their homeworld is calling out for aid; but the total engaged forces are only like, 40,000 guardsmen and PDF vs 30,000 greenskins.

Imperial Guard - 1500 GSC - 250  
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




beast_gts wrote:

Orks never stop growing, so the older and more powerful an Ork is the bigger they are. The War of the Beast had house-sizes Orks, and larger...


Wait, you're telling me we could see a Knight or even Titan sized Ork?
   
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Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Jarms48 wrote:
beast_gts wrote:
Orks never stop growing, so the older and more powerful an Ork is the bigger they are. The War of the Beast had house-sizes Orks, and larger...
Wait, you're telling me we could see a Knight or even Titan sized Ork?

Yes. Some of the big bosses in War of the Beast were the size of a small Gargant.
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






VonGerrow wrote:
Let's say send out to assist a minor war; something within the chapter's area of responsiblity, but not high up the list of priorities.

Say, some backwater planet 20 light years from their homeworld is calling out for aid; but the total engaged forces are only like, 40,000 guardsmen and PDF vs 30,000 greenskins.


Firstly, 40k Guardsmen vs 30k Orks? That wouldn't get the attention of an Astartes force since the Imperial presence outnumbers the Ork forces.
Most Chapter strike forces operate on either a Company or half Company basis, alongside added assets such as armour, 1st Company Veterans, 10th Company Scouts, Librarius attaches, and fleet support. For example:
The Ultramarines 4th Company supports the planet of Pavonis against the T'au. It consists of the full 4th Company plus 2 Scout squads, and its Strike Cruiser Vae Victus.
   
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Regular Dakkanaut





How would a single hit to torso from a heavy bolter look like assuming it was an Astartes shooting at an unaugmented human?
   
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There would no longer be an unaugmented human post-contact with the shell.
   
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Regular Dakkanaut




 Tyzarion_Kronius wrote:
How would a single hit to torso from a heavy bolter look like assuming it was an Astartes shooting at an unaugmented human?


Presumably the same thing that happens when a regular bolter shell hits a human. Bolters are light anti tank weapons that fire rocket propelled munitions. When it hits a body, it continues traveling and the body is liquefied by the kinetic energy. A person might survive taking a glancing hit on a limb, though would likely bleed to death without immediate and near miraculous intervention. A direct torso hit would leave a chunky red smear and maybe a pair of boots somewhere in a twenty foot radius.
   
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Terrifying Doombull




 Tyzarion_Kronius wrote:
How would a single hit to torso from a heavy bolter look like assuming it was an Astartes shooting at an unaugmented human?


Stick an M-80 (firework) in a pumpkin or watermelon and pretend its a chest cavity.

Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut





Firstly, 40k Guardsmen vs 30k Orks? That wouldn't get the attention of an Astartes force since the Imperial presence outnumbers the Ork forces.
Most Chapter strike forces operate on either a Company or half Company basis, alongside added assets such as armour, 1st Company Veterans, 10th Company Scouts, Librarius attaches, and fleet support. For example:
The Ultramarines 4th Company supports the planet of Pavonis against the T'au. It consists of the full 4th Company plus 2 Scout squads, and its Strike Cruiser Vae Victus.


I think it’d be more likely for those Marines to send a bunch of Scouts for field training if that’s the case. A good chance for practical experience.
   
Made in fi
Regular Dakkanaut





Arw there any examples of Astartes Chapters sending only their Veteran Company to a war zone because the mission is very demanding, etc...?
   
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Mexico

There is the Blood Angels' assault on the Sin of Damnation as one example.
   
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Preparing the Invasion of Terra






The 1st Company usually gets deployed as force multipliers but sometimes, usually in the defence of a Chapter Homeworld, they are all deployed together. The siege of the Fortress of Hera and the Bloodborn invasion are both instances of the Ultramarines 1st Company fighting as one under the Chapter Master.
   
Made in fi
Regular Dakkanaut





I heard the reason no traitor legion gene-seed has been used to create Astartes chapters has to do with how the gene-seed makes Astartes on some psychological / subconscious level obedient towards their Primarch. So there would be risk in creating let's say Iron Warriors chapters because in battlefield they would be at risk to defecting to Perturabo.
   
Made in gb
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain





Earth

 Tyzarion_Kronius wrote:
I heard the reason no traitor legion gene-seed has been used to create Astartes chapters has to do with how the gene-seed makes Astartes on some psychological / subconscious level obedient towards their Primarch. So there would be risk in creating let's say Iron Warriors chapters because in battlefield they would be at risk to defecting to Perturabo.


there does seem to be a psychic link of some sort, the Blood Angels black rage but to a lesser degree maybe
   
Made in ro
Slaanesh Chosen Marine Riding a Fiend





Port Carmine

 Tyzarion_Kronius wrote:
I heard the reason no traitor legion gene-seed has been used to create Astartes chapters has to do with how the gene-seed makes Astartes on some psychological / subconscious level obedient towards their Primarch. So there would be risk in creating let's say Iron Warriors chapters because in battlefield they would be at risk to defecting to Perturabo.


That makes a lot of sense, but then Night Lords' gene-seed would be good to go, as Curze is as dead as a can of spam, and it was fairly defect free.

VAIROSEAN LIVES! 
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






 Tyzarion_Kronius wrote:
I heard the reason no traitor legion gene-seed has been used to create Astartes chapters has to do with how the gene-seed makes Astartes on some psychological / subconscious level obedient towards their Primarch. So there would be risk in creating let's say Iron Warriors chapters because in battlefield they would be at risk to defecting to Perturabo.

This is a factor but also considering the Imperium's dogma regarding traitors and heretics, making SM with the gene-seed of the biggest traitors and heretics known to man is kind of a big no-no. Of course Cawl doesn't really give a rats about the rules so it's entirely possible there are some Primaris out there with traitor Legion gene-seed.
   
Made in fi
Regular Dakkanaut





Why is there no executive officers in Space Marine companies and Chapters?

There is no second in commans in the company hq, only the Captain.

The same goes for Chapter HQ.
   
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Preparing the Invasion of Terra






Until Primaris came out, second in command of a company usually fell to its most senior Sarge who would also take over if the captain were to fall.
Now we have Lt's in the chapter command structure.
   
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Regular Dakkanaut





What are the odds of Warp! Corax (he showed up in a short where he stomped Lorgar, and is apparently learning new warp tricks) coming back to work with Guilliman?
   
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Longtime Dakkanaut






 Tyzarion_Kronius wrote:
Why is there no executive officers in Space Marine companies and Chapters?

There is no second in commans in the company hq, only the Captain.

The same goes for Chapter HQ.

They did sort of exist, but exactly where or how was left incredibly non-specific.

For example the unnamed player commander in Dawn of War II, who is described as a 'Force Commander' (note that in the 3rd ed. Codex, this was equivalent to a Chapter Master), and has command markings, but isn't a Captain.

Some Chapters retained lieutenants before the introduction of Primaris.

The 3rd ed. codex also featured the 'Leader' who was an HQ Veteran Sergeant, representing an 'experienced veteran'.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/22 18:16:46


 
   
Made in us
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Is it necessary to read the revised versions of Dark Imperium and Plague Wars before reading Godblight (no spoilers please)? Also, how big were the changes made in the new editions?
   
Made in fi
Regular Dakkanaut





White Scars nearly killed Mortarion by nearly blowing him up along with WS flagship.

Would that scheme succeding have slowed down Horus' attack on Terra enough to let Ultramarines and Dark Angels arrive in time enough for Emperor not to decide to board Vengeful Spirit and let Lion and Guilliman have their way with the traitors?
   
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Firstly we'd have to consider if Nurgle would even allow that to happen in the first place. Dibs on an entire Legion and its Primarch can have some interesting effects on reality.

Ignoring divine intervention, yes the loss of a Daemon Primarch would have hampered Horus quite a bit. Mortarion and the DG do a lot of heavy lifting during the Siege alongside the Iron Warriors because they can withstand much more damage than the other Legions.
   
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Regular Dakkanaut





Is there any solid time tables given in terms of how long it would take for an entire Chapter of a thousand Astartes to conquer an entire planet?

Like would it be in the ballpark of one week?
   
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Assuming we're talking a planet of Humans, probably yeah. You're talking 1k+ Astartes with armour, air support, and orbital supremacy. That's not a difficult task to accomplish in a quick time frame.
   
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Splattered With Acrylic Paint




beast_gts wrote:
theres’s not as much as you’d think as it's been used to found new Chapters


Only one marine’s worth of gene seed is taken from the banks to found each new chapter. That’s what it says in the sources anyway
   
Made in gb
Battleship Captain





Bristol (UK)

The Taros campaign sort of addresses how a Space Marine chapter would go about subjucating a planet.

Note, Taros was a nominally loyal Imperial planet, but the elite were found to be trading with Xenos, and the workers were loyal to the elite.

They landed a battle company of Astartes in the governor's palace with the intention to kill him and his government, to then replace them with a new government.
If the governor wasn't there they planned a short seek-and-destroy campaign until he was found.
In conjunction they ordered the Arbites of the planet to arrest any one else deemed too high ranked.

Didn't really work out like that, the Tau had already reinforced Taros in strength and repelled the Astartes and Arbites, so things escalated into a full invasion and war.

But the intention was there.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/07/19 09:20:25


 
   
Made in fi
Regular Dakkanaut





Let's say there was a Chapter trying to conquer a planet like modern Earth with numerous hundreds of independent governments, many thousands of state / provincial governments along with supranational unions like the EU?

Let's say the invading force was an entire Chapter with one battle barge and three strike cruisers along with eight rapid strike vessels.
   
 
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