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Hey people, this is something i have thought about a while now: Do Space Marines have free time? Sorry if noob question, i am by no means even a little bit experienced when it comes to fluff.
Anyway, back to the Questions, from what i gathered space Marines cant take their armour of, right? Well in that case being a terminator must be realt unpractical, just imagine sleeping in that suit, or eating with a knife and fork. If we assume they have free time, what do they do? Watch movies? Do movies exist?

Anyway, happy for answers,

/ AlexiLux

They can take off their armour, just not the "black carapace" neural interface system.

In one of the old references (the compendium, maybe) there was a slightly facetious description of a Marine's day in the chapter monastery. Because they can shut down half of their brain at will, they don;t really need sleep, however it was written in the Codex Astartes that they needed free time, so typically they are allowed 15 minutes free time every day that isn't filled with prescribed drills, training or equipment miantenance. Typically this is used meditating or praying...

 AlexiLux wrote:
Hey people, this is something i have thought about a while now: Do Space Marines have free time? Sorry if noob question, i am by no means even a little bit experienced when it comes to fluff.
Anyway, back to the Questions, from what i gathered space Marines cant take their armour of, right? Well in that case being a terminator must be realt unpractical, just imagine sleeping in that suit, or eating with a knife and fork. If we assume they have free time, what do they do? Watch movies? Do movies exist?

Anyway, happy for answers,

/ AlexiLux

Space Marines normally pray (a lot), practice combat skills, and participate in indoctrination sessions. Aside from eating, going to the bathroom, grooming showering, ect. Little time is left for anything else.

Scouts often spend all of their time observing their older brothers in the combat cages and will even dual them, sharpening their combat skills.

I think it depends on the Chapter, for instance Space Wolves have great feasts and party with drinking and all the good times that you would find at any good Viking party,Salamanders tend to spend their free time with their families (this could of changed), all the chapters have different traditions and events so it really boils down to what legion they were part of

Alpha 1 wrote:
I think it depends on the Chapter, for instance Space Wolves have great feasts and party with drinking and all the good times that you would find at any good Viking party,Salamanders tend to spend their free time with their families (this could of changed), all the chapters have different traditions and events so it really boils down to what legion they were part of

Yeah, it really depends on the traditions of the chapter.

Also listed some don,t go for the free 15 minutes.
Every chapter has different ways of working, even within the codex compliment.

Thanks for all the replies guys. The stuff with the traditions make sense. I remember Reading somewhere about the space wolwes space Viking parties. Do the salamanders really get to spend time with their family? Dont get me wrong, you probaly know more than me on this subjekt, but it seems awfully kind coming from the Imperium.

 AlexiLux wrote:
Thanks for all the replies guys. The stuff with the traditions make sense. I remember Reading somewhere about the space wolwes space Viking parties. Do the salamanders really get to spend time with their family? Dont get me wrong, you probaly know more than me on this subjekt, but it seems awfully kind coming from the Imperium.

Salanders have an unorthodox attitude for caring for humans. They are patient and will go to extremes to save humans in any way they can. Further, Salamanders are allowed to spend time with their families, that is until they die of old age.

Blood Angels paint as well.

Salamanders, when not in battle, act as village elders, spend time with family and friends, or work in their vast forges on personal wargear.. Or just go hunting/traveling. They are one of the only chapters who are allowed to interact with the people from their former lives.

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
Salamanders, when not in battle, act as village elders, spend time with family and friends, or work in their vast forges on personal wargear.. Or just go hunting/traveling. They are one of the only chapters who are allowed to interact with the people from their former lives.

Yeah, I would believe Samanders would be more motivated in combat because they are reminded of who they fight for.

Indeed. Tushan beat the snot out of a marines malevolent captain for collateral damage against civilians

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
Indeed. Tushan beat the snot out of a marines malevolent captain for collateral damage against civilians

Haha, thats my man tushan!

Space Marines wouldn't spend their free time on frivolous entertainment like we do. They'd spend it sparring and reading up on combat theory.

I think 3rd ed had the 15 mins per cycle of own time.
The BA go in for some arty type activities.
The Fists like to scrimshaw.
I imagine the UM like writing horrible novels.

The daily rituals of a Space Marine

http://redelf.narod.ru/w40k/ia/w40k_ia_dr.html

Not every day of their life is spent on the battlefield. A campaign might last 5 month to 10 years, but there is time in between those campaigns.


Travel time varies alot as well, since the warp is a capricious place at best.

Generally you could assume that your average tac marine only has 1 combat assignment per year on the shorter engagements, and if he has participated in a long one (3 years or more) he will tend to get a 6 month to a year long sabbatical after its over to go on pilgrimage's and to visit his home world.

A marines free time would be spent either reading, crafting, or sparring with fellow marines, whatever they find amusing. Members of the Imperial fists for example tend to spend 30 min to an hour meditating whilst wearing a painglove whereas Salamanders either hit up the forge or visit their families and home communities.

if any they spend it meditating/training/practising/praying to the god emperor.

It is said, some play with small plasteel models of their battle brothers and war machines against holograms of Xenos and heretics as no battle brother is allowed to own plasteel models of the hated enemy.

Besides that. Its mostly praying/cleaning weapons/training and such.

This is more common with high ranking Imperial generals who have more freetime and can use the models to represent their men on strategic battle tables.

Eihnlazer wrote:

and if he has participated in a long one (3 years or more) he will tend to get a 6 month to a year long sabbatical after its over to go on pilgrimage's and to visit his home world.

Is this in the fluff?

Even marines need some non combat time and rest. There built for warfare but there not also robots.
They may be miles more advanced than a human but still share a few weakness like sleep, and fatique etc.

A lot longer scales but even marines cannot fight forever without adverse effects.

jhe90 wrote:
Even marines need some non combat time and rest. There built for warfare but there not also robots.
They may be miles more advanced than a human but still share a few weakness like sleep, and fatique etc.

Except they are specifically noted as being able to rest half of their brain at a time and can therefore do without sleep. They wear powered armour removing a lot of the fatigue of moving about normally. Plenty of rest time available between missions. No need to waste it on stupid stuff like sleep and wathcing films when you could be learning a new way to fillet a Genestealer

jhe90 wrote:
Even marines need some non combat time and rest. There built for warfare but there not also robots.
They may be miles more advanced than a human but still share a few weakness like sleep, and fatique etc.

It's seldom touched upon, but I recall that such was mentioned in connection with Blood Angels Captain Tycho. The Apothecaries (or maybe Chaplain?) recommended that Tycho's ratio of resting days to battle be changed to more battle, or even that he be permanently assigned to battlefield duty. So at least the Blood Angels have a rest cycle for the marines, and as they do follow the Codex it's not unreasonable to think it's a Codex thing.

 Blackhair Duckshape wrote:
Space Marines wouldn't spend their free time on frivolous entertainment like we do. They'd spend it sparring and reading up on combat theory.

Ahriman, aka mr. I'm going to read all the books, still found time to have his own winery and label.

There is a bit of fluff from I believe an old Marine Codex that breaks down the day of a Marine, ah! Found it!

This is a normal day for a Marine in a codex compliant chapter, of course this can deviate massively depending on the chapter itself as they have their own customs.

15 mins of free time though, for the lucky ones!

0400 Morning Prayer Led by the Company Chaplain, the Space Marines renew their oaths to the Emperor and the company relics are displayed. This time is also used to give out orders, announcements and other administrative tasks.

0500 Morning Firing Rites The Space Marines engage in target practice with their personal and squad weaponry. Awards and punishments are dispensed for consistently good or poor accuracy, respectively.

0700 Battle Practice Generally this is close quarters oriented, however live fire or hazardous environment training may be done instead (or as well).

1200 Midday Prayer In addition to prayer any injured Space Marines can report to the Apothecary.

1300 Midday Meal Normally local wildlife killed during the morning activities.

1315 Tactical Indoctrination This can take many forms, from information on a new alien species or technology to strategy. A debrief of the morning's battle is common as well.

1500 Battle Practice This focuses more on combined tactics in conjunction with vehicles, Dreadnoughts and devastator squads and normally includes a trial of a new tactic introduced during the tactical indoctrination.
2000 Evening Prayer In addition to prayer, gene-seed testing may occur at this point.

2100 Evening Meal A feast (by normal human standards) is provided by the Chapter serfs, and some Chapter Masters may allow alcohol to be consumed.

2130 Night Firing Exercises If the chapter is based on a planet where there is no perceptible night or they are based on a fleet, firing exercises are under taken in exotic environments such as underwater, through dense fog or smoke or in zero gravity.

2315 Maintenance Rituals Each Space Marine is expected to maintain his own power armour and weapons, and it is often checked by the Chapter's Techmarines.

2345 Free Time Space Marines are permitted this time to reflect upon their duty to The Emperor, however many Chapter Masters regard free time as a frivolous waste, and a dangerous distraction in the extreme.

0000 Rest Period Space Marines are allocated 4 hours in which to sleep.