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 kestral wrote:
I regard the fluff on spacemarines as imperial propaganda. Assuming that my games are "real", I've wiped out the entire Ultramarines and Spacewolves chapters by now at the cost of a few Orks and IG. Clearly there are tons of space marine chapters and everyone just thinks they are really rare. Sure there are only 1,000 Ultramarines. And I've got a warp gate for sale.

The Ultramarines are a special case. They keep a backup sucessor chapter around, for when they need to replace casualties.
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Genesis_Chapter

Real talk though, marines are tough to kill.
You might defeat them soundly, but as long as they can get their casualties out of there they can likely patch most of them up.
A guardman and a marine might be an adventurer like you and then suffer a plasmashot to the knee, severing most of the leg messily. The wound would cauterise but open again as the soldier hit the ground. The guardman would likely pass out from pain immediately- if not from the shock and impact then from the heat surrounding the plasmabolt scorching his skin and setting his uniform alight. Without medical aid he would bleed out or burn to death.
The Marine's armour will protect him from the worst of the radiated heat and his enhanced blood will instantly clot. He may override the brain's impulse to shut down and continue firing his bolter one handed or allow himself to slip into a healing coma.

If evacuated he'll be fitted with a prosthetic or a cloned leg and fight on next time. If the guardsman survives he will require a long period of medical care and rehabilitation as he gets accustomed to his wheelchair,. crutches, or if he's lucky, a rubbish prosthetic. He will likely be relegated to a support role or released into the nearby civilian populace for care as he will be unable to fight again any time soon. If he's from kreig he'll receive the Emperor's mercy and his gear will be redistributed.

Should he die, a Marine will have his progenoids or remaining progenoid removed and it will take 2 years to create another marine from each progenoid, and 5 years for each of those marines to yield another progenoid and then another 5 years for the last one to mature.
The Adeptus Mechanicus can create 1000 marines in about 55 years from one set of Seed.


Consider that 55 years to replenish a chapter is no time at all for a chapter. They can use excess a single excess progenoid (after replacements and tithe are dealth with) to grow enough seed for 1000 new brothers in just 55 years. This is a constant process and marines are ready to chuck out another brother's gene-y bits 5 years after induction and 10 years after induction.
Meanwhile. back at the fortress, constant hunger games and tournaments are weeding out the weak and selecting the next batch of recruits.
The current batch are training to enter the scout company and the scout company (of no fixed size) is training to replace losses/advancements in the 10th, who are training to replace losses/advancements in the 9th etc.- all the way up to battle companies who are taking the most of the losses, but have 5 companies dedicated to keeping them at full strength.