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 Vieltrien wrote:

Well firstly the Plague marine is standing closer than the catachan devil, and in most 40k books it is said that they said that space marines are either half again as tall or a a third again as tall, which puts space marines at about 7-8.5 feet. So no they are not twice the size of a normal human

I never said that they were twice as tall. In my interpretation, they'd be something like 60% taller (1.8 m VS 2.8 m)

The Plague Marine is not actually standing closer, it is the perspective (And my lazy copy+pasting) playing tricks. It seems like he does, but the catachan just stands on higher ground (You can see that there is a slope)


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 Alpharius wrote:
ADB has got the Night Lords at 3 meters tall in armor in the excellent series of books he wrote on them.

Yeah, it seems reasonable.

 Zande4 wrote:
Also for those saying that some of the Primarchs are 20ft tall, wth! That's the same hieght as a Riptide... Seriously look at a Riptide, then a Marine, then back to the Riptide, then back to the Marine, now back at the Riptide. Yeah not happening...

If a 1" tall marine is supposed to be 8' tall, a Riptide is considerably more than 20' tall...

 insaniak wrote:

 Zande4 wrote:
Also for those saying that some of the Primarchs are 20ft tall, wth! That's the same hieght as a Riptide... Seriously look at a Riptide, then a Marine, then back to the Riptide, then back to the Marine, now back at the Riptide. Yeah not happening...

If a 1" tall marine is supposed to be 8' tall, a Riptide is considerably more than 20' tall...

I was kinda just scaling them off the picture in the Tau codex where it's standing next to the other suits and the pilot. How ever if we're scaling off models then its probably more like 22 - 24ft considering the Malanthrope is listed as 20ft in IA: 4.
However on that note I'd like the people who are saying they're 20ft to go outside and look at your house/ apartment what ever and imagine a 6m/20ft Human Being standing next to it... That's about the size of Peter Jackson's King Kong.

 insaniak wrote:

If a 1" tall marine is supposed to be 8' tall

They're not. Not according to GW, anyway.

There seems to be some belief that the Emperor was taller than his Primarchs among some in this thread. That isn't necessarily true. He was explicitly shorter than Magnus for example, but then, so was everyone.

Perhaps the novel "Master of Mankind" will shed some form of light on him in the usual incomprehensible and vague manner. Which will no doubt produce further speculative threads.

Having only read page 1 there seems to be a general consensus that Alpharius and Omegon were the smallest primarchs, but I remember that as the Alpha legion were the latest legion to be constructed/supplied with (clones) marines, they were also the tallest of all the legion's marines. (Does anyone remembers this as well?)

But surely Alpharius and Omegon are taller than the normal marines in their own legion?

Yes, of course. Alpharius and Omegon were still "sons" of The Emperor and capable of great feats of strength. They just appeared to be the only Primarchs that embraced deception into their combat style.

Isn't Vulkan described as being the largest in Vulkan Lives? Heck, Mr. Egan mentioned that when designing his model. He explicitly discussed that as the reason behind Vulkan being as big, in power armor, as Horus is in terminator armor.

 brassangel wrote:
Isn't Vulkan described as being the largest in Vulkan Lives? Heck, Mr. Egan mentioned that when designing his model. He explicitly discussed that as the reason behind Vulkan being as big, in power armor, as Horus is in terminator armor.

Magnus is the largest without question. He was noted as being a giant even among the Primarchs.

 Deadshot wrote:

 brassangel wrote:
Isn't Vulkan described as being the largest in Vulkan Lives? Heck, Mr. Egan mentioned that when designing his model. He explicitly discussed that as the reason behind Vulkan being as big, in power armor, as Horus is in terminator armor.

Magnus is the largest without question. He was noted as being a giant even among the Primarchs.

It appears this has been retconned. Simon Egan did indeed outright state Vulkan is the largest, as large in PA as Horus is in TDA.

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:


Let us say that Average Human is 2 meters tall...
Astartes are 2.5 to 3 meters tall.
Primarchs would be around 4 meters.
I believe Emperor would be up to 5.

This is just my interpretation based on the art, official and nonofficial. In my opinion regular Priamrch would be the same size as Dreadnought, maybe even a little taller witch is freaking huge.

2 metes is a very tall human.

consider that during the time of the great crusade, most humans were not as well fed as they are today.

given the slim pickings I would say 1.65 meters for men and 1.5 meters for women.


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Chaospling wrote:
Having only read page 1 there seems to be a general consensus that Alpharius and Omegon were the smallest primarchs, but I remember that as the Alpha legion were the latest legion to be constructed/supplied with (clones) marines, they were also the tallest of all the legion's marines. (Does anyone remembers this as well?)

But surely Alpharius and Omegon are taller than the normal marines in their own legion?

When Alpharius(or Omegon) attacked and boarded Horus's battle barge and stormed the bridge he was described as being slightly taller than his band of bandits(who were mere mortals).

It is likely that Alpharius picked the tallest of his band to be his bodyguard but that doesnt make him a giant, probably just Basketball player height.

Of course he also was not raised on a planet, he grew up in space. It is possible he never got enough to eat and never reached full grown.


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the color purple wrote:
BTW, humans getting bigger throughout history is a myth. Diet has an impact, yes, but the impact is averages of 5'6'' for a man vs. 5'10", and we haven't been getting bigger. We shrank, throughout most of the world, during the industrial age, and we are now getting back to normal. Romans were quite short compared to us, but they themselves comment on the "massive" gauls and germans (who had better, less grain-based diets and were the same height as modern humans.) Well-fed humans are as tall as modern westerners on average, and poor diets lead to us averaging 3-5 inches shorter. It's not a sliding scale where great diet results in a race of giants.

to a point yes. TheThe point is that if most humans are 5'6" then if a marine is 7" he would tower over people. Even 6.5 he would still be a giant. reasonable rich/middle class today is taller on average than most before, as the diet is better. It isnt that large a difference but it is there.

the color purple wrote:

Also, primarchs or marines above a certain height is just not reasonable. They're described as occasionally having to stoop, but at 12+ feet you're looking at primarchs that can't even reasonably fit in a lot of buildings. Where are all the passages about them being doubled over when in buildings or being forced to smash through 8 by 3.5 foot door frames when invading normal human colonies?

Like, seriously, at 12 feet Sanguinius would not be able to stand in the room I'm in. At 20 feet, the Emperor would be as tall as my house.

yes, people starting with an average of 6ft or 2 meters are going to end up way out of wack with scale.

If human males are 5.5 ft, marines can be 6.5 to 7. Primarch can be 7 to 8.5(mostly 7.5-8 ) and the empoeror can be 8.

In the greater scale of things, there are 8ft tall humans. Just very very few of them. On a planet with 7 billion people there are a dozen people living today who are 8ft tall. Another point, regular humans who are 8ft tall are not only rare but they are sickly. Their life expectancy is about 25 years, or basically 5 years after they reach their full height. A marine would have no such problems with a larger heart(or do they have multiple)

We'll big enough....

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:

amudkipz wrote:
How tall is the emporer

Very tall.

How tall are the primarchs?

Also very tall.

Let us say that Average Human is 2 meters tall...
Astartes are 2.5 to 3 meters tall.
Primarchs would be around 4 meters.
I believe Emperor would be up to 5.

This is just my interpretation based on the art, official and nonofficial. In my opinion regular Priamrch would be the same size as Dreadnought, maybe even a little taller witch is freaking huge.

What. The Emperor has no size, he appears to some as being human sized, or to others the size of a primarch. And Astartes range from 2.2 Meters to an absolute cap of 2.7. Do you even meter?

 Wyzilla wrote:
And Astartes range from 2.2 Meters to an absolute cap of 2.7. Do you even meter?

The ten-foot Asterion Moloc says hello, as does the nine-foot Marine (Who, remarkably, is not described as being unusually big) from The Last Detail.

As I see it;

Marine: Just below 3m

Avg Primarch: 4m

Emperor: What he damn well pleases

Where is the ten feet for Asterion Moloch from?

 Crimson wrote:
Where is the ten feet for Asterion Moloch from?

IA, I am fairly certain?

Admittedly I can't remember if it was IA10 or IA12.

Well, I'm not going to go through several books to see whether it is there. Google only finds you and 4chan as sources for this claim. I remain doubtful.

I shall do so myself when I get back to my books, and I will toss you an update if/when I find anything.

Still, there is nothing indicating that Wyzilla's claim of 2,2-2,7m is the One Truth.

Everything I've seen puts an average unarmored marine at 210cm to 230cm with power armor adding 10cm to 30cm and terminator armor adding 50cm to 100cm.
Magnus has always been a freaky giant at 4m to 5m.
As a comparison an Ogrin is 250cm to 300cm and a human male is anywhere between 150cm to 210cm.

274.32 cm seems like a healthy average for SM.

Ogryn should stand taller than 3m, shouldn't they? They are twice the height of a man, yes? So about 3,6m?

All wrong, the average imperial is only 3ft tall all those "massive" cathedrals? Normal human sized. Years of inbreeding on Terra resulted in midgets who then used gene therapy to properly proportion their limbs.

Therefore
Marines are 5ft
Primarchs 6ft
Magnus 7ft
Empy 6ft


This is based on absolutely nothing mind you but a guy at GW confirmed it for me, he is in the next town over you dont know him.

 Crimson wrote:

 Pilau Rice wrote:
I like the notion of that picture but the Primarchs seem ridiculously big in it. I know they are supposed to be big, stupid big, but that seems crazy.

And if we assume the robed people are normal humans, then those Primarchs are about ten feet tall. There were some people saying that normal marines should be 13 feet tall and Primarchs 20! Yeah...

I pointed this out on another thread, but it'd be a huge hassle to fit 13ft tall people into any kind of normal human infrastructure. Imagine SM trying to raid an Eldar base, they'd be crawling on hands and knees through the buildings. And they can't just burst through and walk around the floor of the second story in a building. The best SM defense would just be low ceilings.

 TheSilo wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

 Pilau Rice wrote:
I like the notion of that picture but the Primarchs seem ridiculously big in it. I know they are supposed to be big, stupid big, but that seems crazy.

And if we assume the robed people are normal humans, then those Primarchs are about ten feet tall. There were some people saying that normal marines should be 13 feet tall and Primarchs 20! Yeah...

I pointed this out on another thread, but it'd be a huge hassle to fit 13ft tall people into any kind of normal human infrastructure. Imagine SM trying to raid an Eldar base, they'd be crawling on hands and knees through the buildings. And they can't just burst through and walk around the floor of the second story in a building. The best SM defense would just be low ceilings.

13 ft is obviously way over the top for a Marine, no contesting that, but at ~9 ft they could still operate fairly well in their intended combat environments.

 TheSilo wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

 Pilau Rice wrote:
I like the notion of that picture but the Primarchs seem ridiculously big in it. I know they are supposed to be big, stupid big, but that seems crazy.

And if we assume the robed people are normal humans, then those Primarchs are about ten feet tall. There were some people saying that normal marines should be 13 feet tall and Primarchs 20! Yeah...

I pointed this out on another thread, but it'd be a huge hassle to fit 13ft tall people into any kind of normal human infrastructure. Imagine SM trying to raid an Eldar base, they'd be crawling on hands and knees through the buildings. And they can't just burst through and walk around the floor of the second story in a building. The best SM defense would just be low ceilings.

I take it that you didn't get the memo that the architecture of every single race is absolutely gigantic and Astartes fit through it just fine? I mean bro, do you even Eldar?



Hell of all the races after the Imperium, Eldar buildings are absolutely gigantic and incredibly large.... hence why Eldar Wraithlords can be used to defend a Craftworld. Or how Tyranids could invade one. Eldar deploy titans on their craftworlds when defense is called for. The only race that Astartes might find themselves having trouble getting through doors is those of the Tau. And Astartes are perfectly capable just running right through walls anyway, so it's not like doors are needed.

 TheSilo wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

 Pilau Rice wrote:
I like the notion of that picture but the Primarchs seem ridiculously big in it. I know they are supposed to be big, stupid big, but that seems crazy.

And if we assume the robed people are normal humans, then those Primarchs are about ten feet tall. There were some people saying that normal marines should be 13 feet tall and Primarchs 20! Yeah...

I pointed this out on another thread, but it'd be a huge hassle to fit 13ft tall people into any kind of normal human infrastructure. Imagine SM trying to raid an Eldar base, they'd be crawling on hands and knees through the buildings. And they can't just burst through and walk around the floor of the second story in a building. The best SM defense would just be low ceilings.

Eldar are taller than humans, most being about 2 meters at the minimum.

 Ashiraya wrote:
274.32 cm seems like a healthy average for SM.

Ogryn should stand taller than 3m, shouldn't they? They are twice the height of a man, yes? So about 3,6m?

270cm+ is a bit tall for an armored marine but not imposible, 230cm or 240cm in armor is much more likely. (The only good refeince I could find put a fully armored marine at 230cm.)
Yep Orgryn don't normally get above 3m, checked a couple of refrences I have, numbers get a little spotty and hard to find after late 3rd/early 4th edition though.

Fun note Ratlings are 130cm and Squats (May they rest in peace) are 140cm.
A Dreadnought is 430cm.

That's all I feel like looking up right now.

As big as the author wants them to be, while still somehow letting them fit through doors meant for normal people, even though they shouldn't be able to.

 Melissia wrote:
As big as the author wants them to be, while still somehow letting them fit through doors meant for normal people, even though they shouldn't be able to.

40k architecture is gothic. Like real gothic buildings, everything is overbuilt and doors meant for "normal people" could let an elephant through.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
As big as the author wants them to be, while still somehow letting them fit through doors meant for normal people, even though they shouldn't be able to.

40k architecture is gothic. Like real gothic buildings, everything is overbuilt and doors meant for "normal people" could let an elephant through.

Does that also go for mines, space ships, bunkers, and all sorts of other places that they'd be expected to go?

 TheSilo wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
As big as the author wants them to be, while still somehow letting them fit through doors meant for normal people, even though they shouldn't be able to.

40k architecture is gothic. Like real gothic buildings, everything is overbuilt and doors meant for "normal people" could let an elephant through.

Does that also go for mines, space ships, bunkers, and all sorts of other places that they'd be expected to go?

How much of 40k do you even know of? These are the guys with church cathedrals for bridges. For mines, it's got to fit the large, bulky videos the Admech fields. If not, well, that's why the Emperor gave you melta charges.