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Ok, if every single loyalist space marine chapter gathered all its members, and every imperial guard regiment was combined, who would win in a fight?

This huge war would be limited to the IG only using actual IG units, with no support from the navy, except for valkyries and vendettas. They would also have the support of all the tank, heavy weapon, and infantry regiments known. So basically, the guard would get everything in the IG codex, on a scale to match how many of them there are.

The Space Marines would get each member from every known loyalist chapter, including the uncounted 10,000+ each Black Templars and Space Wolves, they would also get all blood angels allies and Legion of the Damned support. The SM would get terminators, all their ground tanks, and thunderhawks, stormravens, and all other SM aircraft.

Just to make it clear, this war would take place on one HUGE planet, and there would be no space cruisers, only light air support and mostly ground forces.

So lets get to it, all Space Marines, VS all Imperial Guard.

IG wins. There is only one space marine for every planet in the Imperium, but millions of Guardsmen for one planet is also the case. In this scenario, Attrition is the name of the game, which is coincidently the IGs calling card.

Space Marines thrive in Lightning fast alpha strikes that demolish the enemy before they can get a proper resistance. This scenario puts the Space Marines outside their intended environment, which also bodes poorly for them.

Overall: IG

1 million vs. 100s of billions supported by baneblades, shadowswords and massive artillery guns. Not to mention manticores and executioners. The guard has so much long ranged the Space Marines would get devasted before they saw a single guardsman. And, without support from their space craft, the Space Marines would have to footslog or ride in weak transports to the guard lines. When they got there they would be lit up by Plasma Guns, Melta Guns, Lascannons by the millions. The Guard has more Plasma Guns than the Space Marines have Space Marines. Think about that. n

IG, no question. Even if each marine killed 1000 guardsmen, they would still be vastly outnumbered.

This is no contest. IG would win hands down. There isn't enough plot armor in the collective might of codex writers, IA writers, and BL writers to save the Space Marines this time around.

There aren't over 10,000 BT and Space Wolves.


However, that part is irrelevant. Imperial Guard would outnumber the Space Marines by a ridiculous amount. The Space Marines' only hope was that there'd be so many Guardsmen that they'd crush eachother to death trying to stack too deep.

Space marines, but only because it's one MASSIVE planet .

A planet capable of housing the entire imperial guard + space marine chapters would be of incredible size (if earth like). There simply wouldn't be enough room for all the tanks, materiel, men, women, etc. to fit on the thing. It's size would likely make it incapable of being earth like, turning it into a death world. Not the "everything wants to kill you" type, the "step out here without full gear and you die," type. For this reason the guard would likely die due to vacuum, ridiculous pressure, etc. before the battle began.

Nah, just give them the hazardous enviroment masks and they are good to go. Pressure? Pssh ogryns and ratlings were BORN in various pressures of worlds thus they alone would probably at least equal if not outnumber the spacemarines by themselves! Not to mention all the other abhuman regiments and worlds beside them. (Thinking chapter approved from a while ago).

@ Da Komissar

That's what I foresee in this battle. Either in a near vacuum you have SM and Abhumans going at it like crazy, moving amid a see of dead guardsmen; or it's a gas giant, everyone falls into the center and dies, except for a few hundred terminators, who now have to sit there til they starve because I doubt ships can reliably retrieve them.

IG, no question.

Hashbeth wrote:
@ Da Komissar

That's what I foresee in this battle. Either in a near vacuum you have SM and Abhumans going at it like crazy, moving amid a see of dead guardsmen; or it's a gas giant, everyone falls into the center and dies, except for a few hundred terminators, who now have to sit there til they starve because I doubt ships can reliably retrieve them.

But really, I think the OP is saying like if the Earth was blown up really large. Or if the Africa plains were blown up enough to make it proportionate in war-terms to the size of the opposing forces.

EDIT: Besides, why would the guardsmen be there if they knew it was hazardous? They would just sit out of it, let the abhumans work and if any space marines survive, they will find a planet that will sustain some troops.

I don't think you could get a planet big enough to support the entire Imperial Guard plus weapons and vehicles. No contest though, as awesome as Space Marines are in the face of extreme adversary, they'd be utterly annihilated by the humble Guard.

Imperial Guard. If the untold trillions of boots will not crush you. the untold trillions of tons of armor and artillary will.

The Space Marines, obviously.

The 1,000 Chief Librarians of each chapter destroy armies of Imperial Guardsmen on every battlefield they walk.

I know of no Primaris Psyker that can match the sheer psychic butthurt of the Space Marines. Every Librarian channeling their powers at once would likely raze the entire planet to dust.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
The Space Marines, obviously.

The 1,000 Chief Librarians of each chapter destroy armies of Imperial Guardsmen on every battlefield they walk.

I know of no Primaris Psyker that can match the sheer psychic butthurt of the Space Marines. Every Librarian channeling their powers at once would likely raze the entire planet to dust.

Or cause a second Eye of Terror.

So at worst it is a mutual kill, at best the Space Marines win.

All right, seems fair enough.

Also, the Marines have integral space fleets. Preparatory bombardment. Bye bye most of the heavy armor.

For the really tough nuts. Exterminatus.

Marines for the win

OP made it clear that Space Marines get no orbital support.

That's not realistic then. I can see the guard getting no orbital as the navy is a separate force, but the Marines orbital is integral



Automatically Appended Next Post:
But the Librarians would screw the Guard over big time anyway, so bye bye guard.

IG, without a doubt. It would be untold numbers versus elite, lightning strike tactics. Once you hit a certain point, numbers just ALWAYS win out

"40 k" Realistically? Guard. They will have more super-heavies than there would be space marines on the planet. Then think of all the Leman Russ tanks. The Basilisks. The Marines are screwed.
Realistically realistically? Marines would give the guard the middle finger, knowing they are going to lose and blow the core from the planet with some ancient DAoT bomb and fly away on their thawks. Then watch as the imperium collapses and they all get mindfethed by chaos.
More likely? guard rape up the marines with arty fire from the next continent while marines try to swim over to them only to br raped by floating chimeras.

No artillery will even dream of penetrating the kine field conjured by thousands of Librarians.

Space Marines.

Why? Because the IG is *entirely* a terrestrially-based force. They have massive amounts of land-destroying power and aeronautic might...

... but they ain't got jack that can leave orbit.

The Space Marines? The Space Marines do.

So you have 100s of billions of Guardsmen, tanks, artillery, Valkyries, Basilisks, Chimera, Hellhounds, Baneblades, Shadowswords, all this stuff sitting on the ground, all primed for a knock-down, drag-out battle to end all battles.

And then the SM Strike Cruiser rolls out of the Warp and proceeds to glass the planet, because the IG is not the IN.

People should really read the OP before they post.

Then it's not really SM vs IG then, is it? A Strike Cruiser or a Battle Barge is a core component to a Chapter's arsenal.

This is like the previous "Daemons vs IoM" where Daemons were rendered as non-immortal.

Of course, you can also carry a bomb of the Life-Eater Virus on a Thunderhawk so... there it goes. SM win by default, it's their munition that destroys the planet.

Hashbeth wrote:
it's a gas giant, everyone falls into the center and dies, except for a few hundred terminators, who now have to sit there til they starve because I doubt ships can reliably retrieve them.

Actually if you fell into a gas giant, you wouldn't stay in the middle, you'd be propelled out the other side only to be drawn back in again, and propelled the other way. All until you ran out of momentum, but that's dependent on the gas giant and its "atmospheric" composition.

There'd be more Guard than bolter shells.

You do realize this includes Commissar Cain right??? IG Can't lose! No matter how hard Cain tries to get away, he will end up in the marine command centre with 20 demo charges...just 'cause he can!

Also Marbo.../thread

No offense to anyone participating, but I think this is actually the single dumbest thought experiment I've ever seen on Dakka.

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't there specific titan legions that are actually apart of the Imperial Guard? That would make things rather one sided...