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In my mind the 40k setting is quite different in some areas but it's mostly the more practical and technical areas - I use this background in my games with Inquisitor rules:

I need a single Space Marine to be awesome... He mustn't be several heads shorter than the world's tallest man was (about 2.77 metres). A normal Space Marine is roughly 2.50 - 2.75 metres in Power Armour and Alpha Legionnaires in Power Armour are roughly 2.75 - 3.00 metres. Add about 0.25 metres when in Terminator Armour. Canon states that there's about 1 million Space Marines right? I must remember that compared to all military conflicts which include the Imperium of Man only a very few include Astartes but they still have to be extreme powerful with so few numbers, so in my set up almost none actually dies and every single one which gets near to death will be blessed with a sarcophagus and a Dreadnought.

Space Marines were engineered to possess several aspects, one is to wear Power Armour which were developed on Mars to be perfect and which took no consideration of the horrific surgeries a human body would need to wear the armour. This means that a naked Space Marine is quite ugly and nowhere near the cool HULK-like Space Marine bodies which are mostly drawn. This underlines the sacrifices made by warriors which aspire to be a Space Marine and the determination of the Emperor when he agreed to this - his Space Marines didn't have to look good, they're tools and killing machines and that's it. For me it's very important that when a warrior ascends to being a Space Marine it's a huge sacrifice but the honour rivals the sacrifice. There must never be the kind of feeling waking up after the surgeries, looking at yourself and thinking "Oh yeah - upgrades" like in so many super hero movies.

Boltpistols, Boltguns, Stormbolters and Heavy Bolters are Space Marine weaponry only - no Astra Militarum infantry or vehicle carries this kind of weaponry. The technology is strictly guarded by the Chapters' Techmarines and besides a normal man would not be able to lift and fire such an awesome weapon. Only the ankles and down will be left of a man hit by a Bolt Pistol or Boltgun.

The 4 Gods of Chaos as we know them are only the most popular ones but there's many more and there's so many other powerful and less powerful Daemons which don't belong to a Chaos God - a huge Hive World which worships a Chaos entity in secret could very well worship a single Daemon less powerful than a Greater Daemon - it would still be extremely powerful in the way of corrupting and scheming.

Like every Space Marine squad has a Special Weapon bearer, a Heavy Weapon bearer and maybe a Standard Bearer, there's also a Space Marine with a small Teleport Homer incorporated in his palm. Every squad have their own vault of ammo, grenades, gear etc. with a Servitor in a ship in orbit. The Servitor has it's own mini teleporter equipment which teleports clips and whatever is needed to the bearer of the small Teleport Homer.

The Power Armour around the shins of the Space Marines are so big because there's small boosters incorporated which make Space Marines able to run about 50-60 km/h. Rhinos aren't used directly in battles though they are needed for transporting Space Marines longer distances.

Aspect Warriors are maybe even more lethal in close combat than Space Marines because of their speed and agility but Aspect armour and Heavy Aspect armour give far from the same protection as Power Armour, so it's difficult to compare them. A normal Aspect warrior possess movement and agility no Homo Sapiens (in our world) could ever dream of of possessing.

Some less useful alterations of the 40k background:

Horus never repented in the end - he was fuelled by the power of Chaos but his motives were his very own to the end.

Fulgrim hasn't been completely possessed - his will and personality is still very much there - if there's a conflict or agreement between Fulgrim and the Daemon, I'm not sure.

No mortal has ever slain an Avatar of Khaine in hand to hand combat.

(Imagine a Bloodthirster the size of that from the Mark of Chaos intro) -> Sanguinius never broke the back of a Bloodthirster by breaking it over his knee.

Also, Space Marines (actually, World Eaters) are less proficient close combat warrior than commissars, and die from a single melta shot that vaporize their torso. Or their head. I would quote the book, but I got the crappy French edition. It is in The Traitor's Hand, though.
By the way, we also get a suicide-bomber cultist that kills a space marine (where is your grenade immunity now!).
But the part you will really love if how when the 3 remaining World Eater berserkers face 100 cultists, with 50 that are already dead, and we get to know that if it were even PDF instead of cultists, they would have been assured to win by numbers alone (you do not like that already), and without taking even a tenth of the casualties of the cultists!
So, 150 PDF (which are way inferior to guardsmen) against 3 space marines means the PDF win with 5 casualties.
How do you like that ?
What about that maintenance servitor that just pops the head of one of the world eaters? Apparently maintenance servitor are very, very capable of killing space marines too.


Yeah, it is all from one book, but that is because I do not read much 40k fiction, and the few I read usually involves no space boringus .

Let's just say that there is a reason I did not bring up my Goto quotes.

My mental image of 40k is basically the Third War of Armageddon, with less focus on spehss muhroonz and more on the Imperial Guard and Orks.

That's what defines 40k for me, basically-- IG vs Orks, with a smattering of other factions having conflicts as well.

But you leave out the most awesome parts of the setting? Eldar and DEldar running around too fast for humans to follow, Tyranids being too many for humans to comprehend, Marines being too badass for humans to contain and Necrons being too unkillable to make Guardsmen feel comfortable at night!

The jovial green punching bags and the Imperial Speedbump are nice and all, but they are just a part of the whole.

 Ashiraya wrote:
Let's just say that there is a reason I did not bring up my Goto quotes.

Do you mean to imply that my quote were from a biased novel?

Every faction is treated fairly: they are all Ciaphas Cain's toy thing, or punching-ball!
Equal opportunity worfing for everybody!

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:The Custodians hewed the orks with precisely aimed blows of their guardian spears. They could wield them in lethally inventive ways, but this was not the place for elaborate fighting styles. Here it was kill or be killed. Strikes that would end any other life form thrice over had to be repeated again and again just to put a single beast down.
The orks fought back with all the primal, animalistic fury that made them so dangerous. Even terminator armour could be breached, their legionaries killed.
The orks were doing both.
At least a dozen Custodians were dead. Perhaps the same again in Justaerin. Horus saw Ezekyle go down, a colossal spiked mace, twice the height of a mortal, buried in his shoulder. An ork war-captain, ogryn-huge, wrenched the mace clear and swung the weapon around its immense body to deliver the death blow.
A shimmering sword sliced in to block the descending mace.
Bluesteel, two handed and wreathed in fire.
The Emperor rolled his wrist and the monstrous weight of the spiked head fell from its wire-wound haft. The Master of Mankind spun on his heel and the fire-edged sword licked out in a shimmering figure-of-eight.
The towering greenskin collapsed in four keenly-sliced segments. Its iron-helmed head still bellowed defiance as the Emperor bent to retrieve it from the deck. He waded into the orks, the roaring war-captain’s truncated torso in one fist, sword in the other.

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:A thousand or more greenskins roared to see several hundred armoured warriors appear without warning in the midst of the wide chamber. Every ork was encased in rusted plates of hissing iron, strapped and bolted to their swollen bodies. Horus’s suspicion of a ruling tech class was all but confirmed at the sight of the wheezing pneumatics, cracking power generators and hissing, lightning-edged weapons.
‘At them!’ bellowed the Emperor.
Much to Horus’s chagrin, the Custodians moved first, bracing their spears and letting fly with an explosive volley of mass-reactives from their guardian spears. The Justaerin opened fire a heartbeat later and the ork line bloomed with fiery detonations.

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:Then the Emperor was amongst them.
His sword was a bluesteel shimmer, too fast to follow with the naked eye. He moved through the orks without seeming to move at all, simply existing at one point to kill before appearing elsewhere to reap greenskin lives by the score. Each blow struck with the force of an artillery impact, and shattered bodies flew from his sword as though hurled aside by a bomb blast.
Nor was his sword the Emperor’s only weapon.
His outstretched gauntlet blazed with white-gold fire, and whatever the flames touched disappeared in explosions of red cinders and ash. He battered orks to bonelessness with bludgeoning blows, he crushed them with invisible coils of force and he repelled their gunfire with thoughts that turned their rounds to smoke.
They came at him in their hundreds, like iron filings to the most powerful magnet, knowing they would never find another foe so deserving of their rage. The Emperor killed them all, unstoppable in his purity of purpose.
A crusade of billions distilled in one numinous being.
Horus had fought alongside the Emperor for well over a century, but the sight of his father in battle still had the power to awe him. This was war perfected. Fulgrim could live a thousand lifetimes and never achieve anything so wondrous.

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:As blinding and mesmerising as the runaway plasma reaction was at the scrapworld’s heart, it was to a beleaguered golden light that Horus’s eye was drawn.
The Emperor was fighting his way through a howling mob of the largest greenskins Horus had ever seen. Most were the equal of a primarch in stature. One even dwarfed the Emperor himself.
His father fought to reach a fragmenting ring of iron surrounding the blinding plasma core, but the greenskins had him surrounded.
This was a fight not even the Emperor could win alone.
But he was not alone.

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:In the course of the Great Crusade, Sejanus had seen many examples of the crudely effective greenskin technology, but what lay beneath the surface of the scrapworld were orders of magnitude more advanced and abhorrent

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:Horus’s sword was broken, his twin bolters empty of shells. The sword had snapped halfway along its length, the edge dulled from hewing countless greenskin bodies. He’d fought his way onto a stepped bridge, killing scores of monstrously swollen orks to reach a crumbling ledge just below the Emperor.
Blood drenched him, his own and that of the orks.
His helmet was long gone, torn away in a grappling, gouging duel with an iron-tusked giant with motorised crusher claws for arms and a fire-belching maw. He’d broken the beast over his knee and hurled its corpse from the bridge. Rogue gravity vortices hurled it up and away.
More of the greenskins followed him onto the bridge, grunting and laughing as they stalked him. Their grim amusement was a mystery to Horus. They were going to die, whether he killed them or they were burned to ash by the colossal plasma reactor’s inevitable destruction.
Who would laugh in the face of their death?

Wolf of Ash and Fire wrote:The Emperor fought an armoured giant twice his height and breadth. Its skull was a vast, iron-helmed boulder with elephantine tusks and chisel-like teeth that gleamed dully. Its eyes were coal-red slits of such vicious intelligence that it stole Horus’s breath.
Horus had never seen its equal. No bestiary would include its description for fear of being ridiculed, no magos of the Mechanicum would accept such a specimen could exist.
Six clanking, mechanised limbs bolted through its flesh bore grinding, crackling, sawing, snapping, flame-belching weapons of murder. The Emperor’s armour was burning, the golden wreath now ashes around his neck.
Chugging rotor cannons battered the Emperor’s armour even as claws of lightning tore portions of it away. It was taking every screed of the Emperor’s warrior skill and psychic might to keep the mech-warlord’s weaponry from killing him.
‘Father!’ shouted Horus.
The greenskin turned and saw Horus. It saw the desperation in his face and laughed. A fist like a Reductor siege hammer smashed the Emperor’s sword aside and a fist of green flesh lifted him into the air. It crushed the life from him with its inhuman power.

I have seen lots of people wondering how the Emperor could possibly have a mere Ork crushing the life out of him. Some have seen this as proof that the Emperor was not so stronk in combat after all.

The explanation is different.

Those Orks that they fought during the great crusade... They were pretty nasty Orks.

In comparison the idea that Ghazghkull would be the greatest warboss ever seems like utter farce.

 Ashiraya wrote:
But you leave out the most awesome parts of the setting?

I didn't leave out Orks and Imperial Guard.

 Ashiraya wrote:
In comparison the idea that Ghazghkull would be the greatest warboss ever seems like utter farce.

Well, Ghazghkull, in the fluff at the very least, is a pretty nasty beast. And since it is rumored to be a Lord of War now, I guess its profile will reflect that.

Orks are like that, super-powerful and pretty nasty and very adaptable (because kunnin'. Brutally kunnin'. And kunnin'ly brutal too). And that is why the galaxy's finest is required to battle them, i.e. the Imperial Guard, with brilliant men like Commissar Yarrick. When the Eldars need protection from the Ork, who do they call for (and by call for, I mean manipulate into being in front of the Waaagh)? The Imperial Guard.

Space Marines killing all of the other, less important and interesting factions.

The true essence of 40k.

The space borings ?

Mhmm, the part where a Captain and a squad Kasrkins take out a Death Guard Dreadnought in melee with a power sword, a hellpistol, a chainsword and winging it on the damage an autocannon did to it is an all time favorite of mine. Taken from the same book, a squad of Kasrkins and a psyker take out two Plague Marine, lose three men in return.

Or the good ol' swamp ambush in one of the Gaunts book.

The swamp ambush... Swamp ambush...

Was that the fight where a single marine resisted dozens of hits to the bare face from arrows so poisonous that they instantly killed normal men on contact, and where Gaunt needed to get a drop on the second marine with his power sword in order to kill him and the third marine was killed by an entire belt of grenades exploding right in his face?

I agree, definitely one of the best examples of the sheer superiority Space Marines have over normal humans.

Remember when like 500 Salamanders brought Commorragh to its knees despite being outnumbered by essentially the entire Dark Eldar race? That was fantastic. Truly representative of what 40k is about.

That reminds me of when a Salamanders force of 10,000 men managed to hold the line against millions of Orks in the Forgeworld codices, fighting back an army that was over 100 times larger than them every day for a full year and then wiping them off the face of the planet after reinforcements arrived.

 BlaxicanX wrote:
The swamp ambush... Swamp ambush...

Was that the fight where a single marine resisted dozens of hits to the bare face from arrows so poisonous that they instantly killed normal men on contact, and where Gaunt needed to get a drop on the second marine with his power sword in order to kill him and the third marine was killed by an entire belt of grenades exploding right in his face?

I agree, definitely one of the best examples of the sheer superiority Space Marines have over normal humans.

It'll do, apparently guardsmen killing SM is not a thing that should happen ever, at all, so I'll take that, besides, aren't marines mmune to grenades anyways?

You forgot how the 4th one got demo charge'd and the last one was offed by a plasma pistol.

Immune to grenades?

what lol

I remember there being only three, maybe the guy who I thought was killed by the grenades was actually killed by the demo charge? It's been literally years since I read Traitor General.

Melissia wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:
But you leave out the most awesome parts of the setting?

I didn't leave out Orks and Imperial Guard.

You misread- I said the most awesome parts of the setting.

Void__Dragon wrote:Space Marines killing all of the other, less important and interesting factions.

The true essence of 40k.

Lol'd a bit.

Only partially true.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BlaxicanX wrote:
Immune to grenades?

what lol

I remember there being only three, maybe the guy who I thought was killed by the grenades was actually killed by the demo charge? It's been literally years since I read Traitor General.

Pgs.7+9+10 H&B 15 – Beneath the Flesh wrote:He could hear Maion’s footsteps as he moved down the corridor; the other Flesh Tearer was halfway to the stairs, the fizz of the electrical cables as they spat in their death throes… and the shifting of metal – Harahel pivoted left as a grenade hit the ground. His ocular sensors dimmed, shielding his eyes from the piercing flash that flooded the chamber. With a dense clatter, a half-dozen of the ceiling grilles fell to the ground. A cluster of figures in sodden fatigues dropped down after them and opened fire. ‘Contact!’ Harahel shouted into the vox even as a hail of las-fire pattered off his armour.

Bathed in blood-spatter and faced with an opponent whose armour bore their comrade’s eviscerated innards, the traitors fell back. One held his ground, staring wide-eyed at Harahel as he pulled a clutch of grenades from a harness. Harahel decapitated the man as he advanced on the others. The grenades fell from the headless corpse’s fingers. A cloud of flame and shrapnel washed over Harahel’s battle-plate as they detonated. A slew of warnings lit up on the Flesh Tearer’s retinal display. Harahel blinked them away; his armour’s integrity was intact. Ahead of him, the traitors had rallied behind a pillar. He could see the fear on their gaunt faces as he emerged unscathed from the billowing fire.

Pg.16 H&B 16 wrote:A grenade exploded, showering Harahel in shrapnel. The noise reminded him of a Cretacian thunderstorm.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
Remember when like 500 Salamanders brought Commorragh to its knees despite being outnumbered by essentially the entire Dark Eldar race? That was fantastic. Truly representative of what 40k is about.

Was that a different event from when Vect manipulated some marines in doing the dirty job for him by getting them to kill some minor kabal in a sealed portion of Commorragh?
Because that seems a tad less glorious .

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:
Remember when like 500 Salamanders brought Commorragh to its knees despite being outnumbered by essentially the entire Dark Eldar race? That was fantastic. Truly representative of what 40k is about.

Was that a different event from when Vect manipulated some marines in doing the dirty job for him by getting them to kill some minor kabal in a sealed portion of Commorragh?
Because that seems a tad less glorious .

It was a different event.

Sure it was. That is why this article only mentions one imperial raid on Commoragh, which is more detailed here. Note how it involves Vect bringing in some Salamanders in Commoragh, then getting them to kill Lord Xelian and basically all his other rivals, and then him becoming the undisputed most powerful Dark Eldar.

I really, really wonder how the Salamanders found a way to enter the Webway. Certainly not Vect's doing . It was just some very convenient coincidence, was it not?

/shrug

Space Marines are 7 feet tall, IN their power armor. I internally edit any fluff I'm reading that says otherwise.



The scale on Jes Goodwin's famous life size drawing even starts at 2, not 1, and tops out at 8, showing that a fully armored marine is 7 feet tall. If there is one thing I'd like to eliminate from popular perception it's this idea that marines are 8 foot tall or more, which so far as I can tell originated in the BL fluff (Horus Rising being the first book I recall reading that obsessively went on about how big the marines are - to the point where I wonder if Dan Abnett has some kind of fetish...)

The tabletop models may be out of scale, but they're not that out of scale.

@ashcroft: Please change your perception to that of mine... (You can find it in the first post of this page). Your life is better that way...

 ashcroft wrote:
Space Marines are 7 feet tall, IN their power armor. I internally edit any fluff I'm reading that says otherwise.

Spoiler:

The scale on Jes Goodwin's famous life size drawing even starts at 2, not 1, and tops out at 8, showing that a fully armored marine is 7 feet tall. If there is one thing I'd like to eliminate from popular perception it's this idea that marines are 8 foot tall or more, which so far as I can tell originated in the BL fluff (Horus Rising being the first book I recall reading that obsessively went on about how big the marines are - to the point where I wonder if Dan Abnett has some kind of fetish...)

The tabletop models may be out of scale, but they're not that out of scale.

Yeah, that just seems too darn tiny for me.

Chaospling wrote:
@ashcroft: Please change your perception to that of mine... (You can find it in the first post of this page). Your life is better that way...

Your perception is boring and silly.

Mine's more fun

 Ashiraya wrote:

 ashcroft wrote:
Space Marines are 7 feet tall, IN their power armor. I internally edit any fluff I'm reading that says otherwise.

Spoiler:

The scale on Jes Goodwin's famous life size drawing even starts at 2, not 1, and tops out at 8, showing that a fully armored marine is 7 feet tall. If there is one thing I'd like to eliminate from popular perception it's this idea that marines are 8 foot tall or more, which so far as I can tell originated in the BL fluff (Horus Rising being the first book I recall reading that obsessively went on about how big the marines are - to the point where I wonder if Dan Abnett has some kind of fetish...)

The tabletop models may be out of scale, but they're not that out of scale.

Yeah, that just seems too darn tiny for me.

Agreed.

 Melissia wrote:

Chaospling wrote:
@ashcroft: Please change your perception to that of mine... (You can find it in the first post of this page). Your life is better that way...

Your perception is boring and silly.

Mine's more fun

Hehe at what page have you posted yours? I thought I would at least read yours before calling it outrageous By the way, were you talking about all my perceptions or only that about the height of a Space Marine?

Chaospling wrote:
Hehe at what page have you posted yours? I thought I would at least read yours before calling it outrageous

Here:

 Melissia wrote:
My mental image of 40k is basically the Third War of Armageddon, with less focus on spehss muhroonz and more on the Imperial Guard and Orks.

That's what defines 40k for me, basically-- IG vs Orks, with a smattering of other factions having conflicts as well.

Chaospling wrote:
By the way, were you talking about all my perceptions or only that about the height of a Space Marine?

Why would I talk about Space Marines?

Jokes aside, the answer is yes.

 Melissia wrote:

Chaospling wrote:
Hehe at what page have you posted yours? I thought I would at least read yours before calling it outrageous

Here:

 Melissia wrote:
My mental image of 40k is basically the Third War of Armageddon, with less focus on spehss muhroonz and more on the Imperial Guard and Orks.

That's what defines 40k for me, basically-- IG vs Orks, with a smattering of other factions having conflicts as well.

Chaospling wrote:
By the way, were you talking about all my perceptions or only that about the height of a Space Marine?

Why would I talk about Space Marines?

Jokes aside, the answer is yes.

I don't know why you single the Third War of Armageddon out, but I agree as far as a story should include Space Marines and other legends as a spectacular bonus. This makes Space Marines so more... unique and... not-common. I would love if the first real film or TV-series showing the 40k universe would be like Band of Brothers. Keeping down spectacular parts like Space Marines, huge war machines etc. to a minimum and instead focussing of the awesome atmosphere of the 40k universe.

Chaospling wrote:
I don't know why you single the Third War of Armageddon out, but I agree as far as a story should include Space Marines and other legends as a spectacular bonus.

From my perspective, there's nothing really spectacular about Space Marines. They're about as generic as they come as far as literature tropes go.

Individual chapters-- such as blood angels or salamanders-- can be interesting. Space Marines as a whole, however, not so much.