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Also dammit, I can't believe I missed out on this post.

More than one.

What?

100,000 seems like a good number if we're assuming a world that can field the equivalent of a Imperial Guard or better grade forces. This also depends on how powerful you assume a marine to be. Is he as good as several dozen or several hundred trained human soldiers? It also depends on whether the population is motivated to resist the fascist invaders and if they can an established line of successors in case the President bites it. If we're talking about a world that's NK on crack then it should be easy. If it's a politically healthy world then you would be in for a long war.

I say 100,000 because on average it seems like your average Imperial world is a gak hole of a planet with poor mobilization rates and a very centralized command. All the Astartes have to do is scout out several choice targets, send down their forces, muderate anything in sight and watch the population's will to resist crumble as they see no point in defending anymore.

One legion could have done it. The Alpha Legion actually have the only viable marine tactic. Line up your allies on the planet before hand, effectively choosing the new government from the planet's populace. Pop 10 drops pods at high importance targets, kill current leaders and withdraw, continue war from shadows.

Think about it. For years the CIA got away with installing governments that were pro-America. But slam in with the full might of the greatest army in the world and you get a decade of fighting that singularly fails to accomplish anything of note. The Alphas may have been considered unorthodox but they are actually the only Legion who made even close to sense when thought of in real terms.

 KorPhaeron77 wrote:
But slam in with the full might of the greatest army in the world

... the PLA?

 KorPhaeron77 wrote:
One legion could have done it. The Alpha Legion actually have the only viable marine tactic. Line up your allies on the planet before hand, effectively choosing the new government from the planet's populace. Pop 10 drops pods at high importance targets, kill current leaders and withdraw, continue war from shadows.

Think about it. For years the CIA got away with installing governments that were pro-America. But slam in with the full might of the greatest army in the world and you get a decade of fighting that singularly fails to accomplish anything of note. The Alphas may have been considered unorthodox but they are actually the only Legion who made even close to sense when thought of in real terms.

That and the Night Lords.

A space marine can lock down and hold an area roughly 1 mile around him. And that is being very charitable.

It would take hundreds of thousands of Marines to control a planet. Winning and controlling are two totally different things. A thousands could crush all opposition, but to actually control a hostile planet would require an unbelievable number.

Accidentally voted 10. but wanted 100

Id say 100 marines and a few regimens of IG would do the trick.

 PhillyT wrote:
A space marine can lock down and hold an area roughly 1 mile around him. And that is being very charitable.

It would take hundreds of thousands of Marines to control a planet. Winning and controlling are two totally different things. A thousands could crush all opposition, but to actually control a hostile planet would require an unbelievable number.

The majority of a standard planet is empty ground. You only really need to control the cities.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 PhillyT wrote:
A space marine can lock down and hold an area roughly 1 mile around him. And that is being very charitable.

It would take hundreds of thousands of Marines to control a planet. Winning and controlling are two totally different things. A thousands could crush all opposition, but to actually control a hostile planet would require an unbelievable number.

The majority of a standard planet is empty ground. You only really need to control the cities.

Those "cities" can reach so high they're actually in space. Hive Cities are REALLY REALLY BIG.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:

 PhillyT wrote:
A space marine can lock down and hold an area roughly 1 mile around him. And that is being very charitable.

It would take hundreds of thousands of Marines to control a planet. Winning and controlling are two totally different things. A thousands could crush all opposition, but to actually control a hostile planet would require an unbelievable number.

The majority of a standard planet is empty ground. You only really need to control the cities.

Those "cities" can reach so high they're actually in space. Hive Cities are REALLY REALLY BIG.

And? Control of the hive spire/s where the HQ is is what matters.

Depends on how thick their plot armor is. Space Marines can die by the hundreds depending on which book you're reading.

 Greenizbest wrote:
Depends on how thick their plot armor is. Space Marines can die by the hundreds depending on which book you're reading.

Do you know what plot armour is? If something varies in power from author to author but each author is consistent, it is not plot armour.

If something is established as X strong but somehow does things that requires Y strength without explanation, that is plot armour.

Depends on the writer lol

 angelofvengeance wrote:
Depends on the writer lol

This is really it more than anything else.

We have authors where Space Marines die like flies (particularly in the HH series) and others where they're practically gods, immune to nearly everything.

Ok, let me nail this real quick.

SM's never hold a planet. That's litterally never in their job description, ever. They go in, seize it, give it to the IG.

So how many marines does it take to do that? I put 1,000 marines, an entire chapter though a long war indeed will turn a rebellious planet to Imperial rule.

I didn't include IG in the question but I thought it was common sense really. SM's invading a planet without IG is like fighting a war with your bare fists. It's...hard....to say the least, lol. 1,000 marines and a couple IG regiments will get it done.

I'm new to these polls anyway haha, next time I do one I'll include 3 whole entire paragraphs of details so theres precisely 0 confusion.

If it's Ultramarines then 10 should do the trick =D

 P4Painting wrote:
If it's Ultramarines then 10 should do the trick =D

Haha, I see what you did there

 Lord Tarkin wrote:
Ok, let me nail this real quick.

SM's never hold a planet. That's litterally never in their job description, ever. They go in, seize it, give it to the IG.

Except they routinely do this in a lot of fluff

So how many marines does it take to do that? I put 1,000 marines, an entire chapter though a long war indeed will turn a rebellious planet to Imperial rule.

There's a ton of variables. Basically, the more concentrated the power, the easier their job is. If they've got any sort of backup/redundant military and political systems and fortified and/or hidden command centers or fallback locations, you'd need way more than a thousand. It'd be very easy to encircle and cut off a thousand marines in just a few hours even without even directly engaging them. Once that happens, if the opposing planetary defense forces have any sort of artillery and/or air forces (or, Emperor help them, Strategic weapons), it's going to go very bad for the marines in hours if there's a competent enemy commander.

Again, SM's really are a variable-power Fantasy-in-Space type deal, they work because GW says they work and fall apart very quickly if you start applying realism to them.

The only right answer would be… IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!

The way I see marines subduing a planet is via a series of lightning strikes.

1) Initial drop pod assault to capture primary leaders/ communication nodes/weapon silo's etc.

2) Redeploy by thunderhawk to take out secondary targets such regional command nodes.

3)While this is happening the ships in orbit are using orbital strikes on targets such as airbases/missile silo's and providing cover for the ground forces.

4)Then point the planetery leader appears on every monitor on the planet announcing the surrender.( the marines with guns behind the camera ensure he does this)


At this point the planet has been subdues and the imperial guard will move in.

This strategy relies on a centralised govermant which is standard for most imperial worlds and wont hold the planet long term but will work in the short term.
Orbital surveilance to identify any buildup of resistance then rapid strikes to utterly destroy them with extreme prejudice.

 Vaktathi wrote:

 Lord Tarkin wrote:
Ok, let me nail this real quick.

SM's never hold a planet. That's litterally never in their job description, ever. They go in, seize it, give it to the IG.

Except they routinely do this in a lot of fluff

So how many marines does it take to do that? I put 1,000 marines, an entire chapter though a long war indeed will turn a rebellious planet to Imperial rule.

There's a ton of variables. Basically, the more concentrated the power, the easier their job is. If they've got any sort of backup/redundant military and political systems and fortified and/or hidden command centers or fallback locations, you'd need way more than a thousand. It'd be very easy to encircle and cut off a thousand marines in just a few hours even without even directly engaging them. Once that happens, if the opposing planetary defense forces have any sort of artillery and/or air forces (or, Emperor help them, Strategic weapons), it's going to go very bad for the marines in hours if there's a competent enemy commander.

Again, SM's really are a variable-power Fantasy-in-Space type deal, they work because GW says they work and fall apart very quickly if you start applying realism to them.

*sighs* yes, unfotunately GW has grown quite a crop haven't they. We should go back to the legion days, where 100,000 SM's could stomp a planet in the dirt.

 Lord Tarkin wrote:
Ok, let me nail this real quick.

SM's never hold a planet. That's litterally never in their job description, ever. They go in, seize it, give it to the IG.

So how many marines does it take to do that? I put 1,000 marines, an entire chapter though a long war indeed will turn a rebellious planet to Imperial rule.

I didn't include IG in the question but I thought it was common sense really. SM's invading a planet without IG is like fighting a war with your bare fists. It's...hard....to say the least, lol. 1,000 marines and a couple IG regiments will get it done.

I'm new to these polls anyway haha, next time I do one I'll include 3 whole entire paragraphs of details so theres precisely 0 confusion.

Maybe not 3 paragraphs but the general classification of Imperial worlds and pointing out which we should consider for conquest.

Basically the IoM has everything imaginable. Planets at a stone age and modern worlds. Densly populated Hives and Agri-worlds with a few hundred farmers. To beat a "king" ( governor ) and his knights and men-at-arms needs less Marines than dealing with a civilized world in a "shootier" era.
Plus GW created Maps and Planets... are often rather than
Like 1 continent + 1 megacity = planet done. Mission Objective? "Take the space port and win." How many SM would I need for this ?

IMO only Hives and fortresses have lots of forces thrown at them, Hives usually IG to get them back into the fold and fortresses usually a bit of overdoing it ( SM+IG+IN+AdMech+whoever comes ).

 Ashiraya wrote:

 PhillyT wrote:
A space marine can lock down and hold an area roughly 1 mile around him. And that is being very charitable.

It would take hundreds of thousands of Marines to control a planet. Winning and controlling are two totally different things. A thousands could crush all opposition, but to actually control a hostile planet would require an unbelievable number.

The majority of a standard planet is empty ground. You only really need to control the cities.

May I draw your attention to the pure hell that is Afghanistan?

If we are talking about full, locked dow, control, it takes a significant number.

If the marines have IG regiments available, then that is a different story. But just Marines, you need hundreds of thousands. Even with advanced technology and super humans, the actual occupation is a factor of bodies, not ability. Being able to crush what ever is around you doesn't remove the threat that is around the corner working to subvert the control being applied.

 1hadhq wrote:

 Lord Tarkin wrote:
Ok, let me nail this real quick.

SM's never hold a planet. That's litterally never in their job description, ever. They go in, seize it, give it to the IG.

So how many marines does it take to do that? I put 1,000 marines, an entire chapter though a long war indeed will turn a rebellious planet to Imperial rule.

I didn't include IG in the question but I thought it was common sense really. SM's invading a planet without IG is like fighting a war with your bare fists. It's...hard....to say the least, lol. 1,000 marines and a couple IG regiments will get it done.

I'm new to these polls anyway haha, next time I do one I'll include 3 whole entire paragraphs of details so theres precisely 0 confusion.

Maybe not 3 paragraphs but the general classification of Imperial worlds and pointing out which we should consider for conquest.

Basically the IoM has everything imaginable. Planets at a stone age and modern worlds. Densly populated Hives and Agri-worlds with a few hundred farmers. To beat a "king" ( governor ) and his knights and men-at-arms needs less Marines than dealing with a civilized world in a "shootier" era.
Plus GW created Maps and Planets... are often rather than
Like 1 continent + 1 megacity = planet done. Mission Objective? "Take the space port and win." How many SM would I need for this ?

IMO only Hives and fortresses have lots of forces thrown at them, Hives usually IG to get them back into the fold and fortresses usually a bit of overdoing it ( SM+IG+IN+AdMech+whoever comes ).

1 SM is enough to convert a feral world. However, hive cities may need 1000 and some IG regiments.

It all depends I guess. There some planets so big they have 20,000,000,000 inhabitants and I believe that may require several SM chapters and 10 IG regiments.

And how would a single SM convert a feral world?

 PhillyT wrote:
And how would a single SM convert a feral world?

Seriously, 1 marine, 1 squad at least could easily convert a feral world. Not like feral people are nearly as smart and technologically advanced

Groups of angry feral people can kill Space Marines.

 Lord Tarkin wrote:

 PhillyT wrote:
And how would a single SM convert a feral world?

Seriously, 1 marine, 1 squad at least could easily convert a feral world. Not like feral people are nearly as smart and technologically advanced

How?

You are making a pretty huge leap here. How would a single marine convert anyone? We in America can't even convert a city in most cases and we have a common, shared planet, relatively equal value systems, and some common cultural connections that can be made.

Landing a genetically augmented killing machine on a feral world and expecting him to be able to somehow convert or subvert an entire population doesn't have much in the way of rational plausibility.

And yeah, a feral world would be quite capable of killing a single marine.

 PhillyT wrote:

 Lord Tarkin wrote:

 PhillyT wrote:
And how would a single SM convert a feral world?

Seriously, 1 marine, 1 squad at least could easily convert a feral world. Not like feral people are nearly as smart and technologically advanced

How?

You are making a pretty huge leap here. How would a single marine convert anyone? We in America can't even convert a city in most cases and we have a common, shared planet, relatively equal value systems, and some common cultural connections that can be made.

Landing a genetically augmented killing machine on a feral world and expecting him to be able to somehow convert or subvert an entire population doesn't have much in the way of rational plausibility.

And yeah, a feral world would be quite capable of killing a single marine.

Did you really just compare America to a feral world? C'mon now, a marine or a squad could slaughter a feral world.

But that isn't of course what would be done. Now that I think about it, that would be an IG job once again. Military protocol takes very little precedence when it comes to a feral world. There is very little to fear for the Imperium when it comes to a feral world. The poeple are unfortunately to dumb to understand much of anything hence being easily convinced or intimidated.

Imperium would just send in an IG regiment to set up a small government and an ecclesiarchy staff.