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Basically what the title says. Why do they exist in 30k but not 40k? I cannot seem to find any fluff on when/ how they were phased out.

That role got taken over by Stormtroopers.

The Imperium is smarter now.

A good general doesn't throw away his best, hardest to come by resources in a siege meat grinder.

That's what the Imperial Guard are for. The Imperium can't run out of humans.

So is that to say they no longer have a function? I would hesitate to say breacher marines were "meatgrinder" troops.

A breacher shield, and the power armor on the Space Marine, are expensive! Nevermind the actual marine in the army, his training, implants, and decades or centuries of experience!

But Bob and his ten thousand friends? Much cheaper.

I would say the role of breacher was superseded by terminators. (Remembering terminators were rare in the heresy, but there were loads of legionaries)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Or maybe guilliman just didn't rate them highly when he drew up the codex.
Too many points....

There are also drastically fewer Marines, a million if all 1000 chapters were at full capacity.

People still do them though, Kevin Chin's IF army has a unit of 40k breachers, for example. They are great models.

A Command Squad can be pretty much a Breacher Siege Squad.
Stormshields and a lot of special weapons.

Fluffwise, a Legion may have the resources to lay siege, a Chapter does not. They are special forces and if it looks like a siege, the Imperial Guard is there. Space Marines only do precision strikes.

They do still exist; Remember "not in the codex" =/= "doesn't exist"; just ask the Adeptus Arbites.

Although, funnily enough the Siege Assault Vanguard army list - the one where you'd expect to find 'em - has Siege Assault Squads. Ten Marines with bolt pistol and chainsword, with the option to all take combat shields and melta bombs.

The Astral Claws also had their Retaliator squads, again with combat shields.

So, Marines do still utilise specialists for breaching defences. After all, they're the Imperium's first strike capability; if they need to force their way into a fortress or enemy starship, they're not just going to sit outside for a year waiting for a million expendable Gaurdsmen to show up, are they?

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

So, Marines do still utilise specialists for breaching defences. After all, they're the Imperium's first strike capability; if they need to force their way into a fortress or enemy starship, they're not just going to sit outside for a year waiting for a million expendable Gaurdsmen to show up, are they?

If it's acceptable for the Imperium to wait a year, then that's what they would do as a plan of first resort.

Marines are only for things that need to be done now.

They still exist but they all ran off to join the Iron Warriors like the spiteful little bitter buggers they are.

Boarding Shields, Graviton Guns and Lascutters were all (re)introduced to modern 40k in the Zone Mortalis rules in Imperial Armour 9 *before* they were given to heresy era Breacher Siege Squads.

 DarknessEternal wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

So, Marines do still utilise specialists for breaching defences. After all, they're the Imperium's first strike capability; if they need to force their way into a fortress or enemy starship, they're not just going to sit outside for a year waiting for a million expendable Gaurdsmen to show up, are they?

If it's acceptable for the Imperium to wait a year, then that's what they would do as a plan of first resort.

Marines are only for things that need to be done now.

Yes, and if there's a Chosen in that fortress, the Dark Angels will need to get into it now. Or for plenty of other reasons.