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I'm interested in getting a full company (not reserve) of a codex adherent chapter in order to play fluffy forces in games (if I own a 100% company then I know that whatever I field in a game is feasible to achieve by a lone company, as I would have the models). I get that there is 60 tacs, 20 devs/AMs + captain , but I have a lot of questions like how many vehicles (of each type) is there likely to be? Would an average company have razorbacks or use rhinos exclusively? How many techmarines/libbys/chaplains - are there a set amount per company or is that more of a full chapter thing?

I'm specifically interested in vehicles + important (non-captain) marines - would a company ever field an armoured task force formation by itself or is that something that would need multiple companies to achieve - I doubt a single company could ever muster up a land raider spearhead, considering how valuable they are supposed to be.

A full battle company will have the 100 marines you listed plus a command squad, a captain and a Chaplin. as for tanks, there should be a rhino for every tac.dev and assault marine with a razorback/rhino for the command squad depending on the loadout. other vehicles like preds, landraiders and stormravens/talons belong to the armory. techmarines also belong to the armory and libbys are not part of standard company.

The way that battle companies normally work is by pulling support from the first/reserve companies and the armory and requesting libbiys as needed.

Captain
Chaplain
Command squad
2-4 dreadnoughts
6 tac
2 dev
2 assault

Rhinos and razors for squads (at least one for every tac squad. Old fluff has 15 rhinos in a fully equipped company)

Bikes and speeders for assault squads to use. (Old fluff has 10 speeders, 25 bikes, 5 attacks bikes as ideal)

Everything else is pretty much chapter level assets.

No idea if it's still true but Razorbacks used to be armoury assets as well. When they were first released they were stated to function as escorts for Rhinos, when battle was joined the Rhinos would often be sent to the rear whilst the Razorbacks would remain as fire support. I'm assuming this is still the case since it explains why you can take them as 'dedicated transport' for a squad that can't fit in one: if the squads too big it means it arrived in a Rhino that's been sent to the rear.

There is a disconnect with regards to command squads and fluff: fluffwise the Codex Astartes dictates that every company have an Apothecary and Standard Bearer whilst the formation of a squad to protect them is codex-approved but not mandatory. Whilst ruleswise an Apothecary and Standard Bearer are optional upgrades to a Command Squad.

hmmm.... Am I right in guessing that dreadnoughts have no standard number as it depends on the mortal wounding of marines in battle?

It would seem so, the source for the 15 Rhinos etc is the 3rd edition vanilla codex, which gave a full breakdown of the entire Ultramarines chapter (they've not done a chart as comprehensive as that since, so it still stands as a general source), the 4th company was listed as being at full strength but only had 4 Dreadnoughts, yet the 8th & 9th Companies had 5 and 7 respectively.

 hippyjr wrote:
hmmm.... Am I right in guessing that dreadnoughts have no standard number as it depends on the mortal wounding of marines in battle?

Tradition dictates that dreads continue to fight with their company.

In the full spread of the Ultramarines 2nd company picture, it shows 2
In the 6th ed. Apocolypse book, the battle company formation requires 3
In the 3rd ed. codex, where the 4th company is explicitly stated at being full strength, they have 4.

If your goal is to have a full battle company on the shelf, I’d aim for at least two. More is optional, with 3 being my suggestion. Feel free to mix types.

There are rhinos/razors in the chapter armory as well as dedicated to the company. I’d have to sift through the current fluff to see if razors are actually company level. From a modeling POV, you want to buy/build razors, and they are a quick hatch swap away from a razor.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to have a set number of tank hulls with the components to make the variations. I don't think I could handle that many tanks!
Last question - what would be a good number of drop pods to go with?

 hippyjr wrote:
Yeah, I'm definitely going to have a set number of tank hulls with the components to make the variations. I don't think I could handle that many tanks!
Last question - what would be a good number of drop pods to go with?

Well, companies don’t have any pods natively. So the question is how many you need for your list? If you want to do a hybrid drop list, 3 pods is a good number. Full drop is going to be more.

Companies don't have any drop pods???

Do they just come with whatever ship that is being used? I'm not too fussed about the space part of things - as it doesn't really make a difference (in terms of collecting)

I think I'll start with 2, maximum 4 doubt I'd ever use more

The drop-pod is part of the ship. yes, since you need a deck dedicated to the storage and launching of them. They don't just throw them out of an airlock.

I think most tanks are part of the armory and have dedicated crews to run them. Dreadnoughts are usually assigned to one company but I think the older ones are held in cold storage for important moments as time degrades the marines mind.