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I can’t find a reliable answer. And I have a few thoughts:

Without their armour how tall are they and how broad are there?

I have read 7-8 foot tall in lots of places so does that mean we have baseline humans in the real world that are almost space marine size? Andre the giant? The big show? Some basket ball players? (I don’t know anything about basket ball).

If they are 7 foot what about over all mass? So a human could be the same height but still look small as bones, muscle fibres and layers of skin are enlarged on an astartes? What about hair? Is each strand of hair noticeably thicker and strong than human hair. Would it make good guitar strings?

As astartes get their size by being altered artificially are they all built to the same size or is it an increase from their baseline genetics. So if a child with genes that could make them 7 foot tall as a base line human would they be 10 foot tall as an astartes.

My thoughts are based on old marines but do they apply equally to primaris

Unarmoured Firstborn are on average 7ft and 8ft in armour. Genetics does have a role to play and some Astartes are taller than the average such as Pasanius Lysane of the Ultramarines who had to wear specially modified armour to accommodate his greater size and bulk.

It used to be 2.1 meters tall and then it got increased to 2.4 meters. Some SM are taller because lore requires it like Tyberos and Asterion Moloc.

Firstborn are pretty consistently 7 feet in armour, obviously there will be some variation between individuals

That’s Jes Goodwin, who designed the modern marine.


In this I expect there to be discussion about what the sizes in different stories mean in the stories, to the characters, or about the author. When one book says a marine character is twice the height of mortals, and another treats them as 7ft in armour, that just changes the way the characters relate to each other. I don’t think there’s much to discuss about which one is true, because obviously none of them are it’s fiction.

Dan Abnett gives this comical image of an unmodified inquisitor having tea with a marine librarian, and the marine dwarfs him like an adult sitting at a child’s table having a pretend tea party. The main purpose of this character and a chaos marine are to be intimidating, the story talks about how well trained some storm troopers are and how they valiantly hold out against that marine for a short amount of time. They worf each other. The librarian also gives Eisenhorn his bolt pistol, which indicates that even though he’s judges, he’s also not huge.

If you’re still wondering about which is correct and true and final and applies to all of Warhammer ever, Jes Goodwin the person from that photo has been asked on a podcast and said that the real average height of marines varies based on the day and he doesn’t have a real answer.

mrFickle wrote:
it make good guitar strings?

As astartes get their size by being altered artificially are they all built to the same size or is it an increase from their baseline genetics. So if a child with genes that could make them 7 foot tall as a base line human would they be 10 foot tall as an astartes.

It’s very common for books to have an exceptionally tall marine character. Abaddon particularly was tall before becoming involved with chaos gods, and many of the marine characters in the Imperial Armour characters have been taller than average. There’s also one character who is memed for being very short, and the author comments on twitter and interviews that he’s involved in strength sports and that the character is inspired by sport related jokes about manlets, men who have or are alleged to have a complex about being short. So it’s jokes. The answer to how tall are marines is lol just bants mate, except it’s not even funny bants it is tired bants. And Charax is right, ty Charax.

Charax wrote:
Firstborn are pretty consistently 7 feet in armour, obviously there will be some variation between individuals

7ft IN armour? So about 6.5 out of armour

mrFickle wrote:

Charax wrote:
Firstborn are pretty consistently 7 feet in armour, obviously there will be some variation between individuals

Spoiler:

7ft IN armour? So about 6.5 out of armour

I saw an online commenter say this:

My opinion (and that's all it is) is probably an outlier here. I played WH40K for almost two decades from when it was released. Over that period of time I can't recall anything from any rulebook or codex that gave any impression that marines were anything other than normal human height. Obviously the selection of recruits would favour the more physically capable so around six foot seemed reasonable. Since they used equipment and buildings that normal humans used, this seemed perfectly plausible.
However, it seems that since I stopped playing marines have grow significantly. Personally, I find…

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/12qxbpc/comment/jgw0tkb/

7-8 ft, depending on variables.

The biggest difference between a human and a space marine is not necessarily going to be the height, they'll be a head taller at most compared to a tall human, and possibly even shorter than the avg basketball player. The difference is going to be the girth. They're going to be much broader, more heavily muscled, etc...

But consider that 7' is huge. Like, enormous.

You know the guy who played Gregor Clegain in Game of Thrones, Hafþór. He is "only" 6 foot 9 inches.



Poor little Pedro Pascal there is only 5'11", which is pretty much average male height.

Even a space marine that was "only" 7 foot tall would be to Hafþór what he is to Pedro. The square cube law is powerful and only a few inches of height and girth means a monstrous increase in mass.

Gert wrote:Unarmoured Firstborn are on average 7ft and 8ft in armour.

Armour adds an extra foot? Space mari e armour comes with platforms/heels now?

Bit ridiculous if you ask me.

Op, iggest thing for marines isn't height, it's mass. Picture the likes of Eddie Hall or Matt Frazer. Imagine them being 'just' 7 feet tall. Or a 7ft marcus fenix from gears.There would be the occasional normie still taller than them for sure but in terms of sheer mass, they will dominate any space they enter and dwarf anybody near them, inclusive of that 7-foot basketball player and any other regular humans. They would be physically terrifying.

The earliest internal cutaway drawings of power armour feature retractable spikes in the boots. So yes, marines have platforms

Around 7' seems to be the most consistent estimate, with variations for individuals. As mentioned above, mass is probably the biggest factor in making them seem...well, bigger, and more intimidating. A SM has considerably more muscle mass than a regular human, as well as a fused rib cage (let's not ask how his lungs expand!) so not only will he appear very bulky, he'll weigh much more than a regular human of the same approximate height and girth would.

Deadnight wrote:
Armour adds an extra foot? Space mari e armour comes with platforms/heels now?

Bit ridiculous if you ask me.

Boots would add at least 4 or 5 inches in height, plus the power pack. It might not be a foot exactly but it'll be close.

 Gert wrote:

Deadnight wrote:
Armour adds an extra foot? Space mari e armour comes with platforms/heels now?

Bit ridiculous if you ask me.

Boots would add at least 4 or 5 inches in height, plus the power pack. It might not be a foot exactly but it'll be close.

Yeah, no.

As much as i think a 6 inch 'power heel' is an all too obvious (and hilarious) sororitas power weapon opportunity/pun, lets face it -6 inch slabs of armour under their feet is ridiculous. Youre talking disco stu shoes from the simpsons.

Counting the powerpack - likewise? Look at thr artwork above. It's not exactly much taller than the guys head. And I mean should we count it at all or do we count antennae too or the tanks they ride in if we are being this pedantic? I'll give you hulking armour types like terminator suits would be extra-massive but i cannot get on board with armour adding a foot in height.

If you're adding armour, you're talking an inch or two, max.

Big guys. Maybe Schwarzenegger or Lundgren. But this ten feet tall stuff is pure nonsense. What good would it possibly do? It would only make them bigger targets in an age when, however advanced your body, a lasgun or bolter can still cut you to pieces.

Deadnight wrote:
Yeah, no.

As much as i think a 6 inch 'power heel' is an all too obvious (and hilarious) sororitas power weapon opportunity/pun, lets face it -6 inch slabs of armour under their feet is ridiculous. Youre talking disco stu shoes from the simpsons.

Counting the powerpack - likewise? Look at thr artwork above. It's not exactly much taller than the guys head. And I mean should we count it at all or do we count antennae too or the tanks they ride in if we are being this pedantic? I'll give you hulking armour types like terminator suits would be extra-massive but i cannot get on board with armour adding a foot in height.

If you're adding armour, you're talking an inch or two, max.

Agree to disagree then.

It’s not just armour though. There’s a load of tech built in.

Do remember Marines aren’t just tall. They’re far bulkier and just….more in terms of proportions than baseline humans.

As covered a few times elsewhere, at 6’2” (or 6’3” depending who’s doing the measuring) I’m taller than most, without being the tallest person you’ll meet on any given day. I’m also quite chunky in build, rather than the willowy some might associate with height. And so people think I’m bigger than I actually am.

Now apply that to a Marine, who is just….larger. Far larger than any human should be. Thinking someone the size of The Mountain, but with zero body fat. Just….muscle. Lots and lots and lots of muscles.

 Gert wrote:

Deadnight wrote:
Yeah, no.

As much as i think a 6 inch 'power heel' is an all too obvious (and hilarious) sororitas power weapon opportunity/pun, lets face it -6 inch slabs of armour under their feet is ridiculous. Youre talking disco stu shoes from the simpsons.

Counting the powerpack - likewise? Look at thr artwork above. It's not exactly much taller than the guys head. And I mean should we count it at all or do we count antennae too or the tanks they ride in if we are being this pedantic? I'll give you hulking armour types like terminator suits would be extra-massive but i cannot get on board with armour adding a foot in height.

If you're adding armour, you're talking an inch or two, max.

Agree to disagree then.

Adeptus Gertstartes:



Must admit it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

Eeven using that graphic, it would be closer to 7 1/2 if they weren't bowlegged. There is no way that a marine could actually walk while maintaining a leg seperation like that.. at best a waddle.

Gents, I'm not looking for a fight here. I've left it at agree to disagree so let's not yeah?

Plus they get bigger crossing the Rubicon. I've heard 8' thrown around, but then you have to consider their homeworld recruits which could be all different sizes.

Charax wrote:
Firstborn are pretty consistently 7 feet in armour, obviously there will be some variation between individuals

You should note that this picture of Jes Goodwin with the space marine - the space marine height measurement has 1' as the FLOOR marking. So he either has 12" platform soles, or they f****d up the measurement.

That would be why I said they were 7 feet tall, not 8 feet...

I prefer the idea that marines are pushed to a physical extreme/maximum that is witnessed in nature with un modified humans rather than them being monolithic.

This guy shows a slightly taller marine and shorter human, but it gets across the difference the muscle bulk makes

Not sure if it's me, dakka, or user images, but they keep showing up broken to me around the forum including the one above.

As malnourishment as a child hinders growth, maybe a 7ft marine is twice the height of the average hive worlder.

My take is 7ft for Firstborn, 8ft for Primaris.

Chaos codexes, 5th or 6th thru at least 8th editions say 7 feet tall. So they are 7 feet tall.

Armor adds a little bit (but not 12"), but it's unclear if that's before or after the 7. Chaos armor gets to add more height because of giant helmet decorations. But I wouldn't call that height, just a big hat. Napoleon probably didn't count his huge hat either.

And yeah, 7 ft tall is plenty big. If memory serves, this is a drawing someone else made that originally had 8ft Marines or something. I corrected down to just 7 ft, and brought the human up to 6 for comparison.

Marines are consistently about seven feet in height on average, and I have never read that normal power armour substantially increases their height (terminator armour does though). With some amount of variance: Abaddon is notably huge for an Astartes even before Chaos got involved, whereas fellow Mournival member "Little" Horus Aximand is shorter than average (though also stout and brawny).

Some work also describes them as having disproportionately exaggerated inhuman physiques for their height, but some official depictions don't really seem to convey this all that well, such as the donning of power armour video from like last year or whenever.

Humans, though, generally have gotten taller in more modern times due to the fact that food is a bit more east to come by, roughly starting in the Napoleonic Era (a bit of a side note, Napoleon was around 5'10 or so, so he was average if not a tad taller than average at the time. The bit about him being a midget is stubborn British propaganda from the time) so it is possible that the average height of humans in 40k would be a bit over 6'. The issue is that we don't know what the food provisions look like for the average human.

Nowadays, many folks who reach the 7' mark tend to be rather thin or have to work not to be, Andre the Giant was noted to be an outlier in that he was naturally bulky.

That being said, since melee is noted as being such a heavy focus during the Unification Wars, this is likely the reason for a lot of the engineered bulk of Marines, which is mostly muscle mass. They would have fat reserves as that does do more than just give folks a jiggly midsection. The body does require at least a little fat to function properly at some point or another, or else we wouldn't have it.

In short, most of the difference in Marines would likely not be so much as height, but in mass as others have said above. Though if realistic terms, something like the Stormtroopers (For the life of me I can't think of, or spell, whatever GW calls them nowadays) would generally be more successful in the Marines role. More numerous, cheaper/easier to equip, and more importantly easier/cheaper to train without the horrendous failure rate given in the lore. Seriously, even though Stormtroopers are rarer than the standard Guard, they are still much more numerous than the Marines.

Now then, since I like Marines better anyway, I'm just gonna ignore them last three sentences