>Legion/Chapter is basically space Rome
>Primarch is Space Caesar
>and yet the Codex Astarte's divides the legions not according to a Roman model but a Napoleonic one, with one elite formation of grenadiers (1st company), one formation of Voltigeurs (scout company), and 8 regular formations of main troops
Explain this to me
Because he didn't have to be completely roman on everything.
Besides, it's not eight regular formations - only four of those are battle companies. The other are support companies, still in training.
Which again is a Napoleonic model, as the Fusilier companies in a batallion went from 8 then later to 4
>Explain this to me
>implying it isn't the same damn reason bolters shoot cased gyrojet depleted WATER-tipped explosives that somehow cause recoil and their amazing tank is both slower than modern tanks but has thinner and weaker armor and somehow shoots a gun the size of a battleships' main cannon and the Tau can conquer and maintain dozens of solar systems without faster than light travel and with shorter lifespans than humans
GW is shit at military.
>>Primarch is Space Caesar
insomuch that he's a traitor lionized by his successor?
You didn't notice Roboute Guilleman is a French name? He's not entirely Roman based.
I just... I just don't know anymore. In a parallel universe someone is calling GW shit because they did follow Rome on everything.
Senate ass lick detected.
Well just it ruins my plans to make a special snowflake chapter of Napoleonic/French Knight space Brettonia Marines
Oh well.
You can still do that. There's no real French chapter - the closest we got is one with a Fleur-de-Lis symbol.
Boltguns are probably one of the few things in 40k that isn't all that retarded. They fire a hybrid cartridge, a 'normal' explosive charge that provides the initial force while the gyrojet portion does its thing. The problem with gyrojets in the real world is that they have a pitiful exit velocity, which this solves somewhat albeit at the cost of making them especially expensive to make - which the Imperium doesn't give two shits about.
Which one is that?
>implying it isn't the same damn reason bolters shoot cased gyrojet depleted WATER-tipped explosives that somehow cause recoil
Booster charge, same reason it ejects spent casings.
and their amazing tank is both slower than modern tanks but has thinner and weaker armor and somehow shoots a gun the size of a battleships' main cannon and the Tau can conquer and maintain dozens of solar systems without faster than light travel
Last I checked they did have FTL travel, it's just different and much slower than Imperial FTL. Skipping off the surface of the warp rather than fully entering.
>weaker armor
Isn't it made out of fantasy-material-um? You can't compare it to anything until you actually knows the ins and outs of it.
Red Templars.
They didn't have FTL for 1st and 2nd sphere.
Even with warp factor 1 speed they physically are incapable of conquering two or more star systems.
Densely packed cluster of stars.
Except Imperial Armour explicitly stated the Land Raider as having a level of protection equivalent to 300mm of "conventional steel", though I believe that volume or version of the book might be outdated (or that part was at least corrected).
it's sci-fi man, it's not real
I never ask questions like this, I just go with the crazy. I don't want 40k to be realistic.
Maybe with an extra 35,000 years of history, its normal to get some things mixed up or to blend ideas from essentially prehistory together.
>a special snowflake chapter of Napoleonic/French Knight space Brettonia Marines
Do it user, 'twould be awesome! That's my favorite period of history.
>Primarch is Space Caesar
Sure, but with a vaguely French-sounding name.
The whole Roman Marines thing only game in the last few years. Before that they were 'merely the pinnicle' of what a Chapter could be. They had a few trappings of the Roman Legions of old but they were equally spread out over Codex compliant chapters.
>can't into RHA
>can't into how bolters actually work
40k is stupid with numbers, but you are the retard here
>and yet the Codex Astarte's divides the legions not according to a Roman model but a Napoleonic one, with one elite formation of grenadiers (1st company), one formation of Voltigeurs (scout company), and 8 regular formations of main troops
>Explain this to me
Gee, I wonder what relationship the man who said "I'm not the heir to Louis XVI but to Charlemagne", the man who created a legal code inspired by the Codex Justinianus, the man who assigned golden eagles to his troops, the man who disbanded the Holy Roman Empire because he believed his empire was a more deserving successor and the man who crowned himself in a fashion reminiscent of the Roman Emperors would have to do with Rome.
Space-Caesar and Space-Napoleon are practically the same thing.
The forgeworld guys are all WW2 buffs so they picked a value that seemed awesome not realizing that modern tanks are already way better.
Simply put, the ultramarines were not made over the course of a day. They are a bunch of people's work all jumbled together, into an attempt to make something coherent.
That's just a case of scifi writers not knowing numbers. Remember Imperial mm are twice as big, conventional steel in the future may refer to something entirely different, and land raiders have been repeatedly shown to be able to do feats that mean those numbers can't be right. They survive nukes, drive along the ocean floor between continents, etc.