When the Space Marine chapters send out companies into battle, do they just literally send out a couple hundred guys onto a plent to wreak havoc?
Or are they supported by thousands of other troops of their own? I know they can ally with the IG for example, but in those fleets of the chapters, do they have other regular soldiers under their direct command?
planet*
>do they have other regular soldiers under their direct command?
Hell no. That's one of the biggest no-nos of the Codex Astartes. Pre-Heresy, yes, you had Imperial Army troops directly commanded by Legion troops as Auxilia, but that was forbidden as one of the many ways Guilliman planned to handicap Imperial fighting forces to ensure they couldn't go off and rebel as a united fighting force.
We see exactly why that was wise with the Astral Claws/Tyrant Legion becoming the Red Corsairs.
Sure, that makes sense.
Though one starts to wonder why certain chapters shouldn't be exempt from this rule, like the Grey Knights. If their geneseed really is pure and they cannot fall to Chaos, it seems like a mighty good idea to expand that chapter significantly.
My take on the thing is that the IG distracts the larger elements of the enemy forces while the Meringues engage the real crazy shit leading the aforementioned enemy forces.
No.
Space Marines have chapter serfs but those are generally not seen fighting alongside Space Marines. Typically Space Marines respond to a request for aid/join a crusade and fight as allies with the Imperial Guard and other forces. It should be noted that when fighting alongside Imperial Guard they don't typically form a seamless alliance since most Space Marines don't take orders/listen to advice/tell the Guard what they're doing.
They might not be corruptible by Chaos, but they could fall to other things like say pride.
You have to realize that 99.999% of all combat actions in the Imperium is by the Imperial Guards or Planetary Troops. Space Marines only enter the biggest/most important combats.
Even then, they are move like an super-powered shock troops.
They have chapter serfs that do menial tasks, I think all the way up to piloting drop vehicles. That's pretty rare though. A single space marine chapter taking a planet by force is as ludicrous as it sounds. They can fight for days and enjoy a huge qualitative advantage over their opponents, but they'll get wrecked in open warfare versus a whole traitor pdf, xenon population, whatever. Their ammo and manpower are finite.
What they ARE good at is shock and awe tactics, decapitation, breakwaters, and interdiction. They can drop pod right on top of a spire, or teleport directly into a fortress, etc. Really anywhere they leverage their huge advantage versus your average opponent like boarding actions, breaches, and tight corridors.
Generally when they send a chapter they also send a dreadnought or two, someone from the librarius, some additional gear from the armory, like land raiders etc if the company captain commissions it, and some bros from the reserve companies that are nearby and able.
Of course, it's yourdudes, but this is in general how space marines employ.
Pride before a fall is definitely going to be on everybody's minds.
The Codex nominally says 1,000 but it also lays down structural order which the GK clearly don't follow, and the 1,000 itself isn't necessarily an absolute - a Chapter which misjudged recruitment needs (because these have a very long period to complete) during a protracted war might end up several companies short or several companies over, but in the case of it ending over 1,000, you'd also expect that they immediately put those troops on crusade. This may be the origin of certain Chapters being listed as sending more than 10 companies to Armageddon or the 13th Black Crusade, assuming these are all 100-strong companies and the Chapters in question appear otherwise compliant with the Codex Astartes.
The GK have an entirely different internal structure (and I believe at one point were said to be significantly over 1,000 in number) but also a longer and more strict induction process, with far fewer even surviving the initial physical induction to receive the possibility of geneseed implantation and these taken from a cohort who must a) be strong psykers and b) be untainted, so for them to have a "low" number might not be avoidable, given that they're also forced to operate in conditions of secrecy.
The 8 Brotherhoods thing is probably ritualistic, but the actual size of each Brotherhood is debatable. Taking the 1st as example, it has 5 squads each of Terminator, Interceptor, Purgation and Strike, which may be 100 marines or 200, depending on strength (and would likely vary over time). The 1st is one of the smaller (but not the smallest, which is the 7th) Brotherhoods, so the actual strength of the Chapter may be over 1,600 (based on squad count across every Brotherhood) and dependent on need, potentially higher.
They generally fight wherever they are required and this can be a part of a larger operation. The usually fight at company strength because it is unwise to have the full chapter in one place at a time.
What usually occurs is something like this. Planet gets attacked, pdf holds out for reinforcements sending distress signals to other planets and ships. Most likely imperial guard will be dispatched and then they will go to war, if marines happening to be passing nearby they will respond and strike key points in the enemy, Killing the leader of an alien race, disrupting a stalemate between two battlelines, or spearheading an attack. The marines wont necessearily stay to fight the whole war just to tip the tides back to the imperiums favour.
I was reading one book where the guard were entrenched and unable to break the enemy lines. Marines drop podded in and just cleared the area of the chaos renegades. They hit hard and fast and operate much like special forcces would in modern day
They are soldiers and are supported by artillery, heavy weaponry, scouts and tactical squads that lure out threats.
Read "Damned crusade" it's a comic about the black Templar and how even they use basic tactics - goes into brief detail about life as a soldier.
dangles stap
devestator in close combats
weird hood
orkish chin strap
>The usually fight at company strength because it is unwise to have the full chapter in one place at a time.
And frankly, almost always unnecessary - there's comparatively few situations where it'll be better to deploy an entire chapter than it will be to deploy a few hundred marines and have the rest responding to other crises.
They often coordinate with the rest of the battleforce in any given warzone (note that they also do a lot of things on their own, that only they can do - space hulk clearance, for example), and with a huge wealth of experience they're listened to strongly, but they don't have allied troops under their actual command
One of the important things to note though, is that they have the gear that makes them deploy and redeploy really well to react to a crisis - they have fast ships with some of the best navigators, and those ships have huge hangers full of shuttles, transports and gunships, allowing them to go between shock-ops and critical fights much, much faster than the rest of the ponderous imperial war machine
Would Deathwatch Marines work with Xenos under any circumstances?
For example, would they work with a Kroot mercenary that is under the employ of an Inquisitor.
I know we've seen examples of Blood Angels working with Necrons briefly, but is there any comparable fluff for Deathwatch?
or slaanesh boi pussy in Kaldor's case
>it depends
Certain chapters are occasionally willing to work with aliens (Blood Ravens), or their missions aren't focused around slaughtering xenos so they don't care so long as they get the job done (Exorcists, Minotaurs maybe?).
It might cause some conflict in a Kill Team, but if the Inquisitor asked real nice, they probably wouldn't kill the birdman.
>devestator in close combats
That's kinda the thing about Tyranids.
Whether you are a guy that wants to be in CC or not, they're going to bring it to you.
what bothers me most is the lenght of that heavy bolter. It's as if it magically shortened itself to fit into the picture...
It's not a chin strap. It's Mk.VIII Errant Armour. Stops bullets bouncing off their chest and hitting their more vulnerable throat.
chapters like the bnlack templars and the spacewolfs who hate the codex astarties will send well upwrds of a thousand space marines for every conflict, the space wolfs in particluar will send thousand and sometimes anonther thousand wulfen ontop of that. they are the emperors executioners and if you have a chapter that is getting out of line then you send the space wolves to take care of them
what's the story behind that pic?
>do they just literally send out a couple hundred guys onto a plent to wreak havoc?
yep
Don't need more than that when you have drop pods, thunderhawks and teleport arrays.
I do believe dealing with renegade chapters is the Minotaur's job
I think it's from the 3rd/4th Ed Tau Codex. It's a diplomatic mission into Tau Space just before the Damocles Crusade iirc.
It's one of the Tau's attempts at allying with huemanatee.
3 squads usually suffice. Marines are usually spread thin.
Who is in charge of the Kill Team? A radical inquisitor perhaps?
A while after Damocles; the Imperium's attempt to buy time for their forces to reach Nimbosa.
>I fight where my Emperor demands
Who demands where crusades will happen, anyway?
*decides
You should aim for xeno scum brain, Brother
But why is a Space Marine giving it the time of day?
largely? the high lords, though a crusade can gather when anyone with enough authority gathers enough troops in one place.
He was sent as the escort of the ambassador. Presumably for intelligence gathering and intimidation purposes, while also ensuring the guy doing the negotiating wasn't captured or killed.
The fists later sacked nimbosa with the help of the GREATEST OF THEM ALL, and having an insider's look at the tau methods was probably important.
I guess that's the other question: would Deathwatch Marines have any qualms about working with radical inquisitors?
It's good to know the little shits got purged. Imperial dogs be as they may, nothing in 40k pissess me off as the Tau do.
im sure there is more then one chapter to do it though, but when your chapters nickname is the emperors executioners, then im sure you earnt it. if i was a chapter id rather be attacked by the full 1100 legion strength of the minotaurs then the full attack force of 4000-5000 space wolfs and the 1000 or so wulfen, plus the hundreds of scouts they have. that said the black templers have like 6000-7000 space marines, so i wouldn't want to be attack by them either lol
That is how the Astral Claws went bad, so...
White Panthers deserve more love. They even have a fairly decent color scheme.
>Would Deathwatch Marines work with Xenos under any circumstances?
Yes, depending on the Xenos in question.
>Tau: Hateful and pathetic, conniving xenos, but they're probably the most "reasonable" xenos the Deathwatch would work with. They're arrogant and think they're hot shit, but they understand that sometimes you need to put aside the hateboner and work together with an enemy to conquer a bigger one. As such, working with Tau is a reasonable possibility when it is against a worse foe such as Necrons or Tyranids or Chaos and it benefits the Imperium to do so.
>Craftworld Eldar: Never trust them, but sometimes it behooves the Imperium to cooperate to stop a bigger threat such as Chaos or Necrons, as the Eldar are the most willing to cut back on the BS when faced with that threat.
>Dark Eldar: Never. They're so far beneath contempt and have virtually nothing to offer the Deathwatch.
>Necrons: Realistically no, except in the most dire of circumstances, and any alliance would be momentary at best.
>Kroot: Spooky scary bird men, but at least they will do what they're told when you pay them.
The Imperium can't tell the difference between Craftworld Eldar and Dark Eldar
The Deathwatch can, user.
Most can't, and many would be unlikely to care if they could (depending on who they are, and/or whether they actually have to deal with them and under what circumstances). But there are always the more learned who do know these things, from personal experience or simply because it's their job.
It's not that the Imperium can't tell the difference. It just doesn't give a shit about it. Only good elf is a dead elf.