Random 40k-specific thought thread

[Ish]

Sir Humphrey: East Yemen, isn't that a democracy? 
Foreign Office Official: Its full name is the Peoples' Democratic Republic of East Yemen. 
Sir Humphrey: Ah I see, so it's a communist dictatorship.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Ish said:

Sir Humphrey: East Yemen, isn't that a democracy? 
Foreign Office Official: Its full name is the Peoples' Democratic Republic of East Yemen. 
Sir Humphrey: Ah I see, so it's a communist dictatorship.

You crossed the line into RoC content. Can we go back to 40k stuff?

[Ish]

Quoting a thirty-eight year old sitcom doesn’t strike me as “RoC content.”

[InfestedKerrigan]

Taken out of context, it is off topic. *shrugs* 

For the greater good, will someone please think of the children. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Ish said:

Quoting a thirty-eight year old sitcom doesn’t strike me as “RoC content.”

Is that what it is? Sorry, my bad.

As an aside, aren't you supposed to add a source when you quote things?

[Ish]

Sorry, I usually do... I just tend to forget that British sitcoms satirizing the political process from four decades ago aren’t part of the common catchphrases in use in modern America. Shame, really.

But, anyway, it comes from Yes, Prime Minister. Highly recommended.

(I’d also have thought that there not being and never having been any such country as “East Yemen” would have been a give away.)

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Ish said:

(I’d also have thought that there not being and never having been any such country as “East Yemen” would have been a give away.)

My Geography skills are limited to the Risk board...

[Ish]

From the Index Astartes: Apocrypha book published by GW in 2016, compiling old White Dwarf articles of interest from years gone by... 

They include Jes Goodwin’s original design sketches for the second edition redesign of the Space Marine Dreadnought... But look at the unused one on the far right. Now, look at the Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought. 

 

[Ish]

Another neat find from the same book, Jes Goodwin’s sketch for the Mk. VIII Power Armor alongside a random doodle of his dated 1990...

Tell me that’s not the central tower from the Fortress of Redemption!

[WestRider]

I've got a copy of The Gothic and the Eldritch, an annotated collection of Goodwin's sketches. Extremely cool book.

[InfestedKerrigan]

3 minutes ago, WestRider said:

I've got a copy of The Gothic and the Eldritch, an annotated collection of Goodwin's sketches. Extremely cool book.

Pics or gtfo

[Ish]

The cover art of Vigilus Defiant is really well done, but it amuses me to note that its a battle scene depicting Ultramarines, Brazen Claws, Skitarri, and Cadians all fighting against Bad Moon Orks. I guess "Imperial Soup" isn't off the menu just yet! 

 

[Ish]

Imperial Fists Smash Captain, in progress, because even though I try to ignore the “collective wisdom” of the Internet when it comes to “must have” units... Well, I can’t deny that a Captain with a jump pack and a thunder hammer is just darn useful.

Plus, I think he looks cool.

[InfestedKerrigan]

43 minutes ago, Ish said:

Imperial Fists Smash Captain, in progress, because even though I try to ignore the “collective wisdom” of the Internet when it comes to “must have” units... Well, I can’t deny that a Captain with a jump pack and a thunder hammer is just darn useful.

Plus, I think he looks cool.

Is that legal as is?

 

Edit: I glanced over the jump pack allusion. 

[Ish]

It’s a Primaris Inceptor body, but I plan on just running him to “counts as” a Non-Primaris Captain. 

He’ll be on a slightly larger base than a “real” Captain and the model is taller too. But, I don’t think most people will object.

[InfestedKerrigan]

It wil be nice when we get the Primaris Generic New Founding Chapter Codex with that sort of thing.

[Ish]

I just want Primaris to be able to get into gorram Rhinos!

[InfestedKerrigan]

Nope. 

[Lyraeus]

On 12/22/2018 at 12:49 AM, InfestedKerrigan said:

Taken out of context, it is off topic. *shrugs* 

For the greater good, will someone please think of the children. 

I can promise you the Tyranids are... Such yummy tiny bio-mass morsels for the rippers to find

[Lyraeus]

3 hours ago, Ish said:

It’s a Primaris Inceptor body, but I plan on just running him to “counts as” a Non-Primaris Captain. 

He’ll be on a slightly larger base than a “real” Captain and the model is taller too. But, I don’t think most people will object.

Bad Smash Captain! BAD! 

[Lyraeus]

On 12/23/2018 at 5:58 PM, Ish said:

The cover art of Vigilus Defiant is really well done, but it amuses me to note that its a battle scene depicting Ultramarines, Brazen Claws, Skitarri, and Cadians all fighting against Bad Moon Orks. I guess "Imperial Soup" isn't off the menu just yet! 

 

Oh, it's like they designed it for me... Well I am primarily Deathskulls but meh.... Waaaghh 

[Guest]

Loyalist marines have a hard limit on how many marines per chapter, and within, a rather ridged breakdown of how many of each type of SM is in a chapter, company, squad and so forth. So how does advancement work for marine chapters?

I mean, if I'm a Sergeant, do I have to wait for a superior officer to die/retire in order to advance within my chapter? I mean, each SM lives for quite a long time and they're all super soldiers, and since the chapter can't really get bigger without spliting, I'd imagine that each chapter probably has several overqualified marines, just waiting for a superior position to become availible...

[Ish]

There's a hard limit on the number of "fighting men" within each Company. However, there's also a significant number of Astartes in positions that aren't counted against that limit: the Armory, Chaplaincy, Librarius, and Apothecarion all don't count against the total number of Marines as none of them are technically part of a Company. Likewise, the Captains, Lieutenants, and and Command Squads of each Company don't count.  Every Chapter will also have a significant number of staff officers, support personnel, and the like that are responsible for the administration of the Chapter -- a lot of this work is done by Chapter Serfs, true, but they will be still supervised by an Astartes.  The Chapter Master is allowed to keep a small number of personal Honor Guard, they also don't count against the numbers. Last, but not least, any Astartes who are seconded to the Deathwatch do not count as they are considered part of the Deathwatch Chapter for the duration of their time there and thus not part of any Company of their original Chapter.

So a full-strength Battle Company out on campaign is probably going to have something closer to 125+ actual Marines in it: One Captain, two Lieutenants, one Techmarine*, one Chaplain*, one Librarian*, one Apothecrary*, one Company Ancient**, one Company Champion**, and three Company Veterans**. You then have ten squads of ten Marines each, officially six Tactical Squads, two Devastator Squads, and two Assault Squads. Each of these ten squads will have a Rhino or Razorback (with a crew of one or two Techmarines) assigned to it, sometimes Chapter Serfs may be allowed to drive these vehicles***. Interestingly, Rhinos, Razorbacks, and Drop Pods are Company-level assets and not Chapter-level, like Predators or Land Raiders. At one or two crewmen each, that's another 10-20 Marines. Finally, most Battle Companies also have a Dreadnought or two that is member of the Company. 

The Reserve Companies all have similar levels of man-power: Captain, officers, command squad, and ten squads of ten "fighting men," although the specific squad make up is different. 

The 1st Company is led by a Captain, his officers and command squad, and then will have up to one-hundred "fighting men," organized in up to twenty five-man Terminator Squads or up to ten ten-man Vanguard or Sternguard Veteran Squads. The exact composition will vary, since most Chapters have great difficulty in procuring enough Tactical Dreadnaught Armor to field 100 Terminators. (The Dark Angels and several of their Successor Chapters being a very notable exception to this.)

Lastly, the 10th Company can be any size the Chapter wants (and is able to recruit) who don't count against the limit since they're not technically Astartes yet... although the Sergeants and Command Staff will be full Marines.

So, I'd say you're probably looking at 2,000-3,000 Astartes, 100-200 Scouts, and 10-20 Dreadnoughts in a Codex Adherent Chapter that is at 100% strength. 

* Not technically part of the Battle Company, but attached to it from the Armory, Chaplaincy, etc.
** These guys form the Captain's Command Squad. The Ancient carries the Company Banner and serves as the focal point for the Company to maneuver around. The Champion is (supposed) to be a bodyguard for the Captain, letting him concentrate on commanding and not dueling Hive Tyrants. The Veterans are basically his aides-de-camp.
*** Although GW only ever seems to sell them with Astartes crew.

[Ish]

So, as far as advancement goes, we know that the typical "career path" for a rank and file Space Marine is to spend some time in the Tenth Company as a Scout, then move to the Reserve Companies, first training as a Reserve Devastator, then a Reserve Assault Marine, then a Reserve Tactical Marine. After that, they move into one of the Battle Companies, as a member of whatever squad (Tactical, Assault, etc) they have the most aptitude for...

Between the ranks of Marine and Sergeant, there is a rank that GW used to mention but doesn't seem to remember anymore: Corporal. These are the guys in the ten-man squad who carries the other back banner and when the squad splits into Demi-Squads, he will lead the element that doesn't have the Sergeant in it. He's essentially the Sergeant's second in command of the squad.

The next step in the process is to either become a Sergeant or a Veteran. Some Veterans will move on to the First Company and join the Sternguard/Vanguard/Terminator Squads, some Veterans will remain in their Company as part of their Captain's Command Squad. A Sergeant is given leadership of a Squad in their Battle Company. From there, especially skilled Sergeants will actually go back into the Reserve Companies (or even the Tenth Company) in order to train the younger Battle-Brothers. Sergeants with an especially lengthy time in service will be awarded the rank of Veteran Sergeant. Veteran Sergeants do the same job as other Sergeants, but are sort of a "first among equals" when it comes to assignments and chain of command. 

The next step up the rung is to a position as a Lieutenant, two per Company, who act as the second(s)-in-command to the Captain. 

After that comes Captain. 

But, remember, not ever Marine rises through the ranks like this. Any Scouts who show an aptitude for science are sent to the Apothecarion, those with a knack for machinery are sent to the Armory, and any with psychic potential to the Librarium. Advancement through the ranks there is different from standard, but generally still follows the same path of working in the rear administrative echelons of the Fortress-Monastery, then spending time attached to a Reserve Company, then being attached to a Battle Company, and eventually getting attached to the First Company... Ultimately, ending up as the head honcho of your respective branch.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Ish said:

*** Although GW only ever seems to sell them with Astartes crew.

Stormraven includes a servitor in there, manning the top turret. But, yeah, that one exception to an otherwise true statement.