Warhammer 40k Forum and Wargaming Forums banner

Quest for a thousand

2K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  ArcAngels  
#1 ·
Lokk ive been collecting for a long time, and my marines only number in the high hundreds. So i made a story to say there recovering but is truly possible if a chapter was reduced to a hundred men, they could one day see a thousand again? or even maintain codex standards while waiting to recuparate losses? i like convos so lets start one

"the Arc-Angels will fight for there forgiveness" -Sgt. Milos Danikov
 
#2 ·
Hi there ArcAnngel,

It very much depends on the Chapter and its character as to whether it would be able to recuperate from such heavy losses.

A solid and methodical Chapter might well after alongish time be able to rebuild depending on Gene Seed stock available and the ability to recruit suitable initiates.

A more impetuous Chapter say like Space Wolves would not be able to keep themselves out of the fight long enough for replacements to outstrip losses so would therefore probably be dissolved or merged into another Chapter of the same gene stock.
 
#5 ·
The First Company took heavy losses, not the chapter itself.

The Ultramarines are the chapter, the veterans were one company, roughly one-tenth of the whole.

There's a huge difference in company versus chapter.

Personally, I think that if a chapter were reduced to one single company of one hundred men, it'd be folded into another Chapter of similar gene-seed stock.

That's just my opinion, though.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
ok so il give some deatails and maybe you can help me out, but first can you harvest gene seed from a marine after the 5 years maturation period without killing the marine?

So my chapter got smashed by a chaos horde and reduced to about forty men, they were declared irrecoverable, but the adept who was in charge of this got lost in the warp, so the chapter took it upon them selves to rebuild.

now there in a little over the hundred mark (thats including vehicle crew n such) its just so frustrating having to explain why they will never really be a chapter again

They have 3 librarians, 3 chaplains and 3 captains, theres a grand lord and even a techmarine division, lots of speacialty for a small groupe
 
#12 ·
Is that even possible, or practical?
 
#7 ·
I always thought that a Chapter could recover even if there was only a handful of Space Marines left. It would just take a VERY long time.

Here's the link to an article on GW's site about the Creation of a Space Marine. It's been a while since I've read it and not quite sure how it's done, but it should give us the answer. I'll reread it myself later as I don't quite feel like reading it all right now.

http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/spacemarines/extras/creationofamarine/default.htm
 
#10 ·
It takes approximately a century to train and build a company of Space Marines. That being said, a Chapter reduced to 100 men would likely be disbanded, as that's ultimately not even a Company-- if the Chapter were able to recover losses after being reduced that far, it would have to have a relatively intact apothecarion, reclusiam, and logistical support staff (i.e. the Chapter Master's household, Adeptus Astra Telepathica representatives, etc.). More practically, most of the Chapter's hardware would be destroyed, leaving very little in actual non-personnel assets available. Without enough functional suits of power armour, Rhino chassis, and even munitions in general to go around, the Chapter has no way to continue fighting.

For what it's worth "disbanded" doesn't necessarily mean destroyed-- Chapters are often re-founded after disbandment, using the few remaining brethren as instructors and advisors. Re-founding a Chapter requires the attention of the Adeptus Mechanicus Biologis and the Administratum to develop approximately five-hundred sets of progenoids from stored gene-seed tithes. When the Scythes of the Emperor, Lamenters, and other noteworthy Chapters that are severely under-strength finally give way, the most likely outcome is that they will be re-founded. That is the whole point of the gene-seed tithe, after all.

It is possible to remove the second progenoid after five years, but the first is not removable without killing the Space Marine. Both are needed for a new initiate. Removing one just makes it less work when it comes time to remove the other, since it's often under enemy fire that the primary one is extracted.
 
#11 ·
GW may have changed the fluff on this over the years, but the Crimson Fists were severely reduced (to somewhere between 40-130, depending on different versions) in the Rynn's World Disaster, and they weren't disbanded.

As I say though, that's in 'old' fluff, not sure what the current position is...

Image
 
#14 ·
Not a huge fan of overly complicated... anything, really.

Hey, if it works for you, go for it, though, right?
 
#16 ·
There also still active, so they have to work with current losses in battle. When Rogal Dorn got caught in the Iron cage incident, his chapter had to literally stop all fighting in order to start recruiting to fill the losses.
 
#17 ·
Yes. Although I don't believe the secondary Progenoid is used at all in a Marine. It's only to grow a second one so the Space Marines can have a variable number of soldiers. Think about it. If there were 1000 Progenoids to begin with, then they would be whittled down slowly, and would have to rely on the Adeptus Biologis, which I'm sure would be quite interesting, especially for the Astartes.

-Dirge
 
#19 ·
There are alot of chapters whos founding is unknown and is speculated to be combinations of gene seed. Gene seed is such a mystery cause the tithes demanded of them means that a chapter always has the ability to field larger numbers if not adhering to the codex astartes, So in theory a marine chapter could build itself to a legion if given the time and resources.
 
#20 ·
The mix of genetic stock isn't an actual blend-- some Astartes will have gene-seed taken from, for example, an Ultramarines genetic stock, and some will have gene-seed from another source-- some Astartes in the Chapter will display physical traits that are consistent with Ultramarines and their successors, and some will exhibit traits of the other source. They're seperate gene-seed, it's just used in a single Chapter.