Space Marine (Warhammer 40,000)

A first edition Space Marine model.

Bob Naismith created the initial design for the Space Marines, which was modified by Jes Goodwin and Aly Morrison when the design was translated to models. The original Space Marines in Power Armor had helmets with prominent conical snouts, which were based on single-filter gas masks used by soldiers in World War 1; and not medieval hounskull helmets as some may believe. This original design is popularly remembered as the "beaky" design, and in the lore it is known as "Mark VI Corvus", and the beaky helm is occasionally found in subsequent sets of Space Marines. Jes Goodwin designed the second edition (1993) "Mark VII Aquila" design of Power Armor, where the helmet's beak was replaced by a flat grill, and the chestplate features a winged skull. With the eighth edition (2017), Games Workshop introduced the Primaris Space Marine models that are slightly taller than previous designs of Space Marines in Power Armor.

Space Marine Terminators, described in game lore as first company veterans wearing the rare Tactical Dreadnought Armour (also known as Terminator Armour) were first released in 1989 for the board game Space Hulk. Terminators were originally only used in Space Hulk-type scenarios and not the open battlefield, but rules were added in White Dwarf magazine and subsequent releases of Warhammer 40,000 and Epic for their deployment in conventional battles.[2] In 1997 the plastic five-man Terminator squad was made available for sale as a standalone box set, previously it was only available as part of the Space Hulk game set, complimenting the pewter metal Terminators that were available individually and as part of five-man squad sets for the Dark Angels Deathwing and Space Wolves Wolf Guard whose Terminators have additional ornaments compared to those of other Space Marine Chapters. Most Warhammer 40,000 army list game rules restrict the deployment of Terminators to a small part (1-2 squads of 5 men each) of a player's Space Marine army since they are considered elite troops. The Dark Angels' Deathwing Company is unique among Marine first companies in being composed of only Terminators, and game rules allow them to field a Deathwing army which features an all-Terminator force, along with including Land Raider tanks as transports and Dreadnought walkers for support. To further distinguish them from other Chapters' Terminators, the Deathwing Terminators have special in-game rules and unique equipment such as the Plasma Cannon and Mace of Absolution (wielded only by Deathwing Knights).[3] The third edition of Space Hulk, released in September 2009, featured new sculpts of Terminators designed by Alex Hedström specifically for Space Hulk, instead of being shared with the sets for the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000.[4][5] Each of the twelve miniatures representing Terminators has a distinct appearance, such as Brother Omnio being shown consulting a scanner mounted in his Power Fist. [5][6]

Simplified miniatures of Space Marines in Power Armor, Space Marine Scouts, and Space Marine Terminators are found in the board games Space Crusade and Tyranid Attack.[7][8][9]

Space Marines are a playable army in the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000.[10] As far as non-hero infantry go, Space Marines are rather powerful and have a high point cost, so Space Marine armies tend to be small. This means that a player can assemble a functional army for relatively little money and effort. In terms of playing style, they are a versatile army that neither excels nor fails at any particular tactic, though certain Chapters do have variant rules. Individual units are typically not strongly specialised and can roughly substitute in other roles, meaning most mistakes and setbacks are easy to compensate for. Their tough armour and generally unspecialised weaponry means that they do not have to be manoeuvred as carefully as units of other armies (such as the powerful but frail Eldar). These qualities make them ideal for beginners, and may help them succeed more often in their early gameplay stages.[11]

The equipment of the Adeptus Astartes encompasses a very wide variety of machines, weapons, and armour, but the two universal pieces of Astartes equipment are the Boltgun (also known as a "Bolter") and a set of Power Armour.

A Bolter is a powerful, rapid-fire weapon that fires explosive kinetic projectiles towards its target, referred to as Bolts, and serves as the primary weapon of the Adeptus Astartes as most Space Marines carries a Bolter or other Bolt weapon as a primary armament. Space Marines also make frequent use of Directed-energy weapons, Chain Weapons, Flamethrowers, and in more uncommon situations gravity-altering weapons known as grav-guns designed to crush enemies beneath their own weight by manipulating the mass of the target, the larger or heavier the target the more damage it deals.

A Space Marine's protection is provided by their Armour, known as Power Armour. Power Armour is a fully enclosed suit of powered armour that is built Primarily from Ceramite. Ceramite is a durable, energy absorbent and heat dissipating material making the armour exceptionally protective against low-powered or even mid-powered energy based weapons designed to target infantry (such as lasguns, multi-lasers etc.) as well as incendiary weapons such as flamethrowers. To put it in a modern perspective, a Space Marine's armour is capable of taking direct hits from 21st century artillery pieces without sustaining critical damage. It also performs many other functions than just protection, including hostile-environment life support, combat first aid, extra mobility, increased reflexes and enhanced strength. The armour is fully powered by a Power Pack attached to the back plate of the set of armour. The Power Pack serves as the power generator for the armour, as well as the housing for emergency power generators. Additionally, field officers or specialist ranks have access to special wargear such as protective force fields, jump packs, active camouflage cloaks, powered melee weaponry, and other uncommon or rare war relics.

A Marine recruit must pass their Chapter's rigorous tests and have centuries of battle experience in order to earn the right to wear the different armour suits and associated weaponry in their Chapter's inventory. These include non-powered Scout Armour (for new recruits to prove themselves), Power Armour (the most common type among rank-and-file, standard for Tactical, Devastator, and Assault Marines), Centurions (an exosuit that fits on existing Power Armour, enhancing Assault or Devastator capabilities), and Terminator Armour (formally Tactical Dreadnought Armour), with stronger armor and heavier weaponry which is often built-in, but these suits are very rare and usually only for the First Company veterans. Customized and modified Power Armour is known as Artificer Armour, and these are extremely rare and preserved after the death of the original wearer, being reserved for Marines who are heroes and/or of highest ranks. The Dreadnought, often confused as an extra-large fighting suit or robot, is actually a powerful cyborg battle walker with a mortally wounded Marine entombed permanently inside the sarcophagus.[12] Recently introduced are the Primaris Space Marines, with their new Mk X armour being a more potent variant of the common Power Armor suits used by most Space Marines.

Roughly 28,000 years in the future, the Emperor of Mankind creates twenty genetically engineered superhumans called "Primarchs". Demigod-like giants, their genomes were based on the Emperor's own genome; making them, in a way, his sons. The Emperor then creates the Space Marines for his armies. Just as the Primarchs are the genetic sons of the Emperor, the Space Marines are the genetic sons of their Primarch. There were twenty Space Marine Legions, one for each Primarch, who became the commander of his respective Legion.

The Emperor uses the Space Marine Legions to conquer the scattered human worlds of the galaxy, uniting them under the Imperium of Man in the Great Crusade. Over time, two Primarchs would disappear from Imperial records while others would have difficulties with their father and each other. As the campaign drew to a close, nine Primarchs and their Legions convert to the worship of the evil Chaos Gods, rebelling against the Emperor and sparking a galaxy-wide civil war known as the Horus Heresy. During the final hours of the war, Horus Lupercal, the Emperor's favourite Primarch-turned traitor, and the Emperor fight each other in a duel. Horus is killed, but the Emperor himself is so badly injured, he is placed on permanent life support.

As the Imperium is rebuilt, the Space Marine Legions are split up into Chapters so as to make another mass rebellion less likely. The remaining loyalist Primarchs either die or disappear over the next few centuries.

Recruits are chosen from the best and most loyal among humanity. However, they must be adolescent males as deviating age or sex will result in guaranteed death if the subject in question has physical or mental augmentation attempted. Popular recruits for a Space Marine Chapter may include anything from tribal humans on a feral world, to underhive gangers, to normal hive city denizens, but have to be purely unmutated humans and fanatically loyal to their race.

The potential recruit is first subjected to testing, including tissue compatibility tests and psychological screening. Relatively few get past this initial selection process. Those that do pass are termed Neophytes, and the process continues with the surgery, indoctrination, conditioning, and training that will make them Space Marines. Those that survive but fail surgery or screening are either retained as Chapter Serfs or mechanically augmented and turned into semi-sentient Servitors to serve the Chapter, mainly under the command of Adeptus Mechanicus aligned Tech Marines of the Chapter who perform most tasks involving creation or maintenance of technology.

The surgical process takes a great deal of time and pain, sometimes even being lethal. The different stages of implantation must occur in a precise order at different times of development, lengthening the process to a significant degree. First, the recruit receives gene-seed implants, along with chemotherapy, hypnotherapy, and training necessary for allowing the functioning and development of the implanted organs. The implants transform their bodies and minds to give them near-superhuman abilities, with 19 special organs found in Space Marines and an extra 3 in their Primaris brothers.

Some notable abilities and attributes of a Space Marine include:

• Greatly enhanced strength - Allowing them to overpower even a gargantuan Ork nob in physical prowess.
• Greatly enhanced speed - Allows them to move much quicker across and around the battlefield than regular soldiers.
• Unnaturally quick reaction times - Grants them microsecond reflexes, important in battle to let them fight hand-to-hand with fast aliens like the Eldar.
• Much-increased physical durability - to last longer physically in battle or hostile conditions like the vacuum of space.
• Enhanced senses - biological improvements allows a space marine to have sharper senses of hearing, smell, and sight as well as having natural night-vision.
• Enhanced metabolic processes - enabling them to fight with minimal rest, clot wounds in seconds, or enter a self-healing coma.
• Increased survivability - A secondary heart and third lung increases oxygen absorption, filters toxins, and take over if the primary organs are destroyed.
• Improved digestive system - enables ingestion of dangerous substances like raw and toxic alien flesh, absorption of their prey's genetic memories, and the ability to spit blinding, corrosive acid.
• A closed gland (Progenium) - harvested by Apothecary Marines at death for new gene-seed spores to create new Space Marines.

Intense indoctrination and conditioning strengthens the recruit's resolve and increases mental capabilities, honing them into dedicated, merciless warriors that become fiercely loyal to the Emperor. Slightly prior to the completion of their implantations, they become Scout Marines, light and mobile forces charged with reconnaissance and infiltration. After more general training and the completion of their augmentations, they join the Chapter as full "Battle-Brothers" and earn the right to full use of their iconic Power Armour and Boltgun.

The Ultramarines are the prototypical Space Marine Chapter, and follow the template laid out in the principal rulebook on Space Marines. The Imperial Fists are the other Chapter that adheres to the doctrines of the Codex Astartes as strictly as the Ultramarines. Other Chapters follow the Codex Astartes closely with some variations; for instance the Dark Angels 2nd Company (Ravenwing) is for fast attack (land speeders and bikes) while the 1st Company (Deathwing) consists of all Terminators (other Chapters' first companies have a mix of Terminators as well as Veterans in Power Armor). At the opposite extreme are the Space Wolves who have the most unorthodox organization.

Many other Chapters follow variant practices reflected in their game rules. For instance, the Salamanders specialise in close-ranged firefights and flame weaponry, the Black Templars eschew psykers, the Blood Angels favor melee combat, and the White Scars favour hit-and-run assault tactics with mounted troops (bikes and land speeders) while eschewing Dreadnoughts and Devastator Squads.

There are two known specialist chapters in the Imperium: The Grey Knights and the Deathwatch. The Grey Knights are a Chapter formed in secret to specifically hunt daemons from every shade of the Chaos spectrum. Each battle-brother is a sanctioned psyker who is adept at using Force Weapons, and they possess different tactics, training, and resources compared to typical Astartes. Similarly, the Deathwatch is a Chapter who specialise in hunting alien threats such as the Orks, Aeldari, or T'au. Unlike other Chapters, the Deathwatch is composed entirely of veteran marines seconded from other Chapters. This is typically welcomed as the specialist training whilst serving the Deathwatch is beneficial to the Chapter when the Battle-Brother returns to them. The Grey Knights and Deathwatch work closely with the Inquisition, acting as the Chambers Militant of the Ordo Malleus and Ordo Xenos respectively and act under their authority. Despite the Chamber Militant status, however, both chapters retain a significant degree of autonomy from the Inquisition.