Poll: Would you join the Space Marines?

[SirFlamingLoboOfDoom]

My gosh guys. Do you know how big the 40k Galaxy is? If you looked at earth and tried to recruit some special forces how many wound you get out of 7 billion. A few if you are looking for the best of the best. Now do that x9000+

 

[Mangod]

Join the space marines? Nah, too dull for my tastes. That, and my next codex might get written by Matt "Jackhat" Ward.

I'd much rather be a sentient, genocidal fungus

 

[Pr1de]

snip

This may be true. Though we also have to remember that Space Marine are only allow a certain amount to join at a time. I believe it was a 1000 to a company? and depending how many worlds they get their soldiers they would easily resupply them.

Well in the end of DoW Dark Crusade they make a reference about how the space marine chapter Blood Raven loses many soldiers and their gene-seed which in turns ends the chapter. Of course, this is just a game and not really tied to much to the main story.

 

[ChupathingyX]

The imperial guard may be called "the backbone of the Imperium" but they aren't any good. the potential is there but their tactics just aren't up to snuff.
While their tanks are impressive (to their standards) they use them in the wrong way.

You'd be surprised what the Imperial Gaurd are capable of, if they're being led by the right commander, have the right tactics, the right ferocity or the meanest Commissars they can achieve quite a lot. You should never underestimate the power of the Gaurd.

There's a reason why after so many crusades Cadia still remains in control by the Imperial Gaurd, after all they are being led by Winston Churchill Ursarkar E. Creed.

From what I hear and read, it's the spacemarines that have to do the heavy lifting because the guard is getting slaughtered.

This picture seems relevant...

while this may be nice to set a story up, it does make the guard out as being rather incapable.

The Imperial Gaurd are capable of holding their own for quite a while, they are almost limitless and like I said before, the majority are rookies, but there are some elite units and the shiny tanks.

That said it also appears to me that the imperial guard is solely a defensive force.
That puts all the offensive work in the hands of the space marines. "the best defense is a good offense" and there aren't enough space marines to cover all the systems and simultaneously attack enemy targets.

Everyone in the Imperium is a defensive force, defense is all the Imperium have to survive. It's very difficult to handle endless waves of bloodthirsty orks, deceptive Eldar, marauding Dark Eldar, ravenous Tyranids, traitorous Chaos forces and Daemons, robot zombies and of course...

Spoiler: ...ideological Tau

you also mentioned plan B. destroying a world might work once or twice but you'll only end up shooting yourself in the foot.

That's why it's plan B. Exterminatus is only performed when it is absolutely necessary, usually to stop the Tyranids from infesting a world or stopping the spread of Chaos influence.

Or if you're the Death Korps of Krieg...they like blowing shit up.

The way I see it. The Imperium is on a losing streak and will succumb in time. the loss of all those worlds is impossible to recover from and eventually they'll be defeated.

No one's arguing that point, ever since the Horus Heresy things haven't been too well for the poor ol' Emperor.

 

[Trillovinum]

Well i'm not sure if it would be around 90%. Probably more likely around 70% unless there somewhere where it tells of how many do survive. Still not a lot, but also do they count Scouts as part of the Company?

If not then it would explain how they can fill up the company as quickly as they do. They would have a large pool of scouts to choose from.

That's the thing. from what I've read you start out as a recruit then become a scout and if you survive that you become a space marine.
This only lowers your chances of ever getting there by adding another life threatening step.

 

[Trillovinum]

This picture seems relevant...

you make a good point with all your arguments.
I only want to say something about these kinds of tactics.
every single image I see of the Imperial guard is of this line of infantrymen in the front with no cover "heroically" holding the line. IF there are tanks around they're just in the rear.

Then it's no big surprise you'll end up losing.

 

[Trillovinum]

My gosh guys. Do you know how big the 40k Galaxy is? If you looked at earth and tried to recruit some special forces how many wound you get out of 7 billion. A few if you are looking for the best of the best. Now do that x9000+

It's finding those people that's the impossible part. Just go searching 'by hand' in populations of millions.

 

[Morkel]

If I had lived in the Imperium, I am sure my greatest wish and secret fantasy would be to become a Space Marine.

The Space Marines, their role and work, cannot be taken out of context, so you really have to answer this thread's question in light of the culture of the 40K universe. If you are a loyal Imperial citizen, this means that the whole point of your existence is to serve and to die for the Emperor. Sacrifice, both personal and in a broader sense, is not so much a choice as a neccessity in the Imperium. That only one in every ten thousand or so survive the recruitment process is not a reason to not want to be a Space Marine. Neither is the forfeitment of sex and human contact, the horrors you are likely to experience or the hard and monotonous life. If your are a Space Marine, then you have reached the pinnacle of what a human can become, both in purpose and status. You will live and die a hero, a saint, and will be remembered for millennia after you have left this cruel galaxy to join your father, the Emperor.

However, as has been pointed out before, becoming a Space Marine is not a choice. It is a duty.

 

[Grubnar]

If the Adeptus Astartes were real? I presume that would mean their enemys are also real. That Humanity is beset on all sides by xenos, traitors and heretics. If that is the case the HELL YES I WOULD JOIN THEM!!

(I really do not think there is a chance in hell I would qualify, but I would be willing)

 

[The Code]

I wouldn't join the Space Marines. I'm too questioning, they're too dogmatic and fanatical, and I honestly don't like them. If I could, I'd rather serve as a Pariah or a Tomb Spyder under the Dragon or the Deceiver, maybe the Outsider. I just prefer the idea of serving as an ancient undead machine than a disposable brainwashed hunk of cannon fodder. Besides, Necrons have some of the most awesome tech. I'd much rather use a Gauss Flayer than have one used on me.

EDIT: I don't think serving under the Nightbringer would be all that great, as all I'd be tasked with is eradicating every form of life on a planet. If I did that, then there would be nothing and no one to mess with.

 

[megaadair]

Wouldn't have a choice. If they deem you worthy, they'll take you or you'll be dead with all the others that were tested.

 

[ChupathingyX]

you make a good point with all your arguments.
I only want to say something about these kinds of tactics.
every single image I see of the Imperial guard is of this line of infantrymen in the front with no cover "heroically" holding the line. IF there are tanks around they're just in the rear.

Then it's no big surprise you'll end up losing.

Those pictures are mainly just used to show the epic scale of the 40K universe and almost all of the are designed with the same "two-sides-charging-at-each-other" layout. They also always look like group photos where the people at the back seem more elevated than those at the front.

Also in terms of actual battles, mainly the reason is that the tanks are too precious to lose and by having the soldiers at the front it means they will get the bulk of the enemy fire while the tanks blast the bajeezus out of the enemies.

You also have to consider that in the 40K universe there are Orks, Tyranids and a lot of other melee dedicated units that will charge the enemy, and having tanks at the front won't be very beneficial at that moment, unless it's a walker like a Dreadnought or Wraithlord.

 

[sageofoblivion]

Space Wolves

 

[Soviet Steve]

Why would you defend the reactionary feudal state of the Terran Empire? Either I'd work as a revolutionary within the Empire or join the Tau.

 

[Aeshi]

Better to risk possible death as a Space Marine than certain death as a Guardsman.

 

[spartandude]

You do not "join" the Space Marines. You are recruited out of populations of several trillions if you happen to possess the right characteristics, namely a near omnicidal lust for combat and the rough shape of a rather muscular flatbed truck. You also have to possess these characteristics as a child, becase adults tend to go completely insane from the transformation as opposed to only mostly insane. After being "recruited", you're put through several years of training in which you will, more often than not, die. If you don't, you're outfitted with several superfluous organs, genetically modified to make you an even more absurd specimen of manliness, and brainwashed into fanatically supporting the empire and its various conflicting ideologies. If you somehow manage to survive that, congratulations, you're a scout.

pretty much this

depending on what planet you live on however you may have a choice do join the Imperial Guard.... and no. I just have to hope im born in to the middle class and then have a good job in some sort of office
however id most likely be born into the trillions in the lower class and will likely die of industrial accident

 

[spartandude]

No, I'm going to go be reconfigured into a Necron, really. Mine is the joy of spreading a wave of terror and destruction without end.

you may want to genetically re-engineered in to a Dark Eldar then

 

[Muspelheim]

Oh, by the Emperor, nooo... I don't know what they do to those poor boys to break them and turn them into those... Monsters, but I'd rather not it happen to me. And I think you've got to be fairly young, like in your teens, to be considered Spess Mehreen material. Any older, and the gene-tonics don't work, I believe. And it doesn't seem like a very fun life, sitting around in a monastery or killing things.

The only chapter I'd even consider would be the Space Wolves. At least they seem to be enjoying themselves.

No, it's the Imperial Navy all the way for me! The Emperor might rule all, but aboard the Götterdämerung, I am his second. Load the conscript catapult, ensigns! Shove more heretics into the boilers!

Or even better, one of those Rogue Traders. Working for noone but myself, selling illegal Tau farming equipment to Imperial peasants.



Oh, and one note on my dear old Imperial Guard; who do you think is winning the war whenever the Sphess Mehreens aren't around? There is only about one thousand marine chapters scattered throughout space, and most of those only have around one thousand battle brothers total, not discounting losses.
Space Marines are awesome, but they're pretty damn rare. If the Imperium's survival was entirely up to them with the IG just being there to fail and die, it'd probably be eaten within a week or so. They win alot of battles, but they can't possibly win all the battles.

 

[TimeLord]

For the Emperor!