Different Fighting Styles

[Custodian Athiair]

Hey there from the Horus Heresy books i have read i am getting a wierd assumption (this may be wrong)

please don't spoil any of the books for me i am planning on reading the entire series eventually (i have read Fulgim, Mechanicum and Legion and am on to the 2 nd part of Horus Rising)

 

but i get the feeling that the pre-heresy armies fought with much more precision. By which i mean that the squads cut down the enemy xenos in well placed bolter rounds taking down the most important enemies.

This just doesn't seem to happen anymore

Do any of you have an opinion? if you do please tell me and if i am wrong then i havn't red enough post-heresy marine books ;)

 

thanks

 

Athiair :D

[_Caesar_]

How a Space Marine fights is more a function of his Legion/Chapter's combat doctrine than it is a function of the pre-Heresy vs. post-Heresy timeline. For example, in Fulgrim the Emperor's Children are showcased. They were a Legion dedicated to perfection and their combat doctrine reflects their dedication to precision and accuracy. As you read the first few books in the Horus Heresy you'll be introduced to the methods that the other Legions use to fight including a very pointed comparison between the combat doctrine of two Legions in particular.

[Lucifer Fellblade]

It's all depending on where you read your space marine battle descriptions from, if you read for example some of the older space marine novels or base your opinion on the gameplay stats of marines you're going to get a different impression of the marines tactics and capabilities.

 

I definetly notice the difference between older space marine stuff and for example Brothers of the Snake (at least the beginning section), which was written after a lot of the Horus Heresy series.

 

If anything I'd say that the marines pre-heresy were less tactical and precise (in general) compared to post heresy, with the obvious exception of Emperor's Children and Alpha Legion, mainly because they can afford to be due to their massive numbers and the somewhat less dangerous enemies they seem to be fighting at the time of the heresy (with a few exceptions, which appear later in the series).

[Pacific81]

I agree with what Caesar notes, that it depends very much on the legion in question, and the tactics they deployed.

 

Legions such as the Emperor's Children and the Lunar Wolves have been noted as using highly advanced tactics (in Fulgrim), although it would also be possible to postulate that many of the other legions would have a similar ethos. However, we are told of other legions efficacy, and even though they might use different methods they are still able to get similar results - the crazed charges of the World Eaters and Space Wolves for example, the subterfuge of the Alpha Legion or the lightning strikes of the White Scars and Raven guard for example.

 

As Lucifer Fellblade has said, alot of their perceived power comes from the size of the legions and the armies/ships that support them. Arguments concerning legions sizes aside, they were substantially larger than 40k chapters, and were more like an army in their own right. Add to this the sometimes millions of Imperial Army troops, and the power of the fleet, and there was very little that could stand in their way.

 

However, I disagree with your comments about the 'less dangerous' enemies they were facing during the Great Crusade. We are told time and time again how the Crusade is a 'golden era' for the expansion of mankind. The legions are all at their strongest, led by their Primarchs and ultimately the Emperor, and are actively expanding the empire rather than acting as a reactionary force to attacks on the Imperium. There are many examples of the expiditions taking on enemies that they perhaps could have just left alone, such as the EC and the Laer, but also of the mightiest Ork empire ever seen at Ullanor. Futhermore, the ethos surrounding the 40k era is one of decline - we are told time and time again of how the Imperium is in a state of decline, and struggling to keep in existance (the 5th ed. books calls it the 'time of ending', although these ideas have been around ever since the games inception).

 

I suppose thats what makes the 'great betrayal' even more important and emotive - the fact was that humankind really had a chance to ascend to control of the galaxy, but let it slip through its fingers at the last moment. The legions were indeed mighty, and we would never see there like again!

 

Just my 2 flagons of squattish ale on it anyway :)

[Pulse]

I think you have summed that up very nicely indeed Pacfic81, very well written!