Prevalence of MK III "Iron" armor in the 42nd Millennium?

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

I'd like to know: how common or uncommon would MK III plate be in the 42nd? I want to run MK III plate for both some Long War veterans I've got and some last-generation Firstborn, separately. How much MK III plate would even be around?

[Felix Antipodes]

I can't see an issue with Long War vets. I would think that the amount of MK III in a contemporary Chapter will depend on several things;

 

Where is the Chapter located ie how often (if at all) are they resupplied? May have had no choice but to repair/reuse older MKs.

 

Does the Chapter have a strong reverence for that MK or their predecessors who wore it?

 

They're your guys. Dress them how you want!

[Grotsmasha]

Almost all of the Death Guard models are mkIII, so prevalent enough I'd say

[Cleon]

I'd like to know: how common or uncommon would MK III plate be in the 42nd? I want to run MK III plate for both some Long War veterans I've got and some last-generation Firstborn, separately. How much MK III plate would even be around?

 

It'd be pretty common amongst many of the Chaos ex-Legion troops, although not much if any would be pristine, most would have some corruption, damage or replacement parts, It'd be much rarer amongst recent renegades and loyalist Marines, but potentially much cleaner, where it did exist, with the renegades more covered in painted on/marked over symbols than corruption and the loyalists treating it s an honoured relic. Also if you are looking for it to make the most sense for loyalists to have a sizeable amount of MK3 then think about the parent legion - Raven Guard and Salamanders lost most of their Pre-heresy marines and with it most of their early armour suits on Istavaan, the Fists got well equipped with mark 4 during the heresy and the Ultras had great production of newer suits, so it's the more isolated legions, Dark Angels (who MKIII looks great on in my opinion), Space Wolves (who fit the brutal aesthetic), Scars,  Iron Hands and to a lesser extent Blood Angels who would be the parent legions of Chapters with more MKIII suits.

[Marshal Rohr]

All armor marks are as rare or as plentiful as you need them to be to match the narrative and aesthetic of the army you want to build.

[Robbienw]

In terms of loyalist forces I think it’s relatively uncommon, but there is some around. A couple of the chapters in the badab war books had a few suits in use. And there is the Salamanders art that has a marine in mk3 in a 40k setting.

[Elzender]

As Marshal Rohr says, the setting alloes it to be as prevalent or rare as you need to be. On one hand, the general view on technology in the Imperium is that "older=better", which often happens to be true due to the loss of technological knowledge and the general stance of the Imperium/Adeptus Mechanicus on researching new technology. Together with Space Marine lore on the reverence they have for older equipment, often treated as relics, could point to MkIII suits being a rare piece of gear.

However, the Horus Heresy lore shows that MkIV was overall a superior design to MkII/III. If I recall correctly, the MkVII was based on the MkIV design, but cutting corners as MkIV was expensive and complex to manufacture in comparison with other marks. Thus, I would think that MkIII should be equal or even a bit simpler to produce than MkVII, but it is not often done due to the MkVII design being better or more optimised. Considering how big the Imperium is and their obvious communication issues, I could see some distant industrial worlds or Forge Worlds still producing MkIII due to lack of designs/resources, or even some chapter requesting MkIII suits due to their preferred modus operandi (it was specially reinforced for boarding operations and combat in confined spaces, and I could see it being useful for frontal or mechanised assaults).

 

Addendum: moreover, you can always go with the "found an abandoned cargo ship/space hulk full of armour that has been floating in space/Warp since the times of the Heresy". Considering the size of the Legions back then, finding a few hundreds of abandoned MkIII might not be that difficult.

[Volt]

Unlike MK 4 or MK 6, MK 3 doesn't have any advanced construction going for that as it's just MK 2 with extra plats slapped on top and none of MK 2's unique flexibility. Theoretically speaking you could just make up-armored MK 7 that looks identical to MK 3 and has plasteel-ceramite alloy plates bolted to the front of the armor.

[Son of Sacrifice]

A Space Marine strike force in one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books wear Mark III for a boarding action. It is described as being relic armour.