Splitting up squads - squad numbers and sergeants

[Maritn]

In the current Space Marines Codex, there's a paragraph (on the page describing the battle companies) about splitting up squads as needed. The example given is a Fire Support squad, of which 3 members can be ordered to form an Eliminator squad, while the remaining 7 members could form a Hellblaster squad. Does that mean that both of these squads have the same number? An I guess both squads would have to be lead by a sergeant, wouldn't they? So one of the marines is temporarily promoted to fulfill the role of a sergeant?

 

Has anything like this been described elsewhere, e.g. in Black Library novels or other codices?

[Brother Captain Vakarian]

I haven’t seen a description of how that’s handled anywhere.

 

For my Chapter’s fluff, I’ve given the sub-squads you’re describing a Brother-Corporal who fills the in-game profile of “Sergeant.” So for example, if I have a squad of 5 Hellblasters and a squad of 3 Eradicators that both come from Squad 10, the Hellblasters might be led by the actual Sergeant (Brother-Sergeant for my Chapter) and be called squad 10A (ten-alpha), and the Eradicators might be led by a Brother-Corporal and called Squad 10B (ten-bravo).

 

If there’s an actual “codex” way to do this, or fluff showing how squads are split up in practice, I’d love to see it to, and refine my fluff lol.

[Helias_Tancred]

I haven't run across anything yet in the recent 40k novels that talked about this.

[Brother Tyler]

This is just a modern application of the old (2nd edition) Combat Squads concept.

[Beta galactosidase]

I guess both squads would have to be lead by a sergeant, wouldn't they? So one of the marines is temporarily promoted to fulfill the role of a sergeant?

 

Has anything like this been described elsewhere, e.g. in Black Library novels or other codices?

There isn’t a temporary promotion to sergeant because someone can be a sergeant without being in charge of a squad. In the real world a general or a colonel will have several assistants putting out maps for him and managing his schedule and those will all be captains or majors who don’t command companies.

 

And on the same principle someone having temporary command of a half-squad doesn’t make them a sergeant.

 

So any given ten marine squad has a sergeant in charge. There could be another sergeant just hanging out in the squad with no squad of his own, or there could be a veteran who isn’t a sergeant, or there could be a brand new but really bright battle brother, and any of them could be delegated the second combat squad.

 

Also there is one chart that gives every company five extra veteran sergeants who don’t have squads, making 15 total “sergeants” for ten squads.

[Brother Tyler]

Falling back on the established combat squads principle, when a squad is split into two combat squads, the squad's Sergeant will control one of the combat squads while the second combat squad will be controlled by an experienced battle brother, either at the discretion of the Sergeant or by virtue of personal honors. In 2nd edition, this generally fell to a Squad Leader, who was indicated by an iron halo honor. Note that this honor is distinct from the wargear.

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The squad leader rank hasn't survived in later editions, though the combat squads principle has survived. It disappeared during 3rd edition, but was brought back in 4th edition. Games Workshop has singularly failed to describe the leadership assignment process for combat squads ever since they were brought back. I've always thought of the "squad leader" rank as a sort of corporal.

If we were to apply the established lore to the rules, the workaround is to make the "squad leader" as close to a normal battle brother as possible. Using the example of a fire support squad that breaks down into combat squads, the first as a 7-man Hellblaster squad and the second as a 3-man Eliminator squad, one of those two squads would be led by the Sergeant and the other by the squad leader. The Sergeant would lead one of those squads (whether at his own discretion or by mission requirements) and the squad leader would lead the other one. Both squads would be from the same fire support squad and would be marked as such (unless the lore behind your army provides some reason to do otherwise). If you want to strictly adhere to an application of rules=lore, the squad leader would ignore any of the wargear options that are normally available only to sergeants (unless the lore behind your army provides for some rationale to do otherwise). Alternately, you might decide that the squad leader's assignment to lead a combat squad [temporarily] authorizes him to take wargear that normally wouldn't be available to him if the squad remained intact. How you identify the squad leader is anyone's guess and you have freedom to determine what works best for your army. You could fall back on the 2nd edition lore of the squad leader/iron halo device (not the wargear) on the helmet or shoulder pad (and also shown on boots and kneepads in those days). Alternately, you might use some other marking. If you use helmet stripes, perhaps your squad leader uses a smaller version of the sergeant's helmet stripe (narrower or shorter).

The above would be the normal process when a squad at full strength breaks down into combat squads. The lore behind your army might provide for some alternatives, such as the spare sergeants/veterans concept that has been proposed, or even something else.

[Maritn]

Thanks a lot for your answers. I think I'll go with the spare veteran sergeants, so I'm fine with giving both squad leaders wargear.

[Doghouse]

Given the flexibility of the modern marines I could honestly see it being a temporary battlefield role and nothing thought of it before going back to his original unit. I think it'd be seen more as a duty than a promotion given that squads can be broken down to suit the needs of the detachment.