2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Minotaurs

2019-12-22T00:56:39Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* ...and in with the new */

[[File:Minotaurs Tartaros.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Terminator Sergeant Ixthalion of the Minotaurs in Tartaros pattern armor.]]
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Minotaurs
|Heraldry = [[File:Minotaurs Symbol.jpg|200px]]
|Number = N/A
|Battle Cry = Moooooo!!!
|Founding = [[21st Founding]] (Initial)
|Successors of = Classified (The original Minotaurs likely descended from loyalist World Eaters; the new Minotaurs are all but confirmed to use Iron Warriors geneseed, if not chimeric)
|Successor Chapters = None
|Chapter Master = [[Asterion Moloc]]
|Primarch = Unknown
|Homeworld = Fleet Based
|Specialty = Killing [[Space Marines]], being the [[High Lords]]' personal army.
|Strength = 1000 (Officially)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Bronze with a little red.
}}
''If you are looking for the bull-headed beastmen from Greek mythology, see [[Minotaur]].''

==Out with the old...==
[[File:Minotaurs_Original_Scheme.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Just try and paint an entire Chapter of me.]]
The '''Minotaurs''' were a [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marine]]s and massive dicks. They were formed in the [[21st Founding|Cursed Founding]] as psychopathic berzerkers and were possibly [[World Eaters]] successors, and first appeared in [[White Dwarf]] as one of the playable Chapters for the Chapter Approved Cursed founding article where they were also mentioned to have beaten the shit out of the [[Lamenters]] during the [[Badab War]], because they've always been assholes... And then they disappeared. Their color scheme was also absolutely atrocious.

==...and in with the new==
[[File:Minotaurs Tact. Marine.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The Minotaurs have many suits of MKVIII "errant" pattern Power Armor.]]
They later appeared in [[Imperial Armour Volume 12]] where they fought against the [[Necrons]], specifically the [[Maynarkh Dynasty]] and had their lore (and thankfully colour scheme) overhauled. They now like to dress like ancient Greeks and their Chapter Master, one [[Asterion Moloc]], appears to have pilfered the prop department from 300 for his outfit. They no longer maintain the "psychopathic berzerkers' flavour (while still liking melee combat they are now capable of following battle plans) and instead are very pragmatic, letting a good chunk of the [[Imperial Navy]] fight and die before they stepped in to give themselves a better chance against the Necrons. However, they also act as the [[High Lords of Terra|High Lords']] attack dogs now, since they have vast stores of incredibly rare wargear (including shittons of Tartaros-pattern [[Terminator]] armour, Mk8 [[power armor]], loads of Dreadnoughts, [[Storm Eagle#Roc Pattern|their very own Storm Eagle variant]] and at least one [[Adeptus Custodes]] halberd), and the Minotaurs only act on orders from the High Lords themselves, telling anyone in their way to piss off. Oh, and their [[Administratum]] records are sealed so tight that not even [[inquisitor|Inquisitors]] can easily break them. Which implies something about them, has at least some Inquisitors worried. They are essentially the Greek [[Blood Ravens]], but with fewer psykers and they'll wipe you out to the last man before they swipe your gear.

One of their [[Brother-Captain]]s insulted [[Marneus Calgar]] right in front of an [[Ultramarines]] descendant, and the chapter later tore the [[Inceptors]] chapter apart and stole all their stuff, pissing off all the other [[Ultramarines]] successors. They also may or may not have shot down a Grey Knight strike cruiser in order to take down a renegade Chapter they were supposed to destroy together.

Needless to say, [[/tg/]] thinks they're pretty cool (and they are still massive dicks).

Also, according to Eadwin Brown, one of the developers of the Badab War: The current incarnation of the Minotaurs use [[Iron Warrior]] geneseed.

==Other Information==
While the Minotaurs are strict followers of the [[Codex Astartes]], they're almost never seen as small groups or even individual companies. Every time they're deployed its always been at full Chapter strength. They fight in only one war zone at a time with the entire chapter fighting together. This makes them essentially a massive fucking beatstick that the High Lords call upon when shit hits the fan. They also have an unusual preference for killing other Space Marines, which made them feel right at home during the Badab War. Given their fancy new gear, their borderline omnicidal tendencies, and always operating as a full chapter, it would seem that the job of the "Emperor's Executioners" no longer falls upon the [[Space Wolves]].

Unlike most Chapters, the Minotaurs appear to be able to replenish their numbers at an accelerated rate, to the point that they could recover from losses in a fraction of the time it would take other Chapters a century or two to fully recover from. Imperial observers during the Antigonis campaign theorized that this may have something to do with the heavy use of hypnotherapy and neuro-cerebral therapy used in the training of neophytes and frequently "refreshed" with the help of Apothecaries in the Chapter. This has proven to have some unpleasant side-effects- the Minotaurs are highly xenophobic and paranoid, even by the high standards of the Imperium.

There's also a good chance that they recruit from Terra itself thanks to their connections with the High Lords, giving them a massive recruit pool, as the Imperial Fists are also able to replenish losses equally fast thanks to having billions of potential candidates. This is mostly due to the Imperial Fists building recruitment posts on every world they rescue from invasion. Even then they request permission first as Dorn said he "...want recruits, not vassals". The Black Templars also do this and benefit greatly from this method. And since the Minotaurs gene-seed tithes are locked away nice and tight, no one is sure who their progenitors are. Given their tendencies to absolutely annihilate whatever is in their way it's certainly possible for them be successors to the World Eaters, but what little we do know about their gene-seed hints at them being derived from a multitude of Chapters. This would certainly make sense considering their connections with the High Lords, but it doesn't make much sense since they are pretty much free of any mutations. It could be argued that the Minotaurs are actually descended from Iron Warriors gene seed; their chapter tactics are the same as the Iron Warriors Legiones Astartes rules, both are known for their ferocity in assault and disregard for casualties and of course there is the whole underlying Greek theme.

With the coming of 8th Edition, the Minotaurs aren't doing so well. When the Death Guard directly besieged their Fortress-Monastery, they poisoned their gene stocks beyond repair, so as of now they're racing towards Terra to repair their gene-seed. While they're currently out of the fight, hopefully their trip to Terra will cause some revelations on their origins.

Aside from the hideous old ketchup-and-mustard motherfuckers and the Greek muggers, there are also a pair of Chapters called the Brass Minotaurs and White Minotaurs. There isn't much fluff on them.

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 Wake Up: The Minotaurs arise from their beds. They make sure to beat up a dummy space marine before leaving.

05:00 Morning Prayer: The Minotaurs gather in the chapel to praise the Emperor. They also praise the High Lords of Terra. Any battle brother who prays to not kill innocent space marines is put in the "patience chamber."

06:00 Morning Firing Rituals: The Minotaurs drag out live space marines to practice firing upon. Any shot that kills the space marine instantly is put into the patience chamber.

08:00 Morning Battle Practice: The Minotaurs release their prisoners within the "patience chamber." Imprisoned members include failed Minotaurs, Ultramarines, Lamenters, Marines Malevolent, Fallen, and Grey Knights. The <s>victims</s> participants are then forced to fight the entire chapter with substandard equipment.

10:00 Morning Tactical Indoctrination: The Minotaurs finish off the last of their prisoners and gather together in the Great Hall to discuss strategy. Common tactics involve deepstriking on friendly units, missile strikes on engaged melee units, and ways to kill space marines. Any battle brother who points out these faults is put in the "patience chamber."

11:00 Afternoon Prayer: The Minotaurs give thanks to the High Lords of Terra for allowing them to be such dicks. In a sacred ritual, each battle brother is required to kiss the butt of a statue honoring the High Lords Of Terra. Any battle brother who claims this is gay is sent to the "patience chamber."

12:00 Afternoon Meal: The Minotaurs gather to feast upon fine meats and food provided by their buddies, the High Lords. Serfs rush quickly to ensure that each marine is fed to his heart's content.

13:00 Afternoon Battle Practice: The Minotaurs descend to any number of worlds in order to hone their space marine killing skills. The Lamenters are the most frequent target, but Baal and Ultramar are also popular destinations. A number of the space marines are captured and hidden in the "patience chamber"

15:00 Afternoon Firing Rites: The Minotaurs practice shooting at cutouts for once. These cutouts are usually painted blue, and shaped like a [[Ultramarines|familiar chapter...]]

16:00 Enhanced Tactical Indoctrine: The Minotaurs learn how to most effectively teamkill each army in the Imperium. During this time, they also will use simulators in order to cause the most possible destruction upon friendly space marines.

18:00 Evening Meal: The Minotaurs feast once again, using the payroll of the High Lords to purchase a huge amount of pizza. ANY brother who feels guilty about the excessive amount of money spent on pizza is sent to the "patience chamber."

17:00 Recruitment: Slaves and unfortunate folk are rounded up and forced to either serve as serfs for the chapter, or begin the Space Marine training process. Imperial Officials are ordered to turn a blind eye to this process, causing the Salamanders to RAGE.

20:00 Propaganda: The Minotaurs gather in the Great Hall [[Bullshit|to listen to the brilliant, enlightened, sophisticated, and productive conversations that the High Lords partake in.]] Any Battle brother who claims the High Lords are doing nothing is sent to the "patience chamber."

22:00 Free time: The Minotaurs are granted free time. This mostly involves reading the excessive number of manuals on how to kill space marines, or beating each other up as practice.

23:00 Bed Time: The Minotaurs retire to their quarters for the evening. Before falling asleep, they beat up the space marine dummy again.

==Tabletop==

===Chapter Approved===
When the first Minotaurs were introduced as one of the Cursed Founding chapters, for +10 points per model, or +20 per dreadnought (on top of the regular costs) you could give your entire army Fearless and +1 Attack though they had to move towards and assault the nearest enemy they could (even if they had no chance of hurting it) and had to sweep advance, but nobody did it because painting them WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE. Both because they had the most annoying colour scheme (worse than the quarter ones like the [[Howling Griffons]]) and because their colours made them look fucking ugly.

===7th Edition===
With the updates they got their own Chapter Tactics. Minotaurs Chapter Tactics models don't take morale checks from shooting attacks, and can re-roll failed pinning tests. In addition they have crusader USR, and +1 to charge distance when in the enemy deployment zone. Overall one of the [[fail|worst]] Chapter Tactics. Crusader certainly is nice to have, but ATSKNF makes re-rolling pinning and no morale checks from shooting pretty redundant. If you're gonna play Minotaurs you're gonna have to bring Moloc, who is a fucking monster in CC while gaining a VP per character executed in a challenge ''and'' giving your guys Prefered Enemy (Space Marines). So if you didn't get the memo, Minotaurs are meant to be run with Moloc as your Warlord against other Space Marine armies. If a friend of yours is running a really annoying Space Marine army, especially if he has Smashfucker, sic these guys on him and watch him cry.

===8th Edition===
How 8th Edition treated Forge World chapters is an issue of [[skub|intense debate]]. Sure, you can choose whatever tactic you want, but it still feels like an afterthought on the part of Games Workshop. That aside, Moloc and Aiakos came out of the update relatively unscathed, still being hard nuts to crack and very lethal overall, but with loss of initiative, and Moloc has lost the main thing he was taken for - the godsent army-wide Preferred enemy: Space Marines. Instead he can "do the wulfen" now. Ivanus, however, has lost all of his utility and is just an overpriced Chaplain with attacks and wounds of a captain, and no longer gains an extra attack from having two specialist weapons. Kraatos also no longer exists as of the FAQ, with Forge World telling you to just [[fail|use him as a regular devastator marine]]. ROC pattern Storm Eagle still rocks though.

{{Marines-Official}}

Minotaurs

2019-12-22T00:56:15Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* ...and in with the new */

[[File:Minotaurs Tartaros.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Terminator Sergeant Ixthalion of the Minotaurs in Tartaros pattern armor.]]
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Minotaurs
|Heraldry = [[File:Minotaurs Symbol.jpg|200px]]
|Number = N/A
|Battle Cry = Moooooo!!!
|Founding = [[21st Founding]] (Initial)
|Successors of = Classified (The original Minotaurs likely descended from loyalist World Eaters; the new Minotaurs are all but confirmed to use Iron Warriors geneseed, if not chimeric)
|Successor Chapters = None
|Chapter Master = [[Asterion Moloc]]
|Primarch = Unknown
|Homeworld = Fleet Based
|Specialty = Killing [[Space Marines]], being the [[High Lords]]' personal army.
|Strength = 1000 (Officially)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Bronze with a little red.
}}
''If you are looking for the bull-headed beastmen from Greek mythology, see [[Minotaur]].''

==Out with the old...==
[[File:Minotaurs_Original_Scheme.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Just try and paint an entire Chapter of me.]]
The '''Minotaurs''' were a [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marine]]s and massive dicks. They were formed in the [[21st Founding|Cursed Founding]] as psychopathic berzerkers and were possibly [[World Eaters]] successors, and first appeared in [[White Dwarf]] as one of the playable Chapters for the Chapter Approved Cursed founding article where they were also mentioned to have beaten the shit out of the [[Lamenters]] during the [[Badab War]], because they've always been assholes... And then they disappeared. Their color scheme was also absolutely atrocious.

==...and in with the new==
[[File:Minotaurs Tact. Marine.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The Minotaurs have many suits of MKVIII "errant" pattern Power Armor.]]
They later appeared in [[Imperial Armour Volume 12]] where they fought against the [[Necrons]], specifically the [[Maynarkh Dynasty]] and had their lore (and thankfully colour scheme) overhauled. They now like to dress like ancient Greeks and their Chapter Master, one [[Asterion Moloc]], appears to have pilfered the prop department from 300 for his outfit. They no longer maintain the "psychopathic berzerkers' flavour (while still liking melee combat they are now capable of following battle plans) and instead are very pragmatic, letting a good chunk of the [[Imperial Navy]] fight and die before they stepped in to give themselves a better chance against the Necrons. However, they also act as the [[High Lords of Terra|High Lords']] attack dogs now, since they have vast stores of incredibly rare wargear (including shittons of Tartaros-pattern [[Terminator]] armour, Mk8 [[power armor]], loads of Dreadnoughts, [[Storm Eagle#Roc Pattern|their very own Storm Eagle variant]] and at least one [[Adeptus Custodes]] halberd), and the Minotaurs only act on orders from the High Lords themselves, telling anyone in their way to piss off. Oh, and their [[Administratum]] records are sealed so tight that not even [[inquisitor|Inquisitors]] can easily break them. Which implies something about them ([[gee, wonder what?|Gene-Seed]]) has at least some Inquisitors worried. They are essentially the Greek [[Blood Ravens]], but with fewer psykers and they'll wipe you out to the last man before they swipe your gear.

One of their [[Brother-Captain]]s insulted [[Marneus Calgar]] right in front of an [[Ultramarines]] descendant, and the chapter later tore the [[Inceptors]] chapter apart and stole all their stuff, pissing off all the other [[Ultramarines]] successors. They also may or may not have shot down a Grey Knight strike cruiser in order to take down a renegade Chapter they were supposed to destroy together.

Needless to say, [[/tg/]] thinks they're pretty cool (and they are still massive dicks).

Also, according to Eadwin Brown, one of the developers of the Badab War: The current incarnation of the Minotaurs use [[Iron Warrior]] geneseed.

==Other Information==
While the Minotaurs are strict followers of the [[Codex Astartes]], they're almost never seen as small groups or even individual companies. Every time they're deployed its always been at full Chapter strength. They fight in only one war zone at a time with the entire chapter fighting together. This makes them essentially a massive fucking beatstick that the High Lords call upon when shit hits the fan. They also have an unusual preference for killing other Space Marines, which made them feel right at home during the Badab War. Given their fancy new gear, their borderline omnicidal tendencies, and always operating as a full chapter, it would seem that the job of the "Emperor's Executioners" no longer falls upon the [[Space Wolves]].

Unlike most Chapters, the Minotaurs appear to be able to replenish their numbers at an accelerated rate, to the point that they could recover from losses in a fraction of the time it would take other Chapters a century or two to fully recover from. Imperial observers during the Antigonis campaign theorized that this may have something to do with the heavy use of hypnotherapy and neuro-cerebral therapy used in the training of neophytes and frequently "refreshed" with the help of Apothecaries in the Chapter. This has proven to have some unpleasant side-effects- the Minotaurs are highly xenophobic and paranoid, even by the high standards of the Imperium.

There's also a good chance that they recruit from Terra itself thanks to their connections with the High Lords, giving them a massive recruit pool, as the Imperial Fists are also able to replenish losses equally fast thanks to having billions of potential candidates. This is mostly due to the Imperial Fists building recruitment posts on every world they rescue from invasion. Even then they request permission first as Dorn said he "...want recruits, not vassals". The Black Templars also do this and benefit greatly from this method. And since the Minotaurs gene-seed tithes are locked away nice and tight, no one is sure who their progenitors are. Given their tendencies to absolutely annihilate whatever is in their way it's certainly possible for them be successors to the World Eaters, but what little we do know about their gene-seed hints at them being derived from a multitude of Chapters. This would certainly make sense considering their connections with the High Lords, but it doesn't make much sense since they are pretty much free of any mutations. It could be argued that the Minotaurs are actually descended from Iron Warriors gene seed; their chapter tactics are the same as the Iron Warriors Legiones Astartes rules, both are known for their ferocity in assault and disregard for casualties and of course there is the whole underlying Greek theme.

With the coming of 8th Edition, the Minotaurs aren't doing so well. When the Death Guard directly besieged their Fortress-Monastery, they poisoned their gene stocks beyond repair, so as of now they're racing towards Terra to repair their gene-seed. While they're currently out of the fight, hopefully their trip to Terra will cause some revelations on their origins.

Aside from the hideous old ketchup-and-mustard motherfuckers and the Greek muggers, there are also a pair of Chapters called the Brass Minotaurs and White Minotaurs. There isn't much fluff on them.

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 Wake Up: The Minotaurs arise from their beds. They make sure to beat up a dummy space marine before leaving.

05:00 Morning Prayer: The Minotaurs gather in the chapel to praise the Emperor. They also praise the High Lords of Terra. Any battle brother who prays to not kill innocent space marines is put in the "patience chamber."

06:00 Morning Firing Rituals: The Minotaurs drag out live space marines to practice firing upon. Any shot that kills the space marine instantly is put into the patience chamber.

08:00 Morning Battle Practice: The Minotaurs release their prisoners within the "patience chamber." Imprisoned members include failed Minotaurs, Ultramarines, Lamenters, Marines Malevolent, Fallen, and Grey Knights. The <s>victims</s> participants are then forced to fight the entire chapter with substandard equipment.

10:00 Morning Tactical Indoctrination: The Minotaurs finish off the last of their prisoners and gather together in the Great Hall to discuss strategy. Common tactics involve deepstriking on friendly units, missile strikes on engaged melee units, and ways to kill space marines. Any battle brother who points out these faults is put in the "patience chamber."

11:00 Afternoon Prayer: The Minotaurs give thanks to the High Lords of Terra for allowing them to be such dicks. In a sacred ritual, each battle brother is required to kiss the butt of a statue honoring the High Lords Of Terra. Any battle brother who claims this is gay is sent to the "patience chamber."

12:00 Afternoon Meal: The Minotaurs gather to feast upon fine meats and food provided by their buddies, the High Lords. Serfs rush quickly to ensure that each marine is fed to his heart's content.

13:00 Afternoon Battle Practice: The Minotaurs descend to any number of worlds in order to hone their space marine killing skills. The Lamenters are the most frequent target, but Baal and Ultramar are also popular destinations. A number of the space marines are captured and hidden in the "patience chamber"

15:00 Afternoon Firing Rites: The Minotaurs practice shooting at cutouts for once. These cutouts are usually painted blue, and shaped like a [[Ultramarines|familiar chapter...]]

16:00 Enhanced Tactical Indoctrine: The Minotaurs learn how to most effectively teamkill each army in the Imperium. During this time, they also will use simulators in order to cause the most possible destruction upon friendly space marines.

18:00 Evening Meal: The Minotaurs feast once again, using the payroll of the High Lords to purchase a huge amount of pizza. ANY brother who feels guilty about the excessive amount of money spent on pizza is sent to the "patience chamber."

17:00 Recruitment: Slaves and unfortunate folk are rounded up and forced to either serve as serfs for the chapter, or begin the Space Marine training process. Imperial Officials are ordered to turn a blind eye to this process, causing the Salamanders to RAGE.

20:00 Propaganda: The Minotaurs gather in the Great Hall [[Bullshit|to listen to the brilliant, enlightened, sophisticated, and productive conversations that the High Lords partake in.]] Any Battle brother who claims the High Lords are doing nothing is sent to the "patience chamber."

22:00 Free time: The Minotaurs are granted free time. This mostly involves reading the excessive number of manuals on how to kill space marines, or beating each other up as practice.

23:00 Bed Time: The Minotaurs retire to their quarters for the evening. Before falling asleep, they beat up the space marine dummy again.

==Tabletop==

===Chapter Approved===
When the first Minotaurs were introduced as one of the Cursed Founding chapters, for +10 points per model, or +20 per dreadnought (on top of the regular costs) you could give your entire army Fearless and +1 Attack though they had to move towards and assault the nearest enemy they could (even if they had no chance of hurting it) and had to sweep advance, but nobody did it because painting them WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE. Both because they had the most annoying colour scheme (worse than the quarter ones like the [[Howling Griffons]]) and because their colours made them look fucking ugly.

===7th Edition===
With the updates they got their own Chapter Tactics. Minotaurs Chapter Tactics models don't take morale checks from shooting attacks, and can re-roll failed pinning tests. In addition they have crusader USR, and +1 to charge distance when in the enemy deployment zone. Overall one of the [[fail|worst]] Chapter Tactics. Crusader certainly is nice to have, but ATSKNF makes re-rolling pinning and no morale checks from shooting pretty redundant. If you're gonna play Minotaurs you're gonna have to bring Moloc, who is a fucking monster in CC while gaining a VP per character executed in a challenge ''and'' giving your guys Prefered Enemy (Space Marines). So if you didn't get the memo, Minotaurs are meant to be run with Moloc as your Warlord against other Space Marine armies. If a friend of yours is running a really annoying Space Marine army, especially if he has Smashfucker, sic these guys on him and watch him cry.

===8th Edition===
How 8th Edition treated Forge World chapters is an issue of [[skub|intense debate]]. Sure, you can choose whatever tactic you want, but it still feels like an afterthought on the part of Games Workshop. That aside, Moloc and Aiakos came out of the update relatively unscathed, still being hard nuts to crack and very lethal overall, but with loss of initiative, and Moloc has lost the main thing he was taken for - the godsent army-wide Preferred enemy: Space Marines. Instead he can "do the wulfen" now. Ivanus, however, has lost all of his utility and is just an overpriced Chaplain with attacks and wounds of a captain, and no longer gains an extra attack from having two specialist weapons. Kraatos also no longer exists as of the FAQ, with Forge World telling you to just [[fail|use him as a regular devastator marine]]. ROC pattern Storm Eagle still rocks though.

{{Marines-Official}}

Minotaurs

2019-12-22T00:54:57Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Out with the old... */

[[File:Minotaurs Tartaros.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Terminator Sergeant Ixthalion of the Minotaurs in Tartaros pattern armor.]]
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Minotaurs
|Heraldry = [[File:Minotaurs Symbol.jpg|200px]]
|Number = N/A
|Battle Cry = Moooooo!!!
|Founding = [[21st Founding]] (Initial)
|Successors of = Classified (The original Minotaurs likely descended from loyalist World Eaters; the new Minotaurs are all but confirmed to use Iron Warriors geneseed, if not chimeric)
|Successor Chapters = None
|Chapter Master = [[Asterion Moloc]]
|Primarch = Unknown
|Homeworld = Fleet Based
|Specialty = Killing [[Space Marines]], being the [[High Lords]]' personal army.
|Strength = 1000 (Officially)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Bronze with a little red.
}}
''If you are looking for the bull-headed beastmen from Greek mythology, see [[Minotaur]].''

==Out with the old...==
[[File:Minotaurs_Original_Scheme.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Just try and paint an entire Chapter of me.]]
The '''Minotaurs''' were a [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marine]]s and massive dicks. They were formed in the [[21st Founding|Cursed Founding]] as psychopathic berzerkers and were possibly [[World Eaters]] successors, and first appeared in [[White Dwarf]] as one of the playable Chapters for the Chapter Approved Cursed founding article where they were also mentioned to have beaten the shit out of the [[Lamenters]] during the [[Badab War]], because they've always been assholes... And then they disappeared. Their color scheme was also absolutely atrocious.

==...and in with the new==
[[File:Minotaurs Tact. Marine.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The Minotaurs have many suits of MKVIII "errant" pattern Power Armor.]]
They later appeared in [[Imperial Armour Volume 12]] where they fought against the [[Necrons]], specifically the [[Maynarkh Dynasty]] and had their lore (and thankfully colour scheme) overhauled. They now like to dress like ancient Greeks and their Chapter Master, one [[Asterion Moloc]], appears to have pilfered the prop department from 300 for his outfit. They no longer maintain the "psychopathic berzerkers' flavour (while still liking melee combat they are now capable of following battle plans) and instead are very pragmatic, letting a good chunk of the [[Imperial Navy]] fight and die before they stepped in to give themselves a better chance against the Necrons (what assholes). However, they also act as the [[High Lords of Terra|High Lords']] attack dogs now, since they have vast stores of incredibly rare wargear (including shittons of Tartaros-pattern [[Terminator]] armour, Mk8 [[power armor]], loads of Dreadnoughts, [[Storm Eagle#Roc Pattern|their very own Storm Eagle variant]] and at least one [[Adeptus Custodes]] halberd), and the Minotaurs only act on orders from the High Lords themselves, telling anyone in their way to piss off. Oh, and their [[Administratum]] records are sealed so tight that not even [[inquisitor|Inquisitors]] can easily break them. Which implies something about them (gee, wonder what?) has at least some Inquisitors worried. They are essentially the Greek [[Blood Ravens]], but with fewer psykers and they'll wipe you out to the last man before they swipe your gear.

One of their [[Brother-Captain]]s insulted [[Marneus Calgar]] right in front of an [[Ultramarines]] descendant, and the chapter later tore the [[Inceptors]] chapter apart and stole all their stuff, pissing off all the other [[Ultramarines]] successors. They also may or may not have shot down a Grey Knight strike cruiser in order to take down a renegade Chapter they were supposed to destroy together.

Needless to say, [[/tg/]] thinks they're pretty cool (and they are still massive dicks).

Also, according to Eadwin Brown, one of the developers of the Badab War: The current incarnation of the Minotaurs use [[Iron Warrior]] geneseed.

==Other Information==
While the Minotaurs are strict followers of the [[Codex Astartes]], they're almost never seen as small groups or even individual companies. Every time they're deployed its always been at full Chapter strength. They fight in only one war zone at a time with the entire chapter fighting together. This makes them essentially a massive fucking beatstick that the High Lords call upon when shit hits the fan. They also have an unusual preference for killing other Space Marines, which made them feel right at home during the Badab War. Given their fancy new gear, their borderline omnicidal tendencies, and always operating as a full chapter, it would seem that the job of the "Emperor's Executioners" no longer falls upon the [[Space Wolves]].

Unlike most Chapters, the Minotaurs appear to be able to replenish their numbers at an accelerated rate, to the point that they could recover from losses in a fraction of the time it would take other Chapters a century or two to fully recover from. Imperial observers during the Antigonis campaign theorized that this may have something to do with the heavy use of hypnotherapy and neuro-cerebral therapy used in the training of neophytes and frequently "refreshed" with the help of Apothecaries in the Chapter. This has proven to have some unpleasant side-effects- the Minotaurs are highly xenophobic and paranoid, even by the high standards of the Imperium.

There's also a good chance that they recruit from Terra itself thanks to their connections with the High Lords, giving them a massive recruit pool, as the Imperial Fists are also able to replenish losses equally fast thanks to having billions of potential candidates. This is mostly due to the Imperial Fists building recruitment posts on every world they rescue from invasion. Even then they request permission first as Dorn said he "...want recruits, not vassals". The Black Templars also do this and benefit greatly from this method. And since the Minotaurs gene-seed tithes are locked away nice and tight, no one is sure who their progenitors are. Given their tendencies to absolutely annihilate whatever is in their way it's certainly possible for them be successors to the World Eaters, but what little we do know about their gene-seed hints at them being derived from a multitude of Chapters. This would certainly make sense considering their connections with the High Lords, but it doesn't make much sense since they are pretty much free of any mutations. It could be argued that the Minotaurs are actually descended from Iron Warriors gene seed; their chapter tactics are the same as the Iron Warriors Legiones Astartes rules, both are known for their ferocity in assault and disregard for casualties and of course there is the whole underlying Greek theme.

With the coming of 8th Edition, the Minotaurs aren't doing so well. When the Death Guard directly besieged their Fortress-Monastery, they poisoned their gene stocks beyond repair, so as of now they're racing towards Terra to repair their gene-seed. While they're currently out of the fight, hopefully their trip to Terra will cause some revelations on their origins.

Aside from the hideous old ketchup-and-mustard motherfuckers and the Greek muggers, there are also a pair of Chapters called the Brass Minotaurs and White Minotaurs. There isn't much fluff on them.

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 Wake Up: The Minotaurs arise from their beds. They make sure to beat up a dummy space marine before leaving.

05:00 Morning Prayer: The Minotaurs gather in the chapel to praise the Emperor. They also praise the High Lords of Terra. Any battle brother who prays to not kill innocent space marines is put in the "patience chamber."

06:00 Morning Firing Rituals: The Minotaurs drag out live space marines to practice firing upon. Any shot that kills the space marine instantly is put into the patience chamber.

08:00 Morning Battle Practice: The Minotaurs release their prisoners within the "patience chamber." Imprisoned members include failed Minotaurs, Ultramarines, Lamenters, Marines Malevolent, Fallen, and Grey Knights. The <s>victims</s> participants are then forced to fight the entire chapter with substandard equipment.

10:00 Morning Tactical Indoctrination: The Minotaurs finish off the last of their prisoners and gather together in the Great Hall to discuss strategy. Common tactics involve deepstriking on friendly units, missile strikes on engaged melee units, and ways to kill space marines. Any battle brother who points out these faults is put in the "patience chamber."

11:00 Afternoon Prayer: The Minotaurs give thanks to the High Lords of Terra for allowing them to be such dicks. In a sacred ritual, each battle brother is required to kiss the butt of a statue honoring the High Lords Of Terra. Any battle brother who claims this is gay is sent to the "patience chamber."

12:00 Afternoon Meal: The Minotaurs gather to feast upon fine meats and food provided by their buddies, the High Lords. Serfs rush quickly to ensure that each marine is fed to his heart's content.

13:00 Afternoon Battle Practice: The Minotaurs descend to any number of worlds in order to hone their space marine killing skills. The Lamenters are the most frequent target, but Baal and Ultramar are also popular destinations. A number of the space marines are captured and hidden in the "patience chamber"

15:00 Afternoon Firing Rites: The Minotaurs practice shooting at cutouts for once. These cutouts are usually painted blue, and shaped like a [[Ultramarines|familiar chapter...]]

16:00 Enhanced Tactical Indoctrine: The Minotaurs learn how to most effectively teamkill each army in the Imperium. During this time, they also will use simulators in order to cause the most possible destruction upon friendly space marines.

18:00 Evening Meal: The Minotaurs feast once again, using the payroll of the High Lords to purchase a huge amount of pizza. ANY brother who feels guilty about the excessive amount of money spent on pizza is sent to the "patience chamber."

17:00 Recruitment: Slaves and unfortunate folk are rounded up and forced to either serve as serfs for the chapter, or begin the Space Marine training process. Imperial Officials are ordered to turn a blind eye to this process, causing the Salamanders to RAGE.

20:00 Propaganda: The Minotaurs gather in the Great Hall [[Bullshit|to listen to the brilliant, enlightened, sophisticated, and productive conversations that the High Lords partake in.]] Any Battle brother who claims the High Lords are doing nothing is sent to the "patience chamber."

22:00 Free time: The Minotaurs are granted free time. This mostly involves reading the excessive number of manuals on how to kill space marines, or beating each other up as practice.

23:00 Bed Time: The Minotaurs retire to their quarters for the evening. Before falling asleep, they beat up the space marine dummy again.

==Tabletop==

===Chapter Approved===
When the first Minotaurs were introduced as one of the Cursed Founding chapters, for +10 points per model, or +20 per dreadnought (on top of the regular costs) you could give your entire army Fearless and +1 Attack though they had to move towards and assault the nearest enemy they could (even if they had no chance of hurting it) and had to sweep advance, but nobody did it because painting them WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE. Both because they had the most annoying colour scheme (worse than the quarter ones like the [[Howling Griffons]]) and because their colours made them look fucking ugly.

===7th Edition===
With the updates they got their own Chapter Tactics. Minotaurs Chapter Tactics models don't take morale checks from shooting attacks, and can re-roll failed pinning tests. In addition they have crusader USR, and +1 to charge distance when in the enemy deployment zone. Overall one of the [[fail|worst]] Chapter Tactics. Crusader certainly is nice to have, but ATSKNF makes re-rolling pinning and no morale checks from shooting pretty redundant. If you're gonna play Minotaurs you're gonna have to bring Moloc, who is a fucking monster in CC while gaining a VP per character executed in a challenge ''and'' giving your guys Prefered Enemy (Space Marines). So if you didn't get the memo, Minotaurs are meant to be run with Moloc as your Warlord against other Space Marine armies. If a friend of yours is running a really annoying Space Marine army, especially if he has Smashfucker, sic these guys on him and watch him cry.

===8th Edition===
How 8th Edition treated Forge World chapters is an issue of [[skub|intense debate]]. Sure, you can choose whatever tactic you want, but it still feels like an afterthought on the part of Games Workshop. That aside, Moloc and Aiakos came out of the update relatively unscathed, still being hard nuts to crack and very lethal overall, but with loss of initiative, and Moloc has lost the main thing he was taken for - the godsent army-wide Preferred enemy: Space Marines. Instead he can "do the wulfen" now. Ivanus, however, has lost all of his utility and is just an overpriced Chaplain with attacks and wounds of a captain, and no longer gains an extra attack from having two specialist weapons. Kraatos also no longer exists as of the FAQ, with Forge World telling you to just [[fail|use him as a regular devastator marine]]. ROC pattern Storm Eagle still rocks though.

{{Marines-Official}}

Minotaurs

2019-12-22T00:54:30Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Out with the old... */

[[File:Minotaurs Tartaros.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Terminator Sergeant Ixthalion of the Minotaurs in Tartaros pattern armor.]]
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Minotaurs
|Heraldry = [[File:Minotaurs Symbol.jpg|200px]]
|Number = N/A
|Battle Cry = Moooooo!!!
|Founding = [[21st Founding]] (Initial)
|Successors of = Classified (The original Minotaurs likely descended from loyalist World Eaters; the new Minotaurs are all but confirmed to use Iron Warriors geneseed, if not chimeric)
|Successor Chapters = None
|Chapter Master = [[Asterion Moloc]]
|Primarch = Unknown
|Homeworld = Fleet Based
|Specialty = Killing [[Space Marines]], being the [[High Lords]]' personal army.
|Strength = 1000 (Officially)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Bronze with a little red.
}}
''If you are looking for the bull-headed beastmen from Greek mythology, see [[Minotaur]].''

==Out with the old...==
[[File:Minotaurs_Original_Scheme.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Just try and paint an entire Chapter of me.]]
The '''Minotaurs''' were a [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marine]]s and massive dicks. They were formed in the [[21st Founding|Cursed Founding]] as psychopathic berzerkers and were possibly [[World Eaters]] successors, and first appeared in [[White Dwarf]] as one of the playable Chapters for the Chapter Approved Cursed founding article where they were also mentioned to have beaten the shit out of the [[Lamenters]] during the [[Badab War]], because they've always been assholes... And then they disappeared. Their color scheme was also absolutly atrocious.

==...and in with the new==
[[File:Minotaurs Tact. Marine.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The Minotaurs have many suits of MKVIII "errant" pattern Power Armor.]]
They later appeared in [[Imperial Armour Volume 12]] where they fought against the [[Necrons]], specifically the [[Maynarkh Dynasty]] and had their lore (and thankfully colour scheme) overhauled. They now like to dress like ancient Greeks and their Chapter Master, one [[Asterion Moloc]], appears to have pilfered the prop department from 300 for his outfit. They no longer maintain the "psychopathic berzerkers' flavour (while still liking melee combat they are now capable of following battle plans) and instead are very pragmatic, letting a good chunk of the [[Imperial Navy]] fight and die before they stepped in to give themselves a better chance against the Necrons (what assholes). However, they also act as the [[High Lords of Terra|High Lords']] attack dogs now, since they have vast stores of incredibly rare wargear (including shittons of Tartaros-pattern [[Terminator]] armour, Mk8 [[power armor]], loads of Dreadnoughts, [[Storm Eagle#Roc Pattern|their very own Storm Eagle variant]] and at least one [[Adeptus Custodes]] halberd), and the Minotaurs only act on orders from the High Lords themselves, telling anyone in their way to piss off. Oh, and their [[Administratum]] records are sealed so tight that not even [[inquisitor|Inquisitors]] can easily break them. Which implies something about them (gee, wonder what?) has at least some Inquisitors worried. They are essentially the Greek [[Blood Ravens]], but with fewer psykers and they'll wipe you out to the last man before they swipe your gear.

One of their [[Brother-Captain]]s insulted [[Marneus Calgar]] right in front of an [[Ultramarines]] descendant, and the chapter later tore the [[Inceptors]] chapter apart and stole all their stuff, pissing off all the other [[Ultramarines]] successors. They also may or may not have shot down a Grey Knight strike cruiser in order to take down a renegade Chapter they were supposed to destroy together.

Needless to say, [[/tg/]] thinks they're pretty cool (and they are still massive dicks).

Also, according to Eadwin Brown, one of the developers of the Badab War: The current incarnation of the Minotaurs use [[Iron Warrior]] geneseed.

==Other Information==
While the Minotaurs are strict followers of the [[Codex Astartes]], they're almost never seen as small groups or even individual companies. Every time they're deployed its always been at full Chapter strength. They fight in only one war zone at a time with the entire chapter fighting together. This makes them essentially a massive fucking beatstick that the High Lords call upon when shit hits the fan. They also have an unusual preference for killing other Space Marines, which made them feel right at home during the Badab War. Given their fancy new gear, their borderline omnicidal tendencies, and always operating as a full chapter, it would seem that the job of the "Emperor's Executioners" no longer falls upon the [[Space Wolves]].

Unlike most Chapters, the Minotaurs appear to be able to replenish their numbers at an accelerated rate, to the point that they could recover from losses in a fraction of the time it would take other Chapters a century or two to fully recover from. Imperial observers during the Antigonis campaign theorized that this may have something to do with the heavy use of hypnotherapy and neuro-cerebral therapy used in the training of neophytes and frequently "refreshed" with the help of Apothecaries in the Chapter. This has proven to have some unpleasant side-effects- the Minotaurs are highly xenophobic and paranoid, even by the high standards of the Imperium.

There's also a good chance that they recruit from Terra itself thanks to their connections with the High Lords, giving them a massive recruit pool, as the Imperial Fists are also able to replenish losses equally fast thanks to having billions of potential candidates. This is mostly due to the Imperial Fists building recruitment posts on every world they rescue from invasion. Even then they request permission first as Dorn said he "...want recruits, not vassals". The Black Templars also do this and benefit greatly from this method. And since the Minotaurs gene-seed tithes are locked away nice and tight, no one is sure who their progenitors are. Given their tendencies to absolutely annihilate whatever is in their way it's certainly possible for them be successors to the World Eaters, but what little we do know about their gene-seed hints at them being derived from a multitude of Chapters. This would certainly make sense considering their connections with the High Lords, but it doesn't make much sense since they are pretty much free of any mutations. It could be argued that the Minotaurs are actually descended from Iron Warriors gene seed; their chapter tactics are the same as the Iron Warriors Legiones Astartes rules, both are known for their ferocity in assault and disregard for casualties and of course there is the whole underlying Greek theme.

With the coming of 8th Edition, the Minotaurs aren't doing so well. When the Death Guard directly besieged their Fortress-Monastery, they poisoned their gene stocks beyond repair, so as of now they're racing towards Terra to repair their gene-seed. While they're currently out of the fight, hopefully their trip to Terra will cause some revelations on their origins.

Aside from the hideous old ketchup-and-mustard motherfuckers and the Greek muggers, there are also a pair of Chapters called the Brass Minotaurs and White Minotaurs. There isn't much fluff on them.

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 Wake Up: The Minotaurs arise from their beds. They make sure to beat up a dummy space marine before leaving.

05:00 Morning Prayer: The Minotaurs gather in the chapel to praise the Emperor. They also praise the High Lords of Terra. Any battle brother who prays to not kill innocent space marines is put in the "patience chamber."

06:00 Morning Firing Rituals: The Minotaurs drag out live space marines to practice firing upon. Any shot that kills the space marine instantly is put into the patience chamber.

08:00 Morning Battle Practice: The Minotaurs release their prisoners within the "patience chamber." Imprisoned members include failed Minotaurs, Ultramarines, Lamenters, Marines Malevolent, Fallen, and Grey Knights. The <s>victims</s> participants are then forced to fight the entire chapter with substandard equipment.

10:00 Morning Tactical Indoctrination: The Minotaurs finish off the last of their prisoners and gather together in the Great Hall to discuss strategy. Common tactics involve deepstriking on friendly units, missile strikes on engaged melee units, and ways to kill space marines. Any battle brother who points out these faults is put in the "patience chamber."

11:00 Afternoon Prayer: The Minotaurs give thanks to the High Lords of Terra for allowing them to be such dicks. In a sacred ritual, each battle brother is required to kiss the butt of a statue honoring the High Lords Of Terra. Any battle brother who claims this is gay is sent to the "patience chamber."

12:00 Afternoon Meal: The Minotaurs gather to feast upon fine meats and food provided by their buddies, the High Lords. Serfs rush quickly to ensure that each marine is fed to his heart's content.

13:00 Afternoon Battle Practice: The Minotaurs descend to any number of worlds in order to hone their space marine killing skills. The Lamenters are the most frequent target, but Baal and Ultramar are also popular destinations. A number of the space marines are captured and hidden in the "patience chamber"

15:00 Afternoon Firing Rites: The Minotaurs practice shooting at cutouts for once. These cutouts are usually painted blue, and shaped like a [[Ultramarines|familiar chapter...]]

16:00 Enhanced Tactical Indoctrine: The Minotaurs learn how to most effectively teamkill each army in the Imperium. During this time, they also will use simulators in order to cause the most possible destruction upon friendly space marines.

18:00 Evening Meal: The Minotaurs feast once again, using the payroll of the High Lords to purchase a huge amount of pizza. ANY brother who feels guilty about the excessive amount of money spent on pizza is sent to the "patience chamber."

17:00 Recruitment: Slaves and unfortunate folk are rounded up and forced to either serve as serfs for the chapter, or begin the Space Marine training process. Imperial Officials are ordered to turn a blind eye to this process, causing the Salamanders to RAGE.

20:00 Propaganda: The Minotaurs gather in the Great Hall [[Bullshit|to listen to the brilliant, enlightened, sophisticated, and productive conversations that the High Lords partake in.]] Any Battle brother who claims the High Lords are doing nothing is sent to the "patience chamber."

22:00 Free time: The Minotaurs are granted free time. This mostly involves reading the excessive number of manuals on how to kill space marines, or beating each other up as practice.

23:00 Bed Time: The Minotaurs retire to their quarters for the evening. Before falling asleep, they beat up the space marine dummy again.

==Tabletop==

===Chapter Approved===
When the first Minotaurs were introduced as one of the Cursed Founding chapters, for +10 points per model, or +20 per dreadnought (on top of the regular costs) you could give your entire army Fearless and +1 Attack though they had to move towards and assault the nearest enemy they could (even if they had no chance of hurting it) and had to sweep advance, but nobody did it because painting them WAS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE. Both because they had the most annoying colour scheme (worse than the quarter ones like the [[Howling Griffons]]) and because their colours made them look fucking ugly.

===7th Edition===
With the updates they got their own Chapter Tactics. Minotaurs Chapter Tactics models don't take morale checks from shooting attacks, and can re-roll failed pinning tests. In addition they have crusader USR, and +1 to charge distance when in the enemy deployment zone. Overall one of the [[fail|worst]] Chapter Tactics. Crusader certainly is nice to have, but ATSKNF makes re-rolling pinning and no morale checks from shooting pretty redundant. If you're gonna play Minotaurs you're gonna have to bring Moloc, who is a fucking monster in CC while gaining a VP per character executed in a challenge ''and'' giving your guys Prefered Enemy (Space Marines). So if you didn't get the memo, Minotaurs are meant to be run with Moloc as your Warlord against other Space Marine armies. If a friend of yours is running a really annoying Space Marine army, especially if he has Smashfucker, sic these guys on him and watch him cry.

===8th Edition===
How 8th Edition treated Forge World chapters is an issue of [[skub|intense debate]]. Sure, you can choose whatever tactic you want, but it still feels like an afterthought on the part of Games Workshop. That aside, Moloc and Aiakos came out of the update relatively unscathed, still being hard nuts to crack and very lethal overall, but with loss of initiative, and Moloc has lost the main thing he was taken for - the godsent army-wide Preferred enemy: Space Marines. Instead he can "do the wulfen" now. Ivanus, however, has lost all of his utility and is just an overpriced Chaplain with attacks and wounds of a captain, and no longer gains an extra attack from having two specialist weapons. Kraatos also no longer exists as of the FAQ, with Forge World telling you to just [[fail|use him as a regular devastator marine]]. ROC pattern Storm Eagle still rocks though.

{{Marines-Official}}

Space Sharks

2019-12-22T00:53:19Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Organization and History */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Space Sharks/Carcharodon Astra
|Heraldry = [[Image:Carcharodons Livery.jpg|center|140px]]
|Number =
|Battle Cry = "From the void we come - darkness there, and nothing more" Alternatively: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrB2_zqJQJU] sometimes [https://youtu.be/lV8i-pSVMaQ?t=37 this] can be heard being hummed by chaplians in high gothic and [https://youtu.be/pUbmOA1r1Nc?t=8 "this"] can be heard as the warcry for the scout company
|Founding = Either 2nd (according to a GW article) or 23rd (according to FFG) Basically '''Unknown'''
|Successors of = [[Raven Guard]], but possibly chimeric ([[Night Lords]], [[ World Eaters]], etc. )
|Successor Chapters = None (thankfully)
|Chapter Master = [[Tyberos the Red Wake]]
|Primarch = [[Corvus Corax]], if chimeric then [[Konrad Curze|Curze]], [[Angron]], all of them...(definitely not jaws or his sons)
|Homeworld = Fleet Based
|Specialty = Think of the [[Night Lords]] and [[Raven Guard]] doctrine, but added with planetery and Chain Axe rape.
|Strength = 1000 (ish)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Grey, with black pauldrons and white helmet faces (and the occasional blood splatter)
}}
[[File:B5oUxpr.jpg|200px|thumb|left|This is what [[furry|some]] believe the Space Sharks look like]]
[[File:https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-dfaeb89214da8d1c0332727585840b42|200px|thumb|left| an actual picture of a carhcaradon biker marine]]
[[File:Sharks Bitch!.jpg|200px|thumb|left|This is what they [[Awesome|really look like]]. Yes, we assure you that they are good guys. Maybe.]]

{{topquote|He could sense the Company Master's fury, the rage he was battling to keep in check. The Blindness was beckoning to him, that precipice poised above a black sea of hatred and needless slaughter-sacrifice.|Chief Librarian Te Kahurangi's assessment of 3rd Captain Akia}}

The Carcharodons (High Gothic ''Carcharodon Astra'', low Gothic ''Space Sharks'') are a Loyalist [[Space Marine]] Chapter of unknown heritage. Little is known about them, aside from the fact that they usually appear amidst campaigns quietly and unannounced, and respond to threats with surprising ruthlessness and brutality. They are noted to use much older (and very patched-up) Heresy-era armor and weaponry (in ''Red Tithe'' a squad carries around a volkite caliver, an ''extremely'' rare piece of tech in the 41st millennium, and their 3rd Company captain wears a suit of Mark III armour that bears an insignia indicating participation in the Terran Pacification War, their "first battle honour"), and in battle seem to be utterly silent, even when visiting bloody murder on their foes.

Very old records say they were sent out on a crusade outside the borders of Imperium-controlled space to, for all intents and purposes, preemptively kill anything that may or may not be a future threat to the Imperium of Man. And to our best knowledge, they were promptly forgotten about, because when they showed up again, no one knew who the hell they were or what side they were on.

The Carcharodons "officially" return to the Imperial consciousness during the [[Badab War]], where it's kinda hinted that they're Raven Guard mutants or descended from those other deranged genocidal space marines - the Night Lords. Siding with the Loyalists in the conflict, the Chapter descended in strength upon the worlds of the [[Mantis Warriors]], and it is in this phase of the campaign that the Chapter's reputation for bloody violence was made known. With the Mantis Warriors forced to surrender, the Chapter was then set upon Badab itself. There they helped conclusively secure victory for the Imperials -- by detonating the reactors of the primary hives on the planet. The resultant tectonic upheavals eventually destroyed Badab, and to this day the [[Star Phantoms]] pin the blame on the Sharks for the losses they experienced in the hurried evacuation that followed, but the war was officially won.

For its troubles, the Chapter returned to the Endymion Cluster one last time, ransacked the fortresses of the Mantis Warriors for materiel and their worlds for recruits, and quietly returned to the darkness of the galactic plane where it originally came from.

Their leader is [[Tyberos the Red Wake]], a badass motherfucker who couldn't decide if he liked lightning claws or chainfists better, so he made (or took from the Ashen Claws, as Outer Dark hints) ''Hunger'' and ''Slake'', a pair of Lightning Chainclaws... the ugly offspring of the two weapons after a couple glasses of Black Label and a night of extremely violent and questionable life choices, that allow him to one shot (swipe? stab?) Tyranid Carnifexes and Space Marine Dreadnoughts. This would usually make [[Marneus Calgar|anyone else]] a [[Mary Sue]], but this guy is so badass (and has the most [[awesome]] weapons in the setting), that he has earned immunity (so long as he doesn’t [[Roboute Guilliman|punch guys in space without wearing a helmet]]). Though very quiet in the way of formal encounters, Tyberos, when war ensues, becomes something that nightmares piss themselves to think about. During the Badab War, Tyberos wrote a name for himself and his chapter across the surface of the planet in the blood of the Mantis Warriors. Clad in a set of ancient [[Terminator]] Armour, Tyberos was always on the front lines, and ensured that the traitors paid for all the trouble they caused in blood and resources, going about this task in the grimly silent fashion known to be common to the Carcharodons.

==Organization and History==
[[File:Space Shark Mk5.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|Space Shark in Mark 5 "Heresy" armour.]]
The Sharks are a fleet-based chapter. At some point in their history, Rangu (their word for the Emperor) or the Forgotten One (either the Primarch of the origin legion or the Founding Chapter Master) banished/self-exiled them from their home world and set them to hunt amongst the stars and slaughter the enemies of the Imperium with no quarter. To this day, no one knows why they were banished. To this end, they were granted the rite of Tithe; the Grey, all the physical material they needed for their duty, and the Red, a claim to prisoners, rebels, rejects, and other detritus for ship crew and potential recruits. They are explicitly forbidden from taking serving members of the Adeptus Terra (read - anyone from any other branch of the Imperium) in their tithing. The Grey Tithe is usually a semi-regular swap meet with allied members of the Mechanicum, bartering a few pieces of archeotech for freshly made materiel.

Another chapter wide trait is an intentional lack of ego and individuality. Every new Carcharodon recruit is stripped of their original name and given a new one derived from the chapter's history, along with a numerical designation. Each battle brother is only a part of the utility of the whole, leading Carcharodon command to eschew concepts like honour and pride-driven vengeance that drive other chapters to action. Only by following their ancient mandate of exile can they be worthy. They hope their actions (or more likely their descendants' actions) will redeem them for their crimes and allow them to return home, wherever that might originally be. Most chapter veterans don't believe this and channel their shame and remorse into meticulously violent murder. This also ties into their nomadic nature, as they can't risk wasting time and resources on badly thought out plans.

The Carcharodons follow the battle half of the Codex Astartes, but ignore everything else about force organisation. Cruising around in the void beyond the galaxy's edge can be nasty business, and years without resupply or any kind of logistical support means they must be both flexible and resourceful. Each company practices high self-reliance - salvaging, repairing and re-purposing stuff to make sure it lasts as long as possible. This is why they sport so much working Heresy-era gear and why stuff like vehicles and Terminator armour are often kept together using a variety of patterns and models. Because of this, Techmarines are seldom seen on the battlefield. They also don't use reserve companies. Each company is thought to be a self-contained force, with their own scouts and veterans, ensuring they've got guys for every situation on hand. This has drawbacks of course, as they can't simply ask for reinforcements from a reserve company and must make do; for this reason Apothecaries are prized and kept off the front lines since every Marine makes a difference. At the same time it means that they've got all their companies actively doing stuff.

It seems likely that their scorched earth campaign during the Badab War was in fact more of a violent [[Looted|looting]] spree, restocking the Carcharodons' inventory after having spent so long outside known space. Filling up on ammo, weapons, armor, supplies, and [[Blood_Ravens|grabbing everything that wasn't nailed down, followed by the nails, and then everything that used to be nailed down]], before destroying anything else the enemy could possibly have had a use for. We do know that they claimed a bunch of recruits post-Badab, and they probably do this after all their big campaigns (maybe every time they come back into contact with the Imperium). The ''Red Tithe'' novel appears to confirm this theory; the Carcharodons' 3rd Company, having just come off a nasty brawl with some [[Tyranids]], rocked up to a remote Imperial prison planet with the intent of claiming all of its inmates as either serfs or potential recruits. A [[Night Lords]] warband had the same idea and arrived just before they did; the two groups proceeded to have a slight disagreement about who was going to empty out this wretched hive of scum and villainy. After several rounds of murder tag (and several thousand casualties later), the Carcharodons were victorious. They scooped up all the prisoners, stripped the place bare, and took off before Imperial reinforcements could arrive.

The Imperium at large is mostly unaware of their existence, and even the Inquisition seems to have only limited information about them. The Sharks' complete lack of glory-seeking behavior doesn't help with this; for example, a badly depleted company of Blood Angels were relieved by a Carcharodons attack force during the Seventh Black Crusade, during which Sharks managed to impress/concern Papa Sang's sons by being even more batshit-crazy murderous in assault than the Angels were. When the dust settled, the Blood Angels were given a fancy memorial (and got a whole spaceport named after them) but the Space Sharks went unremembered, save for a few crumbling statues in a forgotten corner with blank obsidian disks for faces. Isolated parts of the Mechanicus are aware of them, partly because of the Grey Tithe, but this is implied to be because they are hoarding the relics the Carcharodons retrieve for themselves, rather than returning them to the Mechanicum proper. Which is what the Mechanicus brass (pun!) would have done anyway so whatever

A few members of the Inquisition have naturally raised concerns about this apparently undocumented force of Astartes just wandering around the galaxy with a predilection for wholesale slaughter and leaving very few survivors on either side when they're done. As an example from ''Carcharodons: Outer Dark'', in order to force a Genestealer cult out into the open on a Shrine World, the Carcharodons gave the order to shut down every temple and pilgrimage site on the planet, knowing that this would cause mass civil unrest and thus force the cult to move ahead with their plans prematurely. It ended up totally working and disrupting the imminent Tyranid invasion, but it also turned out that there were so many cultists on the planet that the Carcharodons decided "fuck it, the Emperor can sort them out" and promptly started just killing everyone at hand with the help of some Renegade Marines they'd invited along for the ride. There was only one survivor left from the ensuing chaos afterwards: an inquisitorial aide who had also been the sole survivor of the events of ''Red Tithe'' and had now witnessed a) a Space Marine force of questionable loyalty slaughtering a planet's population wholesale, b) while being allied with genuinely renegade space marines, and c) had also seen a Carcharodons Librarian apparently being partly bonded to a daemon that had been haunting her too. Loyalist chapters have been exterminated for far less. Well, not really. The slaughter was justified and usually the Imperium would have used Exterminatus in that situation instead of killing everyone conventionally.

==Gene-Seed Speculation==
[[File:Space Shark Tau.jpeg|right|thumb|''FFFFFUCKING WEEB!'']]
Initially, many fa/tg/uys speculated that the Carcharodons were of Raven Guard or Night Lord descent, or possibly a loyalist remnant. A minority also speculated that they might be World Eater remnants, though since that seems to be the old [[Minotaurs]]' schtick it's probably not true. Moreover, given that they are believed to have been founded by M32 and most of their wargear appears to be Heresy-era, they are most likely of the Second Founding or a product of the Heresy.

Most of the evidence for these theories is based on their military tactics and the few descriptions we had of marines outside of their armour. Socially, a lot of their imagery, language, and chapter culture has Polynesian influences, which don't map onto any existing legion's background and, owing to their recruiting practices, are not tied to a known world.

Their favoured tactics, relying heavily on stealth and surprise, would seem to fall in line with the Raven Guard's combat doctrines, at least on a strategic level, where they appear suddenly into whatever battlezone they are targeting without warning. However on a tactical level, they are comparatively unsubtle ; their preference for close-combat, total slaughter, and the strategic use of terror put them at odds with the "tacticool operator" style of the modern Raven Guard. Their method of war is closer to the pre-Heresy Night Lords, if substantially higher in body count, or the World Eaters, if they were a little more subtle. To give an example, they appeared above a shrine world and immediately took command despite the mass unrest such an action caused. They then forcibly shut down the shrines the world was famous for, thus provoking a miniature rebellion and coaxing the genestealer cult out of hiding. So whilst they have subtle overarching goals, they are merciless in their methods.

Physically, the Carcharodons displayed pale white skin and black eyes with black sclera. These were common traits of people living upon Lycaeus and Nostramo, the homeworlds of Corvus Corax and Konrad Curze, respectively. While the modern Raven Guard exhibit these traits as a result of mutations within their gene-seed, ''[[Imperial Armour#Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two|Imperial Armour]]'' states that the Space Shark's gene-seed is unusually pure, i.e. stable, and that these traits are unlikely to be the result of mutation. However, their Chief Librarian has toothy denticle growths on his elbows and around his neck which comes from a "degraded genetic inheritance" which essentially gives him sharkskin. This condition affects the entire chapter, but is much more common on older Carcharodons. They also suffer from something they call the "the Blindness", a condition that can make them lose all control during combat to the extent they may even attack their own.

This makes their appearance all the more unusual, as the Carcharodons are known to take recruits from the worlds they conquer, meaning there is no common genetic source that could explain their development other than through their gene-seed. Interestingly, the Chief Librarian also seems to make a note of the 3rd Captain's particular genetic heritage, as if it were somehow significant. It may very well be that the Carcharodons have more than one gene-seed source; Corvus Corax was noted for his snow-white skin, and Konrad Curze for his black eyes.

The Short Version: Official fluff presents their origins as being ambiguous, even to the point of mutual contradiction within the same story. Both Raven Guard-offshoots and Night Lords believe they are related, whilst they retain a lot of World Eater style equipment and tactics. Said Raven Guard offshoots even suggested that they could also be related to the World Eaters, although this might have been figurative. As with a lot of GW fluff, it's unlikely to get explained.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
===TL;DR===
'''The first mention of the Carcharodons says that their gene-seed might be Raven Guard''', but doesn't expand on that. Given that this was during the time that the [[Blood Ravens]] were really in the popular vogue, the idea that the Carcharodons are secretly Loyalist Traitors was pretty popular because their tactics are more like the Night Lords than anyone else's. GW has tried to walk it back a bit by saying the Raven Guard were basically the Night Lords only with Corax instead of Curze since then, but the debate still rages on because most of the documents supporting the Raven Guard hypothesis are speculative in-universe, and the Imperium would probably cover up a loyal Chapter being descended from Traitors if the Blood Ravens are anything to go by.

Horus Heresy III: Extermination suggests they're the descendants of Terran-born Raven Guard exiles led by Shade Lord Arkhas Fal, the grey armoured and white-faced pre-Corax XIXth Legion who had a reputation for going from stillness to extreme brutality and were basically taken under Horus Lupercal's wing in the centuries before their own Primarch was discovered. The exiles are referred to as a "nomad predation fleet" the same as the Carcharodons in the Badab War books and their cognomen during the early Great Crusade era was "Pale Nomads", a title given to them by the Luna Wolves and also the title of Te Kahurangi, the Chapter's current chief librarian, rumoured to be only three generations removed from the original exiles. The Reaper Prime (Captain) of the Third Battle Company wears armour bearing the skull and lightning bolts of the Terran Pacification War further highlighting the Chapter's links to the pre-Crusade Legions, and Tyberos' distinctive shark-like helmet is also featured in the book. In Horus Heresy 6 however they raid the Night Lords for supplies, which includes gene-seed (which would make them chimeric if they tried to use it) and in Robbie MacNiven's Black Library novels ''Red Tithe'' and ''Outer Dark'' (the only books we have dedicated to our jawesome friends) it outright states that the Space Sharks are a chimeric combination of Raven Guard and Night Lord gene-seed, so the debate rages on.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

===Raven Guard===
Following the publication of ''Imperial Armour 10'', new evidence was published to support the Raven Guard theory by Games Workshop's licensors. Presumably the idea that every Traitor Legion has a secret Loyalist Successor was too much for them.

[[Fantasy Flight Games]]' ''[[Deathwatch]] RPG'' included rules for playing the Carcharodons ('''Honour the Chapter'''). Among the fluff, it is stated that Deathwatch Apothecaries have occasionally had the chance to analyze the gene-seed of Carcharodons slain in the service of the Deathwatch, and that they bear certain genetic markers unique to the Raven Guard. Of course, this being the Imperium of Man, you can never be certain what they're actually finding or if the records are accurate.

Forgeworld's ''[[Horus Heresy]] Book 3'' included a bunch of new information on the Raven Guard, and their predecessor [[First Founding|Legion]], the '''Pale Nomads'''. The Pale Nomads were noted for being the Emperor's preferred operators, often stealthing their way into enemy fortresses and armies to slay their leaders should they refuse surrender, and adopting multi-angle strike-and-fade tactics if the enemy continued to fight on. The latter is a favored tactic of the Carcharodons on the battlefield. The Pale Nomads were known for crushing any hint of resistance, which some have equated to the Space Sharks decimating entire star systems in order to sow terror. Their tactics evidenced a disdain for humans that the Raven Lord couldn't stomach, which is similar to the attitude adopted by the Space Sharks during the Badab War when they Exterminatus'd Badab and hundreds of Loyalist Space Marines along with it. The Pale Nomads were also slavers who would take children from defeated worlds to raise as Legionnaires, a practice that the Space Sharks have adopted. The Xeric tribesmen from which the Pale Nomads recruited also had a tradition of tattooing their bodies and painting their armor with tribal markings.

This could possibly explain why the Space Sharks have an abundance of [[Beakie|MkVI armor]] alongside their other Heresy-era tech, since the Raven Guard were the first to get their hands on them when they entered production during the Horus Heresy and that they're unusually stealthy with a variety of sensory systems to assist them in the void of space. Additionally, the Raven Guard were revealed to suffer from a gene-seed defect known as the ''Ash Blind'' or ''Sable Brand''. Similar to the ''Black Rage'', this defect caused otherwise normal Space Marines to charge into battle seeking only to destroy all trace of their foes, whether they lived or died. Those afflicted would develop eyes of solid black, and would neither speak nor reason until the condition passed. This sounds pretty similar to the Blindness that afflicts the Carcharodons.

Finally, it is stated that Corax would divest the Raven Guard of the surviving Terran-born Pale Nomads, whom he found too similar to the cruel lords he overthrew on [[Deliverance]]. One of the many branches of Raven Guard he sent off on isolated, never-ending crusades contained the [[Battle Barge]] '''Nicor''', (an old English word for a water sprite or monster) later to be found in the fleet of Space Sharks who ended the Badab War.

Tellingly, in '''Horus Heresy book 3''', Corax had no idea what happened to the fleet of Terran Exiles or to its master Arkhas Fal and made no effort to contact them in the build-up prior to the [[Drop Site Massacre]]. There is no evidence that these exiles were recalled after the massacre either, despite the 4000 men "officially" counting towards about half of the size of the remaining Legion, so they were considered an entirely separate force. They could simply have been designated a new Chapter following the end of the civil war.

According to the ''Carcharodons: Outer Dark'' novel, the descendant Marines of the exiles, still calling themselves the Ashen Claws, have settled on the planet Atargatis Prime, beyond the Ghoul Stars region. Only a few people, including the Space Sharks, know of their existence. When times are desperate, the Space Sharks will trade war machines and gene-seed for the Ashen Claws' aspirants and neophytes. It also turns out that Tyberos's kickass lightning-claw-chainfists once belonged to the Ashen Claws, but the Carcharodons apparently [[Blood Ravens|acquired them in an underhanded fashion]], and the Claws are still pretty butthurt about it.

===Loyalist Traitors===
[[File:Space Shark Chainaxe.jpeg|left|thumb|250px|[[Rip and Tear]] at its finest.]]

Contradicting the Raven Guard theory are some logical inconsistencies, the issue of their battle tactics, and recently published material from '''Horus Heresy Book 6''' where it is revealed that the above-mentioned 4000 Terrans exiled by Corvax from the Raven Guard turned full renegade, calling themselves the '''Ashen Claws''' and abandoning the Imperium to build their own domain in the Segmentum Tempestus. With no contact from the Imperium, no support from the Emperor, and no reward for their loyalty, it seems likely that other Raven Guard exiles could have turned. Interestingly, this band of exiles raided the fortress worlds of the Night Lords for supplies before returning to the darkness beyond the Imperium.

The fact that the Carcharodons adhere to a known pattern of crusading behavior, the "Nomad-Predation Pattern," would seem to indicate that their "recruiting" practices aren't unique to any Legion or Chapter, but an established Space Marine tactic for dealing with long crusades beyond the supply lines of the Imperium. Rather than being a relic of Xeric nomads recruited by the Emperor, it seems likely that the Space Sharks are only unique in that they utilize this pattern exclusively, obeying the order to "ravage the foes of Mankind" in the darkness beyond the galactic plane. It also points to them either being formed prior to the implementation of the [[Codex Astartes]] or an utter disregard for it.

If the Space Sharks were founded during the Second Founding, you'd expect them to have roughly equal portions of their gear granted to them from their original Legion, and thus have higher proportions of more "modern" gear such as mark VI ''(Corvus)'' & VII ''(Aquila)'' plate, yet it is older mark V ''(Heresy)'' plate alongside Phobos pattern boltguns which predominantly fill the ranks. This points to the Space Sharks resupplying during the throes of the Heresy and their access to more recent patterns of wargear have come from salvaged or reclaimed equipment gathered over the years. Even their revered Terminator suits seem to be modified in unorthodox ways just to keep them operational. If they descend from any other Primarch, especially considering their tactics and manner of deployment, it's possible that they simply salvaged ''Nicor'' and other wargear from some distant and bloody battlefield.

The Space Sharks' preferred tactics are bloody and brutal, far more so than expected from any pre-Heresy Space Marine Legion besides the Night Lords and the World Eaters, although the information about the Raven Guard pre-Corax does resolve this inconsistency to an extent. During the Badab War they had no qualms about using the extermination of worlds and entire systems loyal to the [[Mantis Warriors]] to draw them into battle by the scale of their horror, and they would use the shattered survivors of their bloody attacks to demoralize and weaken rebel forces.

The history, as known, of the Space Sharks points to their being present during the Second Founding. Whether the Raven Guard exiles were recalled or returned on their own, or if they were a Loyalist remnant of the Night Lords, or more unlikely the World Eaters, and were given the chance to forge a new life and history, it seems odd that they would've been dispatched to such distant battlefields if they weren't regarded with mistrust by the High Lords of Terra. And assuming they possessed a reputation for such brutality that "ravage" is a more appropriate word for their orders than "harry" or "destroy," they should be descended from a Legion or portion of a Legion with a particularly bloody reputation.

Amusingly, the same ''Honour The Chapter'' splatbook that posits that the Carcharodons are descended from the Raven Guard also says they are of the 23rd Founding, descended from the Eagle Warriors. And the Chapter immediately preceding them in the splatbook, the [[Raptors|Reasonable Marines]], are definitively stated to be a Second Founding descendant of the Raven Guard. While the Raptors skin grows translucent and their hair grows darker as they age, the Space Sharks gain gray, shark-like skin and their hair turns whiter as they age. In addition, the Carcharodons by implication have a fully-functioning set of gene-seed organs, unlike the Raven Guard and Raptors who lack functioning Mucranoid and/or Betcher's Glands, as do other Raven Guard Successors.

====Night Lords====
The Carcharodons' deliverance of bloody and total judgement upon the followers of the rebellious Badab Chapters is in line with the [[Night Lords]]' pre-Curze and pre-Heresy role and attitudes towards those who failed the Emperor in loyalty or deed. Brutal purges of the disloyal would build into a reputation that became one of terror and bloody death under Konrad Curze, and his use of fear and fluid, almost wild maneuvers in battle are seen by some in the descriptions of the Space Shark's battles.

The Space Sharks' apparently fractious nature and their manner of giving personal titles of distinction and honor could be echoes of the Night Lords' practices as well. Many commanders and captains would have personal honorifics, like Zso Sahaal, would either earn idiosyncratic titles or have lurid and unique ranks within the Legion's organizational structure. Likewise, ''The Red Wake'' could be an honorific specific to the Chapter Master, or a personal one. As the Night Lords were grouped into semi-independent Companies with individual names, traditions, and markings, it's possible the Carcharodons could be one such Company that rejected the Heresy or returned to the Emperor's light. It would also explain why their forces never seem to gather in full Chapter strength; having passed down this tradition of building brotherhood solely within small, tribal bands like the gangs of Nostramo and fighting in semi-independent units as preferred by the Night Haunter, they would see little reason to fight together while other conflicts and enemies require their notice.

The Chapter's preference for close-combat is in stark contrast to the Raven Guard's preference for long-ranged and quick-moving strikes, especially as they prefer stealth and speed to the roar of assault jetpacks and jetbikes. However, these tactics were favored by the Night Lords and their Terror Squads. Indeed, the enforced silence and refusal to coordinate with Imperial forces of the Space Sharks is similar to the silence that Terror Squads would work with during the latter years of the Great Crusade. Rather than being a gene-seed curse, as with the Raven Guard, the Carcharodons simply isolate their vox nets and refuse to speak to anyone unless it is truly urgent and necessary.

As with the Space Sharks, the Night Lords were infamous for stealing the youth of conquered worlds for rapid implantation and hypno-indoctrination. While the former could also be a hallmark of the Nomad-Predation deployment pattern, the latter is a practice that seems to have been preferred by the Night Lords since it was the fastest and quickest way to make a new, battle-ready Space Marine in spite of the risks of instability and insanity it engendered.

Sharks are also ghostly, nocturnal predators, [[Konrad Curze|night haunters]] if you will, so there's that.

====World Eaters====
Yet another possibility may be [[World Eaters]], since Space Sharks are silent and brooding outside of battle but go absolutely batshit crazy when ''in'' battle, no questions asked, and they seem to have a preference for chain-axes, which is somewhat unusual among Loyalist Space Marines. The love of chain weapons is carried over in a few other ways ; one marine has what can only be described as a chain-club / staff - with an enormous flat chain blade running up one edge and handles on the opposite side at either end (potentially doubling as a very heavy duty eviscerator). Their predilection for close-combat and bloody melee, to an even greater degree than the Space Wolves, would be in keeping with the attitudes of the World Eaters and the War Hounds. Like the World Eaters, the Space Sharks have a preference for Drop Pod assaults, fast vehicles like Land Speeders, and Assault Terminators, and it can be argued that Tyberos's Terminator bodyguards, the ''Red Brethren'', are reminiscent of Angron's own Terminator posse, the ''Devourers''. Some of their ships also possess Ursus Claws, which only World Eaters used (but then again, it could just be a salvaged ship).

The main problem with this theory is the Butcher's Nails. We can assume one of two things when it comes to the Nails:
#The Space Sharks learned to control their urges outside of battle, lest they snap and massacre each other, since they're out in the void of space for long periods of time doing nothing.
#Or they could have simply phased them out of their recruitment process after the Horus Heresy, seeing as it drove the other World Eaters fucking bonkers and was detrimental in the long run.

And whilst there were very few loyalist Night Lords (only two examples in the canon thus far), there are canonically loyalist World Eaters, both at Istvaan III and scattered around the Imperium during the Heresy.

====Chimeric Geneseed====
As another wrench thrown in, in Robbie MacNiven's Black Library novel ''Red Tithe'', it is heavily hinted that there are, in fact, ''multiple'' geneseeds utilized by the Space Sharks, primarily Raven Guard, Night Lords, and World Eaters. Given the typical canon conflicts that the Black Library in known for, this should be looked at with skepticism at least and as a half-assed excuse to explain why they have traits of all three Legions at best. Hopefully this will be elaborated on in the future but for now we can only theorize what this entails.

It is possible that the Carcharodons once consisted of Blackshields of Raven Guard and both loyalist Night Lords and World Eaters during the Horus Heresy, and after a time they were reformed into their own chapter and the traitor aspects of their origins were buried away. This ''could'' explain why their combat doctrine is an odd hybrid of their three supposed predecessors, any mutations they have are hard to connect to any one Legion, why their equipment is so old and haphazard, and why they were sent out in the void of space due to their origins. Until we have hard evidence from Forge World itself on any such Blackshields, however, this is up in the air.

Another, simpler explanation is that, given the nature of the Space Sharks to scavenge whatever they find, it's possible that they harvested the geneseed of the fallen marines they have killed. It's never explicitly said that their geneseed is comprised of ''only'' the three suspected Legions; rather, it just happened to just be mostly the aforementioned three. For all we know they could trace back to every Legion through a small percentage of their geneseed. Though admittedly, this train of thought makes their origin even harder to pinpoint as we don't have a clear-cut predecessor.

And it should be kept in mind that a good chunk of this information in the novel was divulged to one of the Space Sharks by a daemon. ''A daemon,'' for shit's sake. As we've seen with [[Magnus]], Chaos usually doesn't give accurate information.

This said, this is practically confirmed in HH6, where the Ashen Claws (Raven Guard) raid the Nostromo Sector to take their gear and geneseed. So if the Carcharodons are the Ashen Claws or a related group/successor, then they're Raven Guard and Night Lords. As of the novel ''Outer Dark,'' sequel to ''Red Tithe,'' it has been confirmed that the Carcharodons are related to the Ashen Claws and have a shaky pact with them. When the Carcharodons' Red Tithes can't refill their ranks fast enough, they are permitted to conscript young boys for augmentation from the fragmented domains that the Ashen Claws hid in beyond the Imperium's borders in exchange for war material and fresh Corax-derived gene-seed. It also seems their relationship is a shaky one prone to conflict. This suggests that the Carcharodons origins may lie with the Raven Guard exiles but the two groups split over whether to remain loyal to the Emperor or not. Regardless, both are willing to secretly come together against threats from beyond such as the [[Tyranids]]. When exchanging gene-seed and wargear for aspirants and fleet support, however, the Ashen Claws make a point of confirming whether the gene-seed being offered had been "contaminated with their disgusting breed", implying either widespread degeneration and mutation, or chimeric gene-seed among the Carcharodons.
Given how things were during the heresy, it's perfectly reasonable that there's some World Eater geneseed in there, as well as some "loyalists" who joined up as Blackshields, seeing as they spent the Heresy as an independent force at the edges of the Imperium.
</div></div>

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 Wake Up - The Space Sharks emerge from their tanks. Before leaving, they make sure to feed their pet sharks.

05:00 Morning Prayer - The Space Sharks pra(e)y that the Emperor give them plenty of enemies to kill. The Chaplains do not speak during the service, merely gesture angrily. Any Marine who prays to be turned into a shark is forced to fight a real shark while bound.

06:00 Morning Firing Rites - The Space Sharks engage in ranged combat. The bolters are discarded within five minutes and the sharks charge into melee. Chapter serfs who often come to clean up afterwards are shocked to see chainswords, powerswords, knives, hammers, axes, and the occasional bite mark in the target dummies. Most of the dummies appear to be fish shaped. Blasting enemies point blank with a Bolt Pistol to also hit the guy behind him while gutting a third is heavily favored.

08:00 Morning Battle Practice - The Space Sharks practice combat maneuvers. Most training focuses on underwater combat. Eating the enemy is a heavily encouraged tactic.

10:00 Morning Meal - The Space Sharks consume a light meal consisting of a barrel of live fish. The marine who eats the fastest gets to hold the chapter relic: a shark tooth.

11:00 Tactical Indoctrination - The Space Sharks learn what is friend and what is food. They must constantly be told that [[Ultramarines|bluberries]] are not food, but friends. They also learn to brutally eviscerate tanks and other armored structures. The viewing of Jaws is sometimes allowed for educational purposes.

13:00 Afternoon Meal - The Space Sharks collectively attack a Catachan Devil. The use of ranged weapons is forbidden, and the battle brother who rips the tail off gets to eat the first bite. Generally, it will be eaten shortly after death.

15:00 Afternoon Battle Practice - The Space Sharks practice fighting against land enemies. Pulverizing [[Dark Eldar]] and [[Necrons]] with Power Fists and Hammers is heavily encouraged. Battle Brothers who get bored may target [[Orks|Orkz]] and Cultists.

16:00 Afternoon Firing Rites - The Space Sharks fire upon cut outs of Shark Hunters and surfers. This time, the Chapter Serfs find few bolter casings and instead find bite marks.

17:00 Evening Meal - The Space Sharks consume a live Squiggoth. As per tradition, only the use of Rusty kitchen utensils, glass, rocks, and hammers is permitted. Stabbing at the eye is heavily encouraged.

19:00 Evening Preyer - The Space Sharks gather to worship and give thanks to the Void Father. Once a month, the Space Sharks celebrate communion by drinking fish oil and eating surfboards.

20:00 Free Time - The Space Sharks are permitted to engage in recreational activities. Playing with and feeding pet sharks in encouraged, whilst watching "Sharknado" and other comedies is another popular activity. If they've been especially good, marines may be allowed the privelge of feeding the megalodon that lives in the aquarium behind the Nicor's bridge with captured heretics and xenos.

23:00 Sleep Time - The Space Sharks are sent back to their tanks for rest.

==On the Tabletop==
===7th Edition===
Carcharodons Chapter tactics gives all Space Marines models Fear, and allows Tactical marines to replace their bolters with a chainsword or keep it and buy an additional close combat weapon for 1pt each. In addition they gain Rage after destroying or forcing an infantry unit to fallback in close combat, however they must consolidate towards the nearest unit they can hurt (after all, [[Khorne|the rape train]] [[Meme|has no brakes!]]). This can make stuff like Vanguard Veterans, Assault Marines, or even bikes surprisingly dangerous. Even a full batch of 10 footslogging Tacticals with extra CC weapons can be a pretty scary thing to face up against. Also, Dreadnoughts with Fear and Rage? Yes please.

Tyberos, their beloved Chapter Master, is quite the beast. He can destroy just about anything in the game in close combat. His Scent of Blood rule makes him and and any Carcharodon unit subject to Rage +1 strength for the rest of the game. He is [[Reasonable Marines|reasonable]] enough to wear a helmet and does not carry a banner and a shitton of flashy trinkets on his armour, unlike most other chapter masters, whose wargear just screams "Shoot me down, sniper!" Also, allows you to take a unit of lightning claw equipped assault terminators as troops; and he and any unit he joins have preferred enemy (infantry).

You can only ally with Imperial Forces and all of those are bumped down to Desperate Allies. All this means that, with them, you play Horus Heresy World Eaters with Fear and all the shiny new toys of the 40k arsenal of Space Marines.

They also have a couple of unique psyker powers:
:"From The Depths": The librarian casting this causes his targets to become intensely frightened, hallucinating about being in the deep dark depths of the ocean, immobilizing their opponent so that the Carcharodons can finish the target without a fight.
:"Rending Maw": The librarian summons a giant spirit shark that comes up out of the ground and bites the shit out of anyone unlucky enough to be there at the time.

===8th Edition===
[[File:Tyberos Red Wake Joseph Geddings.png|thumb|left|250px|"''There is no safety word.''" - Tyberos, the 'Red Wake']]
Currently, the only Carcharodons-specific thing in the game is Tyberos, in the Forge World Imperial Armour book. This go around he's got a standard Terminator {{W40kKeyword|CHAPTER MASTER}} profile (which means he's been upgraded to the same 4++ the others have) with an extra Attack and one less Ballistic Skill (which doesn't matter as he has no guns). Wargear-wise, ''Hunger'' and ''Slake'' are now unique weapons - a chainfist and lightning claw equivalent respectively, except ''Hunger'' has +1 Damage and ''Slake'' has +1 Damage and -1AP. In special rules terms he's got the standard Terminator {{W40kKeyword|CHAPTER MASTER}} ATSKNF, teleport deep strike and hit rerolls for {{W40kKeyword|CARCHARODONS}} within 6" (renamed '''Lord Reaper of the Void'''), but he also gives them +1 Strength thanks to his unique ability '''Savagery Beyond Reason''' (doesn't need activating any more, but it's now only a 6" bubble instead of the whole table). He's a great choice to lead a Deep Striking Assault Terminator squad, but at a little over 200 points you'll need to place him where he can do maximum damage to earn back that cost.

Codex Space Marines didn't bring any special joy for the Carcharodons. The White Scars Chapter Tactic is the GW-recommended "appropriate" one for them, even though they're (probably) Raven Guard successors (mostly because the Raven Guard tactic involves being sneaky rather than murdering the bloody fuck out of everything in melee). This gives them 2" of extra movement whenever they Advance, and allows them to charge the same turn they Fall Back. If you do choose to go with the Raven Guard one, enemies that are more than 12" away get -1 to hit you. Seeing as you'll probably be aiming to get right in their faces and stab them, this is probably a poor choice. Alternatively, The Imperium's Sword from the generic list is pretty good for a stabby warlord.

The Black Templars are your best bet if you want to maximize your melee potential. Rerolling charges is simple, but ''very'' effective, especially for Tyberos and his terminator posse when they warp in 9" from an enemy unit. Access to Crusader Squads is also nifty, especially if you want to emulate their previous rules of Tacticals having an extra CC weapon.

Here is an approximation of what 6th/7th edition rules would look like if they were updated to 8th, for the Carcharodons.
'''Warlord Trait: ''Carcharodons''. ''Reavers of the Outer Darkness'':''' Friendly CARCHARODON units within 6" gain: In the FIGHT phase, if this unit is fighting a unit that has lost any models, that unit being attacked reduces their Toughness by 1 for the remainder of the phase.

'''Carcharodon Ability: ''Blood Hunger'':''' CARCHARODONS models gain +1A in a turn that the charged.

'''OR'''

An alternative Chapter Tactic for the Carcharodons is this...

'''Carcharodon Ability: ''Terror from the Void'':''' Models in enemy units must subtract 1 from their Leadership characteristic for each unit with this trait that is within 6" of theirs (to a maximum of -3)

'''OR!''' '''OR!'''

'''With the release of the revised space marine codex, successor tactics let you pick 2 of 18 tactics to represent them on the table top.
Some of the most fluff related ones are

Fearsome Aspect: -1 Leadership to enemy units while they're within 3" of any of your units

Hungry for Battle: +1" to the advance or charge roll.

Tactical Withdrawal: Units with this tactic can charge after falling back.

Whirlwind of Rage: When making melee attacks for a unit that charged, was charged or made a Heroic Intervention,unmodified hit rolls of 6 score an additional hit.

'''OR!''' '''OR!''' '''OR!'''

Play them as successors to White Scars. You won't find better tools elsewhere to get into assault with and butcher things when you get there. Advance and/ Fallback and charge from their Chapter Trait; and +1 damage from Devastating Charge when the assault doctrine is active. Vastly superior to any of the successor Chapter Traits. As Whites Scars have relic, stratagems and Psychic powers that replicate "Hungry for Battle". While Tyberos’ +1S 6” aura, or +1S 6” aura from the relic banner is going to be far more effective than "Whirl Wind of Rage".

For and example of some of the combos you can do with Carcharodons as a White Scars successor. Take Tyberos using the "Hero of the chapter" stratagem to take the Imperium sword WL trait for +1 A and +1S, and re-rolling any or all charge dice. Now he's S6 boosting Hunger to: S12/AP-4/Dam3 with 7 attacks on the charge; and Slake S6/AP-3/Dam2/re-rolling failed wounds. You can do this as he doesn't have a fixed warlord trait and doesn't have to be your warlord. You can deep strike him along with a unit ten Assault Terminators with the Sgt using the "Khan's Champion" stratagem for Master-crafted Damage 5 Thunder Hammer. Now take a Terminator Librarian with the "Ride the Winds" psychic power for +2 to charge, and the "Plume of the Plains Runner" relic for a 6" aura granting +1 to advance and charge. Then if you need too. You activate the "Fierce Rivalries" stratagem to roll 3D6 to charge discarding the lowest; and you can command re-roll if needed for a 6" charge on 4D6.

For even more pain take a Jump Pack Captain as your actual Warlord with "Chogorian Storm" for +D3 attacks on the charge, then use "Tempered by Wisdom" to take "Master of Snares" as your second warlord trait for a 4+ roll to prevent an enemy unit falling back. You can now either arm him with an expensive Thunder Hammer, or go cheap with "Teeth of Terra" for +3 attacks for 8+D3 attacks at S5/AP-2/Damage 2. Personally, I'd take the Thunder Hammer and a Jump pack Lieutenant with the Teeth of Terra for re-rolling wounds. You can either outflank him or deep strike in with some double chainsword Vanguard and/or Assault Marines. All you jump pack infantry can advance and charge. Then next turn fallback, shoot and charge in again getting the bonus for shock assault again. Just brutal. Take a Jump Pack Chaplain with either "Benediction of Fury" relic for +2S/AP-2/ Damage 3; and or a Master-crafted Power Fist. For his litanies you can either take "Mantra of Strength" or "Canticle of Hate" for 6" aura of +2 to charge rolls, as well as +3" to pile in and consolidation moves. Canticle of Hate is the most useful if you start him on the board; since you can either move your jump pack units up with him or deep strike them into his aura.

For you troops you can take MSU Incursors or Intercessors with auto bolt rifles so they can they can move, advance, shoot and still charge. Then fallback, shoot and charge back in for that shock attack bonus. Taking a large unit or two of Scout Bikes is also very good in this build.

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]]

Codex Astartes

2019-12-22T00:49:59Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Armoury */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

{{Topquote|But NO! You succeded because you were trained by the book. The holy codex of our OH SO WONDERFUL I COULD SHIT MY '''POWER PANTS''' Spiritual Liege|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Marneus Calgar's true thoughts on the Codex Astartes]]}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any noteworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]]. But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how little they know. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman was finally revived, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis—a tome that won't just describe how to organize and direct the Adeptus Astartes, or even the other [[Imperial Guard|Imperial military forces]], but Imperial governance as a whole, possibly down to the ideal daily lives of every Imperial citizen, likely in an attempt to make the entire Imperium [[NobleBright|look and operate as smoothly as Ultramar]]. Needless to say, this will probably be the size of a 10 volume encyclopedia, and still hasn’t been finished.

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units (now including Scouts), dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, or other specialists (techmarines, apothecaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers (including thousands of Voidship crew in their fleet) to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

Originally, the 10th Company was composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who were eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company was typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit was often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again (except in the old [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch RPG]]). Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of fully initiated Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.
*'''[[Incursor]] Squads''': Vanguard marines clad in lightweight Phobos Armor made flushing out hidden positions and close-combat. Their special Occulus Bolt Carbines and Multi-Spectrum Arrays allow them to detect enemies in any circumstance, while their haywire mines can cripple vehicles. Curiously, these are the only marines that seem to know how to dual-wield their knives effectively enough to be standard-issue.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them.

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]]
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed = no new recruits.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deep-strikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned pre-[[Indomitus Crusade]].

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads to work out Red Thirst related anger issues.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of the usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]] picked from within the company.
*Some nifty STCs that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors (The Mortis Dreads and Land Raider Ares).

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Imperial Fists]]'''
*Apparently picked up a loophole from the Blood Angels and have their scouts immediately go to the Assault reserve company to work out their unbridled aggression before becoming Fire Support.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company. It's uncertain if this still exists as of 8E.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex on the surface.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.
*Have three Masters of the Forge, usually tending to more specialized matters since most battle-brothers can maintain their own wargear.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain/equerry ''(no particular company assigned at this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' Captain. He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.
*Their Scouts are [[Ork Kommando|<strike>quiet psychopaths</strike> veteran loners]]

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Codex Astartes

2019-12-22T00:48:54Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Apothecarion */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

{{Topquote|But NO! You succeded because you were trained by the book. The holy codex of our OH SO WONDERFUL I COULD SHIT MY '''POWER PANTS''' Spiritual Liege|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Marneus Calgar's true thoughts on the Codex Astartes]]}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any noteworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]]. But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how little they know. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman was finally revived, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis—a tome that won't just describe how to organize and direct the Adeptus Astartes, or even the other [[Imperial Guard|Imperial military forces]], but Imperial governance as a whole, possibly down to the ideal daily lives of every Imperial citizen, likely in an attempt to make the entire Imperium [[NobleBright|look and operate as smoothly as Ultramar]]. Needless to say, this will probably be the size of a 10 volume encyclopedia, and still hasn’t been finished.

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units (now including Scouts), dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, or other specialists (techmarines, apothecaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers (including thousands of Voidship crew in their fleet) to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

Originally, the 10th Company was composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who were eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company was typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit was often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again (except in the old [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch RPG]]). Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of fully initiated Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.
*'''[[Incursor]] Squads''': Vanguard marines clad in lightweight Phobos Armor made flushing out hidden positions and close-combat. Their special Occulus Bolt Carbines and Multi-Spectrum Arrays allow them to detect enemies in any circumstance, while their haywire mines can cripple vehicles. Curiously, these are the only marines that seem to know how to dual-wield their knives effectively enough to be standard-issue.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them.

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]]
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed = no new recruits.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden bananas]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deep-strikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned pre-[[Indomitus Crusade]].

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads to work out Red Thirst related anger issues.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of the usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]] picked from within the company.
*Some nifty STCs that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors (The Mortis Dreads and Land Raider Ares).

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Imperial Fists]]'''
*Apparently picked up a loophole from the Blood Angels and have their scouts immediately go to the Assault reserve company to work out their unbridled aggression before becoming Fire Support.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company. It's uncertain if this still exists as of 8E.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex on the surface.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.
*Have three Masters of the Forge, usually tending to more specialized matters since most battle-brothers can maintain their own wargear.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain/equerry ''(no particular company assigned at this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' Captain. He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.
*Their Scouts are [[Ork Kommando|<strike>quiet psychopaths</strike> veteran loners]]

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Codex Astartes

2019-12-22T00:47:57Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Ranks */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

{{Topquote|But NO! You succeded because you were trained by the book. The holy codex of our OH SO WONDERFUL I COULD SHIT MY '''POWER PANTS''' Spiritual Liege|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Marneus Calgar's true thoughts on the Codex Astartes]]}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any noteworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]]. But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how little they know. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman was finally revived, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis—a tome that won't just describe how to organize and direct the Adeptus Astartes, or even the other [[Imperial Guard|Imperial military forces]], but Imperial governance as a whole, possibly down to the ideal daily lives of every Imperial citizen, likely in an attempt to make the entire Imperium [[NobleBright|look and operate as smoothly as Ultramar]]. Needless to say, this will probably be the size of a 10 volume encyclopedia, and still hasn’t been finished.

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units (now including Scouts), dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, or other specialists (techmarines, apothecaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers (including thousands of Voidship crew in their fleet) to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

Originally, the 10th Company was composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who were eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company was typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit was often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again (except in the old [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch RPG]]). Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of fully initiated Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.
*'''[[Incursor]] Squads''': Vanguard marines clad in lightweight Phobos Armor made flushing out hidden positions and close-combat. Their special Occulus Bolt Carbines and Multi-Spectrum Arrays allow them to detect enemies in any circumstance, while their haywire mines can cripple vehicles. Curiously, these are the only marines that seem to know how to dual-wield their knives effectively enough to be standard-issue.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them.

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]]
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed - no new recruits. Also, considering the relatively practical and utilitarian approach marines take to science, Masters of the Apothacarion are some of the only actual scientists in the entire freaking Imperium, if you don't count the ones that pray to their own bionic elbows, which you shouldn't.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden bananas]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deep-strikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned pre-[[Indomitus Crusade]].

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads to work out Red Thirst related anger issues.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of the usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]] picked from within the company.
*Some nifty STCs that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors (The Mortis Dreads and Land Raider Ares).

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Imperial Fists]]'''
*Apparently picked up a loophole from the Blood Angels and have their scouts immediately go to the Assault reserve company to work out their unbridled aggression before becoming Fire Support.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company. It's uncertain if this still exists as of 8E.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex on the surface.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.
*Have three Masters of the Forge, usually tending to more specialized matters since most battle-brothers can maintain their own wargear.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain/equerry ''(no particular company assigned at this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' Captain. He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.
*Their Scouts are [[Ork Kommando|<strike>quiet psychopaths</strike> veteran loners]]

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Codex Astartes

2019-12-22T00:41:27Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* Chapter Organisation */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

{{Topquote|But NO! You succeded because you were trained by the book. The holy codex of our OH SO WONDERFUL I COULD SHIT MY '''POWER PANTS''' Spiritual Liege|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Marneus Calgar's true thoughts on the Codex Astartes]]}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any noteworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]]. But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how little they know. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman was finally revived, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis—a tome that won't just describe how to organize and direct the Adeptus Astartes, or even the other [[Imperial Guard|Imperial military forces]], but Imperial governance as a whole, possibly down to the ideal daily lives of every Imperial citizen, likely in an attempt to make the entire Imperium [[NobleBright|look and operate as smoothly as Ultramar]]. Needless to say, this will probably be the size of a 10 volume encyclopedia, and still hasn’t been finished.

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units (now including Scouts), dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, or other specialists (techmarines, apothecaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers (including thousands of Voidship crew in their fleet) to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

Originally, the 10th Company was composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who were eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company was typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit was often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again (except in the old [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch RPG]]). Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of fully initiated Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.
*'''[[Incursor]] Squads''': Vanguard marines clad in lightweight Phobos Armor made flushing out hidden positions and close-combat. Their special Occulus Bolt Carbines and Multi-Spectrum Arrays allow them to detect enemies in any circumstance, while their haywire mines can cripple vehicles. Curiously, these are the only marines that seem to know how to dual-wield their knives effectively enough to be standard-issue.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them. Also, rather hilariously, the current status of their chapter champion is one of the only breaks the Ultramarines have with the Codex Astartes, due to the raging ego of one [[Cato Sicarius]].

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]]
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed - no new recruits. Also, considering the relatively practical and utilitarian approach marines take to science, Masters of the Apothacarion are some of the only actual scientists in the entire freaking Imperium, if you don't count the ones that pray to their own bionic elbows, which you shouldn't.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden bananas]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deep-strikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned pre-[[Indomitus Crusade]].

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads to work out Red Thirst related anger issues.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of the usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]] picked from within the company.
*Some nifty STCs that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors (The Mortis Dreads and Land Raider Ares).

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Imperial Fists]]'''
*Apparently picked up a loophole from the Blood Angels and have their scouts immediately go to the Assault reserve company to work out their unbridled aggression before becoming Fire Support.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company. It's uncertain if this still exists as of 8E.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex on the surface.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.
*Have three Masters of the Forge, usually tending to more specialized matters since most battle-brothers can maintain their own wargear.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain/equerry ''(no particular company assigned at this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' Captain. He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.
*Their Scouts are [[Ork Kommando|<strike>quiet psychopaths</strike> veteran loners]]

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Codex Astartes

2019-12-22T00:40:58Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* What the Codex set out to Accomplish */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

{{Topquote|But NO! You succeded because you were trained by the book. The holy codex of our OH SO WONDERFUL I COULD SHIT MY '''POWER PANTS''' Spiritual Liege|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Marneus Calgar's true thoughts on the Codex Astartes]]}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any noteworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]]. But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how little they know. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman was finally revived, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis—a tome that won't just describe how to organize and direct the Adeptus Astartes, or even the other [[Imperial Guard|Imperial military forces]], but Imperial governance as a whole, possibly down to the ideal daily lives of every Imperial citizen, likely in an attempt to make the entire Imperium [[NobleBright|look and operate as smoothly as Ultramar]]. Needless to say, this will probably be the size of a 10 volume encyclopedia, and still hasn’t been finished.

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units (now including Scouts), dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, or other specialists (tech marines, apothecaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers (including thousands of Voidship crew in their fleet) to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

Originally, the 10th Company was composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who were eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company was typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit was often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again (except in the old [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch RPG]]). Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of fully initiated Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.
*'''[[Incursor]] Squads''': Vanguard marines clad in lightweight Phobos Armor made flushing out hidden positions and close-combat. Their special Occulus Bolt Carbines and Multi-Spectrum Arrays allow them to detect enemies in any circumstance, while their haywire mines can cripple vehicles. Curiously, these are the only marines that seem to know how to dual-wield their knives effectively enough to be standard-issue.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them. Also, rather hilariously, the current status of their chapter champion is one of the only breaks the Ultramarines have with the Codex Astartes, due to the raging ego of one [[Cato Sicarius]].

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]]
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed - no new recruits. Also, considering the relatively practical and utilitarian approach marines take to science, Masters of the Apothacarion are some of the only actual scientists in the entire freaking Imperium, if you don't count the ones that pray to their own bionic elbows, which you shouldn't.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden bananas]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deep-strikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned pre-[[Indomitus Crusade]].

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads to work out Red Thirst related anger issues.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of the usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]] picked from within the company.
*Some nifty STCs that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors (The Mortis Dreads and Land Raider Ares).

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Imperial Fists]]'''
*Apparently picked up a loophole from the Blood Angels and have their scouts immediately go to the Assault reserve company to work out their unbridled aggression before becoming Fire Support.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company. It's uncertain if this still exists as of 8E.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex on the surface.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.
*Have three Masters of the Forge, usually tending to more specialized matters since most battle-brothers can maintain their own wargear.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain/equerry ''(no particular company assigned at this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' Captain. He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.
*Their Scouts are [[Ork Kommando|<strike>quiet psychopaths</strike> veteran loners]]

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Codex Astartes

2019-12-22T00:40:18Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB: /* What the Codex set out to Accomplish */

{{Topquote|The Codex Astartes is a set of rules. They guide us. Shape us as Ultramarines. Teach us how to hold duty and honor sacred above all. But how we live with those rules is the true test of a Space Marine.|[[Captain Titus]], [[Ultramarines]] 2nd Company}}

{{Topquote|They tell me Guilliman wrote a book, maybe, with all that time on his hands he might have seen this coming|Leman Russ, during the Horus Heresy}}

{{Topquote|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|So, I accepted the book and gave it a five out of ten "it was OK" review.]]|Rogal Dorn}}

{{Topquote|But NO! You succeded because you were trained by the book. The holy codex of our OH SO WONDERFUL I COULD SHIT MY '''POWER PANTS''' Spiritual Liege|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Marneus Calgar's true thoughts on the Codex Astartes]]}}

The Codex Astartes (a.k.a Codex Asstardes) is the collective name given to a series of tactical and organisational guides written by [[Roboute Guilliman]] over the course of his life, compiled at the end of the [[Horus Heresy]]. The Codex's organizational mandates split the remaining [[First Founding|Space Marine Legions]] into smaller chapters, for reasons discussed below. It also includes many tactical doctrines and stratagems for just about every situation, like the formidable [[Steel Rain|STEEL REHN!]] Most loyalist Space Marine chapters follow the Codex Astartes to varying degrees, with [[Ultramarines]] and their successors seeing it as literal holy writ, while some chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]] merely see it as a book of tactics to be referred to when necessary. Most chapters will fall somewhere between those two extremes, using the codex where necessary but making adaptations where necessary (the [[Imperial Fists]], for example, use the Codex, but have a special appendix on how to Fist better, called the Book of Five Spheres. I guess Dorn was a fan of Musashi?). Almost all chapters will make a few minor alterations at the very least, usually just superficial things accounting for the chapter's culture. Now that Guilliman woke up, odds are he's going to update the codex like a fa/tg/uy updating his army lists, so the boys in blue should have some new reading material soon. Fortunately, since he's been adding Primaris Marines to Chapters that already have a thousand Marines, Guilliman has probably thrown out the number limit thing, realizing it was really stupid (or that no one noticed the Great Crusade never officially ended and so all Chapters are technically crusading and so have no number limits in the first place).

A certain detail needs to be mentioned that seems to have been missed by the Adeptus Astartes by the 41st millennium. Namely the fact that Chapters fought together in the same battles during the Great Crusade. It is highly likely that Guilliman fully expected this practice to continue after splitting the legions up. But, then the Chapters went and parceled out their companies (and sometimes squads) throughout the galaxy. As a result, while they often win, their loses are also famous and their victories tend to be somewhat costly. If the entire Chapter fought together, though, they would win too quickly for casualties to reach any noteworthy number and could swiftly zip from world-to-world kicking the absolute shit out of anything and everything. Case in point: Black Templars.

==What the Codex set out to Accomplish==

The Codex Astartes was written with three main purposes in mind.

First, the Codex is a tactical and strategic guide. It contains tips and plans on how to handle nearly any battle situation imaginable, and then some. The Codex served with flying colors until the modern day of the setting, when its weaknesses began to show against certain [[Tyranids|unconventional]] [[Necrons|enemies]]. Much like ''The Art of War'' or the FBI tactical guidebook, if you can get your hands on a copy you can anticipate the actions of those that use it, but countering it is '''really''' fucking hard because of just how comprehensive the Codex is. It doesn't just tell you "When your enemy is doing B, do C to counter it," it also says, "And when the enemy counters C with X and Y, use Z to shut down their counter." In real life warfare, soldiers have a hard time adapting to new information under pressure, which is why commanders need to limit the orders they give to their troops and keep them as unambiguous and simple as possible; drilling them on exactly what to do in a given situation, especially in such a comprehensive manner, does have its advantages since it reduces mental clutter. Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' is still being taught millennia after its publication; now imagine that same spark of tactical genius manifesting inside the mind of a superhumanly intelligent demigod. The Codex isn't perfect - no tactical treatise is - but it's damn close.

Second, the Codex is an organizational guide. Guilliman was a flawed genius, an organizational savant literally unmatched in the galaxy, and more than a little OCD when it came to detail. Beyond simple mandates about the composition of the Chapters, the Codex contains information on the minutia of administration. Details on every subject from bolt shells to bread, water distribution to weapon production, organization of auxiliary forces, suggested countermeasures to [[Nurgle|viral]] outbreaks, training schedules, troop morale, ammunition production, distribution of that ammunition to terrestrial and naval combat units, how large reserves can be built up, how long those reserves will last when production stopped, ration distribution for militant and civilian populations, how those rations can be stored, food cycling to avoid waste, integration of chain of command with allied and auxiliary forces, integration of militia into formal military, suggested staging area locations relative to battle lines, suggested landing area locations relative to battle lines, prioritizing access to and from these areas, [[derp|guides to avoiding massive compound sentences]], fortification locations, demolition strategies for those fortifications in the event that they must be abandoned, and I could go on. It also has plenty to say on how to live your day to day life, with everything from codes of honor to follow, to how your boots should be laced. Seriously, the Codex can tell you how to spend every minute of your life from birth to death, and pretty much every part of it is either acceptable or outstanding, if admittedly inflexible. Much of it, if applied to the Imperium as a whole, would also solve most of the grimdark.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final version of the Codex is designed to keep the power of the Imperium decentralized. At the end of the Heresy, Guilliman wanted to ensure there wouldn't be any repeating performances of the strife that had gripped the galaxy. To this end, he split the Imperial Army into the [[Imperial Navy]] and the [[Imperial Guard]], and broke up the Legions, to keep one person from ever having the power to cause such massive chaos. Whether or not this was a good move is [[skub|a subject of ongoing debate]]. Detractors would point out that the newly decentralized and feudal Imperium is nowhere near as capable of unified action as it was before the heresy, pointing at how this decentralization screwed the Imperium over during [[the War of The Beast]], while its defenders would point out the examples of The [[Badab War]] or the [[Macharian Crusade]] as examples of too much centralized power devolving into a clusterfuck, to say nothing of the Horus Heresy demonstrating why giving any one person too much power over the Imperium is a ''very bad idea''.

However, one thing that people often forget when they argue about whether Legions or post-Heresy Chapters are better is that the Legions and Chapters have very different roles. Legions of a hundred thousand Astartes are great when you want to steamroll the galaxy - ''which is also exactly what the original Legions designed for'' - but such huge armies are not so great when you want to maintain peace in a sprawling galaxy-spanning empire. What the post-[[great Scouring|Scouring]] Imperium really needed were small-scale elite rapid-response forces, which is exactly the kind of role that the Chapters are most suited for. Well, that coupled with a large normal army to act as first-responders very quickly and hold the line for the big boys to come smash face.

And this is also a much more efficient use of the Astartes. You don't need a space marine to man a gun line or garrison a fort - why let a marine do a guardsman's job? - and considering how long it takes to create a fully-fledged Astartes, you'll want to get the most out of every single one of them. Also remember that there weren't all that many loyalist Astartes left alive after the Heresy. Getting a thousand Astartes killed just to win a battle may have been A-OK during the Great Crusade or the Heresy, but the post-Heresy Imperium just couldn't afford losses like that anymore (for a while, at least). Hence, it only makes sense for the space marines to conform to tactics where your average space marine battle will result in few marine casualties, if any. Guilliman designed the Codex marine armies to be modular, precise, and efficient in ways that the original legions weren't.

Of course, the trade-off is that the marines are no longer well suited for large-scale warfare. But large-scale warfare and armoured warfare are now the Imperial Guard's job, anyway. On top of that, Legion-sized (or at least multichapter) deployments can and will still happen whenever necessary, like with the [[Armageddon|Armageddon wars]] or the [[Black Crusade|Black Crusades]] or the Wall of the Imperial Fist Legion during the War of the Beast. But all that being said; yes, there are situations in M41 where the Legions of old would probably be more effective than any gathering of Chapters. Especially the [[Tyranids]] and the bigger [[Necrons|Necron]] dynasties come to mind, though there's also less formidable threats like the [[Tau]]. But even there, the Guard is a perfectly fine substitute for a Legion in most if not all of those cases. Especially with their godly mechanization, tanks, and artillery. Hell, their standard procedure is to simply use various artillery to eradicate everyone and everywhere the enemy could hide (bunkers, trenches, buildings, tunnels, ''anything'') then send in tanks to wipe out any resistance and the ground pounders to hunt down the survivors. We have billions of Guardsmen dying every day, but the number of Guardsmen makes billions a day look like literally a drop in a literal ocean. So, incredibly minute casualties on the whole. Because of massive guns and lots of them. This means that the Astartes are not needed nearly as often as the Guard. Especially since the Guard almost always operates on the defensive, which means that line-breaking supersoldier armies are rarely needed.

Interestingly enough, the original version of the Codex had no plans to break apart the Legions at all. Instead, it proposed their unification into a single Legion formed from multiple self-sufficient Chapters, which would merge and break up as needed regardless of which Primarch they descended from. While this may have been able to preserve the advantages of being a Legion better, the other [[High Lords of Terra]] were scared shitless by the idea of the Space Marines unifying and promptly rebelling a second time, so the original plan Guilliman had in mind never came to pass. Even the idea of it happening was enough for the 41st millennium-era High Lords to plot Guilliman's overthrow when they heard he might resume his old position. Which shows how little they know. The Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor for a reason. They are '''''really fucking scary dudes'''''. Besides, the Space Marines would unify as much or as little as they choose and there really isn't anything the High Lords can do about it. So, their concerns over Guilliman's original intentions for Chapters didn't matter and the changes didn't matter, either. They still operate the same way Guilliman had intended but with far less communication and co-ordination unless they needed. Since they usually don't needed, it doesn't really matter at all.

When Guilliman finally got off his ass, he began to see the flaws that came from strict adherence to the Codex Astartes. Thus, he has begun reforming its guidelines and got rid of several of its restrictions on Space Marines. He currently hopes to replace it entirely with the Codex Imperialis—a tome that won't just describe how to organize and direct the Adeptus Astartes, or even the other [[Imperial Guard|Imperial military forces]], but Imperial governance as a whole, possibly down to the ideal daily lives of every Imperial citizen, likely in an attempt to make the entire Imperium [[NobleBright|look and operate as smoothly as Ultramar]]. Needless to say, this will probably be the size of a 10 volume encyclopedia, and still hasn’t been finished.

==Chapter Organisation==
Under the Codex Astartes, the Space Marine legions were to be split into groups of 1000 fighting men, called a [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapter]]. While many people assume this means a chapter is composed of 1000 men, this is a bit misleading, because that 1000 man number does not include a chapter's upper echelons, support structure, auxiliary units (now including Scouts), dreadnought-interred veterans, the librarius, vehicle crews, honor guard, or other specialists (tech marines, apothecaries, chaplains, etc). This means that a chapter will commonly have upwards of 1100 space marines while still being codex compliant, and many chapters will have large units of mortal retainers (including thousands of Voidship crew in their fleet) to serve as auxiliary forces, so it's not uncommon for a chapter to have tens of thousands of soldiers to call upon, though only a minority of them will actually be Adeptus Astartes. It's important to note that the Chapter was already an existing sub-unit within the pre-Heresy legions, and those were organized much as they were in the Codex.

By the 42nd Millennium, the reawakened Guilliman has set about redrafting the Codex Astartes to accommodate the inclusion of Primaris Marines, who do not form the same sorts of squads as their traditional brothers. However he has not massively changed the organisational units of "Chapter" and/or "Company". With the new codex, the space marine company is still 100 men on paper, but can be organised in a far more flexible arrangement of squads and can accommodate additional squads drawn from reserve companies. It also means that whole Companies ''(or even Chapters)'' of Primaris Marines can be formed without the need to makes exceptions for them.

The 1st Company is composed of [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]], and only marines who have served in the first company are allowed to wear [[Terminator|terminator armor]].

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies. Guilliman's reorganisation allows companies to be composed of as many as twenty squads of five men, there will always be least six Battle line squads, at least two Fire Support squads, and least two Close Support squads. They train together, and when a Space Marine Company deploys as a single unit, it will be one of these.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, and are more specialized than the first five companies. The 6th and 7th Companies are composed entirely of Battleline squads (whose Tactical Marines also specialize in using [[Bike Squad|bikes]] and [[Land Speeder]]s, respectively), the 8th Company of Close Support squads and the 9th Company entirely of Fire Support squads. Additionally, Primaris Marines in reserve companies may also be seconded to Battle Companies as '''Vanguard Marines'''.

Originally, the 10th Company was composed entirely of [[Scout]] Marines, who were eventually promoted to other companies after a certain number of years. It's worthy of note that the 10th company was typically the largest in the chapter, containing 100 neophytes in addition to veterans seconded to the company for training. Additionally, the 10th company's 100 man limit was often uncapped so as to keep the chapter's flow of new marines steady in times of great loss. With the recent revisions to the Codex, Guilliman has ordered that all [[Primaris Marines]] train in '''Vanguard Tactics''' during their time in the Scout Company and can later revert to the squad organisation as required, whereas a regular Tactical Marine might never don his Scout uniform ever again (except in the old [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Deathwatch RPG]]). Consequently, it now retains 10 squads' worth of fully initiated Vanguard Marines whose roles can be changed as needed, while the Scouts no longer seem to be counted towards the nominal 100-marine limit at all.

There is a fair amount of leeway given to what roles the reserve companies can maintain. The 7th company, for instance, is given the moniker of "tactical reserve." Some chapters field these companies as bodies to replace losses from the battle companies. Some use them to train landspeeder pilots (the Codex states the entire company should be able to ride landspeeders.). Some chapters, such as the [[Salamanders]], use the 7th company to train fighter pilots for their Air Force. Others, typically those suffering from heavy losses, use it in place of the tech auxillera for tank crews. Still others keep weapon specialists, such as dedicated plasma-gunners, on hand to replace battle company soldiers as need demands.

===Marine roles===

Among the tenets of the Codex, Guilliman outlined the roles of various Marines to be used in Chapters. They include the following:

====Battle Line====
*'''[[Tactical Squad|Tactical]]''': The backbone of a Battle Company, Tactical Marines are those who are flexible in combat, relying on both ranged weapons and melee weapons in combat. Note that due to the order of the Companies, they usually have served as both Assault and Devastator Marines, so they definitely know the basics of both, granting the majority of the chapter great theoretical tactical flexibility.
*'''[[Intercessor]] Squad''': Those Primaris Marines who are armed uniformly with some version of Bolt Rifle-either the standard version, the more mobile Auto Bolt Rifle, or the longer-ranged Stalker bolt rifle. Their role on the battlefield is to set up lines of fire and advance on and secure objectives much in a similar way to Tactical Squads; although they lack their little brothers' overall flexibility due to their exclusive use of Bolt Rifle variants, it is said that a combination of these units with other squads is invaluable to a commander.
*'''[[Infiltrator]] Squad:''' Recon Primaris Marines wearing a slightly lighter armament, but are expected to perform extended operations behind enemy lines. All Primaris Marines can revert to Vanguard Marines at any time, though Primaris Marines from the reserve companies often get seconded to frontline companies in this way.

====Fire Support====
*'''[[Devastator Squad|Devastator]]''': Devastator Marines can be summed up in three words: Blow shit up. The purpose of the Devastator is to provide heavy weapons fire in battle, artillery strikes, and hunting tanks. Once a Scout earns his Black Carapace and Power Armor, he will be attached to a Devastator Squad, allowing him to gain battlefield experience by watching the conflict from afar, with the added perk of allowing a new marine to bond with his armor while learning its strengths by lugging heavy weapons around. Unlike [[Sisters of Battle]], the Devastator title refers to organization rather than weapon skill. Devastator squads will contain both heavy weapons and bolter marines who act as spotters and loaders. Likewise, the heavy weapon marines in tactical squads are tactical marines, not devastators.
**'''Devastator [[Centurion Squad]]s:''' Devastators trained to wear Centurion Warsuits, allowing them to carry considerably more firepower than any other marine short of a dreadnought. Centurion squads are organised in combat squads of three rather than five, which means that the reorganization of the codex to accommodate more variety actually means leftover soldiers can bulk up other Demi-squads without interfering with the 100 man standard.
*'''[[Hellblaster]] Squads:''' Primaris Marines who show a particular talent for marksmanship are elevated to the position of Hellblaster, which makes them a sort of elite promotion rather than Devastators who are often newbies. The reason for this is because the Plasma Incinerators they wield are very rare and difficult to maintain, and so are be entrusted to the care of a warrior who can put them to best use. Their role is to provide dedicated anti-armor firepower without sacrificing mobility in the process, and assault and heavy variants of the Plasma Incinerator also exist for greater effectiveness against massed light infantry and vehicles, respectively.
*'''[[Aggressor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines equipped with Mk X Gravis Armour and Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets and Flame Gauntlets (essentially power fists with built-in bolters or flamers, respectively). in the case of the former, they may also use shoulder-mounted grenade launchers to further supplement their firepower. Aggressors fulfill a similar role to Centurions and are also organised into combat squads of three, but Aggressors are somewhat more lightly armed in exchange for superior maneuverability. Their role is to provide close-range anti-infantry fire support to an advancing force as they move in for the kill.
*'''[[Eliminator]] Squad''': Marksmen Vanguard Marines wearing stripped down Phobos Armour, coming with a Shrike Pattern Bolt Rifle with special ammunition. Their duty is to hunt for targets of opportunity while being extra stealthy.
*'''[[Suppressor]] Squad:''' Come with Omnis Pattern Armour, which is a lighter variant of Gravis Armour equipped with various jump packs, grav chutes and shock absorbers. Unlike Inceptor Marines the aren't meant for crashing onto the battlefield from low orbit and cause havoc, but are instead intended to maneuver themselves into position and lay down withering fire with their Accelerator Autocannons.

====Close Support====
*'''[[Assault Squad|Assault]]''': Assault Marines are those who specialize in melee combat, using [[Chainsword|Chain]] and [[Power weapon]]s alike to fuck up the enemies of the [[Imperium of Man]]. In addition, they also take to the field wearing jump packs which allows them to deepstrike onto the battlefield, move quickly from point to point, and even execute a jet-fueled charge of awesomeness into the enemy. This is the next stop in a new Marine's career when he graduates from the Devastator squads (Blood Angels start as Assault and become Devastators), helping to familiarize him with any weapons he hasn't used yet, and putting him through the crushing psychological stress of hand-to-hand combat under something resembling optimal conditions. Assault marines can also use bikes, attack bikes, landspeeders, drop pods, Rhinos, and Razorbacks.
**'''Assault Centurion Squads:''' Assault Marines trained to use the Centurion warsuits for siege breaking and trench clearing.
*'''[[Inceptor]] Squads:''' Primaris marines who fulfill an analogue to the Assault squad role, though their function is less about engaging the enemy at close quarters and more to act as the spearhead unit that will arrive in advance of the main force and secure the drop zone. Their Assault Bolters and Plasma Exterminators are surprisingly powerful for their size, allowing Inceptors to perform deadly hit-and-run attacks.
*'''[[Reiver]] Squads:''' Primaris specialists in shock and awe tactics, who fill a role somewhere between Assault Squad and Scouts. Their mission profile is to create confusion and terror by attacking from unexpected angles, so to do this they can either infiltrate onto the battlefield or glide in silently on grav chutes. In battle, they can choose to wield either a paired combat blade and heavy bolt pistol for melee use or a bolt carbine for close-quarters firefights.
*'''[[Incursor]] Squads''': Vanguard marines clad in lightweight Phobos Armor made flushing out hidden positions and close-combat. Their special Occulus Bolt Carbines and Multi-Spectrum Arrays allow them to detect enemies in any circumstance, while their haywire mines can cripple vehicles. Curiously, these are the only marines that seem to know how to dual-wield their knives effectively enough to be standard-issue.

====Others====
*'''[[Scout|Scout Squad]]''': Scout Marines are Neophyte Space Marines who are charged with scouting terrain and enemy positions, in addition to demolitions and what we would today call special forces operations. A risky job, but this has the effect of ensuring that the more cautious ones survive while the reckless and foolish are weeded out.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran]]''': Veteran Marines are those who have seen through several centuries, allowing them access to all the cool toys in the Chapter's armory. They're hopefully experienced and cool-headed enough not to, say, [[Dakka|super-glue the relic blade of the founder to the codpiece of their armor to skullfuck the enemies of mankind.]] A Chapter's first company veterans get to wear [[Terminator]] armor (the Crux Terminatus is a cross between a medal and authorization papers), but they sometimes stay with normally-sized power armor instead, which is instead slowly turned into Artificer armor by all the bling and enhancements. Power-armored Veterans are divided into two subgroups: Vanguard (who focus on close quarters combat) and Sternguard (who focus on bolter drills and other forms of ranged warfare).

The first and tenth companies '''very''' rarely take to the field as single formations. Instead, the veterans are seconded to other companies, often serving as commanding officers and sergeants to other squads, so as to spread their experience and skill as widely as possible. Whilst the same is also said of Scouts, who are attached to other companies as auxiliary units so that they can learn their trades alongside their more experienced brothers.

A very common codex variant is to keep a company's veterans attached to their parent company permanently, acting as an additional squad in a company and assisting the captain and his command staff where necessary, filling the role of champion, standard bearer and any other administrative positions. These men are very seldom counted as part of the 100 man structure of the company and are instead counted amongst the command staff. More rarely the Veterans will supplant one of the tactical squads, particularly when they act autonomously from the Captain and form the line of battle instead of as a command squad, or in an even greater deviation from the codex, adding an extra squad that is counted amongst the company's order of battle. This organization is used by the [[Space Sharks]], [[Iron Hands]], [[Iron Snakes]], [[Executioners]], [[Dark Angels]] and others.

===Ranks===

The Codex Astartes formalized and simplified the ranks among the Adeptus Astartes, eliminating some ranks like "commander", while adding some more. They include:

*'''[[Chapter Master]]''': The grand poobah of the Chapter. He is the one who gives Marine companies their assignments, and is under no obligation to recognize any external authority save for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], though most Chapter masters will recognize and honor (if not obey) the authority of the Inquisition and the Administratum. A chapter master is not merely the commander-in-chief of the chapter, he is also expected to be an administrator, a paragon of martial skill, a councilor, a tactician, a strategist, and often even an admiral or a planetary governor, as the chapter master will typically have ultimate authority over the chapter's homeworld, or home fleet in the case of crusading chapters. Needless to say, chapter masters are some of the most formidable individuals in the galaxy, rivaled only by the greatest heroes and monsters of other races.

*'''[[Brother-Captain|Captain]]''': Captains are the commanders of Companies, overseeing their Marines from the front line instead of the back. Captains are usually promoted from the senior Sergeant in the Company. The most senior is the First Captain, who commands the Veteran 1st Company, and is often the official heir apparent to the Chapter Master. Each Company Captain also holds a Chapter-level position of authority, supervising his Chapter's fleet, vehicle pool, recruits, or territory, for example.

*'''Lieutenant:''' with the unveiling of Cawl's new Primaris Marines came a slight reorganisation of codex companies and delegation of officers duties. Each space marine company would have two lieutenants subservient to its captain, though their exact duties can vary from chapter to chapter. ''(Salamanders lieutenants are [[This Guy|ceremonial bodyguards]] for their Captain, whilst Iron Hands lieutenants are [[That Guy|naysmiths]] charged with arguing against their Captain's battle plans in order to ensure his logic is free from human error)'' Largely, their main function is to act as an executive to their Captain and take command of the demi-companies when the company splits (one per demi-company), and allowing specialist officers such as Chaplains and Librarians to actually focus on their roles rather than taking command themselves. Which makes sense considering specialist officers trained for a particular duty may be no more qualified to command than any other battle brother.
**As with Captains, there is no actual requirement for Lieutenants to be Primaris Marines, and as it stands, regular Astartes lieutenants are more flexible thanks to the wider range of compatible wargear.
*'''Force Commander''': Not a rank but a title given to the commander of a task force (duh), either given if more than one company is fighting at the same time in which case it would be the senior captain or if the company has to split up and a junior officer such as a lieutenant takes command of forces aside from his own captain.

*'''[[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]]''': Sergeants lead squads of four to nine other Marines depending on the influx of recruits. There are approximately ten sergeants per Codex approved Company. Often, the most senior sergeant will be the commander of a company's "First Squad" ''(usually a Tactical Squad)'' and will likely be next in line for a promotion if the Captain is ever slain, but not always. Members of the Captain's Command Squad may also be Sergeants who get additional duties as the Captain's role might require.

*'''[[Veteran Squad|Veteran-Sergeant]]''': Not a "rank" exactly, but more of a recognition of status for those who have been members of a Chapter's First Company, quite frequently these guys get redistributed back to the lower companies to act as squad leaders where their experience will do some good, hence "Veteran Sergeant". These guys will usually get to wear the "Crux Terminatus" even when in power armour, to represent the fact that they have earned the right to use Terminator Armour. Note that Veteran Sergeants can serve in the ranks of the Scouts, Devastators, and Assault Marines despite being technically overqualified, in each case helping the new recruits to adapt to Chapter life. In old 3rd Edition rules you could get Captains without terminator honours, which kind of implied that they never passed through the first company but still got command, nowadays a Captain is just one thing.

*'''Champion''': Champion is actually a number of positions within a chapter, with each company having a champion, the chapter as a whole having a champion, and a champion being drawn from within the ranks of the honour guard to serve as the personal champion of the chapter master (though these last two positions are often held by the same marine). A champion is theoretically the best close quarters fighter in a company, charged with protection of the Captain from all threats. Given that your average Captain is a badass in power armor, this may seem redundant, but it's supposed to allow him to focus on coordinating the battle. One of the biggest dissonances between the crunch and fluff is manifested with the champions, in that on the tabletop officers are almost universally more formidable than the champions that are supposedly there to protect them. Also, rather hilariously, the current status of their chapter champion is one of the only breaks the Ultramarines have with the Codex Astartes, due to the raging ego of one [[Cato Sicarius]].

*'''[[Honour Guard]]''': Like a veteran-veteran, assumed to be the best of the best. These guys get bunched together and given some of the best gear available to the chapter. The fluff tells us that these guys are peers of Captains in terms of battlefield experience, but do not have the command rank to actually issue any orders, though when Honour Guard speak up it's advised that the officers nearby listen carefully. Thankfully the tabletop game is balanced not to give a whole squad full of Captain-equivalent soldiers.

*'''Standard Bearer''': The Company Standard Bearer, given the title of '''Ancient''' ''(the old term for Ensign, who was traditional standard bearer)'', is charged with carrying and protecting the Company Standard, or banner. Also frequently joins the Command Squad. Should a Company Standard Bearer drop the banner and let it fall to the ground, he will essentially forfeit his honor. If the Standard Bearer should be killed and the banner stolen, then the entire Company will be dishonored until the banner is reclaimed. Which means that if you steal a Company Standard, you now have nearly one hundred Space Marines who were just trying to kill you, but now you had to go and make it personal. The most elite of these is the Chapter Standard Bearer ''(often a member of the Honour Guard)'', who carries the Chapter banner in war.

===Other Departments===
Outside of the above mentioned battle ranks, there are other positions within a Chapter:

====Librarium====
A chapter may have any number of librarians, with no Codex-mandated minimum or maximum. The fact that psykers, let alone Astartes psykers, are rare makes the position self-limiting.
*'''Chief Librarian''': The head of the Librarium, who assigns [[Librarian]]s to assist in battlefield communications. Also tests to see whether or not his battle-brothers are tainted by [[Chaos]]
*'''Epistolary:''' The highest rank below Chief Librarian, Epistolaries serve as the main communication aides on the battlefield.
*'''Codicier:''' Mid-level Librarians, who evaluate reports from campaigns and document them in their Librariums.
*'''Lexicanum:''' Entry-level Librarians, they are responsible for compiling battlefield reports for the Codiciers.
*'''Acolytum:''' Neophytes who have been identified as psykers.

====Apothecarion====
A chapter may have any number of apothecaries, although the Codex mandates at least 11 (one per Company, plus the Chief Apothecary).

*'''Master of the Apothecarion''': The head of the Apothecarion, who assigns an [[Apothecary]] to each Company. The Apothecarion in turn also takes care of the [[gene-seed]] that Chapters place such holy emphasis on, and for good reason: no gene-seed - no new recruits. Also, considering the relatively practical and utilitarian approach marines take to science, Masters of the Apothacarion are some of the only actual scientists in the entire freaking Imperium, if you don't count the ones that pray to their own bionic elbows, which you shouldn't.

====The Chaplaincy====
A chapter may have any number of chaplains, although the Codex mandates at ''least'' 11 (One per Company, plus the Reclusiarch/Master of Sanctity).
*'''Master of Sanctity''': The head of the Chaplaincy, and spiritual leader of the Chapter. He assigns [[Chaplain]]s to the Companies to oversee the spiritual health of the Chapter. This position is often, but not always, held by the chapter's Reclusiarch. Though it might be tempting to compare them to warrior bishops, they're actually atheists, seeing the Emperor as an honored predecessor and the epitome of humanity, but not a god.
*'''Reclusiarch''': The Chaplain who oversees the Chapter's Reclusiam ''(where they keep the relics and other secret historical stuff)''. But quite often the job gets rolled-up into the Master of Sanctity's job description (particularly if the Chapter is relatively young and has not accrued entire millennia worth of trinkets). It's uncertain what interaction ''(if any)'' they have with the Master of Relics, or it is quite possible that a Chaplain receives the role if that Captain of the 9th company gets a different position. Or, maybe, the Reclusiarch looks after the more "holy" and historically significant relics, and distributes some of them to Chaplains to carry in battle, while the Master of Relics okays the deployment of precious but combat worthy stuff like ancient marks of power armour or Heresy-era tanks, as Master of the Forge is technically a specialist position, not an authoritative one.

====Armoury====
A Chapter's armoury consists of any number of [[Techmarine]]s and dedicated vehicle operators, who do not formally get assigned to any Company.
*'''Master of the Forge''': The head of the Armoury, who assigns [[Techmarine]]s to oversee maintenance of the machine-spirits of the chapter's wargear and motor pool. Their position often overlaps to some degree with the Chapter's Reclusiarch, given that both are responsible for keeping the chapter's relics in good condition, so many artifacts will fall under both of their duties. Again, given that their religious zeal is tempered by the practical mindset of a space marine, Masters of the Forge are some of the only engineers in the galaxy that are actually still innovating to any degree, which really shows when you compare the armories of the modern space marine chapters with their traitorous counterparts.
*All Space Marines are required to familiarise themselves with operation of Rhino tanks at the very least as part of their standard training.
**Drivers of the armoury vehicles are referred to as '''Custodians''' ''(unrelated to the [[Adeptus Custodes|golden bananas]])'' many of whom are assigned when necessary from the squads of the 6th & 7th reserve companies. They are expected to continue their development through the companies and learn ''every'' aspect of war so that vehicle commanders better anticipate the roles of Tactical/Assault/Devastator and provide battlefield support without even being requested. That is unless they get assigned to the armoury on a more permanent basis, such as being trained to operate larger, more precious vehicles and/or end up specialising in armoured operations.
**Battlefield support vehicles tend not to be assigned permanent crews, and are manned by individuals capable of operating a number of chapter vehicles, helped in part to the ubiquity of the Rhino chassis and the standard training.
*Dreadnoughts are typically assigned back to their original companies, and appear sporadically across a chapters roster, though some chapters assign Dreadnoughts to their own formations instead. However the technology to build even the most basic dreadnought is rare and time consuming; even for master artificers, so the number is limited. But even then, the frequency of wakefulness decreases over time and they get used less and less.

====The Fleet====
A chapter is allowed a fleet of as many ships as it can get together, and may assign Marines to these ships as permanent staff, in a similar fashion to the Armoury, although the Codex is significantly more flexible on Fleet staff. A chapter can be Codex compliant without any Marines in their Fleet at all. Ship designations made for Space Marines have a fairly narrow band of marine transport capacity, between one to three companies worth, which does not change significantly between chapters. Therefore, while a chapter could theoretically muster a fleet of any size, the practical restraints limit the upper and lower bands of a chapter fleet's size.

*'''Lord Admiral''': Often the Captain of the 4th company gets this position by default as "Master of the Fleet", but it's [[Uriel Ventris|not unheard of for a Captain to step down]] from the position if someone else would be better suited to the role; they call that person "Lord Admiral", and he gets command over the Chapter's fleet assets. Though it might be perfectly reasonable that that space marine holds a battlefield rank of Battle-Brother or Sergeant, so he's probably just temporary until the Captain ''(or his replacement)'' wants the job back.
*'''Lieutenant Commander''': In the days of the Great Crusade, these individuals commanded battalions of five companies, outranking Captains and were subservient to Chapter Masters. We know of [[Marines Errant|only one example]] of this rank though it is uncertain whether the title holds the same authority as before. From what we know it now applies to the commander of a vessel, which makes sense since most Space Marine chapters have more ships than Captains, so ''somebody'' has to get the job of commanding them. Though often we assume it's just a techmarine or sergeant of whichever squad gets attached to that vessel or more likely a badass high ranking [[Chapter Serf]] who doesn't need to be superhuman to understand how spaceships operate.
**With the advent of the company rank of Lieutenant, it is uncertain as to how the Lieutenant Commander actually fits in the new command structure: whether it is a superior form of Lieutenant with new duties ''(which is what the rank itself implies)'' or if it is a Lieutenant who has been officially combined with the Force Commander role ''(see above)'' and has his own units set aside from his company that he commands on a full time basis. Or more likely, considering that Space Marines tend to hold to an army chain of command rather than a naval hierarchy, the rank is probably an honorific title that stands alongside their company rank such as with the Lord Admiral. It is also quite possible this is now the same as a old ''naval'' Lieutenant Commander, which was a ''Lieutenant'' serving as the ''Commander'' of a vessel.

==Codex Skub==
In case you haven't picked up on it yet, the Codex is rather controversial, for a number of reasons. First off, and perhaps most significantly, is the fact that even GW's own writers don't agree on what the codex is. [[Dan Abnett|Saint Abnett]] views it as a book of tips and strategies, comparable to ''The Art of War''. Graham McNeill (the guy who wrote the Ultramarines Omnibus) sees it as a comprehensive but inflexible guide to strategy, organization, and conduct. Matt Ward quite famously sees it as a literal Space Marine Bible, a holy book that all marines follow to the letter. Like a lot of GW lore, the canon is up in the air, and as such it's kind of open to interpretation. When it comes down to it, most of the argument over the codex comes down to people saying, "The Codex is a detrimental, absurd tome written by an OCD fucker that only serves to weaken the Imperium!" and others saying, "The Codex is one of the most important things in the entire imperium, setting down the rules that have allowed it to survive to the modern day!" Both people are correct because of the nebulous canon. Many writers are clearly very critical of the Codex, and portray it as antiquated and damaging, whereas others portray it as comprehensive and useful, but increasingly antiquated. Also there's Ward, but let's not talk about him. Which version is true? Yes.

It's also worthy of note that many people within the Ultramarines take the Codex with a grain of salt. [[Captain Titus]], [[Uriel Ventris]], and even [[Marneus Calgar]] and the freaking [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch himself]] have all been critical of the codex at various times, or rather, been critical of people's reception of it. All of these people see the codex as useful and important, but take issue with people, Ultramarines or otherwise, that see it as a holy book that contains everything you need to know. Perhaps Guilliman himself put it best, saying, ''"[My teachings] are yet flawed. No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."'' As the opening quote implies, Captain Titus is also quite critical of Leandros's interpretation of the codex, pointing out that personal initiative is just as important as adhering to the codex. Then again, Titus is also quite clearly a company champion who got mixed up for a captain, what with his disregard for tactics in favor of glorious melee, so maybe we should just ignore what he thinks.

Ultimately, your own take on the codex is going to depend on a number of things, including whose canon you believe, you opinion of the Legions, your opinion of Guilliman, and a dozen other things, just decide for yourself. Don't let yourself get pulled in by the fanboys saying the Codex is the perfect guide to everything, and conversely don't listen to the idiots who say the Codex is only useful as toilet paper.

=="Codex" Chapters with doctrinal variations==
More commonly, are those chapters which follow the codex at an organisational level, but disregard certain tactical aspects contained within, most likely because they have their own modus-operandi that they have a preference for, or because they create their own unique tactics that had never been considered.

'''[[Aurora Chapter]]'''
*Follows the Codex Astartes, yet has a large number of vehicles.
*They have a lot of vehicles.
*For a 1000 man sized Chapter, they have a lot of tanks.
*Of all the Codex Chapters they have the most tanks.
*Their armored spearhead attacks are pretty devastating.

'''[[Charnel Guard]]'''
*Cannot say too much about those guys since they are very secretive, thus their organisation and structure are completely unknown.
*Are confirmed to be Blood Angels successors, yet as said before, they are totally unknown from a organisational and structural P.O.V.
*Have a lot of Great Crusade and Horus Heresy Era stuff, including a Fellblade.

'''[[Crimson Fists]]'''
*More tactically oriented [[Imperial Fists]].
*Actually do follow the Codex more closely than other Sons of Dorn (but not that much like the Hammers of Dorn).
*At the time of their founding, they were known to be the most level-headed members of the Imperial Fists Legion, therefore took in the Codex much faster and easier.
*Only deviation is the existence of a Crusader Company that is a 1st Company that has 128 Veterans. A result of an event where they were reduced to 128 members during the Crusade of Righteous Liberation.
*Due to the whole situation with Rynn's World, the Chapter became very capable at fighting [[Orks]].

'''[[Emperor's Shadows]]'''
*Iron Hands Successors that follow the Codex.
*Put more emphasis on projectile weapons (like Bolter Weapons) and Dreadnoughts.

'''[[Hammers of Dorn]]'''
*Follow the Codex to the letter, yet do put more emphasis on heavy weapons and overwhelming firepower.
*No really, they follow the ABSOLUTE LETTER of the codex.
*Not even the [[Ultramarines]](Famous for having the primarch that wrote the damn thing) follow the codex more rigidly than them.
*They probably actually read the Codex from cover to cover.

'''[[Hawk Lords]]'''
*Codex compliant, yet put large emphasis on flyers.

'''[[Minotaurs]]'''
*Instead of sending out a single company, the Minotaurs utilize mob and berserker tactics along with sending out all ten of their companies to utterly overwhelm and crush their foes.

'''[[Raptors]]'''
*[[Reasonable Marines|Camouflage Power Armour]]. Technically this IS in the codex, but they're the [[Derp|only space marine chapter out of literally thousands]] that actually bothers to do it. They're also sneeki beekies, just like their Raven Guard progenitors.

'''[[Raven Guard]]'''
*Sneeki Cheeki [[beakie|Beekies]]. While they do follow the codex, their chapter is renowned for its skill with [[Reasonable Marines|stealth tactics and guerilla warfare]]. It also made extensive use of mutants (during the [[Horus Heresy]]) due to their situation after the Drop Site Massacre.

'''[[Space Sharks|Space Sharks/Carcharodons]]'''
*Greater emphasis on infantry and terror tactics.
*Will sneak up as close as possible to the enemy to later tear them a new one in close combat while berserking.
*May be organisationally non compliant as well, but they are quite tight lipped about it.
*Like the Iron Hands and Dark Angels, they keep veterans in their battle companies to maintain coherency within the companies.

'''[[Storm Giants]]'''
*Codex compliant, but utilize armoured assaults, Drop Pod strikes, and heavily use Scouts to get intel before ruining someone's day.
*Due to their heavy use of Scouts, they have a larger than average 10th Company.

'''[[White Scars]] and some Successors'''
*Disproportionate emphasis put on bikes and speeders compared to heavy vehicles, still adhering to codex formation however.

==Chapters with differences in formations or composition==
Some chapters have taken the idea of a "Chapter" and tweaked it with their own unique spin on its organization, either by adding units or ranks that aren't found anywhere else, or have their own composition of companies that doesn't fit with the approved codex model. In some cases they may ignore the codex altogether and do their own thing.

'''[[Black Dragons]]'''
*Dragon Claw squads, made up of mutants who make use of adamantium-coated wrist blades.

'''[[Blood Ravens]]'''
*'''Pre-Aurelian Crusade''':
**Usually, the Chapter Master was the Chief Librarian too, like [[Azariah Kyras]]. This tradition of Chapter Master/Librarian combo started with Azariah Vidya (as in Vidya Games or the Indian term for knowledge, science, scholarship, learning and etc.).
**Their gene seed causes them to have an above average number of Librarians, so many they can field two whole squads of them in the First Company. Librarians are so recurrent among Blood Ravens that it's not uncommon for one to even be a Captain.
**Actually Codex Compliant in structure, yet utilize their Librarians to scry and predict the movements of their enemies (so their Scouts are Librarians too?) and use the intel to formulate a counter strategy (because they appeared in [[Dawn of War]], their way of war is an emulation of how RTS gamers play when they are serious).
**Non-standard patterns of [[Apollo_Diomedes|speech]], incidents of [[Blood_Ravens_Force_Commander|hairesy]], compulsive [[Blood_Ravens#Bloody_Magpies|kleptomania]] and emphasis on [[Indrick_Boreale|devastating, defensive deep-strikes]].
*'''Post-Aurelian Crusade''':
**With [[Gabriel Angelos]], a non-psyker, taking the position of Chapter Master and separating the Chapter Master and Chief Librarian positions, they returned to a more codex-compliant organization, albeit severely undermanned pre-[[Indomitus Crusade]].

'''[[Blood Angels]] and Successors'''
*[[Scout]]s graduate to [[Assault Squad]]s rather than to Devastator squads to work out Red Thirst related anger issues.
*The use of [[Heresy|non-standard tech]], like Baal Predators, Furioso and [[Dreadnought#Chapter_Specific_Dreads|Librarian Dreadnoughts]].
*Sanguinary Priests (Apothecaries) make up part of the chapter priesthood equivalent to Chaplains, who are busy tending to...
*...The [[Death Company]].

'''[[Dark Angels]] and Successors'''
*The [[Deathwing]] & [[Ravenwing]] instead of First and Second companies. As of 8th edition, this modification has been officially approved by Guilliman, ostensibly on account of their proven effectiveness.
*Inner Circle in place of the usual chapter command structure.
*Chaplains taking the additional role of [[Chaplain#Dark_Angels_Interrogator-Chaplain|Interrogators]].
*Battle Companies incorporate an additional squad of [[Veteran Squad|veteran marines]] picked from within the company.
*Some nifty STCs that they do not share with anybody apart from their own successors (The Mortis Dreads and Land Raider Ares).

'''[[Executioners]]'''
*Disregard many of the Codex's rules and trappings, but nonetheless follow the ten company outline.
*Choose to go into close combat with the enemy, while heavily preferring Land Speeders over Bikes.
*Heavy emphasis on their own skills and superhuman abilities enhanced with sheer determination.
*Each company has three [[Chaplain|Death Speakers]].
*Battle Companies have only one Devastator Squad each, but can field their own Veteran Squads.

'''[[Exorcists]]'''
*Have two additional scout companies to account for the high attrition rate amongst recruits.
*...said attrition rate being caused by subjecting recruits to daemonic possession.

'''[[Imperial Fists]]'''
*Apparently picked up a loophole from the Blood Angels and have their scouts immediately go to the Assault reserve company to work out their unbridled aggression before becoming Fire Support.

'''[[Iron Hands]]'''
*Have a Chapter Council instead of a fixed [[Chapter Master]], though a leader may be nominated.
*Chaplain Techmarines, aka "[[Chaplain#Iron_Hands_Iron_Father|Iron Fathers]]".
**The current leader is thus a Chapter Master Chaplain Techmarine. And people say the Blood Ravens are the crazy ones.
*Each Clan Company has its own armoury, rather than a single armoury for the whole chapter.
*Terminator Armour was distributed to squad sergeants instead of being reserved only for the First company. It's uncertain if this still exists as of 8E.
*Pre-6th Edition fluff indicated that individual companies (clans) had their own veterans and recruits, newer fluff put them more in line with the Codex on the surface.

'''[[Iron Snakes]]'''
*Instead of having five regular battle companies and five reserve companies, the Iron Snakes have ten battle companies with an equal number of veterans, regulars and neophytes for perfect balance.
*Each squad has a Apothecary, personal Squad Standard Bearer and a number of specialists of their own.

'''[[Red Scorpions]]'''
*Apothecaries act in squad command roles instead of sergeants.
*Functionally the opposite of the Raptors, the Red Scorpions ignore all of the codex's teachings on stealth.

'''[[Salamanders]]'''
*Have seven oversized companies instead of ten, but otherwise broadly conform to the codex.
*Have three Masters of the Forge, usually tending to more specialized matters since most battle-brothers can maintain their own wargear.

'''[[Star Phantoms]]'''
*Each company takes a [[Devastator Squad]] over a [[Tactical Squad]], leaving five Tactical and three Devastators in the battle companies
*The chapter is never at full strength, seldom even at half, but maintains weapons as though they were. Their "tactical" reserve companies can fill in for full devastator squads, if needed.

'''[[Storm Wardens]]'''
*Tempest Blades being a non-codex formation.
*Heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and mano-a-mano honorable duels to the death.

'''[[Ultramarines]]'''
*Tyrannic War Veterans are a non-codex formation.
*Originally, Guilliman deliberately gave himself an 11th company in contravention of his own rules for the sole purpose of guarding the [[Imperium Secundus|Pharos]]. Though this company got [[Scythes of the Emperor|rolled into its own chapter]] while the Adeptus Terra were doing their audits for an unanticipated Third Founding.
*The Ultramarines still have an [[Ultramarines Honour Company|"apparent" 11th company]] that guards the Eye of Terror; made up of volunteer squads donated from their successors but all wearing Ultramarine uniforms.
*After Guilliman's return, he appointed Decimus Felix as an 11th captain/equerry ''(no particular company assigned at this time)''. The break with the codex was enough to give Felix cause for concern. Later, Guilliman appointed him Tetrarch and gave him authority over Ultramar's Eastern expanses.
*[[Cato Sicarius]] is still the 11th ''(12th/13th?)'' Captain. He now commands the [[Victrix Guard]], which is a new formation of Veterans who act as Guilliman's bodyguards and envoys.

'''[[White Consuls]]'''
*Have [[Alpharius|two Chapter Masters]] instead of one

==Non-Codex Chapters==
As mentioned, there are so many chapters in the Imperium and very few of them follow the codex absolutely to the letter. Many chapters have their own preferred mode of warfare based upon their experiences, supplies and dispositions, often they generate their own interpretations and deviations from the codex. Here follows a comparative listing of those chapters and the way in which they differ from what the codex actually prescribes.

'''[[Astral Claws]]'''
*'''Pre-[[Red Corsairs]] Times''': Before [[Lugft Huron]] went pants-on-heads retarded, the Chapter was known for being exceptionally stubborn with skilled Bikers and favoring lightning strikes and boarding actions while still following the Codex.
*'''[[Badab War]] Times''':
**Due to Huron's pants-on-heads retarded thinking, the Chapter seized the Badab Sector's industry and made it so that Bolter rounds and Rhinos were mass-produced to the point being expendable, not to mention the larger-than-standard number of marines due to them purposefully not paying their geneseed tithe.
**Emergence of specialized units (such as the hated Corpse-Takers) and human Auxilia. Squads larger due to aforementioned not paying of the geneseed tithe.

'''[[Black Templars]]'''
*"Chapter" made up of ad-hoc crusade fleets and fighting companies, their numbers thus swelling up to six times the size of everyone else's.
*No Scout company, instead recruits are apprenticed to fully fledged battle-brothers, aka "Crusader squads".
*No Librarians.
*Doctrinal emphasis on close quarters combat.
**Abundance of previously unsanctioned Land Raider "Crusader"s to deliver said Crusader squads to CQC. See the trend here?
*May or may not deify the Emperor. The canon is kind of up in the air right now.
**The position of "Emperor's Champion", a Chapter Champion-esque title but of faith significance.

'''[[Grey Knights]]'''
*Due to their unique training and equipment (not to mention the [[Chaos|intimidatingly]] [[Chaos Space Marines|insane]] [[Daemon|shit]] they have to deal with), the Codex would actually hamper them instead.
*All psyker Chapter of Demon hunting marines. Nuff said.
*The infamous [[Dreadknight]].
*When the Neophyte ends his training, he becomes a battle brother and is issued a suit of power armour and his standard wargear.
*Do not have any artillery weapons like Whirlwind Artillery Tanks or lack of certain vehicles other Chapters have.

'''[[Legion of the Damned]]'''
*Previously Codex adherent [[Fire Hawks]] (maybe, now it's uncertain if they are Fire Hawks or somebody/something completely different), now a horde of angry hellfire powered, space/time/dimension travelling, [[AWESOME|spectrerevenantdemonspacemarines]].
*Utilize more powerful, but unstable early versions of existing Imperial Weapons like early Horus Heresy Era Plasma Weapons.

'''[[Space Wolves]]'''
*Ignore the organizational parts of the codex outright. It would be easier to go [[Space Wolves|their page]] to find out how they are organised.
*Simply put, [[Leman Russ]] wanted them to be forged in his vision instead that of Roboute Guilliman, and Guilliman gave him permission to do so.
*Although they do however take some useful tactics from the codex because they like them, they see them as just that: useful tactics, and nothing more.
*Fenrisian Wolves/Thunderwolves used by the Chapter. This may or may not be heresy.
*Have more than a thousand marines, yet not that much as the Black Templars.
*Threw the typical training process out the window because of the Canis Helix.
*In the previous editions, they had access to Leman Russ tanks (since the tank was named after their Primarch).
*Wolf Priests combine both Chaplain and Apothecary roles.
*Their Scouts are [[Ork Kommando|<strike>quiet psychopaths</strike> veteran loners]]

==Purpose for Gamers==

Of course, there's a reason [[Games Workshop]] included the Codex Astartes in their fluff (long before Matt Ward came along, by the way). Basically, it makes it easier for players to invent their own Chapters.

Players who just have an idea for a cool color scheme or name but don't want to put any effort into making up a whole organizational layout can just make a Chapter that rigidly follows the Codex, like the [[Ultramarines]]. Those who want to have one or two unique organizational or tactical features can make a Chapter that generally follows the Codex but has some variances, like...well, most of them (see above). And players that want to make up entirely independent structures themselves can make Chapters that ignore the Codex entirely, like the [[Space Wolves]] or the [[Black Templars]].

This means that [[Matt Ward]]'s Codex worship isn't just lame, but actually bad for GW's business: By telling players that only Codex Chapters are any good, he's discouraging players with their own ideas from investing in models, paints, tournaments, and maybe even later editions of the game. Truly, there is no end to his failure.

{{Marines-Forces}}

Aquilon Terminator

2019-12-21T23:17:41Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB:

[[File:Aquilon-Terminator.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Time to lube up Heretics! The pain won't be over soon!]]

Aquilon Terminators are the mainstay Custodian Terminators of the <s>Bananas in Pajamas</s> THE MOST LOYAL GUARDS OF HIS MOST PIOUS MAJESTY (please stop shouting like one of those <s>treacherous lion-fuckers</s> NOBLE AND PROUD YET HUMBLE SERVANTS OF THE EMPEROR)! As you might expect, these guys are decked with weaponry and armor far, ''far'' superior that most vanilla [[Terminator|Terminators]] of the Space Marines. Their Aquilon Terminator Armour is based on Cataphractii Terminator Armour that has been 'redesigned' by the mind of the Emperor Himself for his elite forces to strike in critical locations that not even the [[Custodian Guard]] will find warm and fuzzy. Thus the Aquilon Terminators usually bust through the walls of enemy fortifications like a golden Kool Aid Man and proceed to ravage the ass of those [[Chaos Space Marines|Heretical Chaos Faggots.]]

Aquilon Terminators come equipped with a standard issue Lastrum Storm Bolter which can already turn heavily armoured infantry into mulch, but can be replaced by the following; Solarite Gauntlet, Solarite Talons, Adrathic Destructor and a Infernus Firepike.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemoi Aquilo] was the name of the Latin god of the northern winds. The direct relationship with the word ''aquila'' is no coincidence, because FW really needs to remind us how Big-E and his golden boys are fond of eagle stuff everywhere.

==On the Tabletop==
Like how the [[Custodian Guard]] [[Pretend|are murdermachines disguised as normal baseline troops,]] [[Rape|Aquilon Terminators are a walking pain train without brakes.]] Aquilon-pattern Terminator Armour is 2+ / 4++ and has Hammer of Wrath. Models in this armour can fire Heavy and Salvo weapons, counting as stationary, even if they moved in the movement phase. They may also charge after firing Rapid Fire, Heavy or Salvo weapons. They can't Run, but they can make Sweeping Advances and fire Overwatch. That's some pretty decent armour right there.

Weapon wise, standard armament is a Lastrum Storm Bolter (24", S:5 AP:4 Assault 2, Heliothermic Detonation) and a Solarite Gauntlet (S:x2 AP:1, Master Crafted, Unwieldy). Solarite Gauntlet can go to a Solarite Talons (S:+2, AP:3, Shred, Master Crafted). Storm Bolter can be swapped for TL Adrathic Destructor (12", S:5, AP:2, Assault 1, Instant Death, Armourbane, Gets Hot) or a Infernus Firepike (Template, S:6, AP:6, Heavy 1, Torrent)
Oh, by the way, Heliothermic Detonation on the Lastrum: [[FATAL|if a model takes an unsaved wound and is not killed must take an immediate Toughness test or suffer Instant Death.]] Vehicles that suffer a Penetrating Hit add 1 to the result on the damage table.

Teleportation Transponders just grant Deep Strike (nice to have on the cheap). Arae-Shrikes are a bit different and have two effects. Enemy models attempting to Deep Strike within 12" must roll a D6 before they determine the result of the Deep Strike - on a 4+ they suffer a Mishap (and this happens for all models, even those that can't Mishap). Plus any unit with a model with a Arae-Shrike targeted by a Barrage weapon, the attacking player must add another D6 to their scatter roll and pick the highest two results. A Hit remains a Hit however.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
image:AquilonPict.jpg|<center>Pict Capture</center>
image:Aquilon_Terminators.jpg|MOVE MOTHERFUCKERS! THE EMPEROR'S KOOL AID MAN IS HERE!
</gallery>

{{Custodes}}

Vorn Hagen

2019-12-21T22:41:37Z

2001:56A:F829:9000:BD66:333B:7AFA:11DB:

'''Vorn Hagen''' was a Chapter Master of the [[Imperial Fists]] and was the previous Captain of the 5th Company. He is best known for basically being [[Rogal Dorn|Dorn]] 2, and for constantly living in the shadow of his Chapter's own version of [[Cato Sicarius|I, Cato Sicarius]], the one and only [[Darnath Lysander]] (except that Lysander is way more better than that faggot Cunto Shitarius). While he's often left playing catchup to Lysander, you could pretty easily argue that Vorn Hagen is a much better Imperial Fist, even if Lysander might be the better warrior, because unlike Lysander, Vorn is actually a competent, level-headed leader. Hagen served alongside Lysander and the previous Chapter Master [[Vladimir Pugh]] on numerous campaigns up until the Infestation on Drashin.

As of the 8th ed Imperial Fists supplement, he has died and been replaced by Gregor Dessian as [[Chapter Master]]. How he died is unknown as all it says is, "he fell defending [[Terra]]", which could mean anything from him jumping down the neck of a [[Bloodthirster]] with a grenade in each hand, or he slipped on a banana peel and broke his neck.

== Infestation on Drashin ==
[[File:DrashinWar.jpg|right|320px]]
In 970.M41 a wild [[Space Hulk]] appeared over the planet Drashin and started pouring out [[Tyranids|'Nids]] onto the surface. The Imperial fists, led by Pugh, Lysander, and Hagen, and a few detachments of [[Imperial Guard]] responded to the planet's distress calls and a fierce battle ensued on the world's surface. Pugh, in a stroke of [[Creed|tactical genius]], decided it was a good idea to dive headfirst into the Hulk with only a few [[Centurion Squad|little cuties]] to serve as backup. After some time without hearing from their Chapter Master, and with their reinforcements blocked in Orbit by The [[Eldar]] ([[Eldrad|those dicks]]), Lysander and Hagen (but mostly Lysander) led a rescue mission into the hulk to find the missing Pugh. Lysander valiantly cleaved through hundreds of Tyranids and charged through the massive ship with Hagen close behind holding onto his cape so he didn't get lost. The two finally arrived at the center of the Hulk to find that their Chapter Master and most of his Centurions had been unsurprisingly torn to shreds by hundreds of [[Carnifex|T-Rex's]], newly birthed from the Norn Queen that was sitting in the middle of the room. Lysander ordered the remaining Centurions to [[Just As Planned|fire above the Norn Queen's head which caused molten lava to appear out of fucking nowhere and pour out of the ceiling onto her.]] With the Norn Queen's death, the Tyranid swarms broke apart and were swiftly defeated by the remaining Imperial Forces. Lysander and Hagen (who totally helped) returned to the rest of the Chapter with the corpse of the fallen Vladimir Pugh. The Chapter motioned that Lysander take up Pugh's stead as Chapter Master, but he refused, as it would cut into his valuable time [[Rip and tear|RIPPING AND TEARING]] the Imperium's enemies a new asshole. Dejected and let down, the Chapter then decided that Vorn Hagen should be Chapter Master, to which he said "Yeah, Okay."

== The Man Himself ==
Despite continually being overshadowed by Lysander and being completely un-depicted to this day, Vorn Hagen is noted as being a steadfast and wise leader of the Imperial Fists, as well as exemplifying Rogal Dorn's Ideal vision of a Space Marine. Despite all of this he's still no Lysander. God-Emperor, do we love that Lysander.

{{Marines-Characters}}
[[Category:Space Marines Chapter Masters]]