iron hands questions

[stormbird1]

ok guys, need your input.

The Umbra pattern bolters, which armour mark do they fit? Do they fit the mark 3?
I have been ghosting other sites and i'm getting confused on what i'm hearing about the bolter type.

Also the Mark 3 armour, how plentiful would they be in the Iron Hands? I'm asking because the fluff states that they were used for boarding actions and close confine areas. The Forge World mark 3's don't have assault arms, so would this go against fluff?

I was thinking of using Mk3 for assault and maybe tacticals. Mk4 for officers and devastators. Would this be right? What ratios would the armour marks be in a company?

Now how big was a pre-hersey company?

[ShroudFilm]

"Assault" does not mean the same as "close-assault", i.e. hand-to-hand. It usually means a specific directed attack. "Assault Marines" are only so named because they are pro-active in attacking the enemy.

Umbra bolters are basically the Rogue Trader ones. Some people prefer that look for any armour mark up to MK6, but I think they look best with MK1-MK3.

I don't think there is any fluff-based reason to limit armour marks to specific roles. Mix and match as you prefer. Generally, the only thing that each new mark of armour added to the Astartes repertoire over the previous mark, was 'more mobility, better protection'. I wouldn't be too tempted to overthink beyond that.

And for the umpteenth time, we don't really know how big companies were. Reports differ.

[stormbird1]

thanks shroud.

I know we have a thread detailing the armour marks, but do we have one detailing marine equipment? Like bolters, special weapons, and heavy weapons. It would be nice to have pictures of what they look like and maybe pictures of bits from FW or GW to give example of them.

What type of bolters go with Mk4 to mk6? The bolters that come with the normal GW marine box sets, are they just for mk7s?

[stormbird1]

ok, have some questions (yes again...lol). I just finished reading "Fallen Angels" by Mike Lee.

1) Did all Astartes worlds have to raise Imperial Guard regiments during the great crusade?

2) Would the Imperium take over each of the Astartes worlds to make them more productive for it, like what they did to Calban?

3) Would they have introduced more people to its native people (import more population to each planet), like Calban?

4) What would the Iron Hands world "Medusa" be classified as? Was it a death world?

I'm trying to get an idea as to what the Iron Hands' world of Medusa would have gone though. But the book does raise some interesting questions on how the Imperium rated progress.

[ShroudFilm]

AFAIK they had something which at least looks very much like the standard plastic 'Godwyn' pattern bolters as far back as pre-MK4. I wouldn't worry too much.

1) Astartes worlds? You mean, the primarchs' homeworlds? Interesting - my answer would be "probably" as all worlds were required to contribute tithes of some kind, and militarily-inclined worlds usually raised regiments to fulfill them. If a population was military enough to produce Astartes recruits, it's a fair bet that they also raised IA regiments.

2) I'm sure you now mean the primarchs' homeworlds. Remember that there were no Astartes on these worlds before the Imperium, and it would have taken a fair few years to start recruiting from the population and producing mature Astartes (10-15 years for full power armoured Astartes?) to supplement the existing Imperial forces from Terra and the other recruiting worlds. And yes, as per the first novel, when a new world was made compliant, Imperial personnel and structure would have been assembled to take control. It's the "Modernist" system where you give a central unity to all areas, regardless of individual composition.

3) See above.

4) I don't think it is a deathworld as such, just not a very nice place. Like Leeds.