One Space Marine in the Indian Mutiny

[hongi]

1 veteran Space Marine from the Imperial Fists Chapter is dropped into Delhi in July 1857. For whatever reason, he joins the Mughal side. He has his standard equipment, but only with enough ammo to last him two weeks.

His objective is to break the siege by destroying or crippling the British by whatever means necessary. The condition is that he cannot attain a high rank and order sepoys around. He has to fight.

If he manages to break the siege, how far can he realistically go in fighting the British?

[PeZook]

1 veteran Space Marine from the Imperial Fists Chapter is dropped into Delhi in July 1857. For whatever reason, he joins the Mughal side. He has his standard equipment, but only with enough ammo to last him two weeks.

His objective is to break the siege by destroying or crippling the British by whatever means necessary. The condition is that he cannot attain a high rank and order sepoys around. He has to fight.

If he manages to break the siege, how far can he realistically go in fighting the British?

He will hack them down one by one by one by one...and the British won't be able to do anything to him, power armor or no power armor.

As to how far he can go...he probably could walk all the way to Europe, swim through the English Channel, waltz into the Buckingham Palace and kill the entire royal family if he so wanted.

He'd die in several years, though, since Space Marines require an occasional system tune-up of sorts - their metabolisms are unstable and will deteriorate without Imperium-standard medical care.

[Aaron]

He'd die in several years, though, since Space Marines require an occasional system tune-up of sorts - their metabolisms are unstable and will deteriorate without Imperium-standard medical care.

I've never heard that before. Is that tucked away in a Codex?

[Lord of the Abyss]

He'd die in several years, though, since Space Marines require an occasional system tune-up of sorts - their metabolisms are unstable and will deteriorate without Imperium-standard medical care.

I've never heard that before. Is that tucked away in a Codex?

A reference to something like this perhaps.

Chemical treatment – Until his initiation, a Marine must submit to constant tests and examinations. The newly implanted organs must be monitored very carefully, imbalances corrected, and any sign of corrupt development treated. This chemical treatment is reduced after completion of the initiation process, but it never ends. Marines undergo periodic treatment for the rest of their lives in order to maintain a stable metabolism. This is why their power armour suits contain monitoring equipment and drug dispensers.

Bolding mine.

[Keevan_Colton]

They can go on for centuries though, which means periodic can be a damn long time apart.

[PeZook]

They can go on for centuries though, which means periodic can be a damn long time apart.

The question is - can they go on for centuries without support?

The Primarchs certainly can, but have there been any examples of ordinary Space Marines being separated from their chapter support infrastructure and remaining alive?

[Aaron]

The Primarchs certainly can, but have there been any examples of ordinary Space Marines being separated from their chapter support infrastructure and remaining alive?

The Ultramarines detachment in the Tales From The Dark Millennium story Fates Masters, Destiny's Servants were stranded on a planet for some eighty years with only a stone fort (that they built) and some serfs that they recruited from the locals. The only high tech equipment they had was their personal gear and a vox caster.

[PeZook]

The Ultramarines detachment in the Tales From The Dark Millennium story Fates Masters, Destiny's Servants were stranded on a planet for some eighty years with only a stone fort (that they built) and some serfs that they recruited from the locals. The only high tech equipment they had was their personal gear and a vox caster.

Ah. This looks bad for the British, then. Very bad

If the marine just collapsed after a decade or so, the Empire would've survived. If he doesn't, then, well...

[Aaron]

Ah. This looks bad for the British, then. Very bad

If the marine just collapsed after a decade or so, the Empire would've survived. If he doesn't, then, well...

These guys survived and stayed fit enough to help defeat a Chaos Marine force that landed on the planet at the end of their eighty years. But it should be noted that they were all seen by the Ultramarines that followed (in fact themselves thanks to Eldar goings-on) to be aged, so it's possible that they started to age faster than normal without service but they were still combat effective.

[Aaron]

Ghetto Edit: so like you said the Empire is fucked, don't know about him actually walking to England on the bottom of the Channel but he can always conscript a ship.

[Sarevok]

This is like a T-800 vs the Roman Empire. People will be born faster than the marine can kill them. Since he is forbidden from rank and command he won't be able turn the proxy rulers through whom British controlled India to his side. He will kill a 100 british troops one day, a local nizam and his sepoys next, burn a village, maybe storm the palace of some petty puppet prince next and continue like this till India is in ruins and he eventually dies of old age.

[Teleros]

The other problem is, whilst he's in one place massacring the East India Company's army, what's to stop more troops attacking wherever he isn't? This is a siege situation as well, which makes it that much harder as well - if the British can cut off the city from supplies, they can starve out the defenders. If the Marine attacks, they attack elsewhere - if he stays put, so do they.

[NecronLord]

This is like a T-800 vs the Roman Empire. People will be born faster than the marine can kill them. Since he is forbidden from rank and command he won't be able turn the proxy rulers through whom British controlled India to his side. He will kill a 100 british troops one day, a local nizam and his sepoys next, burn a village, maybe storm the palace of some petty puppet prince next and continue like this till India is in ruins and he eventually dies of old age.

If you want to be really sick, you could take stuff like the Space Wolf books, which show extensive technical knowledge being part of marine hypno-training, along with the sheer stupid adaptability of STC designs, have him hole up in Gwalior, and teach the locals how to make lasguns. The British would be dying at a collossal rate the minute they crossed the horizon.

A Fist is a thinker...

More seriously, it doesn't matter. A Space Marine will turn events like Lucknow into total Indian victories. Further landings in India will become tantamount to suicide, and if necessery, he will go and excecute the entire British establishment so brutally that their eventual replacements will vomit for weeks if they even think about incurring his wrath again. If they try it, he'll simply destroy their ability to fight and excecute them all again in horrific style, over and over until they 'get it.' At that point, the British Empire is likely gobbled up and annexed by its rivals.


Also, god help them trying to take Gwalior if there's an Imperial Fist on hand to give fortification advice.

[PeZook]

The other problem is, whilst he's in one place massacring the East India Company's army, what's to stop more troops attacking wherever he isn't? This is a siege situation as well, which makes it that much harder as well - if the British can cut off the city from supplies, they can starve out the defenders. If the Marine attacks, they attack elsewhere - if he stays put, so do they.

That's why the Marine will kill off all British officers present, then kill the Indian Viceroy, then the entire royal court. Others will run the uprising, he can just act as a supreme guided munition. While real-life special operations have a high probability of failure, the rebel commanders could just point to a place or person they want gone, and be sure it will be gone.

Sure, the british army can fight for a time while simply ingoring the Marine, untill they have no commanders left.

Plus, he can burn down supply stores, blow up ammo, sink supply ships in port, all with contemptous ease, without even needing to use his bolter. The worst part (for the British) is that he doesn't need to have any real sleep, is immune to poison and his powered armor can operate for decades without hi-tech maintenance.

The only way they could deal with him is if he gets overconfident and they score a direct cannon hit.

[hongi]

The only way they could deal with him is if he gets overconfident and they score a direct cannon hit.

Is that so impossible?

[NecronLord]

The only way they could deal with him is if he gets overconfident and they score a direct cannon hit.

Is that so impossible?

A Fist is a thinker. His senses are better than you can imagine. He is not going to allow himself to get downrange of a cannon, and if he does, he can unsling his bolter, and destroy the entire apparatus in a single shot faster than the cannon's crew can possibly load and traverse their weapon.

[PeZook]

A Fist is a thinker. His senses are better than you can imagine. He is not going to allow himself to get downrange of a cannon, and if he does, he can unsling his bolter, and destroy the entire apparatus in a single shot faster than the cannon's crew can possibly load and traverse their weapon.

Or, you know, drop to the ground

1857 artillery will have trouble hitting unmoving structures with their first shot, scoring a direct hit on a roughly man-sized target at any sort of range would be miraculous.

One other way for the British to deal with the guy would be to blow him up with a high quantity of explosives, after luring him into some sort of trap. The probability of success for such an operation depends heavily on what kind of tactics the Fist is going to use, though.

[That NOS Guy]

One other way for the British to deal with the guy would be to blow him up with a high quantity of explosives, after luring him into some sort of trap. The probability of success for such an operation depends heavily on what kind of tactics the Fist is going to use, though.

1.) Lure into supply base
2.) Ignite power mags
3.) ????
4.) The company profits!

[NecronLord]

1.) Lure into supply base
2.) Ignite power mags
3.) ????
4.) The company profits!

"Label it all in English and get the sepoys to do it?"

[PeZook]

1.) Lure into supply base
2.) Ignite power mags
3.) ????
4.) The company profits!

"Label it all in English and get the sepoys to do it?"

Oh, fuck. The laughing hurtsesss usss!

You know, it would be pretty funny if the Fist was thrown into the air, crashed into a British command post, got up, dusted himself off and asked "Okay, which one of you stupid motherfuckers thought this up?"

[Ford Prefect]

I am astounded by the level of cruelty that some people are displaying when making these Space Marine threads. It's almost as though you hate the human race. At least you didn't give him one of those crazy pseudo-black hole grenades like Ando did during the Crusades.

[NecronLord]

I am astounded by the level of cruelty that some people are displaying when making these Space Marine threads. It's almost as though you hate the human race. At least you didn't give him one of those crazy pseudo-black hole grenades like Ando did during the Crusades.

Nope. Just the British Empire. *Happily imagines 'Flashman and the Space Marine'*

[Cykeisme]

Regarding Space Marine reliance on drug therapy and treatment, I've read somewhere (likely elsewhere on Games Workshop's site) that a Marine can develop the ability to consciously control his normally autonomic metabolic processes, which diminishes (possibly eliminates) the need for artificial monitoring and manipulation of his body.

I got the gist that it was a matter of experience; a younger battle brother may not yet have fully "weaned" himself off the biological maintenance, while a centuries-old veteran certainly would have.

[Stark]

I hear it's impossible to point a cannon at a space marine because... well... they're... like... smart!

Ford, it's not cruelty: it's motivated by the same lameass wank as prompts all the 'lol SW fighter versus E-D lolololololol' threads.

[RazorOutlaw]

A Fist is a thinker. His senses are better than you can imagine. He is not going to allow himself to get downrange of a cannon, and if he does, he can unsling his bolter, and destroy the entire apparatus in a single shot faster than the cannon's crew can possibly load and traverse their weapon.

I thought they could shrug off a modern tank shell?