What SW infantry weapons could bring down a Space Marine?

[takemeout_totheblack]

You're right, I really do need to immerse myself in WH4K lore for a bit. Oh well, it was just a simple hypothetical to even the playing field a bit, if the SMs have all their shit together it'll be less a war a more like pest control. Either way, that was just one potential situation, I'm eager to see the kind of scenarios that WH40K buffs will churn out, could make for an interesting fanfic!

[Ryan Thunder]

Could Space Marine drop pods penetrate a theatre or planetary shield?

[Lord Relvenous]

Could Space Marine drop pods penetrate a theatre or planetary shield?

I really doubt that they could. While they are quite durable, they don't have any specific shield penetrating capabilities, and planetary and theater shields are damn durable. I suspect they would just go splat.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

If the Space Marines are adventurous enough, they could try teleporting lots of them.

[Darksider]

Where are you getting the idea of a "single shot drain to the pack" type gun from? I've never heard of them using something like that to breacn the TIV's door.

I could've sworn there was an entry about it on the main site somewhere. Must be my foggy memory. Anyways, that was pretty unspecific, so suppose the scenario is this:

A Stormtrooper Is trying to hold the line against a superior force of Space Marines. They SM breach the walls of an imperial prefab base, and our brave stormy, knowing that the Marines are faster than him and he won't escape, decides to give one last bit of fuck you to the enemy. So he dials his E-11 ALL the way up, max power and all that, and he lets a Marine have it right in the face. What happens to said Marine?

[Wing Commander MAD]

Lord Relvenous, has a very good point, you really need to pin down the force of SM. An example, would be story of the Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War (bear with me guys). We have an imperial world besieged by Ork forces, and the response to keep the planet from falling is the deployment of 1 company (~100 ) of space marines. Unfortunately, I don't know how large of a world, Connor migh know as I think he had the misfortune of reading the novelizaion. Stuff happens, the space marines manage to end up defeating the orks (who are being manipulated and supplied with imperial tech by chaos forces), a detachment of Eldar trying to stop choas, and the chaos force looking for some powerful artifact who were using the orks as a destraction. Mind you this is with the PDF/Guard forces in support, albeit the impression given is that prior to the SM arrival any sense of organized defense was on the verge of collapsing. Furthermore, keep in mind that when Chaos decided to play its hand, IIRC 1/3 of the surviving Guard/PDF forces immediately turned to chaos with more turning into maddened chaos cultists by the day. Finally, to make matters worse an Inquistor suspecting the Space Marine Captain of curruption and heresy eventually took control of the Guard/PDF (prior to Choas revealing itself) and forbade the Space Marines from using them in direct support of their missions, thus preventing any further aid for their operations other than their own assets brought with them untill the end of the story. That's roughly the basis of the plot, abstracting away any gameplay elements. Thats the best example I can give from memory, maybe someone can remember something from one of the better novels.

Hopefully, that should give you some perspective on the size of marine force to use.

If the Space Marines are adventurous enough, they could try teleporting lots of them.

I was of the impression that teleporting was rather rare amoung your average marine force due to the whole being imersed in the Warp temporarily. Besides, aren't teleporters, generally only in the hands of 1st company terminators and a select few other individuals? Would a detachment as small as the one that the OP is probably going to end up using even be likely to be equipped with them?

[Simon_Jester]

Autocannon and heavy bolters *can* penetrate SM armour, but alot of the time it depends on calibre. Some autocannon have been resisted by SM armour (Nightbrigher) while in others it hasn't (Ghostmaker.) We know SM armour consistently resists heavy stubber and even Ork firearms (which can go up to 20mm...

Of course, Orks are more concerned with making their weapons bang nice and loud than having decent muzzle velocity, so their shootas are likely to be much less effective than full-up chainguns or bolters of comparable caliber.

I guess it would breach the armor, propably even the chest armor, and inflict serious damage (possibly enough to make the SM unable to fight), but i guess it won't kill unless it is a headshot.
Space Marines are, after all, really hard to kill - heck, Marines can survive having half their brain blown off (well, something close at least).

My impression is that that was relatively unusual- and when you get down to it, humans have been known to survive massive brain damage, too...

I could've sworn there was an entry about it on the main site somewhere. Must be my foggy memory. Anyways, that was pretty unspecific, so suppose the scenario is this:

A Stormtrooper Is trying to hold the line against a superior force of Space Marines. They SM breach the walls of an imperial prefab base, and our brave stormy, knowing that the Marines are faster than him and he won't escape, decides to give one last bit of fuck you to the enemy. So he dials his E-11 ALL the way up, max power and all that, and he lets a Marine have it right in the face. What happens to said Marine?

Said Marine probably dies; E-Webs are heavy weapons with at least some antivehicle capability, and they're fully automatic.

[Lord Relvenous]

An E-11 is the basic blaster rifle, not an E-web.

Linky

[Dark Hellion]

A Stormtrooper Is trying to hold the line against a superior force of Space Marines. They SM breach the walls of an imperial prefab base, and our brave stormy, knowing that the Marines are faster than him and he won't escape, decides to give one last bit of fuck you to the enemy. So he dials his E-11 ALL the way up, max power and all that, and he lets a Marine have it right in the face. What happens to said Marine?

Under normal circumstances, the SM probably dodges the shot and punches the Stormtrooper hard enough that his brains trickle out of his nose. People often forget that SM have incredible reflexes as well as armour, strength and firepower.

Assuming that the Stormtrooper hits the result probably depends upon the angle that the shot impacts at. If the shot hits dead on the SM is probably dead. If it is an oblique hit it may just burn of a good chunk of his face. The SM then punches the Stormtrooper really hard.

As Connor pointed out it is not simply armour that really makes SM as unkillable as they are. They have numerous defensive modifications that enable them to survive massive injuries that would kill most soldiers with only a loss of effectiveness instead of being a casualty. Blow his legs off and he can drag himself behind cover and become a turret providing cover fire. Blow off an arm and he can quite literally pick it up and beat you to death with it. Hit him with a flamethrower and he is now slightly more dangerous as he punches you with fire. I don't know much about the totality of the EU but it may take Stormtroopers a bit of time to adapt to fighting an enemy that requires you to kill the ever living hell out of them to finally stop them. If Stormtroopers do have a doctrine for fighting enemies of this type though it may change a good deal of the dynamic of the battle.

Which leads back to the OP. If you are looking for weapons that are one hit guaranteed kills of SM you are probably going to find mostly total overkill weapons because of the SMs combination of speed, armour and toughness. What you probably want to look at is what combination of standard armaments and doctrine will maximize the chance of stormies killing a Space Marine.

[Sarevok]

To be fair clonetroopers performed admirably against battledroids even when outnumbered. How does a spacemarine compare to a SBD, shielded droideka or dward spider droid ?

[Eviscerator]

If the Space Marines are adventurous enough, they could try teleporting lots of them.

I was of the impression that teleporting was rather rare amoung your average marine force due to the whole being imersed in the Warp temporarily. Besides, aren't teleporters, generally only in the hands of 1st company terminators and a select few other individuals? Would a detachment as small as the one that the OP is probably going to end up using even be likely to be equipped with them?

There is evidence for Teleportation being used by regular Marines and other characters as a quick Beam Me Up, Scotty card.

Salamander Novel: strike team of Marines trigger teleportation of their team and a cache of weapons back to their strike cruiser.
Dark Heresy novel number 2: Killteam Sgt triggers teleportation to extract an Inquisition team on an hive planet

Codex: SM lists a piece of Wargear called Teleport Homer which is said to enable Strike Cruisers to lock on to targets with their teleporters, decreasing the scatter possiblity, etc etc.

[Eviscerator]

To be fair clonetroopers performed admirably against battledroids even when outnumbered. How does a spacemarine compare to a SBD, shielded droideka or dward spider droid ?

ALso to be fair to the respective universes, a clone/stormtrooper would be roughly equal to an Inquistion Stormtrooper equipped with carapace armor, hellgun and targeter
Offhand the closest equal unit to an individual SM would be an Spacetrooper or Darktrooper, which aren't all that common

A good equivalent to SBDs etc in an Wh40K setting would be weaponised servitors, specifically the higher grade Praetorian Servitors, which in novels have been written as giving Chaos Space Marines a good run for their money

[Connor MacLeod]

A Stormtrooper Is trying to hold the line against a superior force of Space Marines. They SM breach the walls of an imperial prefab base, and our brave stormy, knowing that the Marines are faster than him and he won't escape, decides to give one last bit of fuck you to the enemy. So he dials his E-11 ALL the way up, max power and all that, and he lets a Marine have it right in the face. What happens to said Marine?

As I noted before, and Hellion points out, depends on where it hits, more than likely. A direct hit on the flexible parts below the helmet, or hitting an eyepiece probably would be fatal. Hitting anywhere else may penetrate the helmet and cause injury, but its not guaranteed to work.

Under normal circumstances, the SM probably dodges the shot and punches the Stormtrooper hard enough that his brains trickle out of his nose. People often forget that SM have incredible reflexes as well as armour, strength and firepower.

He might. I dont recall offhand Space Marines actually dodging at close range very often. Usually they're more intent on closing (but might weave to make them a harder target esp with their agility.) Their speed and reflexes are generally more useful for getting them close as soon as possible, trusting in their armour to shrug off casual hits - its only concentrated fire they really worry about.

Of course, Orks are more concerned with making their weapons bang nice and loud than having decent muzzle velocity, so their shootas are likely to be much less effective than full-up chainguns or bolters of comparable caliber.

Depends on the shootas I suppose, or the power of the WAAGH effect. Ork firearms in Ork hands tend to pack quite a bit of momentum despite their apparently primitive nature (Rebel Winter, for example.) Easily at least equal to .50 cal rifles.
(and yes, I know Ork weapons are sometimes used by humans. That's why I noted it may vary according to the weapon or may be a result of the ability for Orks to make their technology function better for themselves.)

To be fair clonetroopers performed admirably against battledroids even when outnumbered. How does a spacemarine compare to a SBD, shielded droideka or dward spider droid ?

Compared to a SBD, tougher, more versatile, and more agile. Might be better armed. Droidekas are probably tougher and as fast/faster, and may be more heavily armed. Dwarf spider droid? no clue.

Clone troopers are not stormtroopers, either. Stormies are recruited from both the populace as well as clone sources, so there's a bit more variation there. The armor is also less protective (and possibly either cheaper or less heavier/easier to wear) and they tend to be equipped more for CQB style combat duties (ie shipboard and such, using E-11s.) unless out in the field (Sandtroopers using long rifles.)

There is evidence for Teleportation being used by regular Marines and other characters as a quick Beam Me Up, Scotty card.

Salamander Novel: strike team of Marines trigger teleportation of their team and a cache of weapons back to their strike cruiser.
Dark Heresy novel number 2: Killteam Sgt triggers teleportation to extract an Inquisition team on an hive planet

Codex: SM lists a piece of Wargear called Teleport Homer which is said to enable Strike Cruisers to lock on to targets with their teleporters, decreasing the scatter possiblity, etc etc.

Yes, but as a rule they tend to limit teleportation attacks to Terminator forces alone - its the safest and most reliable means apparently (and it offsets the mobility problems of Terminator armor) BFG mentions capital ships (Marine and others) initiating teleport attacks and Orks can apparently teleport without problems, but those possibly might involve a different means of teleportation than what Termiantors as a rule use (Orks for example won't go through Shokk Attack Gun portals because its un-Orky as I recall, suggesting it may not be warp based.)

Hell some teleporters IIRC are mentioned to use a "beamed" type approach similar to what ST transporters supposedly use, as I recall

ALso to be fair to the respective universes, a clone/stormtrooper would be roughly equal to an Inquistion Stormtrooper equipped with carapace armor, hellgun and targeter

No,they're not. Broadly speaking: Clonetroopers are maybe generic IG stormtrooper/Grenadier grade. Stormtroopers would be more comparable to "high end" IG regiments. And even then I'm still making a generalization (actual breakdown of equipment, nevermind training and all that, would be more complicated)

Offhand the closest equal unit to an individual SM would be an Spacetrooper or Darktrooper, which aren't all that common.

Only by choice. If they wanted they can put out droid trooper equivalents that are easily a match for any Astartes (YVH droids for example). SW big advantage is in its greater standardization of technology and its industry, so they can change these matters more easily than 40K could (if they wanted to.)

[Connor MacLeod]

How about a bit of a story or background info?
Errrm... On a distant planet, outer-rim sort of place with no actual sentient population save a smallish Imperial prefab base, the Warp opens up and spits out a single Imperium escort ship. A small destroyer, around 750m long, is disoriented and too close to the planet. A controlled crash later and a company of Space Marines are stranded planet-side with no way of calling for help. While trudging around the forest looking for potentially useful debris that may have come off of their ship, they catch a scout trooper unawares. They take him and his speeder back the wreck and extract some info from him, general facts about the Empire, the SW galaxy, location of his base, etc. One of the Tech-Marines comes back from inspecting the speeder and decides that the tech, though somewhat heretical to his sensibilities, could be made compatible with some effort. With that they head off to siege the base and use it as spare parts to either make repairs or at the very least find a way to send a distress signal.

Could that work?

It's possible to carry I think a half company on a warship, but usually several squads. Rapid Strike vessels are generally not used (unless absolutely neccessary) to carry marines and probably have limited ability to supply them or provide vehicles, though I suppose you could argue they modfiied it to do so.

A full company in most cases I think would have their own strike cruiser, though and those are several kilometres long. But on their own there's no way they can really wage war on the Empire - any base unless caught completely unawares would be likely to send off a distress signal and help would invariably arrive.

Hmm I suggest you read up some more on SM. Maybe try to find some info online. So about your story, there are a few points that need correction. First of all, all SM chapters have their own transport fleet, the majority of the ships being Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges. For o e hundred marines, you're looking at a full Strike cruiser or a battle barge (IIRC, Connor could clarify).

Probably a strike cruiser for a full company. That seems to be the more common rule amongst chapters, although it can vary (Space Wolves have a different approach, for exmample.)

These transport ships always carry Thunderhawks, drop pods, and depending on the mission, armored vehicles, so the SMs would have that support and deployment options (though the drop pods would be next to worthless).

STrike cruisers as a rule carry pretty much everything they need for independent operation - at least for short term. This often includes vehicles, dreadnoughts, etc. organic to the Company, though things can of course change.

Lastly, 100 marines is quite a force and a very rare one to deploy all together. It's similar to making a real world scenario involving 100 Navy SEALs deploying together; it just doesn't happen except in the most rare cases. I'm short on time, but that's a quick rundown. Others can provide some more detailed comments.

Its not too uncommon to see a whole Company deploy at once - its seen fairly often in the novels, anyhow. Alot of the time it depends on their commitments elsewhere, available troops, and the sort of situation they face. For most things that would qualify as a "war" they probably would deploy a company, if time and resources permitted.

What warrants such deployments though can vary from Chapter to Chapter (the Dark Angels and their successor Chapters will drpo everything at the hint of a Fallen for example.)

[takemeout_totheblack]

How many squads are usually deployed? I know it varies depending on threat level, but what kind of threat constitutes a whole company being deployed, and what kind of threat requires just a few squads?
Is it like an uppity bunch of Orks requires just a few squads and light armor support, while a Tyranid swarm needs 1 or more companies in addition to a few million guardsmen?
I don't know much, but I know that the Space Marines are referred to as the 'sword' of the Imperium (a nigh-unstoppable force for precision strikes and such) and the Imperial Guard are the 'sledgehammer' (huge battering force of men and tanks), but I don't really know anything about deployment or threat assessment.

[Lord Relvenous]

@Connor: While we do see full companies deployed more often in the novels, that's because novels are written about epic events, IMO. The idea that I've gotten is that the most common type of force sent out is 1-3 squads (or around there) with support from reserves. 1st company, and the armory as needed. As an example, in both Heroes of the Space Marines and Let the Galaxy Burn, the majority of the stories deal with one or two squads on missions. That's what I think of when I think of a typical Marine force.

As for the Strike Cruiser vs. Battle Barge, while Strike Cruisers were designed to carry a full company, depending on the mission, I could see them using a Battle Barge instead (more orbital presence needed, perhaps). However, I agree that it would most likely be a Strike Cruiser.

Also, as a note about companies. While 100 marines might be deployed together, they just don't necessarily send a Battle Company. There would most likely be significant portions of the force from other companies and resources (armory, first company, reserve companies), depending on the force's objective.

[Simon_Jester]

Depends on the shootas I suppose, or the power of the WAAGH effect. Ork firearms in Ork hands tend to pack quite a bit of momentum despite their apparently primitive nature (Rebel Winter, for example.) Easily at least equal to .50 cal rifles.

The momentum transfer is huge, but that doesn't necessarily give penetration power, and orks tend to go for guns that throw massive slugs over high velocity long-barreled ones. That's great for stopping power against a target made out of meat, but not so great for one made out of ceramite.

There is evidence for Teleportation being used by regular Marines and other characters as a quick Beam Me Up, Scotty card.
Salamander Novel: strike team of Marines trigger teleportation of their team and a cache of weapons back to their strike cruiser.
Dark Heresy novel number 2: Killteam Sgt triggers teleportation to extract an Inquisition team on an hive planet
Codex: SM lists a piece of Wargear called Teleport Homer which is said to enable Strike Cruisers to lock on to targets with their teleporters, decreasing the scatter possiblity, etc etc.

Yes, but as a rule they tend to limit teleportation attacks to Terminator forces alone - its the safest and most reliable means apparently (and it offsets the mobility problems of Terminator armor)

Also, in many cases, when they teleport their troops out of a battlefield, it's because they're facing a hostile environment and risk losing the Marines anyway (second Space Wolf novel, forget the name)

If there's, say, a 10% risk of losing your Marines every time you teleport them, you won't use it for insertion very often, but if the Marines are surrounded and pinned down, you just might use it for extraction.

[Eviscerator]

How many squads are usually deployed? I know it varies depending on threat level, but what kind of threat constitutes a whole company being deployed, and what kind of threat requires just a few squads?
Is it like an uppity bunch of Orks requires just a few squads and light armor support, while a Tyranid swarm needs 1 or more companies in addition to a few million guardsmen?
I.

I would say the capacity for SMs on a Strike Cruiser runs about an Company +/- and support forces as usually a single Cruiser delivers the force and stays in system.

It would vary based on Chapter proceedings, threat level and available forces that can respond. Example, the Iron Snakes Chapter send 1 Marine who would eval the threat and call for reinforcements if needed. Hydra Cordatus which was under attack by a CSM force (i estimate 3 companies up) , a full Imp Fist company responded. An Tyranid or Chaos incursion would warrant several companies, and DROP EVERYTHING and send EVERYTHING would be another assault by Abaddon on Cadia.

[Eviscerator]

having half their brain blown off (well, something close at least).

My impression is that that was relatively unusual- and when you get down to it, humans have been known to survive massive brain damage, too...

.[/quote]

There was an person who commited suicide using a double barrel shotgun. Nothing really spectacular, BUT.... the first chamber didnt finish the job, and the person was somehow able to get the shotgun back up, find the trigger again, and use the second chamber Yes there are pics, no they are not nice.

There are also many documented Military/Law Enforcement cases of subjects sustaining multiple hits by various calibers of weapons and still able to cause hurt/death. Before you say "yeah yeah on drugs", there are cases of BOTH drugged and non-drugged. The human body takes lots of damage even unaugmented....

[Eviscerator]

to put some numbers as to SM Chapter/Legion strength... we'll use the Ultramarines (RAR!)

Ultramarines Chapter circa 999.M41
Chapter Command - Marneus Calgar, 27 Honour Guard SM, Land Raider Maximus
Armory - 27 Techmarines, 95 Servitors, 25 Predators, 8 Vindicators, 9 Whirlwinds, 12 Land Raiders.
Apothecarion: 12 Apothecaries
Fleet Command: 8 Strike Cruisers, 3 Battle Bargs, 12 Rapid Strike Vessels (Cobra pattern destroyers?), 31 Thunderhawk gunships
Librarius - 5 Epistolaries, 9 Codiciers, 10 Lexicaniums, 3 Acolytum
1st Company - 97 SM Veterans, 3 dreadnoughts
2nd - 6 tactical squad, 2 assault, 2 devastator, 2 dreadnoughts
3nd - same as 2nd
4th - same, but 4 dreadnoughts
5th - same, but 1 dreadnought
6th - 10 tactical squad, 4 dreadnought
7th - 10 tactical, 3 dreadnought
8th - 10 assault squad
9th - 10 devastator squad , 7 dreadnoughts
10th - Scout Company , strength unknown.

For a final approx number of : 934 SM, 26 Dreadnoughts, 55 Major AFVs (no listings for Land speeders or Rhinos), 23 Capital Ships and a partridge in a pear tree.

Pre-Heresy Ultramarine Legion strength is said to be more than Ten times as many as were left so it would be 10k +
CSM Legions are even larger, the Word Bearers Legion is several times a chapter's strength and the Black Legion is SEVERAL times the Word Bearers Legion

[Imperial Overlord]

12 Rapid Strike Vessels (Cobra pattern destroyers?)

Rapid Strike Vessels is the Space Marine term for Escort class vessels such as destroyers and frigates. This includes a number of common escort designs as well as other designs unique to the Space Marine Chapters.

[Simon_Jester]

There are also many documented Military/Law Enforcement cases of subjects sustaining multiple hits by various calibers of weapons and still able to cause hurt/death. Before you say "yeah yeah on drugs", there are cases of BOTH drugged and non-drugged. The human body takes lots of damage even unaugmented....

Well, sometimes it does. Other times people just plain fall over dead with little or no obvious damage to their basic structure- something conks them on the side of the head and causes distributed brain damage and that's all she wrote, even if they look fine.

to put some numbers as to SM Chapter/Legion strength... we'll use the Ultramarines (RAR!)

Ultramarines Chapter circa 999.M41
Chapter Command - Marneus Calgar, 27 Honour Guard SM, Land Raider Maximus
Armory - 27 Techmarines, 95 Servitors, 25 Predators, 8 Vindicators, 9 Whirlwinds, 12 Land Raiders.
Apothecarion: 12 Apothecaries
Fleet Command: 8 Strike Cruisers, 3 Battle Bargs, 12 Rapid Strike Vessels (Cobra pattern destroyers?), 31 Thunderhawk gunships
Librarius - 5 Epistolaries, 9 Codiciers, 10 Lexicaniums, 3 Acolytum
1st Company - 97 SM Veterans, 3 dreadnoughts
2nd - 6 tactical squad, 2 assault, 2 devastator, 2 dreadnoughts
3nd - same as 2nd
4th - same, but 4 dreadnoughts
5th - same, but 1 dreadnought
6th - 10 tactical squad, 4 dreadnought
7th - 10 tactical, 3 dreadnought
8th - 10 assault squad
9th - 10 devastator squad , 7 dreadnoughts
10th - Scout Company , strength unknown.

For a final approx number of : 934 SM, 26 Dreadnoughts, 55 Major AFVs (no listings for Land speeders or Rhinos), 23 Capital Ships and a partridge in a pear tree.

This can vary between chapters, though, even if we only look at the largely Codex-compliant ones. The Iron Snakes, for instance, are a direct offshoot of the Ultramarines... and they distribute Apothecaries at the squad level. On the other hand, they seem to rely much less on armor support than the Ultramarines do. Number of Dreadnoughts also varies wildly from chapter to chapter, since the supply of Dreadnoughts depends on the rare good fortune of having a Dreadnought chassis available at the same time that a high-status Marine is crippled in action.

[takemeout_totheblack]

@Eviscerator
Thanks for the codexes (plural? codi?) They'll be a great help!

[Simon_Jester]

@Eviscerator
Thanks for the codexes (plural? codi?) They'll be a great help!

I believe the plural of codex is technically codices, but I also believe that the convention in the Games Workshop community is to use "codexes."

[Connor MacLeod]

@Connor: While we do see full companies deployed more often in the novels, that's because novels are written about epic events, IMO. The idea that I've gotten is that the most common type of force sent out is 1-3 squads (or around there) with support from reserves. 1st company, and the armory as needed. As an example, in both Heroes of the Space Marines and Let the Galaxy Burn, the majority of the stories deal with one or two squads on missions. That's what I think of when I think of a typical Marine force.

As for the Strike Cruiser vs. Battle Barge, while Strike Cruisers were designed to carry a full company, depending on the mission, I could see them using a Battle Barge instead (more orbital presence needed, perhaps). However, I agree that it would most likely be a Strike Cruiser.

Also, as a note about companies. While 100 marines might be deployed together, they just don't necessarily send a Battle Company. There would most likely be significant portions of the force from other companies and resources (armory, first company, reserve companies), depending on the force's objective.

The Codex decrees that the 2 n d , 3 r d , 4 t h and 5 t h companies should be designated 'Battle Companies'. These formations carry the main weight of the Chapter's combat duties. Each Battle Company consists of six squads of Tactical Space Marines, two of Assault, and two of Devastators. The Assault squads of the Battle Company may be deployed as Bike
squadrons or Land Speeder crews, should theatre conditions require it. Most Space Marine deployments will consist of a
single Battle Company, heavily reinforced by elements of the Veteran, Scout and Reserve Companies.

The 'Companies of Reserve' are entirely composed of squads of the same designation. They normally act in support of the
Battle Companies and provide a source of replacements for any casualties suffered by the line formations. The 6 t h and
7t h Companies are Tactical companies, each consisting of ten Tactical squads. These are intended to act as a reserve which may be used to bolster the main line, launch diversionary attacks, or stem enemy flanking manouevres. The 6 t h
Company is also trained to use bikes, and the entire Company may be deployed as bike squadrons. Similarly
squads of the 7 t h Company are trained to fight with Land Speeders and the Company commonly acts as a light vehicle
reserve formation.

As I said before, it depends alot on the circumstnaces and tasks facing a Chapter. They have finite resources, and often face multiple situations requiring their attention so they have to judge carefully the forces they deploy - so yes it is possible to have "less than a company" deployed, but many of those are going to be omre "special forces" type missions (a few objectives rther than a large scale conflict or suppporting another force like the Guard) or a situaton where they are forced to only commit part of a company (multiple commitments, casualties, etc.)

The quote pretty much speaks for itself about company formation.

The momentum transfer is huge, but that doesn't necessarily give penetration power, and orks tend to go for guns that throw massive slugs over high velocity long-barreled ones. That's great for stopping power against a target made out of meat, but not so great for one made out of ceramite.

Yes, velocity is a major factor with epentration, but it is by far from the only one (there's density, diameter of the round - thats why many subcalibre munitions are high density but very narrow and long - it allows for the combination of mass and narrow area that maximize penetration.) but it's not as if "high mass/lower velocity" rounds that have high penetration do not exist either - they just aren't as good. So while an Ork might not penetrate on a single shot, that doesnt mean that its not going to have an effect, especially given the momentum we are talking about.

On top of that, momentum can still be nasty even if you *don't* penetrate anyways. I wouldn't want to take a headshot from a .50 BMG round even if I wa swearing a helmet that guranteed no penetration, after all.