NationStates Jolt Archive

Since the last one wasnt so great, I feel like doing another. Star Wars vs. Star Trek arguements always devolve into pointlessness anyway, so, I figured we could argue over something which has only been done perhaps 10,000 times, instead of 10,000,000,000,000.
And doesnt have any webpages devoted to it as far as I know...

Anyway...
A chapter of Space Marines (WH40k) against, say, Earth.
Lets assume for the sake of arguement that the Space Marines dont simply burn Earth down to the bedrock because it is, after all, 'Holy Terra'...sort of. They dont want to blow the Emperor up or something.
We can also assume that no Earth nations deploy nuclear weapons above a tactical scale (IE: nuclear artillery, stuff in the very-low kiloton range).

So, the Space Marines have superior infrantry, armour and air support, plus the ability to deploy troops anywhere at any time.

Earth has numbers and knowledge of the terraine, plus it seems likely that most of the population would support the various Earth nations, since the Imperium tends to be somewhat...rough in its occupation techniques.

I'm guessing calls to the Guard and the Exterminatus is out of the question, and I'll just assume that the Chapter is space-based, so...

Deployment Phase

Space Marines:

The Chapter Battle Barge monitors all Earth activity for a year or so, from beyond the Sol system.

Earth:

Goes about it's business, oblivious of the impending doom.

Turn 1

Space Marines:

The Chapter Battle Barge jumps into high orbit, bombards Earth with EMP & an assortment Mole weapons.
Immediately after launching that onslaught, a Drop Pod with a Scout Squad is dispatched to every government on Earth, demanding the execution of all politicians, holy men & high ranking officer on planet Earth.

Earth:

The populations descent into chaos.
All forms of mass-communication are disrupted.
Every weapon capable of reaching the Chapter Battle Barge has been destroyed or detonated on the surface.
The various militaries of Earth tries to halt or eliminate the Scout Squads & are busy with damage control.
Approximately half the Earth's governments attempt to negotiate with the Scout Squads.

Turn 2

Space Marines:

Finding the Earth unwilling to immediately surrender & possibly capable of killing a few of the bretheren, the Chapter Commander orders the retrival of the Scout Squads & an immediate attack scourging with Hellfire weaponry.

Earth:

Between 200,000 & 2 million people survive the initial 10 hours, only to be executed by Servitors, Scouts & colonizers, or get drafted into the Penal Legions of the Imperial Guard in the following months.

I did note an exclusion of orbital weaponry, as that, obviously, destroys any/all chance Earth has against pretty much any WH40k force.

In that case, the Marines have no chance. Their weaponry is inferior to ours, we outnumber them 100 000 000 to one, and there's nowher they come down that we can't spot them incoming.

The problem is that it requires a 10mm explosive round to even scratch the paint on TACTICAL marines. If they had Terminators you would need tactical nuclear weapons just to damage them.
A standard 5.56 round wont do squat to a Marine suit unless you stick it in the ventilator or something. You would need, at least, a .5 calibur sniper rifle/machine gun to even scratch the paint.
Not to mention that in close combat our guys would be destroyed.

However, Earth forces dont use mass tactics much anymore. So the Marines, who would be used to fighting hordes of enemy infrantry, most likely would have some trouble adapting to large scale guerilla tactics.

IMO, it would end like Vietnam. We would 'win' but would take horrible casualties compared to our enemies, who would have totaly destroyed our infrastructure.

The problem is that it requires a 10mm explosive round to even scratch the paint on TACTICAL marines.

So, they have body armor more powerful than that of a tank? There goes all mobility.

So, they have body armor more powerful than that of a tank? There goes all mobility.

Its powered armour, not to mention that the Space Marines are gentically modified super-humans who spit acid.
I beleive they can run about as fast as a normal human.
But yes, they would have trouble in, say, a swamp. But so would unarmoured soldiers.

So, they have body armor more powerful than that of a tank? There goes all mobility.

A tanks armour is much better :P.

I'd say we'd be stuffed, perhaps only either by sheer numbers with a lot of rockets fired and artylery support we could hit 'em where it hurts, but then again they could just hit us back just as hard...

Our best option would be to flee to the hills, and so on, and then make spears and all charge, with hundreds of thousands of people jumping on a space marine we could win easily just sheerly by pulling them down.

That or lots of explosives, marines walk past, BOOM! Like in iraq atm.

So, they have body armor more powerful than that of a tank? There goes all mobility.

...I'm guessing you've never played 40K or read about the Space Marines...

...I'm guessing you've never played 40K or read about the Space Marines...

Oh, I have. I've never seen that value thrown around before.

If you're just assuming it's a single Chapter of Space Marines, there's no way they would win. The Marines are not meant to engage in the singlehanded invasion and pacification of a planet, they're meant for surgical strikes and assaulting heavily entrenched enemies in support of Imperial Guard formations. A Chapter is a powerful formation, but there are only approximately 1,000 brethren in a Chapter (unless you're the Black Templars), and the US alone has several tanks and IFVs for each Marine.

Even if they allocated one tactical company per continent there would be only approx 150-175 Marines (with the 1st, 9th, and 10th companies parceled out) per continent.

All in all, the only way a Chapter of Marines could beat modern day Earth would be to blow the hell out of everything with lance strikes from their battle barges for months before landing. Even then, they'd just be holding the planet until the Guard could arrive to begin a proper occupation.

Now if the Guard were to invade we'd be all kinds of screwed.

Well, that's my nerdiness for the day.

If you're just assuming it's a single Chapter of Space Marines, there's no way they would win.I disagree. Even if they were worried about undue damage to people & planet, they could still take out the combined militaries of Earth fairly easily. The first thing Space Marines do, is to fry all the electronics in the target area. Since we haven't got forcefields to protect from that kind of thing, we'd be stranded in the 1800s before they even descended on us.

The logical next step is to jump in a variety of nuclear, melta & virus bombs in key locations, effectively destroying most military installations & most of the navys of the world.

After that would come an orbital bombardment with energy weapons, neatly cutting away key infrastructure & arial capabilities.

Then, and only then, would they invade. And It's not likely they'd toss their brains out of the window & invade everywhere at once with only 1,000 bretheren & a limited amount of hardware.

Undoubtedly they'd attempt to broadcast their invasion of America, publicly execute every politician, high ranking military officer & holy man they could find, and throw around a couple of tanks just to impress. Thus avoiding a pointless massacre of the rest of the world.The Marines are not meant to engage in the singlehanded invasion and pacification of a planet, they're meant for surgical strikes and assaulting heavily entrenched enemies in support of Imperial Guard formations..Very true. If Space Marines were ordered to take over Earth, they'd not even bother to fight us. We'd simply be exterminated from orbit for failing to welcome our new overlords. It's part of their charm.