Yes, they are genetically engineered super beings, but are they as good as we are told they are?
I have been replaying Space Marine 2 recently and a particular quote has been stuck in my head. In the build-up to your first fight with a lictor, a Space Marine named Elion is found dead after being separated from his squad by a swarm of Hormagaunts. Your squad is discussing what could have happened to him, and one of the characters says “I fought beside Elion for two decades. He could not have been defeated by Hormagaunts.” But… of course he could, right?
I recently listened to a podcast in which two well known hobby influencers argue that “space marines are a lie” as part of a greater discussion of lore vs rules in games. The argument being made was that reading the lore will give you a very different idea of space marines than you would get from playing a game. They have a point: space marines on the tabletop fall woefully short of their preternatural descriptions. You can argue all you want that the lore in the game comes from an Imperial point of view and is therefore an untrustworthy narrator, but even so, the lore feels more like a total fabrication than an exaggeration when compared to the rules.
But interestingly enough, it was not always this way. Space marines from Rogue Trader were not the indestructible super soldiers of legend that we are used to currently. While they were genetically modified warriors, they were not the sons of the Emperor’s own super soldier scions. And they were distinctly mortal. Nowhere was this more evident than the art of the Rogue Trader rulebook, which featured a gorgeous spread of Crimson Fists making a last stand. Some of them are injured, several are already dead, and at least one looks like he is not having a good time. And this theme of mortality would continue throughout the rulebook. For every image of a space marine doing something, there is another image of a space marine dying.
And yet, this changed very quickly. Rogue Trader was released in 1987, and Primarchs were introduced as early as ’88 in the Slaves to Darkness supplement. Future supplements expanded their lore, changing them from generals into genetically engineered super soliders capable of founding Space Marine Chapters. Adeptus Titanicus came out in the same year and gave us the Horus Heresy (famously because GW did not have the resources to produce plastic models for two different factions). By the time 2nd edition was released in 1993 40K lore included a thinly veiled analogue Satan’s betrayal and a war in heaven, with space marines comprising both armies. From there, their outsized reputation in the universe only grew.
And yet, GW appears to be aware of this problem. As the lore of Space Marines grew, so did a small but vocal section of the fan base wanting “truescale” marines. If they are supposed to be 8 foot tall supermen, why are their models the same size as all other infantry? This cry was finally answered with the release of Primaris Marines, but there was a problem: Primaris marines are supposed to be even more badass than normal Space Marines, and their models are huge, yet apart from their armor they were not far different from normal infantry. Slowly, inexorably, GW has been pumping up Space Marines to fit their inflated figures. They are far stronger and more dangerous than their counterparts of old, yet they can definitely be defeated by enough Hormagaunts!
