Re: [Epic] E40K: Deteachment size.
> Sutherland wrote:
> Yes. A marine "squad" is 10 men. Each squad is 2 5 man "battle squads"
> (what a normal army would call a fire team). Of course the fact that GW
> is clueless about the layout of real military units shows here. They
> don't seem the think there is a level between squad and company and this
> shows in their fluff.
Poor GW...
In a sense it's their own fault for changing the Space Marine chapter
organization so many times. Just as "background fluff" with
intentions only to educate, here is a brief history of Chapter
organization over the history of the Imperium (and GW):
(Note: I've used the non-GW term "section" when refering to a five man
'stand','fire-team', or 'battle squad'. Thus Platoon->Squad->Section, or
rather: Company->Detatchment->Squad->Section)
INTO THE DARKNESS
-----------------
Thousands of years ago, when the Emperor still walked among men,
the Primarchs were his most trusted Lieutenants, and the Space Marine
Chapters their elite warriors.
At the time (pre-Heresy), the largest formation was the Chapter,
each of which contained tens of thousands of Marines. [Note: The
designation 'Legion' has also been used when refering to pre-Heresy
Chapters, an appellation the Chaos Chapters seemed to have kept. To avoid
confusion, and remain consistant, the term 'Chapter' appears throughout]
Each Chapter was divided into up to 20 Regiments, each capable of
independent operations.
The CODEX IMPERIALIS defined the order of battle of the Regiments with
each Regiment containing three Battalions.
Within each Battalion their would be three Companies. Within each
Company, three Detatchments. A Detatchment would typically be 5-10 5 man
sections. Most typical were the Tactical Detatchment (4 Tactical
sections, 4 Support sections, and 2 Command sections), the Assault
Detatchment (4 Assault sections, 1 Command section), and the Devastator
Detatchment (4 Devastator sections, 1 Command section).
Thus, a Company (what we would call a Battle Company) of one of
each Detatchment type would contain 20 sections, or ~100 Space Marines.
The Battalion of three Companies would provide ~300 Space Marines and
supporting units. In turn, the Regiment would contain ~1000 Space Marines
(including Regimental Support, and Command). The Chapter would contain
up to 20 Regiments, or 20,000 Marines.
The Horus Heresy changed all that, and the ranks of the Space
Marines would never reach such numbers again.
In review:
CHAPTER (Ultramarines, Space Wolves, World Eaters, etc.)
REGIMENT
BATTALION
COMPANY
DETATCHMENT
[SQUAD]
[section]
A NEW WORLD ORDER
-----------------
Following the chaos of the Horus Heresy, it was decided to reform
the remaining Space Marine Chapters into smaller formations that, by
themselves would be less of a threat should they go renegade. The
original Chapters, and the Chapters built from them, were truncated into
the Chapter->10 Company organization now in use.
Each Chapter is roughly the size and strength of the old Space
Marine Regiment, except that the number of support units can very
considerably (and create a much more powerfull force). Each Chapter is
organized to fight independently, with its own spacecraft, landing ships,
and support vehicles.
Each Chapter is divided into 10 Companies, each of ~100 Space
Marines.
The I Company is the Veteran Company.
The II, III, IV, and V Companies are Battle Companies.
The VI and VII Companies are Tactical Companies.
The VIII Company is a Devastator Company.
The IX Company is an Assault Company.
The X Company is the Scout Company.
The Veteran Company, equiped with standard Space Marine armour,
consisted of three Detatchments. Each Detatchment contained 6 sections of
Space Marine Veterans. The Company was led by a Command section.
Each Battle Company was split into three Detatchments: Tactical,
Assault, Devastator. Each Detatchment had 6 sections of the respective
troop type. The Company was led by a Command section (the Captain).
Each Tactical Company was divided into three detatchments of 6
Tactical sections each. These Companies were trained to use bikes and
Land Speeders, and were often equiped with them.
The Devastator and Assault Companies were likewise split into
three detatchments each of the respective troop types, 6 sections to a
detatchment.
The Scout Company, on paper, contained 3 detachments of 6 Scout
sections each, but could be more or less.
Thus, a Space Marine Chapter contained ~1000 Space Marines. The
"Battalion" level organization was deleted, allowing Commanders to form ad
hoc Battleforces comprising multiple Companies, tailored to the mission at
hand.
In review:
CHAPTER
COMPANY
DETATCHMENT
[SQUAD]
[section]
A BRAVE NEW WORLD
-----------------
Whether the above Chapter organization, or the below TO&E is
the one originally put down by Roboute Guilliman (Primarch of the
Ultramarines) in the CODEX ASTARTES is debatable. Suffice it to say that
the below structure is the one currently in favor (and thus, the one
Guilliman drafted, -- if you have any problems with this, consult the
Ministry of Truth.)
We'll label the new TO&E as Space Marine Chapter Revised. The
difference between the two is marked by the re-organization of the Battle
Company, and the elimination of the formal "detatchment" concept.
Chapter organization is as before:
I Veteran
II Battle
III Battle
IV Battle
V Battle
VI Tactical
VII Tactical
VIII Devastator
IX Assault
X Scout
The new Battle Company is made up of 6 Tactical Squads (12
tactical sections), 2 Devastator Squads (4 Devastator sections), and 2
Assault Squads (4 devastator sections). Led by a Space Marine Captain and
his retinue.
Veteran, Tactical, Devastator, Assault, and Scout Companies
similiarly contain 10 Squads (20 sections) of their respective troop
types, as well as the command section.
With the elimination of the Detatchment level of organization,
each Company is instead organized into semi-permanent (or completely
temporary) "Force" units. Named by the Chapter Master, or perhaps by or
after the Company Captain (Force Firestorm, Force Danton, Force Lazarus.)
These units also typically include attached equipment and personel from
the Chapter's arsenal (eg. Land Raiders, Dreadnaughts, Whirwinds,
Tarrantulas.)
Now the term "Detatchment" is an informal organization which
could include anything from 1 Space Marine section on a bike (as its own
HQ) to 10 Space Marine Squads and supporting armour (and entire company.)
These "Force"s or detatchments can be used as mission specific
units. Trading armour, artillary, and infantry on a vehicle-by-vehicle,
Squad-by-Squad basis in order to optimize the flexibility and lethality of
the created formation. Typically, a Space Marine Company might yield
three detatchments, each optimized for a certain task. Likewise, each
detatchment is an independent entity, able to act apart from the rest of
the Company.
Below, in the structure breakdown is included two notational
organization types. Although they do not show up on the official TO&E as
permanent units, they are employed during battle to tailor the forces at
that level.
In review:
CHAPTER
{BATTLE FORCE} A grouping of Companies and Support
COMPANY
{FORCE} A grouping of Squads and Support
SQUAD
[section]
OR
CHAPTER
COMPANY
SQUAD
OR
1 CHAPTER
10 COMPANIES
100 SQUADS
THE IMPURE
----------
Finally, not addressed in the above description, are the many
variations present in the non-"CODEX" Chapters. Chapters such as the
Space Wolves, and the Dark Angels have variations (or complete revisions)
of the CODEX ASTARTES organization. This is best left to an examination
of each Chapter and its history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
------------
Chambers, Andy, "How to design Marine Regiments in the Horus Heresy" White
Dwarf, 1990.
Armies of the Imperium
Codex Ultramarines
Warhammer 40k
Warhammer Epic 40k
A FEW WORDS
-----------
I like to think of the 40k universe as being very Orwellian, at
least in as far as the Imperium is concerned. On the one hand it fits the
image of a dark dictatorship constantly at war with itself and others. On
the other it nicely explains why GW changes all the history and
organization every couple of years, and then says that this is the way its
always been.
The tale of how the Emperor slew Horus in the last days of the
Civil War is a good example (it only became a demonic Heresy after the
Emperor's propagandists got to work on it, and of course, the winners
write the history books.). Sometimes Horus is in a bunker, sometimes he's
on his battlebarge... Who's to know what history is in the 40k Universe,
seen only through the prism of conflicting reports and stories, and
usually told from the Imperial point of view.
Not that this is GW's intent, but it makes the confusion more
manageable. The backstory "truth" (whatever that means in this context)
is ethereal, and I kinda like it that way.
As for the changing structure of the Space Marine Chapters, I've
no doubt that GW has just changed them to best suit the current
incarnation of their game. Which is fine, but you'll never know how you
got to where you are unless you know where you have been. The above
article tries to give some detail for that study.
The first incarnation, as per codex titanicus, took place during
the Heresy, and thus, the Space Marine formations of the time were quite
large indeed. Epic Space Marine changed that, bringing in the "40k" small
Chapters, based around the detatchment and company cards of the game.
Warhammer 40k evolved, and usurped epic as the font of higher wisdom by
giving a new TO&E for a Codex chapter. Epic 40k brings this full circle,
for the most part meshing the organizations of both games.
The concept of a "battleforce" appears in Andy's excellent
article, and I kept it in as it filled a hole in the ladder. Strictly
speaking, the battleforce would include IG, squat, and titan units
fighting together in a epic style size game.
As for GW's ability to recognize how a modern army is put
together, or lack thereof -- the pre-heresy TO&E makes it clear that they
know how these things work. The idea that you can collapse a level of
organization is not a new one militarily. In the US Army, the Brigade is
(ideally) more of an ad hoc force consisting of whatever Battalions the
Division commander thinks it needs to perform its task. Thus, we have
Division->Battalion->Company with a division fighting as 10 field
battalions, rather than a division fighting as three regiments. The
dropping of a tier between the division commander and his battalions
allows more flexibilty in action, though this is only possible due to
changes in the nature of the information battlefield.
As retro as 40k tries to be, command and cohesion in the Space
Marines at least seem to allow for even more flexibilty (which, of course,
is what the E40k system provides for us). Instead of a Chapter Master
directing three battalions (as an older model would allow) he directs 10
companies, grouping them as the situation calls for. Instead of a Company
commander directing 3 platoons (detatchments) of set size, he can now
break them up as needed. Likewise, the Battleforce commander (the guy
who's running the 2-6 companies and support that make up a normal E40k
game) has 15 detatchments to use, instead of 4 or 5 companies. Flexibilty
is the key.
I for one, like that E40k has taken away from the Company action
to an extent and focused on the use of the platoons. Other won't.
Christian
--end of message
Received on Fri Apr 18 1997 - 23:39:24 UTC
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