# How many Marines can you cram in a Battle Barge?



## Cuinlan (Dec 22, 2009)

Currently working on an Iron Warriors warband that's approximately 700 marines large, and wondering if they could fit in one battle barge comfortably with all of their gear/slaves/vehicles. I know that battle barges can "deploy up to three companies of marines at once" (Lexicanum) but that doesn't say much about the capacity of a vessel.

So what do you guys think?

If its not viable I have no problem adding a cruiser or smaller ship to ease the burden.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Yes, pretty much, considering that the Astral Knights rammed the world engine with a Battle barge containing 772 Astartes.


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## gen.ahab (Dec 22, 2009)

Probably a metric fuckton. IOW, a chapter or more. Only reason I have for this is that they probably contained several thousand astartes during the heresy.


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## Phil73805 (Feb 28, 2010)

Planning a game of sardines 40K style? :biggrin:


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## Diatribe1974 (Jul 15, 2010)

How many Iron Warriors can you fit into a Battle Barge? Or how many Iron Warriors can be lost at once with a well placed kill team infiltrating the enemy battle barge & detonating the reactor core and jetting off to be the stuff of song, legend, ale & mutton heaped their way? I dunno.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Diatribe1974 said:


> How many Iron Warriors can you fit into a Battle Barge? Or how many Iron Warriors can be lost at once with a well placed kill team infiltrating the enemy battle barge & detonating the reactor core


Quiet! unish: Don`t reveal my plan to every living being!


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

i think the bfg stuff says 1000 marines

However with the serfs, tanks, people who drive the tanks, maintain them, plus spare armour and weapons, nowhere near it. i would guess about 500.

Also Diatribe1974 is right they would never dare put everything in one basket, none of them are that brave/stupid.

Furthermore Battlebarges are the elite ships, most chapters may have ONE if they are lucky, obviously the 1st founding chapters have 2-3 each but they are just left overs from the great crusade


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## Cuinlan (Dec 22, 2009)

Ah, I see you've all fallen for my trap! Only a fool would think of putting all of his precious man power into one ship! 

Like I said though, just wondering whether you could stuff a Battle Barge with a ton of marines/gear/serfs/vehicles.

@ Diatribe1974: That would make for a really good kill team story though... hmm.

lol thanks everyone


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## Helsreach (Jun 2, 2010)

I think the three companies thing is really just in terms of the number of drop pods and Thunderhawks that can be fitted into it at any one time.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

The thing to remember is that Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges have capacities based on the fact that they are meant to be able to serve as a launching platform for a force of a certain size, including all of its aircraft, drop pods, armored vehicles, etc.

Theoretically, a Battle Barge wouldn't just be able to fit the 300+ Astartes it is stated as being able to bring to war. It could probably hold thousands, if not tens of thousands of Astartes in cramped quarters, etc. The point is that it could only serve as a logistical base for 300+ Astartes and not more. This has to do with the fact that each Battle Barge (and Strike Cruiser, really) has an Armorium, an Apothecarion, a Librarium, munition stockpiles, armor, Thunderhawks, combat bikes, landspeeders, etc., etc. The ship's limit on how many of THOSE things it can hold--and thus the limit on how many battle-ready Companies it can launch--is what's in question. And the answer to that is approximately 100 Astartes (1 Company) for a Strike Cruiser and 300 or so Astartes (3 Companies) for a Battle Barge.

Cheers,
P.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Yes, as already mentioned, a Battle Barge can fit ca.300 Marines with all their combat equipment and serfs. But if one wants to do so they could probably cram in quite a large number if they felt so, but there would not be enough landing craft to deploy them at the same time, and probably not enough drop pods to evacuate them all in time if a kill team of mine went on the blow the ships engines, which is highly improbable if you have the ship filled with astartes.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Hilarity would ensure, though, if it happened!

BTW, awesome avatar! What is that from?


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

I guess it depends on the *size* of the battle barge, i guess some are bigger than others.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Phoebus said:


> Hilarity would ensure, though, if it happened!


I would laugh my ass off, thats for sure. 



Phoebus said:


> BTW, awesome avatar! What is that from?


Me? Thanks! No idea from where it is, just found it when randomly surfing the internet.


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## Galebread (Apr 7, 2008)

Well, it probably also depends on the number of ships you have. If you have enough to spread your troops into a hundred each ship, then it's probably a good idea to do so, if just so you don't lose as many people and gears when the ship eventually gets blown up, or chewed up by the Warp.

Otherwise, a Battle Barge could probably hold a hell of a lot of people even with all the gears and tanks and other assorted tidbits, given their massive size.



Doelago said:


> Me? Thanks! No idea from where it is, just found it when randomly surfing the internet.


I'm not sure, but I think it's from the game 'Space Marine' Relic is developing. It certainly had better overall quality than the...uh...whatever that movie some months ago was called? It was just Ultramarines, wasn't it?


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Galebread said:


> I'm not sure, but I think it's from the game 'Space Marine' Relic is developing. It certainly had better overall quality than the...uh...whatever that movie some months ago was called? It was just Ultramarines, wasn't it?


Its a piece of artwork, how can you compare it with a movie and a game? k:


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Doelago said:


> Its a piece of artwork, how can you compare it with a movie and a game? k:


Artworks in dfferent form, Doelago. Just different forms.  

And now I have this image of Lukas the trickster doing the college phone booth thing with astartes and a battle barge... :laugh: 

Sardines! :biggrin: The newest founding chapter. The whole chapter has... One Battle Barge at its disposal.


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## gen.ahab (Dec 22, 2009)

Doelago said:


> Its a piece of artwork, how can you compare it with a movie and a game? k:



Good point. Movies and games are better, they are art that moves.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

I believe Galebread was comparing the animated cinematic cutscenes of "Space Marine" versus the animation quality of "Ultramarines" the movie. It's a valid comparison, I think.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Phoebus said:


> I believe Galebread was comparing the animated cinematic cutscenes of "Space Marine" versus the animation quality of "Ultramarines" the movie. It's a valid comparison, I think.


Oh, definitely. Comparing one animation to another is fine. I thought he was talking about Doelago`s avatar.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Serpion5 said:


> Oh, definitely. Comparing one animation to another is fine. I thought he was talking about Doelago`s avatar.


So was I.


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