MK Armour in the Current 40k Setting

[house_cawdor]

Hello all!

I have a question about the Space Marines' Armour and how it appears in the current setting (M41).
Do the Space Marines typically have a full set of armour (like a full set of MKIII) or is it mixed and matched with other armour variants? I remember somewhere in the fluff that some armour types can be mixed and are mixed, but how often does that occur? Thanks for the insight!

[Tepogue]

There is no correct answer to this question.

It depends on the chapter and even then there can be variants.

A fresh newly founded chapter, would have uniform armor. Dark Angels one of the founding chapters would have valued pieces of armor passsed down. A crusading SM chapter would have bits and pieces of armor from not being resupplied or infrequently resupplied while on crusade.

[Wolfshade]

A lot depends on the history of the chapter.
Later foundings will only have access to more modern types of armour, whereas older foundings will have access to the original versions. So a later founding will have complete suits of mk7 or 8.

In various sources (Codex BA for example) it states that the oldest armour dates back to before the heresey and are treated as relics and are worn with pride. So warriors do sometimes mix and match as they wear a fallen brother/chapter hero armour to honour them.

So it is a frequently as you would like you can mix and match. For instance, all of my veterans have Mk6 armour (beakies), my honour guards have marks 3,4 and 5 are at least components from them.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Different chapters have different production capabilities and so forth. Red Scorpions can make their Mk4, for instance.

Not many chapters like/use Mk5, but some do. All of them tend to only have a few copies of Mk8. Mk1 is almost non-existant now. Newer tends to be more common than older, but not always.

Recruits would often receive "mixed" suits since they'd be inheriting a suit of a deceased battle-brother. Even a new chapter would probably have a couple of mixed suits worn by the veterans which raised the chapter.

[house_cawdor]

OK, so a First Founding Chapters' Marines may have either full suits of armour or they may be mixed and matched depending on the circumstances. I am considering doing one of the First Founding Chapters such as Iron Hands or Dark Angels. I appreciate all of the responses.

[Wolfshade]

That's correct.
Though I am sure that you'd be able to mix and match and do what ever you think looks best

[OrksOrksOrks]

The fluff says that MK VI onwards are designed to be able to use components from each other, MK V components are often fitted in though, because they are a reminder of the Heresy. Suits older than that are rare relics that you might have to earn the rights to wear, often saved for veterns, the older the Chapter, the more likely they are to have these relics in the armoury, if you're using a newly outfitted chapter like the Minotaurs, they're more likely to have MK VII and VIII than anything old.

[MaltonNecromancer]

There is no correct answer to this question.

There is if you take FFG's "Deathwatch" game as canon.

The full details are in "Rites of Battle"; I'd go into them, but they run to about ten pages of highly detailed fluff. Short version = most armour parts are compatible with all other armours (except Mk 1, which isn't "proper" power armour). Mk 2 and 3 armour are ancient relics of the chapter - only issued to Captains and the like. Mk 3 is an adaption of Mk 2, and was designed for boarding actions, hence heavy front armour, poor stealth. Mk 4 was the "best" armour (most advanced, most efficient, lightest) but isn't really used because not many survived The Heresy. It now goes on high-ranking marines mostly. Mk 5 was the AK-47 equivelant (cheap and effective, but nasty, and distrusted because of superstitious associations with The Heresy), and most marines are now in Mk 7 because it's basically more effective than Mk 6. Mk 8 isn't really in full production, hence mostly issued to sergeants.

A marine will normally be given a suit made up of one mark entirely, but some marines choose to mix and match as they see fit (I like Mk 8 chest pieces for the increased head armour, and Mk 6 heads for the superior sensor array, but sadly the two aren't compatible.)

[Chris*ta]

This question really is one that you can use whatever answer you want.

If you go by the cureent SM Codex pp. 18-9, pretty much no Ultramarine wears a suit completely of one mark at all, and there's a significant amount of the early marks 2-5 available to them.

If we look at the minis, mks 6,7 and 8 are mixed freely by most marines, and some earlier marks are used as well, e.g. mk 3 helmet on the plasma cannon guy in the new Dark Vengeance set.

If you go by some of the earlier fluff, the earlier marks are largely preserved as whole suits and given to prestigious squads/individuals in the Chapter.

The SM Codex notes that the way that various marks are divided up (and even if they are kept as whole suits or used piecemeal) varies from Chapter to Chapter.

TL;DR Do whatever you want to/can afford/think looks cool.

[Cpt Codpiece]

on a further note, that GW has completey disregarded their own fluff (again) only MK VI and VII use interchangable parts. this was first brought up in WD (about 120ish) and was in the RT compendium, under the armour MKs and their uses.

MK VIII however is a strange one, as we only have torsos in plastic. we have never had a et of legs or helmet. only the metal armour of the ages is complete, and the arms would be wrong as they are MK VI/VII, im sure MK VIII has vambraces like the new dark angels, the legs are more slender and have a ball joint on the greaves where they meet thr feet, and also extra armour on the heels (like grey knights in PA and new chaos)

but the way it stands with regard to codex now, anything goes it seems.

i prefer MK IV and VI with MK 5 being a cvlose contender for 3rd (terminator helm FTW)