Space Marines - Firstborn Chapter Organisation: According to the original version of the Codex Astartes before the introduction of the Primaris Marines in the Era Indomitus, Space Marines were organised into three main types of squad: Tactical, Assault, and Devastator. Each of these squads has a unique battlefield role and is designed to operate together to provide mutual support and maximum flexibility.In addition to these three squad types, the 1st (Veteran) Company can be formed into Terminator or Veteran squads, while the Scouts of the 10th Company are always fielded as Scout Squads.All Space Marine squad types, with the exception of the Scouts, normally consist of 10 Astartes, but they can be divided into two separate combat squads in battle. This gives each unit a further degree of flexibility in action.An aspirant who becomes a neophyte and is accepted into the Chapter's ranks will serve in many roles, starting out as a young Scout Marine in the 10th Company.If fate favours him, progressing through the ranks as an initiate and full battle-brother of the Chapter, serving as Devastator Marine, Assault Marine, Tactical Marine and, if he is exceptionally bold, eventually earning the honour of serving as a Veteran in the elite 1st Company.A favoured few excel even past this great honour and join the ranks of the Chapter's officers, leading their fellows into the blood and fury of battle.The first step along the path to becoming a mighty hero of the Chapter is service in one of the Scout Squads of the 10th Company. Scout Squads consist of a Veteran Sergeant and four to nine Scout Marines. The role of the Sergeant is to train the Scouts and lead them in battle. Only Sergeants of considerable experience and status are designated for this role.Scouts attend to every word their Sergeant utters, for it is said that he has forgotten more of war than many more senior officers will ever learn. Whilst serving as a Scout, a neophyte learns the most subtle arts of war.In a range of infiltration and reconnaissance missions, he learns how to approach and observe the enemy. Information gathered in such missions is passed back to the main battle force.The Scouts get their first taste of combat by way of carefully placed ambushes, the Scout Sergeant drawing on centuries of experience to deploy his charges in such a manner as to teach them as valuable a lesson as the enemy.Unlike that enemy, the Scouts learn valuable skills in such combats -- the enemy earns nothing more than a quick death, for even a neophyte Space Marine is a potent warrior compared to a mortal man.A Space Marine serving in a Devastator Squad may only recently have completed his service in the 10th Company and been accepted as a full initiate and battle-brother of the Chapter. It will be his first experience of fighting in power armour.When first assigned to such a squad, the Space Marine will bear a bolter and grenades and fulfill a support role within the squad, providing close support to those battle-brothers armed with heavy weapons, identifying targets and being close at hand to proffer ammunition and to take up the weapons of any who should fall.Only when he has proven himself steady and reliable in battle will the Space Marine be entrusted with one of the Chapter's mighty heavy weapons, which he will come to master over the course of several hundred battles. Devastator Squads consist of a Sergeant and nine Space Marines.Up to four Space Marines may be armed with heavy weapons, whilst the remainder will carry Bolters. This is the most heavily armed type of Space Marine squad, and they are deployed wherever overwhelming firepower is needed, especially when the Chapter faces enemy armour or fortified positions.Having proved himself steadfast and disciplined in the Devastator Squads, a Space Marine will in time earn himself a place in his company's Assault Squads. Here the Space Marine comes to master the application of overwhelming force, taking the fight directly to the enemy's strong points.He embraces the controlled savagery of close combat and looks his enemy in the eye as he deals him death. Assault Squads are specialists at fighting in hand-to-hand combat.Each squad consists of a Sergeant and nine Space Marines all equipped with Jump Packs and armed with a close combat weapon in each hand.Common armament consists of a Bolt Pistol and a Chainsword. Optionally, two of the Space Marines may carry Plasma Pistols. This combination is ideal for fast-attacking, close-quarter fighting assault troops.Even though Tactical Squads are the most common type of squad in any Chapter, to earn a place in one a Space Marine must have proven himself both courageous and wise in battle.Throughout his service in the Devastator and Assault Squads, he will be proven adaptable in his approach to the arts of war and will have mastered a range of tactics and weaponry.Tactical Squads are the most commonly fielded squad types in a Chapter. A Tactical Squad is led by a Sergeant and includes nine other Space Marines. Of these, seven battle-brothers are armed with Bolters, whilst the remaining two can be armed with Bolters or, alternatively, one may carry a heavy weapon such as a Missile Launcher or a Heavy Bolter, and the other may carry a special weapon such as a Flamer or Meltagun. This combination is the most tactically flexible and offers a good mixture of capabilities within the squad.After serving in hundreds of campaigns and thousands of battles, and having conquered the very worst the galaxy has to throw at him, a Space Marine is likely to be considered a Veteran.In most Chapters, such an honour is not measured by length of service, but in blood spilled, horrors overcome, and mighty deeds done. As a prelude to service in the elite 1st Company, many Space Marine Veterans fulfill the role of Sergeant, leading squads of all types in any of the other companies.Thus, many of the Space Marines of the Veteran company will be battle-proven leaders as well as highly experienced warriors. The warriors of the Veteran company are fielded in one of three squad types: Terminator Squads wear the uniquely powerful Terminator Armour, sometimes called Tactical Dreadnought Armour.This armoured suit is massive in construction, virtually turning a Space Marine into a one-man tank. Every Chapter has a limited number of Terminator Armour suits, and each is an ancient artefact crafted many thousands of Terran years ago.Terminators are less mobile than other Space Marines and are primarily used in starship boarding actions or in extreme close quarters combat when heavy fire support cannot be easily brought to bear.So resilient is the armour that it is reputedly able to operate inside plasma reactors, within volcanoes, and inside highly irradiated areas of deep space. Legend has it that the armour can even survive the tread of a Titan.To wear an ancient suit of Terminator Armour is one of the greatest honours to which a Space Marine can aspire. Each suit bears on its left shoulder the Crux Terminatus, the unique honour badge of the Terminator.Each Crux is said to contain at its core a tiny fragment of the armour worn by the Emperor Himself when he fought his final battle against the traitor Warmaster Horus, providing a direct link between the Space Marine and the Master of Mankind.Despite its obvious benefits, Terminator Armour is not suitable for all missions. Most of the time, Veterans take to the field wearing ordinary power armour, albeit a suit inscribed with many hundreds of battle honours as well as the Crux Terminatus. When wearing power armour, Veterans are formed into Vanguard Veteran Squads or Sternguard Veteran Squads.By dint of their rank, Veterans have access to the most fearsome weaponry in the Chapter's Armoury, including sacred blades and Artificer-crafted Combi-weapons of uniquely masterful craftsmanship. Vanguard Veteran Squads go to battle equipped with the most lethal of close combat weapons, and often wear Jump Packs to bring them to bear before the enemy can even react.Sternguard Veteran Squads carry a wide array of ranged weaponry and specialised ammunition, and are masters in its overwhelming application. Veteran squads are rarely deployed en masse, but are instead used to bolster the line, provide an unstoppable speartip or to act as a highly flexible and mobile reserve.Each of the Chapter's ten companies is led by an officer with the rank of Captain. These leaders are second in experience only to the Chapter Master himself, and each is a warrior so deadly that he will rarely meet his match.Each Captain is an inspirational and determined leader, able to coordinate the Space Marines under his command whatever the opposition. In addition to leading Space Marines in battle, each Captain holds functional titles dependent on his other responsibilities with regard to the workings of the Chapter or its homeworld, such as Master of the Fleet or Master of the Marches.Of the thousand awesome and terrifying warriors that comprise a Space Marine Chapter, there is but one Chapter Master, a leader with centuries of experience in the very crucible of battle.His own fighting skills will be unsurpassed, whether in the use of gun, blade, or bare hands. His very rank speaks of a past littered with the bodies of bloodied, beaten foes of the most terrifying and inhuman sort.It is not enough, however, for the Chapter Master to be its foremost warrior. He must also be a superb tactician, grounded in the teachings of the Codex Astartes and honed through countless decisions made in the maelstrom of close action.His warriors are also his brothers, and he knows that they will give their lives at his command. He must preserve these magnificent troops, but must also accomplish his mission and uphold the honour of his Chapter.He will be steeped in the lore of his Chapter and be sworn to keep its secrets and must conduct his diplomacy accordingly, for Space Marines maintain a web of time-proven oaths and honour debts and do not simply heed the commands of Imperial functionaries, no matter how impressive their title. Those who wish a Chapter Master to send his warriors into battle must give him good reason to do so.In addition to this, a Chapter Master will often be the ruler of his Chapter homeworld, a resource that is too valuable for him to ignore. Amongst the greatest risks facing a Chapter Master is the very power he wields, for a Chapter of Space Marines is a force capable of devastating entire worlds at his order.It is an Astartes' very power that can lead to hubris. And it is hubris that can so easily condemn even a Space Marine's soul to damnation as those dedicated to the protection of Mankind may come to believe they should rule it instead.