That's not entirely true, save in the absract. A Space Marine battallion (called a chapter) is very far superior to greater number of normal soldiers, because they are far better equipped, more mobile, better led, and so on. In actual battle, one marine is worth about ten imperial soldiers; "Give me a hundred Space Marines. Or failing that, give me a thousand other troops" to quote Rogal Dorn. Of course, this would be the very well trained and equipped Imperial Army of the era Rogal Dorn lived in, which even included some lesser genetically augmented soldiers.Aratech wrote:Most of what I've gathered upon the Custodes comes from others comments towards them. IoM commanders usually consider a Space Marine (I.E. strong enough to pick 3+tons up overhead, run at speeds that enable them to cross in hours what take normal units weeks (100+ clicks a day over mountainous terrain) move fast enough to cross a room in the time it takes a human to pull the trigger on a gun, and sturdy enough to have 2 of their lungs wrecked, one of their hearts shot out of their body, half their ribs broken, get run through by a power sword and still manage to disarm the silly bastard who stuck them by twisting their torso's sidways and ripping the sword out of his hands, before in turn using it to kill him/taking a hypersonic 20mm adamantinum round to the face at point blank range and just getting pissed off super soldiers) are usually worth 1,000 Imperial Guard (the rank and file 'normal' humans). Custodes are considered to be worth a thousand Space Marines.Darkevilme wrote:
At the risk of a tangent can i ask for a bit more information as to just how powerful these custodes are?
I mean the only info i've found so far is 'made from the emperor's geneseed' (weren't the primarchs made the same way?) 'emperor's personal guard' 'streamlined golden armour' 'halberds with guns inside'
In a campaign, however, thanks to their powerful and dedicated starships, a chapter may well achieve what hundreds of thousands or millions of ordinary soldiers could not (say, defeating the defenders of a city), but this should not be seen as indicative of them being individually that powerful.
The kill ratio observed in battle by what one might call 'the Hands of the Emperor' against the traitorous Thousand Sons legion was five to one. But that battle (IIRC) included the Custodes' (somewhat literal) sister organisation, the Sisters of Silence, whose abilities were no doubt greater against the Thousand Sons, due to the Sisters being specialist psyker-hunters, immune to psychic powers, and the Thousand Sons relying heavily on psykers.
In the ten thousand years since the Heresy, the Sisters of Silence appear to have been wiped out, and the Custodes have abandoned the use of armour, preffering to dress like those idiot Spartans from 300, in leather underpants and capes. Pictures(!) and quotes on that last bit are available on request.
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