| rdfs:comment | - The Battle Barge is the battleship of the Adeptus Astartes fleets, a ship slightly smaller than most Imperial Navy battleships but more heavily armored and no less durable. These ships are very expensive to build and maintain; most Chapters control only two or three. These vessels are configured more for planetary assaults than ship-to-ship engagements, with large Thunderhawk transport bays, heavy ground bombardment cannons, prow torpedoes, and a heavy broadside armament. In addition, they are heavily armored and shielded with a powerful turret array, and are nearly as fast as most Imperial Navy cruisers. Their crews are composed mostly of Servitors, but each ship does carry a compliment of Space Marines for repelling boarding actions and are designed to be easily defended. These factors c
- After the Horus Heresy, measures were taken to contain the power of the Space Marine Legions, solemn decrees that would ensure no single individual could ever again command such might in isolation. As is well documented, the Legions, each numbering thousands of Space Marines, were divided down into smaller warhosts called Chapters; each of only a thousand warriors. What is perhaps of greater importance is that the Space Marines were divorced from the old Imperial military: the new Adeptus Astartes Chapters would no longer hold dominion over vast fleets of battleships or grand regiments of vassal soldiery. If they were to triumph among the stars and stand resolute against the darkness of the void, they would need to work within the Imperium, and as part of it. Since that time, Space Marines
|
| abstract | - The Battle Barge is the battleship of the Adeptus Astartes fleets, a ship slightly smaller than most Imperial Navy battleships but more heavily armored and no less durable. These ships are very expensive to build and maintain; most Chapters control only two or three. These vessels are configured more for planetary assaults than ship-to-ship engagements, with large Thunderhawk transport bays, heavy ground bombardment cannons, prow torpedoes, and a heavy broadside armament. In addition, they are heavily armored and shielded with a powerful turret array, and are nearly as fast as most Imperial Navy cruisers. Their crews are composed mostly of Servitors, but each ship does carry a compliment of Space Marines for repelling boarding actions and are designed to be easily defended. These factors combine to create a well-armed, durable, and versatile vessel capable of holding its own in fleet engagements or blasting ground targets from low orbit, a ship worthy of carrying the Emperor's finest into battle.
- After the Horus Heresy, measures were taken to contain the power of the Space Marine Legions, solemn decrees that would ensure no single individual could ever again command such might in isolation. As is well documented, the Legions, each numbering thousands of Space Marines, were divided down into smaller warhosts called Chapters; each of only a thousand warriors. What is perhaps of greater importance is that the Space Marines were divorced from the old Imperial military: the new Adeptus Astartes Chapters would no longer hold dominion over vast fleets of battleships or grand regiments of vassal soldiery. If they were to triumph among the stars and stand resolute against the darkness of the void, they would need to work within the Imperium, and as part of it. Since that time, Space Marines have been granted only such warships as are needed to patrol their system borders, and deliver them to battle. To this day, the primary function of their fleets has been to transport battle-ready forces of Space Marines into war.
|
