Nick Kyme

Is that about right?

It’s an interesting one, and it’s something I thought about a lot during the writing of ‘Fires of War’ and ‘Salamander’. Well, I guess there are some obvious ways to challenge a Space Marine – you put him in a situation where he is massively outnumbered or outgunned and has to rely upon all of his abilities to get him through to the other side. As an aside, one important thing to remember I think is that Space Marines don’t roll up to just any old mission. Relatively speaking, there’s no that many of them and they certainly don’t want to spend their valuable time in the meatgrinder when a company or two of Imperial Guardsmen can get the job done just fine without them. Space Marines get involved when nobody else can do what needs to be done. They lead the surgical strikes, they perform the daring missions, they go where the battle is hardest and against the toughest of enemies. Anything less just isn’t worth it.

I think in this instance, of wanting to respect canon and generating drama and tension, you can have your cake and eat it so to speak. I believe one answer is to put the Space Marines in a situation where their armour and weapons, their strength and skill, effectively count for nothing. In ‘Fires of War’ Kadai faces an impossible decision: Complete the mission and destroy the heretics controlling Cirrion, but at the same time condemn thousands of innocents to death. It’s a moral choice he can’t influence with his strength of arms, his skill or his weight of muscle in the form of his battle-brother squads. Essentially, what I’m saying is: give them tough decisions to make, where their moral and even ethical fibre is tested – then you’ll know the measure of a Space Marine.

Facing off against an equivalent foe is another way to fog up the outcome of a potential encounter (Chaos Space Marines spring to mind here…). If two sides are equally matched then it is those who make the better tactical decision or who make the better use of the assets available to them that will prevail.

Surprise them – Space Marines are great when they have to suddenly be flexible and think on their feet. If you take away their greatest asset, how will they react, what will they do, can they still achieve victory?

Conflict them – what if they are unsure about the mission they are prosecuting? Of course, Space Marines are loyal and dutiful, but what if the mission parameters change, what if something unexpected throws what they think they know into doubt – what happens then?

I think, with a little careful thought, there are numerous ways to challenge Space Marines and write stories with dramatic tension that still adhere to the canon and, more importantly, show them for the heroes they are?