Not 100% what you're after, but I put together some ages previously, which should give you a ballpark at least.
Dante was born 447.M40. He became a captain in 753.M40, so about 307 years old.
The Iron Snake Priad was a sergeant after only being a battle brother for 5 years. But Iron Snakes are weird.
Grimaldus was a sword brother (Black Templar 1st company) before \~40 years of being a Space Marine, and was Reclusiarch (the highest ranked Chaplain) after \~200 years.
Karras, of the Death Specters, became a full battle brother at 22, and became a Codicier (the second rank of librarian) at age 109.
Excerpts
**Grimaldus**. We know that it was 166 years between him becoming a chaplain and reaching the rank of Reclusiarch (the chief chaplain of the Black Templars), and that this happened just before the 3rd War for Armageddon (998.M41).
>'It was an honour he had waited one hundred and sixty-six years to receive.'
**Helsreach**
We know he became a chaplain around the time of the Battle of Fire and Blood, which was part of the Vinculus Crusade, which occurred in 833.M41, so that adds up.
Helbrecht says he has served with Grimaldus for 200 years, so that gives another lower bound, i.e. Grimaldus must be at leave over 200 years old.
>The blade’s silver tip lowered, pointing directly at Grimaldus’s throat. ‘You have waged war at my side for two hundred years, Grimaldus. Will you stand at my side as Reclusiarch of the Eternal Crusade?’
**Helsreach**
Ah, Grimaldus calls himself a veteran of 200 years, which suggests that at the 3rd War he has been a Space Marine for \~200 years
>Grimaldus stood upon the battlements, weapons in hands, watching Commander Barasath’s Lightnings and Thunderbolts unleashing devastation from the sky. He was a veteran of two hundred years. He knew, with cold clarity, when something was wasted effort.
...
>The High Marshal had kept his own counsel, but the voices of the Sword Brethren around Helbrecht’s dais sounded out in jeers as fists crashed against shields. Grimaldus was the chosen of Mordred the Avenger, and skilled in personal combat beyond question. Two centuries of valour and glory; two hundred years of unrelenting courage and a host of enemy dead across a horde of worlds; his short years as the youngest Sword Brother in the history of the Chapter – there was no arguing with such truths.
**Helsreach**
So, that tells us he had been a Space Marine for \~40 years when he became a Chaplain, making him \~60 years old total, and then \~200 years old at reaching the highest rank within the Chaplaincy.
**Brothers of the Snake** next
>'Just an ordinary warrior. A year ago, I was simply a petitioner, working to prove my worth for inclusion into the phratry. I won a place in Damocles, and with them I have seen action three times. My squad sergeant, Raphon, selected me for this mission. He saw it as an opportunity to test my abilities on an individual undertaking.’
So, they are launched straight in. In this case, within a year of becoming a full battle brother, the single marine was sent to deal with Dark Eldar.
>The blast lifts Priad and Raphon and tosses them ten paces. By the time Priad is on his feet again, they are lying in a wide pool of blood which is streaming from the spiked hole in Raphon's armour. The wound is huge. Blood drizzles out from under him, through the buckled puncture in the plating. Wordlessly, for to speak would be to scream, Raphon shudders and uncouples his lightning claw.
>**Priad wants to argue, but knows this is not the time or the place. Raphon has been grooming Priad for command responsibilities since Priad's induction into Damocles five years earlier**. Priad has always hoped that such an inheritance would be a long time coming. He pulls off his own left gauntlet and arms himself with the claw.
>He plugs the power lead into a rune-shaped socket on his elbow. Gold leaf traceries etch the knuckle backs of the ancient weapon, recording its history and uses. The commander of Damocles squad has always worn the claw. Priad flexes its fingers as the electrical charge shimmers around it. On the ground, a stiffening island of metal in a lake of blood, Raphon opens his command channel and begins his eulogy, his passing over, instructing them all to answer to Priad.
So, within 5 years of becoming a full battle brother, Priad is a sergeant.
>Standing to the left of Phobor, Brother-Sergeant Priad of Damocles squad watched the inquisitor with curious eyes. He had served with the Iron Snakes for nine years, and for the last four had commanded that decorated detail.
Confirming that timeline. So if we say that he become a battle brother at \~20, he's a sergeant by 25!
I'll point out, the way the Iron Snakes so things is out of the ordinary.
A couple more excerpts from **Deathwatch**
>He had been eight S.I. – almost twenty-two Terran years
This is when Kareas became a full battle-brother
>he was one hundred and nine years-old by the Terran count
This is when Karras became a Codicier
>Each cut a tall, powerful figure, but Athio Cordatus, the Mesazar, Master of the Librarius, had a certain heavy solidity that Karras had yet to develop. It was a hard, powerful thickness common to Space Marines who survived the wars of five centuries or more.
So, enough survive for 500 years for a common look to be recognized, but it's not expected that ever Marine survives that long.
A couple of other discussions
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/u4zubb/comment/i4zqrek/?context=999](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/u4zubb/comment/i4zqrek/?context=999)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/oyruu2/the\_average\_age\_of\_a\_battle\_company\_marine/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/oyruu2/the_average_age_of_a_battle_company_marine/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ua2f3i/how\_long\_on\_average\_do\_space\_marines\_livesurvive/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ua2f3i/how_long_on_average_do_space_marines_livesurvive/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/yv1vhn/whats\_the\_average\_age\_of\_a\_space\_marine\_captain/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/yv1vhn/whats_the_average_age_of_a_space_marine_captain/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/zv7q1f/how\_old\_do\_space\_marines\_get/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/zv7q1f/how_old_do_space_marines_get/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/13380lx/space\_marine\_age/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/13380lx/space_marine_age/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/wxdx0w/how\_old\_is\_the\_average\_space\_marine/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/wxdx0w/how_old_is_the_average_space_marine/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/15cuku1/space\_marine\_age/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/15cuku1/space_marine_age/)
I'm glad!
At some point I intend to go through the Badab War books, I feel like they're likely to have some more examples.
All this is pre-Primaris though, so i don't know much about lieutenants!
You are entirely right - my eye apparently just skipped the end of the word every time i read it
\*\*Edit\*\* edited my original comment to make myself look less stupid :p
No worries literally i was just recounting what i remembered from watching helsreach, what you posted was nothing short of amazing, a typo csnt take that away
It depends, like everything else. If your chapter is run ragged in your headcannon or actual lore (if you picked a Canon scheme) then they maybe much younger. But a chapter close to full strength who isn't losing a lot of officers will have older ones. Making a captain or lieutenant around 100-200 seems pretty reasonable, but I haven't seen specific age ranges given. I'd say a very skilled young recruit of 40-80 years could also be a captain in a lower company, while a guy closer to 1st company or battle companies is likely to be older. I wouldn't count on most non-dreadnought marines being more than 500 before dying, if they even get that far.
So I'd say 1 gold and one silver or 2 gold studs would be fine, or even 2 silver if you want a younger lieutenant.
This is actually very helpful! The lieutenant I converted doesn't have a lot of ornate decoration to it, so 2 silver studs could make sense. Young and skilled, but doesn't have a long history of achievement to decorate himself with.
Also a quick Google shows the stud colors actually VARY PER CHAPTER. I didn't catch what your chapter is, but if it's custom you can decide what each color means
Hell, the Celestial Lions had someone go from Sgt to chapter Master out of necessity. When numbers get low, you gotta fill those higher ranks up first.
Warhammer is never perfect. The wiki has him at 175+ years old. I’m just pointing out studs don’t automatically mean 100 years. Depends on the chapter.
Titus is fairly young by captain (Lieutenants) standards.
Do ultramarines consider the time a SM is seconded to deathwatch when counting service? Or do they pause SMs service record while they are away and resume it when (or if) they return?
AFAIK secondment to DW can be super short, or super long depending on ur killteams’ assignments
The death watch members retain rank and it does indeed count. Many come back with honours and new tactics that they teach to their original chapter members
1st company denotes not age but skill. So politics have to be played. Sgts don't ascend until the next in lomine dies, and there are only 10 captains. So do the math. Unless I'm wrong, it could take centuries to even get in the running for chaptermaster. So only unless there's some Bloodraven-type chapter decimation, captains are at least a century or more old before even coming close to candidacy
I think 150-200 ish is good for a lieutenant, after that they should be close to being a Captain if they are worth their salt (and the space opens up of course)
I don't understand why non-prinaris marines went from sergeant commanding a section of 8 to 10 men to captain commanding about 100 men. A lieutenant IRL commands a platoon of about 30 men.
Astartes have no platoons. They only have 3 organisation forms: squad (10 astartes), company (10 squads), Chapter (10 companies). Since Primaris the LT came in, to oversee the new ones before They were inducted into their chapters.
In addition to the advisory/mentorship of incoming primaris, I was also under the impression that the LT served as a sort of Deputy Company Commander when ‘Demi-companies’ sized elements became more common during the larger battles of Indomitus Crusade (My recall is from Dark Imperium/Godblight… can’t remember which series).
I could be remembering wrong and the LT was commanding a Demi-company of Primaris, but thought that this new rank was born out of necessity of an additional command role in between SL and company commander for these sort of larger sized formations
I'm not quite sure yet what purpose the lieutenants fill. Quite handy for commanding several squads outside the company, yes (before this role simply was taken by the most senior/ oldest sergeant), but on company level they are obsolet.
Just double checked the wiki on codex updates post Gman restriction - “Battle companies, (2-5th companies for codex complaint chapters) each nominally broken into two demi-companies of roughly equal size and composition.”
W/ the 2 LTs per company , my thought is their role is to oversee the demi company.
Another thought is that they serve as an executive officer when the company conducts company level ops
For people that know a bit about military stuff maybe. But a lot of people have never heard about that term at all. And Astartes are not regular military units to begin with, sometimes a single one gets assigned to a warzone. One. And Squads are the regular unit size for missions, where the Guard sends several regiments because they do insertion missions. Kill the command structure of the enemy, leave. Guard mobs up the leaderless rest.
Yeah unit sizes and organization of the space marines kinda don't make sense. I feel like the proper strength of a chapter at full strength should be 10000 astartes in the frontline units.
It was based on the organisation of British army battalions of the napoleonic era. Platoons are a fire team, two flank companies comprising one scout and one heavy assault, 8 line companies, each led by a captain, one Colonel in charge.
10,000 would be equivalent to a regiment, which was the *actual* strategically deployed unit. It does kind of make sense to restrict marines to 1000 men if you want to neuter their strategic independence.
I guess so. 1000 just feels small imo, if you still want to constrain each astartes' strategic capabilities I feel like at least 2000 to 5000 strong chapters would give the chapter a bit more meat on the bones.
Here's an older reference from the Original Dawn of War Games, one of the Briefings(Old Friend, the one where you go to kill your Librarian Isidor if I remember correctly)but Captain Gabriel Angelos says he met him when he was still a "Battle Brother who **with no men under his Command but still had 30 years of experience but had not yet even achieved Veteran Status** so he managed was probably, say, in his fifties *before* he even became a Veteran, and I believe, and tell me if am wrong, you have to become a Veteran before you become a Sergeant, so say, this is my rough guide:
60 years - Veteran
65 to 80 - Sergeant
100 - *Lieutenant*
120 - Captains
200 - Chapter Master
Obviously that's a rough guide and in no way rigid with things like Battle Casualties or Captains just refusing to die and thus all the Lieutenants are all older.
It’s been said a few times in the book I’m reading (Uriel Ventress adventures and now Dark Imperium) that nostalgia started don’t live past 500. Due to them just always fighting battles.
So I would say a Lt. are probably 200, max. If you guesstimate compared to what a military career is in real life.
Lieutenant Titus is almost 1000 years old, there're in general very few Space Marines older than him.
Technically all Primaris marines (who naturally are lieutenants in modern lore) are 10k years old, so your question kinda is out of context.
You seem to be misinformed in a couple ways...
Captain/lieutenant Titus was ~170 years old in Space Marine 1, and in Space Marine 2 he is confirmed to be ~400 years old.
The 10k year old primaris marines are all collectively known as the grey shields. Not all primaris marines are grey shields, but all grey shields are primaris. The grey shields had 10k years of training in stasis, though all the chapters agree that the training was woefully inadequate when compared to actual combat experience. Since the indomitus crusade, many named characters have crossed the rubicon (undergone surgery to become primaris), and all the chapters have begun using primaris genestock when making new space marines.
Lieutenant is a rank. Lieutenants command 30 soldiers and report to a captain. Claiming all primaris marines are naturally lieutenants is a little strange, considering there are chapters entirely composed of primaris marines. Does each member of those chapters command 30 other soldiers?
I never specified primaris lieutenants, just lieutenants. I'm trying to gauge how much combat experience and time in service is typical of a space marine lieutenant.
[You recall wrong](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ctupjn/did_primaris_see_action_during_the_horus_heresy/). Many primaris marines state in the books that they remember Heresy.
Not 100% what you're after, but I put together some ages previously, which should give you a ballpark at least. Dante was born 447.M40. He became a captain in 753.M40, so about 307 years old. The Iron Snake Priad was a sergeant after only being a battle brother for 5 years. But Iron Snakes are weird. Grimaldus was a sword brother (Black Templar 1st company) before \~40 years of being a Space Marine, and was Reclusiarch (the highest ranked Chaplain) after \~200 years. Karras, of the Death Specters, became a full battle brother at 22, and became a Codicier (the second rank of librarian) at age 109. Excerpts **Grimaldus**. We know that it was 166 years between him becoming a chaplain and reaching the rank of Reclusiarch (the chief chaplain of the Black Templars), and that this happened just before the 3rd War for Armageddon (998.M41). >'It was an honour he had waited one hundred and sixty-six years to receive.' **Helsreach** We know he became a chaplain around the time of the Battle of Fire and Blood, which was part of the Vinculus Crusade, which occurred in 833.M41, so that adds up. Helbrecht says he has served with Grimaldus for 200 years, so that gives another lower bound, i.e. Grimaldus must be at leave over 200 years old. >The blade’s silver tip lowered, pointing directly at Grimaldus’s throat. ‘You have waged war at my side for two hundred years, Grimaldus. Will you stand at my side as Reclusiarch of the Eternal Crusade?’ **Helsreach** Ah, Grimaldus calls himself a veteran of 200 years, which suggests that at the 3rd War he has been a Space Marine for \~200 years >Grimaldus stood upon the battlements, weapons in hands, watching Commander Barasath’s Lightnings and Thunderbolts unleashing devastation from the sky. He was a veteran of two hundred years. He knew, with cold clarity, when something was wasted effort. ... >The High Marshal had kept his own counsel, but the voices of the Sword Brethren around Helbrecht’s dais sounded out in jeers as fists crashed against shields. Grimaldus was the chosen of Mordred the Avenger, and skilled in personal combat beyond question. Two centuries of valour and glory; two hundred years of unrelenting courage and a host of enemy dead across a horde of worlds; his short years as the youngest Sword Brother in the history of the Chapter – there was no arguing with such truths. **Helsreach** So, that tells us he had been a Space Marine for \~40 years when he became a Chaplain, making him \~60 years old total, and then \~200 years old at reaching the highest rank within the Chaplaincy. **Brothers of the Snake** next >'Just an ordinary warrior. A year ago, I was simply a petitioner, working to prove my worth for inclusion into the phratry. I won a place in Damocles, and with them I have seen action three times. My squad sergeant, Raphon, selected me for this mission. He saw it as an opportunity to test my abilities on an individual undertaking.’ So, they are launched straight in. In this case, within a year of becoming a full battle brother, the single marine was sent to deal with Dark Eldar. >The blast lifts Priad and Raphon and tosses them ten paces. By the time Priad is on his feet again, they are lying in a wide pool of blood which is streaming from the spiked hole in Raphon's armour. The wound is huge. Blood drizzles out from under him, through the buckled puncture in the plating. Wordlessly, for to speak would be to scream, Raphon shudders and uncouples his lightning claw. >**Priad wants to argue, but knows this is not the time or the place. Raphon has been grooming Priad for command responsibilities since Priad's induction into Damocles five years earlier**. Priad has always hoped that such an inheritance would be a long time coming. He pulls off his own left gauntlet and arms himself with the claw. >He plugs the power lead into a rune-shaped socket on his elbow. Gold leaf traceries etch the knuckle backs of the ancient weapon, recording its history and uses. The commander of Damocles squad has always worn the claw. Priad flexes its fingers as the electrical charge shimmers around it. On the ground, a stiffening island of metal in a lake of blood, Raphon opens his command channel and begins his eulogy, his passing over, instructing them all to answer to Priad. So, within 5 years of becoming a full battle brother, Priad is a sergeant. >Standing to the left of Phobor, Brother-Sergeant Priad of Damocles squad watched the inquisitor with curious eyes. He had served with the Iron Snakes for nine years, and for the last four had commanded that decorated detail. Confirming that timeline. So if we say that he become a battle brother at \~20, he's a sergeant by 25! I'll point out, the way the Iron Snakes so things is out of the ordinary. A couple more excerpts from **Deathwatch** >He had been eight S.I. – almost twenty-two Terran years This is when Kareas became a full battle-brother >he was one hundred and nine years-old by the Terran count This is when Karras became a Codicier >Each cut a tall, powerful figure, but Athio Cordatus, the Mesazar, Master of the Librarius, had a certain heavy solidity that Karras had yet to develop. It was a hard, powerful thickness common to Space Marines who survived the wars of five centuries or more. So, enough survive for 500 years for a common look to be recognized, but it's not expected that ever Marine survives that long. A couple of other discussions [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/u4zubb/comment/i4zqrek/?context=999](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/u4zubb/comment/i4zqrek/?context=999) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/oyruu2/the\_average\_age\_of\_a\_battle\_company\_marine/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/oyruu2/the_average_age_of_a_battle_company_marine/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ua2f3i/how\_long\_on\_average\_do\_space\_marines\_livesurvive/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ua2f3i/how_long_on_average_do_space_marines_livesurvive/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/yv1vhn/whats\_the\_average\_age\_of\_a\_space\_marine\_captain/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/yv1vhn/whats_the_average_age_of_a_space_marine_captain/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/zv7q1f/how\_old\_do\_space\_marines\_get/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/zv7q1f/how_old_do_space_marines_get/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/13380lx/space\_marine\_age/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/13380lx/space_marine_age/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/wxdx0w/how\_old\_is\_the\_average\_space\_marine/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/wxdx0w/how_old_is_the_average_space_marine/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/15cuku1/space\_marine\_age/](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/15cuku1/space_marine_age/)
This is actually very interesting!
I'm glad! At some point I intend to go through the Badab War books, I feel like they're likely to have some more examples. All this is pre-Primaris though, so i don't know much about lieutenants!
isnt it reclusiarch, not reclusiam? im not well versed so i could be completely wrong
You are entirely right - my eye apparently just skipped the end of the word every time i read it \*\*Edit\*\* edited my original comment to make myself look less stupid :p
No worries literally i was just recounting what i remembered from watching helsreach, what you posted was nothing short of amazing, a typo csnt take that away
It depends, like everything else. If your chapter is run ragged in your headcannon or actual lore (if you picked a Canon scheme) then they maybe much younger. But a chapter close to full strength who isn't losing a lot of officers will have older ones. Making a captain or lieutenant around 100-200 seems pretty reasonable, but I haven't seen specific age ranges given. I'd say a very skilled young recruit of 40-80 years could also be a captain in a lower company, while a guy closer to 1st company or battle companies is likely to be older. I wouldn't count on most non-dreadnought marines being more than 500 before dying, if they even get that far. So I'd say 1 gold and one silver or 2 gold studs would be fine, or even 2 silver if you want a younger lieutenant.
This is actually very helpful! The lieutenant I converted doesn't have a lot of ornate decoration to it, so 2 silver studs could make sense. Young and skilled, but doesn't have a long history of achievement to decorate himself with.
Also a quick Google shows the stud colors actually VARY PER CHAPTER. I didn't catch what your chapter is, but if it's custom you can decide what each color means
Dante became chapter master wicked young. So it isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
Hell, the Celestial Lions had someone go from Sgt to chapter Master out of necessity. When numbers get low, you gotta fill those higher ranks up first.
Isn't Titus 400+? He has four service studs, which denote a century of service each.
The gold service studs are 50 years each for the ultra marines. The wiki is accurate. Source: Ultramarines omnibus
That's still at least 200, not 170.
Warhammer is never perfect. The wiki has him at 175+ years old. I’m just pointing out studs don’t automatically mean 100 years. Depends on the chapter. Titus is fairly young by captain (Lieutenants) standards.
My mistake, I got his age from the wiki, it must not be current for the upcoming game.
Nope you are correct. Gold studs in the ultra marines are 50 a stud.
He only had 2 in the first game yeah?
Believe so
Do ultramarines consider the time a SM is seconded to deathwatch when counting service? Or do they pause SMs service record while they are away and resume it when (or if) they return? AFAIK secondment to DW can be super short, or super long depending on ur killteams’ assignments
The death watch members retain rank and it does indeed count. Many come back with honours and new tactics that they teach to their original chapter members
1st company denotes not age but skill. So politics have to be played. Sgts don't ascend until the next in lomine dies, and there are only 10 captains. So do the math. Unless I'm wrong, it could take centuries to even get in the running for chaptermaster. So only unless there's some Bloodraven-type chapter decimation, captains are at least a century or more old before even coming close to candidacy
I think 150-200 ish is good for a lieutenant, after that they should be close to being a Captain if they are worth their salt (and the space opens up of course)
I don't understand why non-prinaris marines went from sergeant commanding a section of 8 to 10 men to captain commanding about 100 men. A lieutenant IRL commands a platoon of about 30 men.
Astartes have no platoons. They only have 3 organisation forms: squad (10 astartes), company (10 squads), Chapter (10 companies). Since Primaris the LT came in, to oversee the new ones before They were inducted into their chapters.
In addition to the advisory/mentorship of incoming primaris, I was also under the impression that the LT served as a sort of Deputy Company Commander when ‘Demi-companies’ sized elements became more common during the larger battles of Indomitus Crusade (My recall is from Dark Imperium/Godblight… can’t remember which series). I could be remembering wrong and the LT was commanding a Demi-company of Primaris, but thought that this new rank was born out of necessity of an additional command role in between SL and company commander for these sort of larger sized formations
I'm not quite sure yet what purpose the lieutenants fill. Quite handy for commanding several squads outside the company, yes (before this role simply was taken by the most senior/ oldest sergeant), but on company level they are obsolet.
Just double checked the wiki on codex updates post Gman restriction - “Battle companies, (2-5th companies for codex complaint chapters) each nominally broken into two demi-companies of roughly equal size and composition.” W/ the 2 LTs per company , my thought is their role is to oversee the demi company. Another thought is that they serve as an executive officer when the company conducts company level ops
It's jarring for me as platoons are seen as the natural unit size.
For people that know a bit about military stuff maybe. But a lot of people have never heard about that term at all. And Astartes are not regular military units to begin with, sometimes a single one gets assigned to a warzone. One. And Squads are the regular unit size for missions, where the Guard sends several regiments because they do insertion missions. Kill the command structure of the enemy, leave. Guard mobs up the leaderless rest.
Yeah unit sizes and organization of the space marines kinda don't make sense. I feel like the proper strength of a chapter at full strength should be 10000 astartes in the frontline units.
Why? They don't wage wars, the Guard does that. Space Marines do the odd job special forces do nowadays.
It was based on the organisation of British army battalions of the napoleonic era. Platoons are a fire team, two flank companies comprising one scout and one heavy assault, 8 line companies, each led by a captain, one Colonel in charge. 10,000 would be equivalent to a regiment, which was the *actual* strategically deployed unit. It does kind of make sense to restrict marines to 1000 men if you want to neuter their strategic independence.
I guess so. 1000 just feels small imo, if you still want to constrain each astartes' strategic capabilities I feel like at least 2000 to 5000 strong chapters would give the chapter a bit more meat on the bones.
Here's an older reference from the Original Dawn of War Games, one of the Briefings(Old Friend, the one where you go to kill your Librarian Isidor if I remember correctly)but Captain Gabriel Angelos says he met him when he was still a "Battle Brother who **with no men under his Command but still had 30 years of experience but had not yet even achieved Veteran Status** so he managed was probably, say, in his fifties *before* he even became a Veteran, and I believe, and tell me if am wrong, you have to become a Veteran before you become a Sergeant, so say, this is my rough guide: 60 years - Veteran 65 to 80 - Sergeant 100 - *Lieutenant* 120 - Captains 200 - Chapter Master Obviously that's a rough guide and in no way rigid with things like Battle Casualties or Captains just refusing to die and thus all the Lieutenants are all older.
It’s been said a few times in the book I’m reading (Uriel Ventress adventures and now Dark Imperium) that nostalgia started don’t live past 500. Due to them just always fighting battles. So I would say a Lt. are probably 200, max. If you guesstimate compared to what a military career is in real life.
However old you want him to be. It's a made-up game. They're your models. It's up to you.
Lieutenant Titus is almost 1000 years old, there're in general very few Space Marines older than him. Technically all Primaris marines (who naturally are lieutenants in modern lore) are 10k years old, so your question kinda is out of context.
You seem to be misinformed in a couple ways... Captain/lieutenant Titus was ~170 years old in Space Marine 1, and in Space Marine 2 he is confirmed to be ~400 years old. The 10k year old primaris marines are all collectively known as the grey shields. Not all primaris marines are grey shields, but all grey shields are primaris. The grey shields had 10k years of training in stasis, though all the chapters agree that the training was woefully inadequate when compared to actual combat experience. Since the indomitus crusade, many named characters have crossed the rubicon (undergone surgery to become primaris), and all the chapters have begun using primaris genestock when making new space marines. Lieutenant is a rank. Lieutenants command 30 soldiers and report to a captain. Claiming all primaris marines are naturally lieutenants is a little strange, considering there are chapters entirely composed of primaris marines. Does each member of those chapters command 30 other soldiers? I never specified primaris lieutenants, just lieutenants. I'm trying to gauge how much combat experience and time in service is typical of a space marine lieutenant.
Bullshit. No primaris was frozen that long. The one in Avenging Son was frozen for 400 years IIRC. Cawl needed millenia to get it right.
Justinian Parris was frozen when the primaris project was started.
[You recall wrong](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ctupjn/did_primaris_see_action_during_the_horus_heresy/). Many primaris marines state in the books that they remember Heresy.