I don't think they would fight at all.

My first experience with War hammer 40,000 was back when it first came out. I worked at a game store and an associate of mine had gotten into it with some of his friends. They were pretty hardcore about it; keeping up to date with all the rule books and figurines.

My co-worker let me borrow one of the many books he had pertaining to the game, and I immediately became drawn to the artwork which in turn got me into the story. It was really impressive how gargantuan a universe it was that they had crafted. All the different alien races with their various back stories and motivations. I never got into playing it myself because I was a console gamer, not a table top gamer and I really couldn’t afford it because it was expensive, but I always enjoyed diving into the story and artwork whenever I got the chance to hang out with them.

Jump ahead a decade or so and I’m sitting in my game room finishing up Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines for the 360. The marriage of a 3rd person action/shooter and the 40k world (in the boots of an Ultra Marine no less) was a game I couldn’t pass up and I must say I had I blast from beginning to end. This is a game that I hope gets an even bigger, better second effort. But this isn’t about the videogame. Instead it’s what I found out after playing through the campaign that caught my interest.

I wanted to know more about the back story because the game gives you just enough to keep you going but not enough to scratch the surface of what is actually available, should the need arise to know more about what was what. There’s a whole lot of “there” “there” so it’s really easy to get lost in it all. I checked out the Warhammer wiki and a few other sites and then I came across this forum where they were having a discussion about who would win in a fight between the Halo Spartans and the Space Marines; more specifically the Masterchief vs. a Space Marine.

The link to the actual forum is provided up above but if you’ve ever been in any type of forum or thread where the people are passionate about the given topic then you know how ugly it can get. The rapid decline of decorum in such cases could surely be used in some test study about human behavior and seeing as how these are gamers, the venom was extra poisonous. Even if you were like me and just reading the responses it would behoove you to have kept a snakebite kit nearby with an extra atropine injector.

Too me, the entire argument seems silly on it’s face because I don’t think that the SM and Spartans (even if given a chance) would fight each other because the SMs would see the Spartans as ancient heroes or out right gods.

Much like how Dr.Halsey drew inspiration and techniques from the ancient Spartans of Greece, so to do the SMs of the Warhammer universe. Even though it would be far into the future, there isn’t any reason to believe that the history of Earth would be lost, especially considering the circumstances of our survival. Just like the stories of the ancient Spartans stayed with us thru history, so to would the exploits of Masterchief and the Spartans last forever. The tales of the UNSC would surely be recorded in the tombs of human history.

Taking it a step further, Dr. Halsey and the Emperor of Mankind are alike in the sense that they both “gave birth” to the ultimate warriors of humanity for that time in human history for the sake of saving humanity. The MC is credited (along with his fellow Spartans) for stemming the tide of a brutal 30 year campaign of genocide against the human race. Facing several threats in the form of the covenant, the flood and even human insurrectionists at the same time (for whom the Spartans were intended to handle but had to adapt to a new threat) the MC saved humanity from the brink of extinction.

Spartans and the SMs that followed thousands of years later, were both selected at birth and trained to be warriors like no other before them. Skilled in all weapons, combat tactics, genetically enhanced to near perfection, custom combat armor of unheard of capabilities being the pinnacle of military technology-all of these things basically match up, so again I ask, why exactly would they be fighting?

It would stand to reason that the SMs would see the Spartan II’s and III’s as their forefathers; those who carried the preservation of humanity on their backs against foes both from within and without. The SMs of the 40k world would probably see the Spartan II’s and III’s as something to be like, something to look up to. Warriors to look up to and idolize who long before them saved Earth and her children from galactic extermination.

I know it’s fun to play the vs. game, we do it all the time. Be it comic book characters pitted against one another or your favorite game or movie character, the winner and loser isn’t always as obvious as it would first appear sometimes ending in a tie and others in unity. I would like to think that defenders of humankind would be on the same side, not fighting against each other. As a matter of fact, the High lords of Terra would find it heresy to speak ill of the Spartans.

Oh well, at least I can say I tried to bring unity to the community.