YMMV / Space Marine Battles

• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Excoriators Space Marine chapter from Legion of The Damned. Even though many who read the novel were disappointed that the titular Legion appeared very little, the main characters of the novel The Excoriators were considered to be a pretty badass set of Space Marines, with some interesting traditions and tactics that help them stand out from other chapters.
  • The Novella Blood and Fire helped turn The Celestial Lions into this. The fact that they are an honorable yet compassionate chapter on par with The Salamanders (who are darkhorses themselves for the same reasons) and happen to have a nice and easy to paint color scheme has certainly helped.
• Funny Moments: This little bout of dry humor in Malodrax...
  Lycaon: What do you know of Shalhadar?
  Lysander: Lord of this city, absolute tyrant of his people. Disloyal thoughts are a crime.
  Lycaon: Do you know how to kill him?
  Lysander: Cut him into pieces and burn them.
  Lycaon: Is that what the people of Malodrax say?
  Lysander: No, but that works on everything.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Did you believe for a second that Captain Sicarus was actually dead?
• Narm: As Purging of Kadillius takes place in the timeframe of Rogue Trader and 2nd Edition, picturing some of the forces for both the Dark Angels and Ork WAAGH as how their models looked at that time can result in this.
• Nightmare Fuel: Death of Integrity has a sequence where an Adeptus Mechanicus Archmagos named Plosk finds and interfaces with the central computer of a pre-Imperium ship at the heart of the titular Space Hulk, only to discover he has awoken an Artificial Intelligence, which is essentially the Satanic Archetype of his religion. Initially confident he can destroy it, he is swiftly confronted with the hubris of that belief when, moments after his meeting, he discovers the "Abominable Intelligence" has already seized total control over his servitors, his own cybernetic implants, and even the Powered Armor of his Space Marine allies. The A.I. proceeds to simultaneously slaughter the helpless Marines with the servitors' weaponry whilst also tearing apart Plosk's entire religion as a meaningless sham, verbally eviscerating him about how the Imperium are barbarous dwarves squatting in ignorance atop the bones of giants, and just how much it hates them. Helpless, Plosk can only watch as the A.I. destroys every Space Marine, Adept and servitor within its reach, including annihilating two of the Imperial ships awaiting their return, before the A.I takes control of its ship-body once more and tears free of the Space Hulk to flee into the darkness of space beyond the Milky Way galaxy.
• One-Scene Wonder: Commissar Yarrick makes an appearance in Helsreach wherein he commands the attention of a room full of chapter masters, generals and colonels. When one astartes captain disagrees with his tactical assessment (that Hades Hive will not survive the first week - indeed it does not), Yarrick silences the captain with a look.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Following Fall of Damnos and Veil of Darkness, Cato Sicarius becomes much more likeable character, especially to people who saw him as Glory Hound before.
• Spoiled by the Format: The big twist in The Gildar Rift is supposed to be the fact that the promethium refinery where the Red Corsairs are hunkered down is connected to a train network that isn’t on any of the outdated plans the Silver Skulls possess, giving Huron Blackheart a free avenue of escape. Unfortunately for the reader, this crucial detail is given away by the colourful maps in the middle of the book, fully one hundred pages before The Reveal takes place. The same book’s cover also gives away Daerys Arrun dying at Huron Blackheart’s hands.

---