This turned me from pro-legion to pro-chapter. Although the chapter sizes should still be increased to at least three thousand, maybe even five
Being a Space Wolf I tend to lean more towards the legion side of the debate, but it's a bit more complicated than that. Reducing down to the chapter sizes was a mistake but one that might have seemed prudent at the time. It's the fact that the Codex or the Imperium didn't alter after the arrival of newer and larger threats that causes most of the Chapter size issues. Having smaller and more mobile elements to any force is a bonus as long as those elements don't reduce too far in size, need to also have larger elements to act as an anvil or galvanizing force to either focus enemy attention or finally crush whatever foe is before them. Legion size bloated beyond what was feasible to handle, just look to the Ultramarines. If that 250k ish number is to be believed, while numerically not a HUGE number in terms of an actual army size based on the size of the galaxy, that many super soldiers with the firepower and capability to crush entire swaths of space is rather crazy from a logistical and command standpoint. The original legions I believe were made to be around 10,000 marines which might better serve as the current chapter size instead of 1,000 marines, it'd allow them to more easily press marines in the directions they need to without being so large as the other legions and you'd have a better esprit de corps due to needing less overall chapters. They'd also not be so large as to be easy targets for Chaos as something like a 100k+ bloated Legion might (though to be fair, even some of the 10,000 strong legions fell to chaos...but that was also before the threat was known.) You're going to get outliers like the Space Wolves especially in terms of recruitment, but that's ok as long as they're used correctly in the grand scheme of things. Same goes for stuff like Grey Knights, even the special forces have their own higher tier operators (even if I don't generally like all the mary sue that surrounds the Knights, but that's mostly bad writing.) Original legion size is probably a better alternative to the formation of the chapters, but old legion sizes near the end of the great crusade going into the Horus Heresy obviously aren't good either. *edit* And this is all with the understanding that this is all GRIM DARK and logic isn't always the thing to go for. Things get complicated/etc for story/theme sake.
If only a certain Primarch didnt pretend to know it all. (Magnus) If only a certain primarch wasnt such a pompous ashole. (Fulgrim) If only a certain primarch wasnt such a hater. (Mortarion) If only a certain primarch didnt have metal spikes in his head causing him pain. (Angron) If only a certain primarch had just listend to the Emperor instead of continuing his error even after the Emperor told him to stop it. (Lorgar) If only a certain primarch had not been utterly mad. (Curze) If only a certain primarch had just told his brother's or the Emperor his doubs, and anger. (Perturabo) If only a certain primarch hadnt been such a daddy's boy. (Horus) If only a certain primarch hadnt been so secretive,,, wait is the Alpha legion realy evil????
I suggest all listen to the HH audio short "Strategem". It will give you alot more insight into the codex
