luckily we have a system to which to test this theory.
Ok, so a spacemarine has the following physical attributes:
Strength 4 toughness 4, initiative 4(which is an agility stat), 1 wound, 1 attack, leadership 8.
Weapon skill and ballistic skill 4 which is due to both training and an advanced targeting system.
Now to, in an unbiased fashion, give the masterchief the same set of stats. Keep in mind that mos humans, even the muscle bound Catachans, are strength 3.
Strength: Does he do anything that requires huge feats of Strength? hitting stuff isn't enough. Are there any HEAVY weapons he moves and fires with ease? From what I remember there isn't, so his strength might be 3. An upper end 3, mind you, but a 3 none the less. I think the elites that batter the MC around are 4.
toughness: I'm willing to give MC a 4 here.
Initiave: If the power armor does anything it makes this 4.
Wounds: 1. There is no real way to measure this, so it should be placed in equal measure with the opponent.
Leadership: i'd give him a 9. He's more of in a leadership role some of the time. This stat doesn't matter because for the purpose of this combat its a one-on-one death match.
Weapons: The weapon choices are slanted. in the 40k universe, all bullet style weapons are at strength 3 - meaning on a space marine they'd need to roll a 5 or 6 to wound.
The sword would be a power sword.
Weapon skill: This represents how well you do melee...And lets face it, he's not really a Melee type of guy. Yes he can do it, so he gets a 3, but its not his focus, so he stays a 3.
Ballistic skill: 4.
so he'd be something like this:
WS: 3 BS: 4 S: 3 T: 4 I:4 W:1 A:1 LD:9
Assault rifle: strength 3 24" rapid fire(meaning if you move, you only fire at 12" but you get twice the shots) and ap 5(Correct me fellow 40kers, if this isn't lasgun/autogun ap).
Pistol: strength 3 12" pistol ap 5. (meaning that you can fire it twice at 12" or once and assault at 6")
Power sword: ignores armor, attacks at user's strength.
His armor: There are far too many rubbery joints on it. I am being GRACRIOUS by calling it true power armor(carapace can have the same effects) so it's a 3+ armor save, with a 5+ invuln(shield) save. What this means is that if there is an attack that ignores armor, and the user is not in cover, the shield will absorb it on a 5+ save. This is an effect of the 40k game rules taking the best of saves.
*AP is a value which determines what armor the weapon ignores. ap 5 represents it ignores 5+ armor saves and anything worse. ap 2 represents it ignores 2+ armor saves and anything worse. the save value means if you have a 5+ save, if you roll a 4 or less on a d6 you fail to save the wound. 1s always fail.
Spacemarine stat line
WS 4 BS 4 S: 4 T: 4 I:4 W:1 A:1 LD:9
Bolter: strength 4 24" rapid fire
bolt pistol: strength 4 12" pistol
Chainsword: Close combat weapon, no affect other than when paired with a bolt pistol adds 1 attack(which will be the same for the MC and his powersword/pistol.)
Plasma Rifle: strength 7 24" ap 2 Gets hot(If you roll a 1, you suffer a wound.)
Both have grenades for purposes of terrain penalties.
So we're going to assume that both want to get into melee. They're going to run at eachother until they get to that 12" range. 40k has a three phase process. You can only move 6 inches as infantry, than shoot, than assault 6". You cannot shoot and assault with rapidfire weapons. So whoever gets to the 12" mark first isn't going to be able to assault: instead they're going to open up. So if the marine gets there first, he's going to roll 2 d6s which need 3s to hit, than per hit you would need to roll 2+ on a d6 to wound. Assuming that cover is used by both, the MC would need a 4+ cover save for any successful wounds.
This would mean that the MC would be the one to assault. He would move 6", fire his pistol needing a 3+ to hit and a 5+ to wound, the space marine needing a 3+ to save. Charging would give the MC an extra attack.
Close combat phase: MC 3 attacks, needing 4s to hit and 5s to wound. No saves for Space marine.
Space marine: 2 attacks, 3s to hit, 4s to wound. 3+ save for MC. attacks would be simultaneous, so it's possible they'd kill each other.
If the MC got there first, he'd need 3+ to hit with his two shots, and then 5+ to wound. And then the space marine would need 3+ to save.
The space marine would be the one to assault, so he would get one shot at 3+ to hit and 4+ to wound. MC would need a 3+ to save.
In Combat, Space Marine would have 3 attacks, needing 3+ to hit and 4+ to wound. MC would need 3s to save.
MC would have two attacks, needing 4+ to hit and 5+ to wound. No saves for Space marine.
Theres some dice theory that helps figure out what this would all amount to, but it is the MOST scientific way to do it. An not like WORLDS DEADLIEST MARY SUE. Or is it.
TL;DR: its up to SCIIIENCE!
