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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Pre-Heresy
Tactically, Iron Warriors were organised as a number of Grand Companies each commanded by a [[Warsmith]]. Originally each Grand Company would have had a similar organisation, totaling around 1,000 [[Space Marines]]. At the time of the [[Horus Heresy]], the Legion had at least twelve Companies, although with the widespread deployment of many small detachments of the Legion at the time it is impossible to be sure if this figure of around 12,000 fighting Astartes was their maximum strength.{{Fn|1f}} The overall size of the Legion was between 150,000 and 180,000 Marines.{{Fn|20c}}
During the Great Crusade the Iron Warriors practiced a policy of extraordinarily rapid recruitment to keep their replenishment rates apace with their staggering casualties. [[Aspirants|junior hoplon]]s from Olympia would be subjected to only six quick months of training, followed by a period of endless surgery which would see them ascend to the rank and file of the Iron Warriors within as little as a single year. However, this rapid pulse of augmentation left these newly [[Inductii|inducted]] legionaries untested, unaccustomed to their war gear and wracked with pain even as they entered combat with the legion.{{Fn|25f}}
The Iron Warriors possessed a substantial war fleet of over 100 capital class ships.{{Fn|20c}}