“The ethics of booklearning and scholarship I leave to the savants. But for what it’s worth, I would have burned it without a second thought.”
Captain Cynewold, of the Death Watch (on The Necroteuch affair)
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war. And they shall know no fear. Meanwhile in Nottingham, somebody is afraid, lost the plot, or trading for short term financial reward at the expense of the far future.
If you don’t like a contrarian opinion, are easily upset, or think one should not care deeply about a made up universe – you probably would not read any of our posts – but if you do usually. STOP. This is the bare honest truth expressed with Fenrysian bluntness.
For 15 years I’ve been building different degrees of Space Marines scaled to match the storyline, the art and the imagination. Dreaming of the inevitable day when Games Workshop delivers. When Jes says fuck it, and sculpts us the Marines we deserve, we imagine and we love.
That day has arrived. We finally have Space Marines at 28mm.
And the story line has been butchered. Principles have been ignored. A mistake of mistakes has been made.
We will now need our imagination not to build warrior gods, but to imagine an alternative storyline. A storyline that was the heart of Warhammer 40000 until the Primaris Marines arrived to make mockery of it.
Lets have the official FAQ explain how illogical, distasteful and distorted this all is.
Wait, Mk X armour?
Yup, these guys have new armour: combining the best bits of classic Horus Heresy-era plate, with some fancy tech developed more recently.
Can I field a whole army of Primaris Marines?
You totally can. From a background point of view, some Chapters, especially those decimated in the events of the Gathering Storm, now have entire companies of these new warriors. Others have incorporated squads of Primaris Space Marines into existing Battle Companies. And perhaps most excitingly, Guilliman has founded some entirely new Chapters out of these new Space Marines.
I have an <insert favourite Chapter> army. Can I field Primaris Space Marines?
Any of the galaxy’s many hundreds of Codex Chapters can use Primaris Space Marines, along with many of the less Codex-compliant ones like Dark Angels, Blood Angels and Space Wolves.
Are all my current Space Marine miniatures redundant now?
No way! Primaris Space Marines do not replace regular (if a superhuman killing machine can be described as ‘regular’) Space Marines. These guys have a few extra genetic enhancements, thanks to Belisarius Cawl, and serve as additional reinforcements in the Adeptus Astartes arsenal, not replacements.
So to summarize, Warhammer 40000 now has “fancy new tech”, warrior gods have little brethren who are a head taller and better in every axis, but these are also not a replacement of the now inferior product, and Fenrys has accepted Ultramar and Mars Heresy with open arms.
The Hell has frozen.
Now. Warhammer 40000 has Daemons in it. How much fucking bandwidth does one want to spend upset about made up shit. If you care about the hobby – you do. Remove Jes from the equation, odds are the new miniatures may well have been as distasteful as the story line. At least we now have a modern edition of so deeply unique GW aesthetic Space Marine.
It’s also not often the first compromise that gets you. But the second and third one you suddenly contemplate since you made the first one. Things You’d never have entertained without making the first one. This isn’t compromise, this is stupidity, so expect the unraveling of the ethos.
The next version of this art work will have a few rows of guys a head taller and twice as bad ass added.
While we celebrate Jes’ new Space Marines, the proportions, detail, crispness, sense of movement, lack of embellishments, Chaos gets ill proportioned, instantly old looking on release Plague Marines… Imagine if the Primaris Marines were the new Space Marines and the Plague Marines were built from them, with 10000years of disease and death added…
So what now?
- Embrace the models and build your own story.
- Find 300 million to buy GW, make it private again, clear the board, rebuild culture
- Fenrys Hjolda!!
As the only immediate therapy, I’ve decided to build a full Legion army around the Pilgrym cell using the new Space Marines as a starting point for the Astartes continent of the force.
Maybe we can imagine a story line as much stronger and truer to the universe as the Alpharius model was of the current shipping Space Marines.
That’s what Iron Sleet was founded for. Reimagine, Celebrate, Honor the Legendary Grim Darkness of Far Future.
IRON SLEET 
F**k it. No disrespect to the people doing their jobs. We are the architects of our own fates. The hobby is based on our dollar, how it will be spent, and how we use the raw materials that dollar buys. Everyone has their own story.
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I’ll be honest, I dont really agree with this. Everybody (yourself included) has been screaming out for true scale marines for ages, and when we finally get them it seems everyone is unhappy with them. How else would they have released them? It would have been worse if they released these as a replacement for the old models, instantly invalidating every space marine army ever made. By doing it like this they keep everyone happy, at least, that was plan.
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Well said sir. I was surprised GW did it this way and pleased at the same time.
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The same way they did with every range. Tyranids, Eldar, Dwarves, Empire… every GW range has over the years been replaced with new superior range of models. That’s the business model. People can still play with the old models.
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The space marines cover quite a few different ranges (space wolves, blood angels etc.) and this change is a drastic one. I’d imagine people would be even more pissed if the new models were a replacement as it would take ages to replace everything, and the old models would look that much worse/different. At least this way they can both be used, and its backed up by (probably not the best, but they tried) lore.
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how a big marine would invalidate old armies? my friend still uses the even smaller RT models to play
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It’s good to hear that somebody’s still using the old models, but I can’t imagine your friends army looks very coherent or current. Different strokes for different folks and all that, I just think most people would sooner have a unit or two of these new guys rather then having to replace their whole army to keep them all matching. Having these as an addition rather than a replacement, especially in these early days, was the better option.
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I have to agree with Remnante. The new models look great.
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The whole article was saying the new models look great. In case you missed it Will. And that the storyline is stupid.
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Sorry about that comment. The post was a good read and I really enjoy your blog.
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The thing is – we haven’t seen the story line. We have only read the Community Team’s take on it (well… I have anyway). I think it’s a bit early to call it stupid.
There is plenty of room for grimdark in what I’ve seen. The headlines look hopeful but the chances are things won’t go to plan. They never do….
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The FAQ I am quoting is official and I’ve read the rise of the Primarch “codex”.
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From what I’ve read, a lot of the stupid that saw the fall of the Old World is running rampant here, and while I welcome a stab at an explanation for seeing new models, what I’ve read so far comes off as a hamhanded fanfic written by middle schoolers during recess. It seems like the Corporates have lost their minds and torpedoed their own flagship.
I think my most recent bit of spending on the new industrial terrain sets will be my last. They might’ve finally lost me.
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Artz ! Strange and interesting situation than the one GW is currently generating.
In a kind a agree with both point of view : the paradoxical situation MIgs is describing in term of fluff and the more concrete and realistic situation Remnante is talking about.
But for sure i really appreciate than they finally try to make evolve them products and listen about what we really want.
They maybe will also change the “1000 marines by chapter” fluff paradox ?
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People wanted true scale marines and gw delivered. There were two methods they could do this. Release the new scale marines and overnight make every space marine kit, which is well over half of the kits they sell, invalid overnight, or …. Integrate it into the fluff? I feel they made the right decision personally. Theres always been parts of the fluff I didn’t like and parts I loved. Yes the parts I enjoy most are second edition fluff but there were still parts there I didn’t enjoy or thought were silly.
The fluff for me makes most sense and let’s gw fix the scale issue over a few years slowly removing all the womble marines. If you have a better suggestion for a method of doing this, honestly, share it with them. They actually listen now.
I personally don’t think we will ever find artwork with new and old scale marines at the same time. This isn’t their plan. The marines will only co-exist within the fluff while the models do. Maybe the characters will be enhanced too. It would be a shame to lose Ragnar, mephiston, cypher, etc.
AS a gripe with the models, I don’t like the StarCraft marines. Jump packs and gravitus armour. I think they are a bit of a fail personally. Silly guns, silly backpacks, the commander marine has a huge beer belly but worst of all,. It looks like they have helmets over helmets. Very odd.
Anyway, finish on a positive. I’m really looking forward to see what you guys do with these new marines. I’m sure the awesome will be dialed up and as you say, ignore the fluff you do the like a d build the fluff you do. I look forward to this also 🙂
Thanks for the site, it’s great!
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Aye, I want to agree with you Migs, the way in which these have been incorporated into the background is hard to swallow (indeed the whole idea of ‘moving the storyline forward’ is one that should have been treated with extreme scepticism from the start). However when all is said and done they were between a rock and a hard place on this, they could continue to have their flagship range out of scale with the rest of their lines or they could update it and cause an unbelievable storm as people’s lovingly painted armies were suddenly left looking rather small. They chose the middle path and, as the saying goes, a good compromise never pleases anyone.
The best of 40k has always been the feral fringe, the hobbyists doing their own thing, not abiding strictly to the rules of army building laid down by GW, not slavishly adhering to the rulebooks, not building their models straight out of the box but converting and creating, coming up with new models, new ideas, new stories. So long as there are people out there waiting to chop these new marines to bits and rebuild them in the style they deserve then everything is going to be ok.
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The amount of thought and sincere brain bashing jes went thru to delever these was avtrurly astonishing process – i seem to remember not a pencil mark was made until after a number of months – these models are a triumph and the best is to come – as for background well nothing changes for me as i have always lived in the quasi medieval dystopian bleak world that forms mi vision of 40k and that will not change – mi 40k view is rather fluid and resides in mi head – it centres around the stroreys, the models and the games i play whilst that bigger trans galaxy uber war fought between gigantic armies of marines is something that happens only in myth to mi inquisitor agents locked in their peroquial struggle – not sure if ill paint any of these chaps yet ( ive done one but just as a tester ) …..
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There really is a lot to like about the new marines, but the background is awful. I’ve totally lost confidence in the GW writers now. The real writing talent seems to reside at Forgeworld. For me, the biggest disappointment about the way GW have explained the change in marines, is that there’ll be no primaris marines in the Age of Darkness. Imagine how utterly gorgeous Jes’ true scaled MkIII marines could have been.
The thing I’ve come to realise, is that I like the idea of 40k much better than the reality of it. I genuinely can’t wait to see what new miniatures are coming with this new direction. I’ll buy the ones I like, ignore the rest, and I’ll certainly be ignoring everything written by GW from now on. This is my hobby, I do it for my own amusement and my miniatures’ backgrounds will be what I want them to be.
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Agree with you there – The Primaris route means we probably won’t see any of our favourite armour marks at the new scale. MK.X isn’t bad, but for me not as good as some of the others. i’d have been happier if they just upped the scale of all marines.
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If you guys put together an alternative timeline to Cadia exploding you’ll have a following for it
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I agree with the points about the setting, and also that the new marines look amazing. I don’t feel quite as strongly in either regard (maybe because I’ve invested far less in the hobby) and am keeping optimistic for what is to come. The saving grace for me is the Dark Imperium, the worlds beyond the rift where the Astromnicon can’t reach. It is here that the grimdark has survived for now; no primarch, no crusade, just half an empire doomed to die a slow and very painful death. Hopefully they leave the technological progress and optimism to the Terra side, and leave the Dark Imperium to rot and fail. Could create some interesting scenarios if they do it right.
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Hmm. Personally I suspect that the whole “Dark Imperium” shtick will lead to the very opposite of grimdark, that it exists first and foremost to allow Rowboat and his Merry Supermen to ride in and save the day over & over again, as he has already with Baal & the Blood Angels.
The issue is this – what has this new state of affairs done for the various players in the fiction? Chaos have gained little they didn’t already have. By contrast, the Imperium have traded nameless, functionally unimportant billions and a few planets for a Primarch, tens of thousands of new even better Marines, a more unified government, and new technologies. The Imperium hasn’t been this strong in millennia. I’m sure some will quibble about the nameless billions thing, but really if there are no consequences for those losses then they might as well not have happened, and they lose any real narrative impact. Every setback the Imperium seem to suffer actually leaves them in a better position than beforehand even once the new situation is accounted for – Cadia has fallen, but the region is seemingly no less defended; Baal and Fenris as well as their attendant Chapters have been decimated…just in time to recieve “Restartes” reinforcements(and from the perspective of the Imperium, what a stroke of luck that the Wolves had taken such a hammering, else they might have resisted Guilliman’s plans); this great tear has opened up in reality, but its border is now guarded by multiple whole new Chapters of Restartes. The Eldar, out of nowhere, now have a chance to defeat Chaos without sacrificing themselves first, there goes their central “doomed & dying race” quality. The Tau have managed to muster up not one but two full new expansion fleets. The “goodies” of the setting have done rather well out of this supposedly dire turn of events
That said, I also struggle to get much more animated than basic disappointment, because if we’re honest with ourselves this is only really an explicit realignment of the setting’s status quo with the tone that the studio fiction has been taking for a fair long while now, all the way back to the days of memeing about Our Spiritual Liege and Blood Angels brofisting Necrons. I mean, when you set aside Black Library and Forgeworld and focus on the main studio, when was the majority of new background material being produced last in-sync with the tones & themes the INQ28 crowd tend to prefer? 4th Edition? 3rd even? The mix of cynical humour, relentless grinding grimness, and bizarre gothic body-horror has been giving way to a more heroic milieu for years now, the pace and scale of that transition has merely sped up and accummulated to the point it’s hard to ignore any more.
And of course GW have no reason to care about us grumbling, because we’re all gigantic suckers who’ll buy the models we like regardless 😛
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…could not have said it better myself. It’s all so very disappointing. The grimdarkness of the 40k of old genuinely felt like something unique. A foil to all the tediously similar stories of heroic goodies emerging triumphant over dastardly baddies. Genuinely a breath of fresh air.
Don’t get me wrong, i do kind of like the developments because they give me neat ideas for how to twist these changes into something i feel actually fits the 40k universe.
With the Ynnari, i’m going with the idea that selling your soul to one lovecraftian entity rather than another isn’t exactly a solid solution. Would you trust the ragged prophets of your race’s God of Death telling you they can save you from eternal damnation, all the while devouring the souls of your dead kin to perform questionable miracles?
With the Numarines, i’m just going to say that Cawl’s a madman who has resurrected the psychotic Thunder Warriors under another name and stationed them throughout the Imperium, which will have predictable results.
Still, this relentless headcanon-ing is getting, i don’t know, tiresome. It’s not that it’s bad fluff. It’s still phenomenally imaginative. It just doesn’t feel like it fits anymore.
There has been little moments of dark among the noblebright though. GS Cults and Ad Mech felt like they fit the 40k of old. Shame the more recent stuff doesn’t seem to…
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I think this stems from the fear of upsetting their playerbase, if they decided to replace the space marine range. But this alternative is so clumsily executed that the entiore image of the astartes god-warrior is reduced to something tiny and silly in comparison.
To me, 40k is about distrust of techonology, of rediscovery of ancient wonders you wield at your own, very real peril. Even if the primaris experiement is an old design, a project renewed 10k years later, it doesn’t build upon existing lore. Instead, it replaces everything, from armor to weapon loadout, and that in particular annoys me. This recent change solidifes what Iron Sleet in particular has inspired within me, to model what I love and play narratively. The weight of the astartes imagery, which I think has lured a ton of us to this site, will not be shaken by this even if it does leave a bitter taste.
Of course, I’m excited to play with the new “true-scale” parts…
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Mate your stuff is exceptional and the 40K universe is big enough for everyone to do their own thing. That’s why I keep coming back to blog’s like your because this refreshing take on the ‘lore’ of the universe. Marines have got bigger . . . . . Well as someone who has been painting Marines from the ‘rouge trader’ days marines have always been getting bigger. It just is what it is! At least they have not gone ‘age of Sigmar’ and blown your whole world up!
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For me, the models aren’t the problem – in the end they’re just pieces to make my own stuff anyway. I think it’s great that they’re trying to get somewhere closer to true-scale. After all, with each successive generation of 40k minis, the figures have gotten larger and more “heroic” every time but the way they’re doing it here feels unnecessary (compare the original IG or Orks to their current counterparts – a drastic difference in scale, and they didn’t need to make up a backstory to explain the size difference, they just did it).
The real problem is that with this new background, they’ve cut the legs out from under what was the core of the despair of the 40k universe. You have this over-inflated, massively unwieldy empire of mankind that is constantly on the brink of collapse, outdated, mired in baroque bureaucracy, and threatened both within and without by alien forces and the psycho-spiritual concept of Chaos. Their Emperor and god is dead, and it’s all the rest of mankind can do to keep the whole thing from falling apart. Now we have living primarchs and even better god-like men come to save the day.
Essentially, they’ve given us the one thing that should never be introduced into this grimdark setting: Hope.
Keep the figures and make them your own, but turn off that light in the darkness.
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Well said Odie!!
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Agree with you all the way there. i have wanted to story progression for some time – but not this route. I wanted grimer and darker.
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I have to say personally I do not really care about any background or fluff GW wants to give us. I stopped caring about their story many years ago. It was probably around the time Grey Knights were using willing Adeptus Sororitas blood on the weapons to fight Daemons, or maybe it was the Necrons allying with The Blood Angels, some stupid typical bullshit like that. Personally Guilliman coming back is a bigger slap in the face than anything, I’ll take advancements in technology long before I accept the return of a christ like figure of hope any day.
The new models look great so I could careless their background. It wont affect my enjoyment of the setting or have any impact on the stories I craft either way.
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Yeah there’s times where I’m glad that 40k is so amenable to just ignoring terrible fluff decisions and making stuff up yourself. This is one of those moments. The second I read the email notification for Primaris Marines which stated that Primaris Marines were ‘the pinnacle of 10,000 years of science, experimentation, and distilled military knowledge’ I thought that whoever wrote the fluff for this hasn’t the foggiest idea what 40k is about. It’s been 10,000 years of scientific degradation to the point that people operate machinery by prayers and ritual rather than understanding.
Saying that, as ever, if you actually put a little imagination into the fluff (which appears to be sadly absent so far), I think you can make them fit the actual feel of 40k. First off, there is nothing new in the Imperium. So, what else in the past has been physically superior to a Space Marine? Thunder Warriors is what, with all of their attached mental issues. If you think of it more as some insane Tech Priest resurrecting psychotic gene-spliced warriors from the deep history of the Imperium and handing them out to the unwitting Chapters expecting something similar to an Astartes it starts to feel a bit better.
The other angle I was thinking is that the Emperor was absolutely certain to make his supersoldiers by uplifting regular humans, so they would know what it was like to be human. So they would understand what they’re fighting for.
Numarines are not human. They never were. They never will be. At their most basic, they are humanoid genetic constructs, and that has profound implications. Actually, there’s a brilliant bit from a game called Banner Saga that’s coming to mind as a taster of what I’m thinking. Spoilered as it’s a plot point:
In Banner Saga there’s regular humans, and their allies called the Varl who are a race of giants. Both are at war with these inhuman-looking stone people called the Dredge. One of the key points about the Varl is that they’re unable to reproduce. Each one was crafted individually by their god, who is now dead.
There’s one of your main characters, a really relatable guy called Iver. Saviour of the vulnerable, constantly fighting your side. Just an all round excellent guy. However, you find out that in his past when he’s fought the Dredge he killed a mighty Dredge hero. The way he killed this hero (who was female btw), was that he stumbled upon her in a forest clearing, threw his axe at her but the wind caught it and it struck her child, killing it. He simply couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t fight back. Why she was just slumped helplessly to her knees in grief. Why she just let him walk up to her and decapitate her.
Because the Varl can’t have children, they have no concept of why people would feel grief if you killed their child. They have no possible way of empathising, no way of understanding what that particular part of humanity is like.
Now, apply that to the Numarines who aren’t human [i]in the slightest[/i], in the 40k universe where everything is darker than its equivalent in other IPs, and you might be getting somewhere 🙂
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I was thinking something similar, in that there are many ways that these guys can fit the fluff. An idea that I had was based of a small hint in one of the articles where it basically said that Cawl has no idea wether he got rid of the geneseed defects or if the Primaris are actually better at fending off Chaos. So for all we know it could be the opposite and Cawl may have doomed various chapters purely because he didn’t bother testing them.
The bit about them being similar to Thunder Warriors was another idea I had, where they are generally nastier and more aggressive with a staggering variety of mental issues to berate their allies with.
Another thing I like about the new fluff is the Cicatrix Maledictum, and the Imperium Nihilus. The light of the Astonomicon can’t reach across the Maledictum, so whole armies and various people will be trapped planetside. Inquisitors setting up house permanently and hunting down the local population as possession becomes more common. An idea I had for a conversion called the Sentrithyme, a massive walking machine with a dead psyker strapped into it which casts a bubble of ‘protection’, witch burnings, people refusing to look up at the sky for fear of accidentally laying eyes on th galaxies only visible warp phenomenon. People going mad and being treated as lunatics if they realise Guilliman is back. There are loads of possibilities
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You know, the more I talk to people the less depressed I become about it 🙂 yes the new official fluff is a bit (or rather a lot) too noblebright for my liking, but I’ve never really been one for the official fluff anyway. What there is in this is so much potential to do some really interesting things 🙂
I really like your idea that Cawl basically hasn’t tested his new creations for whether they’re actually stable or not. That absolutely fits with my notion of the Ad Mech’s capabilities and philosophy when it comes to innovation, and it also echoes the cursed 21st Founding but on a much wider scale 🙂
I absolutely love your ideas for the Imperium Nihilus. What we basically have is 50% of the galaxy experiencing the Old Night again, and all of the wonderful potential that that suggests 🙂 new non-Imperial empires springing up in areas where stable warp travel is still possible. Trapped populations going off the deep end just to survive.
Do you post your creations anywhere? I’d love to see your Sentrithyme in the plastic, so to speak 😉
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I have two problems about the Primaris Marines. The first is that they replace the Space Marines as the elite warriors of mankind. And the second one, that their armour looks too “modern”. For me it’s a part of the fascination for Warhammer 40k and the Space Marines that they use this antique technology, together with the fact that in our universe the design of this “technology” is from the 80s and 90s, hence old as well. I’m missing all that on the new models, they could also be random warriors from a random manufacturer thas does science fiction models.
But I have already an solution for this Problem, The FAQ says that you dont have to use Primaris Marines and I think this means there are some chapters who doesn’t want to replaced their brethren. So I Quote my Black Templar Marshal Ludoldus III. :
“We need no Primaris Marines. There is no substitute for Zeal!”
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Having held one of the new Marines in my hands thist saturday i can just say that they are really well proportined and i am so much looking forward to converting them to normal Mk7 Marines how they should always have been proportioned.
Sadly, i must totally agree with your point, that i feel quite forced to ignore their background story and try to delete it from my hobby-memory. As stated above, drastic technological advance and the consept of hope in the grimdark feels massively out of place. Roboute i like though, but i would have loved him as a mirror to the horrors his fathers vision have become, his story could have been about the tragedy he percieves, taking the role of a spectator just as we are. He could try but then realise that he can not alter the corrupted state of the imperium, eventually drifting into desolation or whatever.
I don´t feel good about him going for a bashing tour and saving the place. I would better be time for a nice schism because of him – civil war, anarchy etc…
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I just recently finished Grahama McNeil’s “Forges of Mars” Omnibus. Poring over 900 pages of grimdark goodness in a matter of days. It was full of stories of an Imperium barely hanging on, struggling to even remain “human”. I read Graham’s amazing fiction that builds on (and stays true to) the existing universe, explains archeotech in ultra detail, retains interesting characters and subplots and then I head over to the Warhammer Community page and read “fancy new tech”. These models are exactly what we’ve been waiting for so what the fuck is up with this backstory?
For all the homeruns that GW has been slinging this past year, it’s a shame that the story is slowly becoming secondary.
I hear your pain Migs, I look forward to continue seeing exquisite miniatures with wonderfully crafted stories from the folks at Ironsleet!
Story is king.
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Great conversation guys! Looking forward to enjoying the models, loving the art and making shit up to stay inspired. Hopefully all these changes are for the good and the longevity of the company we so love.
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Here is my first try at the new marines for those interested:
I just did the following:
– cut the collar and used a MK7 Helmet and backpack
– shortened the bolter to standard-size
– used FW-Shoulderpad
–
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Looking good! what does fw mean? Did you cut the old shoulder plates off? I’m thinking of adding space wolf shoulder plates and was wondering about your tecnique . TY
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It is a Forgeworld Shoulderpad.
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– filled the legs with putty a bit (fan of thicker legs i am)
– cut the rounded joints at the feet flat to reduce the new techy feel a bit
What i did not recognize only after i primed it, was the change to the soles GW implemented wich is a big issue for me.
They sculpted the feet not with a classic flat “one-piece” sole but like normal shoes wich i find very strange as is reduced the image of a large lump of steel-boot and makes the marines look like wearing shoes. That i will change in future attempts.
All in all i am very pleased with the new marines as conversion material. Although, as it goes on for some time, the new style of snap-fitty sprues make converting not easier, as you have to cut much stranger cuts…
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Well said, the potential of properly proportioned and scaled models of the illustrious Astartes is fantastic, but the story arc to introduce them is just cringe worthy and ill-thought out. For me personally I look forward to crafting models in 40k setting once again, i have been on a 7 year hiatus in the horus heresy, and the primaris marine models will be a big part of this.
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Agree with you on all points, though I don’t like the new models all that much hahah (especially the Gravis suits). Ideally for me the Mk X marines would just be “Here’s the new space marines in Mk.X” armor, and all space marines get the improved w2 a2 statline.
But if they absolutely had to make the Primaris Marines their own thing, they could’ve woven it into the story better like… they’re actually refined Thunder Warriors which were said to be the physical superior (but mentally imbalanced) older brother of the current astartes. Or Cawl has committed obscene heresy and Primaris Marines are actually an attempt at creating new Custodes.
Love your conversions by the way! I found this blog through searching “Blanchitsu”
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Leave 40k years ago. One of the best things i’ve ever done. Obviously for the infinite mistakes in terms of fluff, rules, and many, many other things… too many for being descrided. Now, after years, caught by some sort of curiosity, i see this “primary marines”, read the stupid argumentations GW created for them… XD! Bullshit. Bullshit everywhere.
Such nauseating. Someone says: “celebrate the new marines”, “change our armies with the new models”… why we should? What’s the point? To incentivate GW to continue with the bullshit? In eternal? I don’t see the point…
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I have to say, while the fluff is a nuclear bomb reminiscent of Sigmar, I’m not even a fan of the models. They’re proportioned well, posed well, very clean, yes yes all that. But they are not grim nor dark nor cyber nor punk nor gothic. They just look like every other sci-fi warriors out on the market now. Their faces don’t have that grim expression of the frown grill, the pauldrons have gotten yet smaller with the up-scale, there’s no baroque detail to the armor, except for the same identical aquilas that they all have on their breastplates and greaves, the greave aquila doesn’t even look good, the kneepad ridge looks like a half-hearted attempt at functionless detail, there are no pipes anywhere. Mostly, it looks effortless, a trait that does not go hand in hand with 40k. In 40k, everything is hard. Every machine looks like a nightmare to maintain, you look at all the little pipes and pieces and say “What does that do? What would happen if that broke?” This armor just looks like something a superhero would wear, something that only exists as a mechanism to deliver effortless power to the wielder, no strings attached.
I know the design of the model is technically separate from the fluff, but all I can see is the magical new high-tech standard that has been introduced for everybody to upgrade to. Any other tactical marine kit has a mixture of MK6 and MK7 bits, with a little MK8 thrown in, all to remind you that this is a Pyrrhic battle against eternal attrition. New supplies are rare, and you can’t afford to throw anything away. If you persevere until you attain veterancy, you earn the best equipment, and all the personal embellishments and trappings that come with it. Each suit of armor tells a story. You can create a whole cast of space marines with nothing but their armor. So when I see those squads of identical marines, each one of them with the same dumb aquila on their shins, lacking in any compelling heraldry or gothic mechanical detail, all it does is tell me that none of these marines were created with any story or character in mind. They don’t belong in the fluff. They have completely separated themselves from the fluff. If they were intended to work within the actual 40k story, they would have MK9 armor instead of MK10. But these guys are the ultimate prime marines, from the “Ultima” founding. 9 only exists as a precursor to 10 really, so when you have a new line of guys who’s intended selling point is being the “be all, end all” marines you have to just jump up to 10 and basically name their founding “The Last Founding”. You might as well call the pauldrons and the reliquaries an homage at this point, since these guys are hardly 40k space marines. They belong in something like Infinity or Mass Effect.
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Also, the low-cut gorget, knee-pad rims, and pectoral plate totally makes these guys look like sigmarine-marines.
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When you guys think about the story, one parallel that might help you reconcile the changes to the 40K fluff, is what happened to the Roman Empire after it split into its respective Eastern and Western halves.
The Eastern Empire was reborn and out of that effort the Byzantines were formed. A more modern, more sophisticated, newer technologies (e.g. Greek fire), and a more capable empire led by a new Emperor, Belisarius.
The Western Empire continued to decay until the Holy Roman Empire eventually manifested. I know, the HRE was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire, but it seems to me there’s more than just a few coincidences between the two.
My two yen.
I’m a big fan of this site and have been consuming and absorbing as much of the content as I can. Just brilliant stuff.
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