40K: Primaris Marines & the Future
Move older “classic marines”, there’s a new kid on the block and it looks like GW has BIG plans for him.
By this point, everyone knows the Primaris Marines are real and coming.
We first got a blurry glimpse a couple of weeks back with the boxed set pics:
After we all gave ourselves eye-strain, GW gave in and let the cat out of the bag – Cawl & Guilliman’s 10,000 year plan was real and headed to a tabletop near you.
We got artwork
We got models
We got rules
But what does it all mean?
Thoughts on the New Marines
I’m intrigued by the entire squad being equipped with identical bolters. This harkens back to the 30K Legion list where your marine squads are generally fielded in specialist squads of identically armed models, similar to Eldar Aspect Warriors. I would not be surprised see this continue into the Special, Heavy and Assault Primaris squads.
The models are beautiful and GW has walked the tightrope on these, accomplishing two goals.
- Making them just big enough and distinctive to set them apart and above the existing Marine range.
- Making the existing marine range look “tired”, but not completely obsolete, to encourage upgrade purchases without pissing off existing marine players. Think of the difference between Stormcast Eternals and WFB Empire Knights.
From a rules point of view – these guys are clearly better than standard marines, but not too much better. The model-count of a Primaris army will certainly be smaller giving players some choices of just how elite and badass of a Marine army they want to collect.
GW has said to expect many more kits of Primaris Marines in the months ahead with both infantry and vehicles. Rumormongers who say they have seen prototypes describe them as being distinctive from any existing marine kits.
I would expect that once the new edition is here, you should expect the “old fashioned” marine range to basically be closed out, with little to no new models outside of a sporadic model here and there. GW has gotten more than enough mileage out of the range in the past 20 years, can keep it on shelves indefinitely, but move onto greener Primaris pastures.
Instead I see GW diving into another “Summer of Sigmar” with a large launch window of new Primaris Marines to enable players to fill out an entirely new army – just what GW loves to see.
Note the clever trick of mentioning that Primaris Marines have been dispatched to all existing Chapters AND that Guilliman has ordered the founding of many new chapters for his crusade. This gives all players who own marines the option of adding the new models piecemeal to existing armies, or starting a completely new army with new models, heraldry and fluff. Nice marketing job there.
Now everyone and their brother has been saying for a year that GW was going to “Sigmarize” the Grimdark. Take a look at these two images. I think they just did… (but in the good way).
If there’s anything I love it’s a unique, distinctive kneepad design.
Hey, wait a minute…
~Will you add Primaris Marines to your existing Space Marine army, of build an entirely new one?
Finally take moment to remember the RTB-1s, the smallest of humanity’s supersoldiers – now with an even worse inferiority complex.
