Warhammer 40K: I Think We Need More Space Marines Please
Sure, we have a lot of Marines, but do we really have enough?
Dear Games Workshop,
Greetings and salutations, my dearest gaming company. I do hope this missive finds you well. It has been something of a week over here, let me tell you. I must thank you for remaining a bright spot in this dark times. However, of all the disturbing things that happened in the last week one of them was that last week some uneducated yokel wrote to you saying that we had, scoff, enough Space Marines. Well, my dearest, on the off chance that you did glance at this corrupted correspondence, I hope you did not take it to heart. For the brainless drivel of that author is not at all shared by those of us with right minds. In order to correct the record then, I’m writing to you, my love, to inform you that rather than having enough of them, we in fact need more Space Marines.
Let me admit upfront, so that no deception may cloud our relationship, that I am not completely unbiased in this case. You see, I love Space Marines. I really do. I’ve got not one, not two, but three whole Marine armies. As a young lad, at the tender age of 13, I started playing 40K with Marines, Space Wolves to be exact. Likely I will still own some Marines on my deathbed. On top of my own armies, both built and aspirational, the BoLS studio has a large and ever-growing collection of Marines, armies containing models from every edition of 40K. I am, without a shadow of a doubt, a Marine fan, though they are not my only Warhammer 40,000. Indeed my largest, by far, collection is of Astra Militarum, the army I have devoted the most time to building. I tell you this now, so that you may know that while I love Marines, I am not simply some, fanboy, out to promote my favorite army. Indeed promoting Marines will in all likelihood hurt other armies I love. I, like many, love Marines.
Not kidding. That’s just one… of the many marine armies.
And hey! It’s not hard to see why. Marines are a very appealing army, while powered armored warriors admittedly aren’t a 100% unique idea, and has grown a bit overdone in the years since Rogue Trader came out, the way you have done them, is unique. Or well, was, until everyone else started copying you, but you know what they say about imitation. You have truely made them your own, and the world is filled now with pale imitations. The point is: Marines rock, they are cool, and 40K certainly wouldn’t be 40K without them. It’s totally understandable why they are 40K’s poster boy and why you put a lot of effort into them.
But.
Well.
We still need more Marines.
Certainly people have pointed out that lately we have had a lot of Marine books. For instance since August 2019, about a year and half ago, you’ve put out 10 Marine books, 8 supplements, some of which are pretty huge, and two versions of the Core Marine Codex. In the nine Psychic Awakening books, Marines got rules in 4 four of them, while other armies only got anything in one of them, if that. While that is a lot of books, it also means that Marines have had a lot of balance tweaks. They are now one of the more balanced and developed factions in Warhammer 40,000 and one of the most attuned to how 9th Edition plays. Why not strike while the hammer is hot and continue to release models and updates for what is not only your most popular faction, but also likely your best?
There also remains just so much more to do with Marines. For instance we’ve got a host of models that are announced, but aren’t out yet. Gravis Captains and Intercessors are obvious ones, but beyond that we’ve got more we are waiting to see. How about multi-part Suppressors; we still haven’t got that kit. Even with just the existing line up there is so much to be done to just finish getting everything out. We need those.
But beyond those there are still a ton of Primaris units we need to see to really flesh out that line. How about a Primaris Droppod? Where is that? Or a much demanded Primaris Jumppack Assault Unit? That seems a pretty easy fix to slap onto Assault Intercessors. What about the Primaris Rocket Launcher and Grav Weapons units? They’ve now get units dedicated to every other core heavy weapon type. Or characters? The Bike Chaplain is a huge success, both rules and models wise, but when are we going to get the other major characters on bikes, or jumppacks? How about the Primaris flyer, or Whirlwind or some Dreadnought variants? Classic Marines have gotten dozens of variants, and Primaris have none. These are obvious units that would be super popular. Which do you think would sell more, a Primaris Bike Captain, or a new Commissar sculpt?
How about Lieutenants? I know the running joke is that there are too many, but I’m not sure that is the case at all. Sure there are a number of generic ones, but so far the non-Ultramarines are pretty much limited to just one option, if that. Lets get some more diversity in our Lieutenants, these are after all, really cool models, and lets start making them for more and more chapters. Speaking of Chapters, you’ve done something pretty cool with Blood Angels and Space Wolves. You finally gave them a unique Primaris unit. We might assume that Dark Angels will also get one. But what about the first six chapters that got supplements? Ideally they need to be reworked to get Crusade and other 9th Edition rules (while we are at it, lets get more White Dwarf minor chapters also), and as part of that they should get unique units. And that is really just a start. These units, while cool, are just an existing unit with the chapter upgrade sprue some tweaked rules. How about some some new units. I know I’m not the only one who would dig some Primaris Thunderwolves. The options are pretty much endless here.
Dearest Games Workshop, you have such a rich vast setting to work with, that you’ve made fans fall in love with. There is so much potential, and such richness of detail that I can understand fans wanting to explore other aspects. But Space Marines are, for lack of a better term, IN right now. They are extremely popular both in lore and on the tabletop. You’ve done a lot recently to perfect them, why not just keep tempering them for a bit longer now and get them really perfect. Lets get that depth for them that frankly we’ve never seen. Use Marines to show us what you can really do, give us the most flesh out, detailed and diverse army. Give us what the fans want. I’m not saying you only need to release Space Marines, there is room for other stuff to come out alongside them, but please don’t stop making them, there are untapped depths here.
Because we really do need more Space Marines.
In Loving Gratitude and Thankfulness,
A Friend 
Let us know what new Marine things you still want to see, down in the comments!
