Warhammer 40K: The Death Of Classic Marines

Are the days of the 40K’s Classic Marines finally coming to an end?

For over 30 years, the Space Marine has been at the forefront of Warhammer 40K. The Classic Marine has been the poster boy of the game, and the heart of the fluff. They’ve had their ups and downs over the years, but more than any other units, or type of unit, they’ve been the kings of the battlefield, a constant benchmark of the tabletop. And now it seems their watch is ended. GW has announced they are retiring a large part of the line. Le’ts take a look at what that means.

Hanging On

To most people, it was clear from the first introduction of Primaris Marines, that the days of their smaller brothers were limited. Primaris Marines are, generally speaking, superior in the fluff and on the tabletop, and have mostly better models. It was pretty clear they were meant as a replacement for Classic Marines. In spite of this, Classic Marines hung on. In large part, this was simply due to the failure of the early waves of Primaris to catch on. Reivers and Inceptors were underwhelming units. Hellblasters were good but overpriced, and Aggressors lacked a good delivery system. Repulsors and Redemptors didn’t bring enough new to the table to justify a hefty price tag. Intercessors, the real lynchpin unit, were costly and under-gunned. While they had great models, the units didn’t catch on in the competitive scene.

This allowed time for Classic Marines to stay afloat and dominate within the Space Marine army. Classic characters, with their myriad options, remained viable. Scouts, a cheap and useful unit, filled a lot of roles and rounded out your detachments. While there were signs of slippage, Tactical, and Assault Marines all but varnished, competitive armies often remained Primaris-free, focusing on the old, classic models.  The Smash Captain/Scout Battalion became a staple of the meta, defying the new Primaris units. 8th Edition just didn’t see the real Primaris takeover that was predicted.

The Rise of Primaris

But GW wasn’t done with Primaris. Throughout 8th Edition and into 9th they continued to get newer and better units. At the same time, some older units, Intercessors and characters in particular, got more and better options. It was soon clear that Classic Marines were becoming obsolete. There was less and less of a role for them on the tabletop as most things they did Primaris could also do.  Meanwhile, Primaris simply had a lot of unique options and units that Classic Marines could not match.

10th Edition has brought another big change. The biggest differences between the two sets of Marines have been removed. Most Marines can ride in most transports, with a few exceptions. Rules work on all Marines equally, and their stats are pretty similar. Several units, such as Terminators and Sternguard are now just officially a mix of both. The role of the Classic Marine has been removed – in the rules at least.

The Killing Blow

This week we saw GW really land the blow that is effectively killing off Classic Marines. A total of 14 Classic Marine units are going away. If we include the old school Sternguard and Terminator minis, that’s at least 16 Classic Marine units that are no more. Now some of these have “replacements”. Bikes can be used as Outriders, they are pretty much the same anyway. Sternguard and Terminators are still used. Assault Squads can be used as… Vanguard Veterans? An odd choice. But a number of these units don’t have, and maybe never will have, replacements. They are going to legends, along with a huge number of Forge World Classic Marine units.

The End of An Era

This really does mark a fundamental change to Space Marines. It’s more than just a matter of titles of “Classic” and “Primaris”. GW has, after all done a lot to make those terms fairly meaningless ruleswise. Up till now, you could still build a Marine army that was almost, if not all, older Classic units. Even if they might have new sculpts, you could do it. That’s pretty quickly becoming untrue. And this is big. Some of these units that are going away are old. Land Speeders and Assault Marines data back to the very early days of 40K. These are classic and iconic units. and now… they appear to be gone. There just isn’t a real direct replacement for them. The Storm Speeders are pretty fundamentally and visually different from Land Speeders.

Armies like Blood Angels and Dark Angels that were built around these units are going to be fundamentally changed. Moreover, with this change, and the general mixing up of units, there just aren’t a lot of old Classic Marine units left around. I suspect 10th will see this process continue with more units vanishing (Razorbacks are already almost unusable). It wouldn’t surprise me if a day comes soon when it’s really just Tactical Marines and Rhinos left, more as a homage than real viable choices. You can see the process happenings right now, these heroes of old will fade away and become Legends.

And Legends at least, never die.

Let us know what you think of the end of Classic Marines, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.