Tonight I wanted to have a look at my current Warhammer 40,000 project - Primaris Ultramarines. I will be discussing the fluff and the army as a model range, in which I will be showing some work on my own models and some of the changes I have made to them.
First off I want to say that I love the community, we have some truly outstanding artists, fantastic creativity and great discussions, but sometimes there is also a lot of vitriol. I am happy for people to voice opinions bur if you feel the need to spout off any 'Primarsoles' remarks due to the content ofy post, please send them to me privately and we can have a discussion about it or just go and do something better with your time. It isn't big, it isn't clever and there is certainly no need for it. With that said let me tell you what I like and dislike about the fluff and the models:
Fluff Spoiler Alert:
I have read Gathering Storm book 3 and also Dark Imperium book by Guy Haley and I have to say I really enjoyed both stories. I won't be looking at the fluff from GS3 in this post. The first few chapters of Dark Imperium are set in the Scouring and features the fight between Roboute Guilliman and Daemonic Fulgrim. This part of the book is really cool and features some well known Heresy characters. The book then jumps to around 115 years after the GS3 events - a period that I believe is key. The development of this period, for me, would have been a massive opportunity to bridge the gap between Space Marines and Primaris Marines. Instead we go from a point where they don't exist to a point where they are already established in the fluff. Even a trilogy or series of shorts would have maybe made the transition more palatable. Obviously that is a long period of time and if it was properly fleshed out it would leave 40k the game in a state of limbo for a prolonged period of time, which I am sure GW wouldn't have wanted. I believe this 115 year jump was probably the lesser of 2 evils. Either the story went slow and model releases would have to match it or vice versa.
Aside from the timeline there is some fluff in Dark Imperium about how Cawl has actually used the geneseed from all 20 Primarchs to create the wave of Primaris. However, Guilliman refuses to sanction the implementation of the other 11. This was a tremendous scene and one that made the book worth reading on its own. Cawl basically says 'If you make me Fabricator General of Mars I will give you the Galaxy' to Guilliman. I smell a future Heresy, which to be honest I really hope not. I don't want just another rehashed civil war as I think it lacks originality.
Guilliman also reinstates the Tetrachs of Ultramar, something he sees as a good framework for the Imperium. Maybe those old rumours of different chapters having their own realms isn't that far off...
As a whole I would give the new fluff 3/10 - half baked. But this doesn't mean I don't like the new miniatures. To be honest I think they are the nicest marines I have ever painted. This is mainly down to the size. I have always wanted marines to feel like they are in the books and I think Primaris rules really fit that and this is where I deviate from the fluff for now. Intercessors are tactical marines with bolters as far as I am concerned. Reivers are scouts, Inceptors are Assault squads and the Dreadnought is a Dreadnought. I would love some true scale terminators instead of Aggressors but hey-ho. I am ignoring the flying tanks and will be fielding Rhino and Land Raider variants instead. My army should look like a marine army when complete! Let's take a look at the changes I have made to my units to, in my opinion, improve them:
Inceptors:
As you can see, I have bastardised bits from the Inceptor kit onto a standard Primaris marine. In my opinion it looks better because I am not a fan of the foot stirrups/ high heels or their poses. I am thinking about doing a close combat squad for these guys too.
Aggressors:
For me, this is a case of less is more. They had wires, cables and ammo running all over the model. I simply cut them back a bit.
Redemptor Dreadnought:
I like the Redemptor kit but once I had read the remark 'it looks pregnant' I couldn't unsee it lol. I have left off the hatch that went over the front of the sarcophagus, which I feel gives it more of a classic look.
All I need is some truescale Terminators now :D
I hope that you like some of the changes I have made. Next time I will have a look at how I plan to field them as well as some more finished models. Please leave comments below :)
Until next time, stay fluffy!
Kaelo
Your take on the Inceptors, sure look good.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer if the guns weren't so big. Like the heavy pistol arms from the Reivers....hmmmm
DeleteTrue, the original guns are oversized.
DeleteI've steered clear of new 40k and concentrated on my 30k Salamanders so far but from what I've heard from my local GW and had a brief read of the salamanders stuff I'm very tempted to pick up a few bits and pieces and start a new primaris salamanders force - I've heard flamer aggressors are nasty!!
ReplyDeleteHey buddy. Get one of the cheap sets and have a play around! They are great fun.
DeleteIs there such a thing as cheap? I've just seen that 3 aggressors is £30!!
DeleteThey are gonna release some Easy to Build Aggressors soon ;)
DeleteThis is true...Go for it Andrew! The Imperium needs you lol
DeleteAny idea how soon they will be released? And definetly tempting! Might have to get the rules and codex first!!
DeleteThe more I see Primaris marines the more I do like them so a small force but be a thing a can use some 30k Firedrakes and dreadnoughts to bulk out the army
DeleteWell, I for one have mixed feelings on this new development from the company that we all love to hate. Regarding "Dark Imperium", the opening scenes where Guilliman is mortally wounded by Fulgrim are really well written and tie nicely into other Heresy and Scouring pieces such as the excellent "Kharn: Eater of Worlds", where we get to see degenerate but not ridiculously deformed Traitor Legionaires. As you have said, the rest of the book seems to be placed at the other end of a deep hole which the reader is required to jump in order to make the transition to the 41st-plus Millenium. Overall, I got the feeling that this book would have been much better as a component part of a trilogy, with the relevatn pieces of information we need to find our way in the new setting easily discernible. The nuggets of lore sprinkled around are eye-opening when you chance upon them, but you can't build a narrative only on anecdotes. Secondly, the Primaris themselves. I rather like the models, but the way they are being foisted upon the former exemplars of Humanity is rather awkward in my opinion, we now have first-class and second-class Space Marines, and from a purely Darwinian perspective they cannot coexist for long. I would have been much less disappointed by this if they had just kept the scale of the new Deathwatch models and used it for the Primaris, which might have just been a new suit of armour. I'd be perfectly happy with that. Non-Codex Chapters such as de Dark and Blood Angels and the Space Wolves are going to have a hard time digesting the new Primaris recruits. You can't have Primaris Blood Claws or Ravenwing Biker Primaris, can you? This is another of my points of contention. I got the feeling that they had decided to put off to pasture the existing thematical framework of the Angels of Death and start anew. It's a bit sad for my Veterans of the Long War, who now find themselves absolutely dwarfed by the new releases on the tabletop. In real world terms, the change in scale is also massive and the rather good battle reports in the White Dwarf only make this point more hard to swallow: Primaris Marines tower above their lesser-endowed battle brothers. On the positive side, I can see the logic in the reintroduction of Legion-type specialist squads and the new aesthetic is very appealing to those of us who have always liked Mk IV Armour, but regrettably I have to conclude that the new scale, and scope of the setting too, bodes ill for the established characters and armies of the past decades. We will be seeing new, bigger Orks for sure, newer Aspect Warriors for the Ynnari, and perhaps new races, but this spells the end of the enchantment for the models we have been collecting and using for so long. Thanks for reading, I hope to have conveyed my disappointment in a constructive manner. The Heresy setting is awesome but nobody plays in my area so I'll be sticking to the books, both Black Library and Forgeworld. Cheers, J.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everything you say. I think we are at the start of a new evolving chapter rather than at the end of an old one. I always wanted the story to move on, just felt it could have been done better. One of those cases of 'be careful what you wish for' thanks for your comment.
DeleteI'd like to add that Age of Sigmar opened up a whole new book of possible settings for the game. I envision 40K following more or less the same path, a reduced number of models compared to what was current in 6th and 7th Editions but them being bigger, and more detailed, perhaps the hobbying experience will still be pleasant as well. That race to the bottom of the barrel with ever-growing unit and army sizes was one thing I won't miss from the past. Cheers.
ReplyDelete