Ultramarines army showcase

Hi all,

Getting close to the final showcases now. Only Blood Angels and Deathwatch to go. As a brief update I was generously given a job lot of Primaris by a friend from our gaming club - between these and the new tooth and claw set I will be adding a chunk of Primaris marines to my deathwatch army, nearly doubling the boots on the ground. It also allowed me to add some reivers, aggressors, inceptors and a dreadnought to my Sons of Orar so they will be due a showcase update sometime before the nd of the year. Plus one random Gravis Captain who, in a departure from my previous approach, has been added to my Ultramarines. Reasoning being that he was nicely painted as a Smurf and it was either use or lose him. 

Speaking of updates, now seems a good time to recap hobby plans towards the end of the year. Having now acquired a few Space Marines I will aim to get them updated also, but this will push back other projects in turn. Despite taking part in a tale of gamers with the club, I have made precious little progress with anything Chaos and have decided to give up on it until next year - this will officially be the year of Chaos and Sororitas! In the meantime as well as marines I am steadily plodding through my admech which are seeing their tournament debut next week. As well as expanding my Knights to include Dominus patterns by the end of the year I am also looking to assemble some Imperial Guard to represent a Necromundan regiment. A host of smaller projects remain to either complete this year or in between larger projects next.

Anyway, it’s time for the Sons of Guilleman to take centre stage. This army has undergone a fair few evolutions in its time and is now complete save for a handful of Japan exclusive marines I want to get my hands on still to finish the tactical squads, hence why they are unfinished here. The army is formed around a battle demi-company with a variety of HQ units (including Robby G himself). There is first company support in the form of 2 units of vanguard, sternguard and terminators as well as  some scouts. A few unique units have snuck their way in also, namely a deredeo dreadnought and the HQ tanks from Warhammer world. Cheers.   

Full army shot

From above, note the 3 missing marines.

10 sternguard, 10 vanguard and some honour guard, a captain and 2 lieutenants.

2 rhinos, a razorback, landspeeder, dreadnought and deredeo.

Land Raider Excelsior (also has parts to be a godhammer or helios), Rhino Primaris and Predator with Chronus. Note also Guilleman, Calgar, Terminator Captain, Gravis Captain and Librarian

A stormhawk with drop pod behind.

Devastator, assault and tactical marines, with a company ancient and champion, Sicarius, Techmarine and Cassius.

2 more tactical squads, company veterans then an apothecary, Imperial space marine, Tigurius and chapter ancient/champion

2 units of scouts with Telion and Chronus

 

Primaris Astartes revealed!

Well they're here. Months after the initial teasers that a fair few decried as conversions (I personally always believed them to be the real deal) we now have official photos and the lowdown on marines 2.0, or Primaris Astartes as we now know them to be called. I thought I would talk a bit about them and give my thoughts. To best go about this I'm going to split the article into 3 and talk about first the concept, then the models and lastly the rules.

Concept

So GW are continuing with their storyline advancement and revealing what it was that Guilleman tasked Cawl with for the past 10 millennia. There has been some outrage about this from fans, calling weak plot device and cheap sales gimmick. I don't mind the storyline myself and see it as a natural progression of things. The Imperium is at its lowest ebb, enemies striking from all sides and now one of the Emperors sons returns with a new crusade to, if you'll excuse the TF reference, light their darkest hour. 

But as we know GW is mostly driven by money, and this new AoS style ruleset now has its very own 'Sigmarines'. This isn't as surprising a move as one would expect given the current SM range and the last releases. One got the impression that, between Centurions, the stalker/hunter and the Stormhawk, GW were getting a little desperate to find units to fit into the SM range. They filled this gap nicely with the Horus Heresy marines, but there's only so many plastics one can release without invalidating the FW range. As far as I can tell, the only units that need plastic representation in the SM codex (if you ignore those such as dreadnoughts, scouts and teminators desperate for updates) are techmarines/servitors/thunderfires and honour guard, neither of which are going to be huge sellers. (Note, I still hold out hope that we will get chapter upgrade sprues for the other first founding Chapters at some points and, given that the pads are compatible with Primaris I actually think it's all the more likely)

Anyway, back on track. There was a need for them to revitalise the SM range and rather than take a gamble (which they would probably lose) and invalidate the entire range with a revamp, they chose the middle ground and designed these chaps, the Primaris Astartes. Bigger, better and faster than a regular Astartes, they chose to make them so they could be both used as an army on their own (more on that later) or as a supplement to an existing force - from a collectors point of view this is ideal as you can either ignore their existence, add a single unit to your collection or go all out and buy a whole army of them. Speaking of which, it has been stated that we will be getting about half a dozen units which I expect to fill out the regular assault, devastator and terminator roles as well as a dreadnought and vehicle. 

I do like the dynamic of how some Chapters are willing accepting of them as reinforcements but others are more hesitant, seeing them as an abomination of the Emperors work. (Templars I'm guessing) Also, it is implied that the enhanced abilities come with enhanced gene flaws, which may not work out too well for BA and SW. The nomenclature, however,  is one thing I don't like as it doesn't fit with the rest of the SM range. We go from tactical, vanguard, scout to Intercessor and likely a whole range of such named models. (again, shades of AoS here) As for Mk IX armour, I can't believe this is lazy or an oversight by GW. I'm sure we'll get Mk IX at some point in the near future.

Appearance

Standing broader and a head taller than regular marines, the design features from several past MKs of armour can all be seen. GW have stated that they are cross compatible with heads and shoulder pads from the standard lines, making it easier to accesorise them to fit in with other chapters such as BA/DA/SW. I love the look of the bolters and also the plasma weapons we have seen. The 'Captain' also looks great and is noticeably on a 40mm base while the others remain on 32mm. Squad markings remain consistent with their Astartes brothers and, when viewed next to each other, it's actually quite tricky to tell them apart. 

One thing I haven't quite managed to get my head around thus far, however, is the starter set pic we have seen. Firstly, I'm 99% sure it's a starter set that's pictured. The contents, concept, way the scene is set all points to it. Secondly, it is defintely Ultramarines Vs Nurgle, as some of the Death Guard models we have already seen can be picked out (i.e Bellman). Now initially I was of the thought that The starter set will contain new snap fit regular marines and that the Primaris will be released later as their own release. Now I'm not so sure. Having scrutinised the pic it's clear there are 22 models on the UM side and that 5 of these appear to be assault marines on the new flying bases. The others are presumably 3 5-man squads and two characters. Really couldn't call it either way at this stage so we will have to wait and see.

Rules

I'm going to glance over the insights the profile gives us to relative power levels, grenade rules etc and just point out the obvious. The differences over a standard marine profile is that they get an extra attack and an extra wound. That is aside from any other rules the keywords may give. They come with the same equipment as a standard marine except that the bolt rifle has a -1 save modifier and an extra 6" range over the standard bolter. Now for the drawbacks. Squad size is fixed at 5 and the Veteran Sergeant is a compulsory upgrade with no options. Speaking of options, they don't have any. It's bolters only for this squad at least. 

As for how they fit in a SM army, it looks to me as if GW have very sensibly decided to put them in all SM armies. We know the Intercessors are troops and thus we could assume that, rather than being an individual faction, they will get rolled in to the SM army list, allowing you to pick and choose the new units for an army of Primaris, or simply adding them to your existing list.

So we finally got the 'moviemarines' that people have been raving about for as long as I've been in the hobby. How much transport capacity they take up in vehicles remains to be seen but in theory you could take an army of just these chaps and play them as being more resilient and with more attacks / nastier bolters than your standard marines, playing them as movie marines. Or you can pretend they don't exist and play your regular marines as normal. That's the beauty of how GW have executed this - you get the best of both worlds and can pick and choose as you wish.  

In conclusion

Excited for all things related to 8th so far - new rules, new starter set and new Primaris marines. Obviously they will be on the shopping list whether in the starter set or not but exactly how to use them remains to be seen. I suspect that if they are in the starter then I will be tempted to make them an army rather than add to existing. If not then I will probably add a few units to existing armies over time. Cheers.

Hobby progress part 1/3 - Ultramarines

The new (well, a few months old now) Space Marine codex and models gave me a chance to overhaul several armies, and the first one of these to reach completion are my Ultramarines. Completion by the way is a relative term when used by me, and generally refers to having all the models I own in that army assembled, magnetised and basecoated. In the case of the Smurfs there are a few things I've been working on to get them to this stage.

Firstly, they were all on 25mm bases and so I've updated them all onto 32mm where appropriate, aside from the Sternguard who are finished and varnished and so I may elect to use ring expanders on their bases. Secondly, the new codex brought a few changes which I had to incorporate, namely getting a Scout Sergeant to replace Telion now he's an IC and incorporating new devastators and upgrade components into the army. Lastly, I needed to spray up some models and used both the Macragge blue and Mournfang brown sprays to great effect.

As well as the parts already mentioned, I also recently added in a Deredeo Dreadnought and, thanks to a trip to WHW have also added the two command tanks to the set - given that the army contains both Sicarius and Calgar it made sense that they be the ones to get the tanks. The last few missing elements to this force are some air support in the form of a Stormtalon, Cassius and a few more Honour Guard for Calgar (FW Invictarus looks promising). In the meantime, there's still a few armies to show updates for which I'll post up in the next week. Cheers.  

Space Marine codex review part 5 - Conclusions and example builds

Final part folks as promised. Phew, this has been an extensive amount of writing and there are bound to be things I've got not quite right or missed. I thought I'd round things off by talking less about content and more about the wider implications for myself personally and SM players. Also, I strung together a couple of example builds using the Gladius strike force.

Conclusions

Bottom line I guess is how will this release influence my armies which, to be honest, are already beyond the scope of reason. The honest answer is not very much TBH. To quantify this there are 3 different aspects to look at:

1. What was I trying to achieve from the armies? The honest answer is a fluffy, themed army for each, which I hope I have done as follows:

Iron Hands - lots of bionics, lots of technology and vehicles especially techmarines and vehicles.

Ultramarines - well rounded army with several special characters

Salamanders - fluffy army, no anti grav, lots of flamers, meltas and hammers

Raven guard - mostly infantry army heavy on the assault, scout and mobile artillery elements.

Whitescars - lots of bikes and fast vehicles.

Imperial Fists - probably my least themed army - comes across as more a cross between UM and salamanders.

Crimson Fists - heavily themed post-Rynn's world. No tanks, Stormwing and Elite units mainly to represent the destruction of the fortress monastary.

Black Templars - Infantry themed crusade army.

Blood Ravens - designed around the units and characters available in Dawn of War.

Heroes of badab - specifically themed to represent each faction of the Badab War with the most appropriate unit.

2. Some new kits. So I've invested in 3 new devastator kits, a new assault squad and an UM upgrade sprue. Idea being more to invest in the look of the armies (which will all need 32mm bases at some point - sigh)  than the new rules. This really is a very minor update and actually I probably spent more time pre-release giving each army a good eyeball and sorting out any modelling/basecoating issues. Ultimately I have a wishlist of about 10 things I want to add to these armies, many of which are flyer units (still not caught up with 6th edition) to bring the armies into line.

3. New rules. If I'm absolutely honest, after looking through the new book I'm not sure if/how I will use the new Gladius strike force. Firstly, only 4/10 of the armies can actually field a demi-company and I'm not willing to invest/sacrifice the theme I've developed in order to do so. Secondly, those which can field a demi-company have insufficient units to make up a Gladius, and so I'm left with either i) combining two armies under the same chapter tactics as proxies, ii) Using a Demi formation from one army and another type of formation/detachment from another or, most likely, just sticking with the plain, old, combined arms detachment. Sad really as I'd love to use the codex to its full potential but the fluff and having lots of smaller armies is more important to me so that's just the way it will be. This was the same conclusion I drew with the Eldar Codex TBH - great for power gamers who want force multipliers but not all that great for people with established armies that don't fit the format.  

Here's a few thoughts for fluffy themed armies using the Gladius strike force for the big 6 (didn't include Templars as they can't use crusader squads in the Gladius) This is really just a starting point for thoughts at 2000 points and have no upgrades unless stated and would need a bit of trimming and refining to be actually used.  Calculations are VERY approximate to save me some time!

Raven Guard:

Demi company (Shrike, 3 x tactical squads, Assault squad x5 +JPs, Devastators) 465

10th company strike force (2 x sniper scouts + cloaks, 2 x scouts + storms, scout bikes + cluster) 440

1st company task force (3 x 5 vanguard + JPs) 330

Skyhammer annihilation force (2x 5 man devs + grav cannons + DPs, 2 x 10 man assault squads + JPs) 830

Whitescars:

Battle company (Khan, Bike Chaplain, bike command squad, 6 x tactical squads in drop pods, 2 devastator squads in rhinos, 2 5 man bike squads) 1170

Stormwing 420

Librarian conclave (3 x lvl 2 on Bikes) 330

Chapter Command (Chapter master with shield eternal on bike) 185

Imperial Fists:

Demi company (Lysander, 3 x tactical squads, Assault centurions x3, Devastators) 675

1st company task force (TH/SS terminators x5,2 x sternguard x5 in drop pods) 515

Armoured task force (Techmarine, Vindicators x 3, predators x 3, whirlwinds x 3) 845

 Iron Hands:

Demi company (Bike chapter Master, 3 x tactical squads, Bike squad 5-man, Devastators, 3 venerable Dreadnoughts) 905

Armoured task force (Techmarine, Vindicators x 3, predators x 3, whirlwinds x 3) 845

Ultramarines:

Battle company (Sicarius, Chaplain,  command squad, 6 x tactical squads in drop pods, 2 devastator squads in rhinos, 2 assault squads with JPs) 1100

1st company task force (TH/SS terminators x5,2 x sternguard x5 in drop pods) 515

Chapter Command (Calgar in terminator armour) 280

Salamanders:

Demi company (Vulkan, 3 x tactical squads, Attack bikes x3 + MM, Devastators +MM, 3 Ironclad dreadnoughts) 1095

1st company strike force (2 TH/SS terminator squads, land raider redeemer, 10 man sternguard with heavy flamers in DP) 975

Before I call it a day on this behemoth of a review I'd like to touch upon past and future of non-codex Chapters, namely Blood Angels (and Wolves/GKs) and Dark Angels. Dark Angels are just around the corner and will very likely benefit from some of the perks in this book. Grav weaponry, Strike forces and formations. Dreadnought and vehicle squadrons etc. Unfortunately, Blood Angels and the others have been left behind with all of this, not having a Strike force type organisation, no dreadnought and vehicle squadrons (plus lack of 4A dreadnoughts) and many other issues. I wonder if now is the time for GW to start putting out FAQs for these guys and leveling the playing field. Anyway, that's enough for now, only time will tell. A weeks breather before Dark Angels hit. Cheers.