If you know one thing about Warhammer 40,000, it’s likely a big, blue Space Marine. The Space Marines, more specifically the Ultramarines, are the Pikachu of Warhammer’s science-fiction wargame, minus the ears and plus a rifle filled with ammunition that explodes on impact. Don’t give Pikachu one of those.
Space Marines have always been the face of 40k, from its inception as Rogue Trader, and they’ve evolved a lot in the years since. The original power armoured warrior was a hunched little dude with a beaky helmet, a far cry from the multipart plastic kits that we know today. Conversions required drills and saws rather than precision scalpels, and the detailed chainmails and rivets were a lot more difficult to achieve.
The most recent iteration on the Space Marine is the Primaris, a so-called ‘true-scale’ version of the iconic space soldier more befitting the stature described in the lore. They sat alongside the previous models, and for years you could field both on the tabletop. However, that option is soon going to be severely limited as Games Workshop is stopping the production of many ‘firstborn’ (read: old) Space Marine units, whose rules will be relegated to ‘legends’ status, only for use in friendly matches.
Many players are gutted that their old models are being discontinued, but the only real surprise is how it has taken this long. I half expected Primaris to release and immediately supersede any Space Marine units of the older, smaller variety. However, to Games Workshop’s credit, it let Space Marines live with their Primaris brethren for a long while before cutting them out, and has therefore grown the Primaris range to encompass almost all of the old line. However, there are still a couple of problems with this.
The first is of a hobby nature. The new Primaris kits are nowhere near as modular as the old Space Marines for starters. They’re not monopose, but certain weapons are intended to fit certain torsos, arms make sense on their corresponding models, and switching them around takes a fair amount of time, effort, and modelling putty. They’re more dynamic than the old range, sure, but at the cost of individuality.
The second problem is money. Players have invested hundreds of pounds into their Space Marine armies. I don’t play much any more, but I’ve got a company of Firstborn Iron Hands who are functionally useless on the tabletop now. While many of the units have Primaris equivalents, am I going to buy hundreds of new models just because they’re codex compliant? The answer is no.
Games Workshop suggests using your old Space Marines as proxies for their Primaris counterparts in friendly games, but this comes with its own issues. Some units, like Thunderfire Cannons, Stalker tanks, and Land Speeders, have no Primaris equivalent. The Techmarine has a Primaris version available, but the servitors that came with the old kit do not. Servitors can be taken by three 40k armies, and soon there will be no official models for them. Maybe this means new versions are on the way, or they’re out of future Codices, but for the time being, there’s no way for new players to get their hands on them.
Proxying also has its issues. You can’t do it at tournaments, for starters, so competitive players are forced to open their wallets. But even in friendly games, proxying out-of-production Assault Marines as Inceptors is problematic due to the squads’ different heights and footprints – using old models may present you with an advantage as they’re smaller and therefore harder to target.
As for unique Space Marine units like Ravenwing bikers, who also don’t have a Primaris equivalent and could lose their rules alongside their non-specific siblings, who knows? Dark Angels players are worried they’ll lose the rules for their old models as their range of miniatures stagnates or falls behind. Not every Firstborn Space Marine unit is being phased out at the moment, but the rest are sure to follow.
I’m personally gutted about the loss of the Ironclad Dreadnought, the model that got me started on my journey to converting hundreds of miniatures over a frenzied few years. It’s an iconic model, and the Redemptor doesn’t come close in terms of style.
Some units are safe. I think that Assault Marines may get a Primaris upgrade in tandem with the release of the Space Marine 2 video game, as the newly-Primarised Captain Titus has access to jump packs. But still, your old Assault Marines have been relegated to legends and proxies, which I’m sure will soon be forgotten about and relegated further.
Games Workshop has moved on from Space Marines. Primaris are bigger, faster, and stronger. They feature on all the boxes and marketing, they receive exclusive and special edition models where Space Marines used to. Next, they’re coming for your armies, rendering your old collections redundant and forcing you back into Games Workshop stores if you want to compete.
There’s nothing stopping you from ignoring these rules and just playing with your old armies as you always have. You’ll just be stuck playing 9th edition for eternity, slowly being left behind as new Codices and rulesets marginalise and remove your units. It’s fine with friends, but organising matches against strangers will be a pain; you’ll have to explain exactly what each unit is proxying and likely clarify it multiple times throughout the match, too. The Emperor’s golden children are no longer Games Workshop’s.