Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

... When they are moved to legends?

For the purpose of this thread we're assuming 11th will be the squatting of all or nearly all firstborn figures and most of their vehicles. This has been happening for a while, but what will you do with your Firstborn when none of them are in a codex anymore?

I would hope there is a community effort to do a decent firstborn codex to do stuff like the babdab war etc.

I was in the process of dumping primaris as don't like the look and will probably do the same for post 2nd ed marine stylings (so the newer ones) and keep only the old hammer stuff.

maybe they will be an expansion for the horus heresy, codex marines vs traitor legions

I fully expect most people go the reasonable way of either using legends rules or simply use them as Primaris. Just like evey other faction continues to use older models when a new variant comes around.
A Bolter Marine is a bolter Marine, a plasma Marine is a plasma Marine, Lasercannon Marine is a Lasercannon (or "Lasfusil", whatever name they went for with Primaris) Marine.
As a non-Marine Player I wouldn't be able to differentiate a Proper Marine from a Primaris Marine at table's length anyway.

look to the old testiment it provides several options.... oh, not those first born

"No, honestly, these are Intercessors. They're just a little short."

 BorderCountess wrote:
"No, honestly, these are Intercessors. They're just a little short."

If scale creep was enough to disqualify a mini from the table, my RTB01 beekies would have been sidelined long before primaris showed up on the screen.

I’ll field them as long as I can. Counts-as if I need to. But eventually they might end up just in the display case as a reminder of the old times. Until GW decides to go mine nostalgia again, and they can hit the table once more.

Depends a lot on the minis. Like my bikers and dreadnoughts are probably WAY too small to proxy as their equivalents. Rhinos and its ilk probably something equivalent. Use them as is unless they get replaced with something so substantially larger that it doesn't work, but I'm not expecting them to scale up the Land Raider.

As for the troops; very likely to continue using them, though it depends on whether I actually need to field them. Most of my first born have been converted over the years to DW Vets and they map pretty well to the new Kill Team box so I'll probably rebase the heavy weapons and keep using them as DW vets. Probably don't NEED them and certainly not all that I have, but my favorites are likely to jump in as a second 10 man depending on what happens to DW going forward.

Some of it depends on the quality of the replacements. Pretty happy with the new DW KT. It expanded onto some extra intercessors well. Similarly my assault intercessors are all set to swap to some first born jump packs. I may continue to use my Terminators as extra special weapons, though the new kit is so much nicer I'm not heartbroken to replace them.

I've decided to abandon my Deathwatch Proteus team. I will finish my Indomitor and Fortis teams instead.

Interesting responses all around, thanks!

I've been out of 40k for a while (5 editions...), but my Firstborn Dark and Blood Angels have continued to see periodic action in Grimdark Future. And I see no reason for that to change.

Now, the bargain opportunist in me is thinking about whether I should go looking for deals even though I've got more Marines than I could ever field.

As long as they have stats they'll get used as is.

If they dont have thier own stats they will serve as whatever the most logical Primaris unit is.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
I would hope there is a community effort to do a decent firstborn codex to do stuff like the babdab war etc.

I was in the process of dumping primaris as don't like the look and will probably do the same for post 2nd ed marine stylings (so the newer ones) and keep only the old hammer stuff.

maybe they will be an expansion for the horus heresy, codex marines vs traitor legions

That's an interesting idea. Sort of like Battletech eras.

There's a couple thousand years in-universe in which the various incarnations of the non-Heresy style firstborn were the only Marines. Lots of action to play out there. I'm sure there are other folks who wouldn't mind gaming in the 40k universe as it was before 2017.

I started my 40K journey in the latter days of 2E and stopped playing around 8th edition (that was the one with the Indexes, right?). I never played Marines but most people I know did. For a few editions, I was hoping the Primaris would slowly become "True Scale Firstborn" and my friends could still use their armies for the most part.

But now this turn of events is really making us double down on Oldhammer. Hell, this squatting is making me nostalgic for the army I never liked! I'm tempted to grab some Deathwatch to go with my Inquisitorial Force before I lose the chance forever.

Just keep using them, same as my Xiphon, Deredeo, Leviathan, Jokaero, Terminator Inquisitor, Decimator and at least a dozen other units that got moved to Legends previously.

The little [Legends] tag on Waha or New Recruit really doesn't affect my use one way or the other.

Same as OP, keep using them in Grimdark Future.

I am honestly weirdly relieved. I have a large force of Space Marines cobbled together from all the starter sets I've bought over the years plus a few extra purchases here and there. It's a full company all told, mostly tactical squads but also some metal scouts, assault marines and a healthy dose of terminators and bikers.

As long as the old kits were still available there was a certain itch to pick up the devastators to make some more heavy weapons guys to fill out my devastators a bit more (I just have a squad with 4 missile launchers made from tactical squad extras) or whatever. Now it's all gone, I'm happy to consider the collection "complete" and once I finish painting the last two dozen or so marines I have left I can just say "I'm done" with that part of my collection entirely.

As you say, it's more than I can ever reasonably field at once in any case. It does see a lot of table time though as it's the chosen force of my main opponent who likes the huge amount of choice the army gives him and their relatively straightforward playstyle in game.

I'm just using them as primaris. Except the devastators who will continue to be devastators even if they're Legends. Legends units are still legal. The only reason I don't use more marine legends units now is that a lot of them seem to just be worse/redundant versions of still-existing units.

My long term plan has been to prepare models/armies/warbands for Rogue Trader (Orks, Eldar Pirates, Imperium, Tyranids/GSC, Khaos), and once I have all the models built and painted, to stick playing that in its RPG mode indefinitely. The same models will also work for games of 2nd edition, if I'm feeling more like a skirmish wargame. My Beakie Firstborn Blood Angels being the main army for everything. Historically, I'm capping most things to the point in time around WD200, anything newer than that will be situational.. Those are the best years in the hobby in terms of lore and rules for me, but I do prefer the modern models.

As for the current editions of the game, not much will change. Legends / Counts as, whenever we got games. Might switch to playing some sort of Imperial Soup (Inquisition, Krieg, Imperial Navy) if things get too messy with my Beakies.

I also have hopes that some of the same models will be suitable for "Great Scouring era" 30K. We shall see..

I doubt if I'll buy 11th rulebooks, so I'll carry on using the 8th edition indices (which is where I drew my line). For any newer models, counts as is a thing.

I'm currently using boardgamesmaker to reprint all the 2nd ed cards and markers all nicely.

Then I'll work on reverse engineering newer units to 2nd ed costs, stats and rules.

The last step is to see if I can get a group to go along with 2nd ed.

I may try a couple games in newer editions, using counts-as but personally don't like that. (Don't mind if my opponent does, but I like to play my army as WYSIWYG)

Surprising to me to see all the interest in second edition 40k. It was my first edition. I have allot of nostalgia and all the accoutrements, but it's a clunky game.

For folks looking as adapting somewhat more recent units to 2nd Edition, many of them them have 2ndEd/Necro95 compatible statlines in Shadow War Armageddon.

I have mostly got rid of mine, given a lot away. Sold some others. But I don’t mind playing against them as primaris proxy as long as I can tell what they are reasonably enough, legends will depend on what we are playing for.
But I kind of suspect there will be a replacement unit for a lot of them. I want to see tactical marines back on the table.

 Eilif wrote:
Surprising to me to see all the interest in second edition 40k. It was my first edition. I have allot of nostalgia and all the accoutrements, but it's a clunky game.

For folks looking as adapting somewhat more recent units to 2nd Edition, many of them them have 2ndEd/Necro95 compatible statlines in Shadow War Armageddon.

That's a great point! I actually happen to have SWA rulebook..

I will keep using firstborn in 3rd-4th edition until 40k comes back from its current rules structure to something that more resembles 4th-5th edition.

BanjoJohn wrote:
I will keep using firstborn in 3rd-4th edition until 40k comes back from its current rules structure to something that more resembles 4th-5th edition.

I wouldn't hold your breath - that design space is for Horus Heresy, now.

I'll play older editions or alternate rule sets with them. I certainly won't be replacing them with Primaris. *spits*

I'm hoping she'll go to college but I would be happy with some trade school.

 Eilif wrote:
... When they are moved to legends?

For the purpose of this thread we're assuming 11th will be the squatting of all or nearly all firstborn figures and most of their vehicles. This has been happening for a while, but what will you do with your Firstborn when none of them are in a codex anymore?

Run them all as proxies of current stuff

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I'm hoping she'll go to college but I would be happy with some trade school.

The OP specified after they moved to legends. So if they have already reached that status, I think a celebration would be in order. Kid would be doing OK at that point.

The rapid churn of units getting Legended killed a lot of my enthusiasm for the game, but if I were still actively playing, I would just proxy them. It doesn't reeeaaallly matter if your Intercessors are a little shorter and their bolt rifles are slightly less rifle-like. Anyone expecting you to ditch and rebuy your models because of an edition change is the kind of person you shouldn't be allowing to play you anyway.

Rules are ephemeral, Models endure. At the end of the day models are just tokens used to convey game effects around the battlefield

 BorderCountess wrote:

BanjoJohn wrote:
I will keep using firstborn in 3rd-4th edition until 40k comes back from its current rules structure to something that more resembles 4th-5th edition.

I wouldn't hold your breath - that design space is for Horus Heresy, now.

Yeah, I won't hold my breath, I mean.. I "quit" like... 14 years ago? I have no urgency to join the mainstream of 40k again, I certainly can wait without holding my breath.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I'm hoping she'll go to college but I would be happy with some trade school.

The OP specified after they moved to legends. So if they have already reached that status, I think a celebration would be in order. Kid would be doing OK at that point.

Here was my smartassed response:

I've been to Legends hundreds of times. It's probably the best Blues Club in the Chicago...

Why would they want a bunch of old Space Marine models?