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I have collected them, but I forgot why, and in general, why do they play marines?

Cheap, easy-to-play, and they're what GW markets the most. Also, who doesn't love power armor?

i don't know if this is true for other people but its the first army that i every heard about when i got into 40k. and it feels cool to say you have an army of superhuman heroes.

Is it?

Cuz da SpazeMarines is da coolest!

The Warhammer 40k story is, at it's core, the story of the Imperium of man and it's attempted expansion across the galaxy. There are other races which are represented in the fluff and game but they are a supposrting cast in the story. I personally would like to see more alien on alien action ( ) in the focus of the game and fluff, but honestly if you want to know why Marines are so prevelant and popular just look at the original Rogue Trader cover.

i'd say its because they "most important". They're in a lot of the pictures, they're mentioned in most (If not all) the codexes and most of the fluff involves them. beyond those things the space marine fluff is more fleshed out than that of say necrons, so the fact i kept seeing space marines got me curious in them and after reading backgrounds i was interested and after discovering a chapter i was into i was hooked.

well for one thing the specailist marine chapters each has their own very uniqe story line that can be perfect for difrent people and there are a bunch of them. I persenaly fell in love with th e wolves story line and their kits ability to make somthing unique and your own each time.

Marines are mighty warriors of man striding across the field, dominating all thrown against them. They are warriors of legend, heroes of the imperium, gods among men. There should be no question why marines have broad popular appeal, and if you can't see that, it's probably stemming from your own bias after becoming very familiar with the game.

/Tau(main), GK, CSM. Once those are all finished to 3k or so points, will probably be looking at another Xenos.

/31

If you walk into a GW, tell the staff that you don't know anything about the game, but want to start, you will walk out with the starter kit (50% Marines) or a box full of space Marines (and maybe some blue paint).

New players are guided to Marines, both by players and staff.

In addition to this, Marines get the most support and the most 'advertising' - by which I mean the novels, the upcoming film, the posters, the shelf space etc. I suppose you've noticed that no GW shop has a lifesized Fire Warrior statue outside?

It's all part of the great self-fulfilling prophesy that is the space Marine line.

SMs, with their hyper-masculinized physique, lack of feminine influences and 'doesn't afraid of anything' attitude, appeal to the latent homo-eroticism in the peri-pubescent young teenage boy's psyche.

Because like others mention when young kids get introduced to the game they more often than not are the first models they encounter or get pushed on them. When I started the demo box was Dark Eldar and Ultramarines. I chose the former .

The biggest reason is they are the Flagship product and the starter set comes with them.


they are also easy to paint to a fairly acceptable standard. the only models easier to paint are Necrons.

they have an easy to use codex and fairly straightforward rules.

the Best overall stat line there is.

Azezel wrote:New players are guided to Marines, both by players and staff.

I would like to say for the record that I got a buddy of mine into the hobby last year, and going by his interests in other hobbies (video games, RPG's and the like) I sent him straight for Necrons. Got him hooked pretty good.

I wasn't a kid when I got into 40K in '91 (I was 18), but I can tell you why I started with Space Marines: the Land Raider and Rhino tanks. Seriously. I saw them advertised in Dragon Magazine and was instantly attracted to them. So, when I actually bought the old 1st edition book, I darted right toward collecting the Marines. Yeah, I know that's kind of lame, but it's the truth.

Because they rock,and we can't imagine them in real life. I can imagine orks quite well,but I can't imagine space marines. They're too elitist,too distant to comprehend in real terms.

I think young kids associate Space Marines with playing Halo.

They are easier to relate to (they're still kinda human), they have low(er) startup costs due to their high points value, they are flaunted as the saviors of mankind, and their good saves make them a forgiving army for beginners.

But when you start to get into the hobby more, you often find more wonderful stuff than just fatties with blue paints on them(not an insult, just a joke)
And also, I wonder how 9-12 years old kids get into the competitive circle over time...They often quit before they get old enough to learn much more

Luckily my friends pulled me outta the warp and I got over the line of a-life-time-of-losing

Its becasue they are the most supported, written, and talked about army in the GW universe.

I started with Necrons to have something that no one else in my area had at the time. But I eventually wanted to (and have sense) start a marine army, they are supposed to be what we are in millions of years. Why wouldn't you want to play someone who could be you.

Because they are not us?

We are more likely to be Imperial guards than marines you know, they are chosen from like one out of a million

Wings of Purity wrote:Because they are not us?

We are more likely to be Imperial guards than marines you know, they are chosen from like one out of a million

speak for yourself

When I was a kid and first started 40K I went for Marines and my brother Guard. When I made my choice it was more because I have always been a fan of robots and armoured suits so visually the Marines appealed. My brother is in the Territorial Army so the Guard appealed to him.

If I had started 40K after Tau existed then when looking at all the armies then Tau would have been my first army and not Marines as Tau fitted my niche better.

As for other kids, Marines are the most easy to assemble, model, paint and play, making it thee best starter army. And despite certain people's views on marines I still think Marines are an excellent force to choose for new players and veterans alike. Particularly if you were an Ork player and wanted to choose an army that wasn't a foot slogging hoard force.

There was no GW shop around when I first discovered 40k and there was really no advertising for it at all. I just thought they were robots, never even heard of Necrons and such back then

Now they're just scattered around the desk and shelf like most marines should

When I started playing 40k as a kid I started with Necrons.

Why? someone told me marines were the good guys, and I love playing the villain. Also the Necron's general appearence appealed to me more, they just looked aesthetically better than marines, and to me, they still do.

As to why most young players choose marines, they're easy to assemble and paint, they have decent fluff, and a wider range of models and even codexes than the other existing armies.

Wings of Purity wrote:I have collected them, but I forgot why, and in general, why do they play marines?

GW sells kid 40k kit. Kit has orks and SM's. Pretty much everyone likes the SM's right away. Runs out of house and buys more SM's.

What, theres more armies?

Thats how I remember it anyway. Until I ran into Eldar *throws marines in bin*.

GW throws SM's in your face. No wonder people buy em.

I bought SM as my first army way back when I was a kid when I went down to the game store to play MTG and saw people playing in back with minatures, I was a huge fan of Red Alert and it reminded me of it, the Dreadnought sold me on buying SM and 3 dreads for my army and making them salamanders (flaming Lirzard head logo!) later I found dreads where not as great as the model made me believe lol now I play nids

I like the tanks.

Good statlines are nice too.

But now why some of us are being "racist" to them?

HellsGuardian316 wrote:When I was a kid and first started 40K I went for Marines and my brother Guard. When I made my choice it was more because I have always been a fan of robots and armoured suits so visually the Marines appealed. My brother is in the Territorial Army so the Guard appealed to him.

If I had started 40K after Tau existed then when looking at all the armies then Tau would have been my first army and not Marines as Tau fitted my niche better.

As for other kids, Marines are the most easy to assemble, model, paint and play, making it thee best starter army. And despite certain people's views on marines I still think Marines are an excellent force to choose for new players and veterans alike. Particularly if you were an Ork player and wanted to choose an army that wasn't a foot slogging hoard force.

Lol dead on, I just put my ork army up for awhile and grabbed some space marines, Mind you, I grabbed fanatical crazy PURGE EM ALL! Black templars...but they are still marines...