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Is it just me or do most people start off collecting sm, cause i know 4 (maby more) people who all started with sm?

Are you including Chaos Space Marines? Because that's what I started with.

My fiance started with regular SM, and his little brother is doing the same thing. And the middle brother of the three is unlikely to start anything, but he talks about Chaos Space Marines.

I started with imperial guards and have just started black templars so no i didn't start with sm

I started with Nids, because they eat SM.

Most of my friends have a space marine chapter they call their own, and many started with the Marines as well. I myself started with Daemonettes in "Slaves to Darkness". I think the Marines have a truly heroic glamor to them that only wears off if you play one of the mutant chapters (Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Dark Angels). Very refreshing since the universe of 40K is so grungy and depressing. The Ultramarines are a shining light in the grim dark. But yes, marines are very popular aren't they?

I started with Chaos Space Marines, because I was young and wanted to have somthing survivable to fall back on to make up for my noob-ish-ness and didnt like the lack of Grimdark that normal marines provide

cheapbuster wrote:Is it just me or do most people start off collecting sm, cause i know 4 (maby more) people who all started with sm?

That is an ingenious theory. Never been thought of before. Ever.

Sorry, I'll turn 'bah humbug' mode off.

Yes, most people start off playing Space Marines, they're the most easily accessible (and arguably coolest) army out there. They're intended to be user-friendly and they are.

You will regularly see people (usually 'veterans') complain about the amount of Space Marine armies etc. particularly on Dakka.

And now that I have answered this thread (*smug face*), you will get people either repeating what I have said or saying that they started off with something else.

No, that's absurd.

Everyone starts with Dark Eldar.

Didn't you start with Dark Eldar?

Pfft, you must not be one of us. Hmph.

I suppose that would be a beter question, "who started with dark elder?"

You're all wrong. More wrong than you can possibly imagine! Everybody, literally everybody started with Squats.
I think.
I may be wrong.
But I know I'm not!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
*Evil and slightly insane laugh.*

Gee, it's almost like Space Marines are both visually appealing, have interesting fluff, and are one of the cheaper armies to play. Not like GW pushes them to be the big seller or anything by advertising them the heaviest and putting them in the starter boxes or anything.

Space Marines are the face of 40k. It's really no surprise that people start off with them.

SRM has it right.

Without commenting on whether this is a good or bad thing, just the facts:

*Marines are and always have been in the starter box.

*Assault on Skull Pass gave Marines around a 100 point advantage over Orks.

*Anyone who wannders in to GW and expresses an interest in starting the game will be pointed at Marines.

*Marines are user-frienndly and forgiving of mistakes.

*Marines (of some variety) can cater to any playstyle other than horde. You want gunline/mech/assault/footslogging/deep-striking - there is a Marine army that does it.

*Marines are easy to paint.

*Power Armour is in right now.

*Marines are almost all plastic and have a wide variety of alternatives, options and upgrade sprues.

*Marines are the designeted heroes in Dawn of War and it's spin-offs.

*Marines are always flavour of the month somehow, due to constant updates of codices, models, novels etc.

*Marines are by far the most popular army, so statistically speaking, if someone is introduced to the hobby by a friend, that friend probably plays Marines.

it's because SM are one of the easiest armies to play and learn the basics due to the common stats spread across the army also this is the other alternative "SM's are awesome" quote 11 year old kid (how much hate am i gonna get from that)

@Azezel

I agree with all of your points except that they are easy to paint.

I have found Orks and Necrons are much easier to paint than marines, IMHO.

However, I've never painted chaos, Eldar, or Tau, so I don't know their true place on the Easy-to-hard painting spectrum.

it depends for a person just wanting to play and say just wanting a painted army a paint scheme while include 4-5 colours but a more advanced painter would use a much more varied colour palette and more intermediate techniques are used