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Short and simple: Is just my imagination or is there a space marines player for every other army type at any given game store. The current count at mine is 8 space marines 2 chaos daemons 1 tyranid and 2 imperial guard players.

It seems to me, sorry if i step on any ones toes here, that space marines are the army you go to when you cant muster the imagination to personify another one.

Dont get me wrong but they are a good army but i would like to see a little diversity.

1. Welcome to Dakka-Dakka! Thanks for joining.

2. I, too, would like more diversity in my opponents.

3. If you want diversity, make some! Make an orc army or eldar or the up-coming dark eldar. Win with it. The marine players might then become interested in other armys. (my second army is orcs, but my first is Black Templar).

4. Get used to it, though. They've always been the most popular army, and they always will be.

5. This topic comes up frequently.

^
agreed. Space marines are GW big sales army. Young kids are most attracted to them. (damn you ultramarines!)
There are also a lot of SM in my local GW. don't know exactly how much, but it's a lot. But most of them are space wolves or blood angels.
I would like to see more 'succesful' Imperial guard armies. with succesfull Guard armies I mean armies that are actually legal to play with.

When half the codexes are marine ones it's no wonder that half the players play marines.

But anyway, I think it's because marines are a rather "friendly" army, rather cheap to build, rather good in combat, rather shooty, rather survivable.
People who is drawn to some sort of theme often go for one of the other armies.

Well there are 5 space marine armies (6 if you include chaos but I wouldn't really). There are 9/10 (3 of which are considered relatively rare [DH, WH, DE for a few weeks]) Combined with the fact GW advertises space marine mostly (IIRC, they're the heroes in the dawn of war series, there is a new game coming actually called 'space marine', a movie 'ultramarines' which acturally includes the phase 'and the greatest of them are the ultramarines' and are generally portrayed as heroes everywhere) it isn't really suprising they are the most popular army out there.

PS: You've also spelled 'many' wrong in your tittle.

I daresay there aren't enough Marine armies. They should release the Angry Marines Codex next!

I think it has to do with cost as well. Space marines are generally a little cheaper to get into for the hobby. With so many players already out there you can get a used army pretty cheap, and space marines are not that expensive to start.

^
no! no more marine codexes. I would sue GW if they did more marine codexes. if they continou to produce new SM codexes, I want an imperial guard codex for every famous Guard regiment. (Preatorians, vostroyans, tallarns, etc)

being cheap and well-supported makes them a great 'second army' for a lot of people as well, i'd bet... Especially if you really ant to do something wacky like hordes of IG or Orks, you can build a small secondary Space Marine force pretty quickly.

Still waiting on my Black Templar codex update, though. *whistles with hands in pockets*

Too many n's in your title, more importantly

Yes, everyone knows there's too many marine players. That happens when most codexii are marines though..

SM
DA
BA
BT
SW
CSM
GK
~versus~
Eldar
Tau
Nids
Daemons
guard
WH
DE
Necrons
Daemons


Think about that for a second. 7 out of 16 codexii are marines

It's pretty easy to collect and army when a small one comes bundled with the main game. Marine armies are tactically forgiving and cheaper to collect than the horde armies and more specialised things like Tau and Dark Eldar.

Marines are indeed an easy army to get into. I don't beleve there has been a starter set in the history of 40K that has NOT included Marines!
Horde armies take forever to assemble, paint and base. Guard, Orks, and Nids all require the purchase of scads of crappy Troops units to start playing, at a cash premium to boot. Guardsmen used to come in big boxes of 20, now they come in small boxes of 10. You need a big old pile of those boxes to build anything but a Veteran-based army. Sure, you can go minimal infantry, and concentrate on tanks, but those are even harder on the wallet.
A Marine Battleforce gives you a playable army almost out of the box. Just buy a Commader kit, or a metal HQ model, and get to it. Add in the Black Reach stuff, and you have a spectacular starting force that you could actually win with.
The only other comparable army to start up with are Chaos Marines, because they're structured in about the same way.

Marines are also very forgiving for beginning painters. Lots of broad armor areas, almost no skin, and plenty of gunmetal to paint makes them pretty quick to get onto the table. I'd venture to say only Necrons are easier to get onto the table.

The middle-of-the-road statline and utility of Marine Tac Squads also make them very easy to learn the game mechanics with. Not a whole lot of special rules, and all of their unit upgrades are wargear/armament related. You don't have to memorize a bunch of +this and +that upgrades like you do with Nids, or complicated systems like Faith Points.

Then comes the "heroic imagery" that Marines possess. When I first started the game, and wanted to pick an army, I wanted something that looked solid, could take a beating and keep playing, and had rules that could mimic my time in the USMC. Someone recommended Guard, because they played more like real military units, and weren't 8-foot-tall supermen. I pointed out that clearly the person had never met a US Marine in real life

About half to Codexes are Space Marine Codexes. Makes sense that atleast half of the player would be Space Marines.

Iur_tae_mont wrote:About half to Codexes are Space Marine Codexes. Makes sense that atleast half of the player would be Space Marines.

+1

this pretty much somes it up. if half the players are playing marines logically GW (because it is a business) is going to keep pushing the thing that gives them half their sales. beyond that if half the people playing 40k are marine players odds have it the army your going to be lent to be introduced into the game is your buddies space marine army thus indoctrinating you into the marines.

TylerCade wrote:It seems to me, sorry if i step on any ones toes here, that space marines are the army you go to when you cant muster the imagination to personify another one.

Not everyone plays boring ultrasmurf clones... some of us actually "muster the imagination" to create our own chapter complete with background, colour schemes and all kinds of other fluff.

From the GW perspective, marines mean that a whole new army can be produced just by producing a few new sets. This is great for GW (and it would be unfair to criticise them for this; their customer base as a whole clearly loves SMs).

So, the SWs, who have their own boxed plastics for troops and termies, have a ready-made set of vehicles, infiltrators and scouts, just by transferring heads and bitz from the main sets. Same for any non-vanilla marines unit. They just need to produce a few characters and unique identifiable units to let the army stand out.

Furthermore, the popularity of SMs means that non-vanilla codices are refreshing. At least there is some variation in the beakies you'll fight. So, when my SWs fight my mate's Crimson Fists, the armies are different enough to affect tactics.

And I'd agree that they're a good second army, and a great intro army. Marines don't do anything badly, making them tactically forgiving.

Finally, for a customer base brought up on computer gaming, heroic superhumans in enormous suits of armour with powerful guns are a recognisable motif.

AzurePhoenix wrote:

TylerCade wrote:It seems to me, sorry if i step on any ones toes here, that space marines are the army you go to when you cant muster the imagination to personify another one.

Not everyone plays boring ultrasmurf clones... some of us actually "muster the imagination" to create our own chapter complete with background, colour schemes and all kinds of other fluff.

WHAT KIND OF A FOOL WOULD DO THIS? I mean look at all the cool special characters and all the nice, predone color sche-*looks at own signature*.

Yeah, custom armies really help mix it up, fluffwise. Having a marine player who doesn't read internet lists is good too (rhinos AREN'T necessary!)

Well The thing is there is alot of marine players. I agree with that. When i first joined there was only 5 or 6 of us. And there were tons of tau players, and eldar players.

AzurePhoenix wrote:

TylerCade wrote:It seems to me, sorry if i step on any ones toes here, that space marines are the army you go to when you cant muster the imagination to personify another one.

Not everyone plays boring ultrasmurf clones... some of us actually "muster the imagination" to create our own chapter complete with background, colour schemes and all kinds of other fluff.

Meh, they all look the same to my eldar, and are equally crunchy to my demons.

TylerCade wrote:Short and simple: Is just my imagination or is there a space marines player for every other army type at any given game store.

no its not your imagination. there are too many marine players.

People are brought up on SM and are the race which seems more of a good race to the new folk. Strong and dependable but tight when buying a round in the pub.

The fact that is has diversed into Space Wolves, Dark Angels etc, etc ad infinitum et nauseum means that there will be disproportionately more SM players even if those SM players are playing anything other than vanilla SM's.

I try to support the spotty kid in the corner and I awlays cheer for the fat kid at sports day, so I play Necrons.

My local gaming store actually has less Marines than everyting else. There are 5 or 6 Marine players, 3 Necrons, 4 Tau, 5 IG, 4 CSM, 3 Chaos Demons, 2 Eldar, 3 Orks, 1 Dark Eldar, and 1 Witch Hunters. While I agree there are to many Marine players out there, and that GW needs to calm down with the Marines, I don't see a lot of it personally.

I have an idea: Plot Advancement. The Main rulebook states that the Golden Throne is failing, and that the Adeptus Mechanicus are helpless to repair it. How about they let the emperor die, and let Chaos or something else hog the spotlight for a while and get all over the posters and such. Then, when everyone is tired of CSM, back come the Space Marines. Just have the emperor reincarnated or something to that tune. Then Marines get the spotlight again, and the forces of the Imperium also have a brand new special character to play with in Apocalypse.

Also, Death to the false emperor. That is all.

Flaming_Spider wrote:
I have an idea: Plot Advancement. The Main rulebook states that the Golden Throne is failing, and that the Adeptus Mechanicus are helpless to repair it.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

You think GW will advance the storyline? I have a better chance of getting hit by a satellite and being eaten by a shark at the same time.

Anyway, SM will always be GW's big boys.

chowderhead13 wrote:

Flaming_Spider wrote:
I have an idea: Plot Advancement. The Main rulebook states that the Golden Throne is failing, and that the Adeptus Mechanicus are helpless to repair it.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

You think GW will advance the storyline? I have a better chance of getting hit by a satellite and being eaten by a shark at the same time.

Anyway, SM will always be GW's big boys.

They've advanced the storyline before, though not in such a large way. Just look at the Thirteenth Black Crusade and what happened to Cadia. It's not likely to happen, but it is likely. Although it's unlikely GW reads Dakka and takes everything on here into account.

The 13th Black Crusade where Abaddon once again feths up royal and everything returns to the status quo? The 13th Black Crusade that was part of the Eye of Terror campaign seven years ago? Cause from what you're saying it doesn't sound like we're talking about the same 13th Black Crusade.

On a recent Tourney we had 66 players participating. There was a 48% chance total to meet Space Marines all the way through the Tourney. Do the math.

avantgarde wrote:The 13th Black Crusade where Abaddon once again feths up royal and everything returns to the status quo? The 13th Black Crusade that was part of the Eye of Terror campaign seven years ago? Cause from what you're saying it doesn't sound like we're talking about the same 13th Black Crusade.

Yes, I probably have my timeline wrong. And Abaddon didn't feth up that bad, just got trapped on Cadia without orbital support. As of now, Chaos controls most of the planet, but they cannot be reinforced or resupplied, so it's only a matter of time before the Imperium takes it back.

It's not that bad. In the last tourney I played in at my local store the army breakdown was as follows:

2 Guard,
2 CSM,
1 Nid,
1 Ork,
1 DH,
1 WH,
2 eldar,
2 SM,
2 BA,
1 SW,
1 Tau.

31% marines if you don't include DH or CSM.

Yesterday at the store we had a new kid who wanted to talk to someone about starting a marine army. No one had brought a marine army to show him. We had two Nid vs Eldar battles taking place instead.

Yes there are a lot of marines, get over it, because of all of the revenue they generate they help GW make money, and who knows what the company would be like without their cash cow.

The reason I got into marines first was because 1) they are easy to learn the game with 2) heroic imagery 3) easy paint scheme for beginning painters 4) cheap.

I have now moved on to other armies and different games, but they are still fun to play with every once and a while. So what if people like heroes can you really blame them? Would I play this game if Dark Eldar were the poster boy? Heck no. Sure the game doesn't even need a main army, just look at Fantasy. It's just it helps when your're are a scared frail little man, who just opened his first starter set, to have the strong presence of a Space Marine in the grim darkness of the far future.

Yes I am the proud owner of 5000pts of Ultra Marines.