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Interesting exercise, very subjective.

Tough gig to write fluff about Primarchs. I felt The first 2 HH books did an outstanding job, others were so so. Flight of Einstein meeting with Dorn was solid.

My own view is Primarchs are required constructs. They are needed as source of Geneseed, exemplars of different themes for chapter play etc.

Our expecting complexity far beyond what is required of those constructs if probably a little rich.

Thanks man, it was a 'tough gig' for the amount I wrote per se, but I was really enjoyable at the same time and I LOVE the background to 40K and the Primarchs so it wasn't too bad.

And yes, it was very subjective. To me at least, there would've been little point in ranking them by 'best' Primarch as that would end up inaccurate (best vs. subjective best) and would be less... well, good really.

To me though, I expect deep complexity to the Primarchs (and have seen such), you are right, they are constructs (albeit more for leadership than geneseed IMHO) however they are also so much more than constructs - look at the Horus Heresy and you'll see.

And personally I'm loving the HH series so far, the only released one I haven't read is Prospero Burns and that's on my 'to do' list, I think the majority of the series is really very good and sheds some light on the Primarchs, Emperor and other things within the universe. There's been a couple of dud books for me, but I still love it.

Hope you enjoyed the article.

prior to reading the HH series the primarchs and the space marines seemed like they should be very mechanical in the sense of being genetically built and enhanced soldiers, but it's kind of off-putting to see the primarchs in some cases get influenced by their own soldiers intentions as well as "mortals" (in varying situations). it seems disproportionate. so far every primarch seems very disasociated from their ultimate goals with the exception of guilliman who's about as robotic as i'd imagine the primarchs to be. yeah, he might lack charisma, but, the way i understand it they all should lack character and charisma and just lead their armies to stomp out xeno's/choas. even ferrus manus seems to have more character and of what i gather, he's freakin boring. basically the more i read the more they seem like opinionated people in exquisite armor than "god like" beings.

God Like beings without God Like personalities I would argue...

With Dorn, he did'nt get killed by marines. He, along with 3 (3 IIRC) companies of now-codex-compliant fists attack an entire Black Crusade while it refuels. He told his Fists to retreat, and blew up every single ship in the Chaos fleet. That is how he died. His skeletal hand was blown into orbit by the blast, which is how the Fists have it. So, technically, he is listed as M.I.A as often as he is K.I.A., due to the fact that his body (aside from the hand) was never recovered, not in anything that could be considered Canon atleast...

I think its a very unique perspective on the primarchs. I personally lean towards Lion as a prefered leader but I do agree with your observations. He was quite arrogent and blind to miss Luther's actions. I dont recall him declaring himself a better choice for warmaster but it was definitely mentioned. And where are these pictures you keep relating to I dont see them, is my comp jacked or is it a link i missed??

Ah, the pictures would be found in the original thread, rather than the article. Apologies.
Appreciate the feedback. I'm liking the Lion more as a character (as a person, I still dislike him), but he's starting to have his character developed which is good. Someone commented before how he's the head and luther's the heart; that they need each other and the sum is greater (as well as reflecting Lion's lack of compassion), I also like the more knightly side he's developed too. Honestly however, if I were to re-rank them I can't imagine the Lion changing position much if at all!
Regarding the warmaster comment, that's in Fallen Angels (HH novel) IIRC. cheers!

Ya i got the book maybe i remembered it wrong. I believe like the book says that the Lion had no people or diplomacy skills, luther was the politicain of the two Lion was the tacticain.

It was a nice read even though my list would probably be the other way around ith resepct to quite a few of them, i really like fulgrim and the Lion.

Just read this list now. A good read, but highly disagree with the Leman Russ placement. I'm not even a very experienced player, but I've read some of the books and looked a fair bit into my army, Space Wolves. Didn't'Prospero Burns' highlight exactly what lead up to the event of Magnus getting attacked by Leman? Leman was wise and cunning when dealing with Hawser, over a very long period of time. That's how he was convinced that Magnus was truly 'evil', so to speak. He didn't just get convinced by Horus like an eager fool, he was a victim of Chaos work, sadly enough. Through Hawser he gave messages to who he really thought was Magnus. But in reality, it was the greater works of Slaanesh, right? He had compassion and everything for his brother, it was just sad that he got trapped, essentially. He wasn't "blindly following orders", he used precaution as necessary and did all he could against the pretty much unfair and unknown as feth force of Chaos rubbish.

 Inspectah Cax wrote:
Just read this list now. A good read, but highly disagree with the Leman Russ placement. I'm not even a very experienced player, but I've read some of the books and looked a fair bit into my army, Space Wolves. Didn't'Prospero Burns' highlight exactly what lead up to the event of Magnus getting attacked by Leman? Leman was wise and cunning when dealing with Hawser, over a very long period of time. That's how he was convinced that Magnus was truly 'evil', so to speak. He didn't just get convinced by Horus like an eager fool, he was a victim of Chaos work, sadly enough. Through Hawser he gave messages to who he really thought was Magnus. But in reality, it was the greater works of Slaanesh, right? He had compassion and everything for his brother, it was just sad that he got trapped, essentially. He wasn't "blindly following orders", he used precaution as necessary and did all he could against the pretty much unfair and unknown as feth force of Chaos rubbish.

This was written just before Prospero Burns was published. I think I've noted that somewhere within the article.

Suffice to say, I have a lot more respect for Russ now. The Lion (and Guilliman) would now also enjoy a much higher ranking, whilst Curze/Corax/Sanguinius have lost some of my favour, but would probably hold around the same place in the ranking.

Have you had the opportunity to read the new White Scar Novella Brotherhood of the Storm?

We see a little more Khan action! Just enough to make you frustrated they couldn't have dedicated a whole novel to the guy...

thelordcal wrote:
Have you had the opportunity to read the new White Scar Novella Brotherhood of the Storm?

We see a little more Khan action! Just enough to make you frustrated they couldn't have dedicated a whole novel to the guy...

Sadly not, no. I would've picked it up straight away if it wasn't limited edition (and priced as such). Apparently Chris Wraight will be writing a full-length novel about the Scars in the future, though.

Perturabo was exactly as you described in my head, and then I read Angel Exterminatus and my respect for the character jumped exponentially.

And I'm not usually Graham Mcneils biggest fan compared to other Black Library writers but he did an amazing job here. One of the best books I've read in the series.

 Just Dave wrote:

thelordcal wrote:
Have you had the opportunity to read the new White Scar Novella Brotherhood of the Storm?

We see a little more Khan action! Just enough to make you frustrated they couldn't have dedicated a whole novel to the guy...

Sadly not, no. I would've picked it up straight away if it wasn't limited edition (and priced as such). Apparently Chris Wraight will be writing a full-length novel about the Scars in the future, though.

Yeah, it was disappointingly short (and large font as well). However it was good for action and I'm still looking forward to a full novel.

Khan and Corax are actually my two favourites Primarchs and subsequently chapters. So it was a nice surprise to see others think the same.

As a Night Lords fan, I approve of Curze being so high.

cowen70 wrote:Perturabo was exactly as you described in my head, and then I read Angel Exterminatus and my respect for the character jumped exponentially.

And I'm not usually Graham Mcneils biggest fan compared to other Black Library writers but he did an amazing job here. One of the best books I've read in the series.

Yeah, I'm working my way through Exterminatus at the moment. Getting a lot more respect for Perturabo's character too, although I'm still not exactly convinced by his fall to be honest. His whole incredibly-loyal-socially-inept shtick isn't exactly original either, but hey...

phantommaster wrote:Yeah, it was disappointingly short (and large font as well). However it was good for action and I'm still looking forward to a full novel.

Khan and Corax are actually my two favourites Primarchs and subsequently chapters. So it was a nice surprise to see others think the same.

Happy to please! Definitely looking forward to a full novel too, if I'm still following the series by then.

ProfessionalAmateur wrote:As a Night Lords fan, I approve of Curze being so high.

Pretty sure Curze was always high: hence his visions...