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To all of you veterans out there, a question.
I've been playing 40k since I was 8 (now a somewhat distant memory). I started off playing necrons. I then bought a chaos space marine army (which has since swollen to around 9000 points).
Over the years I've played guard, tau, eldar corsairs, lost and damned, ork speed freaks, inquisition (with a small contingent of deathwatch), Chaos daemons, and tyranids.
But I've never played space marines, always thinking them to be an over-used army - nearly everyone seems to have one. But now I'm getting the inkling to build a force of them. Is it just a fact that at some point all players of 40k will get that itch that can only be scratched by the marines?

Not everyone does, but most 40k players end up owning a Marine army of one flavor or another eventually. They've got a lot of appeal, you don't need a whole ton of them, and you can paint them as simply or as complicated as you'd like and they still look good.

I think because there are so many differnet SM codex's people can chose how they want to play and then buy correct codex for that playing style. Then there is the fact that very few armies can have such a range of paint schemes and still look right, such as necrons, there has to be metal although you can do what you want with the metal eg dirt, rust, but there still has to be metal to look right. Space marines can be painted any colour and still look like they belong in the 40k universe. I also think you can't really think of yourself as a 40k player until you have had a space marine army, even if its just a squad, it's like a ritual of the hobby.

To be fair to space marine numbers, now that there are non-SM-SM options, like blood angels, dark angels, black templar, and grey knights (and, more importantly, they're all good), it seems like the relative balance towards straight-up space marines has declined.

As for marines themselves, I understand what you mean. For me, the fascination has come from the fact that, with a few extremely unlucky exceptions, I've always just horribly butchered every space marine army I've come across. This implies that they're more difficult than you'd think to play competitively. Meanwhile, space marines can certainly do very well in places assured a competitive environment (like tournaments), which implies, played properly, regular old space marines have always been a relatively top tier competitive army.

Also, marines to me seem to be the army that every other army is balanced around. This means that marines are the army that most embodies the way that the game is "supposed" to be played. Given that they get more frequent than average codex updates, this view is further reinforced.

Take an army that plays the way that the game is supposed to be played, add to it the fact that most marine players don't know what they're doing, and thus get crushed horribly, and that when you figure out how to play them you do very well, and you get almost this gnostic meta that surrounds them like a veil of incense in my mind.

Plus, if the above is true, then it would follow that getting good at marines makes you better at every other army in the game, as you can more clearly see the sacrifices you make, and more clearly see the benefits you earn, compared to the "baseline" army.

Plus, marines do have a reputation of being easy to beat, probably mostly because it draws in a disproportionately wide tranche of new players. It would be kind of fun to show up with an ultramarines army and after letting them spend 10 minutes rolling their eyes, turn around and utterly crush them.

Add to that their fluff, and you can certainly see their allure.

I was pretty much handed a Battle Companies worth of them by a good friend who was then a GW employee. I have started them off and on several time but never followed through. Now however I am taking my surplus SM bits along with Tau, Necron, and IG and using them for my Death Skullz Loota Army

I've been playing for probably close to 8 years now, and I still have yet to feel anything close to a longing for Space Marines of any kind, and that includes any of the alternate codices. To me a Blood Angel is still just a space marine who wears a lot of red and listens to too much emo music. Then again I kinda have a general dislike for the whole Imperium that probably stems from me being a chaos player. The only Imperium army that I think I might one day enjoy playing is Guard, and even then it's not something that I particularly crave right now.

If I had to do a space marine army, I think I'd go with a heresy era World Eaters army. White and blue colour scheme but totally splattered in blood.

Crystal-Maze wrote:To all of you veterans out there, a question.
I've been playing 40k since I was 8 (now a somewhat distant memory). I started off playing necrons. I then bought a chaos space marine army (which has since swollen to around 9000 points).
Over the years I've played guard, tau, eldar corsairs, lost and damned, ork speed freaks, inquisition (with a small contingent of deathwatch), Chaos daemons, and tyranids.
But I've never played space marines, always thinking them to be an over-used army - nearly everyone seems to have one. But now I'm getting the inkling to build a force of them. Is it just a fact that at some point all players of 40k will get that itch that can only be scratched by the marines?

There is nothing wrong with that itch, do not attempt to adjust it for yourself, GW is now in control of your mind...

Seriously, jump right in mate! I started with Space marines about twenty years ago (sigh) and then moved to guard and then back to marines in addition because I needed a paint break and now I've nearly got a full battle company...(hopefully I will stop there!)

What really irritates me is when my best mate comes over and uses a small force of space marines to crush my guard army that I am so used to dominating with. When they are played properly they really are awesome!

Of course, I'm a dedicated Imperial player and Ultrasmurf lover, so YMMV but hey, you can always buy a small ebay army and see how you go before you commit!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Except for my Nids!

I have a necron army and a blood angels army, I have one for when I feel like hurling allot of tesla shots at something and I have an assault heavy army when I feel like beating the tar out of things in CC.

Crystal-Maze wrote: Is it just a fact that at some point all players of 40k will get that itch that can only be scratched by the marines?

It's hard not to get the urge to collect at least one SM force. All the cool releases seem to be SM related so I guess it is inevitable they will catch your eye.

GimbleMuggernaught wrote: If I had to do a space marine army, I think I'd go with a heresy era World Eaters army. White and blue colour scheme but totally splattered in blood.

I saw this exact army today right down to the blood splatter, made me wish I chose to collect World Eaters over Salamanders and use the BA codex. Although I think that a lot when I see other peoples cool looking SM armies; I feel my army is bland in comparison.

asuryan as bland as salamanders may be to walk in the fire of
war is to prove to yourself to the emperor

(INTO THE FIRES OF BATTLE, UNTO THE ANVIL OF WAR,
FOR THE PRIMARCH AND FOR THE GOD EMPEROR.)

tatteredfaith wrote:asuryan as bland as salamanders may be to walk in the fire of
war is to prove to yourself to the emperor

I'm expecting inquisitors to break down my door and take me away now..

I am an avid marine player and frankly the only army i have won against is the bugs in a static defencesive position with a bridge as a bottle neck over a chasm. i found this works well with a shooty sm army what are your thoughts.
please help.

Yes, I loved my Orks, but eventually I could not resist my still growing Marines.

tatteredfaith wrote:I am an avid marine player and frankly the only army i have won against is the bugs in a static defencesive position with a bridge as a bottle neck over a chasm. i found this works well with a shooty sm army what are your thoughts.
please help.

First of all I'd work on your spelling and grammar. The shift and punctuation keys are your friends. Space Marines don't exceed in a static defensive position. They're meant to be shock troops who rush into close range and rapid fire your enemies. We can't help unless we know what you have specifically anyway.

I started in 2nd, and considered myself an Eldar player, as that was my biggest army, but ultimately I also started a BA force and a small Chaos warband.

Packed it all in for more than a decade, came back about a year ago and discovered the shiny new DE models. They lasted about 6 months before I started collecting BA again. However, I needed to make peace with myself and try and avoid my new marine army being too derivative, so they are painted as Raven Guard, rather than BA.

So, I have now, after nearly 20 years, admitted to myself that I am a Marine player, but I will go to some lengths to not be too run of the mill if I can.

I've not had too much success just yet, but I'm essentially learning from scratch again, I will get good, because I want to be, and I used to be.

Moral of the story? Be who you want to be, even if that means collecting Ultramarines!

smUrfsrUs wrote:Then there is the fact that very few armies can have such a range of paint schemes and still look right.

Guard is the greatest in everything. With marines you get blue marines, green marines, black marines etc. With Guard you get white armoured guardsmen, black armoured guardsmen, grey armoured guardsmen, green coloured guardsmen, camo guardsmen, guardsmen without shirts (Catachans), guardsmen with furry hats (vostroyan and valhallan), guardsmen with gasmasks (DKOK and Armageddon), Bedouin/British North Africa SAS (Tallarn), and practically anything else. Hell you could literally use WHFB Empire Handgunners as guardsmen and most people probably wouldn't bat an eye. Guard has the most potential for a uniquely designed force simply because it is so diverse.

My Space Marine army came about when I realized that I had two Black Reach forces (I swapped the Orks for a friend's Marines on a whim) and an extra Tactical Squad from the Macragge box lying around; they're not fully painted yet but I like the fluff I've come up with for them.

Every army's got a pretty good range of paint schemes, Space Marines are just the easiest to get looking good with any given scheme.

Tatteredfaith: start over, tell us clearly using things like breaks between clauses what exactly you use against what sort of armies and we can help you. That post was vague and difficult to read, we can't give you much help from that little information.

Asuryan wrote:

tatteredfaith wrote:asuryan as bland as salamanders may be to walk in the fire of
war is to prove to yourself to the emperor

I'm expecting inquisitors to break down my door and take me away now..

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

I got a nice templar army by chance and it was love at first sight. I think the background of space marines, the black library books, the deathwatch stuff and others makes them seem so cool. and this is coming from someone who was at one point a very strict xenos only player who turned his head up in disgust at the sight of power armour.

yeah i am always feeling that SM itch...i have a single space marine dude lol and he always looks so cool with his little bile like thingy and he feeling of self importance...i'm sure one day i will take the dip into ultrasmurf territory....we will see, but for now...he stands as a lone pious warrior looking out onto the battle feild at countless foes and like that he will stay, cool, and not just another marine in a field of blue.

which reminds me ...i better give him an epic inquisitor style stat line to survive a bazzillion dice rolls or fire nd cc...

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

Asuryan wrote:

tatteredfaith wrote:asuryan as bland as salamanders may be to walk in the fire of
war is to prove to yourself to the emperor

I'm expecting inquisitors to break down my door and take me away now..

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Especially those with nice red uniforms!

I'm super-itchy. I've repainted a handful of my brother's old ultramarines into 6 different chapters, then painted them all into Carcharadons (my dreams are full of sharks and chainsaws). Playing orks a lot, I wish I could be as colourful and heroic as the marines. My mind says yes, but my minimum wage job says no.
Luckily I've found a medication that can temporarily control the cravings. Dawn of War.

Every Forgeworld new release lately restarts my Space Marine itch.

My first actual commited army was Salamanders in 3rd edition. I've had the itch to restart them ever since I saw the older mark power armours from Forgeworld, but I went with Tyranids when I got back into the hobby since they were always my favorite and now suddenly had an awesome model range.

But still. Every single new Forgeworld release is something I wanted for my Salamanders wayback in 3rd. It all fits with the idea of an army of master craftsmen. Old, well maintained armour. Old weapon patterns that have been lovingly cared for as peices of art as well as weapons of war. Old vehicle patterns that have fallen into myth for most, but maintained by a chapter of Techmarine equivalents.

I'm eagerly awaiting the moment my Tyranids are at a point I consider done so I can start looking at some Forgeworld stuff. The Predator Executioner was just unfair.

Ahh, the itch.

I remember the first time I got the itch.

Enothopolis. 341.21M. "The Runway" bar.

I should've known that death cult chick was bad news...


Back OT, I started playing marines at the beginning of 3rd, but they kinda lost my interest. I have no love for them fluff wise, and I think that's the main reason I stopped playing them. I still collect them, and play them occasionally for large-scale battles, but other than that, I rock out with my IG.

I've been playing IG since 3rd edition but very recently I picked up the Space Marine bug. I blame the Deathwatch books from FFG.

I'd generally attribute that Space Marine Itch, and I do know what you mean, since I get the same way about other, similar things, to Marines just generally being over-the-top awesome. I honestly don't understand why people have such beef with the Ultrasmurfs, Space Puppies, or whatever. They're 8-foot-tall, genetically-engineered superwarriors. What's not awesome about that?

I have won only one game with my SM. And i messed up rule(not on purpose) to get that. Destroyed alot though.
They are difficult to play right. They kinda remind me of hunters from WOW. easy to pick up and play OK, but difficult to play well.
For the times i have played i have changed my list so many times.

I started playing marines because they weren't orks and after my friends (ork players) got sick of losing to my eldar.

I still have them 23+ years later.
They get a run maybe twice a year - although they won't be getting much 40k love for the next 5 - none of my armies will as I'm walking away from that game for an editiion (my marines and eldar survived the RT-3rd ed transition well enough, they can take the 5th - 7th ed transition).

I started out with the traditional Hobby Starter marines, with their cute little stunted left arms. I have to say, SM armies are extremely easy to model and paint (as compared to, say, Orks) and lend themselves well to perfectionists. Lots of flat areas, bright colours fitting in well - it's a cakewalk.
However, they don't really have much of a wow factor - they're the same old power cans you see everywhere, with very little humour or creativity available.

If you're looking for competetive lists, they're cheap and easily built for tournaments. If you're looking for a casual army, they're a bit dull and samey.

NimbleJack3 wrote:I started out with the traditional Hobby Starter marines, with their cute little stunted left arms. I have to say, SM armies are extremely easy to model and paint (as compared to, say, Orks) and lend themselves well to perfectionists. Lots of flat areas, bright colours fitting in well - it's a cakewalk.
However, they don't really have much of a wow factor - they're the same old power cans you see everywhere, with very little humour or creativity available.

If you're looking for competetive lists, they're cheap and easily built for tournaments. If you're looking for a casual army, they're a bit dull and samey.

To be honest, that same dull and samey feel makes them a fair choice for anyone who really wants to get creative, at a whole bunch of levels. Custom paint-schemes, fan-made chapters. Hell, I know people who name the individual Marines they field and put those names on the bottoms of the bases. When you make a custom Hive Fleet, there's only so much you can do. Hive Fleet Fenris. We eat stuff. With SM, they're implicitly stated to weigh culture and tradition heavily. It gives you a lot of wiggle room. Their canon fluff is also very diverse, with something for more or less anyone. So yeah, in terms of gaming, they're sort of the been-there-done-that army. I suppose a lot of people would prefer to stand out, be diverse. But I like to thing that the SM have a larger place than just the Mario of the game.