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Hey Dakka folks,

Been wondering about this one, since there isn't much fluff that really supports it all, but I was looking at the various pictures of Primarchs floating around the web, as well as fan interpretations of them on the Tabletop, and the designs seem to vary widely, across all the Primarchs, but also on certain individuals.

The question is, do Primarchs wear (heavily customised) power armour as their Legiones Astartes do? Or are their battle armour something totally unique, just for them?
I can see this differing greatly on the individual Primarchs, due to their size, but I do wonder about it. For example:

Horus Lupercal - Is often depicted in something that pretty much identical to Terminator armour. However, even for Terminator armour, that thing must be massive to accommodate the Primarchs size.
Alpharius and Omegon - On the other end of the scale, because these guys are small enough to go in cognito amongst their own Legionaries, they just simply wear the power armour of their own sons.
Angron - I think this describe in the 3rd or 4th HH novel (dont remember), but Angron doesnt even wear power armour, but what appears to be scraps of old battle-plate from when he was a gladiator. Doesnt seem to make him any less lethal in close-combat however.

But what about the other Primarchs? A lot of the interpretations I've seen is just regular non-powered armour, but incredibly blinged up to the point where it doesnt seem recognisable.
I often see the interpretations of Guilliman and Dorn in both regular (yet over-sized) power armour (i.e., with the powerpacks on their backs), as well as Terminator armour. But are those just standard patterns (i.e., Mk. I, II, III, etc) that is fitted to their size, or is it something completely new, invented by the Mechanicum for the Emperor's Sons only?

Lets hear your thoughts

Yes.
Horus Did wear Power Armor quite a bit before his betrayal.

Fulgrim as well did.

Every single primarch wore a version of power armor.

Well, even if that was the case, I was hoping for more specifics.
If they were just simply up-sized power armour, then it seems a little dissappointing... but oh well.

Yes, and they wear nothing less than the absolute most finely crafted artificier armour or in some cases Terminator armour. It depends on the Primarch.

Fulgrim favored artificier armour I recall, and IIRC Angron wore Terminator armour in Galaxy in Flames.

The armour seems to be partially for show, since several times it is said that the bodies of the Primarchs are far more durable than even terminator armour.

yep, Artificer Armor

and many have weathered wounds that would kill a Space Marine many times over, see Corax and his denial of medical assistance as a sort of penance for his fallen sons

Plus Primarchs were in essence hugely powerful warlords, they had access to many different suits of armour and weapon load outs from within their personal armories! For example Sanguinius is pictured on many ancient Blood Angels campaign standards armed in various different ways. Each standard depicts his wargear, in stylised form, during that particular campaign, be it spear, stormshield/sword etc.

In the First heretic lorgar is depicted as wearing an unadorned set of power armour.
In legion you couldn't tell Alpharius apart from his fellow officers at times, likely to be standard power armour. But given the Alpha Legion investigating a dead lucifer black in one scene, that armour is far from ordinary.

Alpharius and Omegon wear what looks like regular power armor, but who knows what bat gadgets they might have stuck in there.

The other primarchs wear powered armor, but they have the same relation to Mk IV plate that a Land Raider does to a rusted out Rhino.

Mega ultra artificer power armor turbo.

Corax took a lascannon to the chest only for it ricochet off his armor during the Dropsite Massacre. Just to give you an idea of what the "turbo" does in case you were wondering about the name.

If you look at any picture of a Primarch they never have a power pack on their armor. The notable exception would of course be Omegon/Alpharius. While they wear armor it is not augmented by the same sort of mechanical servos etc that normal power armor has. Plus the Primarchs are so powerful they don't need the assistance of the servos to either A. move the armor or B. Enhance their physique. With the exception of things like Powerfists, Claws the Primarchs never used weapons, or armor, that augmented their strength.

Angron preferred armor that was more gladiatorial in nature and rarely wore "full plate". In fact with the exceptions of Ferrus Manus, Horus (when in his special Terminator plate after his fall), and Alpharius and Omegon you can't actually find reference to them wearing "power armor" in the entire HH series. It is referred to as ornate armor, or in Lorgars case ordained armor, but never is it referred to as Power Armor or as having a power source.

So in the strictest of interpretations no. The Primarchs are above needing the augmented strength and protection that Power Armor would bring to a normal Space Marine, and are never described as using it. With the noted exceptions.

Look at most of the artwork from the HH series that depicts Primarchs or the Horus Heresy collected visions. No Power Armor is present.

 OverwatchCNC wrote:
If you look at any picture of a Primarch they never have a power pack on their armor. The notable exception would of course be Omegon/Alpharius.

Ferrus Mannus is shown to have a huge power-pack on his back.

 OverwatchCNC wrote:
If you look at any picture of a Primarch they never have a power pack on their armor. The notable exception would of course be Omegon/Alpharius. While they wear armor it is not augmented by the same sort of mechanical servos etc that normal power armor has. Plus the Primarchs are so powerful they don't need the assistance of the servos to either A. move the armor or B. Enhance their physique. With the exception of things like Powerfists, Claws the Primarchs never used weapons, or armor, that augmented their strength.

Angron preferred armor that was more gladiatorial in nature and rarely wore "full plate". In fact with the exceptions of Ferrus Manus, Horus (when in his special Terminator plate after his fall), and Alpharius and Omegon you can't actually find reference to them wearing "power armor" in the entire HH series. It is referred to as ornate armor, or in Lorgars case ordained armor, but never is it referred to as Power Armor or as having a power source.

So in the strictest of interpretations no. The Primarchs are above needing the augmented strength and protection that Power Armor would bring to a normal Space Marine, and are never described as using it. With the noted exceptions.

Look at most of the artwork from the HH series that depicts Primarchs or the Horus Heresy collected visions. No Power Armor is present.

Or the armour is just so dang well-made that the power source is built-in.

Perturabo is commonly depicted in Terminator armour.

It's always super awesome artificer ++ armor, regardless of what it looks like.

It would have been functionally useless given how god-damn hard they were anyway. I guess they would have worn whatever the guys around them were wearing. Espirit de corps, and all that.