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So I am returning to the hobby after a long hiatus. I sold of almost all of the 40k I owned and so I am starting from scratch. So I have a few questions.

Would it be dumb starting a Space Wolves army at the moment or should I wait for a codex or pick something else that has a codex or is getting one soon'ish?

What is a Primaris marine? Are they replacing the normal marines ? Is it just a new model for regular marines ?

As for what I am looking for in an army. I am mostly into the painting, but it also has to be decent on the tabletop. Nothing that has a codex that makes every battle an uphill one.

Thanks

Well, I think that generally the codex armies are better than those having only an index atm.
The passage from old Marines to the Primaris Marines is like the passage from the dark age to the renaissance.

Games Workshop have said that all armies will get a codex before the end of the year, so you wouldn't have too long to wait. Codex armies are objectively better than Index armies, but not so much that you've lost at the stage of army building, so it wouldn't be dumb to start Space Wolves, just an admission that you're not ultra competitive: they are playable, just not the best. As for Primaris, they are a new type of Space Marine this mad scientist cooked up in his lab under the Emperor's palace over the last 10 000 years, designed to bolster the ranks of the old marines. They are not a replacement, and can be fielded with old marines, by themselves, or not at all.

Brightdarkness wrote:
So I am returning to the hobby after a long hiatus. I sold of almost all of the 40k I owned and so I am starting from scratch. So I have a few questions.

Would it be dumb starting a Space Wolves army at the moment or should I wait for a codex or pick something else that has a codex or is getting one soon'ish?

What is a Primaris marine? Are they replacing the normal marines ? Is it just a new model for regular marines ?

As for what I am looking for in an army. I am mostly into the painting, but it also has to be decent on the tabletop. Nothing that has a codex that makes every battle an uphill one.

Thanks

Most of the SW stuff will not change. You can safely start collecting stuff.

Currently the Primaris is a different sort of marine, not a replacement. And they are not 'better' then normal marines. What GW's intention with them is in the future I don't know. My bet is on no new 'normal' marines being released and everything going forward being Primaris.

GW is must more active in balancing this edition complete with point changes to released books. All existing 40k armies are planned to have a codex by the 1y anniversary in June. I think every army will be at least 'decent'.

As Ordana hinted, some people think GW will deprecate the older marines at some point and that they will insist through rules or other constructs that marine players will rebuy their armies.

If the theories are true it would be profitable for GW.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, I think that generally the codex armies are better than those having only an index atm.
The passage from old Marines to the Primaris Marines is like the passage from the dark age to the renaissance.

Yeah, no more grimdark-age,
and rather on to the age of science and reason
led by Leonardo von Girlyman and his cohorts,
the Stormcaste fraternals, err, primaris marines,
which are more accurately tertiaris marines.

Yeah, if your nickname is Mary Sue Brightlight
then you might like primaris marines.

I say buy what you want, paint what you want,
because after all this is a collector's hobby.
Rules, winning every game against some dude
who collects models to exploit rules,
and pays someone else to paint them for him/her,
should NOT be a determining factor when choosing an army,
or even a model.

If you care about being competitive i would wait to see the codex to build an army but if your just buying to paint i think there is no reason to wait.

Model line wise my hunch is within the next 5 years gw will replace old marines with primaris. It was not long ago people would have called them "true scale" marines. Lore wise they are a new thing but i wouldnt be suprised at all if they never made an old marine line again and changed some lore so all marines get bigger.

I dont see any of the space wolves characters going out of production any time soon or the wolf riders for that matter. The risky line are the normal troops/terminators/dreadnaughts.

I can see gw releasing a space wolf upgrade sprew for the primarus line in the near future but i cant imagine them re sculpting any of those sweet hq choices, literal wolves or that flyer.