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So I have few questions how popular are the Ultramarines on the tabletop?

Do you see them more then any other chapter ?

Also how popular are Imperial Fists?

Just that am thinking of going either way at the moment?

And purely based on the lore which one would you choose and why?

Crimson fists. Be both at the same time!

Ultramarines are the poster boy faction, so you see them the most.

Because of that popularity, there is also a counter reaction of a lot of people hating on them.

Imperial Fists are not as common, and not as hated. They're seen as somewhat boring, but they've done some pretty rad stuff in the lore.

I'll second Crimson Fists as a compromise, you don't see a huge amount of them as they're not an original Chapter but they're generally viewed pretty positively in the community.

Crimson Fists are nice. I’ll have a look at there lore.

I chose UltraMarine descendents.

UltraMarines are the Marine marines. They're the pinnicle (fluffwise) of "Shoot the choppy, Chop the shooty" and Combined Arms doctrines - Tacs supported by Devs and ASM. Adapt to meet the engagement the ideal way, instead of overcome the engagement your favorite way.

All the other chapters have some other specialty. IF are gonna shoot you with boltguns, and beseige you. CF are gonna shove Sternies in your face. BA and SW are getting in your face and hacking you up, using their shooting to support that. BT are just crusade up the field and chop them. IH are "We wish we were robots". Sallies are "We make gud stuff" and "Burn burn BURN". DAs are closet-chaos, "Thuper Thecrets", and AdMech-wannabies - with seperate Termie, Biker, and PA forces instead of combined. RG are super-sneaky.

UltraMarines are the only chapter that really personifies why I want to build & play Marines: These are super soldiers, who operate in combined-arms fashion, and squad up with basic gear decent vs most things but can take specialists in most squads to specialize. They're the ones most likely to give a Tac Squad a Melta Gun, Missile Launcher, and Power sword, then expect it to drop a missile across the map into a Lootas squad, try to pop the nearby BattleWagon with the MG, shoot an Ork mob with Boltguns, then charge into the remainder to chop them up.

I'm not saying that's how things work on the tabletop. I'm saying that's what the fluff makes them out to be.

Personally I'd choose IF. They are pragmatic no-nonsense marines and the yellow looks really good, especially when weathered. Ultras are boringly perfect and the their shade of blue is really unappealing. I really don't understand why GW insists on using them as poster boys as they have one of the worst colour schemes. All this being said, it is your army and you should choose whichever appeals to you the most.

I play Ultramarines because I genuinely like them.

I'd also say that most the the hatred is really childish. For example I hate the naming structure of Space wolves, it drives me bonkers, I'm also not a huge fan of Emporers children and their fluff. But if a book comes out focusing on either of those factions I'm not gonna say "oh why is there a book coming out for Fulgrim, he's dumb" (I don't actually hate fulgrim just an example). I don't see the point in hating on someone's enjoyment of a faction

Point is paint what you like and don't be concerned with what other people say. Dakka is incredibly opinionated so I'm sure someone will tell me how Ultramarines are the worst

If I am honest I have seen very few people actually play Ultramarines. Certainly compared with Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Space Wolves.

I have seen a fair bit of "I got this box for Christmas/split this box with a friend, its my first ever army and since the Marines were blue on the box, I painted them blue" but that rarely lasts very long.

I don't think I've ever seen an Imperial Fists army in the wild.

Guilliman artificially boosts Ultramarine popularity.

A world with Leman, Lionel, Vulkan also on the table would see some of the Ultramarine bandwagon disperse.

Never seen Ultramarines on the table locally, but according to online presence they seem decently popular. They're the essential "vanilla" marines. However, as poster-boys they have plenty of GW support, custom characters, etc.

Imperial Fists are a secondary chapter at best, so while great looking on the table, don't expect too much in the way of special model support. You're getting an update sprue in the new Christmas battle force, but that's probably it for the foreseeable future.

GW pushes the Ultramarines 2nd company pretty hard - not as hard as they did in 5th edition, mind you, which is where the hatedom really reached its zenith and a lot of the griping you hear these days have more to do with that era than their current characterization.

Go with them, and you can expect people to think you're eternally new to the hobby, inclined to think they're the greatest evar, and simultaneously slave to the fluff but only aware of small snippits of it. A lot of that can be mitigated by picking a different company though, 3rd and 5th company schemes look pretty good to me.

Imperial Fists will always be the true generic space marine to me - with their core personality traits and weapon preferences being often associated with space marines in general.

Go with them, and you'll discover that painting yellow is... surprisingly difficult, perhaps shockingly so. And you may find the end results looking pretty ugly if you don't spend a lot of time and effort finding the right method for you.

Thank you all for the reply’s. I wish I wasn’t so split on them I guess it’s because I love the lore of both of them. I like that the Imperial Fists were at the siege of Terra but I also love the fact the Ultramarines care for the regular people like there mini empire. The worlds there seem like a decent place to live compared to the rest of the Imperium.

I guess I could always ally some Crimson Fists in. Or some Blood Angels.

Ultras are easily the most hated on faction in the game. Mostly because they get the most product support and everyone is bitter about it because they wish they made the smart choice and played Ultramarine also.

Their lore is also really cool. Linked to roman order and namestakes. They certainly are the best looking marine chapter IMO too.

Recent lore also has our primarch resurrected and is basically the De Facto Emperor of the imperium.

What's not to like about Ultras?

 Voltan wrote:
So I have few questions how popular are the Ultramarines on the tabletop?

Do you see them more then any other chapter ?

Also how popular are Imperial Fists?

Just that am thinking of going either way at the moment?

And purely based on the lore which one would you choose and why?

Have you thought about making your own Chapter? You can take your favorite parts from the lore of either UMs or IFs and they can be Yellow or Blue or some combination of the two. (You could even say that your Chapter was created when elements of the Ultras and Fists fought side-by-side so effectively the High Lords decided to split them off and make them their own Chapter.)

Avoids being pigeon-holed into one set of rules and having future fluff changes you might not agree with.

My first army was Black Templars. I hated Ultras.

Now, 9 years afther my hiatus and after being the last 6 years reading Black Library books and specially HH, I found Ultras lore pretty cool and decided to start my own 2nd Company.

Also the Roman aestethic helps that I actually love Ultramarines. I am a huge fan of the Roman Imperium history.

Hate against Ultras comes from how GW uses them as his Flag Ship and most iconic army. They have lot of love from GW.

Down with the smurfs. Squat them.

Yeah eventually I’ll make my own chapter I’ll probably use that idea. But for now I wanted to do a 1st founding. After all of this I think am going to go Ultramarines 1st,4th or 5th company.

I used to collect Ultramarines back in 2nd edition, because I was a child and that is sort of what you did. I really like all the Roman references, like the fact they are the 13th legion and led by Julius Caesar incarnate. I also love the fact that they just blow every other legion away with their logistics and empire building. Look at any historical war and logistics will be the deciding factor 9 times out of 10.

Can't really speak about their game performance though, I haven't touched them since 3rd. I'm a Guardsman now.

First and foremost, I was a Traitor Marine. Then a filthy green ork xenos. Towards the end of 7th, I was born in the saddle, riding with the Great Kahn. 8th dropped, and my Primarch Mortarion returned to lead my plague brothers into a new era of death and destruction.

But lo, after a grueling year of stubborn refusal to accept the heretical abominations that were Cawls Primaris, a Killteam squad of Intercessors infiltrated my collection, and I had witnessed the pinnacle perfection of their design firsthand. The exquisite craftmanship of their armor. Their greater stature. Their deadlier and improved weaponry. There could be only One great enough to herald this newborn chapter. None but the only remaining loyal son of the Imperium, Lord Commander Guilliman.

Thus began a new chapter of the 41st millennium, where the bitterness of the Traitor, and the savagery of the Xenos, has been replaced by Courage and Honor!

Marine popularity has dropped in my LGS. I can think of one SW player, one IH, two DA, Deathwatch, and maybe 3 UM players, not counting me , who uses them mostly in Killteam where Chapter Tactics don't matter.going forward with Primaris, I think their CT works well with the primaris ideology. And Guilliman. Cmon. Are you really Imperial if you don't follow the Lord Commander of the Imperium?

I have an Ultramarines Kill Team; never had an army but I do enjoy the color scheme and iconography. Thinking back I don't think I've ever seen Ultramarines on the table locally, which is strange.

TBH, most Ultramarine hate is just a meme from the Mat Warddex.

Otherwise, they're generalists, with a lot of old characters to draw upon for fluff.

Who is the Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists without looking it up? No?

Calgar's been with them since what, rogue trader days?
Plus, Big G-Man is handy

 Crimson wrote:
Personally I'd choose IF. They are pragmatic no-nonsense marines

Masochists who self-flagellate at the drop of a hat, who can be fooled with something as simple as building a fake fortress out of guns pointing inward to the point they charged inside, were stuck, and needed their asses to be saved by Ultramarines, who spawned the only know chapter of zealously fundie SM, who think camouflage = cowardice, who waste one of the most powerful IoM warships by having it parked in literally the only place where it's not needed, who have literally the only primarch to fall in pointless skirmish with some mooks instead of anything actually dangerous, who did nothing about nutjobs like Vangorich or Vandire nearly destroying the Imperium despite being in the same building as them (then, to add insult to injury, when some SM actually woke up and arrived to deal with Vandire, IF apparently had their butts handed to them by a buch of mortal girls serving as Vandire's bodyguards) are pragmatic no-nonsense now?

I like Crimson Fists, but it really looks like Alexis Pollux and co were the only IFs with common sense and when they banished to separate chapter the rest of IF successors consisted of rejects with issues that made Word Bearers, Iron Warriors or World Eaters almost sane in comparison (and indeed they even mostly took over their shtick, guess where chaining weapons to hands originated...).

While they are used as the poster boys in most 40K media, I can't say I have really ever seen them on the tabletop at all. At the same time, I try to stick to garage-hammer as much as possible.

I guess it is fine that GW keeps using them time and again to advertise the game, and I have no ill will towards the Ultramarines. Heck, I play the Chaos equivalent with the Black Legion. Still, I do think that GW could 'spread the wealth' a little and move away from the boys in blue to at very least the baby step of some of the other chapters.

I would kinda like to see boxed sets not including the Imperium even more, but I don't think GW is ready for giving that a try. Preferably a marine chapter without their own codex would be nice to see get the chance to big heroes of a boxed set. I also find it kinda strange that GW hasn't added at least hero model for every major chapter given how much attention is given to the given to the space marines.

Lol @ Irbis above.

I dunno about you, but my Imperial faith is rooted in sarcasm and mockery. I love how ridiculously hypocritical they all are. Just as broken as Traitors, but with this false sense of righteousness. You may have just sold me on why IF are pretty cool.

Dorn is the most unlikable Primarch in the setting. I do understand the attraction to Fists though. Extremely disciplined and battle hardened warriors with a cool color scheme.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 fraser1191 wrote:
I play Ultramarines because I genuinely like them.

I'd also say that most the the hatred is really childish. For example I hate the naming structure of Space wolves, it drives me bonkers, I'm also not a huge fan of Emporers children and their fluff. But if a book comes out focusing on either of those factions I'm not gonna say "oh why is there a book coming out for Fulgrim, he's dumb" (I don't actually hate fulgrim just an example). I don't see the point in hating on someone's enjoyment of a faction

Point is paint what you like and don't be concerned with what other people say. Dakka is incredibly opinionated so I'm sure someone will tell me how Ultramarines are the worst

I wonder if you'd feel the same when the 100th EC release comes out while you are still using models from 20 years ago and like 4 novels. I got nothing against UM, but they so get an extreme amount of attention compared to other factions, and if everything was EC you'd probably be a little annoyed the next release they got.

The only issue I have with Fists is painting Yellow makes me want to throat slap a Granny.

 SHUPPET wrote:
Dorn is the most unlikable Primarch in the setting. I do understand the attraction to Fists though. Extremely disciplined and battle hardened warriors with a cool color scheme.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 fraser1191 wrote:
I play Ultramarines because I genuinely like them.

I'd also say that most the the hatred is really childish. For example I hate the naming structure of Space wolves, it drives me bonkers, I'm also not a huge fan of Emporers children and their fluff. But if a book comes out focusing on either of those factions I'm not gonna say "oh why is there a book coming out for Fulgrim, he's dumb" (I don't actually hate fulgrim just an example). I don't see the point in hating on someone's enjoyment of a faction

Point is paint what you like and don't be concerned with what other people say. Dakka is incredibly opinionated so I'm sure someone will tell me how Ultramarines are the worst

I wonder if you'd feel the same when the 100th EC release comes out while you are still using models from 20 years ago and like 4 novels. I got nothing against UM, but they so get an extreme amount of attention compared to other factions, and if everything was EC you'd probably be a little annoyed the next release they got.

Well I got Primaris which look really nice and since plastic won't break down in 20 years I'd be fine with it. I could probably buy a overly nice car with all those savings

Reemule wrote:
The only issue I have with Fists is painting Yellow makes me want to throat slap a Granny.

Getting an airbrush is more advisable than assaulting a geriatric!

Isn't that also a straw man?

Ultramarines may be the poster boy but by no means are any of the Primaris releases locked into Ultramarines.

Well I guess there's calgar now

Reemule wrote:
The only issue I have with Fists is painting Yellow makes me want to throat slap a Granny.

I really don't understand this angst about painting yellow. I don't have Imperial Fists, but my Imperial Knights and Ad Mech are yellow. Sure, yellow paints often have somewhat weak pigment (though Averland Sunset has a great coverage) but if you're painting on white or yellow primer it is really no problem at all.