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So I know you get this question at least twice a day. I used to play 5th edition 40k, mainly black templer. I'm thinking of coming back but everything is the same. Is forgewold owned by GW now? What's happend tonspace marines? What are primaries marines? This is 40k right?

Questions from new and returning players are always welcome; more bodies to meet the Imperial tithe. To answer your questions in order: no, everything is most definitely not the same. We are currently in the 8th edition of Warhammer 40,000, with an entirely new, simplified core ruleset. As far as I know, Forge World has always been a subsidiary of Games Workshop. Space Marines have received updated units called Primaris Space Marines. Their scale is much bigger, their aesthetic is much cleaner and spartan, and their lore differentiates them from the regular marines as well. Yes, this is the 40k general discussion board, so you're in the right place.

Hi there, welcome back.

To answer your questions (as above)
Is forgewold owned by GW now? FW was always part of GW, but is much more part of the GW Hobby now. Some FW kits can be ordered with the GW kit they upgrade, as a single FW item. Games such as GW's Necromunda (re-released in 2017) reply upon FW for everything past the initial GW squad kit.
What's happened to space marines? All (I think) armies got fliers between 6th and 7th editions, so lots of armies got AA units or adaptations to counter them. Most SM codexes got a couple of AA Rhino options. Command squads do not include a commander any more, as they roam on their own. Commanders and captains got split off, and Lieutenants are a thing now too. Command models often get auras that buff some units near them. Drop pods and other transports are not a lot of use now, but you might do better if you use them.
What are primaris marines? When the story moved on a bit, a new standardised type of Marine squad got released. Primaris are 'better' than normal SMs, but their squads get fewer options. Primaris cannot use old transports (something about the wrong type of plugs ) and there are Primaris-only hover Rhinos now.
This is 40k right? Mostly, with big changes. Old-codex army traits are now stratagems, and use up Command Points. Terrain rules got flattened, there are annual rules and points updates in Chapter Approved, and new stuff is getting released far faster than you would remember.

But, 40k is doing quiet well, despite being quite different to the old days.

Wow, was not expecting a reply as helpful as that!!!

Eh, pinch of salt.
Lots of people here will shoot down parts of it. Read in what you want. I nicked half of Ginjitzu's answers too.
I started again at 5th, so I only really know the bits you missed.

Also, I'm at work

You've already got some good answers. All I'll add is that the primaris marines didn't so much get a hoven rhino as a hover land raider. Just look it up in the marine line of models. It's like a hover tank that has all the guns in the world on it. Primaris players wish they had a rhino like transport, heck even I do and I don't have many of them.

 Skinnereal wrote:
Also, I'm at work

Same! It's a tough old life this work business!

AngryAngel80 wrote:
You've already got some good answers. All I'll add is that the primaris marines didn't so much get a hoven rhino as a hover land raider. Just look it up in the marine line of models. It's like a hover tank that has all the guns in the world on it. Primaris players wish they had a rhino like transport, heck even I do and I don't have many of them.

And a small handful of us wish in the opposite direction. If it weren't for Primaris and regular marine being incompatible with each other's transports I'd have bought nothing but the Repulsor because it has a better mix of weapons for the points.

Thanks for all the input guys, definitely a much better reception than I was expecting. The next question then is I'm a little right for money, I want to do everything as "proper" as possible this time round so nice terrain bases and I'm going down the minataurs route so FW upgrade kits are going to be a thing but I want to keep the costs down so an elite army is going to be my starting point. That said will primaris marines (which I think look incredible) backed by shooty dreadnoughts be viable in the current meta? I always preferred the 750 and 500 pts games anyway tbh so what would an army in that point range look like assuming I'm running at least one FW minataur HQ with them.

Realistically, there isnt a 500 - 700 point meta, at a popularity level, where any real research will have been done on what works / does not work.

As points lower, you will be subject to more skew match-ups where people can bring very powerful units which perform better where an opponent doesn't necessarily have the tools to deal with them. Your mileage will of course vary depending upon the mind set of your opponents, but as youre talking about viability Im assuming you're interested in trying to win games at least at some level.

Unfortunately it is the wide consensus that marines of any variety (including primaris) are lacking something when compared to many other armies out there. I wont go into the debate now, as it has raged across a thousand threats. But that doesn't mean they cant win games, just that they cant be expected to be an event winning dominant force in the game, right now.

So what sort of army sizes are standard nowadays then?

Grimshady wrote:
So what sort of army sizes are standard nowadays then?

1.25k-2k, with 2k tending to be the norm from my experience.

Grimshady wrote:
Thanks for all the input guys, definitely a much better reception than I was expecting. The next question then is I'm a little right for money, I want to do everything as "proper" as possible this time round so nice terrain bases and I'm going down the minataurs route so FW upgrade kits are going to be a thing but I want to keep the costs down so an elite army is going to be my starting point. That said will primaris marines (which I think look incredible) backed by shooty dreadnoughts be viable in the current meta? I always preferred the 750 and 500 pts games anyway tbh so what would an army in that point range look like assuming I'm running at least one FW minataur HQ with them.

Yeah, that'd be a pretty solid list. Shooty dreadnoughts, meaning the venerable kind with lascannon/missile launcher and also the FW kind like the Leviathan, double ranged arm contemptor and deredero are among the best marine shooting units right now. Primaris Marines are one of the better marine troop choices (most people go for the basic Scouts, just because they're cheap, but presenting your opponent an army of long range shooters with primaris marines is also pretty good.

A 750 point list would be maybe

1 marine captain

1 marine lieutenant

3 minimum squads of primaris intercessors

a couple dreadnoughts?

Grimshady wrote:
So what sort of army sizes are standard nowadays then?

The only way to get a definite answer to that one is to ask where you're intending to play.

Crispy78 wrote:

Grimshady wrote:
So what sort of army sizes are standard nowadays then?

The only way to get a definite answer to that one is to ask where you're intending to play.

This is true. Standard games at my LGS are 1000 points, with a weird kill-team hybrid at 500 points and the occasional 2000 point game on a 4x10 for variety.

Also ask whether your local group has adopted the Cities of Death terrain rules as the defacto standard or not. It makes a difference to what will perform well on the table.

Also also, if you're getting back into the game and don't own anything yet a lot of people will tell you to skip regular marines and go straight for Death Watch. That's not terrible advice since Deathwatch are probably the best ordinary marines, but there's a lot of "vanilla" marine options that DW can't take. And if you want a really elite army you should take a look at Adaptes Custodes. They're basically super marines; the lightest thing in the army is a 156 points for three Custodian Guard but they're T5, three-wound models with a 2+ save and a 4+ invuln as basic troops.

So my final question is I want to go with minataur marines. I am am aware that these have forgeworld HQs so would j run them as standard marines or would I get a forgeworld codex of some description?

If memory serves the FW index adeptus astartes book, has rules for the minator characters, but then you can pick your chapter tactics from those available to space marines, in codex space marines. however, they wont have access to chapter specific strategems or relics.

Is that the only way to do it then?

Get an army builder app like Battlescribe. That has the majority of the units listed, and the jist of their rules. They probably tell you where the rules are from too, helping you find the right book to get.