Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking of splitting my space marine collection into two chapters instead of mixing/matching. Essentially, I'd like to continue using my firstborn / old models with the custom lore I've developed over the years (non-chaos imperial rebels hiding out in a secret system and trying to create a better society away from the Imperium. The Iron Republic stands strong!)

...but I also want to play with all the shiny new toys being offered up with the primaris line. I know a lot of people disagree, but I really like the look and rules of a lot of it, and would love to take a crack at painting/modeling/converting it myself.

Now, I already bought a boat-load of Intercessors, but not much else. I certainly haven't painted any of them! My question is thus:

Which chapter would be best for a pure primaris build? Specifically, as I'm already planning on keeping my firstborn as a custom chapter (with the custom chapter rules) which supplement-based chapter (Deathwatch, Dark Angels, ect) would be best for a pure primaris collection?

Thanks in advance!

What type of Intercessors have you bought? And what kind of army do you want to run, i.e. combat/ranged/whatever.

Good questions!

I got 5 boxes of the 5 man teams, but three haven't arrived yet (I got them from the evil-bay). None have been put together yet, so I can still build them with whatever options I want.

Generally speaking: my LGS plays small games, so I wanted to make a force that could be tailored to be ranged or close-combat depending on what I felt like running.

I dig the new dread and the new warsuit, and have mixed feelings about the tanks (I love tanks, hover-craft thingees... not as much).

The new bikers and ATV seem insanely good to me also, which is funny because I always hated the old firstborn biker stuff. I'm also not a fan of flyers at all, because to me aircraft just seem weirdly out of place in a low-point game (like bringing a battleship to a river-boat skirmish.)

I'd love to play around with the cool stealth/sniper theme if possible, but don't really want to tailor my entire force towards it.

Hmmm... Oh yeah: I also like having a battle-ready-force that doesn't take me three containers and a dufflebag to carry around. Small model games with easily portable and awesome figures are my jam! (Plus that means I might actually get to field a fully painted army.)

I think that about covers it :-)

You could be lazy like me and pick the Chapter with the easiest to remember rules.

I picked White Scars because advance + charge is simple to keep track of.

Ultramarines shooty, Blood Angels choppy is the simple formula.

Your flavor may vary.

I'm painting up an army list that sounds alot like what you're looking for. Ultramarines, with mostly Infantry. Intercessors, Infiltrators, Scouts, and the stuff from the Vanguard box. It's not very competitive, but it's fun and flavorful.

Ultramarine Doctrines keep my heavy weapons and bolters in play. And I get to scream "FOR ULTRAMAR!" every time I roll dice.

What's your favorite standard color scheme to paint?

Whatever that answer, that's the best chapter to make them.

If you don't mind a bit of kitbashing here and there, you can very easily convert everything non Terminator Firstborn to Primaris.

This way you get to keep your unified look of newer models while making use of the full codex.

leerm02 wrote:

Which chapter would be best for a pure primaris build? Specifically, as I'm already planning on keeping my firstborn as a custom chapter (with the custom chapter rules) which supplement-based chapter (Deathwatch, Dark Angels, ect) would be best for a pure primaris collection?

Custom one too. If you have primaris only, you'd likely want the reroll bolters trait. Now, as for the descendant bit, probably Ultramarines or Raven Guard. Both have tons of options for shooty primaris, though RG tend to lean toward the Vanguard ones. Salamanders and Crimson Fists are OK too.

Don't take Deathwatch, they used to be good with primaris, but in 9th, are complete, utter, below bottom garbage. Literally every other supplement is better

Imperial Fists with Bolt Weapons generate an extra hit when a 6 is rolled to attack. Painting yellow is a pain but there's plenty of cool Fists Successors out there. Perhaps you could revive the Astral Knights?

 Gert wrote:
Imperial Fists with Bolt Weapons generate an extra hit when a 6 is rolled to attack. Painting yellow is a pain but there's plenty of cool Fists Successors out there. Perhaps you could revive the Astral Knights?

Except Crimson Fists have much better relics (and can take IF ones too), can take all of IF stratagems and warlord traits, have far better chapter trait, especially for primaris, and have access to IF bolt stuff too, on top of better color scheme. There is zero reason to take IF especially seeing their special characters are worse than CF guy and the anti-bunker trait is trap as it's completely useless while taking the space of something better. IF are so bad their successor with two completely random traits will be better 90% of the time...

 Gert wrote:
Imperial Fists with Bolt Weapons generate an extra hit when a 6 is rolled to attack. Painting yellow is a pain but there's plenty of cool Fists Successors out there. Perhaps you could revive the Astral Knights?

Sons of the Phoenix look great, and they are totally sons of Dorn.

 Irbis wrote:

 Gert wrote:
Imperial Fists with Bolt Weapons generate an extra hit when a 6 is rolled to attack. Painting yellow is a pain but there's plenty of cool Fists Successors out there. Perhaps you could revive the Astral Knights?

Except Crimson Fists have much better relics (and can take IF ones too), can take all of IF stratagems and warlord traits, have far better chapter trait, especially for primaris, and have access to IF bolt stuff too, on top of better color scheme. There is zero reason to take IF especially seeing their special characters are worse than CF guy and the anti-bunker trait is trap as it's completely useless while taking the space of something better. IF are so bad their successor with two completely random traits will be better 90% of the time...

Well, I think that settles it! Crimson Fists it is! :-) Thanks!

The upside of CF is you don't need to use weird Latin or Roman names, you get Spanish as well.

 Irbis wrote:

leerm02 wrote:

Which chapter would be best for a pure primaris build? Specifically, as I'm already planning on keeping my firstborn as a custom chapter (with the custom chapter rules) which supplement-based chapter (Deathwatch, Dark Angels, ect) would be best for a pure primaris collection?

Custom one too. If you have primaris only, you'd likely want the reroll bolters trait. Now, as for the descendant bit, probably Ultramarines or Raven Guard. Both have tons of options for shooty primaris, though RG tend to lean toward the Vanguard ones. Salamanders and Crimson Fists are OK too.

Don't take Deathwatch, they used to be good with primaris, but in 9th, are complete, utter, below bottom garbage. Literally every other supplement is better

Woah, I mean it's pointless getting into an argument over army power as it's gonna be subjective, especially if we're discussing only Primaris as can't even really look at competitive data but Deathwatch are certainly not below bottom garbage tier. That is a very misinformed view.

They are very very solid with Primaris. Indomitor kill teams are very powerful, as are Proteus teams with hellblasters. Combat squadding 4/1 or 5 outriders with obsec. Giving multiple Redemptors 5++ in an aura etc. Many of the current top table competitive DW lists are going heavy on Dreadnought spam which means that the rest of the list is just cheap firstborn marines, but that isn't the only way to run Deathwatch successfully.

There's lots of great abilities that Deathwatch bring to the table, they're certainly not the weakest marine faction by a long shot. I've recently been playing pure Primaris DW and having a lot of success with it. None of the other chapters scare me one bit. I would argue DW are stronger than most of the codex chapters and blood angels, Dark Angels took some hits recently.

I'd also add, getting away from the purely competitive perspective, if you already have a marine army, Deathwatch certainly offer a rather different dimension where if you did end up having a cross over of units between each army they can feel pretty different.

If you're really interested in the primaris sculpts and the modelling side, DW give you so many cool options and you can always convert Deathwatch Vets from intercessors too. Nobody is gonna mistake an intercessor with a DW pauldron and storm shield as anything but a DW Vet. All of my Vets are kitbashed primaris.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
My current 2000pt Deathwatch list:


++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Deathwatch) [106 PL, 7CP, 2,000pts] ++

+ Configuration +

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Chapter Selection: Deathwatch

Detachment Command Cost

+ Stratagems +

Relics of the Chapter [-1CP]: Number of Extra Relics

Stratagem: Sanction of the Black Vault [-1CP]

+ HQ +

Primaris Captain [5 PL, 105pts]: Dominus Aegis
. Heavy bolt pistol, Master-crafted power sword and Relic shield: Master-crafted power sword, Relic Shield

Primaris Chaplain on Bike [7 PL, -1CP, 140pts]: 2. Catechism of Fire, 4. Optimised Priority (Aura), 5. Recitation of Focus, Chapter Command: Master of Sanctity, Litany of Hate, Stratagem: A Vigil Unmatched, The Beacon Angelis, Warlord, Wise Orator

Primaris Librarian [6 PL, -1CP, 120pts]: 1. Premorphic Resonance, 2. Fortified With Contempt, 5. Mantle of Shadow, Chapter Command: Chief Librarian, Psychic Mastery, Stratagem: Hero of the Chapter

+ Troops +

Fortis Kill Team [16 PL, 270pts]
. 5x Hellblaster w/ Assault plasma incinerator: 5x Assault Plasma Incinerator, 5x Bolt pistol, 5x Frag & Krak grenades
. Intercessor Sergeant: Auto Bolt Rifle, Power sword
. 4x Intercessor w/ Auto Bolt Rifle: 4x Auto Bolt Rifle, 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades

Fortis Kill Team [15 PL, 320pts]
. Intercessor Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Auto Bolt Rifle
. 5x Intercessor w/ Auto Bolt Rifle: 5x Auto Bolt Rifle, 5x Bolt pistol, 5x Frag & Krak grenades
. 4x Outrider: 4x Astartes Chainsword, 4x Frag & Krak grenades, 4x Heavy Bolt Pistol, 4x Twin Bolt rifle

Indomitor Kill Team [20 PL, 400pts]: Dominatus
. 3x Aggressor w/ Flamestorm Gauntlets: 6x Flamestorm Gauntlets
. Heavy Intercessor Sergeant: Hellstorm Bolt Rifle
. 4x Heavy Intercessor w/ Hellstorm Bolt Rifle: 4x Bolt pistol, 4x Frag & Krak grenades, 4x Hellstorm Bolt Rifle
. 2x Inceptor w/ Plasma Exterminators: 2x 2x Plasma Exterminators

+ Elites +

Primaris Apothecary [5 PL, -1CP, 115pts]: Chapter Command: Chief Apothecary, Selfless Healer, Stratagem: Hero of the Chapter

Redemptor Dreadnought [9 PL, 185pts]: 2x Storm Bolters, Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Onslaught Gatling Cannon

Redemptor Dreadnought [9 PL, 185pts]: 2x Storm Bolters, Icarus Rocket Pod, Macro Plasma Incinerator, Onslaught Gatling Cannon

+ Fast Attack +

Inceptor Squad [14 PL, 160pts]: Assault bolter x2, 3x Inceptor, Inceptor Sergeant

++ Total: [106 PL, 7CP, 2,000pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe