Why are the Ultramarines so popular?

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**Gavo**

I just hate that their fluff is so...perfect. I blame Matt Ward.

Although fluff has been getting pretty ridiculous, I mean, Blood Angels + Necrons? wtf.

**Snowman90**

JFizzle51 wrote:So I'm flipping through the new edition space marine codex and i started wondering how come the Ultramarines get so much love when other chapters like the imperial fists and Dark Angels only share a fraction of the fame. I was just wondering what everyone thinks on this subject

To be honest, I started playing them a few years back. I didn't know any fluff. Any of their special characters or anything really. I felt drawn in as i begun a SM army. Now that I play them, when the people I play say gak about them, I remind them that I played them before i knew they are the back bone of the SM army

**H.B.M.C.**

Gavo wrote:Although fluff has been getting pretty ridiculous, I mean, Blood Angels + Necrons? wtf.

You can blame Matt Ward for that too.

In fact, you can blame Matt Ward for a lot of things. Are we sure C.S. Goto isn't a pseudonym of his?

**Melissia**

SaintHazard wrote:For example, quoted directly from the GW website's introduction to the Blood Angels:

"The Blood Angels are the noblest and most heroic of all the Space Marine Chapters, a glorious host of super-human warriors that have defended the Imperium of Man for over 10,000 years."

And that's literally the first sentence you read.

It only gets worse from there.

I wish one of those writers would write Sisters fluff for once. Maybe they'll actually win a major battle without being so utterly wiped out you wonder how exactly they obtain so many veterans.

**SaintHazard**

Melissia wrote:
SaintHazard wrote:For example, quoted directly from the GW website's introduction to the Blood Angels:

"The Blood Angels are the noblest and most heroic of all the Space Marine Chapters, a glorious host of super-human warriors that have defended the Imperium of Man for over 10,000 years."

And that's literally the first sentence you read.

It only gets worse from there.

I wish one of those writers would write Sisters fluff for once. Maybe they'll actually win a major battle without being so utterly wiped out you wonder how exactly they obtain so many veterans.

If there's an army that needed some over-the-top fanboy fluff, it's the Sisters. They do get the short stick on just about anything.

Though you have to admit, it fits with the whole martyrdom thing.

**Terminus**

Melissia wrote:Ultramarines are popular?
edit: (before someone inevitably overreacts, I honestly only know of one person IRL that owns a UM painted army... most people prefer BA, SW, or their own DIY chapters).

I think he wasn't so much referring to how widespread their use is (as it really isn't, I've personally seen an UM army once in 15 years of playing this game), but rather why the codex is so overly focused on the boys in blue that some of the pages seem to be stuck together.

The answer to that question is two-fold:

1. C:SM is supposed to represent standard Codex Astartes marines, and Ultras are the most standard/vanilla of them all.
2. Matt Ward is a blubbering idiot fanboy, and the worst writer since C.S. Goto. Everything he vomits up on the page is hyperbolic tripe. Read the Blood Angels codex and it's full of the same crap.

And as for their supposedly awesome record during the Crusades that Rowboat Girlyman liked to rub in Alpharius' face, I must retort with this required quote for any thread involving Ultramarines:

History of the Ultramarines
The Ultramarines have some of the most boring 1st founding histories for any Astartes Chapter in the Imperial history.

Circa M29: The Unification Wars. The Emperor of Mankind unites Terra, and sets off to conquer the stars in a series of violent and bloody battles. The Ultramarines’ Primarch, Roboute Guilliman (Nicknamed Rowboat Girlyman for his utter douchebaggery during the Heresy), is conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

012.M31-014.M31: The Horus Heresy. Almost half of all Space Marine legions betray the Emperor and turn to Chaos. The traitors lay siege to Holy Terra, and most of the Space marine legions suffer major losses. The Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, and White scars are forced to make a stand on Terra while the Dark Angels lose their homeworld to renegade elements within their home planet, the Salamanders, Iron Hands, and Raven Guard are nearly destroyed, and the Emperor is crippled while battling Horus. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs. After the Heresy, Rowboat Girlyman created the Codex Astartes as we know it today, including the separation of the 10,000 strong legions into 1,000 strong chapters. Note that the Ultramarines didn't participate in the defense of Terra, didn't sustain crippling damage to their Chapter's manpower, and note that, best of all, when they arrived they were too *********** late. The war was already won, yet their primarch still was the first to create the new rules.

546.M32: 'The Beheading': The High Lords of Terra are all slain on the orders of Drakan Vangorich, Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum. The rogue Master of Assassins is tracked down and slain by a Space Marine strikeforce drawn from the Imperial Fists, Halo Brethren and Sable Swords. Only a single Space Marine survives the campaign. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

843.M35: Distress call from Grendel's World investigated. Planet discovered to have been attacked and all inhabitants slain by terror tactics of the Night Lords. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

Early M36: The Age of Apostasy and the Reign of Blood begin. Warp storms increase dramatically and Chaos and Ork attacks multiply. The Imperium falls into turmoil. An empowered Ecclesiarchy becomes more tyrannical. High Lord Goge Vandire becomes the most powerful member of the Senate of the High Lords of Terra, and manipulates a small sect, the Daughters of the Emperor(AKA: today the Sisters of Battle), into becoming his personal bodyguards, the Brides of the Emperor. Vandire rules largely unopposed and more and more bloody and tyrannical. Zhoros (Fire Hawks' world) thermal bombed. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

266.M36: Sebastian Thor is born on Dimmamar. He eventually becomes a threat to Vandire, who sends the Frateris Templar fleet to destroy Dimmamar. The fleet is completly destroyed by a warp storm, still existing today, named the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath in the Clax system. Vandire's armies are finally defeated by combined forces of the Tech Guard and several chapters of Space Marines, organized under the banner of the Confederation of Light, led by Thor. Vandire is executed by Alicia Dominica, the leader of his own bodyguards, who reclaim their old name Daughters of the Emperor in a conspiracy involving the Adeptus Custodes and the Emperor himself. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

723.M36: The 5th Black Crusade begins. Doombreed, a prince of Khorne declares war on the Adeptus Astartes. The Warhawks and the Venerators are lost. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

995.M40-000.M41 The Macharian Crusades. Lord Solar Macharius sets out to reconquer the Segmentum Pacificus for the Imperium. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

444.M41: First War for Armageddon. Chaos incursion led by Angron and World Eaters beaten back by Space Wolves and Grey Knights but only at a terrible cost. Only about a dozen of the grey knights survive the battle with Angron. The local planetary militia and the other citizens are mind-wiped, sterilized and put into work camps, to slave away for the rest of their short, miserable lives much to the horror of Logan Grimnar. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

742.M41 Damocles Crusade is launched against the Tau Empire due to the Imperium's ever growing Xenophobia, a small, strategically insignificant piece of nothingness, inhabited by weak fish people with minimal Faster-Than-Light Technology. The Ultramarines are thoroughly defeated along with the rest of the Imperial forces.

745.M41: First Tyrannic War. Hive Fleet Behemoth attacks the Ultramarines homeworld Macragge. Most of the chapter is eaten by Nids and lost their entire 1st company, the Chapter's company of hardened veterans and Terminators. The second fight they get and they still blew it, lulz.

901-912.M41 Badab War. The Astral Claws, Lamenters, Executioners, and Mantis Warriors chapters rebel against the Imperium, and are defeated by loyalist chapters. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

941-942.M41: Second War for Armageddon. The Ultramarines bump into an Ork Waaagh! while running away from the Tyranids. They are saved by the timely intervention of Commissar Yarrick and the Blood Angels.

988.M41: The battle of Rynn's World begins. A large ork army, led by the Warboss Snagrod attacks the Crimson Fists and thier homeworld. During the battle, a stray missle strikes the Fortress-Monastary of the crimson fists, killing most of the Marines. The survivors are wounded severly and are forced to rebuild their chapter. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

757998.M41: The Third War for Armageddon begins. Having learned from past mistakes, Imperial Commanders commit a ridiculous amount of forces to hold the world. It drags on for months in a bloody stalemate, and soon Ghazghkull grows bored and leaves his generals to finish the fight while he goes looking for other worlds to conquer. Commissar Yarrick joins a Black Templars Crusade and gives chase. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

5999.M41: Warmaster Abaddon launches the 13th Black Crusade. The armies of Chaos Undivided lay siege primarily to Cadia but attack many of the surrounding worlds as well. Imperial Forces launch a massive counterattack, and eventually push back the tides of Chaos, but only just barely, and at great cost. The Space Wolves' 13th Company are amongst the forces seen fighting against the forces of chaos. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.

As an additional note of interest, there stands reasonable evidence that the Ultramarines are partially responsible for unleashing the Nightbringer on the galaxy in the current age. On the planet Pavonis, it was brought to the attention of Uriel Ventris, of the 4th company of the Ultramarines, that a group of revolutionaries were digging their way straight to the Nightbringer's sarcophogus while the Dark Eldar rounded up the keys to unlock the thing. Uriel was given a choice: he could either exterminatus the planet, burying the Nightbringer, revolutionaries, and Dark Eldar all at once in a single fell swoop, or he could boost his own ego by making a balls-first attack on the excavation site with nothing but chain swords and bolters. Unfortunately for the entire galaxy, Uriel chose the latter of these options, lost the fight, and let the Nightbringer get free.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

braindeadmonkey wrote: I mean c'mon, everyone at my club is ALWAYS bashing my DA for being dress wearing, gay primarchering, emos.

That's because the Dark Angels are a bunch of dress-wearing, gay-primarchering emos. I thought this was common knowledge.

**Gavo**

So...who's the best writer, in your opinions? Because it seems that Matt Ward and C.S. Goto are the worst.

**Terminus**

Dan Abnett by a large margin.

**Melissia**

I wouldn't say Matt Ward is worst. I would say Matt Ward with an editor over his shoulder smacking him with a newspaper every time he starts to insert spank would be decent.

**Devastator**

Terminus wrote:Automatically Appended Next Post:

braindeadmonkey wrote: I mean c'mon, everyone at my club is ALWAYS bashing my DA for being dress wearing, gay primarchering, emos.

That's because the Dark Angels are a bunch of dress-wearing, gay-primarchering emos. I thought this was common knowledge.

so tell us why is lion gay?

**SaintHazard**

Devastator wrote:
Terminus wrote:Automatically Appended Next Post:

braindeadmonkey wrote: I mean c'mon, everyone at my club is ALWAYS bashing my DA for being dress wearing, gay primarchering, emos.

That's because the Dark Angels are a bunch of dress-wearing, gay-primarchering emos. I thought this was common knowledge.

so tell us why is lion gay?

Because the guy he's based on was gay.

**Devastator**

so what? he happened to write dark angel
his name was taken from him nothing else

**Terminus**

Would that make Luther Oscar Wilde?

**Terminus**

Devastator wrote:so what? he happened to write dark angel
his name was taken from him nothing else

Nothing else? Hmm, I don't know about that. Much like the inspiration, DA players tend to be repressed and full of self-denial.

**Grambo**

Because there the poster boys,almost all 11 yearold kids who play spezz marinaes play ultra marines.

**SaintHazard**

Grambo wrote:Because there the poster boys,almost all 11 yearold kids who play spezz marinaes play ultra marines.

Thank you for saying exactly what everyone else in this thread has been saying since page 1. Even though we've established that your second point isn't even necessarily true. Well done.

**SanguinaryGuard**

The Ultramarines are the face of the SM Army. I play BA and as I dont care for the Ultramarines, they are a good army. If you like IC's, the Ultramarines are for you. Almost every type of squad (tactical, scout, etc) have a special character. The reason Ultramarines are so loved throughout the SM Codex is because they adhere strictly to the Codex Astartes whereas BA, BT, SW, and DA all have their own take on it and it has caused a bit of strife between them and the Inquisition.

**Terminus**

I don't think the Inquisition cares so much about the Codex Astartes. If the Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Dark Angels earned their enmity, it's because the first two are filthy mutants and the last blatantly have their own agenda. I've never read anything about the Ordos having beef with the Templar, although I can see Templar mistrusting an organization with so many psykers.

**JFizzle51**

Hey guys lets not bash the DA. I actually llike the robes. I put them on my own DIY chapter to represent veterans and IC

**SaintHazard**

JFizzle51 wrote:Hey guys lets not bash the DA. I actually llike the robes. I put them on my own DIY chapter to represent veterans and IC

I did the exact same thing - I love the look of the robes, so all my veterans (Vanguard and Sternguard) are from cannibalized DA Veteran box sets. The robes definitely look kickass IMO.

**DEATH89**

SanguinaryGuard wrote:The Ultramarines are the face of the SM Army. I play BA and as I dont care for the Ultramarines, they are a good army. If you like IC's, the Ultramarines are for you. Almost every type of squad (tactical, scout, etc) have a special character. The reason Ultramarines are so loved throughout the SM Codex is because they adhere strictly to the Codex Astartes whereas BA, BT, SW, and DA all have their own take on it and it has caused a bit of strife between them and the Inquisition.

Except that there's only 2 squad upgrade characters and one of them's a tank upgrade, no tactical, but yes they do have a CM, Chaplain, Captain and Librarian, just like all the other Marine codices (except BT they have no Libby's). So if you like IC's go for wolves or BA

**SaintHazard**

DEATH89 wrote:
SanguinaryGuard wrote:The Ultramarines are the face of the SM Army. I play BA and as I dont care for the Ultramarines, they are a good army. If you like IC's, the Ultramarines are for you. Almost every type of squad (tactical, scout, etc) have a special character. The reason Ultramarines are so loved throughout the SM Codex is because they adhere strictly to the Codex Astartes whereas BA, BT, SW, and DA all have their own take on it and it has caused a bit of strife between them and the Inquisition.

Except that there's only 2 squad upgrade characters and one of them's a tank upgrade, no tactical, but yes they do have a CM, Chaplain, Captain and Librarian, just like all the other Marine codices (except BT they have no Libby's). So if you like IC's go for wolves or BA

I think he was talking about codex chapters, since BA, DA, BT, and SW all have as many IC as UM, if not more. The exceptions include Telion and Chronus, who I believe are unique in that no other chapter has a tank commander or Scout sergeant that I know of.

But if you're playing nillamarines, yeah, UM gets all the ICs.

**DEATH89**

Oh, If so I'll just leave quietly

But BA still get the most IC's

**Jaon**

Melissia wrote:Ultramarines are popular?

edit: (before someone inevitably overreacts, I honestly only know of one person IRL that owns a UM painted army... most people prefer BA, SW, or their own DIY chapters).

*slap...'s ass*