The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[Brummie]

There is another feature to the Primaris space marines other than size and that is their simplicity. Although I quite like a lot of the other Space Marines (I have a lot of them) they're very busy models.

Take the Blood Angels or Space Wolves, there is just so much going on. Which isn't the case with the Primaris which are a bit more plain. They're so much easier to paint I find myself drawn to them for that reason alone.

Lore wise I understand the argument they're a little contradictory, but many franchises tend to retcon. Given the normal space marines seem to have so many faults in makes sense they attempted to make a better space marine at a time of Uber galactic upheaval. The only issue is unless things have changed, rule wise Primaris aren't as flexible as their smaller cousins.

On another note Black Stone Fortress is looking very cool. I hope they release some expansions to flesh out the monsters that dwell within.

I do hope that if they're going down the route of new stuff that they revisit some of the Imperial Guard regiments, add a new Alien faction and make a start fleshing out the Eldar again.

[AWu]

There is another feature to the Primaris space marines other than size and that is their simplicity. Although I quite like a lot of the other Space Marines (I have a lot of them) they're very busy models.

I get what you say here but man.. I want busy primarises
Thats why I converted some to be Black Templars :>

[Belligerentparrot]

44 miniatures in the Blackstone box, for £95. That is pretty good value, actually! (And very few poor minis in my opinion - don't like the Eldar Scout much, but otherwise pretty happy with those sculpts).

[mcfonz]

Yeah, I mean, I agree to an extent.

But I think I've lived through enough sneaky under the radar wargames changes before that to sort of, shrug it off I guess.

I mean where do you start? It's not just GW.

Scale creep is industry wide, just look at Infinity. Or the drastic shift from RPG / skirmish in metal to mass battle game in PVC seen by Rackham.

The old 25's became 28's, then 30's and now 32's. Not unique to sci fi / fantasy either really. True 25's are gone. Lets not forget the - "No, they are 28mm." "Well sir, they measure 30mm." "Ah, well all true miniature makers scale to the eye . . . ."

[Duncan McDane]

Bite me.

No, you say sensible things. We all like the 80's but only in the 80's. Nowadays it's nothing more than nostalgia. It wouldn't stand up agains todays demands and be honest, if we'd see 80's classic non-gw models we'd step onto our soap boxes and demand they'd melt them on the spot to make some lead plumbing rubbish or something decent toywise at the very leastto look at and play with.
To me, the 80's and 90's were great. As is/are the current days, GW never before did release so many excellent playable fun games each year before and be honest, the plastic models beat our classic favorite metals hands down. It's not even a far game, so let's just stop the bloody nostalgia, cherish what we had at the time and enjoy what GW is re;easing nowadays. I dare you, look at it open minded. It's really great stuff. I'm sorry to say, but GW are on top once more, and it really hurts to say so for me.. 

[Manchu]

I like the scale of Primaris Marines. But I don’t like the in-setting, er, deployment (if that’s the right word) with “Intercessors” instead of Tac Squads or “Inceptors” instead of Assault Squads, etc. Yes, I realize these parallels are not quite one-for-one as between Primaris and, um, mini Marines. But I wish GW had been either more up front about the scale-shift and said, well it’s finally time that Space Marines on the table top were a bit more accurate to their portrayal in the Black Library novels, or else just be more sneaky and continue the scale creep we’ve seen recently with stuff like the newer Deathwatch, Thousand Sons, and Death Guard figs, not to mention the CSM in the Dark Vengeance starter and in the upcoming Blackstone Fortress set.

As it stands, we’re now saddled with this frankly comical issue in the setting of genetically-modified super soldiers literally looking up to shinier genetically-modified super soliders. Surely, this is absurd even by 40k standards. If only we could just have 40mm Space Marines without all this dumb “Primaris” fluff.

[Belligerentparrot]

I've never had an army of marines (outside of 6mm anyway), so maybe aren't as affected by the Primaris stuff, but in my humble one GW was quite sensible about it. Loads of people wanted true-scale marines. Loads of people would be upset if their existing marines no longer fit the fluff. So GW had to alter the fluff so that it made sense for true-scale/old-scale marines to be fighting side by side.... the Primaris story does that. I'm sure in the future, if the old-scale lines are discontinued, the fluff will be rewritten so that all the marines were true-scale from the get go.

I agree that the actual Primaris story is silly, but in my opinion it is no sillier than all the gene-seed bollocks - the best Space Marine fluff is the Rogue Trader era story that they're just particularly psycho or barbaric human beings undergone forcible religious conversion and elite military training 

Also, never understood the complaint that Chaos marines are oversized. The classic Chaos Warrior sculpts are almost all oversized compared to e.g. an Empire crossbowman or Brettonian knight, and are no worse off for it. I just figure that Chaos embiggens you.

[Gibby]

I like the scale of Primaris Marines. But I don’t like the in-setting, er, deployment (if that’s the right word) with “Intercessors” instead of Tac Squads or “Inceptors” instead of Assault Squads, etc. Yes, I realize these parallels are not quite one-for-one as between Primaris and, um, mini Marines. But I wish GW had been either more up front about the scale-shift and said, well it’s finally time that Space Marines on the table top were a bit more accurate to their portrayal in the Black Library novels, or else just be more sneaky and continue the scale creep we’ve seen recently with stuff like the newer Deathwatch, Thousand Sons, and Death Guard figs, not to mention the CSM in the Dark Vengeance starter and in the upcoming Blackstone Fortress set.

As it stands, we’re now saddled with this frankly comical issue in the setting of genetically-modified super soldiers literally looking up to shinier genetically-modified super soliders. Surely, this is absurd even by 40k standards. If only we could just have 40mm Space Marines without all this dumb “Primaris” fluff.

Well said, that's what I was getting at. The models are great - the hamfisted lore not so much.

Loads of people would be upset if their existing marines no longer fit the fluff.

Well, they already didn't fit the fluff in the sense that they were out of scale relative to a Guardsman or whatever.

That said, 40k fluff is pretty silly anyway - super big-brother soldiers to the super soldiers won't hurt too much.

[mcfonz]

One thing I've always stuck by is that marines are not the ones out of scale, Imperial guard are.

If you look at relative sizes.



Guard are far to big. Simply shrinking them would actually bring a lot of others into line with their comparative sizes.

[JollyBob]

So, wait...

Sisters of Battle draw tits on their armour and Guardsmen have massive knackers? 

[mcfonz]

As a normal human blood sack in the 41st millennia you'd certainly need to be big on something to go running around toe to toe with all of those nasties out there. Not to mention being called a heretic for sneezing!

[Reboot Guillotine]

One thing I've always stuck by is that marines are not the ones out of scale, Imperial guard are.

Guard are far to big. Simply shrinking them would actually bring a lot of others into line with their comparative sizes.

Agree.  For quite a while now I've been using Warlord Bolt Action (mostly Germans and British Commandos) converted with more moderns heads, gear and lasguns as Imperial Guard.   They look perfect next to "normal"/pre-Primaris marines.  Of course, now they look like elves next to Primaris.

[waitwhat]

Of course, now they look like elves next to Primaris.

Well hang on, how big should an elf be?

/ducks

[Reboot Guillotine]

Well hang on, how big should an elf be?

/ducks

A fair question in this day and age.

I was referring to a Keebler elf, not an Eldar or Tolkien elf.

[grant]

A fair question in this day and age.

I was referring to a Keebler elf, not an Eldar or Tolkien elf.

Damnit, now I want cookies.