Kaelo Rylanus: Primaris Ultramarines Update

Hello all

Tonight I wanted to have a look at my current Warhammer 40,000 project - Primaris Ultramarines. I will be discussing the fluff and the army as a model range, in which I will be showing some work on my own models and some of the changes I have made to them.

First off I want to say that I love the community, we have some truly outstanding artists, fantastic creativity and great discussions, but sometimes there is also a lot of vitriol. I am happy for people to voice opinions bur if you feel the need to spout off any 'Primarsoles' remarks due to the content ofy post, please send them to me privately and we can have a discussion about it or just go and do something better with your time. It isn't big, it isn't clever and there is certainly no need for it. With that said let me tell you what I like and dislike about the fluff and the models:

Fluff Spoiler Alert:

I have read Gathering Storm book 3 and also Dark Imperium book by Guy Haley and I have to say I really enjoyed both stories. I won't be looking at the fluff from GS3 in this post. The first few chapters of Dark Imperium are set in the Scouring and features the fight between Roboute Guilliman and Daemonic Fulgrim. This part of the book is really cool and features some well known Heresy characters. The book then jumps to around 115 years after the GS3 events - a period that I believe is key. The development of this period, for me, would have been a massive opportunity to bridge the gap between Space Marines and Primaris Marines. Instead we go from a point where they don't exist to a point where they are already established in the fluff. Even a trilogy or series of shorts would have maybe made the transition more palatable. Obviously that is a long period of time and if it was properly fleshed out it would leave 40k the game in a state of limbo for a prolonged period of time, which I am sure GW wouldn't have wanted. I believe this 115 year jump was probably the lesser of 2 evils. Either the story went slow and model releases would have to match it or vice versa.

Aside from the timeline there is some fluff in Dark Imperium about how Cawl has actually used the geneseed from all 20 Primarchs to create the wave of Primaris. However, Guilliman refuses to sanction the implementation of the other 11. This was a tremendous scene and one that made the book worth reading on its own. Cawl basically says 'If you make me Fabricator General of Mars I will give you the Galaxy' to Guilliman. I smell a future Heresy, which to be honest I really hope not. I don't want just another rehashed civil war as I think it lacks originality.

Guilliman also reinstates the Tetrachs of Ultramar, something he sees as a good framework for the Imperium. Maybe those old rumours of different chapters having their own realms isn't that far off...

As a whole I would give the new fluff 3/10 - half baked. But this doesn't mean I don't like the new miniatures. To be honest I think they are the nicest marines I have ever painted. This is mainly down to the size. I have always wanted marines to feel like they are in the books and I think Primaris rules really fit that and this is where I deviate from the fluff for now. Intercessors are tactical marines with bolters as far as I am concerned. Reivers are scouts, Inceptors are Assault squads and the Dreadnought is a Dreadnought. I would love some true scale terminators instead of Aggressors but hey-ho. I am ignoring the flying tanks and will be fielding Rhino and Land Raider variants instead. My army should look like a marine army when complete! Let's take a look at the changes I have made to my units to, in my opinion, improve them:

Inceptors:

As you can see, I have bastardised bits from the Inceptor kit onto a standard Primaris marine. In my opinion it looks better because I am not a fan of the foot stirrups/ high heels or their poses. I am thinking about doing a close combat squad for these guys too.

Aggressors:

For me, this is a case of less is more. They had wires, cables and ammo running all over the model. I simply cut them back a bit. 

Redemptor Dreadnought:

I like the Redemptor kit but once I had read the remark 'it looks pregnant' I couldn't unsee it lol. I have left off the hatch that went over the front of the sarcophagus, which I feel gives it more of a classic look.

All I need is some truescale Terminators now :D

I hope that you like some of the changes I have made. Next time I will have a look at how I plan to field them as well as some more finished models. Please leave comments below :)

Until next time, stay fluffy!

Kaelo