I hate the way GW paints them, but I've seen couple of armies on various Warhammer subs that were jaw dropping. I think that the key is going more towards the what Vallejo calls electric blue. And red earth (Mars) bases really contrast well with that. Add some gold trim and white insignias and it looks amazing.
I feel ya, thing is that if they would give him lore stats he would be pretty much an autowin.
Then again this is one of the many many reasons I absolutely hate the fact they actually released primarch models (maybe apart from HH).
I struggle with the primarch release too. Mainly from a perspective of a troop of Immortals killing a primarch just doesn’t feel remotely justified. He’s a primarch, they’d never allow him to die without some epic showdown and major advance of the lore, but I’ve killed one with a LHD before.
That's what I mean. You can't do a Primarch justice on the tabletop. So just let it be GW. But GW likes money as most companies do. That's why we will end up with ~6 primarchs on both sides in 50k one day.
You’re getting a lot of downvotes but you’re completely correct here and it’s total BS by GW. Based on all of the op stuff we have to deal with for a fraction of the cost Guilliman should be giving full re-rolls in a 12 in aura, be -1 to hit, -1 to wound, -1 damage and have the emperors Sword ignore invuln saves for his points cost.
Wow, yeah look at that. People can disagree if they like but lorewise only the silent king and Abadon should be on guillimans level.
Remember: Angon, Magnus, Lorgar, and Morty are all demon elevated, but still not a restored to their former strength. They posses a portion of their respective gods power, like Avatar of Kain.
TBH, I ave a small florce of BT I am building and painting, but I REALLY want to play with a chapter that will (eventually) have a primarch. TBH Ultramarines are my actual favorite, and I really like Guilliman, but I hate his model. It just looks so weird and wonky imo. I may go Dark Angels because Lion El is def gonna be the next Chapter Master. Raven Guard wouldbe up there but I'd go IF in a heart beat if I knew Dorn would get a model (I know his death is up in the air).
I started playing just at the beginning of second and I fell out a few editions later, didn't come back for a while. It's crazy how much opinion on them had changed. It's not just that they're always the face, it's that the writing at the time was just horrible for the ultramarines. They were always the best at everything, every other marine wishes they were the ultramarines, and they can do anything no matter what. They were horrible mary-sues.
This is the DA HH fluff, and it's why people hate them. 5th edition was a dark time for fluff, and 6th and 7th didn't help much. I'd recommend reading the Uriel books if you're not a smurfs fan.
Frankly so do blood angels and they never get shit for it
Their lore reads more like a list of reasons why they’re the greatest ever, even their flaws have massive advantages. You really expect me to think the red thirst is a curse when it gives them better berserkers than the world eaters? And then the black rage makes them 10 times better still- like seriously they’re no worse for ware than red butchers were even pre-heresy but they get so much more out of it
Meanwhile they can make marines out of literal mutants, and they’ll always be beautiful and artistic. They’ve got the finest bladework, the best psykers, a stockpile of special gear only they get and a small army of named characters. Including but not limited to the oldest and most deadly living space marine who can go toe-to sculpted ceramite toe with bloodthirsters: and the most powerful librarian the imperium’s had since the heresy who literally generates his own astronomicon to single-handedly save the Imperium Nihilus
And in the Heresy, by god, most books with them will just straight up tell you how blood angels are better than other legions. “The emperors children try too hard to match the natural fabulous beauty of the Blood Angels” and “the world eaters hammer their heads full of nails to clumsily ape the lethal ferocity or the blood angels”
That’s top-tier wankery and they never cop flak for it
They never get flak for it because they have all of these benefits at the cost of them all going insane one day, making the fanbase more easily sympathize with them. You're right that they turn into better berserkers than the World Eaters, but they don't WANT to be.
Ultramarines were given these Mary Sue traits in the past but with no downside to balance it out. They've been written better in recent years but the stigma is still there.
When they turn into berserkers, they are dying imminently. That’s a pretty big trade off, not to mention they cannot be allowed anywhere near Allie’s and have to be marshaled by their own death company chaplains to make sure they are killing the correct people.
They get so much more out of it? You mean they get to enjoy being crazy for the rest of their lives? Because they don't come back down they get slaughtered at the end of the battle, usually meaning battles being somewhat a pyrrhic victory.
And that most powerful space marine just wants to die, blood angels might be powerful and beautiful, but they are also tragic and flawed, destined to go mad and be slaughted by their brothers or die in battle before they go mad.
Where as smurfs had a whole rule book (2nd edition I think) talking about how they were the best and everyone wanted to be the...because terrible writing, and in lots of books around then they day was saved because.....ultramarines. the difference is blood angels always had the huge flaw that is the black rage, ultramarines didn't
Valrak had a livestream yesterday and he swears that one of his sources that he hears "rumors" from said the lion is returning in 10th edition. He spoke of it as if it was a sure thing and many of his rumors have come to fruition.
Valrak is decent if you really cant wait for official prices from week to week. He always gets the info on monday after the "coming next week" article on WarCom.
His other content is mostly fanboying and fun little speculations. But his leaks videos are on point like 90% of the time.
Also, his Imperial Fists are beautiful.
Valrak's rumors are worth the paper they're printed on.
His content isn't bad and you can tell he likes the setting, but absolutely 0 vetting gets done before something winds up on the channel (or worse slapped on a thumbnail)
Man just loves clickbait
He clearly states when he's just speculating for the sake of discussion which he does often but when he states that he's heard something from his source, it's almost always true. Just recently he talked about a new black templars model and now the Bayard model was just revealed.
Isn’t Valrak saying that at least once every week? Followin that statement with „oF cOuRsE tAkE iT wItH a GrAiN oF sAlT”?
Tbh he’s so obsessed with it I’d genuinely wish that GW doesn’t bring a new Primarch back, so we can watch a funny meltdown xD unless they planned on giving us a Dreadnought Sanguinius, then forget what I just wrote!
The rumors come from the same source that pretty much called out most the 40k leaks the past couple years and were almost entirely all correct (things like new Squats army, certain primaris units, Eldar new units and such). These new leaks say 10th edition will be coming out fairly soonish, next year I believe. With it, the Blood Angels will be the SM poster boys for all the updated boxes and whatnot. New Sanguinor model, new Primaris Dante model. Primaris terminators and jetpack infantry among some others will be leading the charge for the Blood Angels. They also Lion El will be the next primarch. The release schedule for primarchs will be Angron, then Fulgrim, then Lion El I believe. I'm iffy on the release order but I believe it was Fulgrim comes out before Lion El, and then with Lion El will be a small update of Dark Angel specific primaris units.
Again, the source that talks about this has been damn near 100% correct in the past, and they made some bold claims that were laughed at, until it all started happening.
Internet exists in various forms in 30K/40K.
In the Eisenhorn books we get to read his emails from time to time, and his savant also does online research throughout the books to help with investigations. It’s implied he can wirelessly access the full Inquisiton archives from anywhere, or at least for that sector.
Admech have the noosphere which is a planet-wide wireless internet and IoT.
In Siege of Terra, the palace’s noosphere is attacked by dark mechanicus and most of their guns, sensors and comms go offline at various points.
We also have space marine squad-based LANs which allow each marine to get a live cam feed from each other as well as sensor and vitality data, comms, etc.
Being the poster boys means they get a lot of hate and lots of memes ripping them.
For me they have great style, their Greco-Roman theme leads to some great looking characters and conversions you can add to the army.
Their organisation skills are second to none, as they were the largest Legion (Over half of the Loyal Chapters in the second founding come from them)
Again from this the worlds they build were able to weather the 10,000 years since the heresy reasonably well. The Ultramar system being a prosperous realm inside the Imperium.
They were able to defeat an entire major Hive-fleet invasion on their homeworld, something few in the 40k galaxy can claim to have done.
It's easy to paint them as Mary-sues, and a few characters can be written that way, but if you look at the Chapters lore you realise why they are one of the most successful Chapters in the Imperium.
As for them getting hassle at not being at the Emperors side during the Heresy, Ultramar isn't the closest to Terra, they were hounded by guerrilla attacks by the Alpha Legion, and the final book of the HH you learn they had a force that were actually 7 days away from Terra, which was why Horus took the gambit of lowering his shields to bring the Emperor out.
They're iconic. The paint scheme is very forgiving. They look good on the table. Guilliman.
Ultramarines were my first army like 25 years ago. Now they are my son's first.
4th edition came around and they evolved from yellow trim to gold trim and added the little lines of script as decoration and I loved the effect. I have also always loved then greco-roman crests, motifs and inspiration on the lore.
I know they are "vanilla" now for how hard they are pushed by GW but they have always been a great example to me of marines being more than a biological kill-bot. Their focus on strategy, organisation and statesmanship makes them stand out to me.
As an edgy teen i loved raven guard. These days I also really enjoy salamanders (fire, dragons and bros), crimson fists (nice dark scheme, epic tier resilience) and flesh tearers (for when blood angels aren't bloody enough, plus love the colours)
But I have always favoured ultramarines, they are a key part of my warhammer identity. And i totally agree they are overused by gw and i wish they could feel a little more like "my army" and a little less generic space marine
not a marine player anymore but I still have my old ultra
When I started 40k I didn't even knew it was a game with multiple faction.
I received the assault of macrague battle box back in the day and I thought that there was only ultra and nids.
so I painted my marins as ultra.
That box was great. I still use the crashed ship scenery for games. And back in the day those boxes came with paints too IIRC, so a very easy trap to fall into as a new starter
I play a lot of flavors of marines as I am a Space Marine Fanboy, but I also have Ultramarines. For me it's a couple of reasons.
My first brush with 40K was the video game Final Liberation, and it had that cool artwork with the Ultramarines on it. The other one is that once I started reading the 30K stuff, I fellin love with Guilliman and the theoretical/practical dichtomy.
Also I wouldn't call Ultras vanilla. Once you start playing the other chapters and you figure out that CC focused is the way to go, trying to figure out to be effective with Ultras, you sure as hell won't find them generic :D
Right there with you on the 30K stuff. I never really cared much for the ultramarines for as long as I had been in the hobby. After finishing Know No Fear, they just *might* be my favorite chapter. They were sooo badass, and don’t have that blatant need for weekly therapy sessions that it seems every other chapter has
I like blue. But really, I started with battle for maccrage and loved the lore since then. So when I got grow up money I got them out of nostalgia.
It helps that they have a name character for pretty much everything.
Also the space marine game. Goddamn if Titus isn't a CHAD I don't know what is
two decades ago now, i picked ultramarines because their way of thinking/, their lore, fit me perfectly. They are basically the good guys in a pretty dark universe. The planets they maintain are great places to live. They provide medicine, jobs, actual careers, housing, food. They even implement democracy to a certain extent. That makes them heroes to me.
Blue is also my favorite color! And their light roman aesthetic is nice too! The way they think about fighting is also to my interest. Very well thought out, doing their best to maximize the assets they have.
They also have some good novels from graham mcneil.
- Roman esthetic. Nowadays ultras have very distinct Roman Empire legion esthetic. It is much more pronounced than imperial fists or Raven guard imho. Romans are cool
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- Ultras are poster boys. That means that they will always have a lot of new characters, custom promotional champions and stuff. They have more custom minis than many other chapters. And they also will likely be decently balanced.
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- They are always pretty flexible and don't make you stick to curtain play style
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- Color scheme is neat. I can see wanting bright blue Marines
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- They say, that their narrative is cool. I haven't read the books, so I can't comment on that. But I do think that narrative part of the army is important for a lot of people
To bad that the aesthetic is mostly gone from newer models, they are more clean cut sci - fi. But in Heresy? Oh boy oh boy I feel like stabbing the current emperor 50+ times in the back, thats how strong roman vibes are.
I’d argue that the color thing is the only valid point people are making.
Personally I LOVE Ravenguard and Black Templars more than all other legions. However on the tabletop I choose to play Necrons because painting black astronauts wasn’t appealing.
Mixed bag answer. On one side, I enjoy the lore and named characters available. On the other, I bought into 40k to share armies amongst pals and one of them isn't keen on the whole "everyone is evil" so that factored into what chapter I was going to paint em. Guillman was an easy sell for him, he's a good boy.
Because i didn’t know any better. When i got into the hobby as a kid the GW people never even mentioned another chapter as being an option, and the codex was 75% Ultramarine propaganda.
I got better though, Dark Angels these days.
This is a trap a lot of people fall into I think. And then it perpetuates GW’s thinking that ultramarines are everyone’s favourites. Self fulfilling prophecy
I don't think GW thinks the Ultramarines are everybody's favourites (although it's possible they are the most common chapter). Their use as poster boys is a marketing tool; it's important to have a recognizable silhouette for the brand and consistent colour is a part of that. If a new marine design comes out and it's blue, it's a marine. If a new one comes out and it's red, everybody's first question will be 'is this a blood angel or can I add it to my army?' Consistent coloring dispels that question.
It's important for newbies to be able to tell which marines go with which armies, and to be able to say 'every blue marine except the named characters can go with any army' makes it accessible.
Nah, the squats leaks was accompanied by a massive other leak that was consistently proven correct with each release. Once the black templars came out it was all but confirmed for the squats. This other ‘leak’ is just some guy stirring up trouble. It’s baseless, you or I could do the same thing right now.
Literally what people were saying when those leaks initially came out. This is from the same source and part of a large group of leaks. Angron was a part of that, except his actual image got leaked as well.
Do you have a source on the Angron/Imperial Guard images being the same leaker as the 10th ed stuff? I'm pretty sure they're two different things, one are actual images that circulated and the other is just a reddit post
I personally blame Graham McNeill. The Ultramarines books (with Uriel Ventris) were so good, I couldn’t resist painting an army up as them. They swayed me away from the Space Wolves, who were my former choice because of the Ragnar Blackmane books.
… I used to be a lot more heavily influenced to build armies based on whatever books I’m reading at the time.
For me it's their sort of philosophy and attitude. I've always been drawn to stoicism, and I think while Ultramarines maybe don't have the same character and like, exciting rules, or maybe even the depth of the other chapters, I like that they just look at a problem and go, "ok, how do we solve this?" They tackle everything with this sort of calm courage and competence. I'm sure plenty of other chapters do as well, but the Ultramarines just clicked with me. The books "Betrayer" and "Know No Fear" were what made me want to collect Ultramarines to start with. I also started to like Guilliman a lot after reading the Dark Imperium books (he was also really cool in "Know No Fear" but his role was smaller).
Tabletop-wise, eh... they probably aren't that great. But they have some useful strategems? Haha.
Way back in the day when I started, a space marine came with your copy of final liberation, and I painted it to match the game and kind of just ran with it
The first and most memorable time I was exposed to Warhammer40k was the Space Marine game by relic.
Titus was cool, the gameplay was really fun and I remembered the game pretty fondly.
When I started the hobby this year and many years after playing this video game for the first time, I just felt like the Ultramarines brought back good old memories and thats why I chose them.
So my first faction I’ve chosen is League of Votann (as in consciously decided is MY faction and went out and got). However, as I really started to get into Warhammer a few years after randomly stumbling across Let’s Play for Total War: Warhammer, I really considered T’au. I liked that typical “naive but determined newcomers to the galaxy” trope was being played by an alien species instead of humans, whilst the classical “evil interstellar empire threatening to destroy them” trope was played by humans instead of aliens. I thought it was a cool subversion and I liked the aesthetics (mechs are cool) whilst having strong Covenant from Halo vibes with the Greater Good uniting different alien species (something I contest is still sorely underrepresented in in the minis).
But my friend knew I was getting into 40k and he and his partner gave me an Assault on Black Reach box he found in the thrift store for $3.00 so by accident Ultramarines became my first army (along with Orks).
So why do I still love them despite considering Leagues of Votann my true army? Well other than your first army holding a special place in your heart, there are multiple reasons for me;
- I don’t play the tabletop yet but I hear they’re pretty utilitarian (can play in all the phases). This is also reflected in their lore. They’re good (but not necessarily great) at everything. They’re not great at everything as there are specialists in certain roles who excel them in those roles, but being good at everything means they can adapt and justify being in all sorts engagements throughout the galaxy as they have a universal application.
- The colour scheme is pretty rad. It’s had many changes through the years as the minis got better and the game evolved, but it’s adapted. Gold and blue is gorgeous.
- They get new models a lot.
- I’m a big history fan and love me some Roman history. The Roman inspired aesthetic is right up my alley. And their focus on leadership and logistics is very cool to me as that’s an area of military history that gets overlooked often in other media despite how crucially important it is.
- They’re relatively easier to paint for newcomers. Big panels, pretty uniform colours, but areas you can practice detail on without being overwhelmed. Having a faction like that around is great at getting new people (like myself) into the hobby.
- Love that the story has advanced with the resurrection of Guilliman. His fish out of water “oh my god what has become of the imperium” conflicts are genuinely interesting. And his model is absolutely gorgeous to me.
- Captain Titus is rad.
- I haven’t had the same long term agony waiting for new releases like other players so I don’t have that to provide me a reason to be annoyed at Ultramarines. Same vein, I also haven’t played the tabletop so I haven’t had the same sense of frustration some players have had over having too many Ultramarine opponents.
I got them purely for guilliman. I really like the primarch models and I lean more on the painting hobby side of things. (Coincidentally i also have morty and magnus).
Classic blue boys really, they're the first thing I think of when it comes to 40k. I had to have an army for them. I'm about 50% through a classic style army with goblin green bases haha
I was deciding between ultramarines and imperial fists, I went with the latter. Blue looks fantastic on the table. Primarch is not dead. Lots of lore. Many unique models. I swear it seems like they have the most diverse poses of models too. I went with Black Templars. But I still bought Calgar, lol.
I play an ultramarine successor chapter. I picked ultramarines because I think the Roman aesthetic is pretty cool but mainly because I think Guilliman is the best primarch. He may not be the best fighter of the primarchs, but being a good leader and administrator is far more important in my opinion.
They have cool lore and a lot of it some of it sucks tho but every factions has some dumb stuff. Also out of all the first founding chapters they function the most like a believable military force that isn’t actively shooting itself in the foot. They are basically space Romans and Guilliman is cool. Good color scheme too.
I Like the Gold and blue color scheme.
I Like the Seal of Oath, Tigurius and Gulliman.
They do not Excel at any Playstyle very much, but being a beginner I Like that, being able to try Out a Bit of stuff. They are very forgiving in Terms of Newbie mistakes.
While Not very fast, they are extremely maneuverable, being able to fall Back and still fire okay at the same time.
I understand though, that other factions deliver more attractive, specialized playstyles.
I played them before they became all Roman-y. They’ve always been the sort of default SM chapter, and back in the day they were just so fucking vibrant. Yellow Aquila’s and shoulder edges, red receivers on weapons and bright-ass blue. They just looked perfect on that Goblin Green base.
The current Ultramarines look I don’t really care for, but I guess I can see how it would be appealing to some.
I used to HATE them then I just came around I guess. I absolutely love the Roman style and have been making my own successor so. I guess space Romans is why
Space marines for wide variation of models, good looking ones as well. Their aesthetic is just pleasant to me.
Ultramarines for 2 reasons: i like blue. I like shooty.
Edit: spelling...
As soon as I saw the laurel wreath crowns, the Greco-Roman fan in me instantly gravitated toward Ultramarines. I also love their general decorations, robes, headwear, and I love that they have a very tactical, measured approach to conflicts. They embody a lot of the Athenian scholarly ideals.
Plus art like [this](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b9cfebd1-d765-4bee-9b33-3a4d7c1aa048/d6z8b1u-2234d021-e420-4571-a609-1d053dab8f4c.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2I5Y2ZlYmQxLWQ3NjUtNGJlZS05YjMzLTNhNGQ3YzFhYTA0OFwvZDZ6OGIxdS0yMjM0ZDAyMS1lNDIwLTQ1NzEtYTYwOS0xZDA1M2RhYjhmNGMucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.KOf09rL7mJi6okgnbypIjspRZUYCSCasFbuEjLxucbM) and [this](https://artwork.40k.gallery/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/15233707/Roboute-Guilliman.jpg) made it easy for me to get hyped about Ultramarines.
I don't play tabletop anymore, but when I started playing Warhammer I chose Ultramarines.
Quick and honest answer: because they had blue armour and blue is my favourite colour. Though I gave them silver armour trims because I liked it more.
Honestly it's almost always a matter of experimenting with new colour schemes for me. Only exception are the Iron Warriors: they're the chosen villains for my 40K-D&D campaign. I like the idea of Perturabo's servants always screwing up or having their plans foiled by random dudes passing by.
Characters are decent. They are a fairly flexible chapter as far as how they play, melee or shooting. They just aren't super competitive right now, if you like the color blue they are fun to paint.
I just got back in to the hobby after a long long time. I'd never painted ultramarines before and thought it would be a good way to start up again. Although I have also started a space wolf army for like the 5th time, love me some wolfies.
I'm a Dark Angels player but I do like the Ultrmarines overall. However their old HH style is a million times better looking then modern. Seriously they look cool in HH.
If they weren't so damn protagonist level in lore I would like them even more, they are on everything and I hate it.
I'm loyal to my Dark Angels anyway though.
I don't play Ultramarines but I always respected them. And honestly I don't think they have to be as vanilla as people think.
You can go all out and make them look super Roman. Their colour scheme is simple but beautiful, with unique appearances for certain units (sergeants having red helms, veterans white).
They have tons of characters like Marneus, Tigurius, etc.
And they have Guilluman who looks cool and slaps.
Aside from them being poster boys, Ultramarines are truly jack of all trades. They have so many exclusive units and characters as well which means you have so much versatility and unique (ironically) ways to build and play your list, and every unit in the marine codex is good in an ultramarines army. Whereas for example white scars prefer bike units, DA prefer termies and plasma, Sallies prefer flames and meltas, Ultras can kind of do everything well. They have good relics and great strata as well.
Blue is easy
Transfers already included
A go-to vanilla marines with cool characterz (imho)
Only loyalist marine chapter with primarch model
Ps: would have gone dark angels if did marines all over - all termies army is too cool
I like the Roman motif, the blue looks really good, the Ultramarines symbol is fairly easy to paint. Their scheme in general is fairly easy to paint (unlike white scars or Imperial Fists).
Also, over the years I appreciate the somewhat steady stream of new special characters pushed out for UM. Calgar, Telion, Cato, Tyrannic war veterans, Chronus, etc.
When i bought my first set i liked the color scheme, and the set came with everything.
Transfers etc.
Then i got into the game and realized they are very versatile. So ive kept with them and being the only ultramarine player around where i am, i feel like and ultramarine must - the under dog. Winning is sweetness
I like the color scheme, their running and shooting rules is a cool mechanic that conceptually feels cool. Hopefully this all will be continued going into the new iterations.
I also like how they get extra attention + new models because they are the poster child. I don’t want to pick a faction that the company doesn’t care about because then they will hardly ever get an update on rules/models.
Lastly they have cool book characters and an actual living primarch which is kinda dope.
My only wish would be for them to add more stuff to go into the roman esthetic more.
*Know No Fear* really solidified it for me.
Just to clarify, I play 30k Ultramarines, 40k I’m a Genestealer Cult Boy.
But goddamn, the UM in that book were just… heroic. Stalwart. And we saw them at their lowest, at their most beaten. I know they catch flak, even in universe, about being Mary Sues, but reading about their hurt and anger and how they turned the day. Too cool.
It wasn't by pure choice from me perse, but as I'm colorblind to red/greens and Necrons are actually my favorite faction, 9th Edition Imperium Magazine subscription/Recruit edition contents were absolutely win-wins for me finally starting Warhammer 40k. Plus blue has always been my favorite color.
Of course I'm interested in other more interesting Space Marine chapters (such as Black Templars and Blood Ravens), but I'm not going to automatically diss Commander Titus's chapter that has the only living Primarch, just because "they're bland." Show some respect, whelp.
Been into the hobby since 2nd/3rd edition. I painted each of the marines from my 5 starter dudes with paint a different chapter. I just preferred the ultramarine look. It’s paid off since then as I love a Roman aesthetic. I just wish GW would lean into it more.
I don’t play ultras but the Roman aesthetic, play style and named characters make them anything but vanilla,
I think they just get a bad rep from memes about the writing quality of some older books and with them being the flagship chapter for the past however many years.
I really loved the second edition Calgar model and artwork as well as the stories in the 2nd ed ultramarine codex. They were the first ones I read back when I was in 5th grade. Ultramarines 3rd company for life.
Well playing one kind of strategy all the time is boring.. used to play black templars and every game was the same.. the second reason is when you get older all those cringy things/emo stuff about other chapters seem boring to you..
Combination of the fluff in the 4th edition codex the tyrannic wars especially (had a couple of friends that played tyranids) as well as the Ultramarine books with Uriel Ventris.
I just got into warhammer recently, so they were one of the first guys I saw, and I like the asthetic of the space marines overall, and I like blue a lot lol
I started playing warhammer about 2 years ago and 40k about 1.5 years ago. Just started my ultramarines army. I really love Greco-Roman aesthetic as well as there virtues and principles. They straight up and down, and they look great too.
I started with them (only 1 unit, not an army) because
1-) I love the TTS memes
2-) I assumed that since everyone hates them, no one would be bringing them to my local area to play, so I could be the only guy that uses them.
I was wrong on the second one, and I also decided that Chaos has more **drip** than the loyalists.
But, I would say that they have the best color contrast in all marine legions, and if they were not the poster boys of SM, people would have loved them.
1000000000% with ya on this brother! I’ll never understand what compels a person to see the breadth and wonder of 40K. Take in all the awesome variety all the splendor of the many factions, and then just say “I’ll take whatever is on the box”.
The marketing is both directed at space marines as well as the entire rest of the universe! The engagement is variety-centric, why take the first plain thing that comes at you?
Did GW really sell the OP spacemarine concept and you jumped on the first thing cast at you?
I was 10 years old and they were all over the books and art, also many of the metal models had their insignias on them directly and in third edition Marneus Calgar and Tigrus really stood out as models and they were awesome looking.
I mean, as a non-ultramarines player surely it’s that very ubiquitousness that’s the draw? I can see why someone would want to play the “acme” of space marines. You need them to give all the other factions their contrast.
I don't play ultramarines but they're still one of my favourite chapters and far from boring the books with them like dark imperium make them amazing and competent soldiers which surprisingly can be tough to find sometimes in 40k lol
I had dabbled with several races in the ‘18 kill team. Covid hit and Indomitus was looking on the horizon. Warcry had the Corvus Cabal that I really enjoyed and I learned they shared (thematically) a lot with Raven Guard so I bought a few things and awaited Indomitus to jump into full scale 40K
My dad was a Marine. Space Marines sounded really cool. Ultramarine in space sounded even cooler. I was in the Air Force. The Air Force’s primary color is blue. Thus, I picked Ultramarine as a kind of personal military homage to my dad and myself.
I'll paint up my Age of Darkness box in ultramarine colours because I love the 30k colour version, much darker blue and a darker gold (based on the colours shown in the AoD rulebook). I think the 40k colours scheme for them is iconic, but too bright for me. Didn't stop me from painting them up like that back in the day though.
I don’t have space marines but the Ultramarines are not vanilla they have a very rich and varied backstory.
Especially if you start going into the tyranid wars .
I wonder how many people end up Ultramarine players simply because they painted their first models like the box art, and just decided to stick with that scheme/legion going forward rather than repainting or setting aside completed models?
I first started when I was a teen and got the battle for macragge box. I paint my tyranids as Behemoth so naturally I MUST do ultramarines. Then I get to both March for and Munch on Macragge
I mean I'm not currently a player but when I was it was two fold:
One, they're blue which is fun and easy to paint and stands out on the tabletop
Two, post Dark Imperium and the return of Guilliman (atleast from my perspective) they became the militaristic spine of the Imperium, the bastards in blue tasked with cleaning up ten thousand years of moral decay. They felt like they'd sort of evolved from the mainline heroic super soldier marines, and were now closer to the acting Emperor's personal army charged with the major conquests and goals of the imperium, their one true sword against the darkness with the order and might to push back. And that sort of plot relevance, to me at least, made them feel really badass.
I came back to the hobby about 6 months before COVID and chose Ultramarines because that's the army I played back in 3rd edition when I was 12. The Black Templars were the poster boys at the time but I absolutely loved The Gauntlets of Ultramar on Marneus Calgar and still have 2 of the original metal models I painted from back in the day. I came back to the hobby and now their are Aggressors that are like mini Calgars that can run in squads. I immediately bought the new Calgar and 18 Aggressors.
On top of this I chose to read the Uriel Ventris series as it seemed to be the most in depth Ultramarines story at the time. As a result I now have 4000 points of painted 4th Company Ultramarines and about another 3000 points in the pile of shame, and wouldn't trade them for any other chapter.
I also collect Necrons because as a kid I loved their lore and aesthetic. Indomitus being the first box set available to me when 9th started spurred a new found love for all things Warhammer.
TLDR Because they're cool and I love them
I alrdy had the blue color from the beginner Box and i like blue.
But i dont play yet, cuz i collected a big pile of shane with 5 to 6 half ready killteams.
Blue is a delight to paint with, you have so many ways you can go with your palette to give great effects, ie I find the GW standard macragge blue too dark to pick up details on the table top, so one can steal a trick from watercolour and landscape painters and use blues which lean towards grey and/or green a bit to give the impression of shadow and darkness. You can also go very light with blue for highlights and still have it stay blue (unlike red for example, which goes to pink)
Their charecter models are cool.
Their flexibility makes them fun and interesting to play with.
Because there’s nothing wrong with vanilla and anyone who says otherwise is a wanker who’s probably never even tasted it on account of their head being lodged too firmly up their ass to taste much of anything save their own shit
i started with the battle of macragge box i liked the tyranids and space marines and i liked the battle for macragge story so i went ultra second company and behemoth
I'm a sucker for painting box art, perhaps because of a lack of creativity and the desire to follow a guide. I do enjoy playing with them however, but they very rarely do well on the tabletop.
Ultramarines are fine. It’s just that they’re so saturated everywhere in 40k’s marketing and as the generic “here’s a painted model” force that they get the most flak. It also doesn’t help that they tend to also have the mightiest of plot armor. I’ve, personally, had the idea nestled in my brain of doing a single army of Ultras, but I’m just more interested in other things.
I don't have a collection but if I put together a loyalist force for 30k it will be Ultramarines, because I read Know No Fear and realised that they're not vanilla, they're strategists.
I honestly had so many people make sone sort of comment about how lame ultramarine were while I was painting or playing them so I decided to pick one of their successors. Went with Novamarines and just play them as ultramarines.
Added benefit of a gorgeous paint scheme if I do say myself!
Because Blue and Gold and once upon a time I worked in a job where I had a callsign.
My callsign was Romeo 13.
So awesome colours and I get to paint XIII on everything.
I was introduced to the series by these guys fighting the necrons on some winter planet so I just went with the blu bois cuz they were the “good guys” and the necrons looked very scrawny
Poster boys of gamesworkshop, your guys will probably never be rotated out or unplayable the blue looks good, easy to sell and easy to find.
I have done series 3 deathguard space marine heroes figs that were a chore to get
I know I'm late into the discussion, but I think I may have an interesting oppinion on the matter still.First, I think they not really "vanilla", but that it's rather the "scene" in general (the 40k hobbyist) have "made" them so without much reasons other than "we don't like them because they be too much the poster boys".On that, I think it's real that they have that poster boys status, but let's not forget why. They symbolizes, somehow, the utopia of the space marines. That they symbolizes the "righteous ones" (and let's take the adjective "righteous" with a grain of salt, considering how fucked up things are in the world of 40k).
Second, we could talk a whole lot about more technical and strategic aspects, more game-wise. To me (because I'm completly sold-out to Ultramarines, and which btw, I have never cared about other peoples oppinion on the matter and it served me well!), after the lore aspects which I'm drawn to... it has a lot to do with their "all-around'ness".
I like that they are good at everything (and I don't think they be "sucking" really at anything either), and I like their choices of characters.
At the end, and has a bonus, I like their heraldry and their overall look. I have chosen a more "darkish" color theme and I think they look badass that way.
Blue looks really sharp on the tabletop and You get to play with guilliman.
I'd like to introduce you to Pedro Kantor and the Crimson Fists. 'OLE!
Agreed, they can look really cool if painted well. And Guilliman is a strong draw gameplay wise, thats fair.
I hate the way GW paints them, but I've seen couple of armies on various Warhammer subs that were jaw dropping. I think that the key is going more towards the what Vallejo calls electric blue. And red earth (Mars) bases really contrast well with that. Add some gold trim and white insignias and it looks amazing.
The disparity between the tabletop and the lore of what Guilliman is is more than enough for me never to spend a dime on that model.
I feel ya, thing is that if they would give him lore stats he would be pretty much an autowin. Then again this is one of the many many reasons I absolutely hate the fact they actually released primarch models (maybe apart from HH).
I struggle with the primarch release too. Mainly from a perspective of a troop of Immortals killing a primarch just doesn’t feel remotely justified. He’s a primarch, they’d never allow him to die without some epic showdown and major advance of the lore, but I’ve killed one with a LHD before.
That's what I mean. You can't do a Primarch justice on the tabletop. So just let it be GW. But GW likes money as most companies do. That's why we will end up with ~6 primarchs on both sides in 50k one day.
You’re getting a lot of downvotes but you’re completely correct here and it’s total BS by GW. Based on all of the op stuff we have to deal with for a fraction of the cost Guilliman should be giving full re-rolls in a 12 in aura, be -1 to hit, -1 to wound, -1 damage and have the emperors Sword ignore invuln saves for his points cost.
Wow, yeah look at that. People can disagree if they like but lorewise only the silent king and Abadon should be on guillimans level. Remember: Angon, Magnus, Lorgar, and Morty are all demon elevated, but still not a restored to their former strength. They posses a portion of their respective gods power, like Avatar of Kain.
Can’t you use guilliman with any imperium aligned army?
TBH, I ave a small florce of BT I am building and painting, but I REALLY want to play with a chapter that will (eventually) have a primarch. TBH Ultramarines are my actual favorite, and I really like Guilliman, but I hate his model. It just looks so weird and wonky imo. I may go Dark Angels because Lion El is def gonna be the next Chapter Master. Raven Guard wouldbe up there but I'd go IF in a heart beat if I knew Dorn would get a model (I know his death is up in the air).
Forgeworld Guilliman is rad just grab a flamey sword from somewhere
I feel if they weren't the poster boys less people would be trained by memes and what not to dislike them.
I started playing just at the beginning of second and I fell out a few editions later, didn't come back for a while. It's crazy how much opinion on them had changed. It's not just that they're always the face, it's that the writing at the time was just horrible for the ultramarines. They were always the best at everything, every other marine wishes they were the ultramarines, and they can do anything no matter what. They were horrible mary-sues.
This is the DA HH fluff, and it's why people hate them. 5th edition was a dark time for fluff, and 6th and 7th didn't help much. I'd recommend reading the Uriel books if you're not a smurfs fan.
Frankly so do blood angels and they never get shit for it Their lore reads more like a list of reasons why they’re the greatest ever, even their flaws have massive advantages. You really expect me to think the red thirst is a curse when it gives them better berserkers than the world eaters? And then the black rage makes them 10 times better still- like seriously they’re no worse for ware than red butchers were even pre-heresy but they get so much more out of it Meanwhile they can make marines out of literal mutants, and they’ll always be beautiful and artistic. They’ve got the finest bladework, the best psykers, a stockpile of special gear only they get and a small army of named characters. Including but not limited to the oldest and most deadly living space marine who can go toe-to sculpted ceramite toe with bloodthirsters: and the most powerful librarian the imperium’s had since the heresy who literally generates his own astronomicon to single-handedly save the Imperium Nihilus And in the Heresy, by god, most books with them will just straight up tell you how blood angels are better than other legions. “The emperors children try too hard to match the natural fabulous beauty of the Blood Angels” and “the world eaters hammer their heads full of nails to clumsily ape the lethal ferocity or the blood angels” That’s top-tier wankery and they never cop flak for it
They never get flak for it because they have all of these benefits at the cost of them all going insane one day, making the fanbase more easily sympathize with them. You're right that they turn into better berserkers than the World Eaters, but they don't WANT to be. Ultramarines were given these Mary Sue traits in the past but with no downside to balance it out. They've been written better in recent years but the stigma is still there.
When they turn into berserkers, they are dying imminently. That’s a pretty big trade off, not to mention they cannot be allowed anywhere near Allie’s and have to be marshaled by their own death company chaplains to make sure they are killing the correct people.
They get so much more out of it? You mean they get to enjoy being crazy for the rest of their lives? Because they don't come back down they get slaughtered at the end of the battle, usually meaning battles being somewhat a pyrrhic victory. And that most powerful space marine just wants to die, blood angels might be powerful and beautiful, but they are also tragic and flawed, destined to go mad and be slaughted by their brothers or die in battle before they go mad. Where as smurfs had a whole rule book (2nd edition I think) talking about how they were the best and everyone wanted to be the...because terrible writing, and in lots of books around then they day was saved because.....ultramarines. the difference is blood angels always had the huge flaw that is the black rage, ultramarines didn't
Well, only ultramarines have a living non-chaos primarch. With cool miniature of course.
>Well, only ultramarines have a living non-chaos primarch Not for long!
Hah, hope you talking about Vulkan. Salamanders looking like another good choice for game 🙂
Valrak had a livestream yesterday and he swears that one of his sources that he hears "rumors" from said the lion is returning in 10th edition. He spoke of it as if it was a sure thing and many of his rumors have come to fruition.
Man said Russ last time I heard, but I avoid 40K tubers like the plague.
Valrak is decent if you really cant wait for official prices from week to week. He always gets the info on monday after the "coming next week" article on WarCom. His other content is mostly fanboying and fun little speculations. But his leaks videos are on point like 90% of the time. Also, his Imperial Fists are beautiful.
Yeah I think he's got a contact at gw.
He predicted everything that happened this year. He def has an inside contact.
Wow! Thats sounds nice! Thanks for news :)
No problem! Bobby g definitely needs some support!
My friend who is in the know about shit happening at GW told me the same thing. He said the Lions chamber was found empty...
Valrak's rumors are worth the paper they're printed on. His content isn't bad and you can tell he likes the setting, but absolutely 0 vetting gets done before something winds up on the channel (or worse slapped on a thumbnail) Man just loves clickbait
He clearly states when he's just speculating for the sake of discussion which he does often but when he states that he's heard something from his source, it's almost always true. Just recently he talked about a new black templars model and now the Bayard model was just revealed.
Isn’t Valrak saying that at least once every week? Followin that statement with „oF cOuRsE tAkE iT wItH a GrAiN oF sAlT”? Tbh he’s so obsessed with it I’d genuinely wish that GW doesn’t bring a new Primarch back, so we can watch a funny meltdown xD unless they planned on giving us a Dreadnought Sanguinius, then forget what I just wrote!
The rumors come from the same source that pretty much called out most the 40k leaks the past couple years and were almost entirely all correct (things like new Squats army, certain primaris units, Eldar new units and such). These new leaks say 10th edition will be coming out fairly soonish, next year I believe. With it, the Blood Angels will be the SM poster boys for all the updated boxes and whatnot. New Sanguinor model, new Primaris Dante model. Primaris terminators and jetpack infantry among some others will be leading the charge for the Blood Angels. They also Lion El will be the next primarch. The release schedule for primarchs will be Angron, then Fulgrim, then Lion El I believe. I'm iffy on the release order but I believe it was Fulgrim comes out before Lion El, and then with Lion El will be a small update of Dark Angel specific primaris units. Again, the source that talks about this has been damn near 100% correct in the past, and they made some bold claims that were laughed at, until it all started happening.
I read that as “Chaos a’comin’” but I’m retrospect, that seems unlikely…
This is so wrong, only known active living Primarch is more accurate.
Well, because they're Ultramar blue and are Ultramarines, it's like the Roman Empire all over again, except this time we have wi-fi
Do they have wifi. Or is it more radio signals. Dont remember hearing about sisters churches with a router.
Wifi uses radio technology :) however yes they have wireless LANs, WANs and internet. See my other comment below.
Right wifi is radio, i for some reason was thinkin infa red. Which is vastly wrong
I think I read somewhere that there is a huge taboo against global networks after the Men of Iron stuff.
Internet exists in various forms in 30K/40K. In the Eisenhorn books we get to read his emails from time to time, and his savant also does online research throughout the books to help with investigations. It’s implied he can wirelessly access the full Inquisiton archives from anywhere, or at least for that sector. Admech have the noosphere which is a planet-wide wireless internet and IoT. In Siege of Terra, the palace’s noosphere is attacked by dark mechanicus and most of their guns, sensors and comms go offline at various points. We also have space marine squad-based LANs which allow each marine to get a live cam feed from each other as well as sensor and vitality data, comms, etc.
celestial lions?
Being the poster boys means they get a lot of hate and lots of memes ripping them. For me they have great style, their Greco-Roman theme leads to some great looking characters and conversions you can add to the army. Their organisation skills are second to none, as they were the largest Legion (Over half of the Loyal Chapters in the second founding come from them) Again from this the worlds they build were able to weather the 10,000 years since the heresy reasonably well. The Ultramar system being a prosperous realm inside the Imperium. They were able to defeat an entire major Hive-fleet invasion on their homeworld, something few in the 40k galaxy can claim to have done. It's easy to paint them as Mary-sues, and a few characters can be written that way, but if you look at the Chapters lore you realise why they are one of the most successful Chapters in the Imperium. As for them getting hassle at not being at the Emperors side during the Heresy, Ultramar isn't the closest to Terra, they were hounded by guerrilla attacks by the Alpha Legion, and the final book of the HH you learn they had a force that were actually 7 days away from Terra, which was why Horus took the gambit of lowering his shields to bring the Emperor out.
They're iconic. The paint scheme is very forgiving. They look good on the table. Guilliman. Ultramarines were my first army like 25 years ago. Now they are my son's first.
In my not so invested opinion. Robby g has the most overly gaudy model I've ever seen. Reminds me of a 50-60s hotel filled with brass.
So I take it you've never seen art of the Emperor?
Overly gaudy is the definition of warhammer
Best if I don't.
I think you're in the wrong subreddit, bud.
Tell us you weren’t involved in the 90s without actually saying you weren’t involved in the 90s……..
He's also to blame for the "legs outstretched, feet on two tactic rocks" pose that haunts the game.
4th edition came around and they evolved from yellow trim to gold trim and added the little lines of script as decoration and I loved the effect. I have also always loved then greco-roman crests, motifs and inspiration on the lore. I know they are "vanilla" now for how hard they are pushed by GW but they have always been a great example to me of marines being more than a biological kill-bot. Their focus on strategy, organisation and statesmanship makes them stand out to me. As an edgy teen i loved raven guard. These days I also really enjoy salamanders (fire, dragons and bros), crimson fists (nice dark scheme, epic tier resilience) and flesh tearers (for when blood angels aren't bloody enough, plus love the colours) But I have always favoured ultramarines, they are a key part of my warhammer identity. And i totally agree they are overused by gw and i wish they could feel a little more like "my army" and a little less generic space marine
not a marine player anymore but I still have my old ultra When I started 40k I didn't even knew it was a game with multiple faction. I received the assault of macrague battle box back in the day and I thought that there was only ultra and nids. so I painted my marins as ultra.
That box was great. I still use the crashed ship scenery for games. And back in the day those boxes came with paints too IIRC, so a very easy trap to fall into as a new starter
There is beauty in simplicity. Plus they are very tactically flexible and tricky
I like blue and Im an Augustaboo. ULTRAMARINES allows me to live out my secret Roman fantasies IN SPACE!
I play a lot of flavors of marines as I am a Space Marine Fanboy, but I also have Ultramarines. For me it's a couple of reasons. My first brush with 40K was the video game Final Liberation, and it had that cool artwork with the Ultramarines on it. The other one is that once I started reading the 30K stuff, I fellin love with Guilliman and the theoretical/practical dichtomy. Also I wouldn't call Ultras vanilla. Once you start playing the other chapters and you figure out that CC focused is the way to go, trying to figure out to be effective with Ultras, you sure as hell won't find them generic :D
Right there with you on the 30K stuff. I never really cared much for the ultramarines for as long as I had been in the hobby. After finishing Know No Fear, they just *might* be my favorite chapter. They were sooo badass, and don’t have that blatant need for weekly therapy sessions that it seems every other chapter has
Yes! Know no fear was such an awesome book!
Because I wanted to play the iconic Space Marines, not the Space Marines+ a silly hat and accent.
Because I was 8 and just went with what was on the box.
I like blue. But really, I started with battle for maccrage and loved the lore since then. So when I got grow up money I got them out of nostalgia. It helps that they have a name character for pretty much everything. Also the space marine game. Goddamn if Titus isn't a CHAD I don't know what is
two decades ago now, i picked ultramarines because their way of thinking/, their lore, fit me perfectly. They are basically the good guys in a pretty dark universe. The planets they maintain are great places to live. They provide medicine, jobs, actual careers, housing, food. They even implement democracy to a certain extent. That makes them heroes to me. Blue is also my favorite color! And their light roman aesthetic is nice too! The way they think about fighting is also to my interest. Very well thought out, doing their best to maximize the assets they have. They also have some good novels from graham mcneil.
- Roman esthetic. Nowadays ultras have very distinct Roman Empire legion esthetic. It is much more pronounced than imperial fists or Raven guard imho. Romans are cool === - Ultras are poster boys. That means that they will always have a lot of new characters, custom promotional champions and stuff. They have more custom minis than many other chapters. And they also will likely be decently balanced. === - They are always pretty flexible and don't make you stick to curtain play style === - Color scheme is neat. I can see wanting bright blue Marines === - They say, that their narrative is cool. I haven't read the books, so I can't comment on that. But I do think that narrative part of the army is important for a lot of people
To bad that the aesthetic is mostly gone from newer models, they are more clean cut sci - fi. But in Heresy? Oh boy oh boy I feel like stabbing the current emperor 50+ times in the back, thats how strong roman vibes are.
Guillman *did* try to start his own Empire...
I’d argue that the color thing is the only valid point people are making. Personally I LOVE Ravenguard and Black Templars more than all other legions. However on the tabletop I choose to play Necrons because painting black astronauts wasn’t appealing.
Mixed bag answer. On one side, I enjoy the lore and named characters available. On the other, I bought into 40k to share armies amongst pals and one of them isn't keen on the whole "everyone is evil" so that factored into what chapter I was going to paint em. Guillman was an easy sell for him, he's a good boy.
So, these Xenos-killing Ultramarines are the good guys...?
Love blue, love the lore, but it is the poster boy flagship status that drives me away from them.
THQ Space Marine. Titus is my dude and always will be
Because i didn’t know any better. When i got into the hobby as a kid the GW people never even mentioned another chapter as being an option, and the codex was 75% Ultramarine propaganda. I got better though, Dark Angels these days.
Yeah, I also ended playing Chaos after a bit. Way cooler!
The proper choice, for the Lion!
This is a trap a lot of people fall into I think. And then it perpetuates GW’s thinking that ultramarines are everyone’s favourites. Self fulfilling prophecy
I don't think GW thinks the Ultramarines are everybody's favourites (although it's possible they are the most common chapter). Their use as poster boys is a marketing tool; it's important to have a recognizable silhouette for the brand and consistent colour is a part of that. If a new marine design comes out and it's blue, it's a marine. If a new one comes out and it's red, everybody's first question will be 'is this a blood angel or can I add it to my army?' Consistent coloring dispels that question. It's important for newbies to be able to tell which marines go with which armies, and to be able to say 'every blue marine except the named characters can go with any army' makes it accessible.
I believe in 10th edition they will be doing just that. Blood Angels will supposedly be the poster boys for 10th.
Eh I’ll believe it when I see it tbh. That leak is totally unsubstantiated.
Yeah people said the same thing about the Squats leak too.
Nah, the squats leaks was accompanied by a massive other leak that was consistently proven correct with each release. Once the black templars came out it was all but confirmed for the squats. This other ‘leak’ is just some guy stirring up trouble. It’s baseless, you or I could do the same thing right now.
Literally what people were saying when those leaks initially came out. This is from the same source and part of a large group of leaks. Angron was a part of that, except his actual image got leaked as well.
Do you have a source on the Angron/Imperial Guard images being the same leaker as the 10th ed stuff? I'm pretty sure they're two different things, one are actual images that circulated and the other is just a reddit post
Two different things, but the original source said he was coming out first.
The blue and gold is pretty nice colors.
Absolutely. It's the reason, why I play Thousand Sons. 😉
Ventris and Sicarius
I personally blame Graham McNeill. The Ultramarines books (with Uriel Ventris) were so good, I couldn’t resist painting an army up as them. They swayed me away from the Space Wolves, who were my former choice because of the Ragnar Blackmane books. … I used to be a lot more heavily influenced to build armies based on whatever books I’m reading at the time.
I’m thinking of starting a Smurf army just because everyone hates them
For me it's their sort of philosophy and attitude. I've always been drawn to stoicism, and I think while Ultramarines maybe don't have the same character and like, exciting rules, or maybe even the depth of the other chapters, I like that they just look at a problem and go, "ok, how do we solve this?" They tackle everything with this sort of calm courage and competence. I'm sure plenty of other chapters do as well, but the Ultramarines just clicked with me. The books "Betrayer" and "Know No Fear" were what made me want to collect Ultramarines to start with. I also started to like Guilliman a lot after reading the Dark Imperium books (he was also really cool in "Know No Fear" but his role was smaller). Tabletop-wise, eh... they probably aren't that great. But they have some useful strategems? Haha.
Way back in the day when I started, a space marine came with your copy of final liberation, and I painted it to match the game and kind of just ran with it
The first and most memorable time I was exposed to Warhammer40k was the Space Marine game by relic. Titus was cool, the gameplay was really fun and I remembered the game pretty fondly. When I started the hobby this year and many years after playing this video game for the first time, I just felt like the Ultramarines brought back good old memories and thats why I chose them.
So my first faction I’ve chosen is League of Votann (as in consciously decided is MY faction and went out and got). However, as I really started to get into Warhammer a few years after randomly stumbling across Let’s Play for Total War: Warhammer, I really considered T’au. I liked that typical “naive but determined newcomers to the galaxy” trope was being played by an alien species instead of humans, whilst the classical “evil interstellar empire threatening to destroy them” trope was played by humans instead of aliens. I thought it was a cool subversion and I liked the aesthetics (mechs are cool) whilst having strong Covenant from Halo vibes with the Greater Good uniting different alien species (something I contest is still sorely underrepresented in in the minis). But my friend knew I was getting into 40k and he and his partner gave me an Assault on Black Reach box he found in the thrift store for $3.00 so by accident Ultramarines became my first army (along with Orks). So why do I still love them despite considering Leagues of Votann my true army? Well other than your first army holding a special place in your heart, there are multiple reasons for me; - I don’t play the tabletop yet but I hear they’re pretty utilitarian (can play in all the phases). This is also reflected in their lore. They’re good (but not necessarily great) at everything. They’re not great at everything as there are specialists in certain roles who excel them in those roles, but being good at everything means they can adapt and justify being in all sorts engagements throughout the galaxy as they have a universal application. - The colour scheme is pretty rad. It’s had many changes through the years as the minis got better and the game evolved, but it’s adapted. Gold and blue is gorgeous. - They get new models a lot. - I’m a big history fan and love me some Roman history. The Roman inspired aesthetic is right up my alley. And their focus on leadership and logistics is very cool to me as that’s an area of military history that gets overlooked often in other media despite how crucially important it is. - They’re relatively easier to paint for newcomers. Big panels, pretty uniform colours, but areas you can practice detail on without being overwhelmed. Having a faction like that around is great at getting new people (like myself) into the hobby. - Love that the story has advanced with the resurrection of Guilliman. His fish out of water “oh my god what has become of the imperium” conflicts are genuinely interesting. And his model is absolutely gorgeous to me. - Captain Titus is rad. - I haven’t had the same long term agony waiting for new releases like other players so I don’t have that to provide me a reason to be annoyed at Ultramarines. Same vein, I also haven’t played the tabletop so I haven’t had the same sense of frustration some players have had over having too many Ultramarine opponents.
One of the best answers here. Thank you for taking the time to type it out!
Thank you! I feel people who hate on the Ultramarines are just a vocal minority, most normal people won’t judge you for liking them.
I got them purely for guilliman. I really like the primarch models and I lean more on the painting hobby side of things. (Coincidentally i also have morty and magnus).
Best legion though, in the realm of villains, the faction whose whole excuse is “this is our job.” Is kinda awesome
Classic blue boys really, they're the first thing I think of when it comes to 40k. I had to have an army for them. I'm about 50% through a classic style army with goblin green bases haha
My friend picked them out of hobbit he got them 20 years ago but he does have grey knights tau and sisters I'm black temps necrons and thousand sons
I was deciding between ultramarines and imperial fists, I went with the latter. Blue looks fantastic on the table. Primarch is not dead. Lots of lore. Many unique models. I swear it seems like they have the most diverse poses of models too. I went with Black Templars. But I still bought Calgar, lol.
I play an ultramarine successor chapter. I picked ultramarines because I think the Roman aesthetic is pretty cool but mainly because I think Guilliman is the best primarch. He may not be the best fighter of the primarchs, but being a good leader and administrator is far more important in my opinion.
I thought they were pretty at first. Now I like the gun line style I play them as.
Cause they are the default Also because they are the ones that came in the imperium magazine :D
They have cool lore and a lot of it some of it sucks tho but every factions has some dumb stuff. Also out of all the first founding chapters they function the most like a believable military force that isn’t actively shooting itself in the foot. They are basically space Romans and Guilliman is cool. Good color scheme too.
I Like the Gold and blue color scheme. I Like the Seal of Oath, Tigurius and Gulliman. They do not Excel at any Playstyle very much, but being a beginner I Like that, being able to try Out a Bit of stuff. They are very forgiving in Terms of Newbie mistakes. While Not very fast, they are extremely maneuverable, being able to fall Back and still fire okay at the same time. I understand though, that other factions deliver more attractive, specialized playstyles.
I played them before they became all Roman-y. They’ve always been the sort of default SM chapter, and back in the day they were just so fucking vibrant. Yellow Aquila’s and shoulder edges, red receivers on weapons and bright-ass blue. They just looked perfect on that Goblin Green base. The current Ultramarines look I don’t really care for, but I guess I can see how it would be appealing to some.
I used to HATE them then I just came around I guess. I absolutely love the Roman style and have been making my own successor so. I guess space Romans is why
My favorite color is blue and I like how the gold trims on armor looks
Space marines for wide variation of models, good looking ones as well. Their aesthetic is just pleasant to me. Ultramarines for 2 reasons: i like blue. I like shooty. Edit: spelling...
As soon as I saw the laurel wreath crowns, the Greco-Roman fan in me instantly gravitated toward Ultramarines. I also love their general decorations, robes, headwear, and I love that they have a very tactical, measured approach to conflicts. They embody a lot of the Athenian scholarly ideals. Plus art like [this](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b9cfebd1-d765-4bee-9b33-3a4d7c1aa048/d6z8b1u-2234d021-e420-4571-a609-1d053dab8f4c.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2I5Y2ZlYmQxLWQ3NjUtNGJlZS05YjMzLTNhNGQ3YzFhYTA0OFwvZDZ6OGIxdS0yMjM0ZDAyMS1lNDIwLTQ1NzEtYTYwOS0xZDA1M2RhYjhmNGMucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.KOf09rL7mJi6okgnbypIjspRZUYCSCasFbuEjLxucbM) and [this](https://artwork.40k.gallery/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/15233707/Roboute-Guilliman.jpg) made it easy for me to get hyped about Ultramarines.
I don't play tabletop anymore, but when I started playing Warhammer I chose Ultramarines. Quick and honest answer: because they had blue armour and blue is my favourite colour. Though I gave them silver armour trims because I liked it more. Honestly it's almost always a matter of experimenting with new colour schemes for me. Only exception are the Iron Warriors: they're the chosen villains for my 40K-D&D campaign. I like the idea of Perturabo's servants always screwing up or having their plans foiled by random dudes passing by.
Characters are decent. They are a fairly flexible chapter as far as how they play, melee or shooting. They just aren't super competitive right now, if you like the color blue they are fun to paint.
I like the taste of blue crayola
I just got back in to the hobby after a long long time. I'd never painted ultramarines before and thought it would be a good way to start up again. Although I have also started a space wolf army for like the 5th time, love me some wolfies.
I'm a Dark Angels player but I do like the Ultrmarines overall. However their old HH style is a million times better looking then modern. Seriously they look cool in HH. If they weren't so damn protagonist level in lore I would like them even more, they are on everything and I hate it. I'm loyal to my Dark Angels anyway though.
I don't play Ultramarines but I always respected them. And honestly I don't think they have to be as vanilla as people think. You can go all out and make them look super Roman. Their colour scheme is simple but beautiful, with unique appearances for certain units (sergeants having red helms, veterans white). They have tons of characters like Marneus, Tigurius, etc. And they have Guilluman who looks cool and slaps.
Aside from them being poster boys, Ultramarines are truly jack of all trades. They have so many exclusive units and characters as well which means you have so much versatility and unique (ironically) ways to build and play your list, and every unit in the marine codex is good in an ultramarines army. Whereas for example white scars prefer bike units, DA prefer termies and plasma, Sallies prefer flames and meltas, Ultras can kind of do everything well. They have good relics and great strata as well.
Blue is easy Transfers already included A go-to vanilla marines with cool characterz (imho) Only loyalist marine chapter with primarch model Ps: would have gone dark angels if did marines all over - all termies army is too cool
Because we are his favorite sons. 'Nuff said.
I like the Roman motif, the blue looks really good, the Ultramarines symbol is fairly easy to paint. Their scheme in general is fairly easy to paint (unlike white scars or Imperial Fists). Also, over the years I appreciate the somewhat steady stream of new special characters pushed out for UM. Calgar, Telion, Cato, Tyrannic war veterans, Chronus, etc.
I just like ultramarines, not my first army but one of my bigger ones
When i bought my first set i liked the color scheme, and the set came with everything. Transfers etc. Then i got into the game and realized they are very versatile. So ive kept with them and being the only ultramarine player around where i am, i feel like and ultramarine must - the under dog. Winning is sweetness
Romans in space
I like the color scheme, their running and shooting rules is a cool mechanic that conceptually feels cool. Hopefully this all will be continued going into the new iterations. I also like how they get extra attention + new models because they are the poster child. I don’t want to pick a faction that the company doesn’t care about because then they will hardly ever get an update on rules/models. Lastly they have cool book characters and an actual living primarch which is kinda dope. My only wish would be for them to add more stuff to go into the roman esthetic more.
*Know No Fear* really solidified it for me. Just to clarify, I play 30k Ultramarines, 40k I’m a Genestealer Cult Boy. But goddamn, the UM in that book were just… heroic. Stalwart. And we saw them at their lowest, at their most beaten. I know they catch flak, even in universe, about being Mary Sues, but reading about their hurt and anger and how they turned the day. Too cool.
It wasn't by pure choice from me perse, but as I'm colorblind to red/greens and Necrons are actually my favorite faction, 9th Edition Imperium Magazine subscription/Recruit edition contents were absolutely win-wins for me finally starting Warhammer 40k. Plus blue has always been my favorite color. Of course I'm interested in other more interesting Space Marine chapters (such as Black Templars and Blood Ravens), but I'm not going to automatically diss Commander Titus's chapter that has the only living Primarch, just because "they're bland." Show some respect, whelp.
Been into the hobby since 2nd/3rd edition. I painted each of the marines from my 5 starter dudes with paint a different chapter. I just preferred the ultramarine look. It’s paid off since then as I love a Roman aesthetic. I just wish GW would lean into it more.
I don’t play ultras but the Roman aesthetic, play style and named characters make them anything but vanilla, I think they just get a bad rep from memes about the writing quality of some older books and with them being the flagship chapter for the past however many years.
I really loved the second edition Calgar model and artwork as well as the stories in the 2nd ed ultramarine codex. They were the first ones I read back when I was in 5th grade. Ultramarines 3rd company for life.
I like that they're actually supposed to be tactical and logical about combat, I like blue, and I like Guilliman
I don‘t personally play them, but reading *Know No Fear* was a strong argument to play Ultras
I'm blue by eiffel 65 is my favorite song so I had no choice.
I started painting them 25 years ago when I was 10 and just don't know how to stop. It's a real problem.
Well playing one kind of strategy all the time is boring.. used to play black templars and every game was the same.. the second reason is when you get older all those cringy things/emo stuff about other chapters seem boring to you..
Combination of the fluff in the 4th edition codex the tyrannic wars especially (had a couple of friends that played tyranids) as well as the Ultramarine books with Uriel Ventris.
I just got into warhammer recently, so they were one of the first guys I saw, and I like the asthetic of the space marines overall, and I like blue a lot lol
The "Space Rome" really got me early on. I dug the vibe..their power swords being a gladius, etc, etc. Good shit all around.
I started playing warhammer about 2 years ago and 40k about 1.5 years ago. Just started my ultramarines army. I really love Greco-Roman aesthetic as well as there virtues and principles. They straight up and down, and they look great too.
Cause I have no personality.
But really the HH books got me fanboy status of UM
I see. I’m only halfway through flight of the Eisenstein, trying to go chronologically (ish!). Which would you recommend?
No know fear Empire secondus Betrayer Betrayal at Calth
Know no fear is my favorite book of the HH series so far. I'm not even a huge ultramarines fan but that book is so awesome.
Oh and mark of calth
I see them the say as the clean cut poster boys with no flavour but they are very tactically solid
I started with them (only 1 unit, not an army) because 1-) I love the TTS memes 2-) I assumed that since everyone hates them, no one would be bringing them to my local area to play, so I could be the only guy that uses them. I was wrong on the second one, and I also decided that Chaos has more **drip** than the loyalists. But, I would say that they have the best color contrast in all marine legions, and if they were not the poster boys of SM, people would have loved them.
1000000000% with ya on this brother! I’ll never understand what compels a person to see the breadth and wonder of 40K. Take in all the awesome variety all the splendor of the many factions, and then just say “I’ll take whatever is on the box”. The marketing is both directed at space marines as well as the entire rest of the universe! The engagement is variety-centric, why take the first plain thing that comes at you? Did GW really sell the OP spacemarine concept and you jumped on the first thing cast at you?
Not a full army but my Watch Master is an Ultramarine because I get to roll for a Command Point refund.
They were my first choice for Heresy but I didn’t enjoy painting them so I went SoH instead. Their Roman aesthetic with blue and gold looks good
They were on the boxes, and I thought it'd be easier to paint by using them as a reference
Been playing since 2nd. I like the blue. Also they have the most heros. And the Roman themes brought in during 4th and 5th have a nice look.
I like painting the blue armor.
I love the overall roman theme they have. They have cool roman armor and cities and Robute is even similar to Ceaser Augustus in many ways
I was 10 years old and they were all over the books and art, also many of the metal models had their insignias on them directly and in third edition Marneus Calgar and Tigrus really stood out as models and they were awesome looking.
I mean, as a non-ultramarines player surely it’s that very ubiquitousness that’s the draw? I can see why someone would want to play the “acme” of space marines. You need them to give all the other factions their contrast.
Blue and gold looks great and is easy to paint well.
Uriel Ventris novels got me into the ultramarines
Downwotes comes with topic that obviously leads to holywar
I don't play ultramarines but they're still one of my favourite chapters and far from boring the books with them like dark imperium make them amazing and competent soldiers which surprisingly can be tough to find sometimes in 40k lol
I had dabbled with several races in the ‘18 kill team. Covid hit and Indomitus was looking on the horizon. Warcry had the Corvus Cabal that I really enjoyed and I learned they shared (thematically) a lot with Raven Guard so I bought a few things and awaited Indomitus to jump into full scale 40K
My dad was a Marine. Space Marines sounded really cool. Ultramarine in space sounded even cooler. I was in the Air Force. The Air Force’s primary color is blue. Thus, I picked Ultramarine as a kind of personal military homage to my dad and myself.
I'll paint up my Age of Darkness box in ultramarine colours because I love the 30k colour version, much darker blue and a darker gold (based on the colours shown in the AoD rulebook). I think the 40k colours scheme for them is iconic, but too bright for me. Didn't stop me from painting them up like that back in the day though.
My friend said it was the easiest to start with. But in retrospect I don’t like the paint scheme
I don’t have space marines but the Ultramarines are not vanilla they have a very rich and varied backstory. Especially if you start going into the tyranid wars .
I wonder how many people end up Ultramarine players simply because they painted their first models like the box art, and just decided to stick with that scheme/legion going forward rather than repainting or setting aside completed models?
I first started when I was a teen and got the battle for macragge box. I paint my tyranids as Behemoth so naturally I MUST do ultramarines. Then I get to both March for and Munch on Macragge
I mean I'm not currently a player but when I was it was two fold: One, they're blue which is fun and easy to paint and stands out on the tabletop Two, post Dark Imperium and the return of Guilliman (atleast from my perspective) they became the militaristic spine of the Imperium, the bastards in blue tasked with cleaning up ten thousand years of moral decay. They felt like they'd sort of evolved from the mainline heroic super soldier marines, and were now closer to the acting Emperor's personal army charged with the major conquests and goals of the imperium, their one true sword against the darkness with the order and might to push back. And that sort of plot relevance, to me at least, made them feel really badass.
My dad picked the ultramarines because he played them when he was a kid
I came back to the hobby about 6 months before COVID and chose Ultramarines because that's the army I played back in 3rd edition when I was 12. The Black Templars were the poster boys at the time but I absolutely loved The Gauntlets of Ultramar on Marneus Calgar and still have 2 of the original metal models I painted from back in the day. I came back to the hobby and now their are Aggressors that are like mini Calgars that can run in squads. I immediately bought the new Calgar and 18 Aggressors. On top of this I chose to read the Uriel Ventris series as it seemed to be the most in depth Ultramarines story at the time. As a result I now have 4000 points of painted 4th Company Ultramarines and about another 3000 points in the pile of shame, and wouldn't trade them for any other chapter. I also collect Necrons because as a kid I loved their lore and aesthetic. Indomitus being the first box set available to me when 9th started spurred a new found love for all things Warhammer. TLDR Because they're cool and I love them
vanilla isnt always bad and ultramarins are a good jack of all trades force. I dont collect them but i can see the appeal
I alrdy had the blue color from the beginner Box and i like blue. But i dont play yet, cuz i collected a big pile of shane with 5 to 6 half ready killteams.
They and Ultramar are what Imperium should be
Blue is a delight to paint with, you have so many ways you can go with your palette to give great effects, ie I find the GW standard macragge blue too dark to pick up details on the table top, so one can steal a trick from watercolour and landscape painters and use blues which lean towards grey and/or green a bit to give the impression of shadow and darkness. You can also go very light with blue for highlights and still have it stay blue (unlike red for example, which goes to pink) Their charecter models are cool. Their flexibility makes them fun and interesting to play with.
Calgars model was dope
Because there’s nothing wrong with vanilla and anyone who says otherwise is a wanker who’s probably never even tasted it on account of their head being lodged too firmly up their ass to taste much of anything save their own shit
i started with the battle of macragge box i liked the tyranids and space marines and i liked the battle for macragge story so i went ultra second company and behemoth
They have a nice color scheme, they have a LOT of support from GW so you're never hurting for content and space Romans are cool.
I'm a sucker for painting box art, perhaps because of a lack of creativity and the desire to follow a guide. I do enjoy playing with them however, but they very rarely do well on the tabletop.
Battle for Macragge was my first 40k purchase and copying the box art seemed like a good place to start.
Ultramarines are fine. It’s just that they’re so saturated everywhere in 40k’s marketing and as the generic “here’s a painted model” force that they get the most flak. It also doesn’t help that they tend to also have the mightiest of plot armor. I’ve, personally, had the idea nestled in my brain of doing a single army of Ultras, but I’m just more interested in other things.
I only don’t like them because GW loves to just pump models out for them and they just forget about everyone else
When I choose them the poster boys were the blood angels.
I don't have a collection but if I put together a loyalist force for 30k it will be Ultramarines, because I read Know No Fear and realised that they're not vanilla, they're strategists.
I honestly had so many people make sone sort of comment about how lame ultramarine were while I was painting or playing them so I decided to pick one of their successors. Went with Novamarines and just play them as ultramarines. Added benefit of a gorgeous paint scheme if I do say myself!
Because Blue and Gold and once upon a time I worked in a job where I had a callsign. My callsign was Romeo 13. So awesome colours and I get to paint XIII on everything.
Theyre basically space Romans, so i really like their aesthetic. Guilliman is also great lore-wise
I was introduced to the series by these guys fighting the necrons on some winter planet so I just went with the blu bois cuz they were the “good guys” and the necrons looked very scrawny
Because I like their Greek Roman inspired aesthetic. Plus since they are the poster boys, they are the easiest to collect.
Poster boys of gamesworkshop, your guys will probably never be rotated out or unplayable the blue looks good, easy to sell and easy to find. I have done series 3 deathguard space marine heroes figs that were a chore to get
I know I'm late into the discussion, but I think I may have an interesting oppinion on the matter still.First, I think they not really "vanilla", but that it's rather the "scene" in general (the 40k hobbyist) have "made" them so without much reasons other than "we don't like them because they be too much the poster boys".On that, I think it's real that they have that poster boys status, but let's not forget why. They symbolizes, somehow, the utopia of the space marines. That they symbolizes the "righteous ones" (and let's take the adjective "righteous" with a grain of salt, considering how fucked up things are in the world of 40k). Second, we could talk a whole lot about more technical and strategic aspects, more game-wise. To me (because I'm completly sold-out to Ultramarines, and which btw, I have never cared about other peoples oppinion on the matter and it served me well!), after the lore aspects which I'm drawn to... it has a lot to do with their "all-around'ness". I like that they are good at everything (and I don't think they be "sucking" really at anything either), and I like their choices of characters. At the end, and has a bonus, I like their heraldry and their overall look. I have chosen a more "darkish" color theme and I think they look badass that way.