Primaris Marines - Is the Sky Falling?

Having now read the new 8th Edition rulebook, Guy Haley's 'Dark Imperium' and the few crumbs of information drip-fed to us from Warhammer Community posts I think I'm ready to put my rambling thoughts on the new Primaris Marines into a blog post of some kind...I also pre-warn you I'll be bouncing between fluff and crunch...sometimes in the same sentence...

Meanwhile...In the Imperium...

So in the dim and distant past, just after the Emperor and Horus had a bit of a tiff on a certain space-ship and just before Guilliman decided that going toe to toe with Daemon Prince Fulgrim would probably turn out fine he approached a certain tech-priest of the Mechanicum called Belisarius Cawl and asked him to make him some better weapons as he had a sneaking suspicion that things might go to shit pieces in the near future...and then got his throat cut and himself put in a display case...

...awakened later by a mixture of Xenos and Imperial technology, a bit of sorcery and some dramatic timing Primarch Guilliman had a few adventures before getting on with the important business of annoying the Ecclesiarchy by pointing out that his dad was not in fact a god at all, the Admistratum by replacing any-one he didn't like the look of, the Mechanicum by telling them to stop messing around with Space Hulks and banning things that they don't think are cool and finally the Space Marines by effectively telling them all they aren't good enough to do the job that they'd been doing pretty solidly (in their opinion) for quite some time, so after asking Cawl if that order he placed 10,000 years ago had been delivered yet Cawl made some new Marines appear basically from nowhere...

So to summarise the summary Primaris Marines aren't technically new as Cawl has been tinkering around with them for quite a while but kept it to himself because Guilliman asked him to do it and then didn't get back to him about what exactly to do with them...I know...it sounds a bit silly when you summarise it...sorry...

Origins and Creation

Several official sources have stated that the Primaris Marines creation involves three additional organs over and above the nineteen that are used in standard Astartes and Cawl states in Dark Imperium that the Primaris Space Marine gene-seed has only a .001% chance of genetic deviancy from the original baseline with the passage of each generation and specifically states that this also applies to Primaris Blood Angels and Space Wolves (so no Primaris Death Company or Wulfen then...in theory...) Cawl also has samples of the genetic material of all twenty Primarchs (so that's the two 'lost' ones and all the 'Traitors' as well as those that remained loyal) but has been specifically forbidden from using all but that of the loyalists...as the following excerpt from Dark Imperium by Guy Haley will illustrate...

‘Furthermore, he has continued experimental implantation and monitoring of the thus-far unused gene-seed in experimental test subjects. That of the Second, Third, Fourth, Eighth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth Legions all show no sign of degradation or incidence of unwelcome tendencies within the recipients. All is well, my lord, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl reassures you. He is so satisfied that I am instructed to repeat his request that those gene-lines be put into full production and be allowed to serve the Imperium as the Emperor intended.’

‘No,’ said Guilliman firmly. ‘I cannot allow it.’ 

‘My lord, the characteristics of your brothers are too valuable to discard. The Emperor’s original schema of warriors bred to specific purposes is sound, and should be exploited. Under the current circumstances, we are operating with half our weapons unavailable to us. The plan is unbalanced. Putting the remaining eleven augmented Primaris gene-lines into production would allow far greater tactical and strategic flexibility of Space Marine forces, particularly when working in concert.’

‘I say again, no. Do not progress any further with this research.’

‘The warriors were not at fault. The science is not at fault. Their primarchs were. Chapters from your gene-line have also fallen in the past millennia, lord regent, and we do not censor them.’

‘I said no!’ said Guilliman forcefully.

The important things to note about the above exchange is that even though Guilliman has said no it hasn't stopped Cawl from making a few (he says quite specifically that he is monitoring implanted test subjects) so there are Primaris versions based on all the genetic heritage of all the Primarchs stored in a stasis vault somewhere or more worryingly sitting in Cawls lab discussing how badly all their bosses got screwed over. From a background point of view this means in theory it only takes an "Okay go on then..." from Guilliman or a "Screw it, why not" from Cawl for us to have loyalist Iron Warriors, Night Lords, etc wandering about. Though this might be fun I can't see it happening in model terms unless Games Workshop decides it wants to sell you Primaris Chaos Marines or Loyalist versions of the Traitor Legions at some point in the future...which they might I suppose...there's also these two statements from Guilliman to consider...

"Cawl was a magpie magos, taking what he needed no matter its ancestry." and "For all his usefulness and his desire to save mankind, Guilliman could foresee a time when Belisarius Cawl became a problem."

So it's not unreasonable to expect that Cawl may have tinkered with the gene seed in ways he didn't tell any-one using technology he could have gotten from anywhere...anyway, that's just speculation on my part...I play Chaos a lot so I don't like it when the loyalists are the only ones getting new toys...and if Games Workshops long term (or short term possibly) plan is to 'true-scale' everything then they'd have to find a way to justify taller Chaos Marines as well...Many online theories about Cawl messing around with gene-seed have been prompted by the Primaris Reivers...who have very similar tactics to a certain traitor Legion with a fondness for leaping out on people and making interesting displays out of their entrails...

"Reivers are masters of terror"...now where have I heard that before?!?!?

This next bit bothers me quite a bit so some personal bias is going to appear...okay...here we go...it has further been stated that a standard Astartes can be turned into a Primaris version by adding the three 'new' organs...which is just a tad preposterous. A Space Marine's chest is such a solid mass of bone that even their own Apothecaries have trouble operating on them and their bones are basically filled with artificial materials to make them tougher...and I doubt it's very stretchy. In my humble opinion this has only been added to the background so when they redo Space Marine special characters in the future they can justify making them Primaris versions of them. This also unfortunately adds some weight to the opinion of many that the phasing out of the original marine models is definitely on the cards at some point...

In case you were wondering, these are the three new organs...I can kinda see how they're attempting justifying turning standard Marines into Primaris ones but these new implants sound more like video game power-ups than biological upgrades to be honest...

Dark Imperium also states that some (and certainly all of the first lot of Primaris Marines that Cawl basically already had built) were volunteers from the legions native planets and therefore were about when Guilliman was about the first time around. In fact there are a group of Primaris Marines in Dark Imperium that embody their legions core values and attitudes so closely that there's no other real explanation for their natures than being from the appropriate planets originally. The Iron Hand has a taste for bionics, the Space Wolf is an blustering tattooed axe thrower and the Dark Angel is well...a Dark Angel. Another excerpt from Dark Imperium further justifies this opinion...

'Felix had been born on Laphis not long after the end of the Great Heresy War. He remembered his childhood better than any of his peers appeared to, and that meant he recalled the Imperium as had been long ago, when there was still hope. He remembered old Ultramar, the Imperial Truth and the rekindling of optimism as the threat of Horus receded. He had been thirteen years old and ready to join the Legion as a neophyte when Cawl’s representatives had come calling, bearing the highest seals of all, and Felix had had one future taken away and this nightmare substituted in its stead. But he had kept all of his past, through millennia of stasis. He had forgotten nothing.'

Now from a rules point of view Games Workshop have been very careful to give the Primaris Marines different roles from the standard Marines and general they're less flexible in purpose and weapons load-out. Their Tactical Marine equivalents (Intercessors) for example have no special or heavy weapon options and though their Bolt Rifles are better than Boltguns in a number of areas (range and armour penetration) so they are overall less flexible but still a solid choice for the points Their two wounds make them more survivable against anti-infantry though heavy weapons are more of a threat due to them generally doing multiple wounds of damage so they again fulfil a different objective holding role. Their Hellblaster unit Primaris Marines are all armed with Plasma weapons so as with the Intercessors they are very specific in purpose, their Assault Marines ( Interceptors) are shooty rather than stabby, etc.

In background terms this is explained as Guilliman organising the new marines more under Legion lines (as he's got a lot of them in the beginning and he doesn't split them up into chapters till the end of the 'Indomitus Crusade' campaign) and that this also makes tactical organisation simpler for the (at the time) inexperienced new Marines. In practical terms this means that a pure Primaris army is marginally less flexible than one made up of standard Marines but still has equivalents in every role (or will have when their heavy weapon unit (Aggressors) are released). Aggressors are described in Dark Imperium as having backpack fed missile launchers and arm mounted Flamers and I'll be surprised if we haven't seen the models for those in the next month or so. This unit will give Primaris Marines a 'Heavy' to go with everything else and make them (more or less) self contained as a force.

Editors Note - Or maybe we'll see them about eight hours after I first posted this article...

Here's a description of them in action courtesy of Guy Haley...
"The Aggressors stomped forwards, their Gravis-pattern armour protecting them in the teeth of the Death Guard’s fire. They returned fire as they advanced, rockets shrieking from their backs on needles of white heat. The loading mechanisms in the weapons clunked repetitively as they replenished their racks from the Aggressors’ internal ammo stores. Plumes of fire billowed from their flame gauntlets, drenching everything with burning promethium."

It is also mentioned in Guy Haley's novel that nearly all Chapters have accepted Primaris replacements (The figure mentioned is 94% If I remember correctly), some destroyed Chapters have been rebuilt using Primaris Marines and many new pure Primaris Chapters are also now in existence so this means that from a background point of view you can have pretty much any combination of old and new and it's still 'fluffy'...which is pretty clever marketing really as nothing is really excluded from your army from a background point of view...

Tru-Scale and the Death of the normal Marine...

"Felix pondered how Calgar might feel about the primarch’s unilateral altering of the Codex Astartes. The captain could not help but feel that, in his drive for victory and efficiency, Guilliman had been careless with the feelings of his existing sons. Increasingly, Guilliman looked to the Primaris Space Marines as his first solution. He made no attempt to hide the fact that the days of the older Space Marines were numbered."

He has a point...as new Primaris models are released the tactical gaps and minor strategic weaknesses of the current will gradually disappear and I'll be very surprised if any of this new equipment that Cawl apparently is churning out is going to translate into any new arms, armour or vehicle options for the older model of Marines. New players will be exposed only to the 'new' variant and older players starting new Marine forces will inevitably be drawn to the more recent releases. The other issue is aesthetic...many people understandably like their armies to have a unified look and it's easy to see how a player who adds a Primaris unit to his existing force will start to be bothered by the differences in style and height of otherwise quite similar miniatures. 

The imminent Space Marine Codex will no doubt have the majority of the standard units in there somewhere as well as a full load-out of Primaris units to go along with them...what I'm willing to bet it wont have is any new units or options for those aforementioned standard Marines despite the fact that there's no real background reason for why none of these shiny new toys have been produced for the half a million or so Space Marines that were already getting stuff done. Of course the original scaled Marines wont disappear overnight but without support in the form of new releases or upgrade packs I wouldn't be surprised to find that one day in the not to distant future Primaris Marines become the standard with the originals being relegated to bit players. The funny thing is I suppose that Games Workshop doesn't even really need to actively get rid of them...we'll more than likely do it for them...

Though there is a fairly amusing bit in Dark Imperium when one of the standard Marines has to bail-out the Primaris Captain which shows that the Black Library authors at least still can find reasons why we need the originals...

"Maxim raised his staff and let its base thump into the mess of mutant plants at his feet. At his touch, they shrivelled back, revealing the filthy paving underneath. ‘You of the Ultima Founding are mighty warriors, but you still have much to learn. A century of war is poor preparation for the foes we must face.’
Standing tall again, Felix swallowed. With a trembling thumb he upped the output of his sword’s disruptor field to burn off the last of the traitor’s baked-on gore.
‘Then our intelligence is correct,’ he said. ‘This is the right place.’
Maxim nodded curtly. ‘The strength of the device is astounding. We must destroy it. Now.’
Felix shook off his battle fugue. He had never slipped so far from himself. He was on the verge of apology, but Maxim spoke first.
‘Be careful,’ he said, and strode on."

Of course I might be wrong...and if some point in the next few months a shiny new vehicle appears that doesn't have 'Primaris Only' in the description or a Space Marine unit with upgraded weapons and armour is released that isn't a Primaris one then I'll stand corrected...but I'm willing to bet real money that I won't be...which is a shame as supporting both can't really be that difficult...can it GW?

Update - Several people have commented in the various places I posted this that there are many people using miniatures produced twenty years ago that are still finding their way into the various codices and that it's unlikely that GW would alienate so big a player base by writing off the original Space Marines. As the owner of nearly five hundred Marines of various types I sincerely hope this is how it'll be...I suppose we'll all just have to wait and see...

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.