Primaris Space Marines
"They were forged for Mankind's darkest hour, and that hour is upon us" ~ Roboute Guilliman
"Hear me out; a Space Marine... Space Marine!" ~ The head of GW (and you thought they were talking about Centurions this whole time!)
Primaris Marines (also known as Ultra-Ultramarines, Supermarines, NuMarines, The Greater-est of them all, Adeptus Restartes,Super Space Marines, Guillimarines and Marines II: Electric Boogaloo) are the next step forward in Space Marine evolution (Not counting the Raptor supermarines by Corax during the Horus Heresy before Alpharius spiked the gene-tech with Daemon Blood). Big Bobby G got together with Belisarius Cawl and put together this next generation of Astartes. They are bigger, faster, stronger, and maybe smarter than all that have come before them. Buckle up boys, its about to get hot in here.
History and Background
Shortly after the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, Guilliman predicted that another major Chaos attack on the Imperium might come at some point in the future. Though the Space Marines had proven themselves worthy defenders of Mankind, the Primarch foresaw that there might be a time where even they would struggle against the onslaught of the Ruinous Powers.
In a frankly extreme show of foresight, he gained the aid of Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and began a program to create a new, superior form of Space Marines in secret over the next ten millennia. Even after he was poisoned by Fulgrim, Guilliman's plan continued without anybody learning about it, and by the time of his revival the first batch of Primaris Marines were ready to be unveiled to the Imperium.
Creation
New Stuff
- The basic Primaris Marine is encased in Mark X Tacticus Armour. Basically it's the best of all the suits that came before it wrapped up into one convenient package. (No Beakie schnozz, but its got that sweet Maximus style vox grill.)
- They wield the Mark II Cawl-pattern Bolt rifle as their standard firearm. Apparently a "perfected" version of the ubiquitous bolter, it does have an improved statline - [Range: 30" Strength: 4 AP: -1 and Rapid Fire] - which appears to be a boltgun with an extended barrel.
- An enhanced gene-seed, which was created with a mixture gene-seed of the Primarchs and parts of the Custodes (as they don't have gene-seed). Exactly how it has been enhanced is yet to be discovered, but expect skub when we run into the question of Grey Knight Primarii. Primarises?
Potential Problems
- While Primaris Marines are created from the gene-seed of all the Loyalist Primarchs, it is unknown how some of the more extreme genetic quirks of each bloodline will manifest in them. We could see anything from Blood Angels with cute little Cupid wings to Flesh Tearers with terrifying vampire fangs to translucent skinned Raven Guard to even blacker skinned Salamanders to Lamenters with greying temples and bags under their eyes to Space Wolves with fluffy little tails. Anything is possible.
- Primaris Marines seem to be made and trained exclusively on Mars by Cawl and Guilliman. They may bear the blood and colors of Raven Guard, Salamanders, Blood Angels or Space Wolves, but they may know next to nothing of the ways and culture of those chapters if Guilliman hasn't let in other members of those Chapters in to help (what little they might be taught could be skewed by Big G’s biased point of view), and are destined to stand uncomfortably apart from their brothers (even in chapters that fully accept them) just as the Terran marines did in the Legions.
- However, this mostly just applies to the initial batch. Guilliman is also providing every chapter with the ability to make Primaris Marines of their own, so future generations will be fully immersed in their respective chapters. And even then, regular Marines can be upgraded to Primaris which will help with preventing the loss of beloved characters.
- In terms of actual combat experience, these guys are jumping into the deep end as green as an ork's asscrack. They may be bigger, stronger, faster, and have better armor and weapons, but that doesn’t change the fact that the marines they are reinforcing are their seniors by centuries, and under normal circumstances, a Primaris Marine should still be a mere initiate. But then again, in "normal" circumstances they wouldn't have been made in the first place...
- Chaos will be interested in the Primaris Marines. The Chaos Gods are not happy with the existence of the Primaris Marines, and are creating some warp charged warriors to counter them. Fabius Bile will definitely be interested in them as well, and the possibility of Enhanced Primaris Marines, converting Chaos Space Marines into Chaos Primaris Marines, or even converting himself into a Primaris Marine are should be very worrying to the Imperium. They've supposedly been made resistant to Chaos, but "resistant" doesn't mean "immune" by a long shot. And come to think of it, the cover image of 8th Edition does seem to partially show a Plague Marine in Tacitus armor...
Types of Primaris Marines
So far we've only got one type, but more are on the way we are told. And now they're here.
Intercessors
Intercessors are the equivalent of Tactical Marines. They have an extra wound and attack compared to the original Tactical Marines and a Cawl Pattern Bolt Rifle in the place of the regular bolter, which should let them last a little longer in melee and give them a better chance against light vehicles than a bare-bones Tactical Marine squad. However, they also cost more points to field and cannot equip any special or heavy weapons, so they are going to require support against uber-tough models and won't be as flexible as their Tactical Marine counterparts.
Hellblasters
Hellblasters are Primaris Marines specialized with powerful anti-armor weaponry. Most notably a upgraded and more powerful Plasma Guns. They are tasked in terminating heavy armored infantry and vehicles and will come in handy when facing off against the armies of the Death Guard.
Inceptors
Inceptors are the Assault Marines equivalent of the Primaris Marines and are equipped with a new pattern of Jump Packs and a pair of absolutely ridiculous looking shoe-shovels. Unlike conventional Assault Squads however, Inceptors seem to play a similar role to Seraphim Squads of the Sisters of Battle, in a sense that they are armed with Twin Assault Bolters (AKA COD Akimbo style) for fast close quarters strafing runs, rather then full out CQC with a Close Combat Weapon.
Primaris Lieutenants
The Primaris Lieutenants are the Squad leaders of the new Primaris Marines. They are decked out with either a Power Sword or an Auto Bolt Rifle and are often the most experienced of a Primaris Squad. Some of them can be helmetless which often showcase an extreme amount of Hair-esy.
Primaris Ancients
Primaris Marines dubbed honorable enough to have the privilege of carrying the Standard's Banner. Identifiable by their white helmets (Although that could change depending on the Chapter), they are in no way related to another dude-clad-in-powerarmor-wearing-a-white-helmet-that-also-comes-with-the-same-name-from-a-certain-WH40K-game. For some reason they are called Ancients even though Primaris Marines literally just came out of the vats.
Primaris Captain
Primaris Captains are going to be the analogues of Space Marine Captains and are decked in a new Terminator-esque Gravis Armor which somehow manages to be even MOAR egg-shaped than a Squat Hearthguard. Expect it to be quite a tough nut to crack in the line of fire.
Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought
Only mentioned in passing in the Primaris Marines FAQ. For no matter how great and glorious they may be, in the grim future even they are not immortal. Though how enough of these brand spanking-new Space Marines were curbstomped just enough to warrant Dreadnaught status, we'll (probably) never know. Times be desperate, yo.