If you say Warhammer 40K to someone, the chances are that the first thing they’ll see in their head is a Space Marine. Towering armoured super soldiers roaming the galaxy for centuries, fighting in the name of the Emperor.
They graced the front cover of the first Rogue Trader 40k rulebook in 1987, and they’ve been the poster boys of the franchise ever since. In that time, the lore has been expanded to mind-melting proportions and the Space Marines, or Adeptus Astartes, have blossomed into a veritable rainbow of giant dudes in power armour. If you’re new to the hobby, or just keen to get an insight into the strongmen of the Imperium, here’s all you need to know.
1. They Aren’t Strictly Human
The first thing to understand about Space Marines is you don’t want to be one. Far from being a voluntary undertaking, becoming a Space Marine involves being abducted as a child (or offered up on threat of death) and put through a process of genetic mutation and biological implants which will probably kill them, but if they survive, they have a lengthy session of brainwashing and brutal physical appraisal to look forward to.
The result is a being that can live for thousands of years, rip people in half with his bare hands, breathe underwater, spit acid and survive in the vacuum of space. They also have two hearts, three lungs and a bulletproof ribcage, obviously. The downside is that, depending on which gene-seed the subject was given, they’ll be given some sort of fun genetic defect. Favourites include the Black Rage, an overwhelming state of murder frenzy, and the Canis Helix, which essentially turns you into a wolfman.
2. There’s a Chapter for Everyone
Far from being confined to a single force, the Space Marines are broken up across hundreds of chapters, each with its own distinct feel. The OG legions all lean on particular tropes. The most famous of these would be the Ultramarines (Roman Empire), Blood Angels (vampires), Dark Angels (Knights Templar), Black Templars (Knights Hospitaller), White Scars (Mongols on motorbikes) and Imperial Fists (the yellow ones).
If none of those appeal, you can either select from the seemingly endless stockpile of ‘successor chapters’ that exist within the lore, or just make up your own. Many players develop homebrew chapters with their own paint scheme and backstory and it fits just as well as anything else.
3. Easy to Learn, Hard to Master
Space Marines have always been the entry-level army for 40k. They have very simple standardised rules which make them perfect for beginners. They have average or above-average resilience, strength and accuracy, all things that you need to get to grips with early when you start playing the game. That’s the tip of the iceberg though.
Because there’s so much history and so many chapters, the Space Marines are the most varied and versatile army in 40k. The index card deck for Space Marine units is about 3 times the size of all the other ones due to the sheer volume of models and combinations you can muster. Each chapter has its own unique heroes, and some have unique infantry and vehicles as well. Figuring out which style you like best is a rewarding journey, but one that demands patience.
4. Perfect for Beginner Painters
More so than any other army, the Space Marines make ideal canvases for learning how to paint. The smooth, relatively large surfaces of the power armour are ideally suited for learning how to basecoat, shade and highlight, and the helmets and weapons reward precision without being off-putting fiddly. Nearly every starter painting kit Games Workshop have released has contained a Space Marine for this reason.
It also affords a great opportunity to figure out how you prefer to work, whether you like to fully assemble a model first or paint it in parts (called ‘sub-assembly), for example. Most standardised techniques work well on Space Marines too so you can play around and see which approach suits you best, and then once you’ve tried it on a few standard marines, you can move on to something a bit more detailed like a Captain or Librarian.
5. They Aren’t Exactly Good Guys
Contrary to popular belief/box art, the Space Marines are not heroic. Their most direct enemies, the Chaos Space Marines, are more ‘evil’ in the traditional sense, but a visit from a Space Marine chapter is no picnic either. Prior to the civil war known as the Horus Heresy, the Emperor undertook a massive crusade (imaginatively called The Great Crusade) to spread his influence across the galaxy. Worlds were either bullied into surrender, violently conquered or, when that didn’t work, blasted into oblivion from orbit.
Just how screwed you are if Astartes drop pods start descending depends somewhat on the chapter, but it’s not something anyone ever looks forward to. Thankfully they are so few in number that most civilians never come close to seeing one, but if they do, chances are it’s not good news.
6. There are Plenty of Colourful Characters
Given that the Space Marines take centre stage in the majority of Warhammer novels, over time a plethora of interesting characters has emerged. At the very top, you have the Primarchs, the original genetic father of each chapter. Two of them are currently available as models in the 40k game – Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman and Dark Angels Primarch Lion El’Jonson (yes, that really is his name).
The most prominent chapters all have at least a couple of other named characters in the mix as well, all with their own distinct look and feel, as well as at least one or two books’ worth of backstories. Some fan favourites include the kill-crazy Gabriel Seth, Vulkan He’Stan the badass archaeologist and Bjorn the Fell Handed, a literal walking coffin older than any other living Space Marine (although living might be a stretch).
7. All the Models You Could Ever Want
As mentioned previously, the Space Marine mini range is, frankly, bonkers. With the latest edition of the rules, restrictions on how army lists are organised are a thing of the past, which means you can build any kind of army you want. You could build an entire army of bikers, a mechanised force brimming with tanks and aircraft, a swarm of jump-pack marines or a big cast of characters flanked by dreadnaughts and heavy weapon specialists.
Along with the model variety, there are also several different army boxes with different flavours to choose from, so you can get a solid grounding to start building your force. Just to compound that, a host of new Space Marine miniatures were recently announced, so now really is a great time to join the Emperor’s finest.
8. They’re Easy to Build and Very Customisable
A good rule of thumb in Warhammer is that the chunkier the model, the easier it will be to put together. This is especially true of Space Marines, as they are also typically the first range looked at when the moudling/design process gets updated. The compounded result of this is that you can assemble a squad in a fraction of the time it would take for the fiddly, spindly equivalents in armies like Tyranids, Aeldari and (shudder) Adeptus Mechanicus.
Recent developments also mean you can be a bit more creative with the poses in many cases, and the removal of points restrictions for different gear/amazing variety of loadout options in the box means that you can try out all kinds of weird and wonderful combinations. Just be sure to check the army rules to see if there’s a cap on how many of a particular weapon you can take in a single squad.
9. They Have Terminators
Each Space Marine legion contains 10 companies of around 100 marines, ranging from the least to the most experienced. The 10th Company is always comprised of Primaris Marines, the latest batch to make it out of the gene lab. When you get to the 1st Company though, everything changes. The most experienced veterans get access to something very special – Terminator Armour.
Terminators are bigger, badder and altogether more formidable than standard marines, and they act as the point of the sword in most army lists. They also look incredible, from the cloaked Deathwing of the Dark Angels to the axe wielding Wolf Guard of the Space Wolves. No matter what kind of force you’re envisioning, Terminators should always be involved.
10. Their Story is Still Being Told
Even as we speak, new novels and in-game narratives are being woven for nearly every Space Marines chapter. In the last year alone, the Primarch Lion El’Johnson has woken from his 10,000 year slumber, the Ultramarines have entered a new, massive campaign against the Tyraind hive fleet Leviathan and Blood Angels Chapter Master has returned, having undergone a genetic upgrade.
New lore is flooding in all the time, and if you align yourself to an established chapter, you’ll quickly find it’s a bit like picking a sports team, with new stories, volumes, army rules and models emerging consistently. With that in mind, it’s advisable to shop around a bit before deciding, see which story you find most compelling.
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