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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

What counts as a Space Marine?

So as I have mentioned here and elsewhere, Ive cut the number of armies I own down to the bone. By bone, I mean I have a lot of Cryx and a bit of Protectorate and Cygnar, a Tomb Kings army and some Chaos Warriors Im debating assembling, and several Imperial Space Marine armies.

Its the Space Marines I am concerned with today, for a couple of reasons. As of right now, the Chapters represented (by having 1 or more models) are Space Wolves, Black Templars (though I did just get rid of about 90% of them), Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, Marines Errant, and of course the Red Scorpions. My few Ultramarines and Silver Skulls have a new home, and I have someone VERY interested in my Marines Errant. That would leave one army for each "variant" codex, and two Codex chapters. But this is not my concern, just a warm up.

I was talking to the Wife earlier today, and mentioned that I was very tempted by the rumored Codex: Chaos Legions. She said that Id be breaking my rule, since they are not Space Marines. I argued that they are, just a bit more spiky. She argued back that just going by a different appearance didnt matter, Id be going against the spirit of my No New Armies rule... but if that were actually a concern for me, I wouldnt have started Grey Knights, would I? Grey Knights are even more different from a Codex chapter then Chaos at its best/worst...

Obviously, if I started Chaos again, they wouldnt fit into my Crusade army theme, but what does everyone think, do Chaos Space Marines count as Space Marines, or as "something else"?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think chaos space marines are space marines.

Despite the spikes, they are essentially the same dude. Almost every weapon profile save for the Havoc Launcher and Reaper Autocannon are available in the generic edition, as are the vehicles (Other than the defiler).

Break it down:
Commander/Captain - Lord
Librarian - Sorcerer
Terminators - Spikey Terminators
Sternguard - Chosen
Dreadnoughts - Spikey Dreadnoughts
Tac Squad - Chaos Marines
Assault Marines - Raptors
Rhino - Spikey Rhino
Landraider - Spikey Landraider
Vindicator - Spikey Vindicator

Etc.. Can't be bothered typing more but I figure that should be a very easy sell to the Minister of Treasury and Finance!!

I think we're pretty similar, I entertain the idea of getting away from Marines all the time and always have something to grumble about, but I just keep starting new Marine armies. Haha.

AbusePuppy said...

If it has 4s across the statline and a 3+ save, it's a Space Marine. I also roll Necrons in there because, despite Initiative 2, they are essentially just Space Marines who have a wacky version of Feel No Pain.

Mike Howell said...

This is definitely a case of spirit of the law vs. letter of the law. What was the purpose of limiting yourself to Space Marines in the first place? Yeah, in game terms and background story they are pretty much Space Marines, but did you limit the armies you own because of game stats or fluff?

Define the purpose behind your limitation and then re-examine your desires from within that context.

Unknown said...

>.< Actually, what I said was it'd break your rule about ARMIES!! How do *I* know what counts as a Space Marine?! You said that technically it didn't break the "no new army" rule (which was his, not mine. I've had nothing to do with his purging) as they're all Space Marines. I asked if that meant you could then use models from different chapters/legions/whatever all as one army, and you said "no". So, my point was *ahem* there are many varieties of Space Marine, but they're each technically separate armies, therefore to pick up that new legion/chapter/whatever WOULD break your "no new army" rule!

Unknown said...

This is a debate we all have at some point of our gaming life, and in essention it is a case (like mike said) of spirit vs letter of the law combined with the desire to collect the shiny stuff.
I did the same exercise and ended with a blood angel army that will include mare and more strange (count as) troops so I can play every marine like codex with them

my advise; take a look at why you installed the "no new army's" rule
why do want this new army an how can you combine both without compromising either to hard.

griffit

Anonymous said...

Denied!

Unknown said...

Haha, thanks all. Let me lay out the actual wording (and spirit) of my Rule, and we will all see how I was just spoiling for a fight. :)

My rule was: "No New Armies". However, I was counting my Space Marine Crusade as a single army, which is why I didnt balk at adding the Grey Knights.

Chaos Marines, however, would not be part of a Crusade (well, maybe a Black Crusade), so starting them would be breaking the letter and spirit of my rule.

Still, I might start them, if the rumored book comes to pass.