Thanks largely to the cunningly laid schemes of Erebus, of the Word Bearers legion, Horus Lupercal was turned to the service of the Chaos gods, and launched a civil war against the Emperor’s rule (later known as the Horus Heresy).įrom the Heresy’s initial, devastating ambushes at Istvaan III and V, and for all time thereafter, the 18 Space Marine legions were to be split by Imperial historians into two camps: they were loyalists, or they were traitors. Several times.įor the Four: Our guide to Warhammer 40k Chaos factions Then, tragically, the nefarious forces of Chaos intervened. The Primarchs and their Space Marine legions fought alongside one another for many years in the Great Crusade, successfully expanding the Imperium of Man far and wide throughout our galaxy – latterly under the leadership of Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the XVI Legion, named ‘Warmaster’ by the Emperor himself. Each legion was many thousands strong, and each bred exclusively from the genetic material of one of his extraordinary Primarchs – highly advanced primogenitor marines made from the Emperor’s own ‘geneseed’, who were to act as the Emperor’s crusading generals. Intending to breed an army with which to reconquer humanity’s lost holdings across the galaxy in a Great Crusade, the Emperor created 20 vast legions of these warriors – the Legiones Astartes. Space Marines are a fantastic way into the Warhammer 40k hobby, and we’ll explain everything you need to know.Įach Space Marine legion was created from a single Primarch In Warhammer 40k 9th Edition, after 30 years of development, the Space Marines are a huge, varied, and versatile army, with nearly 100 different units in the core Space Marines codex alone, not to mention stacks of Space Marine Chapters with their own rules and ways to play – but never fear.
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They’ve been the public face (or rather faceplate) of Warhammer 40k almost since its inception in 1987, and, now more than ever, play its starring role – from the vast, lore-rich Horus Heresy novel series, right through to Angels of Death, the headline TV show of GW’s new Warhammer+ subscription service. Let’s not mess about – even if this is your very first step into Warhammer, you probably already know a bit about the Space Marines.
Here’s our comprehensive guide to the Space Marine legions, chapters, tabletop tactics, codex, and lore. Arguably Games Workshop’s most successful creation, the power-armoured, Imperium-protecting super-soldiers of the Adeptus Astartes are not only Warhammer 40k’s best known characters they’re also at the centre of some of its best storytelling, and a perpetual favourite tabletop army. Warhammer 40k’s Space Marines are undoubtedly the veteran sci-fi wargame’s most famous, popular, and prominent army.