GW changed the rules for Firstborn Space Marines again in a new Legends-ary 180-degree walkback after community outcry.
Firstborn Space Marines got split into two lists of Legends on August 24, and if you came away thinking those lists meant two different things, well, you’re not alone. That’s because GW presented them that way, and then even expanded on what they meant in their article.
Now, eleven days later, GW’s new Q&A says those lists weren’t really two different destinations after all. Or maybe it was always the plan, and nobody bothered to explain it? Either way, now those proxy rules are temporary, and proper Legends datasheets are confirmed to be coming later for all the Firstborn models.
Confused? Good, so are we… apparently these were always the rules for Firstborn Space Marines.
GW Made Two Different Sets of Legends Rules, Then Walked Them Back In a Video
- The take: August 24 didn’t give us half an answer; it gave us a completely different one, and the Q&A video swapped it out without saying so.
- The evidence: GW now calls Legendary Proxies interim, with real Legends datasheets landing weeks or months after the codex and app support behind them.
- What changes if we’re right: your Tactical Squad goes back to being a Tactical Squad instead of living out its life as somebody else’s datasheet.
The most important timestamps in the video to listen to are:
- 1:49 to 2:34: This is the smoking gun. The question is essentially, “Why don’t all units get real Legends rules?” GW says models such as Tactical Squads will initially be used as Legendary Proxies, but calls that “an interim measure.” They then say that “a few weeks or months ahead, all of those units will then move into official Legends rules,” and that those rules will be supported in the app. They even spell out the sequence: Tactical Marines proxy as Intercessors when the codex arrives, then later you can use them as Tactical Marines again when their Legends rules drop.
Now, go back and look at that Space Marines Legends post from August 24th, because this is where the confusion all started. One list covered units leaving the codex and becoming Legendary Proxies, and right underneath it was another list for units leaving the codex that would get Warhammer Legends rules.
Centurions, Predators, Vindicators, Whirlwinds, Dreadnoughts, and the flyers all made the second list. Tactical Marines, Devastators, and Suppressors didn’t. Not to mention that GW updated this article the next day to include Dreadnoughts without telling anyone either.
Sure, GW never literally wrote, “these units will never get Legends rules.” But when one group is sitting under a Legends heading, and another isn’t, people are going to assume those groups are headed somewhere different: one as traditional Legends, and one as proxies for what they listed. That’s not exactly a wild interpretation.
Now GW says they’re actually two stages of the same process. So instead of one group getting proxies and another getting Legends, the proxy group is apparently just waiting for its Legends rules to show up later on in the app.
We think that’s a pretty important detail to leave out the first time around.
If that’s what GW intended all along, it would’ve been nice to know before everyone started trying to figure out how a lascannon Tactical Marine was supposed to be an Intercessor.
Tactical Squads Show You Exactly Why This Was Broken
Tactical Squads are where the original proxy idea starts getting weird fast. GW’s instruction was to run them as Intercessor Squads, which sounds simple until you actually look at what a Tactical Squad can carry.
Tactical Marines have always had access to special and heavy weapons, while Intercessors don’t have those same loadouts. So if your squad has a plasma gun, flamer, melta, missile launcher, or lascannon, you’re suddenly using an Intercessor datasheet that doesn’t really match what’s standing on the table.
Your models stayed legal, sure, but the unit they represented basically disappeared.
Devastators Were Never Going to Pass the Eye Test
Devastators were probably the roughest proxy on the whole list, and we said so at the time.
The instruction was simple enough on paper: Devastator Squad becomes Desolation Squad. Except Devastators can carry lascannons, multi-meltas, plasma cannons, grav-cannons, heavy bolters, or missile launchers, while Desolation Marines are missile troops.
So once you’ve got a Marine standing there with a lascannon and the rules are telling both players to treat him like something else, that could be a bit much.
Suppressors Got the Weirdest Assignment on the Board
Then there are Suppressors, because somehow they ended up with one of the strangest proxy assignments of the bunch.
Suppressor Squad becomes Inceptor Squad, except Suppressors aren’t even Firstborn. They’re Primaris-era Marines on flying stands with long-range accelerator autocannons. Inceptors also fly, but they’re dropping in close with assault bolters or plasma.
So yes, both units are Space Marines in the air. That’s about where the easy comparison ends.
The guns are different, the models look different, and they don’t do the same job on the table. Under GW’s new explanation, though, Suppressors get to be Suppressors again once their Legends rules arrive instead of spending 11th Edition pretending those accelerator autocannons belong to an Inceptor.
Pedro Kantor and Uriel Ventris Are the Part GW Skipped (Again?)
Pedro Kantor and Uriel Ventris are a little less clear, because GW didn’t call either of them out by name when it explained how this new Legends setup works.
Both characters were in the original Legendary Proxy group, with each one pointed toward a generic Captain. GW’s new explanation appears to put the other Legendary Proxies on a path toward proper Legends rules, but its examples focus on units like Tactical Marines and Devastators.
So we’re not going to turn that into a confirmation that Pedro or Uriel are getting a datasheet when GW didn’t actually say it.
Pedro does come up later, when GW confirms he’s still alive in the lore and says he could get another miniature someday. That’s nice to hear, but it answers a completely different question.
The Handover Period Is Still Going to Be Strange
GW hasn’t scrapped Legendary Proxies, so don’t start changing anything yet. When the Codex launches, these models are still using the proxy rules. Then, a few weeks or months later, the real Legends datasheets are supposed to arrive, and GW says they’ll also be supported in the Warhammer 40k app.
So for that middle stretch, Tactical Marines count as Intercessors, Devastators count as Desolation Marines, etc.
Then the Legends rules land, and everybody gets their old jobs back. I mean, it makes sense once you know that’s the plan. It’s just not the sort of thing anyone would’ve guessed from those original two lists, or the whole Warhammer Community article about it originally.
Final Thoughts on Firstborn Space Marines and Their Legends Rules
The frustrating part is that none of this needed to be complicated.
GW could’ve said from the start that Legendary Proxies were temporary and proper Legends datasheets would follow later. One sentence would’ve done the job, and players would’ve known exactly what was happening with their old Space Marines.
Instead, the August 24 post split those models into separately labeled groups and left people to read the obvious meaning from the way it was presented. Eleven days later, we’re being told those groups were really part of the same process.
Maybe that was always the plan internally. Maybe the original post just did a lousy job explaining it. We can’t prove anything beyond what GW actually published.
What we can say is that if your clarification changes what people reasonably thought the first announcement meant, you’re correcting the initial announcement whether you call it that or not.
🔗 Related Reads:
- GW Pulls The Plug on More Space Marines, Sends 17 Units To Legends
- Firstborn Space Marines Aren’t Illegal, They’re Just Homeless Now
- New Warhammer 40k Legends in 11th Edition: Rules & Datasheets
- New Space Marine Codex Buffs Marines but Cuts Model Counts
- New 11th Edition Space Marines Detachments Drop Big Buffs For Every Major Chapter
- New 40k Codex Release Schedule: 2026 Roadmap for 11th Edition
Do you buy that Legendary Proxies were always meant to be temporary, or did GW change the answer after reading the room?
