Brother Steve, the Primaris Marine can’t help you here, as Jstove explores what a Primaris Marine is, and if they replace normal Space Marines?
Updated on June 17th, 2025, by Rob Baer with the latest information and links.
So your buddy just slapped some giant power-armored lads on the table and said, “These are Primaris now”—and you’re wondering what happened to the classic Space Marines. Fair question. Primaris Marines hit Warhammer 40K like a bolt from the sky, and it’s left a lot of people asking if the old-school battle-brothers are being phased out.
In this article, we’re cutting through the noise to answer two things: what exactly a Primaris Marine is, and whether they replace regular Space Marines. Spoiler: Brother Steve might still have a place—but it’s complicated.
Space Marine Vs Primaris Marine?
Primaris Marines are cool new marine models that are bigger and beefier than their stumpier Space Marines cousins, but they aren’t actually better or more necessary than the other guys. Belisarius Cawl created these new guys, with plenty of bolt rifles and sinew coils! If you get them in a starter box, you can use them, but never let anyone tell you they are absolutely superior in every way or that they will ‘phase out’ the smaller marines.
Here’s the truth about Primaris Marines.
- They suffer from generalism (maybe due to them having the Belisarian Furnace). Most primaris units have limited or no weapon options (but have been expanded lately with things like the Desolation Squads), and they are hard-locked into being played a certain way. Most of their units are cool-looking, but not superior to their tiny marine alternatives; some, in certain cases, may actually be inferior. Don’t lose sleep over it. Use what you’re given when you’re new, but don’t worry about whether one will make the other obsolete.
- Primaris marines cannot use any transport except the Repulsor tank, so if you like Land Raiders, Stormravens, or any of the other marine transports your army may have access to, keep that in mind.
- More wounds is not always better. There are plenty of weapons in the game that will knock him down just as easily as any one-wound marine.
- What Primaris Marine units are recommended? The Hellblaster plasma primaris marines are universally accepted as the most powerful primaris marine unit and are legitimately pretty great. If you want to play a shooty marine army, they’re a good deal. The Redemptor dreadnought is also just pretty dang cool, and you can get a cheaper snapfit version of him that has the minigun arm, which, in my personal opinion, is a cooler and more effective weapon option.
Shiny Space Marines are HARD TO PLAY.
Shiny marines are super elite, super cool, and super “Specialized” marine armies that are very popular with new players. What are the shiny marine armies?
GREY KNIGHTS
DEATHWATCH (They’re actually black, not shiny)
ADEPTUS CUSTODES (They’re not actually marines, but they are a shiny marine army.)
What do new players like about shiny Space Marines?
- Low model count- shiny marine armies are so elite, they’re often low model count, making them less intimidating to collect a whole army.
- Easy to paint– 90% of the painting done on shiny marine armies is accomplished with a can of gold, silver, or black spray paint.
- Affordable- Because of the low model count, new players often mistake them for being cheaper because they need fewer models.
The Truth About Shiny Marines…
- Low model count- Actually makes the army completely unforgiving and difficult to play. The more expensive the model is, the more it hurts when you roll 1’s.
- *Super elite- Shiny armies are billed as super-specialized elite marines. They aren’t actually super specialized at all; they’re more like supreme generalists. Because they are so few in number, every unit in a shiny army has to do every job for you to succeed, because there’s no one else to do it. This makes them very hard to win with.
- Affordable- This is a lie. What they don’t require in dudes, they require in support. Every shiny army needs expensive transports for its infantrymen to get to the front line safely. For shiny armies to be competitive, they often have to pick up more efficient cheap crappy dudes as allies to fill in the holes. Yeah, you read that correctly- The cheap hordes you were trying to avoid by playing shiny dudes are the ones you have to buy to make shiny dudes win.
- Shiny marines are a trap for noobs. They look cheap to collect, cool to paint, and super boss, but in the hands of an inexperienced general, they are an absolute nightmare to learn the game with and an uphill battle. As an experienced 40k player, there’s nothing worse in the hobby than walking into a shop and seeing a new player slopping paint on some grey knights or custodians, and just standing back and biting your lip, knowing he’s not going to win a game for the first 6 months of his hobby life because he’s chosen such an unforgiving army to start with.
The Rulebook is Actually Kind of Awful
With a quick Google search (or, of course, go to the great resource that Wahapedia is), you can find quick play rules online directly from GW. Also, you can buy a complete rulebook.
In a PDF version of the rules, you can at least use the search function to find the sentence you are looking for and dig up the rule.
Spend your money on your CODEX. Buy a hard copy of that to read and hold in your hands; it’s worth it.
Final Thoughts on The Difference Vs Primaris & Firstborn
Plenty of marines have crossed the Rubicon Primaris.
Primaris Marines aren’t replacements—they’re just the new kids with a different set of issues. Bigger, flashier, and more restricted, they don’t outclass classic Space Marines so much as sit beside them awkwardly at the family dinner. Shiny armies look cool on the shelf, but they’re not beginner-friendly.
Don’t fall for the low-model-count trap. Play what you like, learn what works, and build an army that hits the table swinging.
The most important thing is having fun. You’re definitely not going to have fun if you put your heart and soul into your hobby, and then constantly lose because nobody told you the facts about your army. You can still have fun when you lose as long as you make the other guy really bleed for it.
Check Out All the JStove Originals!
