Primaries and The Great Rift

[Marshall Heber]

Greetings brothers, I am new to the forum and this is my first post.

 

I have been modelling and painting on and off for years, though have never actually played a single game.

 

Having come back to the hobby after a number of years, there have definitely been a few developments!

 

I am wanting to actually play a game and so need an actual army rather than a collection of random models. Of course, the mighty Templars are the only choice, and so a the Tempestus Crusade begins.

 

I do have a question regarding the new Primaris Marines and The Great Rift. If a Crusade were on the wrong side of the Rift, they would not be able to receive any new Marines, right? My Crusade will be fluff based and I don't want to include Primaris if that wouldn't be feasible fluff wise

[Arganias]

If a Crusade was on the far side of the rift, the Imperium Nihlis, they could still recruit. Chapters usually maintain a sizable amount of geneseed on their ships or chapter fortress. Also, new geneseed is created roughly every 50 years if I remember right, from new space marines.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

The Indominitus crusade did reach the other side and reinforce some chapters there. The Blood Angels are a notable example. But it doesn't mean that a crusade fleet would definitely be found out there.

[Quixus]

The Indominitus crusade did reach the other side and reinforce some chapters there. The Blood Angels are a notable example. But it doesn't mean that a crusade fleet would definitely be found out there.

That's exactly what I was about to say. So it is up to you OP, if you want to include primaris marines in your army or even make a (splinter) crusade entirely of primaris.

[Honda]

First off, welcome Brother to the Eternal Crusade!

 

As you have discovered, much has changed, yet there is still plenty to discover.

 

Some thoughts regarding your crusade:

 

• As was posted above, Primaris marines have made it to the other side of the Great rift.
• Depending on how you want to structure your story, "close to areas of reinforcement" could be represented by more Primaris present in your crusade, farther away from areas of reinforcement could translate to less.
• Do you have non-Primaris models that you will be using along with Primaris? Some people like to mix, others don't.
• One "mix" option is to just use units of Primaris that aren't direct equivalents to Crusade squads, e.g. Hellblasters and Reivers
• Primaris are larger than older models, but that doesn't have to be a barrier.

 

In my case, I use Primaris as attached resources of Imperial Fists,  which gives me a story point for their inclusion while still explaining the pre-existing marines.

 

Anyway, have fun figuring out the story of your crusade, it will really help you on the modeling side as well as provide backgrounds for your games. Our group is heavily aligned towards a narrative approach in our games and it is the spice in our gumbo.

 

I look forward to seeing some of your crusade when you are ready to share.

 

Cheers,

[Marshal Vespasian]

Greetings and welcome to the eternal crusade.

 

As I see it, Primaris lore is deliberately wonky in terms of not being defined and leaving us maximum room for what we want to do with them as players.

What I mean is, you can incorporate them in any way you want to. I am 2/3 done with plague war and in it there are two examples of primaris in their respective chapters. Don't read the spoiler if you can't stand to know anything from the new book:

 

On the one hand there is Felix, who is a tetrarch and close confidant of Guilliman. Also the Ultramarines seem to have integrated their Primaris well and those Primaris are veterans of the Indominatus crusade with a century of warfare under their belt. You can have your guys be grizzled veterans if that is what you want.

On the other hand there is a guy named Justinian who is trying to integrated into the Novarmarines. He doesn't like his new chapter and doesn't feel connected. They also don't know him he's the new guy. Came there 6 weeks ago. They even ask him if hes seen any battle at all since there are accounts of primaris fresh off the production line who freeze up in battle, since they never really fought before

 

I guess your fluff can vary. You can be reinforced or you can't be. You can be reinforced since yesterday and have a bunch of giggling interns on your ship or you can be reinforced since a century or so and be sporting a primaris marshal if you want to. Or anything inbetween.

You can show the difference in modeling. Been crusading for a century? Go all out on the chains and tabards and purity seals. New guys? Just give them pristine clean black armour with fresh chapter markings and thats it. Your choice really. 

[redmapa]

The Indominitus crusade did reach the other side and reinforce some chapters there. The Blood Angels are a notable example. But it doesn't mean that a crusade fleet would definitely be found out there.

 

According to GW there is at least one Crusade on the other side of the rift and they are heading to the Ghoul Stars.

 

As to the struggle these crusades may or may not have with reinforcements there's always a way to excuse that, they could either fall back to the Blood Angels (Since Guilliman turned them into a strong point in the galaxy with Dante in charge) where they could receive the know how on making Primaris, also Helbrecht could simply send a group of Primaris in search of the Crusades that are on the other side to check their status and/or reinforce them.

[Marshall Heber]

Many thanks Brothers for the kind welcome and clearing that up for me. Much of what I have read seemed contradictory. I knew the Indomitus Crusade had gotten through but also that the rift was near impossible to navigate and those on the dark side were essentially cut off. I'd also read somewhere that chapters were not able to make their own Primaris, they could still make more of the regular astartes though.

 

The back story I have started is that a number of small crusades, stranded and severely depleted, banded together. They were reinforced by a small contingent of Primaris Marines before heading off to clear their sector of any and all xenos and traitor threats. They may be unable to join the rest of the Imperium but they can at least bring the Emperor's will to their small slice of the galaxy.