Why are 40k Marines so popular?

Serious question, all memes aside:

To all you 40k players who play both loyalist and chaos Space Marines, here is my honest-to-goodness question:

What's the appeal?

Warhammer 40,000 is a vast universe full of many possibilities and many choices in who you decide to spend money, time, and effort in the army you elect to play as. To this day, though, it befuddles me that the scales tip so heavily in favor of the really-really-big-men-in-armor versus the variety of choices you would otherwise have. So please, in all seriousness: Share with us why you started collecting Marines. And maybe we will all have insight into why Space Marines (Chaos and Loyalist) are the most popular armies that Games Workshop caters to, to this very day.

Why do you play your boring ass faction that the vast majority of 40k players don't play and would rather play marines instead? You tell me.

>why don't I like these things I don't like
>explain to me why these things I don't like aren't like the things I like

I stumbled upon the Index Astartes of the Thousand Sons and the Iron Warriors when they were released, and I fell in love with these Legions.
Afterwards, there's a lot more stuff written from a marine pov than from a Xenos one.

>marines are pushed everywhere
>get the most competitive and up to date models and rules
>which means people buy them
>which gives GW to give them more new models
GW just sells space marines, they killed Fantasy to sell space marines and are now making dwarf space marines.

Space Marines are genetically modified warrior-monks who are strapped into power armour, and handed a rapid fire missile launcher.
They come from a massive variety of chapters, and can be played in different ways...

However really they were the first army I ever got, and I didn't want to have to start another from scratch.

Genetically superior demigods methodically stomping out everything they deem unworthy of existence without remorse or respite.

They cater to my repressed fascist tendencies I carried with myself from my teens while also being on the 'good' side. Plus the whole 'knight' aspect.

>marines are pushed everywhere
Hello, child, might I tell you about how SM and CSM outsold all armies 3 to 1 since RT days, despite Eldar consistently being the most powerful army in the game for 6 out of 8 editions?
You didn't know that? Of course you didn't, you got all your 40k knowledge from Veeky Forums, who only knows the game as far back as 4e!

Space Marines look cool.
They have cool lore.
They have the always outnumbered, never outmatched thing going for them.

2+ / 3+ save.

Good stats overall.

Anything you can do my marines can do better etc.

A combination of a love for super soldiers and a love for fancy plate armor.

I like knights
I like space knights
I like magical space knights

Don't get me wrong, I also like Imperial Guard, Nectrons & Orks, (if Imperial Guard had more choices than Cadians, perhaps a bunch more neo-gothic armor, instead of generic space soldier stuff) but not nearly as much as I like magical space knights.

As a hobbyist, the biggest appeal is the fact that space marine bits come in the gorillions and you can easily make a lot of conversions with little effort so long as you've got a few boxes lying around. Hell, I bought the sternguard set just to make other kits look better and never even assembled one of them.

I will say that they get boring, though. Seeing other armies that are way harder to convert because of a lack of options is always nice to see properly done, especially if no third party are involved (not that those are bad, but the actual challenge of staying in GW to make good models that are unique)

They're human, but powerful humans, often enough portrayed as heroes.
Being human appeals to humans(as most players are), power and heroism appeals to people.
Then you have different primarchs and chapters that appeal to more specific demographics
>I like romans and like to complain about how HBO cancelled Rome in favor of GoT
ultramarine
>I like vikings and listen to manowar way too much
space wolves
>I like to migrate and form cantabrian circles
white scars

I don't collect warhammer figurines, but for me it is pretty easy to see why they are popular.

They are popular because they appeal to player's egos. Same reason Call of Duty is popular. Or why Fast and the Furious is popular.

The Black Legion's color scheme was what first caught my attention, and when I read their background I liked the idea of orphaned, vengeful sons paying tribute to insane daemon gods but retaining their focus. Some nicely-painted Terminators sold me on the aesthetic, and the rest is history.

>I like romans and like to complain about how HBO cancelled Rome in favor of GoT
>ultramarine
>I like vikings and listen to manowar way too much
>space wolves
>I like to migrate and form cantabrian circles
>white scars
>I like twilight but also Jesus
>blood angels
>when I come home from work I like to play Work Simulator 40000 and my sand castle is better than yours
>imperial fists
>when someone pulls out a cigarette I feel the need to give him fire
>salamanders
>different religion? talk to my chainsaw!
>black templars
>I like to write sad poems with a razor on my own arms
>raven guard
>dear diary let me not tell you what totally didn't happen today!
>dark angels
>hey you - stop having feelings over there
>iron hands
>I like to collect my sisters tampons
>gray knights

Because I love the idea of super-soldiers, and space marines do it in an interesting way that other games and shit don't really do

Sexless man-children in armour.

I can't imagine why.

Because there is more fluff and crunch for a single chapter than there is for the entire faction of Dark Eldar.

They are the poster child of 40k and GW will milk that sucker harder than Disney milking its Marvel acquisitions.

I just like 'em is all.

I like my easily themeable Knightly Orders in Space.

because eldar are for virgins who want to fulfill their elf fantasies, orks have too many models, and tau are for the weaboos

>girl
>in a hobby store

kek

Easy to paint
Easy to customize
Well supported
Flexible play style

They have the most lore which makes them have the most accessible lore, people are prone to read about how cool and hard-ass the Space Marines are which might be their entry to the franchise.

Lel funny pic

Always liked the Thousand Sons. They are those who fell, trying to do the right thing, placed in an impossible position, tainted by eternal evil... what's not to like?

I play Grey Knights because I love playing small, elite forces over massed armies.

It takes a special kind of autistic to not be able to see their appeal. Like Anakin claiming the Jedi are evil level autistic.

>What's the appeal?
simple but effective design

They're a blank canvas. The fact that there are so many variations is a result of that.

>world eater
That entire store is one botched brush stroke from a bloodbath.

I like the background of the different factions.
Easy to paint.
Decent on the tabletop.

>literal posterboys of the setting
>all the fluff revolves around them
>they have the most expansive fluff of any army.
>easy to paint. most of their body is solid-colored flat armor panels.
I actually would've played IG but i don't have a lot of money and the betrayal at calth box set was a really good deal. Space marines just kinda grew on me after that.

This. You can think of an idea, a fighting style, a real-world culture, a mindset, etc., and you can slap it on some space marines. Chances are your idea will either exist already in a chapter more or less or you can make one pretty quickly. Big armor gives you plenty of space for piant jobs and sigils, it's easy to paint, and easy to put personality into.

>To this day, though, it befuddles me that the scales tip so heavily in favor of the really-really-big-men-in-armor versus the variety of choices you would otherwise have.

Because they're my third army, and I like Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors. Plus, the FW range really hits the "gothic future" aesthetic that I love.

Huge men in armor to cater to manlet fantasies. And be honest, most 40k players DO have self esteem issues, and can't communicate properly with women, so the big humans who are perfect in every way are the desired choice of those people.

Prove me wrong.

Space Marines aren't perfect in every way.

>perfect in every way
See, you started out well, but then you showed just how much you don't know, and it gives you away.

I ride a motorcycle.

When it was time to pick an army I'd just finished reading Conn Iggulden's Mongol series.

I think my choice was pretty self explanatory.

Well look at her, she's mousy, flat, and unappealing. It makes sense that she'd be a colossal nerd. A hambeast would also be an acceptable portrayal.

If she were a bubbly, busty, social butterfly, then we'd have a problem.

The Raven Guard, right?

Clearly he picked Space Wolves.

How'd you know?

What are their flaws besides them being religious zealots?

I honestly don't know, I just wrote why I, specifically, don't like Space Marines

And one bite of the Nails away from that bad brushstroke.

>I don't know about something, but I'll judge anyway
They are not the legionaries of old, expected to be many things, they are living weapons first, last and foremost.
Their entire existence is blood and death, until they die themselves. To wit, no one really knows how long space marines live because they ALL die in battle, Dante the sole living exception.
It is not a blessed existence; the crucial thing you are glossing over is that being a space marine means surrendering your own life and happiness for humanity. A life of quiet suffering and a violent death is the lot of a space marine, all for a race that may well fuck it all up anyway, but at least now have the opportunity to do something better.

I've never liked Space Marines themselves, but I've always been a Chaos fan.

They have interesting fluff, man. A lot of the traitor primarchs have tragic stories about being duped and manipulated into treason, sold out to otherwordly god-like beings, and thrust into the raw warp just to survive.

That's cool.

I specifically like Death Guard/Nurgle, because according to the fluff Nurgle is probably the kindest major player in the 40k universe. He loves his followers like a father.

He's what the Emperor pretended to be to manipulate a bunch of vat-born manchildren to conquer the stars for him.

How does the sales hierarchy go again?
Marines>Spiky Marines>Eldar>IG>etc
So Eldar are the most popular xenos right?

The reason I find them interesting is I like the idea of humanity triumphing over obstacles and enemies that would tear a normal baseline human to shreds and render a planet like modern Earth completely barren through devastation.

In this regard though I prefer the Imperial Guard over them because unlike Space Marines, Guardsmen are going in pretty much completely unmodified.

Then again, there's no real faction I really dislike in 40k. Which is sort of strange because I can normally decide on a favorite faction for every other game I've played. The tie for my favorite faction personally is between the Tyranids, Necrons, and Imperial Guard.

>Chaos fag
>muh papa Nurgle

Get help user, your daddy issues are ruining your life.

They're cool.

Muay Thai marines when

How can I make this worthwhile and 1000pts?
Eventually I'll buy more, but this is combining what I have with a couple SC boxes. That means I have a soare archon, but throwing that in means I need to drop equipment etc from elsewhere.
++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Aeldari - Drukhari) [49 PL, 956pts] ++

+ HQ [11 PL, 204pts] +

Archon [4 PL, 79pts]: Blaster [15pts], Huskblade [10pts]

Lelith Hesperax [7 PL, 125pts]: Penetrating blade

+ Troops [16 PL, 286pts] +

Kabalite Warriors [5 PL, 94pts]
. 8x Kabalite Warrior [56pts]
. Kabalite warrior with Heavy Weapon [27pts]: Dark Lance [20pts]
. Sybarite [11pts]: Power sword [4pts], Splinter Rifle

Kabalite Warriors [5 PL, 89pts]
. 8x Kabalite Warrior [56pts]
. Kabalite warrior with Heavy Weapon [22pts]: Splinter Cannon [15pts]
. Sybarite [11pts]: Power sword [4pts], Splinter Rifle

Wyches [6 PL, 103pts]
. Hekatrix [9pts]: Hekatarii blade, Splinter pistol
. 6x Wych [54pts]
. Wych with Wych Weapon [14pts]: Shardnet and impaler [5pts]
. Wych with Wych Weapon [13pts]: Razorflails [4pts]
. Wych with Wych Weapon [13pts]: Hydra gauntlets [4pts]

+ Fast Attack [10 PL, 224pts] +

Reavers [5 PL, 105pts]
. Arena Champion [30pts]
. Reaver [30pts]
. Reaver with special weapon (up to 1 for 3 models) [45pts]: Blaster [15pts]

Reavers [5 PL, 119pts]
. Arena Champion [34pts]: Power sword [4pts]
. Reaver [30pts]
. Reaver with special weapon (up to 1 for 3 models) [55pts]: Heat lance [25pts]

+ Dedicated Transport [12 PL, 242pts] +

Raider [6 PL, 126pts]: Disintegrator cannon [30pts], Shock Prow [1pts]

Raider [6 PL, 116pts]: Dark Lance [20pts], Shock Prow [1pts]

++ Total: [49 PL, 956pts] ++

Considering one of the EMPLOYEES of one of my local GeeDubs stores is a girl, it's more likely than you think.

Well shit, posted this in the wrong tab.
Sorry.

Giant super soldiers are cool, and GW has given them the most development and characterization since day 1

The Emperor's Eight Limbs

They come into stores fairly often. They just don't buy anything, never play games and leave quickly.

They revere the Emperor but they don't, as a rule, worship him as a divine figure.

Dark sorcerers of immense power guarded by legions of soul-trapped dust puppets who do their malefic bidding seemed rad

Maybe sprinkle some oregano or cilantro on your bait user, it's a bit too obvious.

It's the most consistently supported army with the lowest barrier to entry at every level.

Painting them is easy, building them is easy, fluffing them is easy, converting them's easy, playing them is... at least you have options.

>mfw prime, fit specimen normalfag with high self esteem
>play the hobo chapter that everyone hates because I'm not compensating for anything

Theory checks out.

And that chapter is?

>he doesn't know

Learn your lore feggit

The chapter has earned the nickname "Lightning Dancers" due to the power field that sheaths the legplates of their power armor, and the strange dance ritual they perform before every fight. Close combat elements of this chapter are known to go into combat unarmed, save for the occasional power fist, using their devastating power legs to cut down their foes.

I like super soldiers, power armor, and knights.
Also generic stuff is usually going to be the most popular because it's the easiest to digest for mass audiences, it's why heavily market researched stuff like Call of Duty and Marvel movies are so popular. Most people don't like to step outside of their comfort zone and power armored space marines are a pretty big comfort zone in pretty much any sci-fi setting.

Assholes Malevolent

People like the idea of space marines in all sci do and they added ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEAL to that

I don't even play 40k, but is it really so hard to understand why the cheapest, blandest, simplest, and most extensive faction is also the most popular?

Why is instant ramen the most popular Asian food?

People hate them?

Marines Malevolent are based. Those civilians had what was coming to them once they made contact with the Orks.

>cheapest, blandest, simplest things are the most popular
>instant noodles is the most popular Asian dish

Neither of these comments are true or not-retarded.

>civilians

Chances are they were just diggas, xenos sympathizers, and orks in disguise anyway.

>instant ramen
>bland
>cheap

Learn to Shin Ramyun Black you filthy non-weeb.

IG are better than marines for the same reason Sam is more likeable and sympathetic than Boromir or Aragorn.

IG aren't Sam, IG are the nameless soldiers from Gondor or Rohan.

Why the hell would I care about the other races to begin with? They're uninteresting, undeveloped, and often flat two dimensional copies of something far better. At least Space Marines have some (ironic I know) original vibes to them in both appearance and organization and have some pretty good books. The only faction with better fluff than Marines is the Inquisition, and they aren't exactly an army.

Trips speak the truth.

The fact that they're all raging zealous nutjobs with zero social skills who have few (if any) friendships or emotional attachments? That they're basically children with stunted emotional maturity, have no pleasures in life besides their job and most chapters have no down-time with the only form of 'entertainment' being training?

Perfection - this is why most people play them. They represent the ideal of growth - smart fit and deathly warrior that can kill in library and battlefield alike. If you could be like anything else in 40K in real life what would you choose ? Eldar ? - Emo self centered egoisit fucks that let their race to die out ? Orks ? dumb violent and simple ? You get the picture - Space Marine is what we all would like ourselves to be - and guardsman is probably what we realy are

>Since the RT days
>Were already pushed front-and-center as the most important army
>There were only Marines Eldar and Orks in the RT days, not a bajillion armies
Such competition. Much wow.

Eldar were only so powerful because Shuriken cannons cut through marines for cheap.

You know, we say things like that, but the IG relies on named characters more then pretty much any other faction.

I think for a similar reason Tau is kinda popular; because they're the good guys (or at least not the bad guys).

Chaos wants to kill/convert everything.
Tyranids want to eat everything.
Necrons want to conqueor everyone.
Dark Eldar want to inflict maximum pain.
Eldar are boring space elfs.
Orks are Orcs.

Imperium forces more or less are fighting to save the whole of humanity.
Tau are trying to subjegate everyone into a peaceful society free of evil.

Also they're the poster boys, easy to paint/customise, cover every demograpgic from emo, autist, faggot, etc. & look cool in a silly way.

I actually started with Tyranids when I got into 40k, I loved the aesthetic, and I loved the whole "extragalactic locust" theme they had going on.

Normal Space Marines always kinda bored me, thought their asthetic was so "blah" (even though that really does depend on the paintjob, as I've now realized). At some point, I got myself a copy on a Grey Knight codex and started reading through the lore, and for some reason, it just stuck. I loved the crusader helm the all come with, and so at some point I ordered a Brother-Captain to try out painting Grey Knights, and voila, a year later I've got a full-blown army of Knights next to my nids.

Thinking back, my appeal for these armies both stem from my childhood, I used to love Dinosaurs (Nids), then I had a phase where I loved Knights (GK), and then at about 7 or 8ish years I moved on to Spaceships and stuff. I think 40k is, at least to me, a bit like the "creative culmination/combination" of what I enjoyed in my childhood.

The thing I can't stand most about Space Marines is how every faction is always the best, most coolest faction of grimdark edgelords ever. Eventually all of the special bullshit which makes each chapter "unique" pretty much melts across untill the lines are so blurred its hard to keep track anymore.

>SpaceWolves
I absolutely loathe Space Wolves, I think they're an utterly ridiculous concept which panders to teenage anime fans. They're nonsensically overpowered whilst basically being wrapped in fanservice/plot-armor BECAUSE WOLVES ARE SO COOL lmao xD

>Dark Angels
"We're so cool because we ride bikes and speeders and wear cloaks and hoods and use swords and we're all secretive and stuff"
-emo faction

>Ultramarines
Actually pretty harmless, I think people who "chose" Ultramarines didn't realise that not all Space Marines are blue. They're a boring vanilla faction but at least its not bubbling over with repugnant special-snowflakery.

>teenage anime fans

Aren't most SW players metalheads?

Makes sense in the same way that people enjoy fantasy escapism in video games and stuff

see: Gears of War

>>I don't know about something, but I'll judge anyway
>implying someone should only be a die-hard fan who gobbles up all the lore before qualifying to make any comments or assumptions about my super special favoritest army evar

Can't you do the same for Imperial Guard?

maybe the old ones

You're Ameriacn, aren't you?

>I don't like something I don't know anything about
>you people, enlighten me

No. Why the fuck would you ever defend this. Either do the research yourself or just fuck off and continue not liking thing.

>zero social skills who have few (if any) friendships or emotional attachments
and that's a flaw how? No attachements - nothing to hold your hand back when you're shooting.

>triggered

I guess everyone should just automatically like what you like then

>Either do the research yourself or just fuck off and continue not liking thing.

Everyone should read is what they should fucking do.

My brother plays space wolves and he just loves vikings and metal. He does like him some eh anime though I know he plays them for vikings first.

That said I play a blood angels successor. They're flawed monstrosities in fluff. The actual reason I chose this army was because I wanted to play something that'd be able to get me as close to melee as possible.

Also fuck I love jump packs.

Your hand seems plenty busy tipping all those fedoras.