Opinion: Warhammer franchise needs to quit focusing on the Ultramarines

In the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, there is at least one pet group in the Imperial Guard, Chaos Marines and the Space Marines factions. While you look at the novels set in the franchise, there really isn’t much of a focus on any one group. However, once you get beyond the fiction and into the tabletop, console, handheld and computer games, the pet groups start getting attention. At least in terms of the pet groups of the Guard and Chaos Marines, they do a pretty good job of trying to cover as much as possible in each group’s codex.

Then there are the Space Marines. There are a lot of loyalist Space Marines chapters. You could even play the Legions/Chapters before they lost to the pull of Chaos. Still, with the amount of options that you could play, the Ultramarines get the most focus. This is where the complaints, as promised in the review of the book Legends of the Space Marines, start kicking in.

Sure, they are “the Emperor’s finest.” Then again, all chapters say that. It’s like a sibling rivalry with a bunch of brothers saying, “No. Dad loves me most.” So, if you were to promote a chapter by the fact that they were the Emperor’s finest, all of the possible chapters would get equal promotion and equal play. That would be true of even the second founding chapters that have rivalries with not only each other but also the chapters that they are derived from. In fact, they’ve got rivalries with each other, the legion they’re derived from and with the rivals of the legion they’re an off-shoot from. At least in terms of the fiction, they don’t really focus on the Ultramarines outside of the Ultramarines-specific series. What happens with everything else though? Ultramarines show up the most and get the most play.

At the moment, there are only a handful of Warhammer 40,000 games that feature Space Marines that don’t have the Ultramarines in there somewhere. Space Hulk follows the Blood Angels. Dawn of War I&II follow the Blood Ravens. That’s about it. Sure, the pen-and-paper RPG from Fantasy Flight Games Deathwatch is being worked up and you’ll be playing Space Marines. Even then, playing the Ultramarines are optional. It would ideally cover all loyalist Space Marines chapters. The ones that they’ve listed so far are the Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Black Templar, Blood Angels and Storm Wardens.

How about the general promotion that the Ultramarines get. They get the most attention in the Space Marines codex for the tabletop game, part of the reason why many of the other loyalist first founding chapters actually need a supplemental codex. In fact, before the third edition rule set was released, the Space Marines codex was specifically titled Codex: Ultramarines.

In terms of computer/video games, you see their influence everywhere as well. In Fire Warrior, they are the Chapter that the Tau ends up running into. They also end up fighting against and then beside the Tau in the game to defeat Chaos. They show up in one of the Dawn of War expansions, Winter Assault. In the game Squad Command you play as the Ultramarines. In Warhammer 40000 Space Marine, you’ll be playing Ultramarines. The upcoming movie Ultramarines naturally follows the Ultramarines. There have been two starter boxed sets for the tabletop game since I’ve started playing and they had Space Marines, but the storylines for each battle revolve around the Ultramarines. There’s also the Half Life 2 mod titled Exterminatus – Rival Species 2, which pitches the Ultramarines against the Tyranids.

Outside of the fiction, the Ultramarines have the largest promotional support in GW and other sources. Yeah, there are reasons for the attention they get. Their color scheme is easy. It’s blue and white with gold trim on some areas. It’s pretty much just that regardless of unit placement, unlike other chapters. For example, the Blood Angels and Dark Angels chapters have multiple color schemes just depending on the company that the units are in. It requires a little bit less attention to detail than the other chapters. They’re also the safest bet to use because they’re the easiest to understand. Their morals and beliefs are straight forward, being bound in unity, faith, courage, honor and justice. Their chapter was not divided by traitors and heretics like the Dark Angels. They’ve no other motives other than the protection of the Imperium. They aren’t suppressing anything like what the Blood Angels (their manic bloodthirst for example) or what the Space Wolves (the fact that some may physically change in Wulfen, essentially wolf-like humanoids that gave into their bloodlust) suppress. The Ultramarines get the attention that they get simply because they’re so safe and easy.

Sure, playing it safe isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, playing it safe makes a game/book/movie more accessible, which is good. But then again, playing things too safe just makes things boring if things are played too safe. Let’s face it, the Ultramarines – although stuffy and dry in terms of character – are not boring. That’s true simply because of the fact that they are Space Marines. Then again, with as common as they are, they’ve been getting tiresome and boring. Sure, they work in terms of the fiction because then you have the opportunity to put a name and personality to the face or armor-clad body that you meet. There’s also a storyline that isn’t necessarily driven by just action. So there is something pulling you in. Again, yes, the Ultramarines are cool for being futuristic, genetically engineered versions of the elite of the Roman army but over-availability and over-promotion in comparison to most of the groups in the Space Marines leads to a lot of problems. The biggest problem is the fact that it even turns off some people even within the Warhammer 40k niche of players from trying certain games.

So, I’m going to finally sum up this pseudo-rant with a message to potential filmmakers, game developers and GW. For the love of whatever you consider holy, be “dangerous” and focus more on something new. Even some focus on the lesser known second founding chapters under the Ultramarines umbrella would be nice. It would at least be a change from most of the current media.

Read [Legends of the Space Marines] Also Read [Gamertell] Also read [Lexicanum]