For decades, the story of Warhammer 40,000 had been teetering on the knife-edge of the year 999.M41 – moments before the thirteenth Black Crusade descended on poor, ill-fated Cadia.* Then, the Gathering Storm campaign launched everything we knew forwards into a brand new era of galactic warp storms, returned Primarchs, and Indomitus crusades.
This new age of the Dark Imperium was full of possibility for Warhammer fans, and it hit the ground running with its most striking change – the evolution of the iconic Adeptus Astartes. Belisarius Cawl and his new contingent of Primaris Space Marines revitalised a flagging Imperium, and set the stage for a massive overhaul of the Space Marines faction that would stretch across multiple editions.
It all began with one unit: the Primaris Intercessors.
First seen in the headline Dark Imperium box set, the Intercessor was emblematic of the new direction for the Adeptus Astartes – sleek, efficient, and breathtakingly cool. These enhanced Space Marines marched from Cawl’s gene-labs to reinforce their hard-pressed comrades, shoring up beleaguered fronts like the devastated defenders on Baal, and even creating entirely new Chapters as they spread across the galaxy.
Those first Intercessor miniatures were themselves harbingers of a new dynamism for Space Marines, with a weighty sense of movement. This would continue into their full multi-part plastic kit, and later the even more mobile Assault Intercessors.
Unlike their predecessors, who treated their power armour like holy relics and treasured every bracer, greave, and pauldron, the Primaris Space Marines had specialised purpose-built armour types to suit their many roles. Intercessors wore the baseline Mk X Tacticus suit, which mirrored the balance and flexibility of the older armour marks, while frontline Captains and assault troops like the Inceptors wore the heavier Mk X Gravis armour.
Despite its modernised design and Cawl’s eccentric ideas about technological development, the new armour cleaved closely to its forebears. Solid plates and smooth lines took influence from many prior marks of power armour, with the helmet especially showing signs of the revered Mk IV Maximus armour that many considered the finest of its kind.
This armour would evolve over time to fit the steadily expanding scope of the new Space Marines battle doctrine, adding stealthy terror troops in slimmed-down Mk X Phobos armour while Intercessors took up new plasma weaponry to become fearsome Hellblasters. Roboute Guilliman’s adaptability flew in the face of the Imperium’s stagnant attitude towards innovation, and new Primaris formations sprang up with each new challenge the Adeptus Astartes had to face.
As the influx of new Primaris Space Marines mixed with the traditions of the old guard, the ornamentation that marked veteran units crept back into the more utilitarian design of the new armour. Units like the Bladeguard and Sternguard Veterans are a marked departure from their spartan battle-brothers, adding tabards, trim, and trophies, while staying true to the refined aesthetic of the modern Space Marine.
The armour will surely continue to evolve as more challenges present themselves to the Adeptus Astartes, but one thing is certain – its roots will continue to lie with the humble Intercessor.
* Rest in peace, ye king of worlds.
