Well, it’s official – Primarchs are coming to 40k. The leaked images doing the rounds at the moment show none other than Roboute Guilliman taking the fight to the forces of Chaos holding what looks like his Father’s flaming sword. Oh, and he’s got Cypher and the Grey Knights for company too. So it looks like the rumours of the throat wound inflicted by Fulgrim healing while Papa Smurf was in stasis are true, and that means there are chances of more Primarchs heading back to 40k. What’s more, with Magnus already stomping all over Fenris, the Daemon Primarchs are on the table too. And that got me thinking; who do I want to see? In this post, I’ll be counting down the 5 Primarchs (or Daemon Primarchs) that I want to see return to 40k.
First though, I just want to say a quick word about the new Guilliman miniature. I think it looks cool. Yes, I prefer the helmeted version, but still, I think it works. Initial shots, leaked from White Dwarf, made it look a little strange but I think that’s just a bad angle. I remember seeing the Daemon Prince mini from a bad angle first and thinking it looked goofy, but when I saw it in the flesh, I realised how good it really looked. Having seen other shots of Bobby G, I think he looks immense. It does feel like he’s missing a cloak, but that’s just because we’re so used to everything cloaks now. And also, kudos to GW for responding so quickly and so positively to the leaking of the images. It’s so refreshing, after the years of Games Workshop treating rumours and leaks with stony walls of silence, to have them be so proactive – the video with Duncan actually made me laugh out loud. Here it is if you’ve not seen it.
Two happy little coats, indeed. And now, on with the article. Firstly, I should say, that I’m immediately discounting the Primarchs that we know are dead. So no Kurze, Horus, Sanguinius or Manus (I know I should also include Alpharius and Dorn in that list but seeing as no-one knows exactly what happened to Dorn, and given the nature of the Alpha Legion, I’m not trusting either to stay dead). In no particular order, here are the Primarchs I want to see…
1. Fulgrim
My own biases aside (and I do love me some Slaanesh) this would be a great opportunity for GW’s modellers to show off their skills. A coiled snake body, four arms, swords, whips, wings and armour all in one Magnus sized miniature. That sounds pretty amazing to me. Of course we know of Nottingham’s current aversion to Slaanesh, but rumour has it that this is only temporary, and that at some point in the future, She Who Thirsts will be getting some sort of revamp. Maybe after we’ve had the Aeldari and the united Aelfs in AoS, Slaanesh will return to haunt both of them in some way. But Fulgrim’s daemonic form would be something amazing to see in 40k, and he and Guilliman would certainly have some beef to settle, which could make for a wonderful Chaos vs Smurfs campaign.
2. Vulkan
Everyone likes Vulkan. He, and his Legion/Chapters seem to be some of the very few legitimate good guys in the galaxy, and what’s more, he’s got some of the coolest weapons going. The Forge World rendition of Vulkan is, I think, one of their best looking Primarchs, and I’m sure GW could do an equally amazing job of bringing him to the 41st Millennium. All of that baroque armour, full of details – that would be a joy for any painter to work on. What’s more, one of the hits of the first Gathering Storm book was Trazyn, and there is of course that rumour that he has Vulkan somewhere in his collection. If he starts throwing around a few more of those Tesseract Vaults, who knows what we’ll see…
3. Angron
Everyone’s favourite rage monster, the big red machine of madness, and Primarch of the World Eaters, Angron must be a dead cert to come back. Not only do GW love their Khorne miniatures, but he’s just such a cool idea as a Primarch. The butchers nails hanging from his head, horns, teeth and all the gory, blood-covered gore that Khorne can bestow. Even I, someone who has never been a particular fan of the Blood God’s minions, would want to have a crack at painting that model. And in representing a threat to the Imperium, he’d be one of the most brutal. Imagine him launching an attack on Baal, or the Rock – that would be a pretty sweet campaign to get one’s teeth into.
4. Corax
This would be cool for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I love the idea that Corax has been wandering the Imperium for 10,000 years and it’s just that no-one has noticed him. How cool would it be if in a pivotal moment in a big battle, a shadow detached itself from a wall and then suddenly everyone realises that there’s a Primarch in the room? Secondly, if Angron does get a release, Corax would be a great opponent for him. Angron hates Corax because of his methods of fighting a war (all sneaky and such) – we saw that when he was stalking around Isstvan screaming for the coward to show himself. Also, a match up between the two would pit stealth and speed against rage and strength in what is now a claassic sort of match up. And, to top it all off, Corax is one of the most stylish Primarchs – everyone looks good in black.
5. Russ
I may not be a huge Space Wolves fan, but to see Russ and his ancient Vlka Fenryka burst out of the warp and back into real space, and discovering that they’ve been gone for all these thousands of years would be amazing. And given Russ’ fractious relationship with Guilliman (some people thought the Codex Astartes was a great book, others didn’t), that could lead to some fun inter-Imperium hostilities and tensions. The model could be an aged version of the Forge World piece. A few more whiskers, heavier armour, lots of fur (sorry not sorry, Peta) and, I’m thinking, a massive axe. Who wouldn’t want to see that? I may not be a huge Space Wolves fan, but even I’d want to get the brushes out for that one.
So those are my picks – how about you? Which of the Primarchs would you love to see make a return? And what do you think about Bobby G coming to the 41st Millennium? Stick a comment below and let me know!
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I’d say Angron is a no-brainer indeed, lore-, fan- and business-wise. I think Lion’el will have a return as well, as a plot-thickener with Luther standing next to Roboute and all…
Me saying this as a Night Lords player: I hope the won’t do a canon-breach to bring Konrad back, or any of the other dead Primarchs.
Agreed. I’d love a Sanguinius model, but I’ll get one of those for 30k and that’s where he needs to stay.
For me lion coming back is a no brainer, as is dorn, for reasons I have bored the net with before (he reforges the lions sword, which with another mcguffin starts regenerating the emperor and sounds a clarion call to the remainder of his surviving sons to head to terra…)
But the dead must stay dead no timey wimey shadow version stuck in the warp please! Although that could make a cool twist for the Ba’s red thirst and black rage being a spiritual golden throne for sangy stuck in the warp, nah keep him dead and them tragic!
I completely forgot Corax could choose when to appear seen! Oh, I am SO hoping he’ll return.
Still worried about ‘Baddon pulling an anime and resurrecting Horus. If that happens, I’m going to boycott GW by turning him into an obliterator or something low-class. As for Alpharius, I’m still wonderfully confused after reading Legion, I don’t know if he was ever killed in the first place. And don’t the sons of the VIIth actually HAVE Dorn’s corpse in the Phalanx?
One thing I’d really like to see… what if the Emperor were to return, but still in his advanced state of decay? He is the carrion lord of the Imperium, after all. No, that won’t happen. While I and a few particularly Blanchitsu fans would appreciate THAT, I don’t suppose GW’s sculptors could bring themselves to make such a thing… We should somehow force them all to play Dark Souls for a month beforehand 😛
Haha. Love the idea of giant skeleton in gold armour taking to the battlefield – would certainly be an eye opener. As for Dorn, his hand is in stasis on the Phalanx. They never found the rest of him…
Great article – It’s utterly bizarre to find ourselves even in this situation! I am curious as to how GW old hands – the guys that were there dreaming much of this stuff up in the beginning – feel about this direction.
No two personal visions of 40k are ever the same… For example, I was rather disheartened to see the Custodes enter the 40k fray. If they did, I thought that they should be utterly baroque, ancient and changed, their gene-seed twisted over 10,000 years, hunched and lethal, still dwelling on their failure to protect their master. But hey – Clearly, not all things in the Imperium have gone to ruin or are a shadow of their former selves. Much, much more has been preserved.
But Primarchs?! I can understand traitor Primarchs, those actually ascended to daemonhood and mentioned in the fluff, but Loyalist Primarchs?!
I still have the Second Edition Codex Imperialis, in which the sense of a decaying, deeply superstitious and corrupt Imperium was real. I believed that the inference was clear – The loyalist Primarchs were long dead and humanity was utterly doomed from the moment Horus fell… they only lived on in the hearts of the faithful. My Second Edition Ultramarines Codex (a real favourite) has the entry about Roboute in stasis. Again, I felt that this was nod to the Catholic dogma of the dark ages and the lies spun by priests to their credulous, illiterate flock (just relics and the like – I’m not on my soapbox here!). He was dead, a cadaver held in stasis for all to look upon.
I always thought that the 10,000 long drag that brings us to the edge of the abyss was the real lure of 40k. All of the myths and legends about returning Primarchs were just that, a means of humanity struggling on in a hostile universe in which it was ultimately doomed.
The landscape has changed, clearly and… I…don’t actually have that much of a problem with it!
This opens up all kinds of possibilities. I wonder if Guilliman will approve of what he sees? Will he seek to tear down corrupt Imperial institutions? Will his priority be the Emperor on Terra, or Ultramar?
As for the model, I agree that it is a beautiful sculpt. The dynamic pose is preferable to his static 30k self. In fact, a MKIII head swap would be ideal and plant him back in 30k…
Oh, and I’d like to see Lorgar…! Surely finding out that his hated brother is still alive and kicking is enough to bring him out of the Eye?!