Warhammer 40K: Five Primaris Units We Need To See
As the Marines releases keep marching on, let’s talk about some Primaris units we still need to see on the tabletop.
The Primaris roster have expanded with blinding speed over the past couple of years. At this point the army feels fairly fleshed out. It’s got a lot fair amount of solid choices, and can stand on its own as a Chapter. Still there are a few noticeable holes missing, such as Techmarines, and a few opportunities from some cool growth. Today lets take a look at a few units I’d still like to see added to Primaris line up.
Techmarines
This is the most obvious and most likely addition to the line up. Techmarines are the only major hero-class to not get the Primaris treatment yet and are a needed part of the army. While we know we are getting a unique Iron Hands Iron Father Feirros (pictured above) we also need a generic version for all chapters. Make a new model, slap on that extra wound and attack and call it a day. For a real bonus throw in some new Servitors.
Primaris Breachers
Primaris units lack a really “tanky” unit. Sure they’ve got plenty of wounds going around, but they don’t really have any +2 saves or invulnerable saves outside of captains. I think a really cool unit to add to their roster would be an updated Primaris version of the old Legion Breachers. Think of a unit of Primaris Marines with a Stormshield in one hand and an Inceptor Assault Bolter in the other. This would lead to a really though close ranged unit, that could shred enemy infantry at 18″ and tank punishment in return. But the unit in Graivs armor and nothing is going to move it. I think this keeps with well with idea of single focus squads, with Legion inspiration, while adding a cool unit to the roster.
A Speeder
This is kind of a weird space for Primaris Marines. One of the big gaps they are missing is in any kind of speeder/bike replacement. Replacing the bike is a hard chore for Primaris units however. We know GW doesn’t just want to do a direct 1-to-1 replacement of units. In addition Primaris are all about grav, so replacing the regular bike with a Primaris Jetbike would seem to be the obvious choice. The issue here is that that would be very close to all ready existing Custodes Jetbike units, I’m not sure GW would make two such similar units. So maybe the option is to give them a jetbikes with a sidecar or something. Once again you run into an issue, a two person jetbike is basically a Land Speeder and we can’t have a direct replacement there either.
This leaves us in a bit of a bind if we assume that we aren’t going to see any direct replacements as we have a pretty narrow design space to work in. I think a good compromise here would be some kind of heavy speeder, maybe a three person version of the Land Speeder. This would set it apart from the current model, and between it and Inceptors, Primaris units would have some good units to fill the fast attack/light armor slot. A three person speeder could bring a lot of fast firepower to the table, with either a driver and two gunners or maybe a driver, gunner and lancer (almost like a version of the Hittite heavy war chariots of old).
Like this – but Primarisized…and anti-grav
Mortar Teams
Ever since 2nd Edition I’ve love weapons teams. They’ve got a cool aesthetic and make a lot of sen practically. Not long ago Larry wrote an article about Primaris armies getting some version of a weapon team, and let me tell you I was all on board. However thinking of it the one thing I’d really like to see, and that would make a ton of sense is a Primaris Mortar team. Now I would specifically make this a Vanguard/Phobos unit. Infiltration and command forces love mortars, they are quiet compared to most other heavy weapons and relatively easy to transport and move around on foot. This makes them great for Vanguard units. The team could also have a couple cool features not seen yet. First off it would provide Primaris forces with a source of indirect fire that can target units out of LOS. This is something the army currently lacks, which is a little strange for a hi-tech shooty army. You could also give it some kind of smoke effect to play in with the Phobos feature. Maybe the mortar can drop smoke shells on enemy units giving them a -1 to shit a shooting? This would be a great ability and thematically match the Vanguard units, as many carry smoke grenades. Finally, they are trans-humans wearing power armor, so two Phobos marines on a base could carry a big high-tech looking mortar compared to that puny AM one. Overall I think this would just be a cool addition.
A Flyer
Now look, I’m not really a huge fan of flyers in 40K. While they have some amazing models (and I love Thunderbolts to death) I just don’t think most have a place in a game of 40Ks scale. However those are my personal feelings and the reality is that flyers are here to stay. That being said the lack of a flyer is a big gap in the Primaris lineup, and puts a hole in their chapter organization. To fix this you’ve got a few options. You could make rules and a model for the Overlord, the only known Primaris aircraft. However the Overlord is said to be lager than a Thunderhawk so this would likely be a Forgeworld model and not practical for standard 40K games. The simplest option would be to simple convert one of the existing flyers to Primaris use. The Stormhawk doesn’t have a visible pilot on model and it would be easy to just say its now flown by Primaris pilots. Lastly and most likely (gotta sell a new model after all) is the creation of a new, heavy?, Primaris fighter. Any of these options will work, as long as we get one. 
Let us know what Primaris units you still want to see, down in the comments!
