Space Marines are by far the biggest seller for 40k and always have been. So when you set out to start a new army of these bad boys, where do you get them? What are your options. For someone like me, who is considering doing a space marine army, there are many different ways to go about it.
Of course there is the standard Games Workshop models. They are a good price for the tacticals, and the box set is nice, but there are more options than this.
Games Workshop Tactical Squad
10 Marines for $40
The box comes with a good number of options, is new, plastic, affordable. Everything you need.
Forgeworld Various Armour Variants:
5 Marines for £23.00 (not going to convert but its about $30+
Forgeworld has a lot of options for your marines, with MkII through MkVI and variants of each. Of course you are going to pay more with Forgeworld, but when it comes to having that unique army on the tabletop, Forgeworld models are very appealing, especially since you could really customize your units throughout your army. There are also upgrade weapon kits etc to get whatever weapons you need for your army.
There are also the big sets of 30 tactical marines, which can be very appealing since they come with bolters and other options including command bits. These run for £160.00.
The Horus Heresy
Of course the models from Forgeworld Space Marines can be used as your standard codex marines, but the Horus Heresy has expanded upon these models in some very cool ways. It takes some time to really site down and go through these models to really decide where a long time collector should go for a new army.
Options
there are just so many options for a new army, from the old school MKIC Pattern Rhinos and Land Raider Proteus, to the newer options from Forgeworld and Games Workshop. Shoulder pads for your army are readily available nowadays from both Games Workshop and Forgeworld, that you have many options for a space marine army.
Now for a player new to the hobby working on their first army, I can definitely see how going with the standard options is one of the best ways to go about it. However, someone who is working on a their 3rd-4th and really looking to dig in and make an excellent looking marine army for the tabletop has some fantastic options to look at.
Just look at these bikes and how nice they would look for a White Scars army........
So where are you getting your marines?