Why it's Ultramarines in 6th edition for me


Does it make sense that someone would play 40k using a chapter of Space Marines that they don't really care about? Makes perfect sense to me. I can no longer play Dark Angels and I need to switch over to Ultramarines.

What in the world am I talking about are you asking yourself?
Here's how it works: I love Dark Angels and all the associated background with them. That's my problem. I love the background more than I do playing the army. We'll put aside the fact that I haven't actually played the game in about a year and by the time I get my act together, I can pick right up with 12th edition.

Here's why I need to play Ultramarines
I look at Ultramarines as a "fun" army and I'm not too wrapped up with winning or losing when I play. I just sort of push the guys along and do the things Space Marines would do. Why? Because they are Ultramarines and I have no real attachment to them like I do when I used to play my Deathwing. I would get so focused on doing the right thing in terms of game strategy and trying to maximize this action or movement that I would lose sight of the bigger picture.

Not competitive to win, but competitive to see what I could do with the army list as it was.

My first step away from that kind of competitiveness a while ago was stopping using a legal list. I started fielding the things I wanted to and played against other similar opponents who did the same thing. Want to put 11 guys in that vehicle, go ahead, it's not a game breaker to me.

The next step was borrowing someone's Ultramarines army once and using them in a game. I had an absolute blast playing them. I didn't feel like I had to win to prove how good my guys were or how good I was at the game, they were Ultramarines already.

Jump ahead to today and I knew I'd made the right decision when I saw a rumor about some of the new Dark Angels stuff saying they'd have access to more and better plasma stuff. The first thing I started thinking about was how am I going to incorporate that advantage into my list. That shouldn't be your first thought... well at least not for me. Time to let the boys go.

I think playing Ultramarines is going to free me up from the need to try and win and prove myself when playing the underdog Deathwing. I'm going to be using a similar list as I did before because I like using those specific models, but I just want to push little toy soldiers around for an afternoon and talk shop. I don't need to win anymore, I don't even need to try and win really. Just getting a few free hours to go out and play 40k with some friends is a big enough win for me.

I'm even going to give them the weapon loadouts I've always wanted...
but was too afraid to do.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
The social contract we agree to when playing 40k
What is 40k to you?


Ron, From the WarpIf you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!