In our How to Paint Everything series, we take a look at different armies of the Warhammer universe, examine their history and heraldry, and look at several different methods for painting them. Following up on a prior article on how to paint the Thirteenth Primarch himself, we take a look at his legion and chapter: the Ultramarines. The Ultramarines Who Are The Ultramarines? What can be said about the Ultramarines that you don’t already know? They are the poster boys of Warhammer 40,000 and for many people, they probably are the first thing that come to mind when they think of 40K. This has also led some people to think that Ultramarines are boring Mary Sues compared to more divergent chapters like Black Templars, Blood Angels, or Space Wolves. Those people are wrong. As the Thirteenth Legion of Space Marines, they were second only to the Luna Wolves in conquests during the Great Crusade and were the biggest Legion by far. They were notable for the mini-Imperium established by their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, known as the 500 Worlds of Ultramar. Unlike most of the grimdark bullshit of 40K, Ultramar is actually a cool place to live, by most standards, where people can live out relatively happy lives and enjoy some semblance of peace and prosperity. Guilliman did not see Space Marines as Eternal Warriors but instead believed that developing peace-time skills like statesmanship was just as important as warfare. The fluff often makes note of Space Marines’ superhuman minds and ability to process data far more efficiently than baseline humans, but Ultramarines are one of the only chapters that actually leverage this capability for something other than war. So that automatically makes them pretty cool.



Following the Heresy, Guilliman established the Codex Astartes, which is basically the How To: Space Marines manual. In 40K, Space Marines are often defined by how they adhere to or diverge from the Codex. The Codex dictated that Legions be broken into Chapters, established standard doctrines, battle company composition, squad heraldry, etc. While the Ultramarines obviously follow the Codex quite closely, they aren’t nearly as dogmatic about it as some chapters (like the Hammers of Dorn or Black Consuls); one of the first things Guilliman did when he came back was a big re-write of the Codex and current fluff makes it seem more like a living document than a holy text set in stone.

In the 41st Millennium, Ultramar is still mostly a cool place but it’s seen its share of trouble between a Hive Fleet invasion known as the First Tyrannic War (which wiped out the entire First Company of the Ultramarines) or the more recent incursion by the Death Guard that devastated idyllic worlds like Iax and serves as the setting for the Dark Imperium starter box. Most recently, Ultramarines find themselves running point on Vigilus, pushing back Xenos and Chaos forces to prevent the Imperium Nihilus from being completely cut off from the Imperium proper.

As befits one of the main protagonists of the setting, Ultramarines have plenty of notable characters, many deserving of their own articles. We have covered Roboute Guilliman already but no discussion of the Ultramarines would be complete without mentioning their Chapter Master, Marneus Calgar. Calgar is one of the oldest characters in the setting (real-life old, not fictional old; the latter honor falls to Dante) and is currently on his fourth model incarnation! Marnie is a veteran of the First Tyrannic War and for a while was more machine than man, having lost several limbs and an eye to the Tyranids. He got owned by Tyranids a lot but also did some really cool stuff like holding off an entire Ork Waagh! for a day and night at the Siege of Zalathras (which is covered in detail in one of the books mentioned below). Calgar also holds the honor of being the first squatmarine to undergo the Calgarian Rites and become a Primaris Marine, resulting in a new and improved Marneus Calgar who was promptly owned on his own battleship by Chaos forces while fighting above Vigilus. There’s a lot more that could be said of Marneus Calgar but let’s just say he’s a very storied character with some great models and good rules to go with them.

Where To Read More One of the great things about being so iconic is that Ultramarines are featured in tons and tons of great books. One of the worst things about being so iconic is that sometimes Nick Kyme writes a book featuring Ultramarines. Still, you certainly aren’t starved for choice like you might be with other chapters (*cough*ImperialFists*cough*). My personal favorite Ultramarines book is Know No Fear by Dan Abnett, which details the Betrayal at Calth during the Horus Heresey. It is told from multiple perspectives and has a number of interesting Ultramarines characters that help flesh out the Legion as more than just the boring Codex Marines many people seem to think they are. It also features the single coolest Guilliman fight scene in any Black Library book. For more recent, which is to say 40K, fiction, you can’t go wrong with the already recommended Guy Haley books: Dark Imperium and its sequel Plague Wars. They largely focus on Guilliman himself rather than the Chapter as a whole but in fleshing out the Primarch, they add a lot of character to his sons as well, including the oft-derided Captain Cato Sicarius. I am personally a big fan of Paul Kearney’s two books: Calgar’s Siege and Calgar’s Fury. Like the two previously mentioned books, they do a lot to develop the main character (in this case Marneus Calgar) and are very fast and fun. You won’t think the Ultramarines are boring after reading those. Three other, more tepid, recommendations are the novella Crusade by Andy Clark, Of Honour and Iron by Ian St. Martin and Blood of Iax by Robbie McNiven. Each of these star Primaris Marines and provide some interesting background on this new breed of Space Marine while telling fairly interesting stories that feature Death Guard, Iron Warriors and Orks as their respective antagonists. They are all ultimately bolter porn but make for quick and entertaining reads. A notably absent recommendation is the Ultramarines series by Graham McNeill. Aside from the fact that I think Graham McNeill is a poor author with highly problematic treatment of female characters, these books are old enough that their portrayal of Space Marines feels very much at odds with the current fluff. The Ultramarines read more like Frat Bros in Space than transhuman warriors fighting for a dying Imperium and a lot of the dialogue and characterization just feels outright dissonant, particularly when compared to something like Spear of the Emperor by Aaron Dembski-Bowden or Brothers of the Snake by Dan Abnett, which really capture the transhuman aspect of Space Marines. Playing Ultramarines The Ultramarines are one of the strongest Space Marine chapters rules-wise, owing in part to having the ability to fall back and shoot in the same turn, and in part to having access to Roboute Guiliman and his re-roll hits and wounds aura. They also have access to a host of other characters, including a beefed-up Marneus Calgar. But on competitive tables, Ultramarine strategies tend to revolve around using Guilliman’s aura to either boost high-output tanks like the Predator or the Repulsor and its variants, or headhunting units of Sniper Scouts and Eliminators. Fred Fortman's Ultramarines List (2,000 Points) - Click to expand Fred’s list, which won 1st place overall at the 2019 Throne of War event, uses Guilliman primarily to lend his aura to the tanks, a mix of Predators, Repulsors, and a relic Whirlwind. Spearhead – Mixed all Ultramarines except Servitors (738 Points, +1 CP)

HQ – Techmarine, Servo harness = 45pts

Elites: 4 Servitors (Black Templars) = 20pts

Elites: Relic Whirlwind Scorpius, combi-bolter = 217pts

Heavy Support: Predator, side heavy bolters, Storm bolter = 152pts

Heavy Support: Predator, side heavy bolters, Storm bolter = 152pts

Heavy Support: Predator, side heavy bolters, Storm bolter = 152pts Spearhead – Ultramarines (862 Points, +1 CP)

HQ – Techmarine, plasma cutter, flamer, 2 x Servo harness = 56pts

Heavy Support: 3 Eliminators = 72pts

Heavy Support: 3 Eliminators = 72pts

Heavy Support: 3 Eliminators = 72pts

Dedicated Transport: Repulsor, Heavy onslaught, onslaught, twin lascannon, ironhail, 2 Krak launchers, 2 storm

bolters, rocket pod, auto launchers = 295pts

Dedicated Transport: Repulsor, Heavy onslaught, onslaught, twin lascannon, ironhail, 2 Krak launchers, 2 storm

bolters, rocket pod, auto launchers = 295pts Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (+3 CP)

Lord of War – Roboute Guilliman – 400

For an alternate approach, we might look at pairing Guilliman with smaller units and taking advantage of the Ultramarines’ specialist detachments.