On Primaris and the future of 40k

[BitsHammer]

Disclaimer: I rather like the Primaris, so my opinion of them will likely not be as negative as some may like. That said, I'm going to go into this as with as neutral a mindset as possible. There is a fair bit of speculation based on reading Jes Goodwin talking about Space Marines during the Chapterhouse lawsuit, as well as listening to him on Voxcast as well. Just give me a fair chance to lay all the cards on the table before you start sharpening your pitchforks please.

 

So it's been two years since we were introduced to Primaris, but before we go into that, let's talk about how we got here.

 

In 2013 Games Workshop staggered away from the Chapterhouse lawsuit reeling like a prize fighter who took one too many to the jaw. They obviously survived, but behind the scenes things changed. Gone were anything that didn't have a model currently in the game, and as well as and piece of wargear not provided in a kit.

 

Soon after came the rebranding, pushing everything into new titles, some of which the community complained about. It was a frustrating time to play 40k as things we had for editions beforehand were stripped away. I'm not going to go into how the company shut itself off from the customer complaints, or killed Games Day, just know that if you weren't around back then we saw a lot of churn in the company, the model range and the community.

 

At the same time we got our first update to the core Marine line in years, with the introduction of Grav weapons, Centurions and aircraft. Most of the core Marine line stems from this update and saw the push into the most heavily decorated the models had been.

 

From what I saw in the community at the time, there wasn't a big push to get the new models despite their better poses, slightly taller stance and new equipment. A lot of people reached out to bits sites and third party sources for cheap ways to get the new grav weapons and while new players had picked up the army, it didn't really move like the company was likely expecting. The rules even made it pretty clear that they wanted to sell this new kit to everyone, but not everyone was buying.

 

I think these are contributing factors that lead to the idea of rebooting the line in 2014 (the dates we have on Jes Goodwin's sketches put it about this time). The current line had bloated to the point that they were running out of ways to add new units to the line while maintaining the same base look of the Astartes, and new kits weren't selling as well when players could just reach into their collections and find third party sources to provide just the things they needed and nothing more.

 

So the new line was created from the DNA of the old line. Everything from Mark III to Mark VIII was used to inform the core of the line, and the armour was given a more modular design to allow them more room to iterate over the past. Now each unit could be given new and varied looks while fitting into various roles.

 

Additionally, possibly to try and appeal to older players, the scale of the models was changed to be closer the a classic heroic scale used in art over the model heroic scale, allowing for a body that is more proportional, while keeping the head the same size as before to allow older players to dig into their bits boxes and swap heads and shoulder pads and use their favorites. The arms are basically the same allowing for easy weapon with older kit (though bolters can be finicky due to the larger torsos).

 

Furthermore the poses were changed to be more dynamic, and while that came at a cost of being less possible, the core of the body comes in enough poses to allow for a number of different poses without a need to convert the body.

 

All these positives came with some downsides though. The core of the range couldn't use the same wargear as the past units and still meet sales goals (a necessary evil every company that wants to stay open has to meet), so everything was changed.

 

With those changes came hybridizations of past units as well. Aggressors were Terminators blended with Centurions, and blending Terminators with Assault Marines lead to Inceptors. And Scouts crossed with Assault Marines gave us Reivers (who basically fight just as poorly as the units they were blended from).

 

In the recent release this has lead to new hybrids as well, leading to a wider array of Scout type units allowing Astartes to feel more tactically flexible (even if we're still waiting on the further gravis additions to the army as well as some kind of rapid assault element like bikes) as they were always shown in the lore.

 

The Primaris designs were likely also influenced by the even higher level of model making tooling GW invested in around this time, allowing for finer details, crisper lines and new ways to divide the models up.

 

With Jes at the helm the studio rolled out rather uncomplicated models, free of a lot of extra detail to allow for future iterations in the future, as well as to provide plenty of room for the player to add iconography or decals to the minis.

 

But with all these positive aspects built into the design there has been a dark cloud hanging over the range since day one: the idea that the old line of Marines will eventually go away.

 

Events like the recent culling of the Age of Sigmar line and statements that the company is looking to move away from metal and resin completely by the end of next year has only increased that concern, and I feel it's not only a valid concern, but likely true as well.

 

As previously mentioned, the original Marine line has hit tremendous bloat and Games Workshop can no longer expect that people will buy nearly identical kits with slightly different wargear. I believe this is why the Wraithguard unit is designed to make such divergent units out the same kit: to try and encourage players to buy the new kit over just running the old models. It's also probably why Ynarri are likely the way forward for Eldar and we'll see a drastic shift in their range as the story progresses (my money is on more stuff like the Visarch as the race moves to be more the Ancient Eldar).

 

In short, yes, the old Marines are likely going to go away. I originally projected sometime in whatever counts as 10th edition for the game, but since the introduction of the Rubricon this will likely be even sooner than that.

 

Chances are we won't be seeing the classic Marine line on the shelves in GW in the next couple years, and maybe even a move to Index only in the next edition change so they can move into remaining the old line into new kits.

 

That said I don't believe this is the death of anyone's army. You might need to shuffle things around and possibly put some weapon options on the shelf for a while, but I, and most other players, won't be telling you that you can't play classic Marines using new rules (I am willing to bet money that some of you are already doing this now).

 

We may even begin to see returns of more robes, tabards and even head options as time goes on to allow people to make their Primaris feel more like an update to their classic army. That likely won't happen overnight though and if you want it now you might have to get acquainted with a product many of us used to use for conversions: Green Stuff.

 

That said, I don't want to end this all doom and gloom, so I will say that I look forward to what the Primaris line does going forward and I look forward to playing your Marines, even if they're a little short.

[Imren]

What I believe is frustrating for many is the new plastic kits (mostly primaris) monopose design were the parts on the sprue are delineated along inconvenient body parts (i.e. instead of the plastic parts be the legs or torso, the new parts are like front half of the torso and the front half of the thigh with the robe attached) as if the model's designer designed the parts so that conversion/alteration options is deliberately impaired.

 

That is what sucks way more than primarisifying the whole space marine range. And that is not only valid for primaris marines, but for all new plastic infantry kits for 40k and AOS, as if GW really want you to not convert or choose a pose.

 

I believe this will put off a lot of hobbyists and push them away from the GW range to other 3rd party suppliers that keep the part delineation along the natural body parts (legs, torso, arms etc) to allow players to put their personal touch on the models in terms of bling, weapons and pose.

[BitsHammer]

What I believe is frustrating for many is the new plastic kits (mostly primaris) monopose design were the parts on the sprue are delineated along inconvenient body parts (i.e. instead of the plastic parts be the legs or torso, the new parts are like front half of the torso and the front half of the thigh with the robe attached) as if the model's designer designed the parts so that conversion/alteration options is deliberately impaired.

 

That is what sucks way more than primarisifying the whole space marine range. And that is not only valid for primaris marines, but for all new plastic infantry kits for 40k and AOS, as if GW really want you to not convert or choose a pose.

 

I believe this will put off a lot of hobbyists and push them away from the GW range to other 3rd party suppliers that keep the part delineation along the natural body parts (legs, torso, arms etc) to allow players to put their personal touch on the models in terms of bling, weapons and pose.

I can get that frustration to a point, but they do seem to try and mitigate this somewhat by offering a number of different poses in each kit (oytside of character kits which have always been a bit more limited).

 

Unfortunately the price paid for more dynamic base poses is that the kits are going to lose some reposability. There isn't a feasible way to take what is basically a $6USD Intercessor (going by the $60 for 10 price) and make him both more dynamic and poseable at the same time unless they also make him more expensive too.

[m0nolith]

Great write up. Really enjoyed reading it.

 

I disagree with the idea that Fristborn marines are ever going away, and here's why:

Warhammer 40k is not a just tabletop wargame anymore, its an IP that generates revenue though books, comics, video games, toys, boardgames, roleplaying games, and now tv shows as well on top of the wargame. 

Arguably, this IP it has been exposed to many more people using those mediums (especially video games) than has the tabletop wargame. This is a niche hobby, video games are not. We all sometimes forget that exposure to this universe goes much further than that what we see around us, those being the people we play with and other people on the internet such as B&C.

 

And in all of those mediums, GW has been pushing the same image for the last 30 years; the venerable Mk7 Space Marine, and to a lesser extent, the Terminator. It's an image that is familiar to anyone that has ever heard of the 40k IP, and GW has done a great job of cultivating that. 

 

Primaris were brought in for the reasons you mentioned in the original post. They wanted to sell more kits, they wanted to increase the size to something that is closer to heroic scale (truescale) and although I'm not sure about your reasoning for the limitation of customization, I have to admit you make a compelling point. But all of these things you mentioned aren't issues to the IP in other mediums. There a pixel is a pixel in video games, and you can make a marine whatever size you want him to be in a Comic or wherever else outside the tabletop. 

 

GW isn't going to kill off what has been their image to the outside world for the last 30 years and replace it with something else. This is not something that's done when it comes to IPs. Instead, Primaris are going to be introduced in time, and in time they will be there in tandem with Firstborn, but GW will never remove and replace the iconic image of a Mk7 helmet. 

Firstborn marines are going to stay around because GW wants people from the outside world to start playing the tabletop game, and a lot of the time when outside people want to try, they want to try the thing they saw elsewhere in video games or comics or wherever, the Regular Space Marine. 

 

Firstborn are always going to be around for that reason, they will always be the gatekeepers to this tabletop game to the outside world.

[BitsHammer]

If all it takes is a MkVII helmet to sell the image, then I suspect we'll get Primaris with MkVII helmets.

 

Then again I suspect at some point more of the classic equipment is going to bleed into the Primaris side of things and eventually the model line will be more mixed in terms of options.

 

Jes talked about a Marine having a favorite bit of kit (like Calgar and his mittens) and that could easilly carry over into the new stuff in time so they can represent the "Firstborn" who crossed the Rubicon.

 

Consider it a bit of a cynical take but eventually Primaris will just be what we call Marines eventually and there won't be any loyalist Firstborn left in the lore.

[apologist]

Good analysis – by which I mean I agree with it :P

 

No, joking aside, it's a well thought-out rundown; particularly the notes on GW's abortive attempts to drive Space Marine sales before the big relaunch.

 

I agree that the Primaris line will eventually replace the 'Firstborn', though I wonder whether the Rubicon will see the release of a Veteran box of some sort, that combines the old armour aesthetics with models closer is stature to the updated Chaos Marines or Primaris.

[robofish7591]

After reading your post this thought popped up in my mind.  Obviously this is just wish listing, but I wonder if eventually we will see primaris sized normal marines.  Kind of a "once everyone is primaris, no one is" kind of thing.  To me it seems like GW has been very careful not to have primaris and firstborn overlap.  Perhaps there haven't been any primaris tactical squads/bikes/terminators because eventually they will all cross the rubicon and just be re-scaled space marines with the stat lines they should have always had.

[Closet Skeleton]

 

At the same time we got our first update to the core Marine line in years, with the introduction of Grav weapons, Centurions and aircraft. Most of the core Marine line stems from this update and saw the push into the most heavily decorated the models had been.

 

Height of loyalist marine decoration in plastic was the 5th ed Blood Angels release while it had peaked in metal years earlier. It fluctuated around that level with the plastic Stern- and Vanguard bubbling a little over depending on the build while the BA tactical squad dialed that back while the DA elite units kept it at a similar level. The BA assault terminators were paired back from their design origins in the mono-pose Space Hulk figures. The updated tactical, assault and devastator squads for 7th ed were barely more decorated than the 3rd ed ones from over a decade earlier despite vastly superior detailing.

 

New plastic character models like the Interrogator Chaplain and Krom Dragonglaze were similar in decoration to the clunky metals like the Apocalypse tie in Masters of the Chapter with only the limited release Terminator Chaplain really blowing anything over. Old 4th ed Mr. Grimaldus is still one of the more extreme examples of a walking display case.

 

Even the really extreme detail showcases from the 7th ed releases like the Blood Angels Jump Pack Chaplain actually has less dangly bolt on stuff than the generally beloved metal/finecast Jump Pack Chaplain.

[Robbienw]

The Primaris designs were likely also influenced by the even higher level of model making tooling GW invested in around this time, allowing for finer details, crisper lines and new ways to divide the models up.

 

 

That came in before the time of the primaris.  You can see kits from years before that have benefitted from the capabilities of laser cut molds and CAD.  Both in terms of fine and crisp level of surface detail. and in terms of the way the parts are split.

 

I doubt the scale was changed specifically to suit older players, rather just to attract players that like the bigger scale regardless of age.

 

Also, i don't see the more dynamic poses.  They have mostly the same type of poses as classic marines.  You get a few outliers like LT Calsius and the new reiver lieutenant.  Put you get that with classic characters as well to a degree.

[Marshal Rohr]

They probably just don’t want to make the same models twice. The report said they’re moving out of resin production, so the Heresy is probably moving into plastic once the factory expands. You’ll be able to make an oldmarine 40k army army by buying Heresy kits and mixing them up or play a monomark Heresy army. Meanwhile Primaris will be all the main 40k marine releases. The new Codex amply covered and boosted rules for old marines. They’re still playable without Primaris in 40k. As long as the Heresy is the third mainline game they produce, a sentiment they’ve explicitly stated, old marine models aren’t going anywhere. They’re not going to stop producing them if an entire game system requires them.

[Rik Lightstar]

They probably just don’t want to make the same models twice. The report said they’re moving out of resin production, so the Heresy is probably moving into plastic once the factory expands. You’ll be able to make an oldmarine 40k army army by buying Heresy kits and mixing them up or play a monomark Heresy army. Meanwhile Primaris will be all the main 40k marine releases. The new Codex amply covered and boosted rules for old marines. They’re still playable without Primaris in 40k. As long as the Heresy is the third mainline game they produce, a sentiment they’ve explicitly stated, old marine models aren’t going anywhere. They’re not going to stop producing them if an entire game system requires them.

Interesting point, possibly the lack of things like new Old Marine Bikers is due to them intending to replace the current ForgeWorld Heresy versions which are much prettier with plastics.

 

Rik

[Marshal Rohr]

 

They probably just don’t want to make the same models twice. The report said they’re moving out of resin production, so the Heresy is probably moving into plastic once the factory expands. You’ll be able to make an oldmarine 40k army army by buying Heresy kits and mixing them up or play a monomark Heresy army. Meanwhile Primaris will be all the main 40k marine releases. The new Codex amply covered and boosted rules for old marines. They’re still playable without Primaris in 40k. As long as the Heresy is the third mainline game they produce, a sentiment they’ve explicitly stated, old marine models aren’t going anywhere. They’re not going to stop producing them if an entire game system requires them.

Interesting point, possibly the lack of things like new Old Marine Bikers is due to them intending to replace the current ForgeWorld Heresy versions which are much prettier with plastics.

 

Rik

 

 

Now that White Scars have rules, and Dark Angels are right around the corner I wouldn't be surprised if we see a box of 3 Scimitars or 3 Outriders hitting the shelves soon. 

[Knight of the Raven]

I feel mostly the same way, with one nuance: whether old marines are dragged behind a barn or not, the results are the same; they will never be updated. At least as far as the 41st millennium is concerned, since apparently Horus Heresy is going to replace The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit as Games Workshop's third flagship.

I've been rereading old White Dwarfs lately, including the one covering the 4th Edition Codex: Space Marines. There was an interesting tidbit in there from Jes Goodwin himself, saying that the new space marines plastic models were designed to be plain, with all the decoration coming from separate bits on the sprues.

The reason?

Because some players saw space marines as walking cathedrals who hated you and everything you stood for whereas others saw them as professional soldiers from the future who had no time for such frivolities and hated you and everything you stood for. And there was of course all the players whose idea of space marine ranged from one end of this scale to the other (but they agreed they still hated you and everything you stood for.)

There's not much 'religious bling,' as opposed to regular military gear such as pouches and ammunition, on the Intercessors and Hellblasters I purchased when they first came out in boxes of five, but reading that ancient article made me notice the similarities.

(I still don't know why they made the Primaris' armors and weapons look like they came out of a thoroughly uncreative cloning facility, though.)

And I agree about the space marine bloat. However, this was part of Warhammer 40,000's DNA from the start, or at least from the moment they decided to devote more than one codex to the same army (especially that back then, Space Wolves were literally 'Codex Space Marines with fangs' from what I've read). And it will remain the biggest strain in that DNA as long as Games Workshop exists.

They're wiping the slate clean, but they're going to put the exact same things back on it. It's hilarious, and I'm looking forward to what will happen in thirty years when the same problem crops up with Primaris. And thirty years after that, when players have too many Final Defiance Protocols (name pending) Marines to bother buying new ones.

They appear to finally have the creative and industrial outputs to give a decent amount of attention to the other factions, at least. Although I'm still expecting a rogue sun to crash into Earth one instant before plastic Sisters of Battle officially come out.

[BitsHammer]

Good analysis – by which I mean I agree with it :P

 

No, joking aside, it's a well thought-out rundown; particularly the notes on GW's abortive attempts to drive Space Marine sales before the big relaunch.

 

I agree that the Primaris line will eventually replace the 'Firstborn', though I wonder whether the Rubicon will see the release of a Veteran box of some sort, that combines the old armour aesthetics with models closer is stature to the updated Chaos Marines or Primaris.

I suspect that a veteran box for Firstborn units will come eventually.

 

After reading your post this thought popped up in my mind. Obviously this is just wish listing, but I wonder if eventually we will see primaris sized normal marines. Kind of a "once everyone is primaris, no one is" kind of thing. To me it seems like GW has been very careful not to have primaris and firstborn overlap. Perhaps there haven't been any primaris tactical squads/bikes/terminators because eventually they will all cross the rubicon and just be re-scaled space marines with the stat lines they should have always had.

You're right, metal models (especially characters) where more decorated, what I meant where the plastic models for non-characters started hitting peak decoration.

[BitsHammer]

 

 

The Primaris designs were likely also influenced by the even higher level of model making tooling GW invested in around this time, allowing for finer details, crisper lines and new ways to divide the models up.

 

That came in before the time of the primaris. You can see kits from years before that have benefitted from the capabilities of laser cut molds and CAD. Both in terms of fine and crisp level of surface detail. and in terms of the way the parts are split.

 

I doubt the scale was changed specifically to suit older players, rather just to attract players that like the bigger scale regardless of age.

 

Also, i don't see the more dynamic poses. They have mostly the same type of poses as classic marines. You get a few outliers like LT Calsius and the new reiver lieutenant. Put you get that with classic characters as well to a degree.

Most models had one pose: a standing quarter squat. We have models walking and turning included in the kits now that feel like they're actually doing it and aren't just standing around like they're badly chaffed.

[BitsHammer]

They probably just don’t want to make the same models twice. The report said they’re moving out of resin production, so the Heresy is probably moving into plastic once the factory expands. You’ll be able to make an oldmarine 40k army army by buying Heresy kits and mixing them up or play a monomark Heresy army. Meanwhile Primaris will be all the main 40k marine releases. The new Codex amply covered and boosted rules for old marines. They’re still playable without Primaris in 40k. As long as the Heresy is the third mainline game they produce, a sentiment they’ve explicitly stated, old marine models aren’t going anywhere. They’re not going to stop producing them if an entire game system requires them.

You're right, MkIII and IV kits as well as the relared Terminator kits won't be leaving, but the 40k era kits likely will be.

 

That said, they're going to likely be tresting 30k as a Specialist game at some point.

[Marshal Rohr]

 

They probably just don’t want to make the same models twice. The report said they’re moving out of resin production, so the Heresy is probably moving into plastic once the factory expands. You’ll be able to make an oldmarine 40k army army by buying Heresy kits and mixing them up or play a monomark Heresy army. Meanwhile Primaris will be all the main 40k marine releases. The new Codex amply covered and boosted rules for old marines. They’re still playable without Primaris in 40k. As long as the Heresy is the third mainline game they produce, a sentiment they’ve explicitly stated, old marine models aren’t going anywhere. They’re not going to stop producing them if an entire game system requires them.

You're right, MkIII and IV kits as well as the relared Terminator kits won't be leaving, but the 40k era kits likely will be.

 

That said, they're going to likely be tresting 30k as a Specialist game at some point.

 

 

I think they already are. Andy Hoare is over specialist games, and he mentioned continuing work on Heresy stuff. That makes me think he is gonna be overseeing whoever they hire to take on Lead Writing in the Heresy. I could be wrong though.

 

 

I wouldn't mind the 'Space Marine Tactical Squad' box going away if we got other boxes of different armors to choose from. I definitely wont mind the Centurion and Storm Talon/Raven going away forever. 

[Captain_Krash]

Hey, if the 30k line eventually moves over to plastic and becomes a specialist game...that would lead nicely into the Scouring which we could still use all our "small" marine armies all over again...

 

IE. I just really really really want the Scouring to be explored way more. As I find it the most  interesting time in 40k lore.

 

Krash

[BitsHammer]

Hey, if the 30k line eventually moves over to plastic and becomes a specialist game...that would lead nicely into the Scouring which we could still use all our "small" marine armies all over again...

 

IE. I just really really really want the Scouring to be explored way more. As I find it the most interesting time in 40k lore.

 

Krash

Since they released MkIII, IV and the Terminators in plastic (we don't talk about thst lame excuse of a Dreadnought) they've pushed a large chunk of it into plastic which makes it more accessible. I don't know if we'll ever see them push it all into plastic though as small batch resin casting for a specialist game for upgrades and custom bits just makes more sense.

[Robbienw]

 

 

The Primaris designs were likely also influenced by the even higher level of model making tooling GW invested in around this time, allowing for finer details, crisper lines and new ways to divide the models up.

That came in before the time of the primaris. You can see kits from years before that have benefitted from the capabilities of laser cut molds and CAD. Both in terms of fine and crisp level of surface detail. and in terms of the way the parts are split.

 

I doubt the scale was changed specifically to suit older players, rather just to attract players that like the bigger scale regardless of age.

 

Also, i don't see the more dynamic poses. They have mostly the same type of poses as classic marines. You get a few outliers like LT Calsius and the new reiver lieutenant. Put you get that with classic characters as well to a degree.

Most models had one pose: a standing quarter squat. We have models walking and turning included in the kits now that feel like they're actually doing it and aren't just standing around like they're badly chaffed.

 

 

You've got about 2 or 3 models walking in the Dark Imperium box, 1 reiver sort of running, lieutenant calsius striding and that is it.  The rest of the Primaris are 'squatting' like some classic marines do.  All of the new Infiltrator/Incursor models are doing the standard squat for example.

 

Not that there is anything wrong with the 'squat'.  That sort of legs brace pose is actually something soldiers do for stability when standing and firing.

 

In the classic marine range you have a greater variation of leg poses.  You've got running legs from the assault kit, walking/striding legs from the deathwatch kit, normal legs from the tactical kits.  You've even got more running and striding legs from some of the FW kits like the mk6 legion marines.

[BitsHammer]

 

 

 

 

The Primaris designs were likely also influenced by the even higher level of model making tooling GW invested in around this time, allowing for finer details, crisper lines and new ways to divide the models up.

That came in before the time of the primaris. You can see kits from years before that have benefitted from the capabilities of laser cut molds and CAD. Both in terms of fine and crisp level of surface detail. and in terms of the way the parts are split.

 

I doubt the scale was changed specifically to suit older players, rather just to attract players that like the bigger scale regardless of age.

 

Also, i don't see the more dynamic poses. They have mostly the same type of poses as classic marines. You get a few outliers like LT Calsius and the new reiver lieutenant. Put you get that with classic characters as well to a degree.

Most models had one pose: a standing quarter squat. We have models walking and turning included in the kits now that feel like they're actually doing it and aren't just standing around like they're badly chaffed.

You've got about 2 or 3 models walking in the Dark Imperium box, 1 reiver sort of running, lieutenant calsius striding and that is it. The rest of the Primaris are 'squatting' like some classic marines do. All of the new Infiltrator/Incursor models are doing the standard squat for example.

 

Not that there is anything wrong with the 'squat'. That sort of legs brace pose is actually something soldiers do for stability when standing and firing.

 

In the classic marine range you have a greater variation of leg poses. You've got running legs from the assault kit, walking/striding legs from the deathwatch kit, normal legs from the tactical kits. You've even got more running and striding legs from some of the FW kits like the mk6 legion marines.

A much larger line of minis is going to have a larger range of options. They're still building the core of the line so it's likely we're going to be a little less free form in options on the outset.

 

I assume we'll get running bodies when we get a melee focused Primaris unit (that isn't Reivers).

[Robbienw]

Indeed, but i was pointing out there is more to classic marine poses than just leg braced 'sqautting ones' as people sometimes erroneously state.

 

Primaris might get running ones in future units, but its unlikely you'll ever see stuff like running intercessor due to the lack of interchangeability.  I can make any type of classic marine a runner :)

[BitsHammer]

Indeed, but i was pointing out there is more to classic marine poses than just leg braced 'sqautting ones' as people sometimes erroneously state.

 

Primaris might get running ones in future units, but its unlikely you'll ever see stuff like running intercessor due to the lack of interchangeability. I can make any type of classic marine a runner :)

As long as it uses Tacticus armour for the runner than any runner can be an Intercessor.

[Robbienw]

And if the required intercessor parts can fit ;)

[Evil Eye]

I don't think we're likely to see many (if any) new "firstborn" Marine models but really, do we NEED any new ones? AFAIK every Oldmarine unit in the codex has a decent modern kit available, aside from some characters who will likely be Rubicon'd- the Tactical Marine kit is still quite new and IIRC scales nicely with modern stuff. And I don't think Oldmarines need any new units, as they already have an entire codex's worth, and if balance is an issue it'd be better for them to rebalance what already exists than plug holes with yet more new kits.

 

I'd much rather we got new plastic Noise Marines and Berzerkers for example as the Berzerker kit is ancient and Noise Marines currently consist of an upgrade kit which may or may not be compatible with the new CSM plastics.