People, do remember, that for all you who hate ultramarines, they are the 'face' of 40k, it will not be the same if Ghazghkull, blood angels, cadian, or biel tann was the 'face' of 40k, say 40k, and people think ultramarines, they're the poster boys, the picture perfect guys, the winners, the all rounders, the kings, whatever you choose to call them...
they're one of the defining factors of 40k, sure, you might hate them, but they do lend a huge amount of definition to 40k. If i was in GW, i'll just continue promoting ultramarines...
i know you hate that marines are seemingly taking over GW, i'm a fledging ork collector, and i feel fustrated that the wartrukk is 2nd ed. and that marines always win in the fluff, however, this allows you to expand your imagination even more create more interesting fluff, etc. well...i do have a BA army, i do agree that it much easier to make and create than orks as we have all the nice updated models.....its unfair, i agree...nothing we can do about it, unless we make an appeal to GW, i dislike the recent movements to create even more chapters, like the BT, when orks and eldar needs a codex so badly, i don't think BA really needs a codex urgently, same goes for all the other chapters, except for maybe DA, and that's for deathwing only.....maybe consider writing a petition?
besdies, i think GW will concentrate on the other armies too, you just have to wait your turn, they did a great job on tyranids...
i do like ultramarines! i think they're cool, they have nice fluff, they have all the cool models, i also wanted to collect UM, but i like variety and i think warbosses are cool! i'm slightly jealous...well...i think its the jealousy that's getting to all of us here, making us hate them....
but do look at the artwork for the UM, like the marine codex, they seem so cool, so warrior-like, all the digital enchancements, all the big oranate armour, etc. the only thing i cannot stand is mr. calgar. he's extremely boring and dry, same goes for their chaplain cassius, fancy him calling his chapter master 'young calgar'(we have dante who can call you 'young cassius' trice over!), its kinda arrogant and stupid IMHO, they're both examples of dryness and arrogance, boring.....but i like the tyranid vets. and the other 'normal' marines, they perform acts of valour and is kinda heroic....
as for patining marines, here's what i have to say. They're easy to paint. no doubt about that. but you have to be pro. enough to paint them to a reasonable standard. they're like lazy models for pro painters...do a newbie job on it and it'll still look ugly and plain, not to mention the details your tatical marine has is not a lot, you REQUIRE highlighting, shadowing/darklining in order to make the miniature look nice. i don't see any problems not highlighting the more detailed eldar models, but you have to highlight marine models, because they have too much big and plain details, it'll look ugly not to add any fancy details to them....its lazy models for pro painters, or at least, non-n00b painters, of course people love them....oh, and I play menoth(oh the heresy!) so i know how irritating it is to paint cloth, faces, tiny details, etc. plus i already started on orks, so i know what it's like to paint other stuff, in truth, it's really a lazy painter's army, but good or bad depends as much on the painter's skill as in other armies...
