There is a REASON they call Space Marines (Especially Ultramarines in their blue armor with the stylized U) the poster-boys of Warhammer 40,000! They are iconic and unique to 40k.

There are lesser-known races that are unique to 40k, but they are lesser-known. There are well-known races but at a glance, a green-skinned Ork or a pointy-eared elf in space could be confused with other works of fiction.

So... I have been really busy of late and I am looking in at diving into my reviews again which this time, after the Faction Packs, deals with Detachments first.

With ANOTHER Grotmas, we are getting new Detachments for every army. HOWEVER, we need to remember that although there are 28 playable factions in the game, 5 of them are Space Marine ones. Often, when Space Marines get new Detachments, and let's say the Sapce Wolves get a new Detachment, then the Space Wolves actually get 2... AND if we want to be technical about it, there are also the 5 Chaos Space Marine factions... so 10/28 playable races... oh and Grey Knights and Deathwatch... so... 12/28 Factions...

But numbers speak the full truth. Do the Space Marines have the most Detachments to choose from, let's tally it up from the Munitorum Field Manual 3.7 onwards:

Space Marines - 14 Detachments
Blood Angels - 5 Detachments extra**
Dark Angels - 5 Detachments extra**
Space Wolves - 5 Detachments extra**
Black Templars - 4 Detachments extra**

Chaos Space Marines - 11 Detachments
Aeldari - 10 Detachments
Orks - 8 Detachments
Tyranids - 8 Detachments
Astra Militarum - 7 Detachments
Death Guard - 7 Detachments
Emperor's Children - 7 Detachments
Adeptus Custodes - 6 Detachments
Adeptus Mechanicus - 6 Detachments
Chaos Daemons - 6 Detachments
Drukhari - 6 Detachments
Genestealer Cults - 6 Detachments
Grey Knights - 6 Detachments * Space Marines without the keyword
Leagues of Votann - 6 Detachments
Necrons - 6 Detachments
T'au Empire - 6 Detachments
Thousand Sons - 6 Detachments
World Eaters - 6 Detachments
Adepta Sororitas - 5 Detachments
Chaos Knights - 5 Detachments
Imperial Agents - 5 Detachments
Imperial Knights - 5 Detachments
Deathwatch - 1 Detachment * Also Space Marines but use this Deatchment

** There are 6/14 Detachments that can only be used by specific Codex-compliant Chapters of Space Marines, leaving 8 Detachments that can be used by the non-Codex-compliant Chapters.
Eg: Space Wolves have 5 of their own plus 8 from Codex Astartes for a total of 13 options!

Grand totals:
There are 178 unique Detachments to play with in 10th Edition right now (with more coming no doubt)

Currently Space Marines as Adeptus Astartes, Make up for 5/28 of the factions, and 5 Chaos Astartes and 2 outliers. So 17.8% +17.8% +7.14% = 42.8% of the factions in 40k are Space Marines in Power Armor.

In Relation to that Space Marines as Adeptus Astartes have 33 Detachments, Chaos Astartes have 37 Detachments, and the outliers bring 7 Detachments for a total of 77 Detachments.
In ratio. Adeptus astartes have 18.5%, Chaos 20.7% and outliers 3.9% for a total of 43.25% of the games Detachments

Honestly, that seems around equal based on faction vs Detachment. It is slightly higher but one more detachment on each of 8 or so factions would bring the ratios back into equality.

I feel like there needs to be more Xenos factions in the game and that Astra Militarum and the rest of mortal humanity need more diversity.

The fact is that in the lore, Space Marines are rarely seen in some wars that span decades. There are over 1,000 Chapters, perhaps more like 1,500 with the Primaris Project and the Indominus Crusade under Guilliman and Cawl... but they still are only a drop in the ocean compared to the might of te Astra Millitarum, the Imperial Navy, the PDF and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

So... I have Reviewed 1 Faction and 3 Detachments... 27 Factions and 175 Detachments to go!

Support for the Hobby Fund

With my hobby posts, I generate a hobby fund. 50% of the income goes to Hive account@zakl.hobbyfund. What is interesting on that Hive account is my Grand Imperial army! The last post of which was the Warhammer 40k - Grand Imperial Army Post 23 - 2,855pts