The Search for Ghal Maraz - Spoilerific Discussion.

[Erik Setzer]

They aren't Space Marines, at all.

Let's see... Heavily armored, strike from the skies, meant to be larger-than-life heroes, created by a God-Emperor to reunite the kingdoms and drive back the savages...

Yes, they're fantasy Space Marines. Just like Necrons are Space Undead, and Eldar are Space Elves. They stopped short of giving them rifles because their ranged weapon naming convention would have meant they'd be using "boltguns." They're AoS's version of Space Marines, and trying to deny that is just silly, no matter how much you feel you have to rush to GW's aid. They even replaced their statue of a Space Marine with a statue of an Eternal.

Of course there's differences... just like there are differences between Undead and Necrons, but we all still know the Necrons are Space Undead. Only people so in love with GW they'll deny the obvious would claim there's no correlation between Space Marines and Stormcast Eternals. I doubt that the design studio would deny it if you could get them "off the record." I don't know why people act like it's something dirty, either.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

So in an age of huge war, you don't want to wear the heaviest bloody army you can get? Enjoy your inevitable fictional demise.
They remind me more of Chaos Warriors, or enemies from Dark Souls.

If that's all you can see, well, I'm glad we don't talk much.

[Mr Mystery]

Gimme my leather kit any day. Less clanky, moar sneaky.

Well. Sneaky as a big blundering ox can be in New Rocks running through a wood.....

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

How sneaky.

[Mr Mystery]

Much sneaky.

Very stealth.

Wow.

Though to be fair, the amount of weaponry I typically carry would be a dead give away (sword, spare sword, 6 quarrels, crossbow, dagger, hand axe, mace and shield)...

[Erik Setzer]

Yeah, you can resort to silly insults all you want, but they're still a fantasy version of Space Marines. That's their purpose in the fluff and the game.

Not sure why you take that to be some horribly, evil thing to say, but hey, if you get so offended over people stating the obvious, then yeah, maybe it's good you don't talk to me much, because I rather enjoy honest discussions, and I find silly insults in place of reasonable arguments to be quite boring.

[40kGamer]

Without a doubt they are the fantasy equivalent of Space Marines. Even fluff wise it reads like a sword and sorcery version of their 40k equivalents... they even have their own version of Chaplains.

[Erik Setzer]

To be fair, there are certainly differences. But then, there'd have to be, because this is fantasy. Technology is replaced by magic. Space Marines can't come back to life (though they might be preserved to be stuck in a Dreadnought). Vehicles are replaced by mounts.

The core concept is the same, though. Still not sure why that's supposed to be a bad thing? Are Space Marines supposed to be a bad concept or something?