Ultramarines

"Seek honour as you act, therefore, and you will know no fear" -Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the XIII^th Legion

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Faction Overview

The Ultramarines (UM) are one of the playable Factions in The Horus Heresy: Legions. Nothing exemplifies the strategic might of the Legiones Astartes like the UM. True to their Lore, they focus their play style on adaptability, asserting threats, and eliminating them. Theoretical: your enemies will overwhelm you with troops. Practical: you will show them the meaning of Courage. The Ultramarines were the 14^th Faction to be reworked, moving their original pool of cards to Legacy.

Strengths:

• Very strong "Midrange/anti-aggro" type Faction.
• A "Jack of all trades" gameplay, with a pool of cards that allows for very adaptable play.
• Great, well-rounded troops.
• Many ways to trigger both effects of Strategy (which in itself, can be considered a stronger Rally).
• Unlike most Factions, being behind the opponent (board wise) is ideal, as you can turn it around, or gain powerful buffs, with Courage.
• Great support warlords.

Weakness:

• "Jack of all trades" comes with the moniker "Master of none" for a reason, as while having strong cards of any type, other Factions tends to have better choices of said types (great but not the best vehicles, great but not the best direct damage tactics, etc.).
• While Courage helps you in a bad situation, don't being able to trigger it (because you have the same/more amount of troops, or the enemy outright don't play them), leaves you with very underwhelming troops, as most of their value comes from the Trait.
• On that regard, dropping one Courage troop against a full board, and at best eliminating only one, still leaves your enemy with 5 threats for responding next turn, so tactical planning (and having the necessary cards) is fundamental.
• Both main Legendary tactics forces you into one of the two Traits when deck building (as Preternatural Strategy doesn't help you with a Courage focus one, and Gladius Incandor, besides the extra attack, gains nothing if you have more Strategy cards), and while you can mix them, it results in an overall weaker effect.

Warlords

Standard

• 
  Roboute Guilliman
• 
  Remus Ventanus
• 
  Marius Gage
• 
  Aeonid Thiel
• 
  Aerion Mersaror
• 
  Drakus Gorod

Legacy

• 
  Roboute Guilliman
• 
  Remus Ventanus
• 
  Marius Gage
• 
  Aeonid Thiel

Troops and Tactics

• 
  Troops
• 
  Tactics

Traits and Available Effects

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Gameplay

The UM Troops main gameplay revolves around supporting each other or doing damage.

The UM Tactics main gameplay revolves around maintaining board control.

Most of the UM Warlords focus on maintaining board control through a defensive or aggressive position.

The UM have Archetypes like: Control, Heavy-Control, Aggro, Midrange, Duelist, Tempo.

For a more complete look on the Faction gameplay, check — How to Play: Ultramarines

Collection and Cosmetics

The UM cards can be obtained from the Tempest Crate and the Galaxy in Flames Crate, or bought in the Daily Shop.

The UM Card Backs and Badge Cosmetics can be obtained randomly from the Cosmetics Crate, or bought in the Daily Shop.

Premium Cards appear randomly in any Crate, and can be bought from the Collection tab.

Additional Information

Balance History
Date	Changes	Notes
05 nov 2024	Avenging Son: Ability changed to ‘(3) Draw a card. It costs 5 less. Can act again’ Reckoning: Description changed to ‘Your Warlord becomes Avenging Son. Put in play a Suzerain Tyvus. Cost is equal to your Health’
24 oct 2024	Aeonid Thiel Added	Battle Pass reward
18 oct 2024	Faction Reworked

Lore

By the third solar decade of the Great Crusade, the XIII Legion had begun to develop a distinct character of their own. They were recorded as having a practical and forthright mien, with little time given to the esoteric arts of warfare or conjectural strategising, preferring a direct approach of swift engagement. In warfare, they relied upon the rapid attainment of quickly defined tactical objectives and strategies born of tried and tested battlefield experience and determined by the situation at hand. Their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, was raised in the world of Macragge, a bleak but not inhospitable world, part of a decayed star empire of ages past. Its industries had survived intact, and its people had retained an authoritarian but cohesive society, and having preserved warp-capable crafts they were able to maintain contact with near Human-settled star systems. Found as an infant by Konor Guiliman; a noble with the title of "Consul", whose authority governed the most civilised and powerful region of Macragge; Roboute was a prodigy, growing fast in both body and intellect. By age ten, he had mastered every subject the wisest men of Macragge could teach him, and his insights into matters of history, philosophy, and science often stunned his elders. However, his greatest talents were as a military leader and in the art of war, which was itself treated as a high and lauded science in Macragge's culture. When his father died, He received the title of Consul, and with superhuman energy and the singularity of vision only a Primarch was capable of executing, the new consul reorganised the social order of Macragge, creating a ruthlessly enforced meritocracy where the hardworking prospered and the honorable received positions of high office. The stagnated and uneven economy was re-ordered, technology disseminated rather than horded by the elite, and the planetary armed forces were transformed into a powerful and well-equipped force. Macragge flourished as never before, one people and one order, united under the unchallengeable rule of Roboute Guilliman, and so too did the neighboring worlds, which he consolidated into the Realms of Ultramar. When the Emperor reached Macragge, he found a world that was self-sufficient, prosperous, with a strong and well-equipped military, and engaging in trade with nearby systems. Impressed, the Emperor assigned command of the newly named Ultramarines Legion to Guilliman, and relocated the Legion's forward base to Macragge. With the exception of the Luna Wolves, no Legion conquered as many worlds, or conquered worlds as fast, or left conquered worlds in such good state during the Great Crusade, as the Ultramarines. Whenever Guilliman liberated a world, he would not move on until he had set up a self-sufficient defense system, and left advisors behind to create industry, set up trade routes with the rest of the Imperium, and form a government whose first concern would always be the well-being of the people. Eventually, the Warmaster Horus, already corrupted, would make all the forces of the Ultramarines to mass in Calth for a joint attack on an Ork army. As Guilliman and his fleets arrived at Calth, they knew something was wrong, because none of their Astropaths could get messages through the Warp and the storms were interfering with the navigation of their ships; they were blocked from the rest of the Imperium. It was at this moment that the traitor forces of the Word Bearers Legion attacked, and under Lorgar as well as the World Eaters, attempted to cut off the rest of Ultramar from the greater Imperium in the Shadow Crusade. Could the Ultramarines whether this Ruinstorm, and reach Terra in time?

Trivia

The red helmet Thiel uses was originally placed as a mark of censure by the Ultramarines (in His case, for running theoreticals on how to defeat other Space Marines) before the Heresy started, but later commissioned for all sergeants in every loyalist Legion.

Notes

If looking for more info on how to play (in general) or aspects of the game, check our Guides:

• New Player Guide -The basics of the game are here.
• Advance Guide -More complex mechanics and variations of gameplay.
• Buyers Guide -For the Daily Shop, and an overall idea of what to spend your Gems.
• Deck Building Guide -The basics of how to build Decks (for all Factions).
• Community Decks -Decks made by the Player's base.

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