So, you’re looking for a list of space marine chapters. It’s a bit of a rabbit hole, isn't it? Honestly, the sheer volume of lore Games Workshop has pumped out since the late eighties is staggering. You aren't just looking at a few dozen names. We are talking about the "Adeptus Astartes," the Emperor’s finest, and depending on who you ask or which sourcebook you crack open, there are technically a thousand chapters active at any given time.
Most of them? They’re just names on a page or a specific shade of paint in a White Dwarf magazine from 1994.
But if you’re trying to actually play the game or get into the novels, you really only need to care about the heavy hitters. The "First Founding." These are the original Legions that survived the Horus Heresy and got broken down into smaller groups. Everything else—the "Successor Chapters"—basically just copies their homework. They inherit the gene-seed, the quirks, and the inevitable mental breakdowns of their ancestors.
The Big Nine: The Foundation of Every List of Space Marine Chapters
You have to start with the First Founding. If you don't understand these guys, the rest of the list makes zero sense.
The Ultramarines are the poster boys. People love to hate them because they’re the "perfect" soldiers, but they’re essentially the Roman Empire in space. They follow the Codex Astartes—a massive rulebook written by their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman—like it’s the literal word of God. If you want an army that works exactly how the rules intend, start here.
Then you’ve got the Blood Angels. They look heroic, but they’re actually vampires with a ticking time bomb in their DNA. Eventually, they fall into the "Black Rage," where they think they’re their dying father, Sanguinius, and start hitting everything in sight. It’s tragic. It’s cool. It’s very gothic.
Compare that to the Space Wolves. They don't care about your "Codex." They’re space vikings who ride giant wolves and drink ale that would kill a normal human. They’re messy. They’re loud. They are one of the few chapters that actually feels like a distinct culture rather than just a military unit.
The Dark Angels are the first legion, and they have a massive secret. Half their legion turned traitor ten thousand years ago, and they’ve been trying to cover it up ever since. They wear robes over their power armor and act like monks with serious trust issues.
Then you have the specialists:
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- Imperial Fists: Masters of defense and building walls. They’re stubborn. Like, "die-before-moving-an-inch" stubborn.
- White Scars: They like bikes. And going fast. They’re based on the Mongol Steppe tribes, and their whole vibe is hit-and-run warfare.
- Iron Hands: "The flesh is weak." They replace their limbs with cybernetics because they’re still mad their dad got his head cut off.
- Salamanders: The nice guys. They use flamethrowers and meltas, but they actually care about protecting civilians. Rare in 40k.
- Raven Guard: Stealth experts. They’re the emo kids of the 41st millennium, lurking in shadows and using jump packs to assassinate leaders.
Why Successor Chapters Actually Matter
Once you get past those nine, the list of space marine chapters explodes. A "Successor Chapter" is basically a spin-off.
Take the Crimson Fists. They come from the Imperial Fists. They almost got wiped out by Orks, but they’re still kicking. They’re famous for having one or two red gauntlets, and they represent that "last stand" grit that 40k fans crave.
Or the Black Templars. They are a successor of the Imperial Fists too, but they don't play like them at all. They’re on a permanent crusade. They hate psykers. They chain their weapons to their wrists so they can't ever drop them. They’re easily one of the most popular chapters because their aesthetic—black armor, white crosses—is just timeless.
Then you get into the weird stuff.
The Lamenters are a Blood Angels successor known for having the worst luck in the galaxy. They try to do the right thing and get slaughtered for it. Their shoulder pads are a checkered pattern, which is a nightmare to paint, fittingly enough.
The Mortifactors are Ultramarine successors, but instead of being clean-cut Romans, they’re obsessed with death and cover their armor in bones and skulls. It shows how much a chapter can diverge from its "father" over ten thousand years of isolation and local culture.
How to Choose From the Massive List
If you’re staring at a list of space marine chapters and feeling overwhelmed, you need to filter by playstyle or lore vibe.
Do you like the idea of being the "good guys" in a universe of monsters? Look at the Salamanders or the Lamenters.
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Do you want to be a terrifying space knight who might accidentally eat his friends? Blood Angels or Flesh Tearers.
Maybe you just want to be the most efficient military force possible? Ultramarines or Iron Hands.
There’s also the "Unknown Founding" chapters. This is Games Workshop’s way of saying "make up your own." Chapters like the Blood Ravens (famous from the Dawn of War games) don't actually know who their daddy is. This gives you total creative freedom. You can paint them however you want and use whatever rules you like.
The Cursed Founding and the Weird Ones
Not every chapter is a success story. The 21st Founding, known as the "Cursed Founding," produced some real freaks.
- Flame Falcons: They spontaneously burst into flames in battle. They thought it was a gift from the Emperor; the Inquisition thought it was heresy.
- Black Dragons: They have bony protrusions growing out of their arms and heads that they use as weapons.
- Sons of Antaeus: They are inexplicably tough and oversized, even for Space Marines.
These chapters add flavor to the universe. They remind us that the process of making a Space Marine—shoving 19 new organs into a teenager—is inherently unstable and creepy.
Organizing the Chaos: A Working Categorization
If we were to look at a functional list of space marine chapters today, we'd generally group them by their "Progenitor."
The Line of Guilliman (Ultramarines)
This is the biggest group. You’ve got the Novamarines, who paint their armor in quarters, and the Genesis Chapter, who are basically the Ultramarines’ backup squad. Most of these chapters are "Codex Compliant," meaning they follow the standard organizational structure of 1,000 marines split into 10 companies.
The Line of Dorn (Imperial Fists)
Aside from the Black Templars and Crimson Fists, you have the Executioners and the Iron Knights. These guys tend to be siege specialists or exceptionally grumpy.
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The Line of Sanguinius (Blood Angels)
You’ll find the Flesh Tearers (led by Gabriel Seth, a man too angry to die), the Angels Vermillion, and the Sanguinary Guard. Most struggle with the "Red Thirst" and the "Black Rage."
The Hidden Chapters
Some chapters exist entirely off the books. The Grey Knights are technically Space Marines, but they aren't on any standard list. They’re daemon hunters. Every single one is a psyker. They don't have a founding in the traditional sense; they were created in secret to be the ultimate weapon against the Warp.
Then there’s the Deathwatch. They aren't a chapter you’re born into. It’s more like a special forces unit where different chapters send their best veterans to hunt aliens (Xenos). You’ll see a guy with a Space Wolf shoulder pad and a Blood Angel shoulder pad working together. It’s the only place in the lore where the list of space marine chapters actually mingles.
Actionable Steps for New Collectors
If you're ready to pick a chapter and start an army or dive into the books, here is how you actually do it without wasting money.
First, don't buy a 2,000-point army immediately. Pick up a single box of Intercessors.
Second, test a paint scheme. A list of space marine chapters is also a list of color palettes. Some are easy (Iron Hands are basically just black and silver) and some are grueling (White Scars or Imperial Fists require painting white or yellow, which are notoriously difficult colors). If you hate painting yellow, don't pick the Imperial Fists.
Third, read a specific "flavor" novel. - Want to see if you like Ultramarines? Read Dark Imperium by Guy Haley.
- Interested in the grimdark tragedy of the Blood Angels? Dante by Guy Haley is essential.
- Like the idea of space vikings? Helsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (okay, that's Black Templars, but it’s the best "Marine" book ever written).
Lastly, check the current game rules. Every couple of years, Games Workshop releases a new edition. Sometimes certain chapters get "supplements"—extra books with special rules. In the current landscape of 10th Edition, "Sub-factions" are less restrictive than they used to be, meaning you can often use the rules for one chapter while using the models of another. This is great for players who like the look of one group but the playstyle of another.
The most important thing to remember is that this is your hobby. If you want to create a chapter called the "Neon Llamas" who are successors of the Raven Guard but wear bright pink armor, you can. That's the beauty of the 40k universe. The list is never truly finished.