Codex: Chaos Space Marines - First Impressions

So I sat down last night and had a good read through the new Chaos codex.

The set up is exactly the same as other recent codexes and army books - fluff, bestilary, hobby list. It is full colour so very pretty with a mix of old art and new art. Don't see any Easter Eggs in the model shots but I'll give it a closer look this weekend.

There is nothing too inspiring in the fluff but that's to be expected given the wealth of Horus Heresy background we now have. It seems they went through with a storyboard and made sure each of the Legions gets a post-Heresy mention in their timeline.

Obviously for most the meat is in the list. For me the list is a conduit to me playing 40k again (forseeable future in meaningful way). Certainly I can make armies from my model collection with the list included. I think it is an improvement on GTBC edition. I suspect the easiest Traitor Legion to make is probably the Iron Warriors and I think that there is considerable opportunity to build a themed list. One thing that has helped this is the move of Dreadnaughts (Hellbrutes) to Elites. This takes some pressure off the Heavy Support that was there in the last codex. The three HS slots are still at a premium with Havocs, Oblits, Daemon Engines, Vindicators and Predators fighting for the three spots.

Death Guard and Emperor's Children are more problematic given the dearth of Cult Troops apart from the Plague Marines and Noise Marines. The second hand market for Blastmasters fell faster than Facebook shares. The Death Guard list is more doable as you don't have the weapons issues that you have with EC.I can muddle through with MoN but I suspect long term it will be as satisfying as 99% Fat Free Milk.

For the Emperor's Children my guess is if I want to play them then I'll steer towards a messy hybrid Chaos with Daemon Allies list (or vice versa). I still hold that a Grey Knights list may still be the best approximation of EC.

Is the book likely to get me playing 40k more regularly? Probably not. It seems to be all a little bit harder and a little bit less satisfying than what I'd want. With limited hobby and playing time I guess I'm selfish enough to resent having to make do. I wanted the Chaos release to really rark me up and enthuse me to going out to play the game again. It hasn't, so far. Still I'm keen to see some 6th Ed games and see if that reignites the flame.

As it stands it's unlikely I buy the electronic version of the codex or any new models. And I'm a little bit sad about that

Collated Rumours - Codex: Chaos Space Marines

So below are the current "Chaos Codex" rumours from Heresy Online. To me they look like more a wishlist than what I would expect. If they do come to fruition, I'd be very happy:

Legion Specifics


World Eaters (Khorne)

Marked Dreads
Daemon Engines
Khornate characters can nullify psychic abilities aimed at them
Get Bolters
Has to engage in some kind of combat every turn or suffer a random d6 penalty result
Can only have 1 Havoc squad, can take more by "trading in" something else
Having a Khorne Daemon Prince means no Scouts
"Gladiator Themed Unit" Must keep killing in order to stop a timer in their heads from killing them, might be related to the d6 penalty mentioned above

Word Bearers (Chaos Undivided)

Dark Apostles can be split off as squad leaders
Chaplains
Daemonancer (Unit champion)
Summoning Daemons from the Warp, allowed re-rolls to scatter and new mishap chart
Can take Marked units but with restrictions
Turn 1 Daemon Summoning
Can only have 1 Heavy Support choice but get other bonuses to offset this
Possessed as Troops

Dear Games Workshop....Don't Stuff It Up!

I’ve been a bit vocal in the past about the turd that is Gav Thorpe’s Codex: Chaos Space Marines. Last week while eating pizza after Day One of HomeCon I was asked what I wanted to see in the new codex to be released later in the year.


Well first and foremost I don’t really care about playing strength (to a point). For me it can be pitched towards the high end – currently populated by the Grey Knights and Wolves – or the lower end – Tyranids, Sisters and Eldar. What I would hate it to be is at the very apex of the food chain attracting the great unwashed – I like a little bit of exclusivity!

The thing that really matters to me is diversity and the ability to tailor the list to reflect specific Legions. I want to be able to make an Emperor’s Children force, a Deathguard force, an Iron Warriors army etc.

So how would I like to see that achieved?

Given GW’s current Special Character hard-on, I’m guessing it will need to be through named characters for each Legion. I hope that in unlocking certain options e.g. Noise Terminators and Noise Bikers they are restricted to the respective Traitor Legion rather than allowing a continuation of the liquorice allsort pick’n’mix we have now.

In allowing certain units to be unlocked I’d restrict the Legion in its other choices e.g. no Obliterators, raptors, other marked units. For Deathguard a restriction on tracked vehicles. World Eaters armies would have little or no access to long range firepower. Word Bearers would have Cultists and Lesser Daemons. Night Lords would have outflank, option to buy jetpack for CSMs etc.

So much could be done to give the Traitor legions back their flavour without making them over-powered.

Of course GW will blow it big time and like we have Viking Marines, Vampire Marines, Knight Marines, etc we will get Codex: Bad Marines

Finally....A Way Forward

The Necrons are now confirmed and I must say that I do like the new models. However my biggest hope is that the Codex continues at the same power level of the recent books. Given that it is going to be around for at least 5-6 years it is important that it is competitive through to at least 7th edition.


The word is that post Necrons the next Codex is Tau Empire. The rumours are that the fluff story has progressed and that the Tau are now looked in a major conflict with the forces of Chaos. Their greatest strength in this conflict is that they have not embraced the Warp and act as a null zone to the whispers of the Chaos Gds. In this I expect they are a little like “gingas” in that they have no soul! However this is all in keeping with their role over the past 3-4 years as GW’s red-headed stepchild getting no love. A least they will now have a “jobbing” role for the rediscovered poster boys “Chaos Legions”.

Now you are probably all unaware of this but I have been a little bit disappointed by GW’s treatment of Chaos over the past five years. To say that I think that Gav Thorpe’s Codex: Chaos Space Marines is a soulless piece of crap, seriously undervalues my hatred for that particular document. All the life, character and development work Pete Haines did was largely obliterated in Thorpe’s “work”. Suddenly the Legions ceased to exist and we were relegated to playing Codex: Liquorice Allsorts. I decried it at the time and I stand by every derogatory comment I’ve ever made about it. Chaos Space marines went from being characterful and diverse to Lash Prince(s) + Plague Marines + obliterators.

So how did that work out GW? I’m guessing not very well. You release the Horus Heresy books and then rip the heart out of Chaos.

This Ginger is Pretty Happy Gav Thorpe Will Be Nowhere Near Chaos Legions

CSM went from one of the two biggest sellers to a complete also-ran (based on tournament attendance). Some will put this down to performance but I believe that the largest part was mindnumbing boredom. Seriously who could get excited by Gav Thorpe’s “vision”.

Spot quiz – How many Red Corsair armies have you seen?

I pretty much gave up playing 40k when that codex was released. Therefore I pretty excited by the news solidifying around June 2012 when we will see the return of the Legions. The word is this will be the last 5th Ed Codex but written with 6th Ed in mind. Can’t wait! I’m hoping that either Phil Kelly or Jeremy Vetock get the gig because then at least it will have a soul.

Olympia's Finest

I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to paint over the winter months and have decided that it’s going to be the pin-up boys from Olympia, the Iron Warriors.