Games Workshop is starting another week of previews, and this week is going to be all about the new Codex: Space Marines.
Games Workshop just gave us a first look into the new Codex: Space Marines. Let’s take a look at what they had to say about the first Codex of 8th edition.
This is the complete guide to your army, with 104 pages of background, covering the long and storied history of the Adeptus Astartes and the distinct traditions of the First Founding Chapters and their Successors. There’s also new background focused on the Primaris Marines and the Ultima Founding, from Chapters brought back from the brink of destruction like the Crimson Fists to new heroes like the Rift Stalkers. There’s detailed livery to inspire your own paint schemes, as well as a breakdown of squad and company markings, from those of the more Codex compliant Chapters like the Ultramarines to the unique battle-iconography of the Black Templars.
New Models Ahoy! Checkout our breakdown of all these new units picture above!
The codex is packed with new units, too. We can’t tell you about all of these yet, but we can guarantee you’ll see everything from Dark Imperium, our new Primaris Space Marine heroes, the Reivers, the Repulsor and the colossal Redemptor Dreadnought. There are also all the characters and units you know and love, including Chapter-specific special characters that will unlock yet more avenues for army building and themed forces. Again, Space Marine players will have a very powerful and complex force at their disposal, with some truly terrifying combinations available to those who make the maximum use of Primaris and non-Primaris units. All in all, there are 85 datasheets in the book – the codex is almost the size of the Warhammer 40,000 book.
Of course, a Space Marine army wouldn’t be a Space Marine army without the legacy of its Primarch; these are represented in Codex: Space Marines with Chapter Tactics for (deep breath now) the Ultramarines, the White Scars, the Imperial Fists, the Black Templars, the Salamanders, the Raven Guard and the Iron Hands. These have been changed a little from what you may be used to, and for the better – we’ve been able to make the Chapter Tactics very powerful and very flexible, but your army will need to be battle-forged to use them. Previous Chapter Tactics generally focused around specific units and weapons like Salamanders with flamers or Imperial Fists with bolter-armed Tactical Squads, but this time around, they’ll be benefitting every unit and every army build; the strength of the Space Marines is diversity, after all. We’ll be taking a look at these over the next week, and what you can do with them, so keep your eyes peeled.
These Chapter Tactics are backed up with a range of relics, warlord traits, psychic powers and Stratagems. The Stratagems are especially exciting; the Space Marines codex has 26 new Stratagems for you to play with. These allow you to customise your army even more – as well as general Stratagems, there’s also one for each Chapter, as well as Stratagems focused around specific units. Try combining Vindicators to fire a brutal Linebreaker Bombardment, or unleashing Tremor Shells from a Thunderfire Cannon. Again, these are going to reward disciplined and careful list building with a lot of powerful choices and allow you to spotlight units and tactics that you like to use.
With Stratagems, you’ll be able to build armoured columns, focus on your heroes or master the Fight phase. These are paired with 14 Warlord Traits – 6 for any Space Marine army and 8 for the different Chapters. Particularly shrewd readers will notice that’s one more than there should be – that’s because the Crimson Fists, while using the Chapter Tactics of the Imperial Fists, have their own Warlord Trait and Relic. We haven’t even got into psychic powers yet, or Tactical Objectives…
The new Codex: Space Marine is looking very promising. You’re going to be getting 26 new Stratagems, 14 new Warlord Traits, and 85 datasheets in this 104 page book.
We are anxiously looking forward to what Games Workshop has to reveal over the next week, leading up to the pre-order next Saturday.
What do you think about the new Codex: Space Marines? Let us know in the comments below.
