The 11th Edition Space Marines Codex cuts 17 units, sending Tactical Squads, Razorbacks, and Pedro Kantor to proxies and Legends.
Go dig through your Marine case, because there’s a decent chance something in there isn’t in the book anymore. GW finally showed what Codex: Space Marines actually does to the army, and while they tried to dazzle us with the Strength and Toughness buffs, 17 units (up from 16 after GW updated its article with the Dreadnought) disappeared along the way. Anyone who saw the recent Codex: Orks cuts probably expected some units to get lost along the way, but this is already turning into a concerning trend for 11th Edition.
Even though we expected it, seeing Tactical Squads on the list still hits differently. That’s the squad a whole lot of us built before we even knew what an FLGS was.
The buffs are pretty easy to sort out, but the messier question is what disappeared, what you can still use, and whether your GT organizer is cool with it. With Warhammer Legends now carrying a decent chunk of the old Marine range, what you can field depends a lot more on where you’re playing. But GW said this won’t land until October, so you’ll have a month or so to play with these models in tournaments.
GW Changes the Firstborn Space Marines Rules Again
Updated on September 8, 2026, by Rob Baer, with GW’s latest change to how the Legends Proxies rules will be handled.
- Seventeen units leave the book: five drop to Legendary Proxies and 12 get Warhammer Legends rules in the app. Then GW backpedaled on what a Legends Proxy even is…
- Profiles jump across the range: Strength 5 on basic weapons, bolt rifles firing at S5 or S6, and Tacticus plate at Toughness 5.
- Points climb with the stats: armies shrink when the codex lands in October, and GW says the Legends handling repeats for every codex after this.
GW has clarified that its controversial “Legendary Proxy” setup for Firstborn Space Marines is only temporary. Units like Tactical Squads and Devastators will initially use newer Space Marine datasheets when the codex arrives, but proper Warhammer Legends rules are now expected a few weeks or months later, with support in the Warhammer 40k app.
That’s a pretty big clarification considering the original announcement made the proxy units and Legends units look like they were staying in two separate groups.
Overall, it’s probably better for the game because it also means a Tactical Marine carrying a lascannon won’t have to spend all of 11th Edition pretending he’s an Intercessor either.
17 Space Marine Units Just Stopped Being Codex Legal
At least not everything went directly to the trash. Five units get the Legendary Proxy treatment, so you can keep the model on the table and use a different datasheet for it:
- Tactical Squad counts as an Intercessor Squad
- Devastator Squad counts as a Desolation Squad
- Suppressor Squad counts as an Inceptor Squad
- Pedro Kantor counts as a Captain
- Uriel Ventris counts as a Captain
The other 12 move to full Space Marine Legends rules, and this is where anyone with an old-school motor pool starts feeling it:
- Dreadnought (GW updated their article a day later with it on the list)
- Centurion Assault Squad
- Centurion Devastator Squad
- Razorback
- Predator Destructor
- Predator Annihilator
- Vindicator
- Whirlwind
- Stormhawk Interceptor
- Stormtalon Gunship
- Stormraven Gunship
- Hammerfall Bunker
Dropping both Predator variants and the Razorback at once puts a serious dent in the classic mechanized Marine army, much like GW sending more Ork units to Legends. The Firstborn cull has been going on for a long time, but guessing that Primaris looked like a safe bet isn’t really a prediction anymore.
It’s just what the codex looks like now. It’s the same direction GW has been heading since it quietly dropped the label, which is why the question are Primaris dead in Warhammer 40k keeps coming back.
A Legendary Proxy Is Only Legal If Your Event Says It Is
This is the bit people will miss until they’ve already been doing it for a while. Legendary Proxies are fine at home, at your store, in your club, and in campaign games, but competitive events can require the organizer’s permission first. That’s basically how Space Marine Legends rules have worked for years, but the difference now is that we’re talking about units plenty of people still use.
So your painted Tactical Squad can happily pretend to be Intercessors at the kitchen table for a while. At a tournament, check the event pack or ask the TO before you toss them in the case.
GW is also putting the Legends rules directly into the app alongside the codex. At least that cuts out the PDF scavenger hunt that made parts of the 11th Edition rules annoying to keep track of when the edition launched.
Final Thoughts on the Space Marines Legends in 11th Edition
The big Marine changes for Legends are probably going to get most of the attention right now, but watching how these units will be handled as new codexes arrive is what every other faction should be watching. If you’ve got older kits sitting in an army that hasn’t gotten its book yet, there’s suddenly a pretty good reason to wonder what will be going back to the shelf or what will still see play in 11th Edition.
Once the Space Marines codex hits in October, we’ll also get a much better idea of how painless the Legendary Proxy system actually is. Using an old Tactical Squad as Intercessors sounds simple enough on paper until their dedicated Legends Datasheets come out.
But how tournament organizers handle that once hundreds of players show up with older collections is where this new policy really gets tested.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Warhammer 40k 11th Edition Rules: Release Date, Detachments + Every Change
- New 40k Legends in 11th Edition: App Rules & Classic Models Guide
- New 11th Edition Space Marines Detachments Drop Big Buffs For Every Major Chapter
- New 40k Codex Release Schedule: 2026 Roadmap for 11th Edition
- Warhammer 40k Orks Codex Review: 15 Detachments, 54 Buffed Units
- Primaris on the Chopping Block? New 11th Edition 40k Codexes + Rules Latest
- New 11th Edition Space Marines Coming in the Armageddon Box
What do you think about the Space Marines Codex 11th Edition sending 17 units to Legends and Legendary Proxies?
With Space Marines comprising the model ranges GW sells the most of, I’m wondering how they can square their bottom line with higher points costs per unit and smaller armies. Maybe they will price Space Marine kits higher than equivalent kits from other ranges, which would be very unfortunate.
Games Workshop is truly Dead, this clearly puts the biggest nails in the Coffin by causing so much damage to the game, it’s gamers and the gamers wallets.
If Warhammer wants me to stock their products then they’ll have a serious mountain to climb.
its one week now that I found my blood angels in a box sitting there after a LLLOOOONG time… the old 4th edition rulebook its there also… no need to play with the new rules…
Wow. Three quarters of my army, useless. In grand tournaments I will never ever play now. GW can kiss a LOT of players goodbye. They finally screwed up big enough.
Sadly they aren’t gonna care that old players leave because they’re getting way more new people into the hobby through entertainment media marketing basically (video-games, shows, podcasts, etc) and dumbing down the game system (the exact same move ttrpg franchises have been doing for like a decade now to become popular, which is more than proven to work). Also GW has never really given a damn about customer happiness anyway.