The 11th Edition Space Marines Codex cuts 16 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, 16 units 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.
Sixteen Space Marine Units Just Stopped Being Codex Legal
- Sixteen units leave the book: five drop to Legendary Proxies and 11 get Warhammer Legends rules in the app.
- 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.
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 11 move to full Space Marine Legends rules, and this is where anyone with an old-school motor pool starts feeling it:
- 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.
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. 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.
Strength 5 Chainswords Break Everyone Else’s Wound Math
Now we get to the stuff Marine players are actually going to enjoy. Basic warriors move to Strength 5, and GW really does mean basic. Combat knives, chainswords, and bolt pistols all go up with them. Intercessor bolt rifles get two firing modes, one at Strength 5 and another at Strength 6, while Tacticus armor moves to Toughness 5.
So, now, that starts changing wound rolls all over the table. Guns that were comfortably wounding Marines on 3s need another look, because plenty of those matchups now push out to 4s. And unlike a Space Marine detachment bonus, you’re not building around this. These stronger profiles are now just part of the army.
Phobos Stays Squishy But Gets Eight Inches Of Movement
Not every Marine gets the same upgrade. Phobos armor stays at Toughness 4 while the Tacticus version increased, but Phobos picks up an 8-inch move instead. Their job looks pretty obvious now: get across the board, chase down isolated units, snag objectives, and don’t stand around trying to trade shots with the heavy stuff.
That fits in with how the 11th Edition rules have been pushing different units into clearer jobs. Phobos gets around the table while tougher Marines sit in the places where somebody actually has to survive getting shot. But, whether Phobos gets anything new out of the model refresh people keep rumoring is another question entirely.
Your 2,000 Points Buys Fewer Marines Now
So, those new stat buffs aren’t free. Points are increasing with profiles, and Marine armies are getting smaller as individual warriors get better. That’s been the fantasy around Space Marines forever anyway: fewer models that are better troops, with each one actually feeling like an elite soldier instead of another model you pull off the table by the handful.
We like that direction, and best of all, if you were planning to start Marines with the Armageddon box, you’ll need fewer models to fill out 2,000 points now!
Chaos Gets Toughness 6 Terminators Out Of This Too
The rest of the Astartes aren’t getting left on the old baseline. Heretic Astartes and the Codex-divergent Chapters get matching boosts, which is how we end up with Toughness 6 Terminators firing Strength 5 storm bolters on both sides of the table. Those changes will hit Warhammer 40,000: The App automatically when the Space Marines codex launches in October.
Having those updates land in the app with the codex saves a lot of messing around, especially once multiple Marine books and Legends units are involved. GW used the same setup with the Orks codex rollout, and it looks like the rest of the codexes will follow the same schedule.
Final Thoughts on the Space Marines Codex 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. 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 16 units to Legends and Legendary Proxies?
