Codex: Space Marines – First Impressions
Chapter Tactics: Chapter Tactics have changed and almost all improved (I’m truly sorry, Raven Guard). My own army, Ultramarines, really love this; Tactical Doctrine now gives re-rolls in combat as well as with shooting, with Devastator giving army-wide re-rolls of 1 to hit in shooting and Twin-Linking Devastators/Devastator Centurions, and Assault gaining the huge improvement of army-wide re-rolls of 1 to hit in combat with flat re-rolls for any Assault Marines, Bikers, Attack Bikers or Assault Centurions. They’re all great benefits to get for free. The silliness starts happening in the Gladius Strike Force – the mandatory Demi-Company gives you an additional use of the Tactical Doctrine, and the Gladius Strike Force as a whole doubles down on all of the Doctrines. That’s one for each turn of a 7-turn game! Calgar lets you re-use yet another Doctrine, giving you a staggering four turns of Tactical Doctrine. Very, very flexible and reliable – very Ultramarine.
White Scars are still pretty much the same – flat Skilled Rider now, so no stacking Born in the Saddle with Skilled Rider, but on the other hand; everyone gets Hit and Run. Everyone, no restrictions. Centurions can now escape combat, and Hammernators can bounce around like nobody’s business. Still a very solid set of Chapter Tactics, especially with Khan. They also re-roll Run moves, but given the typical Bikes ‘n’ Centurions builds of White Scars, I don’t think it’s a huge deal. Imperial Fists remained exactly the same, but Bolter Drill now works on Special Ammunition. Kantor’s back, baby! With Sternguard dropping in points, Kantor giving them Objective Secured, and re-rolling 1s to hit, I think that a Veteran-heavy Imperial Fist is going to be a very scary army – 30 Sternguard with Kantor Drop Podding in, with Tank Hunters Devastators to deal with tanks sounds like a scary list to me. Black Templars make out like bandits in the new Codex, replacing their old, odd challenge-centric rules for gaining the Mark of Khorne for the unit if any dude gets killed by shooting while keeping Crusader and Adamantium Will EDIT: But only for that turn - not nearly as good, but still solid; You get Rage and Counter-Attack until the end of the turn if you lose a guy in the shooting phase or to Overwatch. That's a lot more iffy, but BT are still solid - either you take no casualties going in, which is great, or you get Rage, which is great; either your opponent doesn't shoot if he wants to charge, which is great, or you get Counter-Attack, which is great.. Once again, Chaos gets shafted by an improved Loyalist equivalent. With Neophytes going up to WS/BS4, the Emperor’s Champion improving significantly and a terrifying Land Raider formation to get your guys where they need to go, expect to see some Templars crusading in your locale.
Iron Hands stayed roughly the same, but their 6+ FnP is now a +1 to FnP giving a 6+ if you don’t have it. Iron Hands Command Squads at 4+ FnP standard? Yep. Terminators or Centurions given Endurance for 3+ Feel No Pain? It’s more likely than you think. The Iron Hands Chapter Master with Chains of the Gorgon is now sitting at 3+ Feel No Pain, because that guy wasn’t enough of an ass to kill last time. Other than that, they still get IWND on characters and tanks and can repair things more easily. Salamanders probably saw the least change – they still have Master-Crafted upgrades for free on characters, and they still get Shred and Tank Hunters on their Flame weapons. Their flame resistance is no longer re-rolling armour saves, but FnP 4+. A decrease against regular Flamers, sure, but getting a 4+ save against the Heldrake or Flamestorm Cannons is good compensation. Probably a wash overall. Raven Guard… oh, Raven Guard. They’ve lost Scout, and replaced their first-run Stealth for Shrouded as long as you’re not a vehicle or embarked in one. They still get to use their Jump Packs in the movement and assault phase, but Assault Marines are still ass and Vanguard get pseudo-Fleet included as default now, so the only benefit you get is a handful of Shred Str4 HoW hits. I’m truly sorry, Raven Guard players.
Special Characters: Most of these guys stayed focussed on the same kind of thing – none of the beatsticks became support characters or vice versa. Calgar did transition from a support character to more a beatstick – he lost his ‘Army can choose to pass or fail Morale checks’, which is a huge deal, but he can now pick a Warlord Trait rather than rolling 3 times and picking one (with a much-improved Warlord Trait table to boot), and his Gauntlets of Ultramar are no longer Unwieldy so he can give a high-speed ultraviolent enema to any unfortunate xenos or heretic that comes within arm’s reach. However, he’s still super pricey at 275pts (285pts in the Armour of Antilochus – which, by the way, is still basically mandatory whatever the internet says. Having to stand still to fire your Bombardment makes you a total chump). Being able to use a Doctrine twice is now even better given the improvements to the Doctrines, a nice plus. While he’s certainly a lot fightier, and Chapter Tactics makes him even moreso, I think the loss of the old God of War makes him a little overpriced for what he does.
Captain Disdain for Plebs is almost exactly the same guy – 20pts cheaper, although he lost his once-per-game Furious Charge for his unit and Rites of War is now a Warlord Trait so he needs to be in charge if you want to use him. Oh, also lost his Feel No Pain. Shame. Still gives a Tactical Squad a good bonus, and gives you +1 to reserves, but being entirely unspectacular in combat (except the one time you Coup De Grace a Hive Tyrant or something) and having no really good unit to chill with (I guess Honour Guard, but you might as well tool up a Captain for the same points cost, or run a buff character to shore up the weaknesses of Honour Guard) makes him a fairly unconvincing choice unless you’re running the Demi-Company and want his Rites of War, Surprise Attack and Battle-Forged Heroes special rules more than simply a punchy guy. The biggest strike against him is that at 165pts, he’s the same price as McGyver – sorry, I mean Tigurius. Tigurius is amazing. He’s the same cost, the same stats, but his Warlord Trait now lets him pick a unit within 12” every shooting phase and give them Rending. If you’re playing Ultramarines, take Tigurius. Just do it. Cassius and Telion are still pretty much the exact same. Chronus is still fairly garbage, even as an HQ. He does let you bring an HQ Land Raider that becomes a Character and therefore gets a Warlord Trait, which could be amusing if you roll up Master of Ambush or a Command aura trait.
Khan stayed the same, although Champion of Humanity is now one of his special rules and he gets a 12” bubble of re-rolling Morale, Pinning and Fear as a Trait. Vulkan appears to be exactly the same, as does Lysander although they both have FnP as Warlord Traits now. Shrike’s rules are still broken because he has Infiltrate and can only join Jump Infantry so he has to stand about like a berk. If you somehow get him to work, he’s still middling in combat and provides no real bonuses to his army. Blah. Kantor is again the same dude – he might be a bit cheaper? He also has Artificer Armour, which I don’t remember from the last book. Helbrecht is much improved simply by giving his squad flat Furious Charge for the whole game, and the improvements to BT in general. Emperor’s Champion got a lot better. Slightly pricier, and still only W2, but the Black Sword is now simply +2 Str AP2 Master-Crafted, with 6s getting Instakill in challenges. He’s going to mess people up in challenges, especially once the comically-easy trigger for Righteous Zeal kicks in and he gets Rage for 5 attacks on the charge. Grimaldus seems pretty much the same guy, although his Servitors are now a 6” bubble of actual Feel No Pain which ends up making him fairly horrifying aura effect of Zealot and Feel No Pain.
Generic Leaders: Generic characters are much of a muchness. Captains in Terminator Armour get dirt cheap Relic Blades which is very nice, Librarians can now access all Disciplines (Divination,Telepathy and Malefic – thank you very much, GW) and Chaplains are the same mediocre support characters they’ve been for a couple editions. Master of the Forge is gone, with the basic Techmarine taking his place with the same statline for a mere 65pts.
Troops units: Tacticals are the same guys you know and love, but with the improvement of Chapter Tactics. They can also get a Grav-Cannon with Grav-Amp as a Heavy Weapon slot, which is wonderful as it keeps them mobile, but at 35pts it’s a very pricey thing to buy. Scouts saw a huge improvement in a +1 WS/BS buff. They’re still only 11pts each, which puts them on a very real level with Tacticals now. With the Land Speeder Storm going down to a measly 40pts, with BS4, and a Str4 Blind Large Blast weapon plus a hull mount, I foresee a lot of Scouts running around. Crusader Squads are now badasses. They can still run as a 5-man squad with a Special and Heavy weapon, but their new Chapter Tactics make a 16-man in an ObSec Land Raider Crusader or a giant 20-man footslogger unit much more viable. Rage and Counter-Attack once a dude dies? Wow!
Elite duders: Sternguard are now a measly 22pts per model. That’s crazy good value. Combi-weapons are still 10pts per, but that’s totally worth it. As with all infantry, they got a buff from Chapter Tactics (Imperial Fists particularly so), and since they were good before, that results in one very strong shooting specialist. Vanguard got a lot more attractive, with their combat weapons getting a huge points reduction (a full 10pts off of retail) seeing all or most guys getting a weapon upgrade. A Veteran with Jump Pack and Power Sword will set you back 28pts, which is quite acceptable. Glorious Intervention giving them Fleet combined with their mobility with Jump Packs gives them a reason to exist even with Lightning Claw Terminators getting a points reduction into what may well be the realms of viability.
However, Vanguard do compete with Honour Guard, who are now Elites with no unlocking requirement. 25pts buys you a Ld10 Veteran in Artificer Armour with a Bolt Pistol, Boltgun and Power Weapon, with options for Relic Blades at 10pts per and a Chapter Banner or Standard of the Emperor Ascendant for additional attacks and Zealot. The presence of such as strong close combat unit in the same slot, with Artificer Armour and a Boltgun, results in a lot of competition between them and Vanguard. It looks like Honour Guard are flat out better on paper, but the mobility of a Jump Pack and Fleet by another name means it certainly bears playtesting. The last of the three Elite shock assault troops is the Assault Terminator. Exactly the same dudes, but with a significant 5pt discount on the Lightning Claw variety (Hammernators are still alas 45pts, but that’s a pretty appropriate price in fairness).
Dreadnoughts got a huge buff. Four attacks each makes them a hell of a lot more viable in combat. Ranged weapons getting a large points on the ranged weapons (Lascannon down to 15pts, Assault Cannon down to 10pts, everything else down to 5pts) means they're going to be significantly cheaper on average. Oh, and they have Chapter Tactics. And come in squadrons of 1-3. Yep, you can have 3 Ironclads charging in with six attacks each on the charge. Oh, and re-rolling 1s to hit from Assault Doctrine. Suck it, Blood Angels! From Dreadnoughts, we go to Tactical Dreadnoughts - Terminator Squads. A 5pt reduction is a huge bonus, and when put into the First Company Strike Force they become a strong choice, if perhaps not something to build a competitive list around. Again, Chapter Tactics improve them - White Scars Terminators being able to Hit and Run around the place and Ultramarines Terminators re-rolling 1s all over the place are both greatly improved over the old verson (and let's face it, they so needed it!).
Assault Centurions and Legion of the Damned are the same dudes, as far as I can tell. Command Squads are available in Elites without an unlock, so if you like special weapon squads, this is the unit for you - 4 Plasma Guns and an Apothecary in a Razorback, with all the re-rolls to Hit that Space Marines now have access to could be a very promising unit. Alternatively, 3 White Scar Biker Command Squads with Storm Shields and Grav Guns on every man, or Iron Hands Bikers with 4+ Feel No Pain. The possibilities are endless!
Gotta Go Fast: Assault Squads are still shit. Being able to take a Chainfist on one A1 dude per 5 doesn't make them good, and Chapter Tactics applies to the other melee units you can bring that overshadow them in basically every way. For example, Scout Bikers are 1pt more weighing in at 18pts per model. They get a TL Bolter, a Shotgun, T5, Infiltrate and Scout. Okay, one less attack and only a 4+ save, but they have Hammer of Wrath while still moving 12" to counter the former and T5 to mitigate the latter. 3 guys can swap out their TL Bolters for Grenade Launchers, which is probably a good idea now that they're BS4. They can also pay 20pts to turn terrain into the enemy's deployment zone into Dangerous Terrain, which is amusing but probably not all that useful unless you're fighting a Green Tide or something similar.
Regular Space Marine bikers are the same, although Attack Bikers are 5pts cheaper, but become Troops with any biker character rather than just a Captain, and don't have to bring at least 5 guys. 3-man squads with 2 Grav Guns and a Combi-Grav may very well see use as the minimum requirements for the Demi-Company. Attack Bikes, as their own unit, also benefit from the 5pt discount. 50pts for a T5 2-wound Space Marine with 12" move and a Multi-Melta and Objective Secured is a great little unit to have in the Demi-Company - and fills up a minimum slot too! Land Speeders are 5pts cheaper too, which is nice, but some of the weapons got more 5pts more expensive making it a wash for the previously popular Heavy Flamer/Heavy Flamer or Multi-Melta/Multi-Melta Speeders. If you have a full squadron of 3, they get an extra 6" Flat Out, which given the investment and firepower in 3 Speeders is unlikely to come up but they do have Objective Secured in a Demi-Company which means you can steal objectives with them if it ever comes up.
Transports are in Fast Attack but otherwise unchanged, which is basically irrelevant other than being able to put Terminators and Centurions in Drop Pods. The Stormtalon got a big buff, as if it needed it; Skyhammers are down to a mere 5pts, TL Lascannons to 15pts, and Cyclone Missile Launchers to 20pts. It has Strafing Run as standard in both Hover and Zooming modes, and gained an additional special rule - Vectored Afterburners, which gives it +6" Flat Out in Zooming mode and +1 to Jink saves in Hover mode. Probably won't come up very often, but nice to have. And for free!
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother: Devastators can bring Grav-Cannons with Grav-Amps for 35pts, which is nice but horribly expensive for MEQ bodies. The unit can bring an Armorium Cherub, which is an Ammo Runt by another name. Pretty useful for a mere 5pts. Centurion Devastators are 5pts cheaper, and given how good they were before, they're still extremely strong (never forget, Chapter Tactics is letting them get Hit and Run or get Twin-Linked from Devastator Doctrine). You have to buy the Veteran Sergeant upgrade now too. Thunderfire Cannons are the same but the Techmarine has an extra wound and BS5. They were good before, even better now. Having 3 in a squad together gives them BS6, which is probably irrelevant given you're firing 12 Str6 barrage blasts at somebody.
Predators are the same as they were, but if you bring a squadron of 3, they get Monster Hunter and Tank Hunters which is awesome. They can also be buffed in squadrons (Prescience/Forewarning and Tigurius' warlord trait to give them Rending? Come right in). Vindicators got 5pts cheaper, and 3 of them can combine fire to get a Str10 AP2 Apocalyptic Blast with Ignores Cover, which is pretty horrific for anybody to be facing. The problem with both of these is that if a single tank dies, they lose the squadron bonus, which severely limits them (especially with side armour 11). They really need Forewarning or heavy cover or something to be particularly viable. The Whirlwind is still pennies, and 3 of them together gets Shred and Pinning. I actually think that makes them a lot better - 3 Whirlwinds is only 195pts, and fires off 3 Str5 AP4 Shred large blasts with Barrage. Necron Warriors getting you down? No longer! Much like the Predator squadron, these guys benefit hugely from the Storm of Fire warlord trait to make them Rending.
Hunters are down to 70pts, and squadrons of 3 can re-roll Savant Lock rolls. Still pretty blah, especially with the changes to the Stalker. So saying, it can now fire at one target and be Twin-Linked, or at two targets. No reduction to BS any more. The kicker? A squadron of 3 has Ignores Cover, and can still split their shots off (they have three shots with each gun, so you can fire 9 shots at one target and then allocate the other 3 sets of 3 shots at whatever targets you like). Suck it, Eldar, suck it, Dark Eldar! They're also AV12/12/10, which seems higher than before (although I'd have to check that).
Stormraven and all variants of Land Raider remain the same. Well, they changed Terminators, which is a small step towards fixing the Phobos and Plasma Pistols.
Next up, formations and the Gladius Strike Force.