favorite codexes of all time

[ragnarcissist]

what are yours? could be fluff wise, could be rules based/competitive. here are mine in no particular order:

SW 5th edition (duh)

catachan 3rd edition (had sooooo much fun playing with this)

lost and the damned (never played but my buddy did, it was great)

chaos 3rd edition (one of the best ever, the way they split up the factions)

tyranids 4th edition (was great, reaaalllyyy got worse with fifth, both fluff and rules wise)

[scadugenga]

All time favorite? Eldar codex, 2nd Ed.

Runner up?

Dark Eldar codex, 5th Ed.

[Grenadier]

Codex: Armageddon for giving the Black Templars a list. Also a lot of good reading material.

Codex: Space Marines. The edition with the "chapter traits" system. I loved having that ability to really tailor an army with some special abilities.

Imperial Armor Siege of Vraks: Death Korps need I say more?

[fuzzbuket]

1st: 3rd ed daemonhunters :D that book was rididculous AND fun :) and had painting guides and demon galleries and possesion ruels and more sllyness :D

2nd: blood angels paper dex: because i like furisos and rhinos became useless so you had to run a non mech army :D

@grenadier that was 4rth ed if im not mistaken?

[Wolfshade]

Codex Angels of Death
The fluff in there was brilliant, plus 2 for 1 codex :)

[Nightwolf]

Codex: Craftworld Eldar (the 3E Eldar supplement).

[PRoeske]

1. Codex Chaos Marines (3rd I think; with the legions in it)
2. Codex Craftworld Eldar (althouh, probably the most broken one combined with the LoS rules, cheap starcannons and 6" free jump in assault phase)
3. Undicided.

[Sinistermind]

codex: craftworld eldar
I want my kings court back!!!
or also 4th Ed. tyranids and all its nidzilla

[TB0N3]

3. Dark Eldar 5th
2. Elysians in IA8
1. Chaos 3.5 (Legions)

[Kaiserdean]

Armageddon

Great fluff and the Praetorians!

[celestialatc]

1st: 3rd ed daemonhunters :D that book was rididculous AND fun :) and had painting guides and demon galleries and possesion ruels and more sllyness :D

Could not agree more! Daemonhunters was a fun book and I miss some of the awesomeness!

[MaltonNecromancer]

1st edition Imperial Guard.
1st edition Robots.
2nd edition AdMech.

and that "Lost and the Damned" mini codex in the Witch Hunters book.

[StraightSilver]

I think the current Dark Eldar Codex is by far the best at the moment. It is beautifully thought out and balanced, and allows you to create themed armies that are still competetive, or mixed builds which are no less effective.

It also has some lovely hidden tiered extras, like character / unit combos.

If I was going to pick an all time favourite Codex though I would say the Imperial Guard Codex before this one, the one with Doctrines.

Again, you could build a bog standard Guard army, or theme it to any of the fluffier army builds using doctrines and still get nice competetive lists.

However Guard then really were an army you had to work really hard with to win, but once you got the hang of them they could hold their own quite nicely.

The current IG Codex is in my opinion a bit overpowered, there are some dodgy costings in there tbh, and they aren't the challenge to play that they used to be.

[Muras]

Have to agree with the Dark Eldar codex for 5th. Well done background and a fairly overall balanced 'dex. Really been enjoying it.

[Artanthos]

1st Edition Chaos, both books.

I miss the d1000 chart for chaos gifts.

[Soups]

Fluff wise, I like the 5th edition Nid codex. The only time I like IFs MAYBES and I DUNNOs is in a book where innuendo can be properly explained. The whole "Imperium report 503487654: We have no clue what this is. We died fighting it. We called it a genestealer. We found it in a space hulk." was...boring.

The entire 5th edition Necron codex is made of WIN.

Favorite old codex?...Dark Eldar? I started in 4th edition, so not much to go on.

[Spydr]

Probably a tie between the Black 3rd Ed. Chaos Codex and the Eye of Terror Codex. 13th Company was awesome, and I really liked the idea behind Ulthwe Strike Force.

[whitehart]

My favourite is the Dark Angel codex, it was the first one I owned getting into the hobby. I really got into the fluff and generally the whole look and feel of the chapter. I had no idea if it was strong or balanced but I liked the artwork so picked it up and didnt look back.

[lobster-overlord]

I'm partial to the new BA codex, mainly for Death Company, the new options like Sang GUard and the vehicle slots.

Of the older stuff, 3rd Ed IG/Catachan was always cool. I loved the Last Chancers list as well (10 guys against 1500 points)

I didn't understand the whole bio-morph thing of 3rd ed Tyranids, but looking back now, I do like that more than some of the current ed Ty stuff.

And lastly, hte New OGre book (I know, not a "codex" but an army book...) Lots of new options and cool new storyline.

[energongoodie]

Space Wolves 2nd edition. It was the first codex I got and after Rogue Trader it was awesome to have a book all about my favourite army at the time and nothing else.
Also, the army I was able to make from it was great fun. Wolf guard terminators marching across the board backed up by Dire Avengers and swooping hawks.
Good times.

[Grenadier]

I forgot that one. The IG doctrines were great. When I first began building my Guard army it was with that codex. Chapter traits or doctrines were awesome because you could create a very specialized army to suit your playing style and needs. I built a very good Marine army using the traits. At the time I was also strapped for cash. And I managed to use the doctrines in such a way I was able to still build a potent army without spending a vast fortune on it. And when that codex was invalidated so too was that army. Pretty much had to break down most of the models and redo everything. And then spend more cash to get more stuff to make it strong. My Guard army luckily wasn't hurt by the invalidation of the doctrines codex.


I think the current Dark Eldar Codex is by far the best at the moment. It is beautifully thought out and balanced, and allows you to create themed armies that are still competetive, or mixed builds which are no less effective.

It also has some lovely hidden tiered extras, like character / unit combos.

If I was going to pick an all time favourite Codex though I would say the Imperial Guard Codex before this one, the one with Doctrines.

Again, you could build a bog standard Guard army, or theme it to any of the fluffier army builds using doctrines and still get nice competetive lists.

However Guard then really were an army you had to work really hard with to win, but once you got the hang of them they could hold their own quite nicely.

The current IG Codex is in my opinion a bit overpowered, there are some dodgy costings in there tbh, and they aren't the challenge to play that they used to be.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Purely for fluff, Codex Necrons 3rd Edition, Codex Eldar 2nd Edition and Codex Dark Eldar 5th Edition, and I'm not sure if it counts or not given it's not a codex, but Rogue Trader was fun because it has armies that don't exist anymore which makes it quite fascinating to me. I still enjoy reading these books, and when I feel uninspired with 40k - I usually find they ease me back into it again :)

[Chuck777]

Tyranid Codex 4th edition.

It had everything I loved - cheap monstrouc creatures, great horde rules (with out number) and solid choices for every slot.

5th edition really bummed me out.

[FTE-Charge!!!]

IG 3rd edition. While by no means an amazing codex it had just enough fluff and grim dark to get me hooked into the game

[Chuck777]

IG 3rd edition. While by no means an amazing codex it had just enough fluff and grim dark to get me hooked into the game

I too liked the third edition book. Not sure why but it just felt grim dark without the need for page after page of fluff or rules. It was simple and effective.

[Gut40k]

+1 angels of death and trait space marines. A lot of flavor was lost by having to choose a special character for certain army personalities.

[Jetforce]

Definitely Angels of death - which i still have in my collection!

[Lord Nefarius]

i have to join the chorus about chaos 3.5 ,yet angels of death is damn tempting,too...

[Wolf Lord Zig]

number 1 for me is Space Wolves 2nd. edition
2nd. Space Wolves 5th.
3rd. is Angels of Death 2nd.

[sonsoftaurus]

Eye of Terror - Lost and the Damned, and the other lists were neat too.

4th ed IG - Doctrines were fun and led to some interesting armies.

[warpcrafter]

#1: Second edition Orks Codex. I want my cyboars and pulsa rokkits back, dammmnitt!
#2: Fifth edition Dark Eldar Codex. Hard army to play, but loads of fun.
#3: Eye of Terror. My poor Lost and the Damned have been gathering dust for five years!

[Drunkencorgimaster]

#1) Witch Hunters. Cool fluff and lots of alternative army builds. You could use IG, Space Marines, Assasins, Sistas, Ninja Turtles (ok, maybe not them), almost anything in the imperium. Amazing conversion options too. Made some great arco-flagellents out of fantasy ghouls, inquisitors out of free companies, etc.
#2) Armegeddon. An inexpensive little book packed with fluff and fun. Great pictures too.
#3) I am a Nid player who actually likes the latest codex. I know...I know...yes it is not a very competitve codex but the new big gribblies (Tervigons, Parasite, Doom, Mawloc, etc.) are really interesting and characterful critters.

[Nightspawn]

Best codex was the Blood Angels in the 3rd ed. They were brutal.

[Dameon01]

orks, fluff wise, just a fun read. although i play nids and space marines

[pappsy]

gk

[dewisant]

Eye of Terror

[pathwinder14]

3rd edition Eldar and Craftworld books. Iyanden and Aliatoc were just broken. My Iyanden force had 3 Warwalkers and 3 Wraithlords. My friend's Aliatoc froce had so many Ranger disruption rolls that his opponent's rarely had more than half their army starting on the board turn 1.

[Eupackardia]

Tyranids 4th. was really fun and versatile.

I miss those 2x TL spamming devourers

[albertsevil]

Chaos 3rd edition and Chaos 4.5 (? - the one before the current codex).

Awesome pictures, background and you could build really individual and themed armies while still being competitive.

They also were a lot darker than the children-friendly codex we have now. I'm a firm believer in darker chaos codexes - chaos isn't for innocents ;)

Ryan

[St.Germaine]

1) Lost and the Damned without a doubt. By GW's fluff 95% of the Chaos forces should be able to be represented by this codex. (Where is an updated version, GW?)

2) first Blood Angels codex, although the vehicle options in the current codex make it almost a toss up.

3) Space Marines w/ Traits (v3?) - not everything was as balanced as it could/should have been but having options and different ways of creating lists is always better than codices that boil down to one or two effective builds.

4) Imperial Guard w/ Doctrines (v4). same as SM with Traits.

5) Chaos (v3) can I say ditto again. Options are a good thing.

[Inquiring M1nd]

1) 4th Ed Nids: I liked the reports from the Imperium, and reading about the desperate struggles of Inquisitor Kryptman to stay ahead of the swarm.

2) 5th ed Necrons: I like the background for the special characters, particularly Zandrekh and Obyron. It probably helps that I never was wild about the C'tan and the Old Ones being the source of everything interesting about the current races.

3) Orks, in general the one I'm most familiar with is 4th, though I'm sure the others are even more crazy. In 4th, I liked the tale of the Demon hunter, cutting a swath through the Eye of Terror because demons were good fightin'.

[Taco_Deluxe]

3.5 chaos dex. I loved all the customization options through gifts and legion specific rules. Current one is so bland its sad.

[ComradePenguin]

3rd edition Tyranid codex solely for one reason: You could design your own creatures and include mutants in your swarms! It was a converters dream come true. I spent a lot of time designing my own gun-beasts and creating new "upgrades." No codex since then has brought that level of customization to the game.

[Panxer]

1. Deamonhunters. Hands down the most fun codex. Best of both worlds (IG/SM). Great Fluff.
2. Necrons (previous ed.) Great fluff.
3. Space Wolves 5th ed. Great fluff .

[Myu]

Fluff wise, Ultramarines (2nd Ed), Daemon Hunters (3rd ed), Necrons (3rd Ed), Space Marines (4th and 5th Ed), Tyranids (5th ed) and maybe Dark Eldar (5th Ed).

Rules wise, Space Marines 4th and 5th Ed. Or more specifically, 5th Ed but with chapter traits would have been awesome.

[Iaipunk]

I l iked the Craftworld Eldar dex.
I made a Ranger-Pathifnder list that was amazing.
When my friends saw what I was working on, one of them bought and painted a Baal Predator as a gift.
They offered it as a bribe to stick with my BA instead of going back to Eldar.

[Ork E Nuff]

Favorites:
The last Ork Codex: the "choppa rule" was the best! Looted vehicles that used actual vehicle stat lines instead of the old stand by of 11, 11, 10...not every vehicle looted is a basic rhino or chimera...
SM codex with chapter traits: who wouldn't like customizing a chapter?
The Armageddon Codex: Speed Freaks!!!!!!!!
The Eye of Terror Codex: 13th Company of SW - who doesn't like werewolves in power armor?

[Ironwolf]

1. Space wolves 5th ed
2. tie between Armageddon condex(steel legion/cult of speed) and eye of terror codex(13th company/lost and the damned)
3. black Templar4th ed codex
4. Tau 4th ed codex

Wanna give a shout out to chapter approved even tho it isn't a codex per say still some of the best books GW put out:D.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

gk

And...?

[Captainparty]

Angels of Death is the correct answer, tons of really cool fluff and stories and 2 very different army lists, a close second is 2nd ed Sisters of Battle, introducing a whole new faction and having tons of detail about the history of the post-heresy Imperium, such a good read!

[Serk]

I'll have to go with 3rd Ed Dark Angels. Just because it was basically the codex that got me into the hobby. DA have been my favourite ever since.
A close second would be Codex Armageddon, just because I really liked the whole feel of the campaign and the armies provided in the codex back then.

[Tepogue]

Hmm Favorites:

2nd Ed Tyranids - still smiling at the Hive Tyrants weapon description: "Claws, Jaws and a bad Attitude"

2nd Ed Chaos - so much could be done with that book.

Codex Armageddon (3rd ed) - good setting, multiple army lists in one book, GW really should have taken this concept and run, would have allowed multiple armies to be updated, the ability to add new stuff to more than 1 army at a time.

Codex Lost and Damned same reason as above.

[Mephiston69]

Codex: Lost and the Damned, it's what chaos is supposed to be

[Ch_DokWreckshop]

Tyranids 2nd edition because it was m first ever codex :o
Chaos Space Marines second edition packed with fluff and nice minis
Orks 5th edition the revival of fun things

[Beerzerker]

Codex Chaos 2nd Ed for me.

[Fstiger]

Codex Chaos 2nd Ed for me.

That one and Orks 2. Ed, for it was really about the hobby and fluff and those things were still books not glorified leaflets. Real codices!

Chaos 3,5 is fondly remembered as is lost and damed and I have a soft spot for the last greenskin one. May Mork or Gork help me...

[TheStrategist]

Has to be the old IG codex. Sigh, I miss the days when every IG army was a little different, not just variants of leafblower....

[trjames]

1st: 3rd ed daemonhunters :D that book was rididculous AND fun :) and had painting guides and demon galleries and possesion ruels and more sllyness :D

2nd: blood angels paper dex: because i like furisos and rhinos became useless so you had to run a non mech army :D

@grenadier that was 4rth ed if im not mistaken?

I started out playing Deamonhunters, never played anything but them. I wish the new codex would have been more of an update of the 3rd ed DH than what it turned out to be.

[papa smurf]

I became involved with 40k during 4th edition, so I can say that I really liked the Space Marine codex and the Tyranid codex from those editions (those were my first two armies, built from the starter set)

I really miss the Space Marine chapter traits option. It had a neat way of making a space marine army unique without having to use a specific independent character or buying a different codex. The current space marine codex works fine, but I wish it still had that.

4th edition tyranids really was just hay-day time for my tyranids... haven't really used them at all in the new addition. With Tyranid Warriors now being troops rather than elites, I couldn't make a decent sized legal army anymore! That combined with the difficulty I have with painting (especially considering I had a lot of termagant/hormagaunt/genestealer gribblies running around) really put them on the back burner for me when the new codex came out. My little tyranid heart cries inside.

[Infinite Resignation]

The old Lost and the Damned books, back in 2nd Edition, best fluff ever, though the D1000 charts were a bit much...

GW still hasn't learned that random DOES NOT EQUAL FUN!!!