6th Ed Space Marines Discussion

[The Imperial Fist]

I bought mine this morning and a couple of us sat down and wrote a review: -

[url]http://toyznthehood.com/578/power-extreme-review-of-codex-space-marines-2013/[/url]

I absolutely love it - it's still the marines we know and love but there's some great new stuff. My favourite thing is probably the Chapter Relics as they let you make your own characters that feel like they can go toe-to-toe with the Special Characters.

And Tigurius is rock, incredibly good value, you'd be made not to take him in Ultramarines. But then you couldn't use the other Chapters

How do you read the wording of wargear table when it comes to relics. "A model can replace one weapon with one of the following:" do you read that as "I can swap my bolt pistol for the Shield Eternal and my chainsword for the Teeth of Terra" (pretty sure that's Dorn's chainsword anyway...) or only make one swap. I think it's the former, but do wonder if others are reading it as the latter?

[Truculent Sheep]

The Iron Hands came off well, with a strong protagonist (Kardan Stronos) and a good combination of totalitarian horror and po-faced absurd humour. I say this, of course, as precisely the sort of sad git who's got an ongoing Sons of Medusa army on the go, so naturally there was lots of SQUEEEE at Chez Mouton when I saw p. 72.

The rest of the Codex was well-written and beautifully designed and illustrated, with the fluff being both unapologetically the main attraction and lots of fun. That said, the portrayal of Robute Guilliman and his post-heresy antics are still a bit too rose-tinted. He may well have saved the Imperium, but he got hornswoggled by the Word Bearers, split the legions, nearly caused a civil war and helped drive poor old Rogal Dorn to an early death. Likewise, his slowing down how new SMs are created and putting a lot of power over the Chapters into the hands of the Adeptus Terra might yet prove fatal.

On the other hand, the implied possibility that some loyalist Chapters may have been created by traitor legion gene seed is intriguing (cough-cough-BLOOD-RAVENS-cough-cough), as is the inevitable *****fest between Agemman and Sicarius that will take place if Marneus ever snuffs it. So too is the Celestial Swords fiasco, which raised a smile or two.

The army list itself is also very good, and allows you to knock together a decent Codex army list with a strong theme, regardless of whether you're a Smurf, a Hun, a Yellow Masochist, a Pyromaniac or some nutter with a bionic armpit. The only question is why you would need any of the supplemental codices that are coming out in the wake of the main book - though I would be happy to be proven wrong.

The only real flaw is that the Chapter Successor rules, while a simple and quick fix for creating diverse armies, don't cover the quirkier Chapters of uncertain parentage, who - perhaps pointedly - have a section all of their own. The day GW finally unveils a Chapter construction kit will make me a very happy sheep. Still, it's simple and it works. What more could you ask for?

Put simply, this Codex sweeps away the flaws of 5.0 edition, and is far less clumsy in the way it allows customisation than 4.0 ever could. It is, in fact, pretty close to being flawless on many levels.

[The Imperial Fist]

One minor thing I had noted, as you probably did as well Truculent, is that the Iron Hands still don't have a special character. It wouldn't of taken much to dream up one more, feels a little like a kick to the poor old Iron Hands. Maybe that is one thing they will get from a supplement?

[Chris*ta]

I think my biggest complaint -- and this is just having read the WD -- is the fact that they've labelled Scythes of the Emperor and Hawk Lords as Ultramarines successors.

SotM are one of my favourite chapters and till now haven't had any answer on where their geneseed comes from, but I like to think of them as Imperial Fists as it seems to suit them more.

As for Hawk Lords, it's hard to see why they aren't Raven Guards successors, as they do have the same symbol.

Aaaaaand now I'm slightly apprehensive to go through the rest of the fluff

[Truculent Sheep]

One minor thing I had noted, as you probably did as well Truculent, is that the Iron Hands still don't have a special character. It wouldn't of taken much to dream up one more, feels a little like a kick to the poor old Iron Hands. Maybe that is one thing they will get from a supplement?

Yeah, I have a sneaking suspicion that rules for Stronos will be part of the bait for the Iron Hands supple-dex. It will need more than that to make it a must-have though, given that you've got all you need in the main Codex for a decent IH army.

[Murphy80]

Hey guys, new poster, but long time lurker here! I wanted to throw my two cents in about the new codex.

Regarding Iron Hands, I love the fact that they've been included in as much detail as they have been, but a special character would have been great! I am positive that this is Supplement Bait waiting to happen. I find it fascinating that they've basically been an ignored chapter for well over a decade, with only a little bit of fluff thrown their way here and there. However, with the newer Horus Heresy novels, the Iron Hands have been included more and more.

Did anyone else read Angel Exterminatus? While I was enthralled by the interpersonal conflict between Perterabo and Fulgrim, I actually loved the Loyalist chapters more. The Iron Hands were such dogged survivors that I could help but root for them, even though I've been a Chaos player for nearly 20 years. So far, the survivors of the Dropsite Massacre (all three chapters) have been my just great reading.

Incidentally, guys, I've spent a year building up a host of 6th edition gaming articles over at Hubpages and I've just posted the first 2 parts of my new Space Marine Codex Review! I'd love some feedback, and maybe you'd like to read a layout of the rules from someplace that isn't a crowded web forum or rumor site In the last 12 months I've had more than 300,000 reads, so I think the quality is up to snuff. Check it out if you're interested:

[URL="http://murphy80.hubpages.com/hub/New-Space-Marine-Codex-6th-Edition-Review-Warhammer-40k-Part-1"]http://murphy80.hubpages.com/hub/New-Space-Marine-Codex-6th-Edition-Review-Warhammer-40k-Part-1[/URL]

In the mean time, I'm glad to see that space marine players are excited about the new book, but aren't in so much awe as to overlook its few flaws. It's hit and miss with every codex, but so far I think this will be serve as a great foundation for SM players this addition.

[Patrick Boyle]

I like that the Blood Ravens got a mention, even if it's only in one sentence in the Unknown Foundings section and they're brought up in the same sentence as the Exorcists. At least there's something official on them. My finger crossing for a supplement some day is probably in vain, but a Shield Eternal and Thunder Hammer toting Chapter Master should represent Gabriel Angelos pretty well once I get that model going. Other things that jumped out...

Legion of the Damned. Give those guys a Plasma Cannon and a plasma gun(it's a shame they can't take Grav guns), and deep strike them in somewhere. Ignores Cover plasma, yes please?

Honor Guard at their new base and upgrade prices? I was already making some to go with Gabriel so all those drops are just a bonus. The Champion losing access to digital weapons and a relic blade is somewhat annoying but I imagine locally I won't have trouble counts as'ing the Sevrin Loth honor guard giant relic blade axe as a thunder hammer(the exact axe is special Wargear for Honor Guard Captain Diomedes in DoW2 retribution, which is why I'm using it on my champion) so that all works out still.

A Vanguard vet with jump pack and storm shield(they pay 5 less than characters do, holy crap) is now only 2 points more than they cost with just a jump pack in the old book. The sergeant doesn't have a power weapon included anymore but the base cost of the first 5 models is 30 less than what it was so in the end holy crap are they much better than they were, even with the changes to Heroic Intervention.

The dakka pred is more expensive, but the las pred is 25 points cheaper in total. I'll take it.

Speaking of tanks, Chronus. Yeah, he's Ultras only, but at 20 points less while giving the same buffs as before, plus IWND? I'd almost say he's worth it somewhere now...

And speaking of Ultras only characters, Telion got lightly nerfed, losing S4 on his Stalker so that he's now wounding Guard/Tau/Eldar on a 4 along with everyone else in his squad. Still useful though.

And finally, it's been mentioned already, but Barrage on the Thunderfire makes me smile.

Oh, and one more thing I just noticed. So Techmarine servo arms aren't extra attacks at I1 anymore, they're a specialist weapon that's Sx2 AP1...I was a little bummed by that at first, until I realized one, it's specialist, and two, Techmarines now have access to the melee weapon list. It makes the individual entry for a Power Axe kinda pointless, as they could just buy one off the list, but there's the ability for a Techmarine to take a Lightning Claw, so you can choose to either swing the claw or the AP1 fist with extra attacks for two weapons. Not sure how practical that is at 65 points, but something I'll be thinking about as a LR ride-along to keep the thing ticking and add some melee punch to the cargo. Have they been this way since DA?

[flekkzo]

I'm rather impressed with it, the only sour point for me being Tigurius. Probly a tad undercosted if not OP but a kick in the teeth to eldar players.

That's if you play Ultramarines. The rest of us doesn't get more than one or two SC and yes we can ally them in, but so can the Eldar I'm miffed at that whole thing, especially if I have to explain that I now play crimson fists, with kantor and Lysander (have yet seen a rule that stop that), all which are painted up as imperial fists so kantor's rule for hold the link work.

[Arkhan Land]

Personally very satisfied with the hunter and stalker prices, one of the things I was most curious about in the new codex. Happy to see theyll be an easily squeezable imprint on some of my already existing armies.

scouts are so cheap its amazing for nearly the cost of scout sqaud in the previous dex now you can take one with either a Heavy bolter, Missle Launcher, even with Flakk as an option built in, and a dedicated transport with jink thrown in makes it juicier

centurions transportable is doublepluss!

Altogether kind of looks like itll be fairly brutal for the other races

[DarkLink]

Chapter Master. With Shield Eternal. And a Thunderhammer. On a bike. Is. A. Boss.

Also, he makes bikes troops, and a unit of bikes with grav guns is really, really good. Hit and Run is awesome for them, though IWNT from Iron Hands CT is pretty hilarious on the Chapter Master.