Now I know what you are saying "Sure CSM needs work, but Codex Space Marine isn't broken really."
Well, you are right. BUT it does need to be fixed. "But you don't fix what isn't broken." True. I guess the word I am looking for is correct. "Huh?" Well you correct what is wrong, don't you. "Well...yeah... but how is SM wrong." Ah, well let me tell you.
CHARACTER DRIVEN ARMIES. This has been my biggest issue with SM and IG since they came out- removal of the traits/doctrine system for the implementation of the Character based codex variants. I never liked how to play Salamanders I HAD to take Vulkan Hestan or Pedro Kantor for Crimson Fists. These characters are some of the greatest heroes to walk the stars of the 41st millennium. Why are they fighting in 1500 point battles ALL THE TIME. From the fluff I remember, the Chapter master typically only deploys when at least one whole company is on the field and typically MUCH MORE. Plus from a rules standpoint, they can be over kill. You are talking about combat beasts that necessarily don't fit the army. Kantor for instance. If I have a lot of Sternguard vets, say supplemented with some devastators, I am playing a ranged SM army, where all of Kantor's extra umph counts for nill, nada, zilch. Just his storm bolter. Or say Vulkan, who twin links flamers, meltas, and master crafts thunder hammers. But if I am not taking Assault Terminators in my army, that is 1/3 of his benefits I am not utilizing, and I am paying a lot for it.
Good thing the fluff covers this. There is one unit that can fix this. That is right. Just one. The Space Marine Captain. This is the guy that is supposed to be leading large forces of Space Marines most often. Now what to do with him. WELL, say you take a SM captain and in doing so you unlock a variety SM Tactics, just like the characters do. These are just simpler versions of what their liege lord does, or you are sacrificing the combat prowess for their relative simplicity or flexibility. Take the Salamanders for instance. Their captain could twin link flamers and melta's, but not Thunder Hammers. Or say a Crimson Fist. Maybe instead of ALL Sternguard being scoring, just one unit. This way you get a flavour of your army of choice without having to take grand characters. Further more it will bring one of the most fundamental characters back to the game. Just make sure that the Captain has the widest selection of wargear (ie opposite of the Blood Angels captain) in the army as well and you will be set.
Now where does CSM fit into this? Well you could do the same thing with Chaos Lords to allow for legions to be played. Say you and to do World Eaters. When you take a Lord and give him the favouritism of Khorne, it makes the MoK more robust than it currently is and bans the taking of the MoN, MoS, MoT (you can still have unmarked CSM). You could also do things separate of the Marks for things like Iron Warriors. Say you make a lord a Warsmith and gives your army Tank Hunters USR or you can get +1BS. Stuff like that. Can also be an option (limited) for daemon princes or at least a character DP or two.
Now where does making White Dwarf and the Website viable hobby resources once more come into this. WELL it is quite simple actually. I remember a day when there were chapter approved articles with supplemental units and characters and cooooool game stuff. Well this can happen once more. Say that 6 months after a new Codex SM drops with my above proposal someone comes up with cool ideas on how to play Howling Griffons, Storm Giants and Celestial Lions chapters. So they write up 3 new Space Marine Tactics and they put these into the next WD as a supplement of the Codex and make them available on the website shortly there after. Same for CSM. And furthermore they could take it to the next step buy creating an awesome character from each of these chapters with expanded versions of these new powers. IE Howling Griffons Chapter Tactic- Masters of All Trades- You may make one Assault or Devastator Squad Scoring. Character Chapter Tactic- You may take up to 3 Assault Squads or Devastator squads as Troop choices. See how it works. This is just a quick and dirty example but I think it gets my point across.
