6th Edition Codex Space Marines: What I'd Like To See

So rumours of 6th edition are floating around. Due to the nature of my location and work I haven't been able to follow them with the diligence they are due. BUT this has not stopped me from thinking about what the Staple codex of every edition release should look like.

For the first time in release history I think the codex is "Complete". By this I mean there are almost no additions that can be made in terms of new units. At most something like the Storm Raven, but I'd rather NOT see that, because as I have said in the past there really needs to remain a distinct difference between the Vanilla SM codex and the divergent chapters. And GK are already in their own way super Blood Angels, we don't really need more Blood Angel-eque elements brought into another codex.

But continuing on down this train of though, there are not many units to be added. I see people asking for Contemptors in the main codex, but I disagree with this. They should remain a Forge World item to be added by people who want a to add a touch of pre-heresy. Sure some beefing up of the standard dread would be nice, but there is no need to add yet another variant of Dreadnought.

There will likely be something "new", and personally what I would like to see is Deathwatch Space Marines if anything is to be added to the codex. They though are unfortunately are alot like Sternguard, and therefore not a likely candidate. Plus there is already Legion of the Damned filling out the "Outside" orginization type squad.

But instead of focusing on the potential (or lack there of) for new units, lets focus on what changes can be implemented and what aspects I want to see come forth.

1- The rebirth of the Space Marine Captain: This is critical. Fluff wise, this guy should be the man. He in all respects is a BA. And he is suppossed to be most commonly seen leading large forces of Space Marines (multiple squads and tanks) into battle. As is stands right now, why take him when there are perfectly good characters (Vulkan) or Librarians and such. Well then, lets give the player reason to take them. This ties in with the next bullet

2- Chapter Tactics/Traits System: Okay, the old chapter traits system was a little odd, people picking strengths and weaknesses, and often mitigating the weakness so they didn't matter at all. But switching from that to a completely character driven chapter themes. So what we do is put a list of chapters in the back, each with a chapter tactic. No advatages or disadvantages, just clever rules for a large list of chapters (more than just legions and popular ones). At least 20 IMO. When you take a captain, he HAS to choose one of these. You obviously would still have a generic one like what he currently has in the Codex (Ultramarine Tactic), and you don't HAVE to play the chapter that it is listed for (how many Ultramarine Vulkan's are there). The special characters would then just take their respective chapter's tactic to an extreme, or add some other little bonus to it.

3- Make normal terminators worth taking again- I am not sure how to do this, but right now they are not worth taking versus Assault Terminators. Possibly a cost decrease or cost increase on storm shields, or the ability to take special ammo on storm bolters.

4- Make Landspeeders cooler/more reliable- As well make the storm a dedicated transport for scouts, but otherwise the normal speeders, IMO aren't anything to be particularly envious of, especially when a Razorback can do their job just fine and don't die nearly as easily. Maybe if their weapons weren't as expensive, or the options were expanded (wouldn't Plamsa Cannons be nice). Give them teleport homers possibly.

5- Cheaper bikes- I just think they are too expensive for what they do and are so seldom seen as a result. Actually I think the Fast Attack section is as a whole.

6- Assualt/Special Weapons Devastators- Why are devastators ONLY heavy weapons. They seem like they should be masters of destruction at range in any form. Many other armies have special weapon squads of sorts, why not make devastators capable of the same- Flame Throwers, Meltas, Plasma Guns, some form of Grenade Launcher and Storm Bolters as a set of choices rather than just heavy weapons or as an alternative to them.

7- Plastic Veterans- I think that is pretty self explanitory. Really an entirely plastic range would be most excellent, even things like Techmarines, Librarians and Chaplains. I think it was successful as the Captain, and can be done with other character types too. Then make the current range ones finecast in case you still want those specific models.

That's all I can think of for now. If I have more ideas I will append them here. Happy New Year all!

Hopefully mine New Year brings my orders (and a couple posts on terrain I am working on, the Ogryns I ordered and will convert up as well as my Genswick and their Savlar Chem Dog Penal legionaires!)