So new codex, new stuff, and more marines.
Like:
1. Chapter tactics have really seen a change for the better.
Pick a chapter get a bunch of neat abilities that filter through your whole
list and now not character dependent. They covered a lot of the big ones and
really left the door open for other ones later down the road.
2. Points reductions across the board on a lot of units that
were just priced so far out of practical use (Whirlwinds, Devs, Sternguard,
Vanguard). It was also nice they matched what was done with Dark Angels so that
we don’t have the same units across different units have different costs.
3. Chapter specific Characters are chapter restricted to
their actual chapters. I know people are going to moan about their “counts as
choices” being axed, but you can always ally in other chapters because they
built a smart book with multiple theme options that can ally with itself. This
in my mind is what they should have done with all the 6th edition
books. But it really only makes sense with this one because they actually
included the rules they have been kind of outsourcing to supplements so far.
4. Both the Chapter Master and Captain unlock bike troops.
And I like that fact they made them have to be larger than minimum squad if you
want to do it. The bikes might be a little cheaper than the dark angel versions
but I’m glad the opportunity cost for scoring bikes work out to be relatively more.
I still wish every Ravenwing biker didn't have to have their own personal
teleporter homer which inflated their costs.
5. The land speeder storm becoming a dedicated transport for
Scouts is a nice change. Their still dark eldar paper bag transports, but it’s
great to see them changing a unit to make it actually usable.
6. Some of the first anti-air units that don’t have
intercept that are actually worth taking. A lot of people are crying about not
having interceptor on them so they don’t shoot at all units equally, but I
don’t see that as too much a problem. Tau already do this and they have to pay
a lot of points to have both on a unit, if they did the same with these space
marine tanks I’m sure they’d be priced out of being used pretty easily. Right
now they are great units with good stats and weapons priced in such a way that
even if your opponent doesn't bring flyers you still won’t be too upset you
brought them.
7. I really like the “Savant Lock” rule the Hunter has,
makes me wonder if that was what was supposed to be on the Dark Angel Backsword
missiles…..
8. Legion of the dammed not only got cheaper they also got
new ignore cover ammo on all their guns, this combined with their already
present Slow but Purposeful rule and accurate deep striking makes them a scary disruption unit.
9. We can now officially ignore the fact “Death from the
Skies” ever existed.
10. Black Templar got folded into this codex which something
I sort of like. With the teases of a possible supplement to flush out the army
more I’m kind of okay with this. Fingers crossed that the supplement actually
happens and includes new units, not just special war-gear and force org swaps
like they've done so far.
Hate:
1. I think they were too timid about FOC swaps. Some of the
chapters could have really seen some better divergence by allowing some units
some wiggle room. This could have also been cued to some of the special
characters. Shrike could have made his infiltrating unit scoring or Calgars
additional Honour Guard units could be taken as troop units, things that
probably would have needed the caveat that they needed to be the warlord or the
units where non-compulsory troop choices. Considering the trend of supplements
this might be a non-issue, considering most of them so far have moved units
into troops.
2. There is no dedicated Scout HQ unit; the closet you get
is Shrike. This could have been a great change for Telion.
3. The Tonka terminators are just so weird. They look goofy
and they just feel so forced trying to hog both the terminators and devastators
spot lights. I get all the new codexs need to have this one new unit that you
should buy, but why did it have to be these goofy power armor inside of
terminator armor dudes, if they were inside of Dreadnoughts I could have not
stopped myself from calling them Turduckins.
4. Grav Weapons. I don’t like how they scale, being ap 2
with what they do is just annoying. The more expensive your dudes the better
these are against you. I like the to-wound mechanic and the inclusion of more
salvo weapon. The real problem comes from two units that can spam the shit out
of the grav guns don’t actual care about salvo rules. Everyone’s favorite
Tonka Centurions and Bikes, the later really being obnoxious to me because they
can be made troops, can be given scout, and have a back-up weapon that
compensates for the only weakness grav weapons had left with bikes.
5. Captain Sicarius is just not really appealing and I
really wanted him to be. He’s cheaper and his battle-forged unit can be picked
during deployment, but he lost the re-roll to seize and just really doesn't do
anything else. His special rules really don’t make up for the versatility you
can bring with any other choice.
6. Grimaldus cenobytes don’t make any sense to me. They
don’t have any gear or options, and the rule that lets him join other units
with them seems to have disappeared. So they can wonder around giving people 6+
saves but it just really doesn't look like many people will take them.
7. The warlord traits are very boring; some of them are just
worse versions of the BRB traits. I wouldn't mind one use abilities if they did
something more then give out free basic USRs or re-rolls. How about “once in at
the beginning of an opponent shooting phase you can declare only snap shots on
your warlords unit” or “First blood can’t be scored off of you because your
warlord just doesn't care”.
8. Is anyone ever going to get proper Mortis Dreadnoughts?
9. Probably not a lot of people are going to notice this but
Scout Heavy Bolter Hellfire ammo got range reduced to 24”. It doesn't matter
much but I've always liked the Heavy Bolter and am kind of annoyed when they
keep taking away from it, in the hands of a space Marine I just wished it had
become salvo or something.
10. I like that Black Templar got folded in, I don’t like
that they were the only ones. I know a lot of people are going to nerd rage
against what I’m about to say but I think we are at the point that GW just
needs to get it over with and fold everyone into one book, and they chickened
out this edition. Apart from Grey Knights all the current Space Marine books are
about 80% the same book. You have a different chapter tactic type mechanic, 2-3
unique units out of 20+ units they all share, some special characters and, 2-3
unique squad war-gear.
It really isn't this hard to create a source book like they
just did that could have incorporated all the basic units and individual chapter
tactic set-ups, then release specific supplements to each of the big ones. I
get that each space marine army is special but this was their big chance to
simplify everything and really put into a place a system that could have been
done and carried over to all armies. Instead we are still stuck with the same
design issue we had from all the previous editions where we will have all these
space marines that are going to have the exact same units but with different
points costs and rules, not because any of them are the unique chapter units or
gear but because they are the standard units built at different times and in
different metas.