Codex Space Marines

[MarkRG]

Well the new sp marine codex is out, on it's first look it's pretty thick codex, then for 15 quid i would expect it. Inside is very colourful with some new and old pictures. The storys inside are good too, as iv played sp marines for years i know most of the storys already however their is a good few new ones.

But lets get down to the nitty gritty, All space marines sergeants are vets ( which is about right ) In a basic tac squad you have to have a full 10 man squad before you can have any special weapons or heavys. IM not to happy with this rule.

Terminator command squads have sadly gone, But what about my commander and term body guard! where are they going to travel in. I looked at the transport capacity of a land-raider and the space marine must have a new cleaning lady as suddenly you now can fit 6 terms inside it instead of 5. Looking at the elite terms you can only have one heavy weapon for every five terms, but you still can have a 10 man term squad kill lots of nids.

Chaplins are not as hard any more with only two wounds, i don't mind this as i prefer to use more troops choices instead of specials. Scouts have better weapon exchanges, ie sniper rifles for free and they have a new cool land speeder to deep strike with.

I'm also very happy about bringing back out my old razorback with it's twin linked plasma guns and single lascannon. After reading this book it's not to bad and it looks like someone at GW nows what their doing.

More info to follow when iv had a battle are two.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Hmm I bet my Space Crusade Marines with Conversion Beamers still arn't legal though lol

[MarkRG]

Hi Dude

Guess what!

The conversion beamer is  back, with stats to follows.
Up to 18 str 6
18 to 42 str 8
42 to 72 str 10 with a blast marker.

but only the master of the forge can use this weapon and he is a HQ choice .

Further to note back on your standard space marines all come with frak and krak grenades as standard and your scout sgt can have a power fist.

[MarkRG]

Further to add, the conversion beamers your space hulk marines carry got eaten by my gene-steelers after a few games against me. This why only the forge master can only have one.

I now you will get your own back, but we had some really great games on my few days off.

 GAME ON.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

just you wait until I have some of Chaos Spacemarines finished!

... which could be along time knowing me ...

[MarkRG]

Yeah that will be great but what year! 40m i'm guessing l o louder mark

[BobbieTheDamned]

hmm well having looked at the new marine miniatures and rules I've decided to do a few.  They'll work for my generic 'dungeoning' space game too I guess.

Marneus Calgar not having articifer armour is just plain wrong. I'm sure most reasonable people would let you take it for the +15pts a generic chapter master can take it for though.

Cassius is nasty, a T6 space marine will be seriously hard to take down with anything that's not an anti-tank weapon. Only 2 wounds but he has feel no pain so half the time he will essentially have effectively 3 wounds and a quarter of the time he will have 4 and so on. Plus he has a bolt pistol AND a combi-flamer seriously that's some sickness in that choice for 125 points.  Compare that to a regular chaplain for 100pts who would be 115 with the combi-flamer and still not be REALLY damn hard to kill.

One weird thing I just noticed is that command squads are now 5 models. Yup, no more, no less, just 5 models. Honour Guard can be from 5-10 but then you can't have an apothecary. Stupid eh?

Sternguard (ie veteran marines) are nasty SOBs. But at 25 pts each you'd want them to be, though its still a good buy compared to 18pts+5(?) for terminator honnours when you take into account they have two attacks standard and the special issue ammo they get means that you can take on pretty much anyone and win, lets take a tour of the types:

**Dragonfire rounds just ignore cover which in 4th ed would suck but against things like Eldar Pathfinders which now get 2+ cover saves if they're in pretty much any terrain they'll be useful, this basicly robs everyone else the advatage that the new terrain rules give. Nicely done seeing as this is the first proper 5th ed codex!

**Hellfire rounds wound on a 2+ 'nuf said there, low ap but things like bit nids might not want to take 20 shots and have to make about 12-16 saves even if their carifex has a good armour save and a few wounds they're not going to last more than two turns.

**the kraken pentrator will anihilate tau (range 30" ap4 so designed to rape tau).

**Vengence rounds are Range 18 ap3 so will be pretty awesome against traitor marines which is apparently what they're designed to take on, should be useful against things like eldar aspect warriors and pretty much anything like that.

These rounds work in all 'standard' sized bolt guns so combi bolters are included (hence why the new sternguard set has a marine with a bolter-melta and not a meltagun). What a shame they don't work in storm bolters though, that would be sickening! Especially as you can give the entire squad stormbolters too. You can also have two heavy weapons if you really like.

Vanguard veterans are also nasty, get rid of their jump-packs and they get a drop pod, rhino or razorback for FREE. You can also make them very beardy and have a 10 man squad armed entirely with thunderhammers and stormsheilds or twin lightning claws, cheaper to do it with terminators though! They're also a fast attack choice meaning you can now have 6 veteran squads in one marine army OR 3 terminator squads and 3 vanguard squads (would have to be a fucking high points cost game though!!).

Legion of the damned are SERIOUSLY sick though, 3+ invunerable saves and they're fearless and they only cost 30pts a piece. Seriously that's got to be a typo or something because these things are not going to be dieing. Oh and they have 2 attacks standard and the sergent has weapon skill 5. On top of all that the few teaser shots I've seen of LotD miniatures from Gamesday and the like look sooooo nice that I WILL have to buy LOTS.

The Iron Clad drednaught is pretty awesome too (av13) and can take a hurricane bolter so I might get one if the miniature looks half decent (again preview pics look promising).

Devistator squad sergents now have a signum which is a piece of wargear that means that instead of having one bolter extra firing the whole of the rest of the squad is BS5, does this marine list get ANY bad units??

And for those who may be wondering what chapter I'm going for yes it will be ultras, 3rd and 1st companies as a mixed task force under Captain Ardias.

[MarkRG]

hi mate cool review, i see i have still alot to learn.

after reading your reveiw id thought i missed something, so i checked on the vanguard squad and to my dis may razorbacks, droppods and rhinos are at points cost damn it. see p 135

razorbacks at 40pts then gats = weapons. rhinos 35pts and droppods at 35pts.

good review mate markrg

[BobbieTheDamned]

ah my bad its the assault squad that gets a free rhino or drop pod if it ditches its jump packs not the vanguard vets.

[MarkRG]

Thats about right mate. I am also doing 3rd chapter s marines going back in time before commander ardius. i was told that long long ago that this chapter possible when it was legions went missing. so im doing 3rd legion the missing chapter. do you have any info on there history before 2nd idition codex came out. cheers mate.

[BobbieTheDamned]

I've not got any of the 1st ed books with me I'm afraid. Mortis has them I think so he'd be the one to ask

I don't think I've heard that bit of background but it may well be from one of the new heresy books.

[MarkRG]

Hi Mate iv read all the currant horrus hersey books and their history, lets say is a little bit distorted, from the old books iv read.

[precinctomega]

"I am also doing 3rd chapter s marines going back in time before commander ardius. i was told that long long ago that this chapter possible when it was legions went missing. so im doing 3rd legion the missing chapter. do you have any info on there history before 2nd idition codex "

You what?  Are you typing this on an iPhone or something, Mark?

R.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

easy there dude, not all of us here can spell that well ...

[precinctomega]

It's not the spelling - I've spent long enough online to be largely immune to such things.  I just can't work out what Mark's on about.  Lost chapter?  3rd chapter?  Commander who?

R.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

sorry dude the iPhone remark threw me

I think he's refuring to one of the 2 'Lost Legions' of the first founding (II & XI)

Mark reads a lot of Dan Abnett books, Commander Ardius is probaly a charicter from one the novels

basicly he's asking if anyone has infomation on somthing GW deliberately left vague so you could make up your own spacemarines ... of course everyone here expects me to have the answers because I own a lot of the old RT books and stuff from that era

*waits for all the SM players to jump on me and correct me*

[BobbieTheDamned]

Mark is talking about doing 3rd company marines but them being pre-M41 era (before captain ardius was captain of the 3rd company).

[precinctomega]

3rd Company Ultramrines.  Yes, I sort of got that.  It was the stuff about the chapter disappearing that threw me.

The Ultras were the 13th legion of the First Founding.

R.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

The Ultramarines were a 3rd Founding, not a 1st Founding Chapter, they where founded during the Horus Heresy.
But the Emperor gave the chapter the number 13 - formerly the number of one of the traitor Legions now banished to the Eye of Terror "without number and name with all honors erased"  at least thats what it says in WD 97

this might be whats confusing Mark

[precinctomega]

Flippin' 'eck, Mortis!  How long is it since you bought a White Dwarf?

The background in White Dwarf 97 - repeated, IIRC, in the White Dwarf Compendium - was retconned not long after it was published: this was the same background article that had the Master of the Forge being a chapter serf rather than a full Battle Brother, remember?  And Marneus Calgar was mostly bionic after being crippled in a Tyranid boarding action.

"Adeptus Titanicus" introduced the "Epic" scale as well as the ancient stories of the Horus Heresy and, when its companion game, "Space Marine" was released (in about 1988-89), the First Founding was established as a line of twenty, eighteen of which (9 traitor and 9 loyal) were named in the game with two left unnamed (for players to invent their own, although many conspiracy theories have since been hinted at).

If this was in the Rogue Trader message board, then I guess sticking to Ultramarines as 3rd Founding might just about be fair enough but in 5th Edition, they're the Big Boys: not only First Founding, but the largest legion of the First Founding that spawned the most chapters in the Second Founding and been the most influential and powerful chapter for the last ten thousand years.

R.