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Yes it's back! Because I need to something to keep sane while I reorganize my office database...

Today we have... SECRETS OF THE BLACK CODEX!

In 1993 Second Edition 40k came out. For the first time since RT, all of 40ks rules, fluff and army lists were in one place.



Well, OK, two places cause you had to buy a supplement called 'Dark Millennium' if you wanted to have things like psychic powers, or missions, or vehicles. But if you've been reading my other Retro Reviews (or Gawd forbid are old enough to remember those LONG GONE DAYS more than 20 years ago) you know it was a great improvement.

Today we'll be looking at the Codex Imperialis and the black and white pamphlet that came with it, the so called 'black codex' with stats and points for ever unit then in 40k, including several that were never seen again!



This was of course a total mess since you had to look in one book for fluff, a second for points and rules, a third for wargear and little bits of cardboard for vehicles. But it was still better than RT.

Things kick off, as they always do, with some guys called 'Teh Spase Marinez"

and honestly what's there to say? I note this army list does not have scout bikers but that's about it for Marine changes in the last 15 years.

Oh I should point out that this was the last time you could give your marine characters plasma guns. Ah... the good old days when you didn't have to bring a knife to a gun fight.

Next come the guard

These were the days when GW was moving away from the 2000AD look but before the Perry Brothers did their historicals with las guns regiments. Maybe this Jes Goodwin sketch will see life someday.


Study that image for 10 seconds, then guess how many skulls the commissar is wearing. If you guess right you can have a 5+ armor save instead of the IG's 6+.
this book was the last time anyone saw IG assault squads and Penal Legions

We miss you guys.


I have no idea what that guy is, but he's in the IG section and I want to know why GW didn't make one of him!

We then go, logically enough, to Imperial Agents.
Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Mechanus, Adeptus Ministrorum, Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Inquisition and Officio Assassinorium all together again for the last time. Their rules took up 3 whole pages. Now they need 3 or more codexes...



there's quite a bit of evidence that GW planned an Adeptus Mech book. There are units like Electro Priests and servitor squads that were never seen again

Plus there's the unproduced Skullz AM units and electropriest at Stuff of Legends
http://www.solegends.com/citadel/index.htm
Who knows? In some parallel world maybe everyone's playing Adeptus Mech and Squats while grey-haired fans mourn the loss of Orks and Nids.

These were also the days you could give an assassin polymorphine, a displacer field, terminator armor and a vortex grenade.

I of course never went for that kind of cheese.
My assassin only had power armor.

And then we had the first rules for the battle sisters



Yep they were BS4 from the start.

Then we have a largely forgotten, little missed army called the Squats.

R.I.P. little brothers, may you fight Kroot and Lost and Damned for all eternity in GW's Valhalla.

The Orks are next!


At that time each clan had its own rules, paint scheme and point cost, what a mess.

The Space Elfs were next but since they'd just been updated in WD and got one of the first Codexes I really have nothing to say about them.

Then came Chaos and out last glimpse of some long forgotten fluffy units.

I mean really, how many complaints would GW have stopped if they'd included these 2 paragraphs in the last codex or the upcoming demon book? Really? Guys what was the thinking here?

'Nids were next

including the entire Genestealer Clut army.



Again... if GW had found room in the Nid codex how many armies would they have inspired, how many extra sales?
Sigh.

And now for some more Blanchey goodness





Better images can be found here
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/205740.page

Sexcellent. I count 15 skulls in the picture of the Commissar, though naturally he's wearing more.

I, for one, dig the Blanche stuff. Though I do not dig your constant snubs of my beloved space elves, and would love to see one or two shots of their old-school art. I may have seen it before though, as so much of Goodwin's art for them was so awesome and reused and reprinted elsewhere.

I didn't start until '99 and never owned any of the second ed rules. I have oft-perused some of the really early RT stuff in my first few WDs, but 2nd edition is still something of an exotic beast to me.

Honestly I only see 2 bits of art in the Elfs in Space section, one from the first set of craftworld rules the other from the 2nd edition codex. The stuff I found in Gothic and Eldrich is a lot more useful.

but I can bust out my 2nd edition eldar codex one of these days and throw some stuff up.

Like the 2nd edition marines though their look hasn't really changed.

I count 17 skulls on the commissar (including his pistol and sword), but I needed more than 10 seconds.

I'd forgotten I once picked up a Genestealer Magus to begin a cult army... Then I decided he'd make a better psyker for my IG's. I wonder where he went............

I tell a lie- I actually do own the 2nd ed Eldar codex. I bought it for the fluff when I first got in.

17 really? i can only see 15 :(

Strange, I only count 13... unless you want to actually count HIS skull. Very pimp looking drawing though.

I think what you're missing KK is that by adding those extra paragraphs into the current codexes just isn't plausible. Seriously, It's like half a WHOLE page. Now, take that half a page and then put an X with some numbers behind it to symbolise codex sales. Now you're talking some serious ink and paper usage. Think of the trees man! I for one am glad they canned so much of this rubbish. It means that I can have shade and stuff when I go for walks. Of course... I'm a gamer and don't go for walks, but I could!

These were also the days you could give an assassin polymorphine, a displacer field, terminator armor and a vortex grenade.

Grand High Space Potentate Skrimm banged his power-gavel for silence, quieting the excited hall of eager secessionists. He cleared his augmetic throat unit and began reading from the lumoslate held in front of him by a mindless servitor. “There comes a time in every young planet’s history that the chains of the father must be sundered so that the colony may flower under its own guidance and volition and seek to strengthen and foster contact with those stars deemed alien to the homeworld but heretofore discovered to be --- Sweet Emperor’s Teeth!”

Skrimm broke off and starred in horror as the skin of Groob, one of his trusted Space Lackeys, began to stretch and expand hideously. With nary a moan the man bloated up to an enormous extent, easily twice the height of the Potentate and far bulkier. A wet pop was heard and the taut flesh ruptured, revealing a matte black suit of tactical dreadnought armor within a meter of the highest ranking official on the planet.

Before Skrimm’s bodyguards could react, the assassin stomped over to the renegade potentate and punched him through the face, adamantine fist pulping the old man’s cybernetic brain. A storm of plasma and laser fire flashed toward the terminator, but at the moment the first plasma bolt hit its displacer field kicked in with a quick blink of light and it vanished. The surprised guardsmen looked about for any sign of the assailant, spinning around at a shriek from a serving girl – the terminator had appeared in the midst of the shocked councilman.

The assassin splattered several corpulent traitor senators with its bare fists, and then detached a hefty grenade from its belt. With the push of a few buttons lights began to flash across the device and a dull thrum started to build. Still totally silent amongst the mayhem, the terminator slammed the vortex grenade into the chest cavity of a chubby general, who had been bravely brandishing his archaic weapons whilst screaming. As the thrum increased amidst the scramble of rebel legislators, the terminator assassin activated her personal teleporter …

- Salvage

Ah, second edition.

I had my assassin vape himself by throwing the pin of his vortex grenade once...

Let's see, that's a 1 to hit, "hit" & "misfire", and then a 1-3 on the dodge roll. What's the odds of that? Someone bring up the mathhammer mentats.

0.46% chance. Or 4.6 times in 1000 attempts.

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I mean really, how many complaints would GW have stopped if they'd included these 2 paragraphs in the last codex or the upcoming demon book? Really? Guys what was the thinking here?

Again... if GW had found room in the Nid codex how many armies would they have inspired, how many extra sales?
Sigh.

Kyoto, in both cases it just couldn't be done. It just COULDN'T. Because...umm...ah...never mind.

Games Workshop, making the easy look impossible since 1975.

Mannahnin wrote:I actually do own the 2nd ed Eldar codex. I bought it for the fluff when I first got in.

I did, too.

But mostly because I wanted to see more about Harlequins

I actually kind of miss the Ork Klans... Was it the Red Sunz with the bikez, because "Red wunz go fasta!"? I always thought the Bad Moonz were cool, I just wish they'd had the foundation paints out then. Then there were Goffs, Snake Bites, Death Skullz, and Blood Axes... is that all of them? Without even looking, that's sad... And to make it worse, I didn't even play Orks!

Mannahnin wrote:0.46% chance. Or 4.6 times in 1000 attempts.

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

That just made my day

ZamboniKnight wrote:I actually kind of miss the Ork Klans... Was it the Red Sunz with the bikez, because "Red wunz go fasta!"? I always thought the Bad Moonz were cool, I just wish they'd had the foundation paints out then. Then there were Goffs, Snake Bites, Death Skullz, and Blood Axes... is that all of them? Without even looking, that's sad... And to make it worse, I didn't even play Orks!

That was Evil Sunz

I am going to have to look through some of those old books. I got a pile of 2nd Ed stuff with a mini lot when I started off eBay, but never read it because it wasn't really relevant and I didn't want to confuse the hell out of myself rules wise. Some of those random Imperials might be fun to model into retinues/characters.

Grignard wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:0.46% chance. Or 4.6 times in 1000 attempts.

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

That just made my day

Credit to Valhallen42nd for the “mentat” assist.

Ah 2nd edition....where you can have 10 techmarines flying around on jumppacks with combi-meltas and they were worth no VP's...LOL.

Best time ever.

Capt K

This brings back a lot of memories of long nights after school at the game store. I went to night classes for my last year of secondary school so I could stay up hours after I should have been asleep playing 40k and Necromunda.

I started playing in either 94 or 95. I imagine it was '94 because I recall being on a trip that year to Toronto, and I went into the GW store there with some friends and was tasked with trying to explain this hobby to them. It may have been earlier than that, come to think about it, as there were lots of rogue traderish terrain pieces in the store ( Lots of guys with mohawks, broken refineries, anarchy symbols). If it helps anyone place the date, I purchased Sim City 2000 on the same trip, which was fairly new at the time.

I definitely miss 2nd ed, though I realize much of the appeal is nostalgia, and has more to do with me than with the virtues of second ed. With that being said, I miss some of the complexity and options offered. I did get a chance to play my IG allied with some squats, which is cool. I wish that the game could be a little more like second ed was, without being Herohammer. If 2nd ed had used the opposed WS rolls for HtH resolution instead of that goofy add your weapon skill to D6, it would have been a lot better. Definitely miss hand flamers.

I didn't start playing until the end of 3rd. My buddy sent me an e-mail just before I read this thread. Seems he was looking for something in his shed and found his 2nd ed. box set and battle masters. I told him he has to show me these relics of a bygone age. I looked through his rogue trader book before and it blew my freakin' mind.

gorgon wrote:
Games Workshop, making the easy look impossible since 1975.

Sir, you may consider yourself sigged.

My bad, the count is 15



hat 1
collar 1
sword 2 (blade and hilt)
metal 1
left glove 2
right glove 3
pistol 3
buttons 2

I loved 2nd Ed.

TechMarine w/Jump Pack, Servo-Arm and Power Field, running around the table fixing things and throwing Blind Grenades everywhere. That annoyed people.

Or my Lvl4 Inquisitor Psyker Lord with (Strength 9!) Nemesis Great Sword w/Built-In Psycannon, Displacer Field, Psychic Hood, Aegis Suit and Terminator Armour. When he had Lightning Arc, Teleportation, Holocaust and Hellfire he was a mean person to fight. Took on whole armies with him I did. Once killed 20 Khorne Berzerkers then went on to slaughter an 8 man unit of Berzerker Terminators. He didn't even lose a wound!

BYE

Oh, on a side note, a friend of mine just picked up a mint copy of the 2nd Ed box on eBay about a week ago. He payed about AUD$60 for it. Not a bad deal, and it means he can build his Battle Company plastic Marines into something interesting as he just got himself 14 2nd Ed three piece bolter Marines.

BYE

Kid_Kyoto wrote:

hat 1
collar 1
sword 2 (blade and hilt)
metal 1
left glove 2
right glove 3
pistol 3
buttons 2

And I think there might be one more drawn on the purity seal hanging from his chainsword...

It's a good thing Jules Winnfield was never a Commissar... "Which Chainsword's yours?" Jules: "The one that says, "Mean Ork- er on it""

I forgot to mention that I think there were probably a wave of people coming in at the same time as me, in second ed. The reason I say this is that I'm pretty sure that 2ed was the first time they tried to market the game outside of traditional venues. I think they did this along with 4th ed WHFB. I had heard about the game at the FLGS in Donelson Tennessee, and I saw the 2nd ed box set at, of all places, Books-A-Million, right next to the 4th ed WHFB box. I got that box set for Christmas, and as soon as I read the rules and fluff ( For me, it was the wargear book that did it), I wasted zero time getting a battle going on the kitchen table.

oh, how I love the black codex. I got second edition in '96, and used to spend hours looking at all the art, and dreaming up various units.

I had a space marine captain fumble a vortex grenade once, right onto his foot. Good times, good times.

Thanks for the review, KK. It's nice to have something interesting to read while I wait for the holes where my wisdom teeth used to be to heal.


I can't believe you used to be able to take up to half of your points in characters though! That is straight up wack, dude!

I do not think I would like that sort of game.

Hordini wrote:Thanks for the review, KK. It's nice to have something interesting to read while I wait for the holes where my wisdom teeth used to be to heal.


I can't believe you used to be able to take up to half of your points in characters though! That is straight up wack, dude!

I do not think I would like that sort of game.

They don't call it Herohammer for nothing.

Yeah, and up to half in support too, with only a quarter having to be regular troops (at least for that Genestealer cult entry).

Man, what a messed up game that must have been.


It is a shame that a lot of other good ideas seem to have been lost though (Adeptus Mechanicus stuff, Genestealer cults, cultists, IG assault and penal squads, etc.)