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 King Pariah wrote:
Ultramarines and any other chapter that has strict adherence to any doctrine aside from one that preaches adaptability/thinking for yourself as to what is the best route to take to overcome the threat.. It's gives me a headache as I prefer adaptability over all.

Actually, that was originally what the Codex was all about.


It wasn't until later, and those awful Graham McNeill books, where suddenly following the Codex was a bad thing where you followed some kind of idiotic "If A, Then B" Warfare for Dummies handbook. In fact, pretty much any time you hear a character say something along the lines of "In this situation the Codex would dictate..." or "The Codex specifically forbids..." you can automatically assume the author doesn't actually have any idea what the Codex was supposed to be about, and is just creating some kind of cheap narrative hook for their story. I was laughing at Nick Kyme's short story in Age of Darkness where the Salamander scoffs at the Ultramarine and says that he (the Salamander) was from a Legion where they praised adaptability. If you think about it, it makes no sense anyway. Any given tactical situation has dozens, if not hundreds of variables. Size of both forces, environment, terrain, time of day, supporting fires, logistics, adjacent units, reinforcements, etc. How does the Codex have a predetermined solution for every single one of these potential scenarios? And Space Marines are just expected to memorize all of them? It's so hilariously stupid.


Being Codex Adherent originally just meant following the Codex's guidelines on recruiting and training new Space Marines, and then the basic structure of the Chapter's companies. The combat strategies were supposed to be thousands of years of collected wisdom. Like taking all the greatest military texts in history and rolling them into one. The Codex Astartes was what made the Ultramarines so great. And at some point, it became their biggest liability. Which makes no sense if you think about it. They are the most successful Chapter out of all the Space Marines. They stopped two Hive Fleets. And yet they fight by a set of rules that make it nearly impossible to win? Ooooooookaaaay Graham.