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 Vaktathi wrote:
Best in terms of building a customized force? 3.5E Chaos Space Marines, 3.5E Imperial Guard.

I don't know how you don't have 4E Tyranids there. You could customise most units down to the stat level. In fact, the chief complaint from opponents was it was too customisable.

The 4th edition Eldar codex by far is my favorite for some reason haha

In terms of balance, C:SM fifth edition. In terms of flavor, probably one of the Ork codices or IG 5th.

I was a big fan of the 4th edition Codex: Tyranids and the 3.5 Codex: Chaos Space Marines.

 -Loki- wrote:

 Vaktathi wrote:
Best in terms of building a customized force? 3.5E Chaos Space Marines, 3.5E Imperial Guard.

I don't know how you don't have 4E Tyranids there. You could customise most units down to the stat level. In fact, the chief complaint from opponents was it was too customisable.

In some ways yes, but personally the way I saw it was that it was the same set of upgrade options that was for the most part just applied to every unit in the army (with a couple units that got lots more) that generally didn't serve a thematic purpose (which in all fairness is due to the nature of the army not having sub-factions that are as definable as CSM legions or the like), and generally didn't result in as many different playstyles as the CSM or IG 3.5 books did, though those books also had their own issues (the former having lots of no-brainer power gamer options and the latter all to often being a joke on many tables)

To be fair, I never saw many different playstyles either from those, especially 3.5 Chaos. That has a few cookie cutter builds no one went outside of unless they were being super fluffy.

I liked the 3rd Ed Eldar codex with the ton-o-warlock units. That was so fun.

 -Loki- wrote:
To be fair, I never saw many different playstyles either from those, especially 3.5 Chaos. That has a few cookie cutter builds no one went outside of unless they were being super fluffy.

Perhaps true (though I remember seeing armies of each Legion at some point or another) but not quite what I was getting at. Doctrines could fundamentally change the way an army could function and enter play to something almost out of another book, while the Tyranid options were effectively (where available, only about half the book got many options) not too different from general wargear options except that you could directly upgrade certain stats on some units and weren't really related to any theme/factional concerns.

Grey Knights 5th Edition

The scope and breath of that book is just amazing. It single-handedly expanded the very game of Warhammer 40K both "downstream" for newbies by offering the smallest, most easy to collect starter army with small-model-count Draigo-Wing lists and (!) "upstream" by offering hithero unprecedented hobby- and customization opportunities with Henchmen.

It also is one of GW's best example of GW's (temporary`?) back-to-2nd-Edition style fluff after the dreary years of 3rd and 4th Edition. I also admired the interwoven, interconnected story-telling in the Codex-fluff with hints and links connecting it to the Blood Angels book and the Necron book.

It's the pinnacle of the brilliance of what Warhammer 40K could be if they put some effort into it.

Unfortunately, the 6th Edition Codexes have yet to live up to it, being largely a string of disappointments by the second-tier Codex writers (though the Tau book is a silver lining).

Comdex Dark Eldar, Chaos Marines(3.5 + 6th) both have great art, stories, and I enjoy most of the builds in both. Comdex Armageddon is still my first and favorite Codex

Space Marines. Very well-rounded codex that simply falls short because of being too balanced.

I would have to say the 2nd edition ork/tyranid/eldar and chaos codexes.

Orks were simply hilarious back then with cannons that could pick up and drop tanks from a great height, bullets that bounced across the battlefield, kombi weapons that could explode left and right and be either mega killy or completely naff, stormboyz whose packs could launch them in random directions.

The hilarity continues, I would love to see more of that in the next codex orks.

Chaos was a huge book full of background and flavour.

Eldar was so customisable it was ridiculous (especially Exarchs which could mix and match wargear and powers from any Aspect - think the current Autarch on steroids).

Finally, Tyranids. They were so much fun with their Tyranid Attack table. You just never knew if some gribbly Tyranid organism was going to burst forth from one of your squads. Nothing like that in the current ruleset.

I also liked the 3.5ed chaos codex. The amount of options and ways to build super killy lords were insane in that book!

I am also a big fan of the 5th ed Dark Eldar and Necron codexes though. Both of those books breathed new life and playability into races that had basically nothing of their own character before that point.

I am hoping my new favourite will be 6th ed Eldar though :-)

Wow, well even before reading any of the posts in the thread I was determined to say 2nd Ed Chaos Codex. I'm both happy to see that so many of us are in agreement and surprised to see that many players from that era in here.

I love most if not all of the 2nd Ed codexs, but the 2nd Ed Chaos book is fantastic. The artwork is great, the Fluff is well written, and it contains three playable army lists (Marines, Cult/Beastmen, and straight Demons), and while the army itself was probably the most powerful of second ed (and could be arguably unbalanced), it was overall a great book rules-wise as well.

And I didn't even play Chaos, I just bought the book because it was so good.

 Zweischneid wrote:
Grey Knights 5th Edition

The scope and breath of that book is just amazing. It single-handedly expanded the very game of Warhammer 40K both "downstream" for newbies by offering the smallest, most easy to collect starter army with small-model-count Draigo-Wing lists and (!) "upstream" by offering hithero unprecedented hobby- and customization opportunities with Henchmen.

It also is one of GW's best example of GW's (temporary`?) back-to-2nd-Edition style fluff after the dreary years of 3rd and 4th Edition. I also admired the interwoven, interconnected story-telling in the Codex-fluff with hints and links connecting it to the Blood Angels book and the Necron book.

It's the pinnacle of the brilliance of what Warhammer 40K could be if they put some effort into it.

Unfortunately, the 6th Edition Codexes have yet to live up to it, being largely a string of disappointments by the second-tier Codex writers (though the Tau book is a silver lining).

Not sure if sarcasm or if serious...

 -Loki- wrote:
Out of the similar 3rd-6th edition books, Chaos 3.5. Amazing level of customisability. It had some cheesy list building opportunities, but then, very few codices don't.

Couldn't agree more.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Vaktathi wrote:

 Zweischneid wrote:
Grey Knights 5th Edition

The scope and breath of that book is just amazing. It single-handedly expanded the very game of Warhammer 40K both "downstream" for newbies by offering the smallest, most easy to collect starter army with small-model-count Draigo-Wing lists and (!) "upstream" by offering hithero unprecedented hobby- and customization opportunities with Henchmen.

It also is one of GW's best example of GW's (temporary`?) back-to-2nd-Edition style fluff after the dreary years of 3rd and 4th Edition. I also admired the interwoven, interconnected story-telling in the Codex-fluff with hints and links connecting it to the Blood Angels book and the Necron book.

It's the pinnacle of the brilliance of what Warhammer 40K could be if they put some effort into it.

Unfortunately, the 6th Edition Codexes have yet to live up to it, being largely a string of disappointments by the second-tier Codex writers (though the Tau book is a silver lining).

Not sure if sarcasm or if serious...

Don't feed the trolls.

I'm not familiar with pre-3rd edition Codeci, but in terms of feel & background, I like 4th edition Orks and Eldar the most. They actually inspired me to start 40k - even though I did not start either army. I also liked 4th edition Tyranids and probably would have started Nids, if it wasn't for that terrible 5th edition Tyranid Codex.

I don't have much of an opinion of 6th edition books so far, I guess they are okay, except Tau codex which blows.

4th edition Orks. The rules of the game have changed twice after the book was published, and I still have a blast every time I play. The book offers a variety of builds which are at least somewhat competetive - and most of all fun to play.