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In all honesty, I'm going to treasure this time without chapter tactics. It means that I can splash codex marine units without it really making a lick of difference in my Dark Angels.

So they aren't getting boosts from my command units? Oh well, for once I have unbridled freedom with list selection. I can splash in a unit of Sternguard (because why the hell doesn't the shooty chapter get the shooty veteran unit?), I can even field *hurk*oh sweet Emperor*gurk* Centurio-*blaaaaargh**hick* nope, couldn't finish that sentence. It isn't perfect, no flying goldfish transport (raising the question of why a fleet-based chapter has so few air-cav options... but at least FW has us covered for the low price of our first born).

It reminds me of the good times back when we just had the Black Codex in 2nd Edition. A time before Wolfguard spam, a time before Vortexarch Spam, a time before Ravenwing Speederspam, or any of the other horrible lists that codices brought about. Now, it isn't quite the same, many unique units exist now that simply weren't around when the Black Codex was current. But the same general feeling of oneness is in there and it is kind of refreshing.

Soon, codices will begin to drop and we'll see how well the ongoing balance of the edition goes, but for this brief period, we're all a bit more free to try weird faction combos and alliances without all that "but their chapter tactics don't match!" baggage.

I know I'll still probably be hyped for my own codex to drop (perhaps it will be the first codex in over 20 years that isn't just a retread of the Angels of Death Codex? *le gasp*), but it will be fun to run around in the current open structure for a bit. At least for a little while, my wish for a single mostly unified marine book has been realized.

 Crimson Devil wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:


You're thinking of the 4th edition space marine codex there bud. The 3rd one didn't even differentiate between chapters.

White Dwarf ran a series called Index Astartes that were later put into a book series under the same name. Each Legion/Chapter was given special rules in those articles.Which actually was the second set of rules for the WS. The first was a back of the napkins list the rules designers wrote for Paul Sawyer for a WD Battle Report. All of which took place during 3rd edition.

Heard of that series, never owned it so I didn't know. From what I got online tho they weren't ever official rules (at least they didn't appear in the Chapter Approved for those years), just casual ones.

Most of the changes you mentioned were implemented in 4th edition. If you took the set of traits for Iron Hands in 4th ed, you get Scion of Mars (turning the Techmarine into a Captain-level HQ choice instead of Elites and lets single-wound models take Terminator armor) and Heed the Wisdom of the Ancients (dreads in elite and hs). They got this at the expense of their FA choices, which restricted their use of Landspeeders and Bikes. White Scars had Be Swift as the Wind (Bike Troops if at 5 models strong, and they got Expert Rider/Skilled Rider at a modest point increase) and Trust Your Battle Brothers (everyone had true grit and an extra CCW). In exchange they had Flesh over Steel, which restricted the use of tanks and Land Raiders, although you could switch it out for the "no Dreadnoughts" restriction with no problem.

I am actually not against IG or Sisters having some variant rules for certain groups/factions of each. I think it would be neat. Could create some interesting diversity. I am okay with other armies having the same as well. It would support a more diverse playfield. I think it could be down without creating too much bloat or overcomplicating the new system.