Alright, so I just got the new Chaos Space Marines Codex, and I'm going to write as detailed a review as I can. Please note that this review will not be about rules. So if you came here for low quality photos of the rules, I'm sorry to disappoint you. But this review will have photos of pics from the book, and occasional photos of fluff.
Now, to start off the review, let's take a look at the book's cover! They say not to judge a book by it's cover, but that's
bs. So, the cover is pretty badass. You can tell the Marine on the front isn't just a spiky Marine. He's some sort of ancient damned Legionnaire, corrupted beyond recognition by the warp's ever shifting currents and the whims of mad gods. With this cover, the book is off to a good start.
Onto reviewing the actual book. This book is divided up into five ominously named sections. So, each one of my posts will be dedicated to reviewing one of these:
LET THE GALAXY BURN
THE LOST AND THE DAMNED
FORBIDDEN ARMOURY
THE SCIONS OF CHAOS
SLAVES
TO DARKNESS
THE LOST AND THE DAMNED
This section begins by introducing the concept of a Chaos Space Marine. Actually, it describes both Spiky Marines and Chaos Space Marines, making sure to distinguish between the two. Some Marines will turn Renegade, but never fully devote themselves to the Chaos Gods. However, most will. I like how it describes Space Marines having to chose between "righteous servitude" (serving the Imperium) and "obscene freedom" (bathing in the blood of kittens and putting their skulls on your armor because its fun).
Following this is just some generic, regurgitated fluff regarding the birth of the Imperium. There's a badass pic of a Luna Wolf, standing proudly over the wreckage of a world his Legion has presumably wrecked.
Then there's some generic, regurgitated fluff regarding the Horus Heresy. The only passage of note implies that Horus was turned against his will. Like, he was asleep and sick, Erebus corrupted him, and when he woke up he was suddenly an evil dude. Kinda abrupt. That being said, this interpretation isn't new. Look at this page from an ancient book (it's from the 80's), titled
The Lost and the Damned. This Chapter in the Chaos Codex is even named after the book.
It clearly states that Horus was possessed. He wasn't swayed to Chaos, he was dominated by it. So, Phil Kelly can't exactly be blamed for this stupid idea. The rest of the Horus Heresy section is pretty bland, with nothing new in it. After it's finished talking about the Horus Heresy, there's two pages about the Traitor Legions. Each Traitor Legion has a short, one or two paragraph blurb about it. I'll summarize the blurbs.
Black Legion-Generic traitors
Alpha Legion- It states that the Alpha Legion's mysterious purpose (which was revealed as saving the Imperium by the book
Legion) has been "corrupted beyond recovery". So, the Alpha Legion no longer fights for the Imperium. Good for them.
Iron Warriors-They like blowing gak up.
Night Lords-They don't fight for the gods, they fight because they like scaring people.
Word Bearers-Still the Jehovah's Witnesses of Chaos.
World Eaters-Just as angry as they were earlier.
Emperor's Children-Depraved dudes and dudettes.
Death Guard-Fat, sick and nearly dead, but still badass.
Thousand Sons-They were forced to side with Horus, and then they were turned into monsters. Ahriman tried to fix it and accidentally obliterated most of his comrades. All that was left of them were empty suits of magical armor.
The Legions are described as having been broken down by "Millennia of jealousies and infighting". They've still managed to keep their purpose of destroying the Imperium, but little else. They're bitter and depraved mutants and psychopaths. Then, they have blurbs about random Renegade Chapters. This section is similar to the section on the Traitor Legions. Each Renegade Chapter here has a paragraph or two about them. I'll summarize these paragraphs.
The Scourged-Chapter Master Herodicus of the Seekers of Truth Chapter prayed for a way to tell if a man was lying. In response, Tzeentch decided to tell the Seekers of Truth Chapter ever lie ever told by man. Man has told a lot of lies. So they went insane. Now they worship Tzeentch, which is kind of weird. Why would they worship the God who tormented them to the point of insanity? Maybe they're too insane by this point to realize that he's the one responsible. Or maybe they think being insane is a good thing. I dunno, this Chapter is kind of weird. I doubt anyone is going to read this fluff and decide "I NEED A SCOURGED ARMY".
Flawless Host-Their background is almost exactly that of the Emperor's Children.
Blood Disciples-They touched some warp blood and went crazy. I dislike who Phil Kelly assumes that "Chaos made them crazy" is a valid background for Renegades.
Company of Misery-After a series of highly hazardous and dangerous missions without reprieve, a Chapter fell victim to hopelessness and depression. This seems entirely justified for some guys living in "the grim darkness of the far future". So they chose to turn against the Imperium they blamed for their wretched state. The background for these Renegades isn't actually bad, but its not too memorable. Still, it didn't really bother me.
Crimson Slaughter-I fething hate this one. So, a Chapter known as the Crimson Sabres killed a bunch of innocents. Then ghosts haunted them. So, the Crimson Sabres renamed themselves the Crimson Slaughter and decided to "wash away their sins in a tide of blood". That's right, they decided to redeem themselves for killing innocents by killing more innocents. What the feth. Phil Kelly, this is why you proofread your writing before you publish it.
Red Corsairs-Same ole story that's been around since 2nd edition. Kelly didn't change anything, which is good. The Red Corsairs are still the generic Renegade faction.
The Cleaved-Mysterious oily Marines. That's their background.
The Purged-They see the universe are irredeemable and seek to kill everyone. Considering they live in "the grim darkness of the far future", I don't blame them. They're kind of like the Company of Misery taken to the extreme.
After that, there's three pages on the Abyssal Crusade. I'll summarize it. Saint Basillius found 30 Chapters wanting in loyalty, so he sent them on a crusade into the Eye of Terror. As you can probably predict. Almost everyone was slain in the Eye or turned to Chaos. Then it turns out Saint Basillius was a chaos cultist. One of the few surviving, uncorrected participants of the Abyssal Crusade decided to kill Saint Basillius for being a douche and ruining his life. Good for him.
After the story of the Abyssal Crusade, there's a page on the Black Crusades. It's revealed that the first twelve Black Crusades aren't failures, and in fact they were weakening the Imperium in preparation for the 13th Black Crusade. Abaddon's plan is to burst open the Gates of Hell and allow the Eye of Terror to spill out until it reaches Terra. It also states that Abaddon has the Renegades of the Maelstrom on his side, but it isn't made clear if they're working
with him or
for him. Then there's a badass picture of what Abaddon should look like. Seriously, look at this guy.
Last, but not least, here are two pics of notable Chaos Space Marines. One has a fathead, and the other just looks really stupid for some reason.
COMING UP NEXT
-MORE WHINING
-EVEN MORE PICS
