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Changes:
-Assault Marines Are No Longer Troops
-Sanguinary Priests Are HQs, You Can Now Only Take 1 Per Slot. Chaplains And Techmarines Are Also HQs
-All BA Units That Used To Have Red Thirst Now Have Furious Charge
-Sanguinary Priests Now Give Feel No Pain And +1 Weapon Skill
-Death Company Are Only Weapon Skill 4, But Their Jump Pacls Are Cheaper
-Sanguinary Guard Are Cheaper And Can Be Taken In Units Of 10
-Terminators Can Take The Chapter Banner
-Cheaper Landspeeders
-Baal Predators Are Now Heavy Support
-Vehicles May Take Overcharged Engines

I'm very, very happy with it. One of my favourite characters, Dante, is now the warrior he always should been, the price drops on key units and upgrades helps the playability of the army no end, the new Detachment (and old school FC that comes with it) is awesome, and the relics and Warlord traits are all very nice too. And how could I forget, Heavy Flamers on Tacticals is a dream come true for me, I just love the way they look and play!

My only minor gripe is the moving of Priests to HQ (but adding an Archangels detachment from Exterminatus gets me round that) and the fact they can't take TDA (solved by three minutes of pregame conversation in most cases).

I can't wait to get it on the table.

As a ally force (what I use them for) they're good.

I like it. Well laid out, needs more pictures if i want to be negative about it.

I own the previous codex but only just started BA now.

Everything seems to me to give a fair balanced choice in the way of keeping to a battle forged army. Except maybe the special DC guy, forget his name, he's a bit meh.

Coming from the Tyranid codex i be very happy. BA offers a lot more in every way. The difficult choices of what to take give me the ability to try lots out.

Lost a game to bland chaos marines today with 'em. Granted it was by one point in maelstrom, and I did clear him off the board EXCEPT for one flying prince, and he (cheesily) cowardly retreated around the board in the air, and never failed any of the few saves I got to stick on him. But I had pretty heavy casualties too. Astorath went down, most of the DC was down, I had one assault marine left, the tax scouts were murdered, cassus died, and some SG with a priest were trying to chase down the prince.

Overall, it has the same issue as last codex when trying to run an assault force: I have to get close to assault, so he can just assault me instead, and I lose all the bonuses that make me better than normal marines at that point.

We REALLY needed to get turn 1 reserves like the deathwing, or something similar. Something like "any BA-only jump pack-only unit in reserve may choose to count as a drop pod for drop pod assault."

Also priests being hq's is painful. I used to take 3 in my jump assault strike force and they would be able to cover the whole army. Can't even take 3 now.
I took cassus as part of my mandatory troop tax, and gave him a FA drop pod. I don't really like his load out. He got charged by a plasma cannon hellbrute and got owned. (Pod scattered 12"). There's also the issue that dreads are kind of overcosted in general.
Fragioso is good as usual, but I ALSO scattered 12" on his pod, so I missed out on first blood, and had to settle for sticking some wounds on nurgle obliterators.

I like 2x meltagun 5man asm squads.

So it woulda been nice if we had say...turn 1 reserve rolls and some sky fire tech. Like maybe "you may use jump packs in the shooting phase to gain sky fire for the phase."

Overall, I judge the codex as "meh" tier. The only epic fails in the book were Tycho and ruining nice themed lists with taxicals or tax scouts.

Not sure what codices I would rank below it. Not very many, for sure.

I said this in another post but:

Looks gorgeous, beautiful artwork and pictures, nice design; and finally a more logical format than the 6th ed hard-backs.

The rules, well I haven't played a game yet - but what struck me first was just how CHEAP everything was, like almost everything in book.

The army-wides buffs are spectacular, and since Dante (who is finally awesome again) is a Lord of War, that means you can take him and still field 2 HQ.

Yeah without playing a game yet, I love it, but I'll reserve final judgement until I've played a dozen games or so...

Exterminatus looks to give them some really nice options. I hope they keep releasing these campaign books for other armies as they've been great so far.

I don't like what happened to Tycho. No more Reclusiarch's. Mephiston needed a nerf bat. Astorath got worse (his axe is unwieldy now?!?! But Dante's isn't?!?! Why?), and Dante got way better... I'm a bit surprised The Sanguinor made it into this edition. Even with the changes to him, he's still a "WTF?!?" model. If you ask me, he should have been moved to a Lord of War choice, and made into a Monstrous Creature. It was a bit surprising the move of the Assault Squads and Death Company- and I'm still trying to understand why Tycho and Lemartus are Independent Characters, but can only join Death Company units. Loss of Land Raiders as dedicated transports for everything and that they can't deepstrike anymore makes me a bit sad- not that I ever did it, just the Internet 40K Meme of a Flying Land Raider with Dante on it coming down to the battlefield always made me smile. I'm pleased to see the Sanguinary Guard, Furisio and Librarian Dreads are back. Oh, and the Baal Preds. Nothing says "Light 'em up!" quite like a Flamestorm cannon and two Heavy Flamers. Speaking on that... why Heavy Flamers in a Tac squad? Such a bizarre change... loss of the Honor Guard and being replaced by the Command Squad, with the Command Squad taking up a choice irks me a bit as well.

The Red Thirst and Black Rage being toned down/army wide now is a 'meh'. It waters down the entire codex, and adds fuel to those that think the BA should just be folded into the Space Marine Codex and given a Warlord trait that reflects the Red Thirst/Black Rage.

How does this codex fit in with the rest of 7th Edition and it's codexes? A big, giant "Meh". There is really nothing in this book that screams to me "PLAY ME!". I can see a use for just about everything in here, with your typical some choices being more appropriate then others (not necessarily better). It is a big change from the previous codex and it's "Must Take" units. Looking at you, Mephy! Well, before 6th and the Nerfing you took there, and the nerfing again, and... well, it seems like someone at GW just hates Mephy... I wonder why? Lost one to many games to Mephy? /shrug.

It's a solid codex that is just a bit too bland for my tastes. Hence, the "Meh".

I like it enough that I'm considering running with the Blood Angels codex rather than the vanilla codex.

The internal balanced has been evened out a bit. The overall power level is appropriate. I can think of decent uses for most of the units in the codex. There are fewer gimicky units. The equipment flexibility for most squads is better than the SM codex (ASM special weapons!). Most of the named characters are useful. The HQ and Elite slots are full of good choices. The vehicles are cheaper, but still Fast. The whole army has above-average mobility for marines (only White Scars are faster), which is a great thing in 7th edition.

It's not all perfect, of course. The Blood Angels rules needed streamlining, but they didn't need more vanilla. Tycho was ruined. Baals lost their coolest feature. Many units and equipment choices that are hold-overs from the vanilla SM codex remain overpriced or underpowered (Terminators, Power Weapons, Plasma Pistols, regular Dreadnoughts, etc).

Troops - probably controversial, but good

Fast Attack/Heavy Support - good

HQ - so-so; barring two detachments, some choices won't get used

Elites - a bit poor; as a non-competitive player I can still see half are far superior to the other half. The upside being that the BA units (plus Sternguard) are the good half, therefore players are encouraged to use armies distinct from C:SM forces.

No more infinite melee attacks for the DC dread. Much love.

Dislikes:
- I have to take Tacs or Scouts (I could have worded this as Assault Marines in FA, but I'd be perfectly happy with a detachment with no mandatory Troops, or something to that effect).
- Sanguinor still garbage.
- Reclusiarch gone (messes up my FW stuff).
- Chaplains lost re-rolls to wound for DC.
- DC Dreads pretty pants now.
- Baal Predator nerfed.
- Lost several builds, like all jumpers, all Sang Guard, AV13 spam, Land Raider spam.
- It seems too much like a Space Marine codex with a couple of small differences.
- Tycho is the biggest joke in the world.
- It still includes units that there are pretty much zero reasons to ever take (Techmarines, Vanguard Vets, etc).
- The only real competitive lists rely quite heavily on Pods. There might be some others, but I'm not so sure about them yet.
- No Land Speeder Storm.
- No Stormtalon.
- They did not take this opportunity to make Terminators not suck balls.

What I like:
- Dante is baller (not necessarily always the best choice, but pretty awesome, which is befitting for a Chapter Master).
- Mephiston is not an auto-include (like he was when the codex first came out) or a sad joke (like he was when the 7th FAQs hit), but a great choice in certain lists, and not so much in others.
- I have an actual reason to take banners (specifically, in Sang Guard units) now, besides my own non-rules related reasons.
- If you take Sang Guard or DC (with jump packs) they can actually do things now. Scary things even.
- 5 man Assault Squads with 4 melta shots? Yes, please!

 Thud wrote:
- They did not take this opportunity to make Terminators not suck balls.

I don't really agree with too much of your list there, at least this early in the game... but specifically I found this one weird ^^. Now you can get +1 Initiative, and Furious Charge for free, if you add Corbulo to your Terminators you get +2 Initiative, +1 WS, Furious Charge, and FnP... that makes Lightning Claws pretty frightening if you ask me - or yeah "suck balls".

 Gunzhard wrote:

 Thud wrote:
- They did not take this opportunity to make Terminators not suck balls.

I don't really agree with too much of your list there, at least this early in the game... but specifically I found this one weird ^^. Now you can get +1 Initiative, and Furious Charge for free, if you add Corbulo to your Terminators you get +2 Initiative, +1 WS, Furious Charge, and FnP... that makes Lightning Claws pretty frightening if you ask me - or yeah "suck balls".

Lol, ok. Good luck with that.

I am still trying to figure out how people are getting the extra gear on the SGT. I do not see any thing about them getting 2 pistols or are we stretching the "items" again to auto include 2?

 Thud wrote:

 Gunzhard wrote:

 Thud wrote:
- They did not take this opportunity to make Terminators not suck balls.

I don't really agree with too much of your list there, at least this early in the game... but specifically I found this one weird ^^. Now you can get +1 Initiative, and Furious Charge for free, if you add Corbulo to your Terminators you get +2 Initiative, +1 WS, Furious Charge, and FnP... that makes Lightning Claws pretty frightening if you ask me - or yeah "suck balls".

Lol, ok. Good luck with that.

Hah uhh ok, thanks.

Fireraven wrote:I am still trying to figure out how people are getting the extra gear on the SGT. I do not see any thing about them getting 2 pistols or are we stretching the "items" again to auto include 2?

Well it says the sergeant or Vet sergeant can take items from Melee and/or Ranged weapon lists... is that what you are asking?

BA melee terminators are bad, I think, when you can get sanguinary guard for 7 pts cheaper per model.

Martel732 wrote:
BA melee terminators are bad, I think, when you can get sanguinary guard for 7 pts cheaper per model.

Well I do actually prefer Sanguinary Guard myself anyway... but if you like Terminators, again, Lightning Claw squads with Corbulo are pretty nasty, especially rolling out of a StormRaven. Having +2 Initiative, +1WS, Furious Charge, FnP and an Invulnerable save, while re-rolling To-Wound rolls is pretty serious business.

It's nasty, but your enemy will feed that unit throw away units and then shoot it to death. I'm a BA player; I know all about the trap of making one unit too expensive and too killy. You really need just-enough-killy.

Blood Angel player here as well, since the beginning hah, and I am definitely not disagreeing with you on that... but with the StormRaven you've got as good a chance as any to select your target.

That said, yeah the Sanguinary Guard are likely better and I think just cooler.

Fireraven wrote:
I am still trying to figure out how people are getting the extra gear on the SGT. I do not see any thing about them getting 2 pistols or are we stretching the "items" again to auto include 2?

Trade Bolt Pistol for one, Bolter for the other. Or something to that effect. I don't have my codex handy for me to go through the exact way you do it.

It has some plusses. Heavy flamers in Tac squads are fun.
Dante's new rules and him being lord of war is fun.

Changes to priests make me mad.
No assault marines as troops make me mad.

Current changes means my painted army is:
3HQ
2 Fast Attack
6 Elite
2 Heavy Support
1 x Unusable priest in terminator armour....

Might just run a couple of Rhino Tactical squads for my troops now....

Don't forget that Dante is a Lord of War... so he doesn't count against your HQ choices.

Yeah I know, thats why I said I liked that change (my dante is not one of my painted models )

To fully benefit from BA, what else do I need than the Codex?

You need Deathstorm, Exterminatus (both from Shields of Baal) and the upcoming White Dwarf. The codex is like Tyranids. Weak as hell with next to no benefits that aren't done better in other armies. 135pt podded ASM with 4 Melta is obviously the biggest bonus in the codex. But the Formations and Detachment special rules are VERY nice looking (in the fun sense).

I leafed through it briefly.

Seems to me it's Codex: Space Marines with FC as their chapter tactic and swapping access to 5 or so units.

I'm a bit annoyed that there seems to be a load of stuff shoe-horned into the Elites section which seems really cramped now. All of the stuff I used to be able to fit into an army I now have to choose between units.

 Paradigm wrote:
I'm very, very happy with it. One of my favourite characters, Dante, is now the warrior he always should been, the price drops on key units and upgrades helps the playability of the army no end, the new Detachment (and old school FC that comes with it) is awesome, and the relics and Warlord traits are all very nice too. And how could I forget, Heavy Flamers on Tacticals is a dream come true for me, I just love the way they look and play!

My only minor gripe is the moving of Priests to HQ (but adding an Archangels detachment from Exterminatus gets me round that) and the fact they can't take TDA (solved by three minutes of pregame conversation in most cases).

I can't wait to get it on the table.

Don't be too optimistic.
Eldar and Tau wait out there to table you.

 wuestenfux wrote:

Don't be too optimistic.
Eldar and Tau wait out there to table you.

Don't be too optimistic.
Eldar and Tau wait out there to get an update.