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So I'm looking to get back into Warhammer after a brief hiatus, but I am super confused by the rise of these mini codices. Before they'd be clearly marked as supplements (e.g. Waaaagh! Ghazghkull) but now they seem to be labeled as a codex just like the full codices are. So my question is: is there an easy way to spot the difference without opening the book? Thanks guys!

It is either a Codex or Supplement. If it is a Supplement it will say "X – A Codex Y Supplement".

Things like Harlequins and Demonkin are codices in their own right. They are not supplements.

 mazik765 wrote:
So I'm looking to get back into Warhammer after a brief hiatus, but I am super confused by the rise of these mini codices. Before they'd be clearly marked as supplements (e.g. Waaaagh! Ghazghkull) but now they seem to be labeled as a codex just like the full codices are. So my question is: is there an easy way to spot the difference without opening the book? Thanks guys!

Games Workshop is doing overtime in pushing their agenda of breaking up traditional army building. You know, where you decide for a faction, buy their codex, buy a battleforce, then proceed to collect around 2000 points, working your way up from 1 HQ and 2 Troops over Heavy Support, Elites, Fast Attack etc. before you fill out your force org and then move on to the next one.

Right now their main agenda is to make you collect lots and lots of small forces and ally them together and include a superheavy and a formation and a fortification or two with their respective codexes and dataslates as well and call it a game.

 Sir Arun wrote:

 mazik765 wrote:
So I'm looking to get back into Warhammer after a brief hiatus, but I am super confused by the rise of these mini codices. Before they'd be clearly marked as supplements (e.g. Waaaagh! Ghazghkull) but now they seem to be labeled as a codex just like the full codices are. So my question is: is there an easy way to spot the difference without opening the book? Thanks guys!

Games Workshop is doing overtime in pushing their agenda of breaking up traditional army building. You know, where you decide for a faction, buy their codex, buy a battleforce, then proceed to collect around 2000 points, working your way up from 1 HQ and 2 Troops over Heavy Support, Elites, Fast Attack etc. before you fill out your force org and then move on to the next one.

Right now their main agenda is to make you collect lots and lots of small forces and ally them together and include a superheavy and a formation and a fortification or two with their respective codexes and dataslates as well and call it a game.

What is holding you back from sticking with one faction? If that is what you want you can do it, and if you prefer the added freedom of having a bunch of allies then go for it. I don't see how more options is a bad thing, especially when if you don't like the options you can just ignore them.

With the supplements, do they require the main codex? sorry if this is OT. Cheers.

Sire122 wrote:
With the supplements, do they require the main codex? sorry if this is OT. Cheers.

Suppliments (such as Haemoculus Covens, Farsight Enclaves, Black Legion, WAAAAAGH! Ghazgul) require the 'main' Codex to function, as they are mostly Formations, Detachments, Warlord Trait list and special Relics and not alot else - they don't have unit costs, stats or anything.

Mini-codexes (such as Militarius Tempestus, Harlequins, Ad.Mech: Skitarii) are stand-alone products, with everything you need to play the army (aside from the main Rulebook and the models themselves).

Beware, there are also actual "mini-codexes" which are just A5 versions of standard (A4) codexes. Example: http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Codex-Dark-Angels-Small-Format

They don't sell them on the AUS GW site. Wow, everythings so cheap ha.

I guess I was just confused by GWs intent. I guess it makes sense if they are looking to have people buy multiple small forces and ally them. It just seems like Harlequins, Daemonkin and Skitari would be perfect add-ons for their already existing codices. But I guess I just have to get with the times!

Thanks for the responses!

Everyone's mentioning the supplements but I'll just put in that there is mini codices which are Identical A5 versions of the army codex and missing the reference page in the back but the mini ones are for reference anyway.

They're available for some of the early 6th ed codices

I have a mini Tau one and its much easier then hauling around the A4 one and also they're better quality as well IMO

What is A4 and A5?

 mazik765 wrote:
What is A4 and A5?

Never in my life have I desired to--

A4 and A5 are standard ISO (International Standard) paper sizes. A4 paper are 210mm × 297mm sized paper, and are amongst the most most commonly used paper sizes for printing. A5 paper are 210mmx148mm sized paper, and are almost the size of a piece of A4 paper folded on its longer side. A "small format" codex is the size of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks you get from the Dark Vengeance Box set or the rulebook you get from the Shield of Baal book set.

A size comparison can be seem here:

On the mini-dexes (or -dice): All mini-dexes can be played as its stand-alone army. There is no need for any other army codex in order to play them.

In my opinion this is both a good and a bad thing: the good thing is that they come with their own formations, which gives them unique benefits from Battleforged armies. Also since they have their own formations, they can be more easily be made into an allied regiment/formations in an existing army. You literally gets more toys for you army to play with.

The bad thing is that the first few "mini-dexes" have been released for very limited ranges, as a result you get few actual unit choices for your army. MT and Harlequins are like this -- they seem to work very poorly on their own and almost always require another army to win. And another is that you get to buy another codex for your existing army if you wish to ally your KD with CSM or, ally the Militarum Tempestus with Astramilitarwat, as it has come to be known. Then again, the Guards have the MT in their codex, just without the benefits from the MT formations...

I think that if a new codex looks interesting but you're not sure if it's a mini-dex, you should go to the online store and just see how many models they have to buy.

Harlequins have 8, total... and none of them are HQ. That's a pretty good sign the codex doesn't stand well on its own, even if you can *technically* play it on its own.

Off the top of my head (so apologies if I missed any...) --

"Full" Codices, meaning factions with enough models to make a complete army:

- Space marines, Space wolves, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Astra Militarum, Clan Raukaan
- Eldar, Dark Eldar, Ork, Tau, Tyranid, Necron, Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Chaos Daemons, Khorne Daemonkin

"Full" Codices where you *can* field an army, and many people do, but there aren't that many models. Often begs for allies:

- Skitarii, Imperial Knights Cult Mechanicus, Harlequins

Everything else is a book that is either a supplement or may be playable as a faction, but isn't really practical. For example, Militarum Tempestus -- good luck ever winning anything fielding strictly MT.

And yeah, Sisters of Battle... call it whatever you want, just shed a tear for them

Clan Raukaan is a supplement

Sisters of Battle are a full codex, just not competetive