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As the title says, of the many codices produced over the history of 40k, which do you think is best? I don't mean 'which is the best army' but more which do you think has the best balance of rules, background and presentation?
For my part I am still really impressed with a lot of the second edition books, with Codex Chaos and Codex Eldar among my favourites. Both have great short stories, and a heap of very well written background, and the armies were quite a lot of fun to build as well. since then, in my humble opinion, the codices have consistently failed to match up to them.

I liked Angels of Death.

Chaos codex fromn 2nd edition!

The earliest codex release in my memory was C-SM, so Im no ancient vet.

In my expirience I would say C-SM (was balanced good, and still is, simply due to awesome heroes. Just as it should be).

And C-space wolves (was a bit OP, still is good, and a very flavoursome dex too).

Current Ork codex is a personal fave.

I was also fond of the previous Daemons dex, mainly for the fluff..

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.

From earlier, it's kind of hard. I was a lot younger then, and my memory is fairly hazy. I remember the Tyranid and Chaos books being really fun, though.

I liked the 3.5ed Guard codex, which had access to doctrines. They allowed for some really nice customisation of your force. I would love to be able to do a Guard force where everything could infiltrate, it was so much fun. It is about the only doctrine that changed your force drastically that can't now be replicated.

Other than that, Codex: Ultramarines. Not for any real reason, just because it was my first and they get a lot of negativity sometimes.

DE. While it got the shaft in 6th, its still held up in quite a few builds. Most of the stuff is good, but very little could be called OP

The most recent Space Marines codex. Love it.

Strength? Imperial Guard imo

Lore and fun? 4th ed Daemons (or was it 5th? the one previous to current...)

For a White Dwarf dex, Movie Marines anyone?

I liked the 4th edition Space Marine codex, especially the Chapter Traits. I want those back.

I love the flavor and units of the new Tau codex.

All the 2e codicies pretty much. Lots of fluff in those, 3e codicies look like pamphlets by comparison.

New Necrons is probably my favorite. The previous Necron book was bland from every angle: the fluff, the miniatures, and the army lists all left no room for customization. The only thing this game has on its competition is the opportunity to carve a niche in its vast mythos, and the Necrons failed utterly in the regard. The new book breathed so much life into it.

The current Tau Dex is amazing in my eyes, because finally I can use a huge variety of units without something be a "subpar" choice. There is rarely anything in that codex that is worthless, silly, or completely unusable (oh Mandrakes, why are you so beautiful but sooo terrible?) Not to mention with a decent variety of models you can field a ton of different builds, all of which can be considered some level of competitive.

Also, the old guard codex was super awesome with its doctrines, since you could make a crazy tribal army, or a drug addicted cyborg army, or all kinds of cool stuff! The only thing bad about that one was the pure insanity of fielding some of the basic troop choices.

Grey Knights in 5th ed. They had very strong builds , could do both melee and range at the same time , had rules that made them immune to effects that hurt other armies of the same type. Best codex GW has ever made .

Either the latest Dark Angels or Codex Space Wolves

Chaos Codex from 2nd edition is still fun to look through from time to time. I think it compares well to anything ever produced.

Current IG codex has a great diversity of units and I think it is really decent even though it does also have a lot of units that never see the table top.

I like the Sister of Battle second edition Codex for its background but it was introduced very late in 2nd edition.

Ere We Go was decent and if you add to it the companion volumes of Waaargh the Orks and Freebooters it is hard to top.

Dark Eldar 5th was probably the best Codex I have read so far both from variety of fluff and and balance aspect. Second comes Tau 6th but both the fluff from CSM 4th (Wolf of Fenris ho!) and Chaos Daemons 4th were very nice.

4th edition Orks. You just can't ever compete with Orks when it comes to background and playability!
For a book that's now 2 editions old, it's still solid with a variety of good builds, and I have only once met a single Ork player who was a nightmare to play against. Can't say the same for most other armies... (ie: I have only met maybe one or two GK players who aren't massive d-bags)

I also like the 5th ed Dark Eldar and the new Daemons book is a lot of fun to play as well and can be downright brutal in it's builds!

Ric Ringo wrote:
I liked Angels of Death.

My thoughts exactly, if for no other reason than you get two codexes for the price of one.

I echo the sentiment of "Any of the Codexes from 2nd edition". Even for the fluff alone they are worth it over their modern counterparts.

Angels of Death was great, but for me it's a 3 way tie - All 2nd Ed - Chaos/Tyranids/Orks.

ORKS:

With the 2nd ed Orks you had really fun fluff and very enjoyable armies. If you weren't doing almost as much damage to yourself as you were to the enemy, you weren't trying hard enough. Anybody remember the hop-splat gun or the motorcycle with the huge cannon strapped to the back? Or the greatest psychic power EVER - "The Foot of Gork"?

Chaos:
Just really well done with the combo of fluff and rules and the fact that the armies you built from that book really reflected the fluff stories spread throughout the book.

Tyranids:
Again, great fluff combined with the ability to make armies/units that actually matched said fluff. I also liked the table you rolled on before the game to see if things like floating spores might clog up your opponent's vehicle engines or keep them from firing the first turn (haven't read or seen a 'Nid codex since that one so not sure if they continued that or not).

Chaos Space Marines, 3.5 codex. Very flexible and Legion heavy.

I only got into the game in 5th so I haven't seen many of the Codices that had already been superseded, but I am another one who thinks the 4th/current Ork codex is excellent. It has a lot of good fluff, several viable builds, and no must-have cheese units.

I also really like the 5th ed. Dark Eldar. Revamping a race that hadn't had a new codex in 12 years (or any update whatsoever in 7) was a monumental task. Part of it, though, was the reworked models, taking the Dark Eldar from the worst looking range to one of the best. But setting models aside, there was a lot to like in 5th DE, particularly the depth and diversity of wargear available.

4th ed Space Marine Codex. I've already decided that if they bring back Chapter traits I'll start a SM army again. But I'm not holding my breath.

My favorite all around, Space Wolves in 5th.

To me, the three best 40k Codices have been Codex: Chaos (Second Edition), Codex: Sisters of Battle (Second Edition) and Codex: Imperial Guard (Fifth Edition). The old Chaos Codex was a tremendous source of hobby inspiration, setting lore and fun rules. I still have fond memories of Huron Blackheart going round and round against whichever Phoenix Lord my roommate was using that week. The Sisters of Battle book wasn't quite as diverse as the Chaos Book, but it gave us our first real look at the faith of the Imperium, and was supported by some of the best artwork and miniatures that GW has produced. The current Imperial Guard book, forgiving a few internal balance issues, contains a rich collection of evocative lore and has more unit variety than any army book that we've seen this side of the old Second Edition books. It's easily the most enjoyable book that I've played with, and it pretty effortlessly lets you bring a list for all occasions, while still bringing fun and characterful units.

In terms of Background and feel? Slaves to Darkness, the Lost and the Damned, Codex Chaos 2E, RT Waaagh The Orks!, Codex Orks 2E, and the 3.5E Chaos Space Marines codex. Most of the 2nd edition books in general were pretty awesome.

Best in terms of strength ever? 2E Codex Eldar, 4E Codex Eldar, 3.5E Chaos Space Marines, 2E Space Wolves

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

Best overall ever? Eh, hard to say. I want to say Chaos Space Marines 3.5E, but it had major flaws as well (as cool as much of the stuff was, internal balance was awful and some things were clearly busted), it's really very subjective past that.