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 kingbobbito wrote:
Sorry, not everyone wants to play ultrasmurfs.

Then don't play ultrasmurfs. Is a White Scars army an "ultrasmurfs" army just because it happens to be played with C:SM?

And let's not forget that a lot of the special rules you're clinging to didn't exist in the previous codex. Nobody had any problems playing Ravenwing armies when they were just regular bikes with a HQ character to make them troops, nobody felt like the codex was incomplete because the new flyers didn't exist, etc. So why are the special snowflake rules in the current codex suddenly an essential part of the DA fluff?

The type of simplification you're asking for would better be solved by cutting vehicles, MCs, LOW, and why not just anything that isn't barebones infantry?

Because those unit types are genuinely different in function, not the same old C:SM units with special snowflake rules attached to justify selling you another $50 codex.

Guys, if you take the fluff and the scenic pictures out, you can combine all Space Marine Factions into a single book, smaller than the current Space Marine Codex, without having to take any special rules or units away from any factions. Just the format of the datasheets would change.

 Peregrine wrote:

 kingbobbito wrote:
Sorry, not everyone wants to play ultrasmurfs.

Then don't play ultrasmurfs. Is a White Scars army an "ultrasmurfs" army just because it happens to be played with C:SM?

And let's not forget that a lot of the special rules you're clinging to didn't exist in the previous codex. Nobody had any problems playing Ravenwing armies when they were just regular bikes with a HQ character to make them troops, nobody felt like the codex was incomplete because the new flyers didn't exist, etc. So why are the special snowflake rules in the current codex suddenly an essential part of the DA fluff?

Wait, you think I'm trying to argue that Ravenwing have nice special rules? You mean in every way inferior to White Scars and cost more per bike? I will say playing white scars isn't playing smurfs, because they get a genuinely different and better bike than anyone else by miles without paying for the points... thus making 90% of the other stuff they'd want to take totally obsolete. Give DA that same sort of treatment, make our terminators infinitely better than everyone else's without jacking up the price, give us slightly worse than white scars bikes for the same price as regular bikes, make it so people genuinely want to run nothing but DW terminators because they're the best, and I'll call it a day. Make it so regular stuff smurfs take is obsolete in a DA army the same way Scars have it. But what will happen if they all get thrown under the ultrasmurf train is that I won't get rules for my bikes OR my terminators, and I'll get something useless like chapter tactics stubborn. Just because this stuff wasn't in old codices doesn't mean people haven't grown to like having a unique army.

And I'm not saying I need those flyers and skimmers to exist, just that I'll be a little pissed if every DA player has to throw out models because they can't be modified into C:SM ones.

The type of simplification you're asking for would better be solved by cutting vehicles, MCs, LOW, and why not just anything that isn't barebones infantry?

Because those unit types are genuinely different in function, not the same old C:SM units with special snowflake rules attached to justify selling you another $50 codex.

Oh, like knights, which they charge you $50 for essentially one unit? Why are those a thing? And tell me, how to does a rhino add more depth to the game than the ability to DS all my terminators turn one? Less people know how to deal with a deathwing assault than know how to deal with a rhino, so who's to say that the rhino adds more "depth"?

And let's not forget, they're not charging me $50 to buy extra rules for marines, they're charging me $50 for something I can use instead of standard marines. They're not charging me an extra $50 to get something, they're charging me a base $50 to get something different. I buy a DA codex for the same reason someone buys a necron codex, to get something similar to but mostly different than marines in terms of how they function, and I imagine in future codices for DA will continue to distinguish themselves from the standard marines. As it stands DA are about as different from regular marines as grey knights are, and if you're really saying we should cut grey knights, I don't know what to say....

@Bill1138.
I agree with you , if they put the fluff /craft tips in another book for 'collectors.'
There would be plenty of room in the Codex books for all the units of each faction.(Including all the special units for the sub factions.)For the players.

@Kingbobbito.
GW are charging you money to by rules for 'slightly different' marines.That could and should have been included in the basic codex.(If the fluff was put in a separate book.)

I do not want to get hung up on the minutia of what special rules /characters sub faction X has.

But if the Codex books covered multiple themed armies ,rather than the restrictive and limited specifically named stuff.

EG a SM recon force with just bikes and land speeders.This could be part of any chapter!

It would cover all possible play styles of the faction, but keep lists on theme.(Rather than just cherry pick the best bits from a wider spectrum of units.)

 kingbobbito wrote:
Wait, you think I'm trying to argue that Ravenwing have nice special rules?

No, I'm not making any comments about power level. The simple fact is that people were happily playing Ravenwing armies with the previous codex and didn't feel like their fluff was crippled just because they didn't have a bunch of special rules for their bikes. So why are the current special rules so essential?

Just because this stuff wasn't in old codices doesn't mean people haven't grown to like having a unique army.

Well then I guess you'd better not buy the next DA codex or 8th edition, since the rules you've grown to like will probably change.

And tell me, how to does a rhino add more depth to the game than the ability to DS all my terminators turn one?

Do you honestly not understand how a Rhino and a guardsman have much more significant differences than a terminator squad and a terminator squad with the ability to deep strike on the first turn? And you could still get the turn-1 deep strike as your chapter tactics, or even a special DA detachment in C:SM.

and if you're really saying we should cut grey knights, I don't know what to say....

That's exactly what I'm saying, especially now that GW took away all the non-marine units. Give them a chapter tactics rule for storm bolters/force weapons/psykers instead of bolter/pistol/CCW and that's all they need.

 Filch wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 Filch wrote:
I like my fluff where it belongs, in the novels! Not the rule book.

Rules? I have been playing less and less. GW sucks so bad they once again made a game breaking typo for Eldar.

Models? feth that, i am boycotting GW. I will only buy scratch built, forge world, and or 2nd hand models. GW will never get a single new dollar from me!

You could just do it like the End Times books and split each codex into a crunch book, a fluff book, and an art book.

(And pay three times the cost :UUUUUUU)

Dafuq you mean pay 3x the cost? I would only pay 1/3 by not wasting money on the other 2 fluff and art book.

what kind of Ork mathematics are you doing?

Because this is GW.

They'll triple the prices of all three books over the old codex to increase their profit ninefold.

They're not only morons, they're also dicks.

Kain, lols! Finally! we agree on something! And that is GW are morons!

I think you are right about GW increasing the price, but I dont think they will triple the price. Tripling the price is a bit much. I think they will more likely quintuple the price! BECAUSE FAN BOYS WILL BUY REGARDLESS OF PRICE!

I hope that does happen for real and it causes people to quit en mass.

Like somebody said, just dl the pdf somewhere.

I'm pretty sure that no one here actually believes GW would do anything like this. Hence why it is a hypothetical discussion about what might be the best ways to do it...

 SilverMK2 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that no one here actually believes GW would do anything like this. Hence why it is a hypothetical discussion about what might be the best ways to do it...

You hit the nail on the head. So, if we re-direct this back from what GW won't do, back to what they should do...

My question was, "How could GW change how they were handling the game to breed goodwill with their consumers?"
This should be their concern, because goodwill makes happy customers, and happy customers buy more.

My answer to the question is reducing the cost of playing the game. The models should probably drop in price somewhat, so the knockoff miniatures from China can't undercut them by a significant enough margin for general consumers to buy them instead of the official models. Another, and potentially more significant change would be to lower the cost of the rules, which would encourage players to buy more Codexes. More Codexes mean more armies. Lowering costs by the right amount would increase sales to actually result in an increase of their net income.

The first thing to do to reduce the costs of the Codexes is to remove the Fluff and all of the extra pictures. This will leave each faction with a fraction of the number of pages, making them much easier to combine into fewer volumes without having to sacrifice unique units or leaving you with giant books. The Fluff and pictures that are currently in the books could all be put online. If they still want people to buy the Codex to have access to that fluff, they can just put a code in the back of each Codex that when entered on their websight unlocks the relevant fluff/pictures.

Then there are two other ways to reduce the cost of the Codexes. The one I suggested was to condense the all of the factions into a handful of appropriately priced (not based on their current prices) books. Another interesting suggestion was to split every faction into tiny sub-factions, each with a pamphlet of rules that costs only a few dollars, so allying would clearly be a must, but the sum total of all of the rules for the army, would still be less than the price of one of the current Codexes.

But back to my suggestion.

All of the Supplements, Lords of War, and anything else that's officially part of the game would be included with their appropriate faction and not be separate books. All Fortifications would be in the Core Rulebook.

Codex: Chaos
Faction 1: Khorne
Faction 2: Nurgle
Faction 3: Slaanesh
Faction 4: Tzeentch
Shared units: There would be a section for units available to all 4 factions consisting of Chaos Space Marines and Traitor Guard. These would have the equivalent of the Space Marines' "Chapter Tactics" identifying them for whichever Chaos god they served.

Codex: Ordo Militant
Faction 1: Grey Knights + Adeptus Mechanicus
Faction 2: Sisters of Battle + new units to round them out
Faction 3: Ordo Malleus
Faction 4: Ordo Hereticus
Faction 5: Ordo Xenos
Shared units: The Ordos Malleus, Hereticus, and Xenos would have access to the Militarum Tempestus units. Each Inquisitor would also have access to a bodyguard unit of appropriate Henchmen for their Ordo, and I think it would be interesting if the Inquisitor and his Warband counted as a single Independent Character for the purposes of joining a unit (Ex, an Inquisitor might have 3 Crusaders as Bodyguards, and the group may attach to a unit of Scions or possibly allied Grey Knights, but the Bodyguards would not be allowed to depart from the Inquisitor).

Codex: Astartes
Faction 1: Black Templars
Faction 2: Blood Angels
Faction 3: Dark Angels
Faction 4: Legion of the Damned
Faction 5: Space Wolves
Etc.
*Each Faction would have some unique units, and would have their own Chapter Tactics to make their Shared Units unique from those taken by other Chapters. If there is a unit that's unavailable to a single chapter for fluff reasons (like Black Templars not being able to take Librarians), then that unit would be in the shared units section, but under the specific faction's Chapter Tactics, would be a notation that that unit may not be taken for this faction.
Shared units: These are the units available to all of the factions in the volume. For the sake of simplicity, there are some units that would probably be made available to factions that didn't have them, to reduce the number of restrictions on this section.

Codex: Exercitus (latin for "Army" if Google Translate is to be believed)
Faction 1: Astra Militarum
Faction 2: Imperial Knights

Codex: Eldar
Faction 1: Eldar
Faction 2: Dark Eldar

Codex: Necrons

Codex: Orks

Codex: Tau

Codex: Tyranids

The Xenos races are distinct enough to warrant not combining them into a Codex: Xenos, but perhapse they should get some more flavor, recieving more faction within each race, much like how the Imperium of Man has a plethora of factions.

Assassins: in a 5-6 page pamphlet of their own for a few dollars, or added to one of the other Codexes?

Orks used to have different clans which could be fluffed out. Nids could have unique biomorphs for different hive fleets as well as genestealer cults. Tau can have human troops and more alien allies. Not sure about crons I dont really knoe their new fluff.

Assassins should be on their own as most factions should be able to include them. Add a few xeno assassins in too.

 Bill1138 wrote:

 SilverMK2 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that no one here actually believes GW would do anything like this. Hence why it is a hypothetical discussion about what might be the best ways to do it...

You hit the nail on the head. So, if we re-direct this back from what GW won't do, back to what they should do...

Spoiler:

My question was, "How could GW change how they were handling the game to breed goodwill with their consumers?"
This should be their concern, because goodwill makes happy customers, and happy customers buy more.

My answer to the question is reducing the cost of playing the game. The models should probably drop in price somewhat, so the knockoff miniatures from China can't undercut them by a significant enough margin for general consumers to buy them instead of the official models. Another, and potentially more significant change would be to lower the cost of the rules, which would encourage players to buy more Codexes. More Codexes mean more armies. Lowering costs by the right amount would increase sales to actually result in an increase of their net income.

The first thing to do to reduce the costs of the Codexes is to remove the Fluff and all of the extra pictures. This will leave each faction with a fraction of the number of pages, making them much easier to combine into fewer volumes without having to sacrifice unique units or leaving you with giant books. The Fluff and pictures that are currently in the books could all be put online. If they still want people to buy the Codex to have access to that fluff, they can just put a code in the back of each Codex that when entered on their websight unlocks the relevant fluff/pictures.

Then there are two other ways to reduce the cost of the Codexes. The one I suggested was to condense the all of the factions into a handful of appropriately priced (not based on their current prices) books. Another interesting suggestion was to split every faction into tiny sub-factions, each with a pamphlet of rules that costs only a few dollars, so allying would clearly be a must, but the sum total of all of the rules for the army, would still be less than the price of one of the current Codexes.

But back to my suggestion.

All of the Supplements, Lords of War, and anything else that's officially part of the game would be included with their appropriate faction and not be separate books. All Fortifications would be in the Core Rulebook.

Codex: Chaos
Faction 1: Khorne
Faction 2: Nurgle
Faction 3: Slaanesh
Faction 4: Tzeentch
Shared units: There would be a section for units available to all 4 factions consisting of Chaos Space Marines and Traitor Guard. These would have the equivalent of the Space Marines' "Chapter Tactics" identifying them for whichever Chaos god they served.

Codex: Ordo Militant
Faction 1: Grey Knights + Adeptus Mechanicus
Faction 2: Sisters of Battle + new units to round them out
Faction 3: Ordo Malleus
Faction 4: Ordo Hereticus
Faction 5: Ordo Xenos
Shared units: The Ordos Malleus, Hereticus, and Xenos would have access to the Militarum Tempestus units. Each Inquisitor would also have access to a bodyguard unit of appropriate Henchmen for their Ordo, and I think it would be interesting if the Inquisitor and his Warband counted as a single Independent Character for the purposes of joining a unit (Ex, an Inquisitor might have 3 Crusaders as Bodyguards, and the group may attach to a unit of Scions or possibly allied Grey Knights, but the Bodyguards would not be allowed to depart from the Inquisitor).

Codex: Astartes
Faction 1: Black Templars
Faction 2: Blood Angels
Faction 3: Dark Angels
Faction 4: Legion of the Damned
Faction 5: Space Wolves
Etc.
*Each Faction would have some unique units, and would have their own Chapter Tactics to make their Shared Units unique from those taken by other Chapters. If there is a unit that's unavailable to a single chapter for fluff reasons (like Black Templars not being able to take Librarians), then that unit would be in the shared units section, but under the specific faction's Chapter Tactics, would be a notation that that unit may not be taken for this faction.
Shared units: These are the units available to all of the factions in the volume. For the sake of simplicity, there are some units that would probably be made available to factions that didn't have them, to reduce the number of restrictions on this section.

Codex: Exercitus (latin for "Army" if Google Translate is to be believed)
Faction 1: Astra Militarum
Faction 2: Imperial Knights

Codex: Eldar
Faction 1: Eldar
Faction 2: Dark Eldar

Codex: Necrons

Codex: Orks

Codex: Tau

Codex: Tyranids

The Xenos races are distinct enough to warrant not combining them into a Codex: Xenos, but perhapse they should get some more flavor, recieving more faction within each race, much like how the Imperium of Man has a plethora of factions.

Assassins: in a 5-6 page pamphlet of their own for a few dollars, or added to one of the other Codexes?

Bill1138, I agree with the sentiment, but I would rather have the Sisters in the Codex: Exercitus/Imperium than in the Inquisition. Sisters are just more likely to fight along guardsmen than along Inquisitors, unlike Grey Knight and especially Death Watch.

Mr Morden wrote:Wrote lots of interesting stuff

Few things - need a Adeptus Mechancius Codex :0 on its own - its a vast war machine and not really worth trying to squeeze into the Ordo Millitant.

I would not be interested in Codexes without fluff / images - in hard copy - I would suggest that the excellent campaign supplement format is used instead so you have:

Faction pack1 - Big book of fluff and smaller (in scale not format) book of rules
Faction pack 2 - Book of rules.

Add Deathwatch to Ordos Militant

When you look at the actual Marine Chapters there is no actual reason to single our BA/DA and BT for individual Factions when you compare them to all the other Chapters that are equally or even more divergent. Just give the option for all sorts of unusual units in the Astartes codex and various Chapter tactics - bit like the old IG Doctrines

On the subject of Chapter Tactics - do the same for Imperial Guard Regiments - which are usually much more diverse than Astartes Chapters, Chaos Legions, Ork Klans, Tau and Farsight Enclave (none of this nonsense with the Enclave having all the newest stuff), Consider it for Necron Dynasties, Eldar Craftworlds and Tyranid Hive Fleets.

I'd have no problem with the Adeptus Mechanicus being on their own. The reason I combined them with the Grey Knights is that I feel in the 7th Edition Grey Knights Codex, they deliberately made the Grey Knights worse at handling high AV and didn't give them any new anti-air so that when the Scitarii came out the Grey Knights players would ally with them. Between the two codexes, you could piece together a single good faction. If the Mechanicus stay as their own faction, then the Grey Knights need rounded out in a major way, as they are currently terrible against fliers or high AV, and they aren't great against hoards or heavy infantry either. I have a whole thread dedicated to suggested changes to the Grey Knights (with the assumption that the same care went into fixing the rest of the factions, because if all of them are internally balanced, then external balance becomes a possibility.

Many of us would be perfectly happy without the fluff and extra pictures being lumped in with the Codex rules. How I would handle that argument is to have a special edition of each Codex that includes the fluff and extra pictures, while allowing the rest of us to purchase the regular edition that only has the rules and costs less, because it doesn't have the bloat.

I'd like to have Deathwatch in the Ordos Militant, but I have no idea how to balance it. It would be a completely new faction where each menber of a unit could potentially have different special rules or Chapter Tactics than his squadmates.

My suggestion for the Space Marines splits the difference between having a single Space Marine Codex with Chapter Tactics, and a few stand alone Space Marine Chapters. There would be a shared unit section with units available to all of the Chapters. Then each Chapter would have its own section with a few unique units, and their own Chapter Tactics, which affect the units in the section available to all of the Chapters. So the BA, DA, SW, etc. wouldn't lose any of their unique units, but their format would be changed to something more similar to the Iron Hands, or Imperial Fists, etc.

Adding Chapter Tactics to the various factions is an interesting Idea. I'd be behind it. We already have different models for several different types of Guardsmen, so it would be nice if there were actually Chapter Tactics that made the different types of Guardsmen distinct. Orks could have Tribe Tactics, of there could be other similar versions for the other Xenos races.

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:Bill1138, I agree with the sentiment, but I would rather have the Sisters in the Codex: Exercitus/Imperium than in the Inquisition. Sisters are just more likely to fight along guardsmen than along Inquisitors, unlike Grey Knight and especially Death Watch.

I'm not as well versed in the Sisters' lore as I should be. I put them with the Ordos, because they compare to the Hereticus in a very similar way to how the Grey Knights compare to the Malleus, and the Deathwatch compare to the Xenos Inquisitors. But, yes, I wouldn't have any problem with the Sisters being included with the Guard if that's who they fight beside most often in the fluff.

SilverMK2 wrote:Orks used to have different clans which could be fluffed out. Nids could have unique biomorphs for different hive fleets as well as genestealer cults. Tau can have human troops and more alien allies. Not sure about crons I dont really knoe their new fluff.

Assassins should be on their own as most factions should be able to include them. Add a few xeno assassins in too.

Xenos Assassins is an interesting concept. How would you do it? I would think the Xenos factions equivalent of the Assassins would simply be an Elite option in their own Codexes with similar rules to the Assassins, but with some extra flavor for their factions.

I could picture the Tyranids having an assassin that has stats and special rules similar to the Callidus Assassin, but it can generate new (Tyranid Assassins) when it kills enemy models. It would be something like for every model killed by the (Tyranid Assassin) in close combat, roll a D6 at the end of the phase, For every 6 rolled, generate one new Assassin (a bit like the Xenomorphs from the Aliens franchise).

But I think the current Assassins would be fine in their own mini-dex for about $5. It's only four single-model units in the entire Codex after-all, and with the lore and most of the pictures gone, this would only be 5-6 pages.

 Mr Morden wrote:
I have 3 1/2 Space Marine armies and would be happy with the following:

Chapter Master
Captain
Libby
Chaplain
Command Squad
Honour Guard, option for jump and other speicals
MOTF

Tactical Squad (All Chapters get all options including Sniper rifle)
Scout Squad
"Crusader" Squad - for assault Chapters

Terminator Squad (All Chapters get PC heavy weapon) - combine Assault and Normal - cos why not - closer to the fluff
Veteran Squads - with option of Sternguard, Vanguard or Scout rules, sniper rifle option
Dreadnought
Ironclad
Venerable (All Chapters get SS Dreads)
Tech Marine
LOTD

Assault Squad (All Chapters get infernus pistols/hand flamers)
Bikers (upgrades like Plasma versions)
Land Speeders
Cavalry unit for those Chapters that use them
Rhino
Razorback
DP
Scout Bikers

LR variants
Predator (Baal variants added to regular Predator armoury)
Vindicator
Whirlwind
Stalker
Hunter
TFC
Stormeagle
Devastator Squad

Thunderhawk

Various Chapter specific formations

For those who claim that the Chapters that have been recently treated as oh so special and need to still be - look at the background of Chapters such as the Raven Guard, Salamnders, White Scars and others and ask why these don; get stuff when these do?

I agree, I think each chapter should have more representation. They should each have their own mini-psychic discipline (In a similar way to the Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch disciplines), at least 1 special character and a unique unit.

Ultramarines- Tyrannic War Veterans (Cassius may take these guys as Troops)
Salamanders- Firedrake Terminators
Iron Hands- Iron Father, Stronos
Raven Guard- A sort of Vanguard Veterans on steroids that are all equipped with Jump Packs and Lightning Claws (Shrike can take these guys as a bodyguard)
White Scars- Another sort of Vanguard Veterans on steroids, but on bikes
Imperial Fists- Some kind of Siege Centurions that are all designed to wreck enemy vehicles and fortifications

Condensing the Codexes into fewer volumes, and removing the fluff and extra picture sections to reduce bulk and costs. No faction would lose any units, but a few would gain new units.

Each Codex would have a section of units that are available to every faction in the book, then each Faction would have its own section, with its unique units listed, as well as it’s “Chapter Tactics” that apply to the units available to all of the factions in the Codex, to give them more flavor for their chosen faction.

The non-Space Marine factions would get their own version of Chapter Tactics, to introduce more variety into the armies, and allowing them to specialize more than they currently can.

Codex: Chaos
Faction 1: Khorne
Faction 2: Nurgle
Faction 3: Slaanesh
Faction 4: Tzeentch
Shared units: There would be a section for units available to all 4 factions consisting of Chaos Space Marines and Traitor Guard. These would have the equivalent of the Space Marines' "Chapter Tactics" identifying them for whichever Chaos god they served.

Codex: Ordos Militant
Faction 1: Grey Knights + Skitarii*
Faction 2: Ordo Malleus
Faction 3: Ordo Hereticus
Faction 4: Ordo Xenos

The Ordo Malleus, Xenos and Hereticus factions would have access to the Militarum Tempestus units. Each Faction’s Inquisitors would have access to the Warband Henchmen appropriate for that Faction. I personally like the idea of The Warbands being a bodyguard unit that cannot detach from the Inquisitor, and they along with the Inquisitor count as a single Independent Character for the purposes of joining a unit, though they are each counted separately as normal for the purposes of Transport Capacity. This Bodyguard unit would have a maximum size of 3 or 5 Henchmen.

*The Grey Knights have a close alliance with the Adeptus Mechanicus, who craft many of their weapons and are responsible for the Grey Knights having the fastest and most advanced Strike Cruisers in the Imperium. Mechanically, The Grey Knights were not given deployable anti-air, or sufficient cost-effective ranged anti-armor, both of which were given to the Skitarii as if they only got their Codex to be a compliment for the Grey Knights. Combining these faction makes for a single faction that’s more well rounded than either on their own.

Codex: Astartes
Every Space Marine Chapter (apart from Grey Knights in Codex: Ordos Militant) would be its own faction in this Codex. The first section would be the units available to all of the Space Marine Chapters.

Each Faction Section would have the Chapter name, followed by their Chapter Tactics which apply to the units they take from the first section. If a unit from the first section is not available to a single Chapter (such as Librarians not being available to Black Templars) that exception would be listed here. Under that would be the Datapages for the units unique to that Chapter.

Codex: Exercitus (latin for "Army" if Google Translate is to be believed)
Faction 1: Cadian Guard
Faction 2: Cachan Guard
Faction 3: Tallarn Guard
Faction 4: Vahallan Guard
Faction 5: Vostroyan Guard
Faction 6: Sisters of Battle + new units to round them out
Faction 7: Imperial Knights

The first section would consist of the units specifically shared between all of the Guard factions. Each Guard Faction would have its own version of “Chapter Tactics” in its own section to give each of the Guard factions a unique flavor. They might each also get a unique unit or two.

Codex: Eldar
Codex: Necrons
Codex: Orks
Codex: Tau
Codex: Tyranids
Each of the Xenos Codexes would be subdivided into at least a couple factions to reflect different social or military structures, or in the case of Tyranids, different paths of mutation.


Again, any Fluff or Pictures would be made available online via code in the Codex, or would be included in a Special Edition of each Codex, so those who want it would get it, but the rest of us wouldn't have to lug it around.

1. The Chaos idea is I'm sorry to be blunt, but, absolutely terrible... You're unjustly shoehorning everyone into playing marked armies, and leaving the vast multitude of the undivided forces as effectively being entirely ret-coned...
What about the Black Legion? The Iron Warriors historically only have a small number of Khornate cults within their ranks. The Word Bearers are especially renowned for worshiping Chaos as a pantheon. Let alone the Alpha Legion & Night Lords who pretty much have 0 marked cults within their ranks, seeing Chaos at most as a means to power rather than any kind of religious cult/following.
As well as the multitude of Renegade Chapters, such as the Sons of Malice who worship Malaal, (the Chaos God who hates Chaos!), the Red Corsairs, etc...

Keep it to how it's currently divided, with a faction section for the Chaos Marines themselves including Legion/Renegade Tactics, the Daemonic Legions, and then the Lost and the Damned for the likes of Cultists, Traitor Guard, Mutants, Plague Zombies, etc...

If people want to play monotheistic armies, then they'll make that choice for themselves. But to effectively turn Chaos into just 4 Daemonkin style factions is a massive disservice to Chaos players.


2. Sisters are best left either as a faction within the Inquisition, or else in their own book under the 'Armies of the Ecclesiarchy'
They have absolutely no business being lumped in with the Guard, as the Sororitas Ordos are recruited, trained, supplied & maintained by the Imperial Faith, as the work-around the 'Decree Passive' imposed on the Ministorum itself in the aftermath of the Age of Apostasy.
(to prevent another rebellion from the church, essentially they were banned from maintaining any "men under arms". The Sisters being an entirely female organisation means they sneakily kept their own armed forces, while still adhering to this new law!)

The Sisters have as much to do with the Munitorium as the Space Marines... (which is, absolutely nothing!)

Under a 'Armies of the Ecclesiarchy book, it would also be possible to add in additional staples such as Priestly Delegations, the Frateris Militia, Elccesicary Conclaves, Cardinals, the Remptionist militias, etc...

This is why I think focusing on army play style is more important than tying a set play style to a named force.

EG a Chaos army can have the same basic structure , but just use different sets of units .
EG.
A mortal Hoard army.(Either cultist or deamon summoned hoard.)
A mortal heavy assault force.
A mortal lightning strike force.

Can use CSM from a particular single pantheon ,(free champion upgrades for preferred number).Or Chaos undecided units!
Only mix of 2 Chaos gods units in any Chaos undecided army .(Based on the old pantheon restrictions.)

A Deamon Hoard.
A Deamon heavy assault force.
A Deamon lighning strike force.
Can use Deamons from a particular pantheon, (free champion upgrades.)
Only mix 2 deamon kind in a deamon undecided army.

This more generic structure allows all the named CSM chapters to be used , and a broader freedom to create your own army , but ON THEME!!!

The HQ options for each build type determines what units count as Common , Specialist or Restricted in the F.O.C for that HQ.

Horrible idea! The fluff and imagery is just important if not more so than the rules, it's the gateway for people to get into war gaming. Unless you're already familiar with the universe, would you buy just the rules? Condensing codexes make some factions into dictionary size books. If you want things condensed, there is the iPad which can store all the digital codexes.

Streamline the rules too much and the game become chess. GW is a miniature based company, I don't see them condensing the codexes. As far as reducing the cost: they should reduce the model and painting side of their range, $20 for a detail brush= ludacrous.

Streamline the rules the right amount and you get a good game people want to actually play.
Focus on the existing narrative to determine the army lists that are actually in synergy with the background.
So new players have a clear idea what each armies strength and weakness are,, and the play style each army is suited to.

Rather than the current random mix mix of anything at all or cherry picking to get an army with only strengths and no weaknesses /under costed abilities.Which makes a mockery of 2 decades of background material.
And generates such imbalance some games just are no fun to play at all.

So whats better, focus on game play and background to deliver what new players expect.
Or complete lack of respect for the players and background we have now?

Collectors are free to buy what ever they want.
Players relying on random pick up games for their enjoyment of 40k, NEED much better rules and army lists .

GW could put all the background in a separate book for each faction.So customers get to choose to buy it.
And players are not forced to pay a 'fluff tax', on their codex and rule books.