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I am a sucker for good 40k lore and I have most codices up to 5th ed, which I read in regularly. Some of the older ones are really good (for me one such example would be the 3rd ed demonhunter codex) and some were not so good (5th ed space marine codex), but for the most part I enjoy them.

Now I was interested to add some of the 8th ed codices to my collection, so I wanted to ask which 8th codices are well written in terms of lore in your opinion? Also, more specifically, are the codices for the "newer" factions like knights, genestealer cults and harlequins well written? (Notice the only 8th ed codex I currently own is the Custodes one, because I just like the blinged out golden bananaboys. Also, even though it's short, I think it adds some nice things to the lore, I liked reading it)

Most of the codices aren't bad, (they're not great mind you) I personally tend to divide them into catagories of

"Heaps of new lore"
"a decent bit of new lore"
and "... they moved the timeline shoke things up a whole ton and the codex barely mentions it, wtf?"

heaps of new Lore I'd say are the newer factions, Death Guard, 1k sons, death watch, Custodes, Genestealer Cults, Imperial Knights, etc. (some of these are only in this catagory since you've not read since 5th edition. they're brand new factions to you)
Cdoex Space Marines qualifies as "a decent bit of new lore" they cover the return of Gulliman, as well as primaris Marine stuff, the space wolves codex somewhat falls into this, a lot is just a rehash of codex space marines, but there's some specific info on how they fit into the space wolves in specific.

Grey Knights clearly falls into the third catagory, it was just a dissappointing codex from start to finish.

BrianDavion wrote:
Most of the codices aren't bad, (they're not great mind you) I personally tend to divide them into catagories of

"Heaps of new lore"
"a decent bit of new lore"
and "... they moved the timeline shoke things up a whole ton and the codex barely mentions it, wtf?"

heaps of new Lore I'd say are the newer factions, Death Guard, 1k sons, death watch, Custodes, Genestealer Cults, Imperial Knights, etc. (some of these are only in this catagory since you've not read since 5th edition. they're brand new factions to you)
Cdoex Space Marines qualifies as "a decent bit of new lore" they cover the return of Gulliman, as well as primaris Marine stuff, the space wolves codex somewhat falls into this, a lot is just a rehash of codex space marines, but there's some specific info on how they fit into the space wolves in specific.

Grey Knights clearly falls into the third catagory, it was just a dissappointing codex from start to finish.

Thanks for the advice, shame for the grey knights codex, I had a general interest for that one....so the last good one they had was the 3rd ed codex (which wasnt even GW exclusively)? 5th ed GK codex was a mixed bag for me. I know most people hated it, but I liked some small things.

Daemons and CSM are just copy&Paste from 6th/7th Edition with just an additional Paragraph about the time since the Great Rift. From a Lore standpoint they're disappointing, especially since they're the two factions that should be most influenced by the development.

Tiberias wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
Most of the codices aren't bad, (they're not great mind you) I personally tend to divide them into catagories of

"Heaps of new lore"
"a decent bit of new lore"
and "... they moved the timeline shoke things up a whole ton and the codex barely mentions it, wtf?"

heaps of new Lore I'd say are the newer factions, Death Guard, 1k sons, death watch, Custodes, Genestealer Cults, Imperial Knights, etc. (some of these are only in this catagory since you've not read since 5th edition. they're brand new factions to you)
Cdoex Space Marines qualifies as "a decent bit of new lore" they cover the return of Gulliman, as well as primaris Marine stuff, the space wolves codex somewhat falls into this, a lot is just a rehash of codex space marines, but there's some specific info on how they fit into the space wolves in specific.

Grey Knights clearly falls into the third catagory, it was just a dissappointing codex from start to finish.

Thanks for the advice, shame for the grey knights codex, I had a general interest for that one....so the last good one they had was the 3rd ed codex (which wasnt even GW exclusively)? 5th ed GK codex was a mixed bag for me. I know most people hated it, but I liked some small things.

5th edition GK codex had plenty of new lore, which honestly was the problem a lotta people ahd with it.

Of the ones I've got, the Drukhari codex is rather good, add's a fair bit of new information in thats not in the 5th ed codex. I'd also highly recommend tracking down the 7th ed Haemonculus Covens supplement, the fluff in their is brilliant and really expands this sub faction of the Drukhari.

Harlequins obviosly didn't have a codex before 7th and only had small bits in the Dark Eldar and Craftworlds codexes, so there's a lot in there you wont already have.

The Craftworlds codex is aweful from a fluff perspective, adds very little that wasn't in previous codexes and arguably cuts lots out.

Tyranids also have a very good codex for fluff, lots of new information including sveral all new Hive Fleets.

Can't really comment on the Tau as I haven't got any of their previous codexes.

I don't have the 8th ed Genestealer Cult codex but I'd imagine it's not that different from the 7th ed codex, and the fluff in there was excellent.

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
Daemons and CSM are just copy&Paste from 6th/7th Edition with just an additional Paragraph about the time since the Great Rift. From a Lore standpoint they're disappointing, especially since they're the two factions that should be most influenced by the development.

I'll second dissappointment with the 8th CSM codex, GW really should have described the psot rift impact on CSMs. what Abaddon was doing with the 13th Black crusade following it etc. it's a huuge lost oppertunity

Thank you for all the input. How about the 8th ed Ork Codex and Necron Codex? Are those good?

I can't comment on Orks or Necrons, but what I will say about all of the 8th ed books, there has been a real emphasis on giving the subgroups within the faction different traits, relics and strategems.

Dexes I have include: Astra Militarum, Tyranids,Daemons, Genestealer Cult and Dark Eldar. The Sisters beta dex in Chapter Approved is the same way, but their full dex will be coming before the end of this year- I think I will actually pony up and by a collector's edition copy when it comes- I've never done that before.

I can't say that any of the others follow the same pattern, but the six listed above definitely have well developed background and rules to support it for each of their sub factions.

I found the Necron codex a little dry. It is hard to give much personality to unfeeling robots I guess. Having said that, I also find it jarring that their leaders are apparently pompous egomaniacs instead of emotionless killing machines now.

The Ork codex is pretty fun. They have a bunch of crazy and unique stuff going on.

I had expected the books for the specialised Space Marine chapters to be a bit dull but they did a decent job of giving them their own personalities. Then again, there are only so many times you can write an interesting description of what a Rhino does.