Hey everybody! Adam, from TFG Radio, here to help wipe away those tears of joy (or pain depending on your perspective)
There has been a lot of talk lately. The new Space Marine codex, and its supplements, has caused quite a stir in the community. The new codex has brought new life into an army that was in the middle of the pack, in terms of power, and shot them to the top very quickly. The codex, and the supplements, seem to allow players to play whatever style they want. They allow space marine player to easily compete with the other top lists. From first glance, looking at some of the supplements, it seems that they are a more forgiving army on the path to victory. One of my co-hosts called them “Plug and Play” and, in my opinion, have brought space marines back to where they used to be: A beginner’s army.
Everyone knows that the poster child for Warhammer 40,000 are the Space Marines. For most it is the images of the defenders of Humanity that first drew them in to the grim dark universe we know and love. Back in the day, if you were just starting out in 40K, you almost always started with a space marine army. They were a good all around army, but more importantly they were a very forgiving army. They allowed new players to make mistakes and still be in the game. in the hands of a very good player, they were tough to beat. Lately though the might space marine had fallen on hard times. Although they had a bit of a resurgence when the Battle Company detachment was introduced in 7th edition, the space marines have been hovering around the mid tables for the last few years.
Now that’s all going to change. With these new codex and supplements, space marines are back at the front of the pack. They are once again an army you can start with and still stay in the fight no matter what bad decisions* you make. Now I know not all space marine books are equal. Ravenguard appear to need some finesse if you plan on playing them but if you really just want an easy go of it, just play Iron Hands or Ultramarines. You could even be the space marine killers and play White Scars, since the Space Wolves aren’t up to the task anymore. It does seem bleak, I must admit. It looks like the space marines have everything going for them. All the best rules, all the best stratagems, and a codex where no model is useless. They even went under the radar in the Big FAQ that was just released, what a lucky codex. Yup, this is something we have never seen before. We have never seen an army with so many special rules and tricks that they flip the game on it’s head. Nope, never seen anything like this before. I can’t remember a time when something like this has happened. I really can’t think of anything. . . . . . . . . . .
Except Ynnari. For those that don’t know(or remember), they were introduced during the Gathering Storm Campaign books. They can be found in the Fracture of Biel tan book, which introduce the Triumvirate of Ynnari special characters that everyone uses, except the Visarch the poor guy. The rules at the time were crazy and seemed to break every rule in the game in some way. They had the ability to do actions during each phase of both turns as long as something died. in a six turn game, they got 20 turns, or so it seemed like it. During the Las Vegas Open, I believe 5 of the 6 armies in the top eight were Ynnari. So for those that lived through the Age of Ynnari, this is no different. We will weather this storm, as we did the last, and the game will be back to the slightly off balanced game we know and love. It will only take an edition change, followed by 2 years worth of attempts to balance them. It’ll be fine, trust me.**
That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts, and what you think about the new Space Marines, in the comments section. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitch, and Patreon pages to stay up to date on what we’re up to and when episodes drop!
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* On the tabletop, not your life choices
** Just like GW said to trust them