40K 8th: The Amazing Disappearing Faction Rules
Coming from 7th to 8th left some factions in the cold – but maybe not for long.
8th Edition is an amazing jumping off point for GW design. It has been 20 years since we’ve seen a complete break in between editions and a reboot of every army in the game.
So far the players are taking quite well. The game is faster, cleaner and all the armies have been reset to roughly the same power level.
5 Index Books: the great equalizer
As with any game it won’t stay that way forever…
However, some careful readers have noted that there are some odd gaps in the rules and there is a lot of detail that got overlooked from the jump to 7th to 8th.
In particular today I want to look at both Imperial Space Marines and their Chaos counterparts.
Give me my rules back – OR ELSE!
The First Founding Chapters
While 7th edition had a LOT wrong with it, it was the high water mark for the First Founding Loyalist chapters. We had seen some chapters like the Blood Angels, Dark Angels or Space Wolves get stand-alone codexes for decades. 7th brought us both the latest extra thick Space Marines codex AND the Angels of Death supplement. That gave us full rules, relics and detachments for:
- Ultramarines
- Salamanders
- White Scars
- Raven Guard
- Iron Hands
- Imperial Fists
8th Edition brought all their units and characters over, but the Index:Imperium I book left them all with a “sameness”. Combined with obvious missing units like a Chapter Master, and all the Primaris minis that have been teased, leads me to believe that the Astartes will be getting all their rules love back in short order with a shiny 8th Ed. codex.
So beautiful – died so young…
The Traitor Legions
The exact same issues apply with the Chaos Marines. Again, 7th edition gave with one hand and took away with the other. The CSM codex was considered dead on arrival and was roundly ridiculed for years. But the Traitor Legions book gave CSM players the love they had been craving for decades with full rules, relics and detachment for all the Legions:
- Night Lords
- Alpha Legion
- Iron Warriors
- Word Bearers
- World Eaters
- Emperor’s Children
- Death Guard
- Thousand sons
- Black Legion
Index Chaos, fixed the fundamental flaws of the old 7th codex CSM, but left the Legions high and dry. I am positive that GW won’t be leaving CSM players out in the cold again, so soon after letting them enter the golden age with 7th Edition Legion rules. My only question is whether GW will redo an 8th Edition version of Traitor Legions, or give the key Traitor Legions a series of standalone books as counterparts to the loyalist Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Dark Angels books.
We used to have craftworld rules – REALLY!
It’s Only the Beginning
Here’s what I REALLY like about 8th. The keyword system is so elegant that the marine/CSM examples are only the beginning. GW can EASILY knock out books that give actual rules for all our favorite sub-factions that used to have rules in the old days but have been languishing for decades. Here’s just a handful of examples to get your gears turning:
- Craftworld Book – detailing all the great Eldar Craftworlds – with rules and characters.
- Ork Clans – detailing all the great Ork Clans – with rules and characters. Say it with me – KULT OF SPEED!!!
- Hivefleets – detailing all the great Tyranid Hivefleets – with rules and characters.
Come on Nottingham, for decades choosing which color you painted your good guy and bad guy marines granted you some awesome tabletop rules. It’s time for the other factions and their loyal players to get the same level of love. 8th Edition gives you the structure to make it a reality.
~Throw us non-marine players a bone!
