40K: The Mystery of Two Wound Classic Marines
There’s a lot of info swirling out there about updated Classic Marines. But there’s a way to know for sure.
For three years we have seen the mighty Primaris Marines march into the heart of the game. While their range has grown, and their miniatures are superb, it’s those awesome rules that have let them grow into gamer’s hearts. Mainly it’s that extra Wound compared to their puny 1W Classic counterparts that makes people take note.
But of late we’ve heard a bunch of rumors swirling around and a kernel of evidence.
The Rumor
There have been murmurs since 9th was announced that Classic Marines would move to 2W in this new 9th edition new world order. They have been subtly bubbling up on 40K groups and forums for several weeks. Others have chimed in that it seems likely that whatever GW decides to do to loyal Classic Marines, it would probably carry over to CSMs.
Really?
Now this would be an enormous shakeup to the game. When I first heard it, I immediately ignored it as wishful thinking by folks who didn’t want to cross the Rubicon Primaris, as players. My reasoning for 2W Classic marines being a bad idea are many:
- It undermines the new Primaris range. Anything that enhanced Classics would seem to be a push in the wrong direction for a company looking to increase adoption of the new range.
- It would be messy, FAQ/Rules wise. There are a lot of books that would need to be FAQed, and while all the codexes could be replaced in time, it would be troublesome to keep straight in the meantime.
- It makes the game even more Marine-centric. With so many marine factions in the game, it would only further increase the separation between Astartes and everyone else.
- It really puts elite 1W races on the back foot. I think of all the pricy 1W units in the game like Aspect Warriors, Incubi and the like, and think… would they ever be viable against so many 2w factions? It might make all the already underutilized xenos races even more undesirable.
But Then…
So I immediately discounted it and moved on. Then a lot of funny things started happening. Chapter Approved came out and folks noticed that some of the direct counterpart units between Classic and Primaris weren’t that far apart pointswise. For example:
- Intercessor 20
- Tactical Marine 15
or
- Assault Intercessor 19
- Assault Marine 15
Would those points make more sense with 1W Classic Marines, or 2W Classics? I honestly don’t know. It’s iffy.
Then we got the W3 Terminators statline and everyone stood up and paid attention. So that’s a Classic Marine unit that got +1W. It’s hard to believe that GW would only do this for Loyal Termys, and leave the CSM Termy’s out. The million dollar question is – is this a Terminator only thing, or a sign of what’s coming for all the Classic Marines?
The Quest for an Answer
Luckily we should know soon. GW has reworked a large amount of boxes for 9th edition. It looks like the Necrons and Space Marines are first out of the gate, and you will notice in this picture below the new 9th edition 40K logo on the updated boxes. These new boxes are headed out to stores around the world and are the source of the recent assembly guide statlines.
It’s only a matter of time until someone cracks open the updated 9th Edition Tactical Squad, looks at the assembly instructions and ends the mystery, one way or the other.
~Tick tock, tick tock. Do you think Classic Marines should go to W2, or stay W1?
