Warhammer 40K: Can These Codexes Get Some Love Please?
After a year of non-stop Space Marines, it’s time for Games Workshop to help out the little guys.
We’ve had a LOT of space marines over the last year or so. How many you ask? We have had TWELVE marine books:
- Codex Space Marines (8th Edition V2)
- 6X Supplemental Codexes (8th Edition)
- Codex Space Marines (9th Edition)
- 4X Supplemental Codexes (9th Edition)
So while I think I can safely say that I’m all Space Marined out, I would like GW to not return to the standard cycle of non-marine codexes, but instead, focus their energy where it can do the most good.
Help the Little Guys
I’m talking about the smallest codexes. This is a time where GW can really add army diversity to the game by giving some love to the codex with the least amount of units. After throwing lavish attention to a bloated faction with nearly 150 units, many of whom are well past their prime, instead let’s get players to try out new armies that have languished.
Going through the codexes that are out there, here are the smallest:
Adeptus Custodes (12 Units)
Such a wonderful and small army. The Custodes are the ultimate and small model count and also in the number of units. Yes, they are being held up with a swath of Forge World units, but that’s always a grey area. Like we saw with armies before them such as Astra Militarum, the Custodes need a handful of new kits in plastic that will phase out some of the resin ones. In particular, some ranged infantry, and a couple of vehicles to call their own, that aren’t gold-painted Marine kits. As we saw in the Las Vegas Nopen, the army has game, so a little bit of variety could do wonders for its popularity.
Harlequins (8 Units)
Send in the clowns! It’s well past time for one of 40K’s oldest armies to get more units. The Harlequin army is older than the Craftworld Eldar army, and only needs a handful of new units – that they USED to have. Give them a couple of new infantry units (like Mimes), and some more support HQs and the army is there. With the mysterious nature of the Harlequins, its a perfect range for GW to invent all new things that were hidden away in the Webway awaiting the time to show their hand.
Chaos Knights (5 Units)
They are one of the newest armies, but they need help the most. This army literally has only a single kit and even those 5 units rely on you sticking spikes on the Imperial Knight kits. The first order of business is to put out a Chaos Knight upgrade sprue so proper Chaos versions of the Wardog, and Tyrant can be built, and then maybe copy the Loyalist side with a named character or two for some spice. It doesn’t need much, but getting the range to ten units should be doable without too muss fuss.
Imperial Knights (12 Units)
They only have twelve units, but they do get a lot of mileage out of them. I would suggest one of the “accepted” Forge World chassis such as the Cerastus Chassis moving over to plastic – which gives you three new Knights in a combo kit – the Lancer, Acheron, and Castigator. Add in a couple of new named characters, and I’m still holding out for some type of Ad-Mech Dragoon style “household guard” unit as their mounted biped equivalent to infantry. I can always dream.
Which ones do you think GW should do first?
