GW has shaken up the game with the new Marine FAQ. Let’s look at the viability of the codexes that were affected.

It’s been an exciting few hours. In case you haven’t noticed, Games Workshop has decided to post an FAQ for the Space Marine Codex, and its supplements, much earlier than expected. Normally they would wait until after Adepticon and release it along with other corrections in the Spring FAQ. If you read the Designer’s Commentary, they felt that the performance of the Space Marine books necessitated an FAQ earlier than normal. With these changes, many players will have to decide on whether they should continue with their Space Marine army of choice, or switch to either another marine army or to a different army altogether. The smart play, to begin with, was to paint your Space Marines a non-chapter specific color, or to choose a chapter that has an unknown first founding legion. This allows you to pivot between codexes depending on what you think is good, without your opponents being too upset. Let’s have a look on the viability of some of the codexes that were affected. These are my initial thoughts and we should see a better picture of the effect of the FAQs after Adepticon.

Iron Hands

Surprising no one, the Iron Hands took the biggest hit. Almost as big as on Isstvan III *rimshot* The durability of the LVO winning list’s star unit essentially kills that list. Being unable to combine the different damage reducing stratagems on any vehicle hurts in general but they still have some durability and other vehicles, like the impulsor, may come to the forefront in terms of use. The change to how doctrines works does somewhat limit their damage potential in the early game. Opponents now only need to survive the first turn to have a reasonable shot against them. It still doesn’t solve the first turn problem but, if you play ITC missions, combined with the ability to have a better chance of getting the deployment type you want if you go second, your opponent will have a better chance at survival. You may see some players switch to a close combat oriented army with Iron Hands but if you are going to go with close combat, it may be better to switch to a more close combat codex.

Imperial Fists

There wasn’t really much that affected the Imperial Fists, in terms of the amount of changes, compared to their Iron Hands brethren. The problem is that the change that they did get was very significant. The change in how the doctrines work limits what the Imperial Fists can do. If you hadn’t read it yet, the devastator doctrine is still used turn one but you have to change to tactical doctrine on turn 2, and you can’t go back. That means you only get one chance with that alpha strike and you need to make it count. If you flub your turn one shooting, that could be the game, depending on who and what you are playing against. I don’t think Imperial Fist players really need to change things too much. Their chapter traits and chapter tactics are still good. Ignoring cover is still solid in any turn. You may just have to rely on the other strats more and invest in more Devastator Centurions in order to take advantage of their Vigilus Detachment. So with just slight changes to your list, Imperial Fist players will still be in a good spot.

Ultramarines

Remember these guys? The poster boys of the game.The reduction of the power level of some of the other codexes may have some people turn their sights on to the boys in blue. The Ultramarines have a few things in their codex that allows them to change their doctrine outside of the normal sequence. The army seems to shine in the tactical doctrine and you are able to stay in the tactical doctrine longer. The only real hit was the removal of a stratagem but that affects all of the Space Marine codexes not just the Ultramarines. As Games Workshop probably intended, the Ultramarines shine as an all around army and can probably take full advantage of all of the doctrines the most. I can see lists that have all the elements in the army. A number of heavy weapon platforms to start the game, followed by some midrange guns, then the close range and assault weapons get to shine for the rest of the game. It may take some practice to get the right ratio of units to perfect your list but in the end you will have a strong army that you can play well and most likely won’t get hit with the nerf bat.

~That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the read. I didn’t even talk about how much more viable assault centered armies have become. If you have your own new take on the space marines, post FAQ, let us know in the comment sections below.