If you got your copy over the weekend, it seems like Space Marines will have no trouble holding their own against anyone.

I bet everyone is so excited with the release of the new Space Marines codex! I know I am! I got all my Ultramarines mostly painted and all I been waiting for is the new hotness to bring them on par with armies like Necrons and Eldar.

Adding to everyone's joy is the imminent release of the new Dark Angel codex, which for the first time shouldn't be a crap fest it has always been, finally being released after Space Marine codex not just before.

Replacing the Dark Angels slot as crappy step child though...

Vaguely I remember another Power Armour army that came out not so long ago?

Can you? Let me take a second to look up the name... OH yes Blood Angels. Wasn't it like less than six months ago? They even got their own campaigns, right? So at the very least they didn't lack content, but what about the substance?

It seems like the Blood Angels got lost in between two GW design paths. The latest codexes all focus on a new form of army organization simplistically referred to as Decurion in reference to it's first appearance found in the Necron codex. The Blood Angels represent the old guard of 7th edition books.

Here is the real rub, before I get into all the ways GW screwed the pooch on this one, it comes down to timing. In the past players would "live" with a codex being outdated because they knew things were always on large cycles typically about five years often tied to a new rules set. Sometimes in these long gaps between codexes, GW would even FAQ things, rewriting whole units in order to bring them up to date with identical units in other codexes.

What we though have seen in the last year is a hyper release schedule, zero FAQs, and in 2015 new codexes on steroids. Doesn't necessarily have to be a problem, when armies are so different from each other when it comes to unit types. This isn't the case with Blood Angels and Space Marines. Here is the list of exactly the same units getting preferential treatment in the new Space Marine codex.