Honor the Codex: Back in Black // Ride the Lightning

Hello and good day readers. Today's post was originally going to be centered around digging unique tricks, units, and builds out of all the Marine codices (seeings how they've all been updated!) but, by good fortune, GW saw fit to release two new Space Marine supplements as a part of Kayoun (Also known as Warzone: Damocles 2nd Edition), and these are the long rumored Raven Guard and White Scars supplements, since those highlight those former legions which sought to battle Shadowsun. They're more expansive reconstructions for these two chapter tactics than simple supplements, but recycle enough from the basic blue book that they aren't quite standalone codices. So, without further ado, let's dig in.

Honor the Codex/Critique Corner Mashup: Bikes!

It's that time again! Sparrowhawk has given me another list to review. Today's order? 2500 points of bikes, bikes and more bikes, crossing party lines to find White Scars, Dark Angels, and even a Knightly friend, as well as some timely air support. Now, before we hit the break, Sparrowhawk did clarify for me that this list is designed around the RAI argument that any DA character which you equip with a bike earns the benefits of the Raven Wing special rules. Thus, my review will act with those constraints (or lack thereof) in mind.

Honor the Codex: Building Steam, Talking Tax

For those of you have been longtime readers, you know that we here at Rites love talking about how 40k plays for different armies at different points costs. Whether we're talking about kill team, escalation leagues, tournaments, or apocalypse, it's fascinating to us to see the different dynamics that pan out based on available resources. So, that said, I'm fortunate enough that my FLGS is hosting a new 40k escalation league. After my last, very poor experience, I've decided to enroll my Ravens. They've got more options available to them, and I'm always excited to try new things with them.

Honor the Codex: Brewing up some MSU

I figure it's high time to put my money where my mouth is. This past month, I've penned around an article a week, and with the exception of the last, both revolved around the latest and greatest marine codex, including a list review for a reader's Salamanders. That in mind, those articles are linked here and here, and I'm going to consider those almost required reading for what's coming. And what is coming? A few list drafts for MSU marines, as hinted at in past articles and the title.

Honor the Codex: Back with a Vengeance

Greetings disciples, and welcome to the return of Honor The Codex. With the dawning of a new codex, it would make sense to reevaluate our stance on units, formations, and tactics. This won't necessarily be another full review, but more a changelog, built off my understanding of the new current Space Marine codex, and my experiences with the last one. I won't make any bones about this, I'm going to break down the codex at both the 'tier one' (tournament) and 'tier two' (casual competitive relative to my local meta) levels, with the same ruthless rating system as last time.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 11 List Construction (Chapter Tactics Revisited)

Well, we've reviewed literally every single option available to us. The codex, ForgeWorld (FW Chapter Tactics notwithstanding), Fortifications, Lords of War, and even allies. The question that remains for us is this: how do all the pieces of this puzzle fit together? The first step to composing our list may surprise you. This article is massive though, and if you don't want or need the full break down on each and every Chapter, I'd highly recommend utilizing the handy CTRL+F shortcut for your browser, and finding your Chapter that way.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 10 Let's be Friends!

Well, now we're in quite the pickle. I have two styles of writing and two article series colliding in this same single piece. That's right, we're examining allies for the big blue book. So, what's an author to do? Should I tackle this as I have every other LBF? Do I treat it as part of HtC? The title suggests that I have chosen the latter over the former, but is this truly the case? Read on and find out!

Honor the Codex: Pt. 9 Extras

Hello again readers, and welcome to the expansion pack, DLC, part of the review where we cover the stuff "new to 6th edition." This covers the two new FoC slots, the Lord of War and the Fortifications, as well as Forgeworld models which have been stamped for regular 40k play. In the interests of time and space, I'll only be covering the exceptional selections. So, strap in and away we'll go!

Honor the Codex: Pt. 8 Heavy Support

Here we find ourselves, in the final slot of the former FoC: the Heavy Support. Let's remember, 6th edition has added fortifications and, recently, Lords of War. So, one would expect the HS section full of potent firepower, and plenty of toys to make the Imperial Fists happy, wouldn't we? Keep reading to find out if our enthusiasm is well founded.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 7 Fast Attack

Well hello again readers. Things are certainly moving right along for our analysis of the Space Marine codex. Today, we'll buzz through the fast attack section. Traditionally, my analysis of this section has been less than stellar. In 5th edition, bikes died to the prevalence of missile spam, and speeders were taken out of the notion that they were too cheap to ignore. Past that, I was underwhelmed at the options that were presented. For a shock force, Space Marine fast attack options are still somewhat less than amazing, though they have improved significantly versus last edition.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 6 Elites

Ah, now we're finally in to the heart of the beast. For an army that bills its self about being elite, the elites slot must be something truly special, right? Well... Maybe. Keep reading and find out if this jam packed section truly lives up to its namesake.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 5 Troops & Dedicated Transports

Hello students and welcome to the fifth part of our study of the Space Marine codex. Today, we elaborate on some of our fundamentals that were covered in our primer. Today, we look at the necessary evils which define our power armored friends, tactical squads and dedicated transports. If you've already forgotten those precious commands, worry not. I'll reintroduce them. Brace yourselves, and we'll catch up on the other side of the break.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 4 Generic HQ's

Hello dear readers and welcome to part four of Honor the Codex. Here we truly start to dig into the options that our new Marine codex has to offer. There's certainly a bevy of them, but ultimately the question hangs of which options are worth utilizing (especially after we looked at the relics), and which should be left in the display case. With that brief introduction, the only thing left to note is that you'll need to have read the earlier articles to keep up. If you haven't, do that now and we'll move along without you.

Honor the Codex: Pt. 3 Named Characters

Welcome readers, to the third part of my Space Marine review: Honor the Codex. Already we've discussed special rules and Chapter Tactics, as well as the Warlord Table and Relics. Today, we follow up on those discussions by examining the characters associated with each Tactic. We'll be going in the order the codex presents them in. Most of them aren't exceptional, but there's a few gems. Ultimately these characters have the problem that they're built for close combat, and that's not too much of something that your average list out of this book wants to do, leaving them over costed and underwhelming. So without further ado, away we go!

Honor the Codex: Pt. 2 Warlord Traits, Relics & Wargear

Hello and welcome to our second part of our review of the 6th Edition Space Marine codex. As a primer to the series, we laid out some ground rules for a basic understanding of Space marines, and our first part took a look at the various special rules associated with the Big Blue Book. Before we can dive into the army list proper though, we've got just one last piece of prep work, and that is looking at our warlord traits and armory. If you need to catch up on the first part of the series, do that, and then we'll dig in after the break!

Honor the Codex: Pt. 1 Special Rules & Chapter Tactics

Good day students, and welcome to the first official part of my Space Marine codex review, Honor the Codex. With this being the first piece in the review, we're going to start with the foundation that will lay the ground rules for our assessment of the units contained herein. For those of you who missed the primer to this, go read my Space Marine Commandments. It's fundamental to understanding the rules and the book. Once you've read that, come back here and away we'll go!