Space Marine Geneseeds not Created Equal

Why aren't all Space Marines getting the first class treatment. How come just because their bad they cant get some love? How does a bike centered army lose being the best biker's abilities and then gain it back two codexes later? How does a piece of equipment just show up for the imperium and leave out an entire chapter? I will be reviewing these and many other items that frustrate me about GW when it follows the rule of latest codex gets the coolest stuff.



Chaos Space Marines

When I first open the new Codex Space Marines the first thing I see is all the missed opportunities for the Chaos book. There is so much attention to detail for each chapter that it begs the question where was this effort on the Chaos side. Now I know Chaos got some specialized powers but come on. One of the biggest complaints by gamers for the past few years was that you really don't see specific builds that that cater to the different chapters of the chaos. We missed a great chance to really break down each fallen chapter and give them some abilities. Just look at the Apocalypse book released. It's possible darn it. They did it there but they cannot do it for the codex that will be around for the next 3 years (maybe that is). I love the supplement idea but after seeing what vanilla marines got it just leaves me in awe.


Grav WHAT??

Games Workshop I guess decided that a forgeworld out there has magically found the secret formula to build Grav weapons in bulk but refuses to ship to the Dark Angels moon? Are the Dark Angels the Aussies of 40k? How do you create a new weapon that every vanilla marine from Chapter Master to Scout can have a variation of but the entire chapter of Dark Angels are without. Its not like we are talking about a special vehicle for them but a simple weapon that is pretty darn impressive.

White Scars

All of a sudden the White Scars say my bikes are better than yours. WTF is all I have to say. Can anyone remember when the first White Scar list was introduced to us in the White Dwarf. Here we had an awesome army that allowed every biker to have two hand to hand weapons. Born in the saddle with Hit and Run. Then the new Codex dropped and said STOP you guys suck again. I for one was floored and frustrated. I had my White Scar army and committed the cardinal sin of gaming Sold my boys in the saddle on EBay. I mean why not. Space Wolves and Dark Angels had better bikes. Now I pop open my book and low and behold there back to the best bikers we have to date. Awesome for those loyalist who held on to their bikes but again said for the folks who just built a huge ravenwing list from dark vengeance box sets. Get out your file and clippers and clean those wings off your bikes.

Interceptor

Of all the armies out there we have the Marines known for learning training and developing the skills necessary to take on the Imperium's biggest threats but wait a flying turkey we can't shoot out of the sky before it bakes us at 300 degrees. I mean come on. Tau can buy this ability for basically everyone but not even the specialized tank meant for air control can do it. I know the answer is buy a quad gun but if it was that simple don't we think their codex could have had something. Marines in my opinion are the most vulnerable to not having this ability because the Heldrake can literally touch any threat the first turn it comes in. If we really want to stop seeing the abuse of these bad boys then give us something. I would have paid 20 more points for the stalker to have it.



Now I don't think I have even scrapped the surface of the things that just seem odd about the three marine codex drops in the last 12 months. I do hope that GW focuses on doing supplements for the Chaos armies out there that have some really cool flavor. Its an area that they have skimmed the surface of before but really never dove in. There are a lot of diehards out there buying up 30k marines that would benefit from 40k rules that have specific bonuses for the not so talked about Traitors out there.

With GW diving into the realm of digital codexes it seems it would be easy for them to do an update for the Dark Angels so they have the latest bling coming out of Mars. it would make the price tag and the popularity of them go through the roof. Not to mention give their digital copy the ability to create, catalog, and save army lists as with the Marine version.

All in all I really think they did a great job with the last codex but I will be interested to see what happens with Blood Angels and Space Wolves. Will they get the benefit of just being after this codex and be a part of the coolness that is Grav? Or will they be stuck in the mud wondering why they don't have marines inside marines reeking havoc.

What frustrates you about the recent turn of events that may put dark angels on the shelves unless you just really want that 2+???