The Long War

I play Chaos Space Marines, more appropriately they should be called Legionnaires. The reason I chose Chaos Space Marines over Loyalists is that they're chaos. They have thrown down every oath they have taken, killed every last bit of humanity in their souls, burned away their honor and cast its remnants at the feet of dark, hungry gods. They have spent the last ten thousand years in a bleak wasteland where reality (time included) is mutable and unpredictable. their bodies and minds have been broken and reforged in the crucible of insanity and violence that is the Eye of Terror. These are the warriors that stood beside Horus and Angron and Perturabo. These are the men that spat in the Emperor's face and turned their back on him, despite his power and majesty. These men were not little wieners of weak faith that decided they could cheat the Imperium out of some cash (coughHuronandtheRedCorsairscough).

I chose the Iron Warriors out of the nine Legions because a) they have a slick color scheme, b) they like bionics, c) they kneel at the feet of no god, and d) because they are the most bitter and twisted of the Legionnaires. During the heresy their homeworld rebelled against Imperium control. At this point they had been thrown at fortress after fortress, ordered by the Emperor to wage war against every unbreakable bastion that ground the Great Crusade to a halt, they were much abused and when their homeworld rebelled they could not stand it. They fell upon their home planet with unstoppable fury, slaying 5 million inhabitants in one evening of slaughter. When the bodies lay still and the smoke cleared, they realized they had gone too far. All the fury that had filled them every time they were forced to crack open an unbreakable fortress with an unending siege had been poured out on their homeworld and they knew there was no returning to the Emperor's light. They weren't seduced or tricked into evil, they went too far and decided there was no going back, so they went another mile from His light and turned traitor with Horus.

The reason I mention this is that there is some discussion on The Bolter and Chainsword regarding the current Chaos Space Marine codex and the previous codex. The current one is dubbed the 4th Edition Codex, and the previous one is 3.5. I've remained mostly...apathetic about edition/codex hate. I don't care, 4th is what I have and what I've always had, so I have no nostalgia for older, better things. I mean, with the whole counts as thing, I can do whatever I want basically.

If I really truly want cultists, I can counts as some Lesser Daemons. If I really truly want Siege Breakers, I can throw in some Berserkers. If I want some heavily bionicised troops I can use Plague Marines. Or, if I want to have bionic troops using Kai guns I can use Thousand Sons. Oblits and Dreads are what they are, no work needed there. If I want a servo-arm on a model, I can pay the points for a power fist or power weapon. Now, we get to the crux of the problem. Read on,

In the 3.5 codex for Iron Warriors, all that had special effects. Their servo-arms had special rules, just like their bionics. They could use cultists, not counts as lesser daemons. The Kai guns had actual rules that were not just AP3 magic bolters. They also had the option to take a basilisk from the Guard codex because they often salvage war machines from battlefields. They could also have one more Heavy Support slot at the cost of two Fast Attack slots. In addition to this, there were all kinds of mutations and warp-fueled powers that Chaos Space Marines could be upgraded with, and they got Veteran Skills. You could pick and choose (and pay for) a special rule and apply it to some of your squads if you liked.

I think this is the thing that gets me. According to the current codex, if you are Average Joe Chaos Lad, a Lad that fought on the soil of Terra and faced down everything the Emperor and his blind minions could throw at you, then when your masters died like bitches and fled and you survived ten thousand years in the asshole of the galaxy that is the Eye of Terror, do you know what this nets you over the Average Joe Loyalist?

You get a close combat weapon.

That's right. Loyalist Space Marines come bog standard with a bolt pistol and bolter. For selling your soul to the powers of Chaos and breaking your oaths to the Emperor you get a chainsword, some paint, and some spiky bits. Don't get me wrong, there are five troop choices in the 4th book and they are all solid. But the average Chaos lad is underwhelming. Even if that whole "ten thousand years" is subjective due to the vagaries of the warp, you should still be slightly above the effectiveness of the common tactical marine freshly out of his scout squad. The basic, unaligned, Chaos Space Marine should have much more in common with the Sternguard and Vanguard veterans, or even the Honor Guard, of the Loyalist codex. They should be priced accordingly, but they should nonetheless have a bit of umph to them. They're supposed to be veterans, they should fucking look like it.

Call it codex envy or or whatever you want, but I am seriously starting to understand and pick a side in the codex hate/edition war that is seething within the chaos boards.

I also want to start a Night Lords army because I have a nice looking dark blue and raptors are badass. They used be more badass because they had this Hit and Run veteran skill. The lightning on their power armor (which in the 3.5 codex was actual lightning and had actual in-game effects, but no longer) is difficult to paint though.

Rage on brothers! Rage on and pledge your undying hate to the merciless powers of Chaos!

Music: An hour and a half of Bowie.