Of course, GW never lets us down when it comes to buff dudes in power armor, that's their thing. But I'm wondering lately, and I'm sure a lot of the more competitive players are as well, will the marine codex be too late?
Now let's slow down here, let me explain exactly what I mean- I'm not saying, "will the marine codex be good?" I have pretty high hopes for it and am excited to see some of the rumored units. I also don't think the 5th ed Ward marines are anywhere near close to retirement, and the 4th ed marine codex was one of my favorite books in the game. The question I pose to you today is, has 40k finally shifted away from the ever-present bolter smurf?
Back in the day, the test of a weapon, a unit, or an army was its marine killing power. The marine was the baseline- We have a word for it, MEQ, or "Marine Equivalent." We judged the capabilities of a given asset on its ability to kill models that were toughness 4 and had power armor, because that was the order of the day.
5th ed mech lists gave us a slight change on that variation- anti-MEQ weapons were still a big deal, mostly because half of them were anti-tank weapons, but as the armored vehicle became more and more prevalent in the game, the dudes inside didn't have to be so tough anymore- They weren't planning on getting out of the taxi. Cue the rise of the imperial guard and the melta veteran chimera.
Since 3rd edition, the marine has been the most triumphant military force in the game based solely on dumb math. He was strong, he was tough, he fought well, and 'they shall know no fear' pretty much guarantees that marine players can continue to play for 10 or 15 years at a time without ever actually reading the psychology section of the rulebook.
Among marines, there was a holy chosen circle, or square- Of the marines that actually fought on the ground and could be counted on to deliver battle after battle, there was first the grey hunter and the plague marine. Hunty had the perfect spread of wargear options and counter attack, and Plague had fearless, more resilience, and all of Hunty's wargear as well, but for a worthwhile price increase. Its no surprise that the PM continues to be one of the top dogs in the marine game. Later editions of the game would give us the 3rd and 4th members of our holy circle of marines- The sternguard vet with his gun that could respond to any threat, and finally, the mighty grey knight, who had high initiative power weapons, storm bolters, and access to rending guns across the table.
The space marine himself has never really changed- He's just picked up more toys as he's plodded through the last 30 years of his existence.
But now, let's get to the point- Is the mighty marine still good enough by himself? Does having 1 better pip on the dice on every roll and better armor really cash his check anymore, or does he actually have to show up to work now and play nice with his peers?
The answer, I believe, is yes, he does. Being a marine by itself isn't good enough anymore, and that's the question that is going to have to be answered in the new space marine codex- What can a space marine do to keep up with all these xenos who have finally come around?
That's right friends, it took us a decade, but the aliens have finally shown up! Is this the end of marine supremacy?
Take a look at all your favorite troops in 6th ed right now. How many of them are marines?
Here's a better question- The chaos space marine, who between marks, banners, high model count, and decent wargear options, is probably the best space marine in the game right now. For a price, he can literally do anything you want him to do... But where is he? We aren't seeing him around much. I'm a chaos player, and I'm asking this question- Every time I write a list lately, I want less of the old legion boys and more cult marines, more specialists, and more allies. And what about the dark angel? I'm not seeing him anywhere either, unless he's on a bike or a terminator. (business as usual for the sons of the Lion.)
So who is showing up in 6e? Who do we actually like?
Well, the necron warrior is a perennial hit of course. He's reasonably cheap, his bolter can glance, and his rhino flies and nobody dies if it gets wrecked while he's still in it. This guy has been gunning for the marine's job for a long time, and everything else in his codex is dedicated to seeing him get it.
Troops in the Tau codex got a massive overhaul- The pulse rifle has always been good, and with 6e rapid fire rules, its now a force of nature. Combined with organized overwatch and marker synergy, the fire warrior ain't too shabby. Even his friend Krooty the sniper is looking pretty good.
And then of course, we have the eldar of both varieties- The dark eldar has a poisoned gun that solves a lot of his problems against a meta that's getting pumped with more and more monstrous creatures, and he has a cheap skimmer. His cousin the craftworld eldar got even more ridiculous- Shuriken catapults have 'faux rending,' battle focus is phenomenal, everyone is BS4 now, and the wave serpent is probably currently the best transport in the game. I think the only time I wouldn't want a wave serpent right now is if I was a necron and I had flying pastries instead. To top it off, the humble eldar is a member of the most syerngy-centric army in the game, and that old guy in the back with the antler on his helmet is always telling him to reroll everything.
What about demons? Well, we get a lot of them, they're invulnerable, and they're cheap. Yea, we can work with that. They never fall back from shooting either, that's a pretty good deal when most of them don't have guns.
Space elves, spooky warp ghosts, Skynet, and communist smurfs and their muppet friends. Those are my favorite troops in this game right now, and they all get murdered by heavy bolters. Nowhere on that list was a bald guy in power armor. What's happened to this game?
Well, I think we've finally turned the corner. Its no longer good enough for a marine to just show up and roll armor saves. With how generous cover saves are this edition, wearing power armor ain't such a big deal, and although the bolter is still a very reliable and useful gun to have, all these aliens have something that either has a better perk package, or they've got the perfect transport to get them somewhere to use it- In the case of eldar and crons, both.
It certainly doesn't help the marine that anti-MEQ weapons have finally arrived at overkill status- Every army so far has been given significant marine-hate weapons. The crons have never been at a loss for guns, the tau got an AP2 pie plate on their gundam that can be lasered into ignoring cover, Eldar are rerolling everything with scatter lasers and they only picked up more AP2 and rending, and even Chaos Marines, who were the first and so far seemingly the tamest codex of 6th edition, got some of the best marine-hate weapons currently in the game. Everyone loves hell turkey!
Being a marine ain't so great anymore. Smarter, more synergistic units are starting to look a lot better, and being cheaper and more numerous is starting to look a lot better than wearing power armor. Somebody needs to call Black Library and put all their books on hold- The days of marines wading through the opposition with impunity are coming to a close. Today, it seems as if a marine can count himself lucky if a shuriken catapult actually misses him.
So what's going to happen in the new marine codex, then? We keep hearing that synergy is going to come to the poster children in a significant way, and that's very interesting, as the marine has always been the guy on the block to beat.Will his new toys allow him to keep his crown as 'most hated model on the table' or will he be passing that accolade to a necron warrior or a dire avenger?
Time will tell.