Swung by the FLGS this evening and gave the new Space Marine codex a pretty thorough read-through (at least in terms of the game mechanics stuff, skipped the fluffy bits entirely).
I both love it and hate it.
Boy oh boy as you're reading through the unit descriptions, your mind begins to swirl with all kinds of possibilities and combinations...there's some raw power in there that will make you weep with joy.
Then you get to the actual army list part.
You read the point costs.
And you begin to weep again, this time bitter tears of sadness for the units that will never see the light of day.
Vanguard Vets, for example. They're stupidly overpriced. One of them with a jump pack will costs you...are you ready for this?
You sure?
...waaaait for it!
35 points.
That's right, 35 points.
Marneus Calgar? 250, with the option to take termie armor for a few points more.
Sicarius? 200, but probably worth it for Rites of Battle and his wargear, which is very nice indeed.
And trust me, you don't want to know what an all-las cannon equipped Predator is going to cost you (though the other configurations are actually very reasonable).
But there are definitely some bright spots...some very bright spots indeed.
Sternguard. 25 points. They are, to me, hands down the best thing in the whole book.
Scout bikes. They're like a Swiss army knife. If only that WS and BS had remained at 4...
Regular bikes are cheaper.
And yes, you can field a captain and attached command squad, all on bikes and including an apothecary (granting the unit FNP), giving you a sort of poor man's nob biker squad.
Other bits of joy:
Cheaper assault marines.
Dirt cheap las cannons for tac squads.
Legion of the Damned.
Ironclad Dreadnought (guess what I'm going to do with the Black Reach dreadnought? Yep, you guessed it...)
Dirt cheap Razorbacks. They're practically giving them away in the TLHB load-out.
It is possible -- though probably not very practical -- to field 5 Land Raiders. That's right, you heard me: 5 Land Raiders.
And oh yes, Scout Sergeant Telion. He's like Christmas morning. One of his special abilities makes him like a Vindicare assassin. He's awesome, and a bargain points-wise.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I had a serious bitch-fest in the FLGS about the stupid, stupid stuff that's in there:
Chaplains? Nerfed. BS 4, W2, I4 A2. Lame. No upgrades available.
Librarians? Same stat line as Chaplains, and the psychic hood has that craptacular 24" range. Inquisitor lord, here I come. (Have I told you lately how much I hate that damned Doom/Guide/Fortune faucet? Shutting it off truly makes me smile.) At least they're still Ld 10...
GW no longer loves you if you love assault cannons. In fact, looking at it's point cost, I'm pretty sure they want you to forget it ever existed.
I'm sure I sounded like a little bitch while I was venting at the FLGS...but man, some of the nerfings and point costs don't make much sense.
Anyway...
There are definitely no Eldar- or Ork-style win buttons in this book (which -- I'm ashamed to admit -- I kind of wish there were at least one).
Overall first impression? While I have some issues with a few bits, all things considered, it's a great book. The good definitely outweighs the bad. I'm looking forward to using it. Release date can't come fast enough for me!
