Codexdium: Codex Astra Militarum (9th Edition)
Sigh.
I find myself equal parts elated and confounded by this book. On the one hand it’s strong, very strong, with some exceptionally potent combinations of units waiting to be unlocked. And the new take of encouraging you to use units from distinct regiments together but not costing you faction bonuses is most welcome (seeing as it also heralds the return of the Rough Riders of Attila - a very potent unit). On the flipside however it’s been gutted of a vast number of options, both whole unit entries or just options for those units. Conscripts? Not anymore. Veteran Squads? Gone. Special Weapon Squads? Buhbye. Squadrons of artillery tanks? Seeya. To name but a few. And it’s frustrating for a couple of reasons. Firstly there will be players (admittedly like myself) who now have whole chunks of armies that no longer exist (with no hint that they might at least end up in Legends). Second it actively reduces the options available for list building. And I get it – GW have for a long time now been working on the philosophy of only letting you pick options that come with the kit you are building. But limiting Catachan Jungle Fighters to 2 Flamers? And no Heavy Flamers or other heavy weapons? That’s harsh, and I’ll certainly be running my Jungle Fighters as some other regiment. Death Korps of Krieg get their own Data Slate, again filled with bizarre choices – by default you get 1 Plasma Gunner in the unit, and can take up to 2 additional special weapons, but if you want a Vox it replaces that default Plasma Gunner. And don’t get me started on how Tempestor Primes are limited to pistols or their Rod of Command. Have a Tempestor Prime kitted out with any of the close combat weapons in the Scions kit itself that you build the Scions Command Squad out of? Sorry.
The kicker of course is that the current range of Guardsmen (& women) is incredibly strong. The revamped Cadian look shows what 20 years improvement in sculpting & tooling can do, and arguably the range is at it’s most customisable with how modular each combination of arms is to bodies.
Anyway, lets get back to the book and what I consider the strongest element – the fluff. Somewhat amazingly this book whilst still leaner on background than some prior volumes, still manages to get some spicy nuggets of lore across. Lord Solar Leontus? A exceptionally daft (if well-sculpted) model, but his background is genuinely intriquing. Ursula Creed? It does a decent job of getting across a no-nonsense commander struggling to escape her fathers shadow. And then we get the three spotlighted War Zones. Catachan (so gnarly a Deathworld it ate a Chaos invasion), Armageddon (War for Armageddon IV – Angron Strikes Back) and my personal fave, The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (a lovely bit bringing the ongoing background setting to Gaunt’s Ghosts into 40k proper). All get some fun, punchy writeups that do a lot to sell you on the conflicts.
Part of me can’t help but wonder, might this book have benefited from an even tighter focus? Perhaps being a solely Cadian-focused book? If only due to how many units have the Cadian keyword? I would say though that between this release, Leagues of Votaan, the Aeldarii and World Eaters I’ve gotten the distinct impression of books designed around what they could put on shelves with a second big wave of releases on the cards in the next 6-18 months, much as what happened with the Sisters of Battle.