Ok ladies and gentlemen, I went a DEEP dive on this one. With the new Space Marine codex and Supplements I started to think about Codex Creep. Previous editions were ruined by the continued ramping up of Codex's in order to attempt to balance the game and bring some semblance of order to the system of chaos. The problem at the time was that GW was investing so little time into actually fixing any issues that you ended up with huge units that could get 2++ saves, could only be hit on 6's, had FNP, and could pass around wounds willy nilly to maximize survivability. Not only could these things survive anything you threw at them they could dish out an incredible amount of damage and were typically regarded as "Death Stars".
This edition has something similar to Codex Creep going on but up until recently it wasn't quite so apparent because there are a couple books that sit at the top of the heap and have been there for a while, Astra Militarum, Dark Eldar, and Craftworld Eldar come to mind. However, there are still little bumps that each army get when their book comes out and you tend to see more of them place well at events until everyone can get a handle on dealing with the new "hotness" or the FAQ rectifies some broken aspect.
So lets get into our way-back machine and head for June 2017 and start to draw some connections to book releases and the results at tournaments. Now, this is a shit ton of information to process, so I have only decided to focus on the top lists of some of the Major Events in the ITC system, and all of this info I found on Blood of Kittens, from June 2017 until September 2019. So there may need to be an asterisk next to these findings as they are not "all inclusive."
GW starts off the codex release with the Space Marines in July and there are a number of events starring a Space Marine Captain or Chapter Master with a jump pack following around several fliers. It was not uncommon to see 4-5 Stormravens with very little to no ground presence. As we all know, this was quickly "kiboshed" with the "Boots on the Ground" rule. This is also the time that we see the first Ynnari Dark Reaper list with several units of Dark Reapers and Brandon Grant introduces us to Conscripts and massed drop units loaded with plasma weapons, at the Bay Area Open, which will not be the last time we see it.
The Grey Knights and Chaos Space Marines codexes and a couple of Strike Squads make an appearance at GenCon paired with Elysian drop units while a bunch of Berzerkers, a Fireraptor, and Magnus take the Brawl. The North West Open shows us what 10 deep striking Tau Commanders can do while Ynnari Dark Reapers make another appearance at Wargames Con.
September gives us a Death Guard codex which helps Matt Root win Iron Halo by giving him the Fetid Bloat Drone to go along with his Alpha Legion Berzerkers and Slaanesh Cultist bomb amidst a bunch of Astra Militarum Conscripts, drop troops, and smite. The Adeptus Mechanicus book is also released, no one notices.
The Astra Militarum and Craftworld Eldar get their books in October and dominate the scene for the next couple of months despite Tyranids being released in November and the Chapter Approved arriving in December along with Blood Angels and Dark Angels.
For the first couple months we don't have any clear Codex Creep until we get the Eldar and AM books bringing Scions and Conscripts to the forefront along with multiple units of Dark Reapers in a Ynnari detachment for that oh-so-sweet double shooting with one of the most effective and deadly units in the game to this point, combined with the fact you can move them again after they shoot with Fire and Fade. You can see in some cases that armies get little bumps when their books come out, but the majority of the armies are still using index books so this is to be expected.
2018 begins with Ynnari Dark Reapers and Shining Spears dominating the tournament scene with sporadic occurrences of Hive Tyrant/Mucolid Spore spam and Poxwalkers backed up by Plagueburst Crawlers and Typhus. Our first big FAQ is release in April and that kills a bunch of lists with limitation to arriving from reserves, the "Rule of 3", Battalions and Brigades getting more CP, and the change that prevents you from charging units on the second floor of ruins if there is no room for the charging model to sit.
Now in May is where I see a very obvious spike in codex power as people start to explore the world of triple Dark Eldar Ravagers as that codex was release in April. 6 of the 7 majors held in May and June are won by Drukhari with 3 Ravagers. Although that is the only real constant as some lists have Wytches, others have Talos, and some have Eldar allies. One of them even incorporates Skyweaver Jetbikes form the Harlequin book that is release in May alongside Deathwatch.
Our next spike in Codex power comes in July due to the Imperial Knights codex released in June, which brings in the Catachan Brigade paired with a Castellan and a couple "Smash Captians" from the Blood Angels book. This is a perfect example of not only Codex Creep, but how a single model can change the entire meta of the game not only bringing back Astra Militarum, who have been out of the lime light for months now, but also finding a place for the Blood Angel Captain. This list requires a ton of CP and thus the CP battery is also created. This is not the last change that the Knight codex brought to the game, due to the Castellan being able to put out such a huge amount of damage with it's Volcano Lance the game starts to shift to a "kill denial" meta. Large vehicles and monsters are too easily picked off by the Castellan so armies begin to adopt ways to either negate the Knight's effectiveness or to take it out pronto which we will see evidence of.
The Space Wolves codex is released in August but no one cares and in September we start to see a couple armies that have learned to deal with the AM Brigade/Castellan list with the Genestealer slingshot and Tau Riptides covered by Drones. Genestealers don't really care about the high AP and high damage characteristics, and can avoid the small arms fire before being thrown across the table and charging headlong into the soft bodies of the Astra Militarum. In a similar fashion, the Tau Riptides can shrug off all the large damage weapons on the Drones and soak up the small arms fire themselves while pumping out tons of bullets killing the soft squishy targets.
September also sees us get a FAQ that has some huge changes to it that increase the CP on many Blood Angels and Knights stratagems and limits the number of CP that can be "farmed". It also changes the FLY rule so that units no longer ignore terrain or models when making a charge move which kills the Smash Captain who can deep strike on top of a building but only need a 3" charge.
Harlequin Skyweaver Jetbikes start making a showing as they can put some serious damage on a Knight with their haywire weapons, as can Dark Reapers and Shining Spears as Eldar make a resurgence in October but the AM Brigade/Castellan still win SoCal and Barn Yard Brawl. Orks round things out by winning Renegade Open in November.
So 2018 comes to an end with a couple of very dominant builds. Eldar Dark Reapers and Shining Spears lists, Drukhari triple Ravagers with Haywire weapons mixed in, and Astra Militarum Brigade with Castellan Knight and fast moving hard hitting characters(typically Blood Angel jump captains or Custodes Shield Cpatains on jet bikes). We have seen a little evidence of Power Creep in Eldar, Dark Eldar, Astra Militarum, and Orks all started winning games shortly after their books came out AND kept winning in the following months. The Chapter Approved came out and gave us a couple changes, one of which increases the required psychic test for subsequent castings of Smite excepts of units that have "Brotherhood of Psykers" rule, or something similar. This primarily affects Thousand Sons which we will see very soon.
2019 starts with some really wacky lists that we haven't seen before like 8 Eldar Fliers, Adeptus Mechanicus, and Tyranids spamming termigants backed up by GSC Genestealers just before the GSC codex is released. The Catachan Brigade is still winning games although Bullgryn are becoming more popular over the Smash Captains. This is where we see the first Daemons list with big units of Plaguebearers and a Thousand Sons Command Detachment which pops up frequently. The next couple months are pretty spread out without too many wins by a single army. Tank Commanders, Talos with Haywire, and the T-Sons Command Detachment being the most popular but we also see Broadsides, GSC flamer bombs, and Deathwatch with Assassins. Genestealer Cults got their new book in February and Chaos get their updated book in March and the 2 Vigilus books are released. This is also the time where Ynnari got their White Dwarf rules and that's why you're not seeing them any more and why Daemons are making a surge.
This brings us to the second half of this year and what we are seeing now. I'm going to take a look at a handful of the more popular armies and take a quick look at what makes them so powerful.
One of the top contender armies continues to be the Daemons and Thousand Sons combo. Neither of these book are particularly new, and neither seems to use any Vigilus units or detachments, but since the update to how TSons use Smite they have become pretty good. Psychic powers cause mortal wounds, you don't need to roll to hit or to wound and they ignore most saves so it's not really a surprise it pops up so often. Plaguebearers are the other main part of the army and we all know why they are good. Penalties to hit them, 5++ save which can be boosted to 4++, and 5+FNP ensure they stick around. Not to mention the Bilepiper who lets them roll 2D6 and pick the lowest for Morale, and the banner that brings models back if a 1 is rolled for Morale. There are a couple differences in certain builds, one has a big unit of Death Guard Terminators, another has some Pink Horrors and Bloodletters. When you look at them, they pretty much do the same thing but one has it's shooty and punchy in 2 units instead of 1 unit.
Orks are doing really well with some help from a Vigilus relic Shokk Attack Gun. Most armies have this relic and a couple non-relic SAGs along with a ton of Boyz and Smasha Gunz or Lootas, or both! This list has some limited mobility with Da Jump, durability with numbers, the ability to kill big things with the SAG and the ability to kill heavy infantry with the Smasha guns. What else could you ask for?
Eldar Fliers are becoming a fucking nuisance. While some lists have lots of them, all of the lists have some, and there are a ton to choose from so you have options for what you want them to do. We all know they have been around for a while, but why have they not been popular in the past? Well probably because Ynnari Dark Reapers don't really care about their negatives to hit them and would just shoot them out of the sky, and Ynnari Shining Spears could still assault them not to mention Smash Captains. Funny how that works out huh? In general they are tough to kill because they are hard to hit, and can pump out a ton of really decent quality firepower perfect for taking out large targets. The Drukari ones focus a little more on taking out infantry, but still do it really well.
Those are the main winners, but there are still Tau, Chaos Disco-Lords, Astra Militarum, Genestealer Cults, and Custodes who are finding top place in more than one major tournament over the last couple months.
So this has brought me full circle to the idea of Codex Creep and as you can see, while many armies do get a bump when their book comes out, for the most part it actually seems like GW is just trying to keep up with some of the overpowered original codexs they released like Craftworld and Drukari. The one outlier that may come to pass is the Space Marine codex which is definitely going to change up the Meta, but as we saw from the SoCal Open, that Meta change simply made it possible for Tau to step up to the bully who's been beating everyone else down and push back.
Well I hope you guys have enjoyed this little look back in time as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Til next time, keep them dice rollin.
As usual this article has been brought to you by Maxx Collectibles. Check out the Workbench Wednesday post on their Facebook page. Every week a person who has posted up a work in progress on that post will win a free pot of GW paint. You have to show up in person to claim your prize though so you kind of have to be local.
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