With rumors floating around about a break before Eldar come out and that possible being filled in by Space Marines has me excited. I have played Space Marines forever specifically the most down to Earth marines the Salamanders. So hearing that the codex is getting an update in the near future has my Blood boiling in the name of Vul’kan.
I want to share my thoughts though on what I think is going to happen in the Space Marine codex before all the rumors hit and get my hopes up. This is speculation brought about by reading articles not from any inside source like other sites. I will be looking at these articles as well as the codexes already been released for 6th edition and the 4th and 5th edition versions of the Space Marine Codex to justify my guesses. Take what I am saying with a grain of salt as this is pure theoretical speculation and make your own judgments. I will include links to all my online sources at the end of this post.
To begin with I think that all the named HQ Characters will remain with the addition of at least Three more. These three I believe will be the Chapter Master Tu’shan of the Salamanders, Severus Agemman, Regent of Ultramar, and Iron Father Malthuun of the Iron Hands. The reason for this is that a while ago a Release list was leaked with them being released starting June 2013. This list has supposedly been Confirmed to have been a list of Serial Numbers that go on the UPCs of Boxes and Blisters and that this confirmed they were coming out but no clue when they would be released. Now I know if you have gone and looked at that list you would have seen one other name Helveticus the Ancient, Bearer of Honour. Yes, he is an Ultramarine but current Lore states he has died after leading a force at the Battle of Macragge and the term/title Ancient is used in the 4th edition codex as a title given to the one who has the honor to bear the Company banner into battle. I Believe if anything he will be an Honour Guard Upgrade. I will go into detail a little bit more about HQs and the Different Chapters later in the post.
As for new Units besides named characters I believe we will be getting a new Flyer, a new Land Raider variant, and a new Thunderfire Cannon variant. Yes, we have two flyers already the Storm Raven and the Storm Talon. The latest Issue of white dwarf on the last page has a weird picture of an ultramarine painted flyer next to a Storm Talon no one has seen before. I believe this will be the Land Avenger mentioned in the release list. It will have multiple versions just like the Land Raider and will be an Assault Vehicle with different carrying capacities. The new Land Raider and Thunderfire Variants will most likely be Anti-Air variants of the Current versions we see. Faeit 212 has had a Source say he can confirm the Playtest names for these Models were AA Land Raider and AA Thunderfire. The only other model I can think of mentioning is the Praetor Warmachine but I have no ideas on what this could be at this moment.
They will have their own Warlord Trait Table. I think this is a common thing for every codex being released, and I do not think this will change. They will not have their own Psychic Tables. Just like Dark Angels released before them I believe that Space Marines will only be able to use out of the Basic Rule Book Psychic powers unless you are a named Psyker like Tigurius. This makes sense from a Fluff perspective as the Imperium is very strict with Psykers. Chapter Traits will exist as Special rules and not Warlord Traits. With this Codex we will have Ultramarines, Iron Hands, Crimson Fists, Imperial Fists, Raven Guard, Salamanders, and the White Scars. Outside of the Crimson Fists these are six of the First Founding Chapters. The other three canon first founding chapters are Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Space Wolves which each have their own Codex. I believe they will somehow give them Special rules to make each version play differently from the others. Warlord Traits and Wargear will not make them play differently enough to include all these Chapters in the codex so somehow they will incorporate Chapter Tactics back into the fold to give each chapter their own feel.
Everything else I can post is mostly wishful thinking and thoughts about points and wargear that I have no justified sources or criteria for. So I leave you guys to think about it. Leave a comment about something I overlooked or your own speculations towards the 6th Edition Space Marine Codex.
Sources:
http://blog.spikeybits.com/2013/03/plastic-thunderhawk-you-be-judge.html
http://blog.spikeybits.com/2013/03/is-space-marine-codex-next-on-deck.html
http://natfka.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-leaked-release-list-is-real.html
http://natfka.blogspot.com/2012/08/games-workshop-release-plan-in-2013.html
http://natfka.blogspot.ca/2012/08/leaked-release-schedule-is-it-real-new.html
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Helveticus#.UWHq0JOmiaR
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ancient#.UWHrpJOmiaQ
Until Next Time Keep Gaming with your Hat on your head.
Gaming with a Hat 