My favourite Space Marine kitWarhammer 40,000has ever released is the old Sternguard Veterans, which I think were released during 6th Edition. That makes me feel horrendously old, but the kit was something special. It made just five Space Marine veterans, but gave you so many bits and spares that you could customise your whole army.
There were helmets for squad Sergeants, fancy shoulder pads for those units that had heroic moments in the last battle, old drum magazine boltguns for your finest marksmen, and everything you could ever need to fully bling out your Space Marine army. The only problem was that it didn’t include enough combi-meltas, but that got me started on my road to converting entire forces, so I can hardly complain.
Nowadays, you may’t do that. Every kit gives you just enough miniatures for the unit with no spare bits. The models are more exciting and dynamic, but monopose. It’s very difficult to make them look at all different from how they look on the box, whereas the old Sternguard arms could fit on any other Space Marine, be it Devastator or Biker or anything in between. It’s safe to say I’m not a fan of this move, but the Dark Angels Codex presents an even worse trajectory.
Games Workshop is intent on homogenising its Space Marine armies. Where once the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Black Templars and everyone else were completely different forces with different units, looks, and rules, this is starting to be eroded in favour of making them all play the same. The same thing that is happening to the models – making every unit of Intercessors and Inceptors look identical – is now happening to Space Marine chapters.
The biggest crime is cutting multiple unique units from the Dark Angels Codex. As many people have already guessed from their conspicuous absence in previews, the Talonmaster, Ravenwing Command Squad, and Deathwing Command Squad have no place in 10th edition. The writing was on the wall when the models were discontinued, but losing these unique units is bad news for every Space Marine Chapter.
The Dark Angels still have a little flavour to them. The Deathwing Terminators are the stars of the range refresh this time around, the Ravenwing have a high-octane detachment, and they retain their litany of characters (RIP Sergeant Naaman from the 1987 Angels of Death Codex). But this now feels like a Space Marine army with a few upgrade kits thrown in, not a Dark Angels force proper.
“The Dark Angels are losing their edge”
Part of that is because, well, it is. Deathwing Terminators are a thing of the past. In the new Deathwing army box you get ten regular Terminators and an upgrade sprue (usually sold separately) to make them Deathwing. I’m glad to see the Deathwing Knights return, fully kitted out in all their robed splendour, but that should be the baseline for Deathwing to me, not something reserved for the Knights. Even the Knights have lost their versatility as a kit, and the personality of the old censers and flails have been ripped from them in favour of boring old power swords maces.
While you do get a Dark Angels-only Terminator Plasma Cannon in the upgrade kit, the regular Deathwing Terminators don’t even come with Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield configurations. I presume that’ll come later as a separate release for Space Marines, which you’re able to then buy, spend 11 quid on another upgrade sprue, and turn into more Deathwing further down the line.
Space Marine Chapters are the most interesting parts of the Emperor’s finest. The Black Templars are full of Crusade inspiration, the Blood Angels are vampires who have whole units succumb to the bloodlust, Space Wolves are the same but werewolves, and Dark Angels had multiple unique ways to fashion an army. This seems to be slipping away in favour of homogenising Space Marine Codexes and selling upgrade kits to bring everything into line.
That may work for Ultramarines or Imperial Fists – a unique Iron Father, Dreadnought detachment, and an upgrade sprue would even be enough for my beloved Iron Hands – but for the more esoteric Space Marines, the most interesting Chapters, it’s not enough. No matter how popular and marketable an Ultramarine is, Games Workshop needs to avoid turning every other Marine into one.
The Dark Angels have just enough in their new Codex to justify a whole extra book, but they’re losing flavour more quickly than a Gloucestershire chef opening a Thai-fusion restaurant after one holiday to South Asia. We don’t even have the Fallen any more, the warriors who fell to Chaos and split the Dark Angels Chapter in twain, as they have been forgiven and are now considered holy, righteous Risen. The Dark Angels are losing their edge, but worse than that, they might be losing their identity too.
Games Workshop provided the models featured in this article.
Next:Dark Angels In Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition: Everything You Need To Know About The New Codex
