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40K Deep Thought – Are Supplemental Codices Just Better?

2 Minute Read
Oct 3 2014
Warhammer 40K

The rules leaks for Haemonculus covens is continuing an unsettling trend of bland Codices and much better Supplemental books.  What gives?

I Don’t Believe in Coincidences…

They say three times makes a pattern.

First it was the generally ho-hum Ork codex followed by WAAAGH Ghazghkull.

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Second came the Space Wolves codex followed by Champions of Fenris.

Third comes the Dark Eldar Codex, followed up by Haemonculus Covens.

Everyone is thinking it, so I’m gonna come out and say it…

Are the main codices being hamstrung to make us buy up the supplemental books?




It Started So Innocently

When the supplemental books first started appearing they had fantastic appeal.  The first of these was Iyanden (hey we are still waiting on those other craftworld Supplemental books…).  It was fantastic, offering pages and pages of new original fluff on the craftworld, tons of paintschemes, and hobby centered items,  then a page or so of rules and some warlord traits and relics. Truly a book with something for everyone.

Overall a nice fluffy book that gave players a different take on the standard Eldar codex without diminishing it.
Black Legion, Sentinels of Terra, Clan Raukaan, and Farsight Enclaves were in this mold.
Then Tyranids came out and the moaning and groaning started, followed by Leviathan Dataslate series.  While not a supplemental codex per se, these offered Tyranid players some much appreciated help on the tabletop – for a modest fee.
But starting from Orks, the pattern seemed to only accelerate of somewhat bland ho-hum codices with ever more juicy stuff in the supplemental books.
It’s hard to say if this is just a random chain of coincidences, or if this is being purposely manipulated to make those “double dip” purchases a necessary part of the game for each faction.
~I have my suspicions – how about you?

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Author: Larry Vela
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