Codex Creep – The Myth and the Legend #2 (Unit Comparison)

Let me start this by saying I’m not picking on Corrollax. In fact I think his response actually highlights what a lot of people think and feel when they think of “Codex Creep” and so I thought it would be worthwhile to respond in a full article as opposed to a single entry in the comments section. So thanks Corrollax for giving me some more material to work with. We’ll start by quoting his last comment which was given after I asked how it was relevant to compare Incubi and Purifiers:

“Well, they're both Elite units. They both have a 3+ armor save. They're approximately the same point cost (22 vs. 24 points). They both have S4 power weapons.

Now add on the fact that purifiers get instant death weapons, cleansing flame, hammerhand, more and better upgrade options, krak and psyk-out grenades, storm bolters and the ability to purchase a 2+ invuln save for the unit...

I can't conceive of how you could possibly think that this isn't codex creep. It boggles my mind that you would just look past this.”

When you look at this quote it’s easy to see why people would see codex creep between books. It’s also easy to understand some of their frustration, especially if they play the army they feel has been out creeped. Now I don’t know if Corrollax plays DE or not. And honestly it doesn’t matter but it does highlight a couple of aspects of why Codex Creep exists in the community mind.

The first is that this is a hobby where we become invested in our armies. It’s hard not to be after hours (sometimes hundreds) of building, painting, and playing. To make matters worse it takes most hobbyists several months to get an army up to a playing standard which means that by the time you’ve finished that army it’s likely another book has or is about to drop. It’s easy to look at that new book and see what your army doesn’t have and then righteous anger flows through you centered at the beast named Codex Creep!

For this first aspect there isn’t much that can be addressed. The personal investment in our armies is going to make everything that happens to them seem more personal. It’s going to make every unit that matches up well against an aspect of our army that much nastier. Not to say you can’t be personally invested in your army and still maintain a more distant view of changes but it is harder. Especially if the army in question is your only army or by far your favorite.

The second aspect to consider is cross codex unit comparisons. I feel this is something that should be addressed. For Space Marine books this can sometimes have some merit. They are all marines and marine armies play similarly with each having a leaning for a particular style of combat which can generally account for slight costing differences. But comparing Space Marine units to Xenos codex units just doesn’t work.

Like I mentioned in my previous article on Codex Creep the focus of 40k rests squarely with Space Marines. 50% of the codexes are devoted to power armored marines and the actual playing pool at tournaments generally reflects a slightly higher percentage of marine armies. This does lead to people viewing Xenos books in a Space Marine light. You simply can’t do that. While most Space Marines play fairly similarly Nids for example are an entirely different mechanic. Same with Orks, Dark Eldar, or now Necrons. Each Xenos codex plays uniquely and needs to be taken on an individual basis.

Let’s use Corrollax’s example above where he compares Incubi and Purifiers. Again I’m not picking on Corrollax:

Well, they're both Elite units. They both have a 3+ armor save. They're approximately the same point cost (22 vs. 24 points). They both have S4 power weapons.

Now add on the fact that purifiers get instant death weapons, cleansing flame, hammerhand, more and better upgrade options, krak and psyk-out grenades, storm bolters and the ability to purchase a 2+ invuln save for the unit...

So you’ll note that the two units do have some similarities. You’ll also notice that only the benefits for the Purifiers are listed. But that’s not what I really want to delve into. What I want to delve into is instead of slightly similar units from two codexes let’s look at the roles the models play in those codexes and how both codexes appear to be designed.

Codex Dark Eldar is a nasty fast reacting force with massive amount of poison shooting with some solid CC (Beasts, Hellions, Incubi) that is designed around quickly overwhelming the opponent (the longer a DE unit is in combat the more likely they will lose). Granted this isn’t the only variation on what the codex can build but it’s definitely the most prevelant.

Codex Grey Knights is an elite, tough, midranged marine army designed to be mobile and put out lots of firepower. It’s got a high rate of fire depending on your movement but is hampered by its range. And generally, unless going pure foot, is going to be fairly outnumbered by its opponent.

So we have two armies in which shooting plays an important role but is implemented very differently. Incubi are designed for marine killing. They are not designed to kill power weapon armed units though if it’s small enough they should manage it just fine. It’s a unit that has a charge range of approximately 19” (can’t remember if they’re fleet right now so maybe more). Purifiers on the other hand are designed as a bit of a toolbox unit that shores the army up. They are the anti-horde/extra heavy weapon unit. They add quite a bit to the army in both rolls but have their drawbacks. They don’t perform the same role as Incubi in the DE list no matter their similarities on paper and so are inappropriate to compare with.

I see this happen quite often. And it seems to generally focus on comparing marine to xenos units to show how overpowered they are or how some codexes are better than those before it. This whole thing was kinda spur of the moment and brought on between Corrollax’s comment and the post on DakkaDakka about GK’s being OP in the tournament section.

Hope you guys enjoyed. J