--- title: "Chaos Space Marines 3rd edition codex" subtitle: "Book review" author: Seth publish_date: 2025-01-24 08:00 date: 2025-01-24 08:00 hero_classes: text-light title-h1h2 overlay-dark-gradient hero-large parallax hero_image: codex-3-chaos-space-marines-1600x800.webp show_sidebar: true show_breadcrumbs: true show_pagination: true taxonomy: category: blog tag: [ settings, wargame, scifi ] --- I have a handful of early **Warhammer 40,000** Chaos Space Marine miniatures, which I purchased on TradeMe just to practise painting back when I was just starting to explore the wargaming hobby. I don't intend to play the 3rd edition of **Warhammer 40,000** but nevertheless I thought it might be fun to read some of the game books from the early days, and it seemed logical to read one for one of the factions I happen to own. When a copy of the _second_ 3rd edition codex for Chaos Space Marines popped up on TradeMe, I purchased it for $15 and I've now read it from cover to cover. This is my (arguably belated) review of the book. Cutting to the chase as usual, I'll say that this was a good book. It's not useful for modern 40k, of course, but it's an artefact of the game's history, and much of the lore in it (and even the terminology of the game) is still relevant. If, by some unlikely mishap, you were to receive a gift of this book instead of the current 10th edition codex, you'd certainly be hindered from playing the game accurately but you'd still have gotten a very informative, fun, and beautiful book. ## Familiar formula Having purchased my first 40k codex in 2023 (that's 22 years after the publication of this codex), I was a little surprised to find that the format of a "codex" hasn't changed much. There's a healthy mix of lore and game mechanics, and some full-colour photos with tips on how to paint your miniatures. Interestingly, this codex is actually the [second Chaos Space Marines book for 3rd edition](https://www.goonhammer.com/the-goonhammer-review-of-codex-chaos-space-marines-3-5-edition), and seems to be regarded as one of the best books Games Workshop has produced. Ever. People really seem to adore this book, and while I don't have the experience to understand why, I can definitely agree that it's a good game book. You might think that reading a codex written for the 3rd edition of a game after having only read the rulebook for the 10th edition of the game would be more confusing than anything, but actually I understood most everything in the book. Terminology is largely the same, and classic titles for mechanics, like "Big guns never tire" and "Deep strike" and "Feel no pain" and so on, are still in use today. The stat blocks for soldiers are very similar to modern ones, although some of the numbers are maybe higher than I'd expect (weapon skills of 5 and 7 just don't make sense the modern version, but those are the ratings for Abaddon the Despoiler and Khârn the Betrayer). You can see the consistency of design, though, and that surprised me. The lore in the book is mostly still relevant, allowing for a few minor discrepancies. Not all discrepancies are necessarily wrong, either. For instance, there's a sentence in the Word Bearers section that reads like the Word Bearers were "encouraged by Horus" to come under the sway of the Chaos gods. In the Horus Heresy novel series though, the conversion of Lorgar happens before Horus. That seems to be in conflict, but if you read it to mean that Lorgar was converted first, and then Horus, and then Horus helped Lorgar sway the legion, it still works. Much of the quirks in lore can be explained away by accepting that quick summaries of major events often pass over subtle details. The official line, according to Games Workshop itself, is that lore discrepancies exist because, in-universe, historical accounts are unreliable and Imperial records are muddled. I love that all errors or implied descrepancies can easily be defended with the simple self-evident truth that history is hard to record correctly. Even in the 40k universe, where many characters live for several centuries or even millennia, memories fade and belief is manipulated by emotion. ## Clarity and flexibility More than anything, this book manages to make an arguably over-complex setting surprisingly comprehensible. I enjoy Warhammer lore, but I can't help but wonder whether Games Workshop ever regrets the complexity of it. Did they really need 20 or 18 primarchs and corresponding legions? Surely 2 or 4 would have worked just as well. Of course, it's possible that they don't regret it. Until I started painting and playing in 2023, I was one of those people who only knew **Warhammer 40,000** as a book and video game series, so they may see the abundance of material to draw upon as a real asset. The complexity of 40k lore might pose a different challenge depending on whether you're a gamer or just a reader, though. As a reader (or viewer or video gamer), I never really had to learn the specifics of each legion or xenos faction. All I had to do was accept that the meanie with the gross disease daemon at his side was the villain. It doesn't matter whether he's Death Guard or Deathwatch or Death Wing or something else entirely. As a gamer, however, the legion very much matters, because different legions provide different game options. This book manages to set you straight on lore and on game mechanics. The two aren't unrelated, after all, but it's a delicate balance to mix them together in a memorable way. This codex has a useful approach, I think. It mentions several legions haphazardly at the beginning, just to get you used to the legion names and a little bit of their flavours. It talks about the 4 Chaos Gods, and how the mark of each god affects a space marine. And then it hits you with the "books" of the gods. That's a grandiose title, because each "book" is just 2 or 3 pages long, but these are the sections that define which legion serves which god, and how each god's special rules work. By the end of the 4th book, you're likely to have all the traitorous legions organized in your head, neatly assigned to a Chaos God (or to Chaos Undivided, in the case of the Black Legion). It's subtly and brilliantly done, and by the end of the codex I not only felt comfortable with the powers at play but also with the lore of each legion. But that's not all! After you're educated in the ways of the Ruinous Powers, you get 8 pages of full-colour paint schemes for each faction, plus daemons and variant paint schemes. By the end of just 72 pages, you've gotten a full education on the Chaos space marines. You know the legions, you know their allegiances, a little of their exploits and history, some of the famous figures within them, how to build an army, and where to find your army's rules. I've only got one so far, but I feel like the modern [Adeptus Mechanicus Codex](httsp://mixedsignals.ml/games/blog/blog_review-warhammer40k-10-codex-adeptus-mechanicus) benefits from following the exact same pattern. The modern book arguably has a nicer layout, thanks to its pages of quick reference data cards in the back, but functionally both books serve the same purpose. They get you up to speed on what the army is all about, what they look like, and exactly how they work on the gaming table. ## What's missing in a Warhammer codex As good as the 3.5 **Codex: Chaos Space Marines** is, I do find it surprising that it lacks two things: livery diagrams and weapon graphics. I'm a new wargamer, so maybe I just missed the book that provides this stuff, or maybe my experience with a specific kind of roleplaying game has spoiled me, but I expect technical specifications in my source books. The Shadowrun **Run and Gun** source book gives you a description of a weapon, plus its game stats, _plus_ a graphic just in case you don't know what some weird imaginary sci fi weapon happens to look like. It even gives you a graphic of mundane real-world weapons. I mean, who doesn't know what a sledge hammer looks like? Shadowrun Run and Gun The **Starfinder Armory** source book provides pages and pages of beautifully illustrated guns: Starfinder Armoury The lore for each gun is described in text, and the game stats are provided in tables. I'd expected that from codices, and in fact when the 10th edition Adeptus Mechanicus codex lacked it, I assumed it was a modern omission. I fully expected to find weaponry and armour markings in a 3rd (or 3.5, or whatever you want to call it) edition 40k source book. Maybe Games Workshop published all the tech specs of that stuff once, in _some_ book, and figures that was enough. Personally, I'd appreciate a big book of gear. Until I find out what and where that is, or until Games Workshop decides to publish one if it doesn't already exist, I guess I'll continue to cobble together low res graphics from desperate Internet searches. I'd really love an easier way to fawn over imaginary adventuring gear, though. ## Good old codex Apparently the second version of the **Codex: Chaos Space Marines** is one of the most loved codices Games Workshop has every published. I'm lucky to have stumbled upon it as my very first "old hammer" book. I don't have much to compare it to, but I do sense that it lives up to its reputation. It's a well-designed and well-written book, a great intro to the Chaos Space Marines both from a lore and game perspective. Unless you're playing 3rd edition **Warhammer 40,000**, you don't need this book. However, if you appreciate artefacts of games gone by, this is a great Warhammer book to own. Grab a copy of it if you see it.

Cover image ©Games Workshop.