In today’s preview of Codex: Space Marines, we’re looking at the new rules for upgrading your Characters into Masters of the Chapter. If you like the idea of leading your Space Marines into the fray with your Chapter’s supreme commander at the fore, or supporting your battle-brothers with their most gifted psyker, you’re in luck! Read on and find out how.
The notion of upgrading your Characters into the various heads of their order within the Chapter was first introduced in Psychic Awakening: Faith & Fury. Elevating your Characters to Masters of the Chapter used to come at a cost in Command points via the use of specific Stratagems. However, in the new codex, you promote your Characters to the most senior ranks by investing additional points or Power for the privilege instead.
This method not only saves you from having to invest valuable Command points before the battle, but also serves as a great way to top up your army list if you find yourself a bit short. In fact, assuming you’re willing to spend the points or Power, you can even form a war council of the Chapter Master and his most senior commanders – how cool is that?!
Of course, upgrading your Characters in this manner does more than simply give them a fancy keyword. With each title comes a new ability, ensuring that their battlefield presence is enhanced to a level worthy of their rank. The Chapter Champion certainly lives up to his status, gaining no fewer than three new abilities that ensure he’s a real force to be reckoned with.
Enemy Characters beware – you don’t become the champion of an entire Chapter without being one of its most skilled duellists!
Each Master of the Chapter also has access to a Warlord Trait and Relic that are exclusive to their rank. If, for example, you like fielding Dreadnoughts in large numbers, never leave your home world without a Master of the Forge to lead them – not only is he skilled at patching up any damage, his Warlord Trait makes them even more devastating in his presence.
With the stunning new Primaris Techmarine coming soon, you’ll have the perfect candidate for a Master of the Forge, too!
Leading the Crusade
There’s one other cool feature in the new codex’s Crusade rules that we kept secret in yesterday’s article – there’s a special Requisition that enables you to promote your Crusade Characters to members of the Chapter Command! Check this out.
Now the onus is on your Crusade Characters to go forth and perform deeds worthy of promotion to such lofty ranks!
The Rule of One
It may seem obvious, but it’s worth a quick reminder that a Chapter can only have one of each Master of the Chapter. As such, only one Character can be upgraded in this manner. Similarly, if your army already includes a named Character who is a Master of the Chapter, you cannot promote another. That’s not to say that your army couldn’t include a historical Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, for example, but certainly not at the same time as Marneus Calgar! Having said that, ‘what ifs’ are one of the cornerstones of the hobby, so if Marneus Calgar isn’t present, you could totally have another Ultramarines Chapter Master battling alongside Chief Librarian Tigurius!
It’s not just the Space Marines getting shiny new rules, either. As we mentioned in The Codex Show, Necrons players will also be able to grant their Crypteks powerful items of Arkana at a cost in points or Power, so you’ll have some new tricks of your own to look forward to.
In any case, the new Space Marines and Necrons codexes are up for pre-order this weekend, so you won’t have long to wait before you can start upgrading your Characters to Masters of the Chapter or unleashing the quantum fury of Cryptek Arkana. Let us know which Characters you’re looking to upgrade, and for which Chapters, on our Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page.