Did this codex ruin the game?

  Now that I have the new Space Marine codices and am trying to come up with army lists, I had a thought that has been niggling at me a bit.  Worse, I've heard this before.  Let's start where I've heard it for this edition (and previously) of the game and how this contention has grown, and then finish off with my impression...

  Each time GW releases a new codex, the concept of 'codex creep' pops back up and we have all the chicken-littles screaming that the game is totally broken and out-of-whack.  Admittedly, I'm one of those people.  It happened a couple editions ago when Imperial Knights became a full army and suddenly entire army builds became useless.  How good is a heavy bolter against that?  Then GW added formations in the last edition and this ratcheted that argument up to a whole other level.  Space Marines get 1200 free points of Razorbacks and Knights no longer have to pay for weapon upgrades?  Oh man...

  But codex creep, as an argument, only lasts as long as the next codex that gets released.  For example, Genestealer Cults completely devastated the 'meta' and introduced a playstyle that wasn't in the game before.  Funny enough, even the lowly lasgun is able to smoke a cultist and their attendant buggies and bikes.  But having that whole army creeping in the shadows and then popping up nearby enough to smack a Knight to death with some mutants rocking rock-saws was a shock to everyone.  Was this because the GC had better rules than everyone else?  Not at all.  Players adapted and were able to overcome the codex creep, edition after edition.

  This edition has introduced a ton of entirely new mechanics, like the Strategems and aura-based commanders.  When the game first launched, everyone complained about the lack of realism (which is a ridiculous complaint already) and then about the imbalance between armies and their need for these strategems being variable depending on the book.  And that wasn't untrue.  Space Marines and Death Guard came out first and happen to have some of the most useless strategems in the game.  As more of the codices were released, those newer armies had better and better rules that quickly left the SM and DG behind.  This matters.

  But then came the end of the cycle.  [Almost] Every army got their books and it was obvious that more was needed.  And in comes the Vigilus books.  In that, GW reintroduced 'formations' in a fashion, giving more strategems and rules to certain builds.  Suddenly, Orks could get a more powerful Shokk Attack Gun, Imperial Guard (I mean Astra Militarum) now have more powerful battle cannons, and Space Marine chapters could get some love (see Crimson Fists- wow!).  Most importantly to me, as an Ultramarine, was the fact that the Indomitus Crusaders made my Primaris army actually work.  You can only win with so much strength 4 dakka.  Luckily, that book introduced more of that and it made a difference.

  The following book of the Vigilus set introduced a bunch of Chaos Space Marine stuff.  And it was stupid good.  Abaddon was able to stand toe-to-toe with Primarch Guilliman and the various legions suddenly got some love.  And this made it more than obvious that GW realized that there was a problem in the game and was using campaign supplements to fix it.  This was then followed up by the new battle box, Shadowspear, and introduced even more stuff to the Chaos Marines.  This was very necessary as the Chaos Space Marines were even worse off in the game than normal, long left behind, Space Marines.

  And then the cycle restarted, in a manner.  The new Chaos Space Marines codex was released with all the new updates and rules.  It was so good that CSM shot up the tournament rankings almost instantly.  And I have a theory as to why, but that's another post.  In the meantime, it was apparent that the Space Marines were being left behind in a bad way.  It wasn't that they weren't being used, but there was another fundamental problem with 8th edition that contributed to this-

  Souping.  For those that don't know what 'soup' in this case means, it represents the ability of armies to ally in detachments from other codices.  Chaos Space Marines can (and should always have been alllowed to) ally with Chaos Daemons, while Eldar also have the ability to ally with Dark Eldar and Harlequins.  Space Marines can ally with...  well, nobody allied their Space Marines with anything!  Imperial armies would ally Space Marines with their cheap IG (see the 'Loyal 32') and the overpowered Knights.  And the only Space Marines that would hit the tabletop were the obligatory cheap Scouts to contribute command points and the so-called 'Smash Captain' (SM Captain with jump pack, storm shield, and thunder hammer) for the ability to run up and destroy enemy Knights.  That's right, Knights were so common that building one's army around being able to handle them became a priority across the gaming world.  And because of that cheeziness and focus, Space Marines never actually got to see the table.

  And if you haven't seen me in the discussion forums of so many gaming sites across the interwebs, just know that I hate the entire existence of the 'Smash Captain'.  Space Marine armies are supposed to be made up of Tactical squads, but where are they?  Every battle force of Space Marines is led by a Smash Captain, apparently better than even special characters.  Really?  Land Raiders, Terminators, Assault Squads, standard Dreadnoughts, and even Chaplains all disappeared from the game.  You know- the lynchpins of the Space Marines' lore and glory of past editions!  In other words, Space Marines were crap!

  So now it comes back to the question- did the new Space Marine codex break the game?  Imperial (and Chaos) Knights broke the game, but no more than they already did in previous editions.  Genestealer Cult and Adeptus Custodes broke the game, but not in such a way that they became the go-to for tournament players.  Orks broke the game, but not because of being overpowered.  They simply became effective in their randomness, finally.  But then comes along Chaos Space Marines.  They gained things like Obliterators with more dakka and more survivability and Lord Discordants with their massive speed and potentially huge damage output.  Add to that the psychic shenanigans that allowed them to buff these up even mroe and...  well, they may have actually broken the game legitimately.

  And now we're to the Space Marines.  Remember how that army was all but gone in the tournament scene?  If you weren't racking a flying captain with the armament of a medieval knight and accompanied by the trainees with sniper rifles (and all likely painted red), then you probably never saw the battlefield.  It was nice that the Imperium finally learned how to combine forces to make... combined forces, but we needed to get the Space Marines back at some point.  This new book actually makes the other units in the codex useable again.  We might see Space Marines being used in a game centered around Space Marines!

  They did NOT break the game.  This book, less than two weeks old at the writing of this post, has done nothing to upset the balance of the game as a whole.  The meta still revolves around cheap battalions and brigades to get the most command points and some big stompies that do massive damage, from the Imperial (or Chaos) Knights and Smash Captains to daemonically-gifted grifters with great speed to sneaky gits that pop up and smash things with Stop signs.  But at least now the Space Marines can make an appearance.

  As I talk to my buddy, consummately a cheezeball with competitive play in mind and walking away with trophies from every tournament he ever plays in, I found the best way to describe my impression.  You see, whenever a tournament player sees the matchups, they have certain reactions.  Here's the impact that these new codices have on the game for Space Marines-

You won't pump your fist in joy instantly when you see that you're playing against Space Marines anymore!

  That's it!  I don't believe that Space Marines are 'broken' or have completely changed the meta of the game.  If anything, these codices made Space Marines competitive again.  They will bring the poster-children, the mascots of 40k back to the tabletop.  And that is a GOOD thing.  

  Let me know if you agree or disagree.  Provide some examples of what you think is broken or your experience playing with and against them.  I always love to see the blogosphere explode with needless angst and I'm darn sure that this is that.  After all, don't we all love Space Marines?

  Happy Gaming!