Codifying the Codices

How to build an army for Warhammer 40,000 second edition.

Second edition was a step up from Rogue Trader in that it had army lists from the beginning.

☠ Recommended Points

Codex Army Lists recommends 1000 to 3000 point games.

There is no upper limit to the size of an army, but 500 points is about the smallest size for a battleworthy force. A 1,500 point battle will usually last an entire evening, while 3,000 points will give you a battle that will take most of a day to fight. The lists have been designed and balanced for armies of around 3,000 points, but they will work with smaller or larger forces too.

If you fight extremely large battles (say more than 6000 points a side) you may wish to introduce additional restrictions on the number of characters and support items, otherwise these will tend to dominate the battle to the exclusion of other troops...

-Rick Priestly & Jervis Johnson with Alan Merrett, Codex Ultramarines

The cheapest Space Marine army that can be chosen from Codex Army Lists is 180pts with the mandatory Space Marine Commander (without wargear) and a Scout Squad.

In White Dwarf 206 the staff settled on 600pts as the minimum for small games as this allows enough overhead to include an Eldar Avatar.

It's a great game when you play it around 750-1000 points. It starts to creak when you get to 1250...

-Andy Chambers, Filmdeg Miniatures interview (2023)

☠ Army Structure

Players choose their armies using a liberal percentage-based system.

Second edition army lists divide miniatures into three or four broad categories. Typically, the categories are characters, squads and support. Occasionally these will have other names. Orks have mobs instead of squads, Tyranids have individuals instead of characters, but they are functionally equivalent. Allies are chosen from the support allocation which also tended to include vehicles and artillery.

☠ Codex Army Lists

Codex Army Lists is a booklet in the core box set.

This book is also known to fans as The Black Codex.

☠ Codices

☠ Others

A few other army lists made it into the White Dwarf and Citadel Journal magazines.

☠ Example Armies

Most players prefer to collect their armies in blocks of 500 or 1,000 points' worth of troops. For example, you might begin with a core force of 500 points and built it up by adding 500 point blocks at a time. This allows you to conveniently plan your purchases and gives you time to paint the models and try them out on the tabletop before deciding what to add next.

-Rick Priestly & Jervis Johnson with Alan Merrett, Codex Ultramarines

The battle report in Codex Space Wolves was played using in-development rules so the forces chosen do not match the codex points costs. The WD187 report was a special vehicle battle where points costs were moot. The WD222 report had special rules inspired by the 1964 film Zulu and even featured a farm truck and some civilians.

Some battle reports were restricted to whatever the 'Eavy Metal team had painted - often, no more than one of each unit. This isn't a bad pattern to follow if you want a varied list with a broad range of miniatures and weaponry.

In the WD196 battle report two tournament winners faced off. Each provided detailed reasoning of why they had chosen each unit.

I've got a large unit of Striking Scorpions for no other reason than I like them! (laughs) I just like them, and I've given them all back banners, so they're quite pretty.

-Lawrence Widdicombe, White Dwarf 196

I also like to have a mix of weapons, so that I don't seem to be "power-gaming", so they're not all armed with shuriken catapults.

-Wai Lam, White Dwarf 196

Adie Wood's article in White Dwarf 201 would be my pick for the best monograph on building a 2nd edition army.