Codex (Warhammer 40,000)

A codex (often pluralised as codexes by Games Workshop, though the grammatically correct pluralisation is codices), in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame, is a rules supplement containing information concerning a particular army, environment, or worldwide campaign.

Codexes for particular armies were introduced for the second edition of the game. The third edition rendered these obsolete, and a new series began, including introducing codexes for battlezones and campaigns. Until superseded by newer versions, the 3rd edition and later codexes remained valid for the newer editions of Warhammer 40,000. Games Workshop no longer produce campaign or battlezone codexes, instead releasing 'expansions'. 'Codex' is now a term solely used for army books.

The introduction of eight edition saw a large rules overhaul, and all prior codexes were rendered obsolete. On release, eight edition introduced Indexes to introduce rules for all their armies, before again eventually releasing individual codexes. As with before 8th edition, codexes remain valid until superseded by newer versions (currently the oldest valid codex is TBA - 8th Edition).

It is yet to be seen the format of 8th Edition Codexes.

All codexes 6th Edition and prior contained:

For 7th Edition Games Workshop overhauled the basic codex layout to contain:

Rules for models produced by Forgeworld are available as part of the Imperial Armour series of books, also published by Forgeworld.

The range of codexes is regularly updated with new editions of armies and occasionally new army codexes. However, all codexes prior editions of Warhammer 40,000 are still valid in the current edition, unless a later version has replaced it. N.B. Upon the launch of 8th Edition, all codexes 7th Edition and prior were invalidated due to a rules overhaul and therefore incompatibility. On launch they were replaced with Indexes to provide compatible rules.

8th Edition will be released in June 2017.

Expansions for Warhammer 40,000 provide alternative ways to play the game. With the announcement on 8th Edition making 7th Edition codexes obsolete it is likely that previous expansion will also not be compatible. It is yet to be seen what expansions will be made available for 8th Edition.

For main article see Imperial Armour

Imperial Armour is a series of official rules supplements to Warhammer 40,000 codexes produced by Forge World, a subsidiary company of Games Workshop. Current, valid books:

...
Wikipedia