What I want from Codex: Chaos Legions (or whatever they name it)

I've obviously been fiddling with my Traitor legion, after all, that is what this blog is primarily dedicated to. That and Heresy era stuff in 40k. Now, as anyone who reads the blog knows, I'm not using the current Chaos Codex, but I know I haven't ever said what my real complaints about that Codex actually are and why I choose to not use it. So... allow me to enumerate.

The current Chaos Codex is a minimalistic attempt that destroys most of the flavor of Chaos and turns it into a bland pile of crap that performs poorly on both the battlefield and in capturing the imagination of most gamers(myself included).

The troops are generic and lacking in flavor. The four core cult forces are just that, 4 different units, and honestly only two of them are worth taking. The Berzerkers and the Plague Marines are, as everyone knows, better choices than Noise Marines and the shambling monstrosities that are the Thousand Sons. When you take them in comparison to other, newer (and older) codices, then you have no reason to even attempt to play as a Chaos army, it's simply not interesting or effective. Sure, the Lash+Oblit spam works on troops out of their metal boxes, but in 5th edition as we all know, Mech is king.

What I want to see in the Legions codex is not just a return to each Legion being unique, but each Legion having different, and viable builds when compared to one another. Obviously, I fully expect that we will see a lot of the same faces as in the previous books, Abaddon, Ahriman, Kharn, etc, but I want to see new characters. And by new, I don't mean just Abaddon with a facelift, I mean utterly new (special and generic) characters, preferably one per legion. The characters should unlock options for the entire army depending on what Legion they are dedicated to.

For example, a Word Bearers Acolyte or whatever their Chaplains are called could unlock something like making your generic marines into something akin to "Devoted" and give them all stubborn and relentless instead of whatever generic rules all chaos marines get. A Warsmith from the Iron Warriors could give all troops armed with a special or heavy weapon the tank hunters special rule and the bolster cover rule like the Tech Priests. The Alpha Legion dude could give something like all marines gain stealth and/or infiltrate. Things that make it obvious that your entire army, or at least parts of it, are actually acting in synergy with other parts of the army.

And really, the World Eaters deserve a bit more than just furious charge. Maybe more specialization in their assault troops or similar. Hell, give back the old Chain Axe rule and allow the Khornate Berzerkers to have rending or something like it in CC. Make the Legions unique and interesting again. Make me want to pay money to buy that codex, make me want to play my Iron Warriors as Iron Warriors.

Iron Within, Iron Without.