Sorry to get on the marine bashing bandwagon but I couldn't resist.
The "clause", you mean the space marine catching up to every other codex in terms of named characters for HQ choices instead of generic's clause?
Catching up, to whom I may ask? Eldar? They get one as an HQ, only 1. Orks? They get a few, most of which are limited to a certain unit you must take. Chaos? Sure they get a few, but name me one which people actually use, other than Ahriman. Guard? Thats just a joke.
However the "broken" marines as your so deftly put it might put up a fight against the Orkzeez who are steamrolling the professional circut
This is just not true at all. The logic behind that statement seems to be that GW had to put out a ridiculously unbalanced codex in order to combat the other ones, which just doesn't make sense, and just leaves all the other armies in the dust in terms of competing. Also orks are not the tournament powerhouse you make them out to be. Im not sure what led you to think that anyway.
Either way, it's quite obvious, and I think many people woud agree with me when I say that marines are becoming way too powerful as an army. And personally I think this is due to the fact that Space Marines constitute the majorty of armies played and the army most people start out with. Therefore it would make sense for GW to make that army better than most, it just attacts more people to play them while at the same time satistfying all the current players. Who doesnt want to play the most powerful army? really...
Honestly I like Space Marines fluff wise and modeling wise, but I hate what GW has made them out to be and how they have changed.
