Goatboy’s Thoughts: Predicting Next Year’s 40K
Goatboy here to look back at this year’s releases to try to figure out what we can expect to see in 2016.
Welcome back to Goatboy’s stinky corner of the 40k interwebs. This year is about to get finished and the rumors point to Horus Heresy finishing off this year. That means no new 40k Stuff after the Tau release so that means another – 40k prediction corner. I like to look back at the releases and try to imagine what we can expect to see in the coming year. Sometimes I am right and I know a lot of times I am wrong. I think I get my hopes up too much that something will let me not have to counts as, as much but will see. Let me take out my sortin’ hat and get to predicting.
Prediction #1 Quarterly Campaigns
– Welcome to the quarterly campaign/rules book. I think Campaigns are going to be GW’s main selling point in the coming year. Look at how FW does their own “books” and you can see GW turning to that method as a way to inject life in older armies and keep up the plastic crack. I think we are getting to the point where we might see only 1-2 true Codex reworks and then from this point it is all about little narratives that won’t push the timeline forward and instead breath a little life into the different corners of the universe. These campaigns allow GW to slow roll their miniature release schedule and help ensure that their stores and other stores can hard sell new stuff instead of just repackaged old units.
I expect 4 campaigns a year as they help create quarterly boosts in sales as they use these Narratives to spice up armies and the game. I know they don’t give a crap out of the competitive nature of their product but removing codex reduxes out of the monthly rule picture means you as a player has less to worry/think about when seeing armies on the table top. It also lets basic rules stay the same so there is less – oops forgot this wargear doesn’t work this way moments.
Prediction #2 – More Formations
With only 1-3 true codex reduxes I expect the new push for army “balance” is introduction of formations. Formations can force you to take some subpar units in order to gain some kind of power from your choice. It also lets GW create new boxed sets that they can do a small discount on without having to actually change their prices on each individual unit within this “special box purchase”. It also lets them do limited edition boxed sets like they did in the Apocalypse days. Remember that Christmas is coming and I expect at least a few “boxed set/formation sets” to come out.
Formations are a weird thing for me as I feel that while they allow designers to create interesting rules it does lend itself to “auto building” for some armies. I prefer the formations that give you some room to experiment like Mogrok’s Bossboyz as they don’t lock you into one specific build. The Royal Court for the Necron army is another interesting one but point limits and other “formation” choices makes it less seen. I am still jonesing for a Maulerfiend formation and hope we see it come out in the future. Heck creating some “fluffy and decent” formations might be key to saving this game for a lot of people.
Prediction #3 – Clamshells to Boxed Sets
I see a lot of clamshell models getting removed and replaced into “starter” army sets. They want you to purchase more stuff and adding in a cool character to a bunch of stuff you might not all need seems to be the future of starter sets. We see it in the new Tau boxed set that has a really cool Ethereal in plastic and you see it in all the Marine Chapter starters that have someone with a Plasma Gun. You would think the Plasma Pistol upgrade would be free with how many characters have it on them.
While I love the clamshell characters I don’t enjoy the price point. I think they all run a little to high for what you get. This game has such a kit bash potential that while introducing a cool looking model the price point of 30 bucks is a little too high. Adding them into boxed sets that while cost more money do give you more value especially when you look at things like Marines who can easily use more regular guys to kitbash new units. A boxed set that is 100 dollars and gets you 4 units is a lot more interesting then a single box for 50 bucks that gets you just that single unit.
Prediction #4 – Bugs Chaos Chaos
I think the 3 new books are going to be some kind of Chaos/Daemon release X 2 and a reworked Nid book. The Nid book is just begging to get some kind of GC and I expect the new big monster kit to be something covered in tentacles and scything talons. The Chaos/Daemon release feels like a perfect time to get their Tzeentch on as I feel the Nurgle side of the table might have to wait for a campaign book. Heck this call could just be covered in a Campaign book with Nids attacking an Imperial outpost that has a Daemon portal on it. Bam you get all those cool things. But I do see some kind of army change for Nids and I am most likely just projecting hope for a fix of my favorite bad guys.
The Nid book is one of those ideas that is always there. Remember how good Nidzilla was back in the day? I think GW wants to recreate that type of buzz for an army and just haven’t figured out how to do it. The rumored Synapse change is a start but I really think the army as a whole needs to get looked at from the top down. They need to try to get good things in all force org slots and rework it away from just a Tyrant X 5 mentality. It is a shame that they are the book full of MC’s and almost all of them are terrible choices. I would look at what made Nidzilla good and try to fit that into the new world of 40k where massed shooting is key.
The Chaos release will probably mix the Daemons into the books more. This might spell the end of the Daemon codex as a whole but will see. The internet was a buzz when the Chaos books were out of print so maybe we will see a new release. I do think the KDK book is pretty interesting and I would hope we would see some mainstream book success instead of just trying to latch onto FW releases in hopes to build a valid army.
Prediction #5 – No New Edition
I don’t think will see an 8th edition for 40k this next year. While 7th is far from perfect, I do enjoy it a lot more then 6th edition. I think while the army building options can be complicated the variety it generates is pretty good. I do expect a lot more events to either try to “fix” more 40k for their attendees or change up some rules in order to try and “resolve” rules issues. At this point all I care about is that there is an FAQ I know about and judges that enforce the events rules correctly. I’ve slowly come to the realization that while I am not “bad” at the game I just don’t have the time to be nearly as good as some of the other players. Mix this in with a desire to play specific army styles that don’t always work means that getting to the top 8/16 is going to be a lot harder for me. This is fine as the game was never just about winning and more so about seeing friends, hanging out, and getting a break from real life.
This leads into more splits of events as we wait on one group to win out in the end. With GW not helping with FAQs and other “game” fixing ideas it will be up to the organizers to figure it out. The Tournament scene isn’t going away anytime soon as too many people have invested a lot of money in terrain, time, and other things for an event. I expect it to settle down into one main FAQ with events tweaking things here and there as they feel fit. Its a heck of a lot easier to blame one main FAQ instead of your own homebrew for an event. It also means that if you play this one way on one side of the US you will have a good chance of playing the same way on the other side.
Prediction #6 – Horus Heresy Rises Fast
I expect Horus Heresy events to gain in popularity as people look for other methods to play with their specific toy soldiers. The release schedule, the overall “evenness” in army uses, and the release of a new set of plastics could mean a new push in event set up. When everyone plays Marines the games get a lot more balanced no matter how bland it is to roll a ton of 3+ saves. I am hoping the boxed set cost is decent enough to get more people involved as well as FW own push to have a bunch of interesting rules. Part of me hopes some of the releases will have 40k rules attached to them so you can play both but will see.
AoS I think is going to take a hit and will see small releases from this point on out. The releases that bridge both systems – Daemons and Chaos etc are going to be the ones that do well enough. I also see a lot of fantasy reboxing and a smaller shelf space for this all ages type of game. I bet a ton if sitting in queue to go out so will still see it throughout the year. I just hope there are more things that are easily convertible to make it worthwhile in 40k/Horus Heresy.
I am sure there are other things I could talk about but with so much of the rules and codexes rebuilt I just see a future of smaller releases per week with either single units for specific armies or Campaign/formation rules to help prop up weaker army lists. I expect a Black Crusade Campaign to come at some point as so far we had Orks and Nids as the bad guys and that only leaves Chaos Space Marines, Chaos Daemons, and maybe a Dark Eldar raid or two. It would be nice to see a less speedy book release schedule so your wallet wouldn’t nearly be as decimated.
~What things are you expecting this next year from GW based on 2015?
