40K: What Is Games Workshop Gearing Up For?
The next three codexes are historically smaller codexes – so is Games Workshop gearing up for something big?
We know that Imperial Knights, Harlequins, and Deathwatch are up next. That much has been confirmed by Games Workshop. It’s pretty clear that each book is getting new rules, new unit options, and possibly a new kit or two.
Imperial Knights are getting the new Armiger along with “new knight units… rules for Knightly Households, Freeblades, (and) Stratagems…”
Harlequins are getting rules for different Masques (aka Chapter Tactics) – and probably a new batch of Warlord Traits, Stratagems, Relics, and (possibly) psychic powers. Personally, I’m hoping for a re-jiggering of their HQ options…but we’ll see.
And the Deathwatch are going to get Primaris Marines and all the typical bells and whistles a new codex gets. But I don’t see them getting much else.
Like this, but Black…and one silver arm!
So let’s do some speculating. All three of these codexes have had pretty concise books in the past. Each book looks like it might get a new unit or two – but I wouldn’t say any of them are getting new models. Unless something drastic happens with the Harlequins, I don’t see any of them getting a crazy new kit. The point is that GW has a pretty standard template for how the new codexes look and feel. Cranking out these three doesn’t seem like it’s going to take a ton of work, comparatively. We know the Drukhari are coming out this weekend, but that’s about it.
Next week we’ll see the release of the Idoneth Deepkin on the AoS side of the house. That’s got a lot of folks excited, but on the 40k side of things it’s going to be a bit of a dry spell. I don’t think it’s a bad thing for GW to focus on their other systems, but it does have me curious as to what they are gearing up for.
What’s Next?
After this next batch of codexes, we’ve got the following armies to look forward to:
- Adeptus Sororitas
- Orks
- Genestealer Cults
- Space Wolves
And we know GW has already said that Plastic Sisters are scheduled for 2019. So just based on the time-line, that leaves some pretty big gaps, especially when you look at the pace they are able to crank out codexes.
We’ve seen GW put out a 2 codexes a month pretty consistently – even 3 in the same month. And as I mentioned above, these next three books don’t seem to be colossal undertakings. None of them are any deeper than the Grey Knight Codex, just sayin…
Games Workshop could finalize the next three codexes, plus Orks, Genestealer Cult and Space Wolves by June/July if they really wanted to. That leaves almost 6 months of open releases for Warhammer 40,000. We know Chapter Approved 2018 will be out late in the year, plus the revamped Kill Team. That still leaves lots of space for SOMETHING to fill up those gaps.
Even with Necromunda and Blood Bowl getting splash releases that still leaves questions. I’m hoping we’ll see some new campaign boxes a la Forgebane pop-up. Plus there were rumors of a Global Summer 40k Campaign. And don’t forget the impending FAQ – but those aren’t new product releases…
Something is coming for the back-half of the year. What do you think it will be?
