Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: My Christmas & 2020 Wishes
Goatboy here again as we reach the end and head off into the 2020’s I want to wax poetic and see what wishes might actually come true as the new year looms.
I get the feeling will see a pretty big upshift in 40k as GW is looking at a refresh, repurchase, and a chance to rework their bread and butter game. With that in mind – lets jump on that sleigh, 80’s high five Santa, and see if some of my wishes end up being true next year.
Competitive Grey Knights
First wish and the one I feel will be true – will see an actual competitive 40k list come out using Grey Knights next year. Why do I think so? Well the Psychic Awakening stuff has added a lot of powerful rules to some codexes. Heck I think it even allowed Chaos to go from the kicking boy for Marines to something scary to deal with. This has me thinking – will we see something good come together for Grey Knights? Something so powerful that it will bring back the bad boys of 5th edition? On the coat tales of that will we see Dark Angels get something good too? We got January to wait for that nonsense so lets keep our fingers crossed the old Matt Ward boogie men army of yesteryear become something to be fearful for. (I do have a big GK army too… so it would be nice to bring them out to play).
Reviving Death Guard
After that will continue on with the Psychic Awakening etc etc – and pin a wish on the idea that they can make Death Guard – well more interesting. It is one of the few armies I love and have huge amount of models. It would be nice to see some more interesting rules and some push towards pure Death Guard like we see with the Marine builds. They are not the biggest fans of the other Chaos Armies so it makes sense we get a Death Guard matters style build where you get something cool and extra. Heck I talked about it a few months ago and think that would be a good place to start. Give them a new stinky breathe of live in this environment beyond the use of 3 Plagueburst Crawlers guarding your flank.
New Edition
After that I bet we see a new edition coming. It just feels like the right time as the current set of rules has so many updates that we just need a new rule book to get them all contained. Plus – they need to fix a few things. Terrain is pretty annoying as its too nebulous and abusive at the same time. From there I really would like a switch of some sort in Assault. I don’t know what but the shooting is out of hand right now so finding something to work on that would be good. Heck it might be worth it to shift everyone’s ranges down so people have to move to get involved with the enemy. It’s just a thought but it could help make the game a lot more enjoyable beyond surviving turn 1 or wrecking someone turn 1.
New Codexes
After that I bet will see some new Codexes come out. Beyond some hope to get a few of the older books into the new edition we could see something new. I have heard so much chatter about Emperor’s Children that it is bound to come out at some point. After that there is either a chance for Renegade Guard to Dark Mechanics rearing their ugly mugs at some point. I hope we don’t just see more Marine books but I bet will get an updated one from either Dark Angels (unless Psychic awakening for them is just like the Blood Angels one were the book is a complete rework) or Space Wolves. Speaking of Wolves – they really need to make Wulfen a big focus in the new book. They lost so much with Legends that having some fresh like a true werewolf army would be awesome.
I do wonder what the new edition will have for the main boxed set. I am always guessing some kind of Chaos something as that seems easiest – but who would we see beyond Marines? Maybe instead of Chaos they go Renegade Guard versus something neat like the updated Admech or just something different and cool? I know it has to be a good guy so who do you think it should be? Maybe the new Sisters? They have to find a way to reuse that limited edition starter box that came in November so why not add them into that? Or are they just going to leave it for a 95 dollar started box missing a few things?
Prettier Events
Beyond all of this – for events I expect more of a push to get things fully painted, based properly, and looking cohesive. It just feels like as GW gets more involved with the competitive side of the game – they want people to see it online and think – wow that is some nicely painted figures on the table top. It’s always been annoying to play a battle versus a 3 color special so pushing that stuff out might be for the best. I do wonder if will see more North American events in the coming year but will have to wait and see.
Play More!
My upcoming year should hopefully see me play more events as my new child is older and thus less of a need to have my weekends locked down. I don’t have aspirations to be the ITC champ as that costs a good deal and I am not interesting in always playing the best in the meta. I would be happier just being a true Chaos Warlord and coming out on top when I play a weekend of two. I am hoping we still see Chaos play decently as that is always my current focus when I paint for myself in-between batches of client work.
What Xmas wishes do you guys have for the upcoming year? Any particular army you want to see show up? Anything you hope to throw your money away at?
