Warhammer 40K: 5 Things We Want From 2021
Let’s take a look at what we want out of 40k in the coming year.
2020 has been… a year. It’s had its ups and downs, and downs and downs, and some other downs. While the world might not be great 40K and GW in general have had some real bright spots, with new books, new editions, and new models coming out. As 2020 mercifully comes to an end we see some glimmers of hope for 2021. Today let’s take a look at five things I’d like to see in the new year.
5. A New Army
It’s been a while since 40K has seen anything really new. 8th Edition saw some nice expansion of some factions into whole armies, such as Death Guard and Custodians, and other armies got more fleshed out, such as GSC and Knights, but none of those were really “new” in 8th. Other armies that had gotten a bit of a start in 7th, such as Sister of Silence and Ynnari haven’t gone anywhere. I’d really like to see something truly new come into the game at this point, on the level of T’au introduction, a fresh new take on the game, but I know it’s a bit of a stretch.
4. Something to Happen With the Aeldari
7th Edition saw a huge advancement in Aeldari lore, with the return of Harlequins as a real faction and the introduction of the Ynnari and their massive story potential. Then…. all of that went nowhere. In the three years since then, the Ynnari plot basically hasn’t advanced at all, getting some minor lip service in Psychic Awakening. On top of that, the Ynnari faction still doesn’t have a proper Codex, being stuck with a series of poorly implemented Index books/White Dwarf Articles. The overall faction has suffered as well, Ynnari, Drukhari, Craftworld and Harlequins getting a handful of resculpts and a fairly useless Webway Gate over the last three years. The Craftworld range in particular is one of the largest and oldest ranges in the game, with many models getting close to legal drinking age (or having passed it depending on your home country). I really really just want to see something done here.
3. A Refresh of the Astra Militarium Range
Speaking of refreshing ranges, the Astra Militarium is an old, popular, and huge range of miniatures. They are also my one true 40K love. While they are a hugely important part of the lore and game, the core of the army is ancient. The army is really in kind of an odd spot, like the Space Marines, especially before the introduction of Primaris. They’ve gotten updates and new units. They’ve slowly had tanks added to the list, Tempestus Scions and Ogryns got a refresh, and they’ve had other updates. Still, the bulk of the army is running off of old 2nd and 3rd edition models that could use an update. This is especially true when it comes to infantry, which is ancient. Updating a few units would be easy and add a ton. This is also a great area to improve on female representation, as the Astra Militarium is a mixed-gender formation. Beyond models, the faction is in a bit of a bind, as I discussed, once or twice or more this year. This is a prime army to get a major overhaul.
2. GW Making Good On Its Promise For Better Representation
GW has said that they want to build a more diverse game and community. They’ve talked about making sure all people are better represented in 40K (and AoS and their other games). However, as we saw last year., they still have a ways to go on this in 40K yet. The studio tends to work pretty far in advance, about three years. However, the original post was from more than three years ago now and if they were posting about it publicly we could assume things had been underway for a bit already. We hoped that 2020 would be the year this all started coming to fruition, but it really wasn’t. Sure Sisters of Battle came out, but in general those were resculpts of existing models, with only a handful of new models thrown in and it’s hard to really say they added much to the overall diversity of the game. Other than that we saw a couple of very limited release models and a named female inquisitor who showed up at the end of an edition and was promptly forgotten. We didn’t even get any Aeldari resculpts this year like we did at the end of 2019 and have been promised for 2021. Compare that to the massive amount of new Marine models that came out this year, as well a huge trove of Necron models, not just resculpts, but brand new units and models. Sure there has been progress, but it’s creeping progress. It doesn’t have to be female Marines, there are better options, but we really need more.
1. To Get To Play With My Friends Again
Man 2020 has just been rough. One thing I’ve really missed, and I know I’m not alone, is playing with people. Be it at the regular weekly game night, at awesome events, just at a friend’s house it’s been a trying time. I’ve managed to get in a very limited amount of games this year, with some close trusted friends, but it’s not at all what I’m used to and has petered out over the last few months as things have gotten worse. But with a lot of good news about the vaccines floating around, this is by far the thing I want most for 40K from 2021, just to be able to play with people in person and without worry again. Here’s hoping this is one wish that comes true.
Let us know what you want to see from 2021, down in the comments!
