Warhammer 40K: 9th Is The Xenos Edition

Let’s talk about how 9th is shaping up to be a great edition for Xenos.

It’s common knowledge that 40K is all about Space Marines. On the few occasions when it’s not about, it’s still about the Imperial/Chaos conflict. It’s widely known that these factions get all the love, and of course, dominate the meta. However 9th Edition is shaping up to be something a bit different, at least on the tabletop. Let’s take a look.

The 8th Edition Meta was Pretty Xenos Friendly

Let’s first start by challenging the idea that Xenos are a left behind group of factions. While some factions, say Nids, have totally be left out in the dark, others have got recent large expansions. Both GSC and Orks for instance got a batch of new models in 8th Edition. Meta-wise 8th was also a lot better for Xenos than it might seem. Eldar had one of the longest runs dominating the meta, and are of the 4 armies I would say that really had times as the undisputed kings, of 8th Edition 40K.  Two of them, Eldar and T’au were Xenos (with Marine and Knights being the other two). Overall Xenos always had a place.

9th Has a High Rate Of Xenos Codices

While there have been a lot of books released in 9th Edition, there have only been 4 actual Codices released. All the other books have been Crusade books, supplements, or some sort of Campaign book. Of the four full Codices released, Marines, Necrons, Death Guard and Drukhari, two, 50% have been Xenos, giving them a larger number than Imperials or Chaos. Three more Codices have been announced, Orks, Ad Mech and Sisters, which will give us 3 out of 7 books being Xenos. That’s not forgotten at all. Moreover, when it comes to new models, Xenos are also doing good. While Drukhari didn’t get a big release of models, they did about as well as Death Guard and better than the supplements. Necrons of course had a massive dump of models and Orks are looking to get a number of new models. This is all pretty good news for Xenos fans.

Meta Winners

9th has had a pretty odd meta thanks to the majority of events getting canceled. It’s been kind of hard to really get a grasp on what the meta has been, and it’s absolutely been more fluid than in other editions. Though we should also remember that early 8th had a pretty fluid meta with a lot of weird Index armies showing well. However so far in 9th I would say that two armies have really stood out in the meta, and both of those are Xenos. Harlequins emerged as a strong army in the early meta, even without an updated book. These guys proved they weren’t clowning around and became the talk of a lot of the community. 

More recently Dark Eldar have taken the meta by storm and are clearly the dominant faction (don’t forget your safe word) in the meta. Meanwhile, most Imperial factions, including Space Marines haven’t had nearly as good a showing in the meta as their detractors might have you believe. Indeed 9th edition has so far, seen Xenos do better in both terms of Codecies released and meta dominance than either Imperials or Chaos. It will be interesting to see how this continues into the future, but right now, 9th appears to be the Xenos edition. 

Let us know how you think Xenos are fairing, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.