Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: We Need to Talk About the Codex Roadmap
Goatboy here to read between the lines of Games Workshop’s 40K Codex roadmap .
We got a nice little sneak peak of the upcoming codexes. The bigger surprise is that there are so many “left” for the end of the year as a lot of chatter was pointing to Black Templars as being the last one. But we got a nice surprise with one Imperium and one Xenos army to crash out the year with. Most likely those last two won’t change too much of the Meta as the real big splash after the GW and FLG events would be the LVO – so we will see what ends up coming out and if we all need to be worried.
The Imperial Codex?
The Imperium release I am guessing will be a quick drop. Most likely a book and maybe a single model. This leaves really only two armies that fit that bill – Custodes and Imperial Knights. I get the feeling it is Custodes as the design is not nearly as “Knightly Houses” and I would expect any new Knight release to also walk hand in hand with their fallen brothers on the Chaos Knight side of things. But heck – we never know. This leaves me with Custodes as the rumor chatter is Astra Militarum is far away plus AM needs a whole updated range of models. There are too many things within AM that are not plastic which leaves a large swath of purchase options dead in the water. There are only so many tanks, Cadians, Catachan, or Storm Trooper models you can work with.
This really just leaves Custodes as the more obvious choice as the book needs an update. The army works as a whole and a few new strats, tweaked options, and maybe a new Character would help bring this army back into line. I know we won’t see any Psychic options but with their deep seated faith in the Emperor we could see a Chaplain. Or heck – just move some of the other Marine options like a Custodes Redemptor version or maybe some other neat option. The army is really dependent on some Forgeworld things too – so maybe throw those rules into this book as well so balance and design can make sure to match up and not need a whole new FW update/FAQ/Etc. It is one of those armies that rewards smart gameplay as you are usually stuck doing a lot of work within the movement phase to ensure you get the most out of it.
The Xenos Codex?
From there the Xenos one doesn’t seem to fit any of the bigger options that are out there. We know Orks are already coming in November so that really just leaves Craftworld Eldar/Friends, Nids, GSC, and Tau. I don’t think will see Craftworld as this release looks like it is towards the end of the year and if I were GW I would make sure to coincide the update with new Aspect Warrior models we have heard about for years. Tyranids and GSC could be interesting too – but GSC needs to be combined-balanced with AM to ensure we have a balanced and viable option. The Tyranids could also be cool but it feels like you want a Campaign book to sync up with them too. It would be the same with the Tau as it feels like they need some kind of story action to help get the most out of their release. I guess you could see either some kind of new big bug or finally a fully plastic Farsite model to help seal the deal with the release.
Now of course there was always chatter a new race was popping up. A lot of players seem to like the idea of the Space Skaven as it fits in some of the weird AOS lore where they went to a moon or tried to do weird space stuff. It lends itself to really going out there with their design and trying to create something evil that isn’t either an all devouring race (Nids), Mad Max nonsense (Orks), Pain addicted weirdos (DE), or just an overconsuming evil from inside the Warp (Chaos). This leads me to thinking of some kind of hidden race ready to fall between the cracks and devouring the crumbling worlds in a way that is sinister and uniquely 40k. Or hell they could just attach it to the Tau in a weird way as a friendly subjugated race that does more assault stuff. Either way I think the book points to something new and unique that comes out with a sweet new boxed set and tries to drive up sales at the end of the year.
Chaos & Marines
This of course means my Chaos Space Marines are staying without 2 wounds for a lot longer than I expected with the release of a new edition. It also probably means will see a new Space Marine book at some point because they can’t have their good guys not so good in the edition for long. But that is the life of a player not chasing the meta and just wanting to play with the toys they like the most.
This weekend has the first GW event in a while to go on. I saw some friends post their swag bags, mission packets, and other fun bits. It looks like GW is pulling out all the stops to make an awesome event. I am excited to play Austin where I threw down buying a big dollar ticket with goodies so will see how that goes. I am glad to see events really start and even though we need to all be careful it does bring me some mental relief to know I will have events to go to in the future.
Until next time – WAAAGH and what not!
