Warhammer 40K Rumors: 10th Edition Latest
There’s a new set of Warhammer 40K 10th Edition rumors doing the rounds. They are spicy.
We are into the 2nd year of 9th Edition and GW has been trying valiantly to balance things out via Balance Dataslates, and the regular Chapter Approved updates. Still it is clear that the end of the edition can’t be too far away. The remaining number of codexes left to do is dwindling. We all know what normally happens after the cycle is completed. New Edition time. Onto the latest rumors.
These rumors come to the community from Valrak (via B&C)
10th Edition Rumors
- Coming in 2023
- Rules Will Be a Complete Reset
- Similar to 8th Edition reset
- Index Books to Start, followed by Codexes
Thoughts
First off, go read the previous 10th Edition rumors from earlier this month. That will give this set more context, and has all kinds of details on early codexes and the launch box (remember these are rumors).
The news of a new Edition in 2023 should come as a surprise to no one. In theory, 10th could have arrived this year, but GW instead used the summer launch window for Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness. 2023 will make 9th 3 years old, which is the new normal for GW to get through all the Edition’s books.
The big rumor in this set is word of another complete reset. Complete rules reboots are always risky. Companies do them when they reach a dead end with a current product line. It’s warranted when a product line no longer meets customer or company needs and it can’t be easily changed into what the market desires.
When I look at where 9th is now – I can see how a case can be made for a reboot. 8th Edition was launched in 2017 with a great promise of a fresh beginning. It came after the 20 year continually tweaked 3rd-7th Editions, which kicked off way back in 1998. I think it’s safe to say that by the end of 7th Edition the game’s rules had become overly ornate and cumbersome. 8th Edition was supposed to address this. Remember the talk and fanfare about it’s 8-page pamphlet core rules.
Well in only six years I think late era-9th Editions has grown just and complex and ornate ruleswise as 7th Edition ever was. The number of publications, and sheer number of rules grew like a weed, and the machine-gun rate of rules change is difficult to keep up with – especially for casual players.
So the idea of a full reset is plausible. The codex cycle makes slow incremental change the rule of the road, so anything drastic would require a full reset with Index Books.
But What Is the Goal?
But that brings me to the real question. What exactly would GW want to drasticaly change about 40K? What core rules concepts of 10th Edition are so divergent that GW would feel the need for a full reset? What are the parts of 8th-9th that Nottingham would consider such messes that they need to entirely removed in one fell swoop? That’s a discussion for a different day.
What do you think of the rumors, and as always, caveat emptor.
