Warhammer 40K: The Militarum Tempestus Problem
The Astra Militarum has one other branch of it’s tree that’s causing a problem. We’ve got to talk about the Militarum Tempestus.
Many moons ago Games Workshop wanted to sprue up the aging Imperial Guard miniature range. They decided to introduce a more elite version of the Guard with the introduction of the Militarum Tempestus branch. These hot-shop las powered Guardsmen were basically a new version of the Kasrkin Elite. But with a few more options.
But now the Kasrkin are back in plastic and they have wowed most Astra Militarum fans. And the Taurox never really took off in popularity. The Command Squad is neat but ultimately unnecessary. And that’s a problem for the Tempestus Scions.
We’re back and we’re lean, mean, Astra Militarum Machines!
Militarum Tempestus Problem
So what is Games Workshop going to do with this vestigial organization of Militarum? What’s the purpose of this branch and what can GW use it for moving forward?
Personally, aside from the Taurox, I think these models were perfectly fine. They are more elite Guardsmen and actually had decent firepower and armor. They still weren’t Space Marine level elite, but they were released in plastic at a time when the Kasrkin were still metal/finecast and were kind of getting phased out.
I think that was really the goal for this sub-faction: Take the elite of the Guard and make them an actual army. The issue is that this sub-faction just never really took off and didn’t grow over the years.
But I think it’s the classic “chicken or egg” problem with a “new” army. No one is buying these models because there’s so few models to buy. So you need to add more models to the range to generate interest but you can’t justify the increase for the range because it doesn’t have the sales to back it up. See the problem?
Too Late To Expand?
It’s not that hard to imagine more Scion units. They are clearly infantry focused so why not add more Scion Infantry units? Heavy Weapons Teams, Special Weapons Teams, new upgrade Scion Sentinel kits. Imagine all those units but in Kasrkin/Scion style armor. It could totally work!
Except it’s kind of happening already. Just for the old Cadian range with a whole slew of new kits. They aren’t in Kasrkin armor but they certainly look better than the old kits.
The Tempestus Scions aren’t going to go away with the new book. But with the return of a plastic Kasrkin unit, I do wonder what makes the special and interesting to use now. I do think that the sub-faction as a concept has some merit but it’s going to take more resources to make them more popular.
Unfortunately for the Miltarum Tempestus GW went with the more “generic” Astra Militarum units to update instead of expanding their range. And I can’t really blame GW for doing that. Plus, those old guard kits really were starting to show their age. It was only a matter of time before they got the Primaris treatment, right Leman Russ?!
Leman who? This is the Rogal Dorn, sir!
The Militarum Tempestus are going to suffer an identity crisis when the new book drops — how would you fix it?
