Warhammer 40K:Is GW Secretly Releasing A Rogue Trader Army?

Have we all missed the a brand new army? Here’s why I think a Rogue Trader codex may be in the works.

Every now and then GW adds new armies to Warhammer 40,000. In recent years this has become more and more common, with the last 3 editions seeing a large bump in the number of armies and armies books. GW tends to do this in one of two ways. The most obvious is with the “Big New Army Release”™ . Think Leagues of Votann. An army comes out in one big wave with a new book and all new models. It’s splashy and big.

However GW also, more often one could say, makes use of a sort of stealth release. They will release a few units that often can be used in other armies. Then GW will release a new Codex, it will come with some new models but will also make use of some existing ones. This is how the newer Chaos Legion books have worked, as well as Custodian Guard. So, is GW doing this again? Take a look.

A Rogue Trader Army?

Over the past few years GW has slowly been releasing a bunch of odd 40K models. These models have come out for their side games, in particular Kill Team and Blackstone Fortress. They’ve released a not insignificant amount of these unusual models and units over the past years. Now while most of these have rules for use in 40K, they don’t really fit in anywhere. You can at best field them as kind of random additional to an army – which no one does. However looking at them as a whole, you can also see the makings of a pretty interesting Rogue Trader army.

An Army’s Core

GW recently updated the datasheets for a number of these orphaned units. They are grouped as “Agents of the Imperium”. At first glance they kind of seem like an Inquisitorial faction. However really looking at them you can see that most of the actual units, and not just characters, are more suited for a Rogue Trader list. In fact you have two whole sets of core type units in the Imperial Navy Breachers and Voidsmen-At-Arms. Both are cool troop units that could form the core of an army, but right now don’t have any real place in the game. Along with them you’ve got the Rogue Traders themselves. There are rules for just one, but a couple models are out there. With a few supporting retinue character types around, you’ve already got HQ, Elites and Troops for a brand new army hidden in plain sight.

The Home For Lost Units

With these units as a base it would not be hard to build a Rogue Trader army out existing units. In fact it would work well to tie together a lot of the odd and more useless units in the game. One of the cool things about Rogue Traders is that they do and will work with Xenos, and that could make for a cool army. So for instance the Aeldari Corsairs, which are cool units but not one that fits in well in the Aeldari Codex, could find a home here. Likewise a Rogue Trader army could be the place for Kroot to finally shine. You can always throw in some Votann looking to make a big score. You could have some Ork units as well. Then you’ve got other random units, like the Ambulls or some Necromunda units that could get roped into the list.

A Unique Army Out of Existing Models

It’s easy to see how a pretty cool army could get built out of mostly existing models. Using the Rogue Trader bits that are already out there and pulling a bunch of homeless or Xenos units together would make for a very different force. A few Imperial units as well would help round it out, likely providing most of the heavy units. With luck if GW every does turn this into a real army you’d also get a few more unique releases for them. In fact we’ve already seemingly got a good one coming up.

An upcoming Kill Team release is going to introduce Adeptus Arbites as a unit. Most likely they will also get 40K rules. This will be yet another unit that doesn’t have a home at all. It would also fit well into a Rogue Trader army, maybe as an elite unit. I think a Rogue Trader army is just a really good fit and hope GW has been working on it behind the scenes. If not then I hope that they are least do something real with all these orphan 40K units, they are too cool to be forgotten.

Let us know if you think GW is secretly building a Rogue Trader army, 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.