Warhammer World Open Day Weekend Reveals Leave Us Wondering ‘What’s Next?’
Games Workshop dropped some big news over the weekend for both 40k and AoS. Now we’re wondering what’s next for both game systems.
In case you missed the news over the weekend both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar got some big news. 40k got two new model reveals, new boarding patrols, and a confirmation about the final — announced but maybe not actually the final — Arks of Omen book. AoS got confirmation of the next two battletomes for Chaos as well as two new models to showcase and Vanguard Boxes for both armies. It was a lot. But where do we go from here?
Warhammer 40,000 – What’s Next?
As mentioned above, the final book for the Arks of Omen event has been revealed. It’s the return of Farsight with a shiny new model and cover.
We also know that this book will cover the following armies:
- T’au Empire
- Asuryani and Ynnari
- Drukhari
- Harlequins
- Adepta Sororitas
Lore-wise we have a few tidbits on what the story will entail as the teaser mentioned that Farsight was essentially mopping up some Orks when a few Arks of Omen arrived to muck things up. We’ll have to see how that resolves but GW might have already teased the return of another Primarch.
So where does Warhammer 40,000 go from here? What happens after Arks of Omen: Farsight? Well, the Rumor Mill has been spinning up about Warhammer 40,000 10th edition. I’m not going to get into all the speculation and leaks that have been doing the rounds. Whatever happens, I think the big takeaway here is that there’s a whole lot of smoke blowing around. And where there’s smoke there’s fire (at least that’s how the saying goes). At this point I think I would be more shocked if there wasn’t a new edition ready for launch in the Summer, once the Arks of Omen event wraps-up.
Will we see Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition this year? That seems like the logical next step. It’s how the cycle works. Will this be a 9.5 update or a completely new system? There’s implications for both. The big one being that if we do see a complete system update we’re going to need rules quick. So does that mean a return to the Index System? Wouldn’t that be a real trip!
For now, we have a major lore event to wrap-up and the future implications of the Arks of Omen teasers. But, whatever happens, something big is coming for 40k right around the corner.
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar – What’s Next?
Big things are already happening on the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar side of the house. We know the next three Battletomes now that Kharadron Overlords are up for Pre-order. Plus, GW revealed the next two books are Blades of Khorne and Hedonites of Slaanesh.
The unreleased battletome list is continuing to shrink as well. Here’s where we’re sitting now:
Spring
- Order – Kharadron Overlords (pre-orders up)
- Chaos – Blades of Khorne (announced)
- Chaos – Hedonites of Slaanesh (announced)
- Death – Unannounced
- Death – Unannounced
Summer
- Order – Seraphon (confirmed)
If you’re keeping track at home that leaves three Death battletomes up for release and a Cities of Sigmar battletome. The Cities of Sigmar book is expected to actually be replaced by the Dawnbringer Crusade book, although there is a possibility that those could end up being two separate books entirely. The reason is that the Cities of Sigmar is kind of a home for all those other armies that still have models but no battletome (aka Old World Armies). While the Dawnbringer Crusade could be the new “Empire” book. We’ll have to see.
As far as the Death Grand Alliance goes, they DO have two slots slated for the Spring with unannounced books. However, there are three Death battletomes that need to be updated: Soulblight Gravelords, Flesh Eater Courts, and Ossiarch Bonereapers. At this point I don’t know which one is more likely that the others. If you play any of those armies there are reasons you’d want to get your book in the Spring and other reasons you’d want to be post-Seraphon. Either way it’s clear that Games Workshop is quickly getting to a point with AoS 3.0 where all the armies will have new battletomes out.
So what happens next? Well, clearly, we’ve got more battletomes on the way. Plus the new Dawnbringer Army is coming. It’s unclear when the Dawnbringer Crusade Army will arrive but it’s going to make a splash. There will also need to be the third Death book as well. I could see GW doing a Death vs Order box for the Dawnbringer release, too. Or at minimum a brand new Army Box for the brand new army. That would line up with past releases. However, I think the timeline for that release is probably closer to November/December.
As a quick aside, there’s also the Warhammer: The Old World project that GW has been working on. I’m only mentioning it here because I’m sure folks are wondering if that game system is going to get released after Seraphon. I’d say yes — but WAY after Seraphon. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a 2024 or even a 2025 release to be perfectly honest. I’ll we’ve really seen has been a handful of maps and mentions that the rules will use square bases and ranks again.
Warhammer – What The Future Holds
It doesn’t appear that Games Workshop is slowing down anytime soon. Warhammer, regardless of system, is going strong. GW has their release cycle and they are sticking to it. Sure, sometimes things might get shuffled around or delayed, but that type of stuff happens on the back-end. Very rarely have they pulled a product from the release cycle that was previously shown off — and when it does happen they tend to address it. Perhaps that’s why they are staying hush-hush about a 40k 10th edition release. Or maybe they are just waiting for the end of Arks of Omen to show it off. But we won’t know until we know, ya know?
What’s Next?! More Plastic Models!!!
