Warhammer: Legions Imperialis – But Why Horus Heresy Again?
Are you wondering why Games Workshop chose to to Legions Imperialis in the Horus Heresy? Simple: It’s a numbers game. Allow me to explain.
Here at BoLS HQ we’re pumped about the Legions Imperialis Game. The idea of getting to build massive armies featuring Titans, Planes, and Space Marines is exciting to us. And while a lot of folks are feeling the same excitement there’s a lot of folks that are out there wondering “why did GW chose to set this in the Horus Heresy again and not the current 40k timeline?” That’s a fair question but it really comes down to resources and limitations. But maybe not where you think…
Below we have some pretty good theories as to why GW chose the Horus Heresy Era for this game. We can’t 100% confirm these but read on and I think you’ll understand where we’re coming from.
The Lore Reason
Let’s go back to the Adeptus Titanicus release for a moment. Because it was also set during the Horus Heresy. But why? Because during that time period in the Grimdark history Titans were aplenty! There were massive Titan Legions that battled and destroyed each other. Hundreds and thousands of Titans were lost in battle — that’s why in modern 40k Titans are supposed to be rare on the battlefield. It was a lot of material that was destroyed in those battles and a lot of that technology was lost or hidden away. Production of these massive warmachine has never fully returned to pre-Heresy levels.
The same is true for the Space Marine Legions. Again, in modern 40k, we have Chapters that are limited to 1000 marines. But during the Heresy, you could have “chapters” worth of Space Marines wiped out in a single battle. The scale of devastation is so much greater — at least in term of Space Marines dying. That’s why setting this game during the Horus Heresy makes sense compared to the lore.
The Production Reason
Okay, that’s great and all but here’s the real reason. The Horus Heresy is great for production because when GW makes one new Space Marine kit 18 different Legions can use it. That’s 18 armies that get support from just one kit. That makes the Horus Heresy much simpler to produce and maintain a product line for. And, to a lesser degree, a lot easier to stock for retailers as it’s less inventory to manage.
The same is going to be true of Legions Imperialis. There are 18 Space Marine Legions they are all going to use the same core units. That means GW makes one box and all of those players and their armies are supported. The same is true for the Solar Auxilia but to a lesser degree.
It’s all Epic Scale Now
It also allows them to keep producing the Adeptus Titanicus models in a new box. The same is true for the Aeronautica Imperialis models — at least the ones appropriate for the Horus Heresy era. Since those moulds are already done it allows GW to double-dip. That’s another win for them in the production department.
The Other Production Reason
The other production reason why GW is kicking the Legions Imperialis game set in the Horus Heresy is because that means they don’t have to produce any Xenos models. This is a big factor that I don’t think people are going to want to acknowledge …but it makes sense. By keeping the range focused on Imperial armies during the Horus Heresy they don’t have to worry about producing or maintaining Aeldari, Ork, or Tyranid ranges.
I know. That really sucks. I’d personally LOVE to get a massive Tyranid range together with Bio-Titans and everything. However, look at how AI did when they expanded it to include Orks and Aeldari flyers. It didn’t exactly take off like GW hoped. However, that DOES mean it’s possible for them to produce those models in the same scale.
Maybe down the road there could be an expansion that includes some Aeldari or Orks. They do exist in that era after all. I dunno about the Tyranids however.
Cannibalizing Their Existing Player Base And Resources
The final reason is based on the same reason they stopped supporting Epic 40,000 all those years ago: It was eating into their existing 40k player base and also production and design resources. We might all like to think that GW is a monolith with infinite resources and design capacity but they aren’t. They, just like other game developers, have a limited pool of designers, sculptors, and production facilities.
Every time they chose one product to work on there’s another 10 waiting the wings to get their design time. They could hire more people in those departments to support the new games and products but what if the game flops? Now they have to eat those costs and at the end of the day GW is still a business and their end goal is to make a profit.
Having yet another game compete for their player’s limited play time is also a concern. If you’re playing Legions Imperialis you’re not playing 40k at the same time. You can’t go to a Grand Tournament event and play in two simultaneous events because that’s not how time works. But more practically by limiting the game to the Horus Heresy you can’t play 40k at Epic scale using these minis.
But you could play Horus Heresy at Epic scale. At least theoretically. And if you don’t think that’s a concern that GW has thought about you’re crazy. Someone did the math and said “Yeah, it’s okay. We can take that risk.” So we’ll see if they were right.
It’s all a numbers game. And as of right now, GW thinks that The Horus Heresy is the safest play for launching a new game.
