Warhammer 40k: What’s After Chaos Space Marines?
Games Workshop dropped a road map for what’s coming after Chaos Space Marines, but the new teaser image has us wondering.
We’ve known the list of upcoming Codexes for Warhammer 40,000 since last year. It’s not a full list in the sense of every single army, but it was a long enough timeline that we’re still not at the end of the map…yet.
We’re on the verge of the Chaos Space Marine Codex hitting shelves (officially, the release date in stores is May 25, 2024). After that, GW stated that the Genestealer Cults and the Adepta Sororitas are up next for Summer 2024. That’s all syncing up nicely. We also have the redacted army that’s slated to hit in the Summer as well. After today’s teaser, I’m VERY curious to see what that new army is.
The last “new” army we had was the Leagues of Votann, which was essentially a reimagining of the Squats. It would be wild to see the Enslavers show up as a new army in the Summer of 2024! I’m still not 100% sure that’s what this teaser is, but the possibilities are exciting.
Aside from the Tyranids, most of the armies in Warhammer 40,000 are humanoid. Sure, there are some specific units that are outliers, but not full-on alien physiology. An entirely new race that allows the GW design time to go absolutely nuts creatively would be amazing.
Where’s All The Codexes?
That said, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here. This is still just a teaser (for now). And Warhammer 40,000 has a huge roster of armies that still need a new codex. It’s wild to me that it’s been almost a year since the new edition launched and we’ve still only gotten a handful of codexes. That’s relative to the number of armies in the game.
Armies with New Codexes for 10th:
- Space Marines
- Tyranids
- Adeptus Mechanicus
- Necrons
- Dark Angels (Supplement)
- Orks
- Adeptus Custodes
- T’au Empire
- Chaos Space Marines ( Releasing May 25, 2024).
It’s also worth noting that the Spring had five of those releases. That means more than half of the current codexes came out in the past three months (we’re counting CSM in that list). The point I’m making here is that the pace of Codex releases has been…weird. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have Indexes for all the armies at once! It’s just I thought GW would be moving a little faster to push out the new codexes.
We’re quite a ways from the tipping point, but once there are more armies with codexes than without them, the game itself will feel it. You’ll see a case of the haves vs. the have-nots. It’s a cycle we’ve seen in previous editions, and it’s going to happen in the 10th at some point.
For now, we’ve still got two more codexes announced and in the pipeline after Chaos Space Marines. After that, we’ve got one mystery book, and then… your guess is as good as mine. It feels like the entire field of options is available, and you could make a case for any army to be after the current/announced batch. We’re just going to have to wait and see.
If you’re finding yourself in the have-nots camp and want a change of pace, there’s always Combat Patrol.
What army do you want to see next after GSC and Sisters?
