Warhammer: What Does Games Workshop Have Planned For The Rest of 2024?
If it feels like Games Workshop’s release schedule is a tad slow in 2024 you’re not alone. What’s coming until the end of 2024?
Does anyone else feel like Games Workshop is pumping the brakes on releases for the rest of the year or is it just me? We got the road maps for the big systems and they were honestly a let down. So what is going on? Are we having a 2024 lull or does it just feel that way? Let’s talk about what’s coming for the rest of 2024.
Warhammer 40,000
This is certainly one of the big disappointments. I’m not going to harp on this one any more than Goatboy already did. We already knew Blood Angels were on the way when this was announced. They’re basically out at this point now, too. We are going to their full codex release eventually as well as some more of their units that were part of the Army Set. But, as far as we can tell, that’s basically it for 40k in 2024.
We’re basically half-way through September at this point. That leaves an October release window. November and December are typically when we see the big battle force deals. So again, to Goatboy’s point, we’re really not expecting anything “new” for 40k until January. This certainly feels like a slow down for 40k specifically.
There is a Kill Team wave release coming with the new edition. Perhaps GW considers this a 40k window as it’s a sub-set of the 40k line. But I think if you ask most 40k players this wouldn’t really count as a “proper” 40k release to them specifically. So yes. It absolutely feels like a slow time for 40k. But that also means the game is at a stable point right now and that’s not a bad thing. But it can start to feel a little on the stale side of things.
Age of Sigmar
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar just launched a new edition. There was a Global Campaign this Summer and the forces of Chaos won pretty handily. The Skaven Wave is currently up for Pre-order and should be in stores by the 21st. And we know the Stormcast Eternals releases are right after that, too.
Right now we should be seeing a ton of buzz and excitement around Age of Sigmar’s new edition. Folks are playing it and everyone’s got the “Faction Pack” rules to use. In fact, right now is perhaps the best time to play as people are mostly in the same stop: re-learning their armies and the new edition.
We’ve got the Slaves to Darkness army Battletome on deck and it should be out before the end of the year. Again, I think that puts it sometime in October. As mentioned above, November and December are where we see GW slow things down and only have the big battle force releases — which I’m expecting we’ll see again for AoS, too.
Having said that, Only three battletomes for the new edition before the end of the year does seem a little light. GW does seem to be slowing release down in general. We’re also seeing BIGGER releases with the two upcoming waves (Skaven and Stormcast). I don’t know if we’re going to see the same sort of big updates for the Slaves to Darkness army by the end of 2024.
If you take a step back AoS actually does have a LOT of kits coming out relatively soon. But even with all those releases, it does feel a bit slow for some reason. Maybe it’s just because the new edition came out and people are still sorting through things. Hopefully it will pick up in 2025…but based on the Road Map I’m not getting my hopes up.
Other Systems
For the Old World we basically just got the Warriors of Chaos release and that’s it for the rest of 2024. Maybe we’ll see something for the Holidays…but I’m not holding my breath.
I think the Horus Heresy Road Map in particular was very thin. The “Still To Come” Section was basically “Mechanicum” and then “stuff” which was not helpful at all. Especially because it was unclear if those were for Age of Darkness or Legions Imperialis…
I’m not going to rehash the other systems recap from the NOVA Open. They were all pretty barebones for the rest of the year anyhow. It was a combination of things that were already out or about to come out for 2024…and that was basically it.
So…Is That It For 2024?
We’ve still got 3 and a half months left in 2024. There will for sure be more releases for 40k and AoS. But in terms of new armies, Codexes, and Battletomes…not so much. Even if there’s “stuff” coming the perception is out there that Warhammer is in the middle of a slowdown. Depending on your perspective this might not be a bad thing. Hopefully, it’s a chance for GW to gather themselves and be ready for a banger of a year in 2025.
In the meantime, I’m personally using this opportunity to catch-up on hobby projects. This “slow down” has been great for my hobby time as I’m clearing off projects and not just adding to the pile. I don’t know if anyone else feels the same way about it…but at least my wallet is catching a breather.
I do think right now is a good time to actually play both 40k and AoS — or whatever system you’re into. These lulls don’t come super often but they make for a stable time in terms of the meta. Everyone’s got their rules and everyone is kind of on the same page as there’s not any “new” stuff blazing in the destabilize things. It’s a far cry from when we were getting 2-4 codexes a month!
What do you think is happening? Is it the calm before the storm or is something else going on?
