Heresy & Heroes

Now, I’m not one for knocking things too much on this blog, and I’d like to keep it like that. True, there’s the occasional dig against the truly stupid, but over all, I like to consider this to be a virtual space of relative positivity. So I’m not going to gloat, crow or laugh at the idea of the Tolkien-based games drifting into ‘webstore only’ obscurity now that Mr Jackson has finally finished milking that cash cow of every last bloody cent. And why would I? It has bought plenty of people a lot of pleasure. Not ‘lots’ of people, but plenty. I’m not about to do a little dance now that something I never enjoyed or even admired has slipped by the wayside as I know other people did enjoy it. I will however do a little dance if this means some shelf space is freed up for new armies and models for 40k. I’m favouring an understated polka at the moment, but I’m open to suggestions.

The question then arises: what new shiny things will we be getting? The internet news sites and forums related to this hobby have been doing their finest beehive impressions over the last couple of weeks and been all abuzz with gossip, rumours and vague fantastical ramblings from whatever seers they’ve sought to provide them with this info. I thought I’d do a wee digest for you here, and give my own uninformed, wish-based and bound-to-be-so-wrong opinions, so let’s get started.

Warhammer 30,000

Currently a domain exclusive to Forge World, this part of the narrative has proven to be a massive hit, and if they have the facilities to support it (and surely they do), is it any wonder GW themselves want a piece of this pie (even if FW are kind of like another piece of the pie, that’s already eating the pie… wait, no – it’s best to think of Forge World being like that mouth on the end of Alien’s tongue… or something). New old-timey Space Marines in plastic that might encourage people to start spending even more money on FW’s ‘A Grade’ plastic crack in the future – sounds pretty smart to me. A boxed game, and a few kits to support it. Not bad…

A Different Boxed Game?

After the nostalgia-soaked love of Space Hulk and even the relative success of Dreadfleet (it really didn’t do them that badly – it was just a bit bad), maybe GW is buoyed into thinking they can run a third line that isn’t reliant on blockbuster movies. I think we can safely assume they’re unlikely to revisit Epic/Inquisitor scale games, but those of us who recall Necromunda and Gorka Morka know that GW can do this, but they’ll need (and I mean NEED) to support it to keep it alive.

Adeptus Mechanicus

What army have people been begging for since… well, Rogue Trader really? Another of FW’s success stories could get a GW Codex along with a release on the same scale as the Harlequins. A couple of characters, a diverse unit/troop box and a couple of vehicles and you’ve got something that people will flock to. What’s more, that’ll almost certainly see more sales for FW too. Win Win Win!

Sisters of Battle

I feel I should whisper that as to not get your hopes up too high. It’s another army people are desperate to get back and there are strong whisperings to support this. Personally, I’d love to see them again, but I think we’ve had rumours about them every year since they first disappeared from the stores.

Forge World in Store

Coming at it from a different angle, now that FW have moved to boxes and blisters, why not have their merchandise in store? It might be tough for them to support their whole range like this, but GW are definitely looking to get them more involved with people’s regular spending habits and this might be a winner. If they just put up a couple of IA books and the ‘40k Approved’ models of the moment in the larger stores, that’d be a start.

Other Things

There are plenty of rumours out there. A new Xenos force, Lizardmen and/or Skaven jumping over from Fantasy, a new line of Apocalypse units, the return of Genestealer cults or the Slaan… My favourite rumour (though I’m almost 100% sure that it’s no more than that) is that Blood Bowl will be coming back. I know that’s not 40k but I love that game and it would be amazing to see it come back again. Curiously for this sort of time of intrigue, no one has mentioned Squats, but can they ruled out? Yes, they probably can be. Maybe it’ll be…

In Conclusion

Well, in conclusion, I’d have to say that we know nothing. Least of all me. Especially me in fact. But I kind of like these days of having no idea what new toys will be flowing from the Dark Citadel in Nottingham in the grim darkness of the not too distant future. Maybe we’ll get Warhammer 50,000 – who the heck knows, right? It’s so up in the air, heldrakes are chasing it through the clouds. But there are plenty of juicy rumours and the gossip-mongers are muddying the waters and all we really can say is that, due to that freed up wall space, we’re going to get something. Let’s just hope it turns out to be something cool.

Found flaws in my logic? Have better ideas? Want to stake your reputation as a revered internet commentator on something? Stick them below please?