You ever feel like you’ve written the same blog post already before? I’m sure I wrote an article like this last year, and, as I have no intention of trawling through all my ancient drivel, I’m not sure if much has changed here or not. Well, maybe the ending. Anyway, here is my list of the 5 things I want for 40K in 2018.
1: The Storm Has Gathered – Now What
With the recent releases of the Blood Angels and Dark Angels codices, we’ve learned even more about our gradually progressing galaxy and things are looking very interesting indeed. The Sons of Sanguinius were almost obliterated but now look set to become one of the strongest bastions of human defence as their ranks swell with new Primaris warriors. Meanwhile, the Dark Angels are even more obsessed with their hunt for the fallen, especially considering what’s happened to Luther… What’s more, there are still questions from the original Gathering Storm books to be answered, and that’s why I want to see what happens next in a big way. Guilliman is charging all over the place, duking it out with his brothers, but surely we’ll be getting an even bigger, in-depth look into the goings on in our new 41st Millennium by the end of the year. AoS is getting the big treatment at the moment with Malign Portents, but when all of the Codex books have been updated, we need to know more about the Indomitus Crusade. Will another brother return? Will the mysteries of Cypher’s sword be revealed? What else lurks in Trazyn’s vaults? And what of the Ynnari? All will hopefully be revealed.
2: Some Seriously Big Kits
We’ve been enjoying a time of skirmish and small-model-count or entry level games of late, with Necromunda, Shadow War, Shade Spire and Blood Bowl dominating the release schedules, but I’m getting hungry for some classic 40k, bigger is better, type kits. Only a year or so ago, we were coming out of a period where everything was bigger and better than before, with Imperial Knights, Wraith Knights, and Gork-(and indeed Mork)-anauts among many other kits. Things have been a little smaller of late, and while I doubt I’ll be painting anything too big, it would be good to see some more Apocalyptic scale kits join the shelves. I’m not sure what’s left to do, or what they could dream up, but perhaps some sort of giant Mechanicum crawler/weapons platform, or a Nurgle Plague Tower (seeing as Nurgle seem to be the big draw these days) – anything massive and monstrous would do. It helps to remind us of the crazy scale that can help to make 40k so much fun.
3: Pl*st*c S*st*rs
I’m not going to say the actual words, because we all know what happens when we do (see attached GIF). But given the release of Celestine, and given the clamour that is only growing for them (when the big survey was launched by the Community team late last year, this was apparently on everyone’s wish list), it would be good if this particular army did finally get the update we’ve all been asking for. I’d love to paint up a squad to show people are still into them, but when a 20 year old ten model unit costs £50 and is made of metal, I’m in no rush to do so. They really do seem to be the one missing part of the Imperial puzzle at the moment, and even the Community team have been teasing us about them for a few months now. Will 2018 finally be the year where the army that rhymes with “Madepta Bororitas” (or, as I prefer to think of them, “Fisters Of Prattle”) gets some love?
4: Broken Record Time
Yes, my favourite moan. Slaanesh. *cue eye rolling from everyone who reads this blog – some people slam their laptop shut – faint sounds of weeping* We’re getting to the point where we’re most likely to find out the fate of the least favoured God in the Chaos pantheon. Khorne smashed their way into a revival back when WFB was still a thing. Tzeentch has new minis too, and we’re about to get yet another big swathe of Nurgle-themed miniatures. All that’s left is the pink-headed stepchild who has for too long been beaten like a rented seeker. Already banished by the Aelves in AoS, and under threat from the Ynnari in 40K, Slaanesh has been clinging to her status as a functioning deity for what seems like some time now, and there have been very few rumours to suggest that she’ll be getting any love any time soon. Whispers of mounted noise marines and a new Keeper of Secrets have fizzled out and died over the last couple of years, and but for a few mentions of Fulgrim returning in The Gathering Storm, there’s not been much to grasp at. In 2018, one way or the other, I think we’re going to be getting our biggest indication as to whether Slaanesh is slithering off for good or, hopefully, not.
5: I Don’t Know
This is a weird one really. I was going to talk about Chaos Primaris Marines, or learning the fate of the Space Wolves, or even ditching the now-tragic old sculpts (Poor Ragnar Blackmane) that still litter the product ranges, but that all felt like a bit of a rehash of the above. The fact is that 40K feels so new to me at the moment, that I don’t really know what I want. More global campaigns? Sure. Why not. I doubt I’ll take part in them, but they seem to be largely enjoyed by others. A new army? Of course. Why not. I mean, we can barely cope with what we have but it would be cool to see something Xenos and new come out. The rebirth of the Emperor? Why not (again). It would shake things up a bit. But this is what I’m talking about; there’s so much going on that it’s almost too much to get your head around. That’s not a complaint at all – 40k has never felt this busy and vibrant, and I’m loving that, but as I’ve spent less time in the core game over the last year, it’s hard for me to think about what we don’t have when it’s almost impossible to comprehend what we do have. Ask me in a month or so, and I probably still won’t know! This is a golden age for GW and 40K, but some of us are getting a little blinded by the sheen. Happily blinded, but blinded nonetheless.
How about this – you pick the fifth thing here. Apart from what I’ve already mentioned, why don’t you name what you’d like to see in 40K in 2018. Put a comment below and help me out with this article. Seriously – I need some ideas here!
I look forward to reading about what you want GW to do with our distant and grimdark future. In the meantime, I hope all of your hobby-related wants and dreams come to fruition this year. Onwards!
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I think you hit the nail on the head really – replace the really old sculpts. In particular for my own desire, I’d like to see a nice new autarch skyrunner and new shining spears, though they’re hardly the most ancient models in the line (I just don’t want to have to convert them).
All Hail Saim Hann!
I know what you mean about the Shining Spears – imagine how good those lances would look if they were sculpted today!
As they didnt do the decent thing and put dante in a dreadnaught with a jump pack( i hate that sculpt so much, is the only BA mini i have never bought!) id say yeah new BA character sculpts, mephiston is laughable by todays standards
Poor old Meph and Dante. I loved the Mephiston mini when it came out, but that was a very long time ago now. Could definitely do with a bit of a redo.
I find it funny that the librarian in space hulk is mephiston before he got trapped under a building and either brute forced himself through the black rage/made deal with tzeench, and that the younger mephiston has the better sculpt these days, back in ’97 mephiston was 100% badass of a sculpt
I think the biggest thing I’d like to see that isn’t mentioned above* is a few accessory sprues to add back in a bunch of the options that got removed just because they don’t come in that kit. Power Weapons other than Swords for various Units, maybe some additional Special/Heavy Weapons, some of the options that got dropped for Vehicles like Dreads and Speeders, stuff like that.
Also, yeah, updating some of the really old Models. Not just the metal Special Characters, but also stuff like the Ork Wartrakk and DeffKopta. Those weren’t particularly mind-blowing when they came out 15-20 years ago, and they really haven’t aged well since.
*Of the things that are mentioned above, more Slaanesh is top of my list.
The Thousand Sons and Nurgle get codexes, a Khorne update can’t be far away (given they got one in 7th); time for a bit of Slaaneshy loving