2010 Early Release Schedule

[CrusherJoe]

Yeah, the fantasy analog to Necs is/are is TK -- at least that's what I've been told.

[RealGenius]

Meh, what do I know about Fantasy.

[Harry]

About as much as I know about 40K.

What I do know is that there is no "new race" winging its way in the 40K direction any time soon (well not as a stand alone army!)

There is no mixed codex .... GW wants each army to each have a stand alone codex and its own range of minis.

The Chaos legions are also intended as stand alone armies with their own codex and range of minis.

[Bigred]

Thank god for that.

Dedicated codices let the studio really pour their heart and soul into a coherent vision for an army instead of trying to pack an entire concept into 6-12 pages.(see the old CSM codex)

I think its interesting that Fantasy has more armies than 40k yes still feels like there is so much room to grow, while the galaxy-spanning 40k with less codices (and many of them MEQ clones) seems almost too expansive to get your arms around.

Am I the only one who feels like that? Its wierd...

[Harry]

I think it is something to do with how fully developed the armies are in the two games.

The fantasy game has been around a bit longer, in fantasy the existing races are, for the most part very well developed. With the exception of TK and OK the army books have been revisited and the background well developed. Thus folks are eager to explore new parts of the map.

In 40K some of the armies seem less developed, They do not all have stand alone books and ranges. Their background needs more depth. It feels to me like their is still work to be done to tie up the loose ends before they move on and boldly go in search of new life forms.

IMO

[Darkseer]

In 40K some of the armies seem less developed, They do not all have stand alone books and ranges. Their background needs more depth. It feels to me like their is still work to be done to tie up the loose ends before they move on and boldly go in search of new life forms.

IMO

So what armies would you have GW do then?
Ad Mech? Genestealer Cult?

[splnes]

with fantasy everyone has a grasp on what races are what. hell they could pump out a new codex on a new race and they already have back story from other fantasy sources. orges, goblins, undead, humans, elves and dwarves have been done in several different books that have nothing to do with warhammer, the tau on the other hand are strickly 40k, when making a new sci-fy race you have a ton of work ahead of you that other authors havent given you a jump start with. the fantasy world you would expect all of the above or it wouldnt feel right(what do you mean no dragons, this is fantasy right?) but if the new 40k race was the blah blah the hutts then GW would just be thieves. that was a cloaked star wars referance. sorry. back to what i was saying is that when creating a new 40k race every thing must be from scratch or its idea thieving. now this leaves a hard challange on how to make up some thing new without stealing from other sources.

my new 40k race, the mushroom people of isle 9. you deploy 40-50 mushroom men that stand their using thier unusual psyker powers to creat giant Mushroom avatars that go out and wrech ****aki revenge upon there enimeys! see i got this idea from my produce section in the local super market!! and those are just my troop choices wait until you see the heavy suport!!!!

[CrusherJoe]

*blinks*

Dude, lay off the mushrooms to early in the morning. It makes your posts kinda goofy-soundin'.

(Fun to read, though...)

[splnes]

dude in the morning?

I’ve already been working on some HQ choices for the Mushroom Men.

Master Cap 225points
Ws6 Bs4 S2 T5 W3 A3 I5 LD10 Sv 2+

Special rules:
Expert psker, Master Cap may use up to 3 psker abilities per turn (limit 1 shooting)
Fungi in the Dark, if a Mushroom Men army has Master Cap the Entire army has scout and infiltrate during night fight.
Old as Dirt, Master Cap is immune to instant death.

War gear:
Razored edge (this straight edged weapon is so sharp it increases S +3 for maximum armor penetration),
Spore Grenades (S9 offensive grenade),
Fungi Armor (only the oldest of the fungal warriors grow slimy fungi armor, it bestows a 2+ save and a 6+ invulnerable save.)

Psker Abilities:
Mushroom cloud, shooting ability. Range 36 S10 AP2 Heavy, Large Blast scatters as normal.
Dazed and Confused, shooting ability. Target unit must take a pinning check at -4LD as they wander around senseless.
Cow patty splatty!! Shooting Ability. Range template S6 AP3.
Trippin, Master Cap and any unit he’s attached to is whisked away and teleported up to 48 inches. If perils of the warp its considered a “Bad Trip” the unit stays where they are at but must make a Dazed and Confused targeted on themselves. Do not roll for perils for Dazed and Confused.
Open your mind, this ability is used at the beginning of the assault phase. Roll for perils, if successful the Razored Edge becomes a power weapon until the end of the turn.

[RealGenius]

So what armies would you have GW do then?
Ad Mech? Genestealer Cult?

Both of those are humans in the 41st Millenium ideas that I think would get really tired, really quickly. If we ever see AdMech, please let them be rolled into "Armies of the Imperium" that catches WH/DH as well.

Really, how much variation on the basic trooper is there to make something new interesting?

S3, T3, average save -- Guard, Eldar, Tau
S3, T4, good save -- Sisters
S3, T4, bad save -- Orks
S4, T4, good save -- Marines, Necrons

I think the basic trooper dictates the feel of the army. There's really not much variation left, so I think something new is just going to feel like some other existing army with different wargear. Especially an AdMech book.

If I were coming up with a new Xenos race, I'd go with something like Hrud and give them something like S4, T3, 2+ save -- easy to wound but hard to kill dudes that have a natural distortion field.

Anyway, please just not a stand-alone AdMech book. Good fluff != Good codex.