40K End Times (Plastic Horus Heresy)

[Kirsten]

rumour has the HH set being a mix of armour marks though. regardless, Forge World still sells super heavy tanks that have plastic alternatives, so why stop selling infantry bundles?

[Mr Mystery]

Suppose.

Like I said, it's just not sitting right with me this one.

Plus, HH before Warhammer 9th? Not 100% sure on that either.

[Erik Setzer]

Well, HH is a very popular line, part of their flagship game. It would give them a nice sales boost right now (and they might feel they need it, or actually need it... can't know until some kind of report comes out in a few months).

There's also the issue that they have quite a bit of End Times stock sitting around. Sure, they could repackage the softcover fluff books and just sell them by themselves (or in a bundle) for people who want the End Times story. But there's still hardcover copies of Thanquol and Archaon in their warehouse (and on some store shelves... heck, there's hardcover Archaon not just at the local GW, but also at an indy store I went to last weekend). Once they drop 9th edition, the rules in those books quite possibly become worthless (at least for those who stick to the latest edition of the game), and that would leave them with all those books they haven't been able to move. And you know what happens to books that aren't moved? The covers are torn off to destroy their value, and they're chucked in the trash. Complete write-off. Can't be a good look, and probably isn't an insignificant loss.

So it could make business sense to push HH now, and hold off with WFB9, especially as they haven't officially announced 9th and might hold out hope that people don't know it's coming.

To that end, that's another point... There's been no hints of a new WFB edition, no posters or anything, and with them looking to revitalize the game and introduce a new Warhammer world and all, you'd think they'd have posters hinting at it at least 2-3 weeks in advance, kind of like 40K 7th edition.

[musical-fool]

It might just be me but I am slightly worried about the plastic HH models having seen the latest Ad Mech releases for may.

Look at the automaton compared to the castellax, the GW ones do look like a *******ised, simpler version. I just hope the same doesn't happen the the marks of armour for the SM...

[Kirsten]

no reason why it would, GW have been making amazing plastic marine armour for years.

the GW robots are not Castellax, they are different units with a different aesthetic. I am not a huge fan either, but it doesn't have any bearing on the quality of what they can do. I've no doubt GW could make plastic Castellax if they wanted to that looked the same, these new bots were designed to be different.

[Mr Mystery]

Mechanicum had better toys during the Heresy. MUCH better toys, so it makes sense that the Kastellans are 'well, close enough' replacements for the original Castellax. Definite common design cues, just a lower-tech version.

[Path Walker]

Fluff wise, they really fit well, the Kastelan is the original design found, pre Great Crusade, the Castellax was then used (its specifically stated to just be the newest in the line of Castellan class robots) in the Great Crusade because it was the most adaptable and best war robot they had, after the Heresy, the Castellax designs were lost, the newly formed Mechanicum needed some battle robots and so went back to the old, simpler and more crude Kastelan, which has to be hand fed instructions via data wafer rather than having them fed in through the noosphere like the Castellax.

[Erik Setzer]

Mechanicum had better toys during the Heresy. MUCH better toys, so it makes sense that the Kastellans are 'well, close enough' replacements for the original Castellax. Definite common design cues, just a lower-tech version.

Yeah, it's one thing that's been a constant in the 40K fluff, even if it never really made sense, that the Imperium has slipped backwards in technology from the 31st millennium. It might not have been *quite* as bad in the past (Jetbikes were still a thing for more than one guy), but it's always been this weird thing where even the same equipment and stuff has taken a noticeable step backwards. The only thing that seems to progress is Space Marine armor.

[Path Walker]

Yeah, its completely unprecedented to a civilisation to stagnate and decline over time, letting technology fall by the way side as they become less able to recreate the wonders of the past, never in human history has this ever happened, mankind have never fallen into such a Dark Age.

[Bigred]

via "Mikhael" 7-15-2015

Horus Heresy plastic boxed set is coming and is scheduled for November 2015