A new edition of Warhammer 40,000 will be available this summer. The news was announced at Adepticon, Chicago, USA as part of that massive Warhammer 40,000 convention.
The game has been streamlined so the rules of the game will fit on a single page, with the data sheets for each unit fitting on a single card. All the army rules and data sheets will be available for free online, which is a new thing for Warhammer but pretty much standard for wargames in general. Rules for building a playable army have also been simplified.
The new edition will still produce Codexes (books that focus on the rules for one faction) and, over time, replace the free rules, though the main appeal of these books has always been the hobby advice and world-building.
The game designers state that the game will keep its tactical depth without the overly-complicated rules that have slowed down previous editions.
The tenth edition is set during a conflict called the Fourth Tyrannic War, and the box set will feature Terminator Space Marines (that’s genetically enhanced dudes in massive armoured suits) and Tyranids (space-faring insect/dinosaur monsters). Models for both Tyranid Termagants and Terminators will be in the Tenth Edition starter set.
Warhammer 40,000 has been around since 1987, starting life as a book called Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, with fairly complicated and anarchic rules that detailed a sort of ‘generic fantasy world, but in space’ setting that drew from pretty much every single popular science fiction thing out there at the time. Over the last thirty-six years, the game has evolved into a unique and highly marketable franchise.
Fan reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, despite it being only being three years since the Ninth edition was launched. Teaser information for the box did lead some to believe that a new edition of the classic strategy game Space Hulk would be announced; alas, this is not the case, and the game is still out of print.
Also announced at Adepticon was the game Kill Team: Gallow Fall, which will see The Leagues of Votann (Space Dwarves) fight chainsaw-wielding Beastmen in a beautifully detailed collapsing space-ship. The Horus Heresy game will get a new campaign book, and a forthcoming Arks of Omen campaign book will be about Lion El’Johnson, one of the demi-god-like ‘heroes’ of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. A model for Mr El’Johnson has also been announced. Fantasy fans can look forward to Warhammer Underworlds; Wyrdhollow, described as weird wizards vs neurotic knights in a carnivorous forest. Sigmar fans can also expect more models for Human, Undead and Dinosaur-inspired armies.
More information on all of this can be found on the Warhammer Community site.
