GW Tips Their Hand For 40K With Rising Phoenix & Blood of the Phoenix
We’ve been waiting to see exactly what GW is up to with Psychic Awakening and their latest news gives us a MUCH better idea of what is planned for 40K in the months ahead.
First of all catch up here: Next Week the Phoenix Rises
Ok now let’s dive in and see what we can glean from all of this awesome news:
Lots of Thin Books
I would expect many thin books. The biggest surprise for me was the 80-page hardback description. We’ve already seen that they plan on covering 2 dozen factions, so unlike the massive 200-page count Vigilus series, Psychic Awakening may be a larger number of thin books. Two to three factions per book point to a roughly six to ten book series.
Stealth Codexes
While the page count may be smaller, it sounds like they will pack a punch in the rules department. The first volume contains updates for the Craftworlds, Drukhari and the Ynnari, as well as new rules that seem to bring them into line with some of the newer codex design philosophies (like the build your own Craftworld/Kabals rules)
New Minis Boxed Sets
Blood of the Phoenix highlights a set of new minis packed in with some old ones. This seems most in line, not with the “all-new” Shadowspear box, but rather Wrath & Rapture. In the past, these sets have all been splash releases with the minis coming out individually later on with the full codex release.
Background Advanced on Multiple Fronts
Note that Pheonix Rising mentions the background advancement of the entire Aeldari race. Blood of the Phoenix mentions a particular adventure between Jain Zar and Drazhar. Like the background booklets from Shadowspear that were incorporated into the new Space Marine codex, this appears to be GW offering up more reasons to entice purchases of the Boxed Sets, in addition to the Psychic Awakening Hardcovers.
A Codex Release Blueprint
I would assume that not every race will get the same treatment from a perspective of rules and minis. But based on GW’s past behavior, I would expect any faction that receives a decent amount of new minis and rules to be on the shortlist for a codex update in 2020. Keep tabs on who gets only a few tweaks and who gets so many updates that a new codex would be warranted.
~What do you think GW has in mind for the Grimdark in 2020?
