Exclusive: Warhammer 40K Head of Studio Interview with Stu Black
We sat down with Warhammer 40K Studio Manager Stu Black and talked about what makes 10th Edition tick.
We would like to start off by thanking Games Workshop for giving us a change to talk with 40K Staff and pick the brain of their Head of Studio for Warhammer 40,000 a little about the new edition.
Without further ado, here’s our interview with Stu:
Is there a particular past edition of 40k rules you looked to for inspiration when updating things for 10th?
“Honestly no, the first thing we did was spend some time writing and refining the design goals for the new edition. Once these were clear, the team started to work on ideas and solutions to meet these goals, and at that stage we looked back at previous editions of 40k and other Warhammer games to see how each iteration had approached those same challenges. Sometimes there was the beginning of a solution in an older edition, and sometimes an example of what we wanted to avoid this time.”
What was your biggest single goal in designing the new edition?
“Our biggest goal was to make the game more accessible so even more people could enjoy Warhammer! The great thing about 40k is its broad appeal, from hardened tournament players to insanely talented and dedicated campaign gamers and everything in between. We always want to engage as many people across that spectrum as we can.”
What was the most difficult aspect of rebuilding 40K 10th edition and still keeping it feeling like 40K?
“The hardest thing was boiling down what actually makes 40k the game feel like 40k. Once we were clear on that it became easier to decide what to keep and where to innovate or change things. I think we have a good balance in the new edition – it should be familiar to current players whilst being an improved play experience for everyone across the 40k gaming hobby.”
What’s one radical rule you considered putting in 10th, that got left on the drawing table?
“Those will remain secret for now – who knows, maybe they’ll find a home in the future!”
What steps has 10th taken to balance the interactions between infantry and vehicles?
“We really wanted vehicles – especially transports and battle tanks – to play a bigger role in the new edition. Infantry have some advantages: they tend to be more manoeuvrable and can take more advantage of terrain. We’ve made vehicles quite a bit tougher in this edition – they really require proper anti-tank weapons to deal with them. This gives them a different feel to an infantry unit with a similar amount of firepower and helps vehicles and infantry to occupy different roles on the tabletop.”
What’s your favourite new unit coming out for 10th?
“The new Terminators are amazing miniatures and I have loved Tactical Dreadnought Armour since the 80s, but they aren’t really a new unit so I get to pick another! I really like Von Ryan’s Leapers, they’re a great exploration of the Lictor strain of Tyranid creatures, and quite creepy looking!”
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What do you feel is the single most significant rules update in the new edition when compared to past editions?
“Battle-shock and the removal of the Morale phase. I think Battle-shock does a great job of representing morale and temporary degradation of combat readiness, in a game full of eldritch horrors and transhuman killers. We wanted something that made a meaningful impact in the game, but was more than ‘take some more damage’. It also lets us explore things like weapons pinning warriors in place, or disrupting their coherency, rather than simply causing models to flee the battlefield.”
What do you think is a major but easily overlooked change in 10th?
“Probably the impact the increased bandwidth of Toughness has – it really has helped differentiate units and means players will need a variety of different weaponry and units to deal with enemy threats. The days of just taking plasma guns and meltaguns to deal with everything are over – players will find they’ll need more specialised tools in the coming months.”
Terminators have been upscaled to be more “true scale”. How does this impact the size of models coming out? Should we expect more True Scaling across 40k in the future?
“The Warhammer Studio miniatures designers will always strive to make the coolest miniatures they can. As the miniature design technology evolves and factions’ ranges grow, they’ll keep making the most amazing things!”
What was the most challenging army to “get right” during the design process?
“The hardest armies to get right fall into two opposite categories: those who have a grinding, relentless play-style such as Necrons, and the super-fast ‘glass cannon’ factions like Aeldari. The former type of force can be hard to make fun to play against, as it can feel like no matter what you do they just keep coming. When we get this right though, it creates just the right amount of tension – like a good zombie movie! Factions like Aeldari create a different design challenge; they need to be fragile enough that they will not dominate in the hands of experienced players, but not so much so that less experienced players can’t have fun using them. We want all factions to be fun to play with and against!”
Is the new Combat Patrol supposed to set up a curated competitive experience for 40K events, or only meant as a stepping stone for new players?
“Both. Combat Patrol is great for new players, but is equally good for gamers who want to try a new faction or want to play some Warhammer in a smaller format with a shorter game time.”
Did any rule inspiration & design heritage from Age of Sigmar influence the design of 40K’s new edition?
“The Games Design team share Studio space and work closely together with colleagues working on other Warhammer games, and as such we are always sharing ideas, concepts and feedback. Sometimes a mechanic or idea for one game works in others, and often one is more suited to one game than another. We don’t consciously use one game as a test for another, but there is always collaboration and the sharing of ideas across teams. Sometimes a ‘neat idea’ in one game system becomes a great mechanic in another, where it fits more closely with the design goals or better reflects the background of that setting.”
We thank Stu and Games Workshop for giving us his time and thoughts on Warhammer 40K 10th Edition.
