Are there going to be any more Horus Heresy games/plastics?

[Mostwanted]

The title pretty much says what I'm trying to find out. It's around this time of year for the previous couple of years that we got the 30k boxed games, The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth & The Horus Heresy: Burning of Prospero respectively.

 

The rumours at the time these were coming out said there would be more in the pipeline and/or an expansion of the 30k kits in plastic. But since the models from Burning of Prospero were released everything has gone quiet unless I've missed something?

 

Does anyone know of any future plans for more 30k plastics? It would seem strange to stop with the kits they currently have and not to expand with things like assault squads and further marks of Space Marine armour (personally, I really want Mk5 in plastic).

[Brother Tyler]

(Without any shred of evidence, hints, etc.)...I think that we're going to have to wait until GW gets the Primaris range completed (and probably whatever they have in store for Necromunda) before we see them shift back into the Horus Heresy setting games.

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

Those things are huge money makers, but they've already milked the fan favorites, Mk IV and Mk III. While I and some others like Mk V, most people prefer IV or III and don't really like the studded bulldog Mark. While Mk II also seems somewhat popular with Great Crusade era and pre-Primarch era enthusiasts, it's also not as popular as IV and III. A Mk VI box would be about GW's best bet for high sales.

 

Perhaps once the Primaris releases slow down and FW gets back in gear, they'll make a plastic box for either Mk V or Mk VI, and maybe something like plastic 30K tanks, or Mk III/IV jump pack squads. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the other Marks are not popular enough from FW sales to warrant plastic models. It could be possible that GW only made plastic 30K to help take pressure off FW's production, as there's always that self-competition where GW sales would lower FW sales of the same model.

 

Mk IV is definitely king, they even put it on Primaris.

[Corswain]

I dearly hope so.

 

I think it’s safe to say that there won’t be anything this year (no complaints from me, we get Necromunda instead!) but hopefully next year they get back into it. I really enjoyed both as stand-alone games and as 30K army starters and hope for more.

 

I’m not sure what they’d do with it though. As Tyberos said, MKII and MkV aren’t as popular but they are certainly possible.

 

There’s nothing stopping them from releasing new games or expansions without new models, I guess, like they have with Warhammer Quest. They might just throw us a stop-gap like that.

[Felix Antipodes]

GW seems to have a short attention span, so the longer they go without releasing another 30K game the more I fear we will not see another. I would love to see another box after Necromunda ships, either a joint MK II/V fit or a pure beaky one. It will all come down to whether GW sees a profit in it.

[m0nolith]

Those things are huge money makers, but they've already milked the fan favorites, Mk IV and Mk III. While I and some others like Mk V, most people prefer IV or III and don't really like the studded bulldog Mark. While Mk II also seems somewhat popular with Great Crusade era and pre-Primarch era enthusiasts, it's also not as popular as IV and III. A Mk VI box would be about GW's best bet for high sales.

 

Perhaps once the Primaris releases slow down and FW gets back in gear, they'll make a plastic box for either Mk V or Mk VI, and maybe something like plastic 30K tanks, or Mk III/IV jump pack squads. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the other Marks are not popular enough from FW sales to warrant plastic models. It could be possible that GW only made plastic 30K to help take pressure off FW's production, as there's always that self-competition where GW sales would lower FW sales of the same model.

 

Mk IV is definitely king, they even put it on Primaris.

MkII should be very popular because it seems to be the main stray armour mark for the Dark Angels, White Scars, Iron Warriors and World Eaters.

MkII still existed and was in service in all the other Legions to a lesser extent. That's why around 10% of my power armour troops are in MkII, and around 12% are in mkIII and MkV, the remainder 65% or so are in the mainstay MkIV

Basically, since this is much more of a narrative driven game, there is definitely a market for it.

Edited October 6, 2017 by m0nolith

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

 

Those things are huge money makers, but they've already milked the fan favorites, Mk IV and Mk III. While I and some others like Mk V, most people prefer IV or III and don't really like the studded bulldog Mark. While Mk II also seems somewhat popular with Great Crusade era and pre-Primarch era enthusiasts, it's also not as popular as IV and III. A Mk VI box would be about GW's best bet for high sales.

 

Perhaps once the Primaris releases slow down and FW gets back in gear, they'll make a plastic box for either Mk V or Mk VI, and maybe something like plastic 30K tanks, or Mk III/IV jump pack squads. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the other Marks are not popular enough from FW sales to warrant plastic models. It could be possible that GW only made plastic 30K to help take pressure off FW's production, as there's always that self-competition where GW sales would lower FW sales of the same model.

 

Mk IV is definitely king, they even put it on Primaris.

MkII should be very popular because it seems to be the main stray armour mark for the Dark Angels, White Scars, Iron Warriors and World Eaters.

MkII still existed and was in service in all the other Legions to a lesser extent. That's why around 10% of my power armour troops are in MkII, and around 12% are in mkIII and MkV, the remainder 65% or so are in the mainstay MkIV

Basically, since this is much more of a narrative driven game, there is definitely a market for it.

 

 

 

I agree, but the keyword here is "should". If you trawl the Internet the vast majority of players aren't using Mk II models, especially the IW guys who overwhelmingly use Mk III. The amount of Mk II we see people using is not proportional to the amount it's featured in the artwork. The WS and DA are exceptions, and I'm guessing it's because those guys are trying to be true to the artwork, and the only art we've seen so far has been Mk II.

 

I bet it will be popular for 30K, but the problem is twofold: the dedicated 30K players have already bought multiple resin Mk II bags/boxes, while the 40K players apparently dislike the cyclops visor and ribbed legplate aesthetics or something, because nobody is really using Mk II outside of the dedicated 30K era-accurate players. Mk II likely also sells less for FW proper as well. When FW used to do top 10 lists, it was always Mk IV, Mk IV, Contemptors, legion Mk IV, Tyranid Devourers, more Mk IV, Fire Raptor, Sicaran, etc. If GW sees no reason that 40K players will gobble up plastic Mk II, and FW isn't being swamped by Mk II orders, I fear we may not get a plastic Mk II box set. You'd think we'd have gotten that one first, especially since the boxes seem to be chronological.

[m0nolith]

 

 

 

Those things are huge money makers, but they've already milked the fan favorites, Mk IV and Mk III. While I and some others like Mk V, most people prefer IV or III and don't really like the studded bulldog Mark. While Mk II also seems somewhat popular with Great Crusade era and pre-Primarch era enthusiasts, it's also not as popular as IV and III. A Mk VI box would be about GW's best bet for high sales.

Perhaps once the Primaris releases slow down and FW gets back in gear, they'll make a plastic box for either Mk V or Mk VI, and maybe something like plastic 30K tanks, or Mk III/IV jump pack squads. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that the other Marks are not popular enough from FW sales to warrant plastic models. It could be possible that GW only made plastic 30K to help take pressure off FW's production, as there's always that self-competition where GW sales would lower FW sales of the same model.

Mk IV is definitely king, they even put it on Primaris.

 

MkII should be very popular because it seems to be the main stray armour mark for the Dark Angels, White Scars, Iron Warriors and World Eaters.

MkII still existed and was in service in all the other Legions to a lesser extent. That's why around 10% of my power armour troops are in MkII, and around 12% are in mkIII and MkV, the remainder 65% or so are in the mainstay MkIV

Basically, since this is much more of a narrative driven game, there is definitely a market for it.

I agree, but the keyword here is "should". If you trawl the Internet the vast majority of players aren't using Mk II models, especially the IW guys who overwhelmingly use Mk III. The amount of Mk II we see people using is not proportional to the amount it's featured in the artwork. The WS and DA are exceptions, and I'm guessing it's because those guys are trying to be true to the artwork, and the only art we've seen so far has been Mk II.

 

I bet it will be popular for 30K, but the problem is twofold: the dedicated 30K players have already bought multiple resin Mk II bags/boxes, while the 40K players apparently dislike the cyclops visor and ribbed legplate aesthetics or something, because nobody is really using Mk II outside of the dedicated 30K era-accurate players. Mk II likely also sells less for FW proper as well. When FW used to do top 10 lists, it was always Mk IV, Mk IV, Contemptors, legion Mk IV, Tyranid Devourers, more Mk IV, Fire Raptor, Sicaran, etc. If GW sees no reason that 40K players will gobble up plastic Mk II, and FW isn't being swamped by Mk II orders, I fear we may not get a plastic Mk II box set. You'd think we'd have gotten that one first, especially since the boxes seem to be chronological.

Those are all fair points, but one thing I disagree with you on why MkIII and MkIV is more popular, I say it's because there isn't a plastic version of them. The reason why the vast majority of players use MkIV is because Calth has been out the longest, and MkIV is the main stray for most of the Legions.

Now, understand that I'm not saying that MkII will ever be as popular as MkIV, what I'm simply stating is that I think it will be profitable enough to warrant moulds.

No FW wasn't being swamped by MkII orders, but it wasn't being swamped by MkIII orders, and we got some beautiful plastics there.

Edited October 6, 2017 by m0nolith

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

You're probably right, Mk III was popular in resin but it's way more popular now in plastic, and I see tons of plastic armies being done up now than resin. The biggest popularity boost gained was the Terminators though. I rarely saw Tartaros before BoP, and Cataphractii was always popular but just exploded with BaC. Might just be a side effect of coming bundled with plastic Mk IV, but I have to admit plastic is far more popular with the average 40K hobbyist than resin.

[Closet Skeleton]

Mk II is the only one I would buy, but that's because I'd rather have a Great Crusade army than a heresy one and if I was to get a heresy one I'd want it in mk V so its not just a Great Crusade army in all but colour scheme.

 

Mk IV is definitely king, they even put it on Primaris.

 

Thankfully mk X doesn't inherit the awful breast plate from mk IV.

[M@verik115]

I would certainly hope so. 
I would love some mk II's, but my army is already pretty full with mk III and IV's.

[shandwen]

I somewhat doubt we will see any real release for 30k for a while. It would appear the emphasis has shifted to specialist games and 30k is getting a breather.

[Lexington]

I'm fairly sure we won't be seeing much in the way of non-Primaris plastic Space Marines any time in the near future. Heck, I'd actually kind of be surprised if we see any "normal" Space Marine models come out of Forgeworld for some time, if ever. GW wants Primaris to be what Space Marines are from here on out, from what I can tell, and having releases from both - even from Forgeworld - muddies those waters.

[Slave to Darkness]

Even if mk 2 -5 armour isnt a big seller GW would still make a nice stack of cash if they did them in plastics. I know loads of people that would throw money at GW if they did just because FW is a bit pricey.

 

IMHO they are damn sexy looking suits of armour.

Even if mk 2 -5 armour isnt a big seller GW would still make a nice stack of cash if they did them in plastics. I know loads of people that would throw money at GW if they did just because FW is a bit pricey.

 

IMHO they are damn sexy looking suits of armour.

[Zuvassin]

Given the focus on the "major" battles of the Heresy, I'd expect at least one more to cover the Siege of Terra, but not until they actually reach that point in the novels. But then I would have expected an Isstvan set too....

 

As for armour marks, I would have expected a release of Mk6 plastics, given if nothing else the cross-over appeal of "beekees" in 40k proper. As much as I love Mk5 and would love to see how Mk2 looks in plastic, I've always thought an essentially updated rendition of the original Rogue Trader era plastics would be a hit with both 30k and 40k gamers as well as the 'Oldhammer' types.

 

Also would have loved to have seen maybe a plastic Deimos Rhino as the Terminator/Contemptor type addition in such a 30k boxed game (admittedly vehicles would be weird on a board game).

 

To me, the plastics don't really cannibalize FW sales because theoretically they could free up those resources to better stock other ranges or move on to produce other kits.

[Brother Lunkhead]

If GW keeps to their current strategy of introducing HH era plastic in the epic battle sets I'm afraid we won't see anything new until the Siege of Terra. I can't imagine GW NOT doing that. Brother Tyler is probably right in that we won't see anything HH related until GW is way into Primaris and Necromunda production. I would definitely like to see MkII and MkV (bulldog Mark - Thanks for that one Tyberos, I've never heard it called that - I LIKE IT ).

 

White Scars in MkII would be perfect imo. They are featured in most of the HH art work almost exclusively wearing MkII plate (except for terminators of course). The only problem is, I don't recall any other major battles until Terra. Once again it looks like a long wait. Although... GW could introduce additional Marks in plastic via smaller skirmish games. There are enough scenarios featured in the HH novels and short stories to draw from. Hibou Khan and his Sagyar Mazan kill squad and Meduson and his shattered legion force come immediately to mind. I think GW could produce some HH skirmish games and see some good sales.

 

As far as plastic HH era plastic tanks go, I think that's dipping too far into FW's main sellers for that to happen. I'd love to see a plastic Deimos Rhino or Proteus Land Raider, but I just don't think it's in the cards.

 

On the bright side, I don't believe GW will forget about plastic HH sets. There is just too much money to be made for that to happen. I think we will just have to be patient   and wait (sigh  ).

Edited October 9, 2017 by Brother Lunkhead

[Zuvassin]

Also assuming that they don't replicate Legions, any futures battles likely focus on Legions other than Word Bearers, Ultramarines, Thousand Sons, or Space Wolves.

 

At the same time, they've yet to mix different marks of armour, so theoretically whatever mark they use would fit both Legions.

 

Also assuming they don't replicate the existing Contemptor, Terminator, or Talons of the Emperor options, and assuming (so many assumptions!) they would want 1-2 options besides tacticals, I would think the most likely ones might be Assault Squads, Bikes, or Devs (since these all also fit into 40k armies).

 

Assault Squads probably make the most sense for Blood Angels or Night Lords. Devs with maybe Iron Warriors or Imperial Fists. Bikes with White Scars.

 

TBH, I could easily imagine a board game oriented around a "siege" strategy of Imperial Fists vs Iron Warriors. It's not necessarily the same as Wolves/Sons or Bearers/Ultras in terms of grudge matches, but they'd fit the mechanics and the mechanics would fit the Siege.

 

And given the importance of the Siege, you could also do a second Siege-related game set on the Vengeful Spirit. A slight re-work to fluff to accommodate the game being Blood Angels vs Sons of Horus, and throw in an Imperial Army unit with a certain soon-to-be-legendary hero. ;-)

[Urriak Urruk]

Definitely not this year. BoP was definitely designed to be launched in tandem with the Red Book for SW and TS. It didn’t but that was the intent.

 

Since we all know after Bligh’s passing the next book isn’t for awhile, a box probably isn’t for awhile either.

 

However, whenever the next book is planned I could absolutely see a Blood Angels/Daemons box for that battle I can’t remember the name of. New character models, and maybe a mix of mark III and IV.

[Master Commander Ajax]

I'm hoping that we see a 'Siege of Terra' box set to tie in with the end of the Horus Heresy novels but that is pure wish-listing on my part. It would seem (as others have also speculated) that, sadly, GW is content with pushing Primaris Marines rather than developing more plastic Heresy kits for now.

[Brother Lunkhead]

Considering how long and epic the Siege of Terra is, I could see as many as three box games. There are enough armour marks and factions as well as special characters left to do that.

 

I'm sure GW will eventually get back to HH.

[Elzender]

Well, mkII shouldn't be too difficult to make for GW, the back plate and backpack are identical to mkIII so they have it already done, the arms are very similar to chaos space marine ones, the helmets are not too different from mkIII, and the only part that would require more design are the legs (and even then, they have them half done in the mkIII models). Beakies would just require gathering all the bits they already have in other 40k sets and add some more leg variety, and mkV could be designed modifying mkVII designs (and the front plate is already done).

[Brother Lunkhead]

See GW? As Brother Elzender points out, easy peasy!!

[Corswain]

They could actually do a War in the Webway box with what they have now. Custodes, Sisters and Daemons - there’d probably be a few buyers for that,

[Lucerne]

Pity they didn't just upscale Marines across the board...As is, I don't see it being in the cards given the muddled state of the Marine line.

[Laughingman]

I "hope" they do MKV armor or at least retool the molds for the resin ones, the last set I got required extensive work to fix.