Pyschic Awakening: Speculation

[Spinsanity]

The question in that case is... who are they fighting?

I’d tend to say that if #2 is not Armageddon, then when will that conflict come up? #5?

[DeadFingers]

Hold my tin foil hat.

 

Do we have any location of Ophilia VII on any maps?

Im sure I have seen that name around, and its a shrine world.

Helbrecth did send Crusades to protect the shrine worlds from Word Bearers.

So chaos.

I've been looking at (I believe) every map available for the galaxy post-Cicatrix, and no sign of shrine worlds. I imagine we'll get the relevant map with the Sisters Codex, but until then we're in the dark.

 

I’d tend to say that if #2 is not Armageddon, then when will that conflict come up? #5?

There's no #5, at least for now. And for all we know, Armageddon could not be part of the Psychic Awakening storyline at all. Or maybe it will be part of #2, and the icons on the Psychic Awakening map are just where each campaign starts. We'll just have to wait and see, we don't really have that much info for now.

Edited September 10, 2019 by DeadFingers

[Guest Triszin]

Hold my tin foil hat.

 

Do we have any location of Ophilia VII on any maps?

Im sure I have seen that name around, and its a shrine world.

Helbrecth did send Crusades to protect the shrine worlds from Word Bearers.

So chaos.

Been thinking the same. They might be against black legion at first. Then against ec

[Vermintide]

What's with people using the word edgy in a condescending fashion regarding Warhammer lately?

 

If we were to rank media by edginess, Warhammer is way up there. Somewhere between the band Type O Negative and the works of Johnen Vazqez, by my estimates.

 

Back on topic- I find it doubtful there will be new primarchs. Those have to be a big, big release, and there are only a limited number they can bring back.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Vermintide

[DeadFingers]

So for what reason can't they do a big, big release during and/or at the end of Psychic Awakening, or even after the fact? That's basically what they've been doing for these past few years, using campaigns and narrative events as vehicles for substantial releases peppered with big, important models.

 

Primarchs may be numbered, but the amount of them that can be brought back is still quite enough to space them out and still span a good number of years. And it doesn't even need to be a Primarch necessarily, just on the same level of importance and "centrepiece-ness" (that's a word now). Ghaz, the Avatar of Khaine, the Phoenix Lords, Vect, the C'Tan, or whatever many other characters they wish to bring back or create from scratch are all great candidates to punctuate Campaigns.

Edited September 10, 2019 by DeadFingers

[Khulu]

Primarchs have not been big releases thus far. Magnus came with a few updated kits and Guilliman came with unrelated marines. Both were released as part of campaigns that were smaller in scope than Psychic Awakening. Mortarion is the only one that came out in a big release.

[DeadFingers]

Primarchs have not been big releases thus far. Magnus came with a few updated kits and Guilliman came with unrelated marines. Both were released as part of campaigns that were smaller in scope than Psychic Awakening. Mortarion is the only one that came out in a big release.

That too. Didn't mention it because I assumed the mindset was that a Primarch by himself is a big release in terms of importance. And it is, don't get me wrong. GW themselves have said that they want to space them out so their reappearance has the weight and gravitas they deserve.

 

But with that said, you're indeed correct. And it's been over two years since Guilliman hit the shelves, and about to be two since Mortarion followed. Feels pretty nicely spaced if you ask me.

[Panzer]

So for what reason can't they do a big, big release during and/or at the end of Psychic Awakening, or even after the fact? That's basically what they've been doing for these past few years, using campaigns and narrative events as vehicles for substantial releases peppered with big, important models.

 

Especially considering GW compared the Psychic Awakening narrative to the scale of the Horus Heresy and the 13th Black Crusade. ^^

Primarchs have not been big releases thus far. Magnus came with a few updated kits and Guilliman came with unrelated marines. Both were released as part of campaigns that were smaller in scope than Psychic Awakening. Mortarion is the only one that came out in a big release.

 

True for Magnus, but Guilliman was a big release even if mainly a narrative one since it included the whole Great Rift appearance, fall of Cadia, introduction of Primaris into the 40k universe etc.

[Khulu]

 

So for what reason can't they do a big, big release during and/or at the end of Psychic Awakening, or even after the fact? That's basically what they've been doing for these past few years, using campaigns and narrative events as vehicles for substantial releases peppered with big, important models.

 

 

Especially considering GW compared the Psychic Awakening narrative to the scale of the Horus Heresy and the 13th Black Crusade. ^^

Primarchs have not been big releases thus far. Magnus came with a few updated kits and Guilliman came with unrelated marines. Both were released as part of campaigns that were smaller in scope than Psychic Awakening. Mortarion is the only one that came out in a big release.

 

 

True for Magnus, but Guilliman was a big release even if mainly a narrative one since it included the whole Great Rift appearance, fall of Cadia, introduction of Primaris into the 40k universe etc.

Sure, but we know Psychic Awakening will be bigger in scope than Gathering Storm in terms of number of books and factions involved.

[Guest Triszin]

Russ stabs ghaz.

 

Ghaz sees the truth about the Orks and ullanor.

 

Ghaz retreats and focuses all efforts on reclaiming armegeddon

[Vermintide]

So for what reason can't they do a big, big release during and/or at the end of Psychic Awakening, or even after the fact? That's basically what they've been doing for these past few years, using campaigns and narrative events as vehicles for substantial releases peppered with big, important models.

 

Primarchs may be numbered, but the amount of them that can be brought back is still quite enough to space them out and still span a good number of years. And it doesn't even need to be a Primarch necessarily, just on the same level of importance and "centrepiece-ness" (that's a word now). Ghaz, the Avatar of Khaine, the Phoenix Lords, Vect, the C'Tan, or whatever many other characters they wish to bring back or create from scratch are all great candidates to punctuate Campaigns.

 

 

Primarchs have not been big releases thus far. Magnus came with a few updated kits and Guilliman came with unrelated marines. Both were released as part of campaigns that were smaller in scope than Psychic Awakening. Mortarion is the only one that came out in a big release.

 

Valid points, granted. I dunno, maybe I'm just not feeling the hype on this one. I'm kinda half expecting it to be one of those occasions they lay on a big build up to something kinda lame in the end.

 

I've only been back in the GW loop for the last couple years, mind you, so I don't really have as much of an instinct for the release cycles as you guys might do.

[DeadFingers]

I've only been back in the GW loop for the last couple years, mind you, so I don't really have as much of an instinct for the release cycles as you guys might do.

I've been on and off over the years myself, and only really got myself into the GW loop around the time the End Times happened, and since then I've kept an eye on both 40k and AoS. But you don't really need to go that far to see a pattern with narrative events/campaigns and releases. Bit of an abridged version:

 

- War Zone Fenris

With part 2, Wrath of Magnus, the Thousand Sons happened. A Primarch, and a Daemon one at that, Ahriman, plastic Rubrics, and the Legion becoming an independent army. Followed closely by Tzeentch Daemons, and a bit later by...

 

- The Gathering Storm

Characters everywhere. Celestine paves the way for plastic Sisters, Cawl becomes the big HQ for AdMech, the Eldar get a new faction with three characters and a new fancy Avatar for another god, Cypher comes out of the blue, and on top of that, Guilliman wakes up, becoming the first loyalist Primarch to be introduced to 40k. This series paves the way for 8th Edition and the introduction of Primaris, as well as many plot developments and seeds for future storylines, like the Cicatrix dividing the galaxy in half and the Ynnari trying to wake up a god to fight Slaanesh.

 

In the middle of this is the Death Guard, which weren't really tied to a narrative. Instead they were introduced as a launch faction for 8th Edition.

 

- Vigilus

Despite being a two-book campaign, the narrative for Vigilus was built up way before their release, through short stories on Warhammer Community and with small Starter Sets like Tooth and Claw and Wake the Dead. Speed Freekz and the Ork release were tied to the narrative, then, when the Campaign got rolling, it introduced Calgar as the first named character to become a Primaris, followed by a rather hefty GSC release, and then finally the big CSM overhaul with Abaddon, which I consider to be in the Primarch level of importance.

 

And now, for completion's sake, a brief walkthrough of the narrative developments of AoS:

 

- Malign Portents

Introduced multiple big releases, including Morathi with the Daughters of Khaine and the Idoneth Deepkin, as well as paving the way for the Gloomspite Gitz and probably more things that haven't happened yet. In its conclusion, a second edition for AoS happened, and the Nighthaunt were introduced. It also prepared the narrative for...

 

- Forbidden Power

Nagash's Necroquake did some terrible things, for example shaking up Slaanesh's prison, allowing for the return of the Chaos God with some very nice releases. This part of the narrative is barely getting started, and already has introduced the Ossiarch Bonereapers, a new army with one hell of a centrepiece for a leader. Bugger comes with his own diorama.

 

 

So as the TL;DR: GW are very much enjoying tying releases to these campaigns and narrative events. Sometimes they release a model and it takes some time for the rest of the army to show up, like the Celestine, sometimes they drop a bombshell of an army out of nowhere, like the Daughters of Khaine. Either way, keeping an eye on the narrative is a great way to know what might be coming.

Edited September 10, 2019 by DeadFingers

[Red_Shift]

I wonder if they will go back to the triumvirate style releases, they seemed pretty popular at the time. I kind of feel like an imperial primarch doesn't need that big a release slot as they are roughly dreadnought sized unlike the super massive daemonic primarchs. Edited September 11, 2019 by Red_Shift

[The Yncarne]

Does anybody think this stuff would go so far as to shake up how the psychic phase works, or is that more of an edition thing? My current thinking is PA is just marketing-ese for whatever GW decides to release through 2020-2021. Normally, I'd expect things like changing how a phase works to an edition change, but in the past, GW claimed this would be the final edition with rules changes coming via Chapter Approved and errata.

 

Now I'm wondering if something more fundamental might be coming, at least in terms of 'psychic awakening'. As a 1K Sons player, I feel the psychic phase is 'roll for smite' as having a variety of naff powers doesn't really translate to an army of powerful psykers. As a Tau player, the psychic phase is 'how much damage do I take?' As a Craftworlds player, I think the psychic phase is the 'how do I buff my units?' phase. It just seems a jumble of different perspectives without a well-thought out design that every faction can look forward to.

 

Should I just go back to my hobbit pipe and retreat into dreams of 'what-if' or just face the reality of my 31 years playing this game and chalk it up to GW mediocre game design and marketing overhype?

[Panzer]

 

I've only been back in the GW loop for the last couple years, mind you, so I don't really have as much of an instinct for the release cycles as you guys might do.

I've been on and off over the years myself, and only really got myself into the GW loop around the time the End Times happened, and since then I've kept an eye on both 40k and AoS. But you don't really need to go that far to see a pattern with narrative events/campaigns and releases. Bit of an abridged version:

 

- War Zone Fenris

With part 2, Wrath of Magnus, the Thousand Sons happened. A Primarch, and a Daemon one at that, Ahriman, plastic Rubrics, and the Legion becoming an independent army. Followed closely by Tzeentch Daemons, and a bit later by...

 

- The Gathering Storm

Characters everywhere. Celestine paves the way for plastic Sisters, Cawl becomes the big HQ for AdMech, the Eldar get a new faction with three characters and a new fancy Avatar for another god, Cypher comes out of the blue, and on top of that, Guilliman wakes up, becoming the first loyalist Primarch to be introduced to 40k. This series paves the way for 8th Edition and the introduction of Primaris, as well as many plot developments and seeds for future storylines, like the Cicatrix dividing the galaxy in half and the Ynnari trying to wake up a god to fight Slaanesh.

 

- Fate of Konor

Mostly about Death Guard attacking the Ultramarine's worlds. GW tried to make it look pretty and interactive but overall it was pretty tame and predictable since Marines just got fancy new models and rules while Chaos had still only their old rules and outdated model range apart from the new DG stuff. Also the 8th edition continuation of the pre-8th Gathering Storm events.

In the middle of this is the Death Guard, which weren't really tied to a narrative. Instead they were introduced as a launch faction for 8th Edition.

 

- Vigilus

Despite being a two-book campaign, the narrative for Vigilus was built up way before their release, through short stories on Warhammer Community and with small Starter Sets like Tooth and Claw and Wake the Dead. Speed Freekz and the Ork release were tied to the narrative, then, when the Campaign got rolling, it introduced Calgar as the first named character to become a Primaris, followed by a rather hefty GSC release, and then finally the big CSM overhaul with Abaddon, which I consider to be in the Primarch level of importance.

 

And now, for completion's sake, a brief walkthrough of the narrative developments of AoS:

 

- Malign Portents

Introduced multiple big releases, including Morathi with the Daughters of Khaine and the Idoneth Deepkin, as well as paving the way for the Gloomspite Gitz and probably more things that haven't happened yet. In its conclusion, a second edition for AoS happened, and the Nighthaunt were introduced. It also prepared the narrative for...

 

- Forbidden Power

Nagash's Necroquake did some terrible things, for example shaking up Slaanesh's prison, allowing for the return of the Chaos God with some very nice releases. This part of the narrative is barely getting started, and already has introduced the Ossiarch Bonereapers, a new army with one hell of a centrepiece for a leader. Bugger comes with his own diorama.

 

 

So as the TL;DR: GW are very much enjoying tying releases to these campaigns and narrative events. Sometimes they release a model and it takes some time for the rest of the army to show up, like the Celestine, sometimes they drop a bombshell of an army out of nowhere, like the Daughters of Khaine. Either way, keeping an eye on the narrative is a great way to know what might be coming.

 

 

I've added to your list/summary since you were missing the DG related campaign. ;)

[DeadFingers]

I wonder if they will go back to the triumvirate style releases, they seemed pretty popular at the time. I kind of feel like an imperial primarch doesn't need that big a release slot as they are roughly dreadnought sized unlike the super massive harmonic primarchs.

The metaphorical size and impact of releasing a loyalist Primarch versus a traitor Primarch isn't really the size of the model itself, but its implications.

 

By themselves, both have the same "HOLY  A PRIMARCH" factor to them. They are some of the biggest names in 40k and they both have the same weight behind them. The traitor Primarchs being Daemonic and massive is impactful, yes, but that's balanced by the fact that the loyalists were/are missing, lost, in stasis, injured, or even temporarily dead like Vulkan, while the traitor Primarchs were just "inactive".

 

But that's the thing, not all of them are "by themselves". Releasing Russ or the Lion, outside of the fluff, would imply something as "easy" as adding another unit entry to their respective Codices, while releasing Fulgrim or Angron implies releasing their respective Legions alongside them, with a Codex to boot. It's not exactly a light release.

 

However, that doesn't mean that all the Primarchs from both sides would be the same. For all we know, Corax in his Warp-shadow form could be huge, while Lorgar or Perturabo could be not that much taller than Guilliman. Really, Mortarion himself isn't that big, he's just using his wingspan and floatyness to "cheat". Lorgar and Perturabo also have the same advantage as the loyalist Primarchs in that they don't need a Codex if they were to appear, but I honestly doubt we'll see those two any time soon.

 

And if we're talking about Triumvirates, I want the Triumvirate of the Hydra. Three guys in fancy armour, all claiming to be Alpharius.

 

I've added to your list/summary since you were missing the DG related campaign.

I'll be honest with you, I completely forgot Konor was a thing.  I even thought about calling that narrative period "Dark Imperium".

Edited September 10, 2019 by DeadFingers

[MegaVolt87]

Having Lorgar and Corax as "Morph" style characters would be interesting. One sculpt could be the warp form, the other base form. Similar to how warmahordes has the same characters with different sculpts and rules for the same characters. It works there and I could see work for those two and in 40k in general. However, GW probably won't do this as they have set a kind of precedent with the rubicon primaris characters like Calgar etc. I think they should do it, would make everyone happy, then they can sell more old and new models. 

[Marshal Loss]

Having Lorgar and Corax as "Morph" style characters would be interesting. One sculpt could be the warp form, the other base form. Similar to how warmahordes has the same characters with different sculpts and rules for the same characters. It works there and I could see work for those two and in 40k in general. However, GW probably won't do this as they have set a kind of precedent with the rubicon primaris characters like Calgar etc. I think they should do it, would make everyone happy, then they can sell more old and new models. 

 

Lorgar is a fully fledged Daemon Primarch and so wouldn't need two models. I think that GW will explore the one character/two models idea sooner rather than later though (we've already seen it in AoS with Morathi), so you might be on to something there, but yeah they'll likely avoid selling characters with models from multiple time periods.

 

edit: grammar

Edited September 11, 2019 by Marshal Loss

[DeadFingers]

While I agree with Marshal on Lorgar not needing two models for different forms, I don't see why Primarised characters would set a precedent against "transforming" models in general if they ever decide to introduce any to 40k. A character with the ability to change forms is not the same as a character that's gone through an operation that alters his body permanently.

[Son of Sacrifice]

Would love to see a return of triumvirate style boxes, they were extremely exciting. Are we really thinking book 1 will be Eldar vs Eldar? That's great and all, but that means the very first book of a new series can only be sold to Eldar players. That seems like a strange place to start.

[Slasher956]

I can see book 1 being the factions of Aeldari coming to blows with each other which brings in a Slaanesh / chaos undivided force...

 

book two see the war spill out in to imperium space etc etc

 

 

on topic of the map... it looks to me that there is a highlighted section where the books fluff takes place and the icon is either (as said before) where it starts OR just a convient place where it wont cover any names of places that are mentioned as the cycle progresses.

[Panzer]

Keep in mind that it's campaign 1, not just book 1. It's perfectly possible that each of the 4 campaigns contains 2-3 books.

[lhavoc]

And the Tau have had a “psychic awakening” in the book “War of Secrets”. They developed warp drive, but forgot the Gellar field. Every human in their fleet was massacred and now the remaining Tau want to eliminate every potential psyker in the galaxy (including the humans in the Tau Empire) to keep the possibility of any incursion from happening again.

[Marshal Reinhard]

And the Tau have had a “psychic awakening” in the book “War of Secrets”. They developed warp drive, but forgot the Gellar field. Every human in their fleet was massacred and now the remaining Tau want to eliminate every potential psyker in the galaxy (including the humans in the Tau Empire) to keep the possibility of any incursion from happening again.

 

Far be it from me to take pity on those wretched enough to have turned from the Emperor's light, but damn

[Marshal Rohr]

I guess that’s a soft squatting of Gue’vesa auxiliaries.