Other Armies?

[INKS]

Does anyone know if they ever plan on expanding this to other armies? 

[Dark Bjoern]

Tau will be next.

[Arendious]

It's unlikely that Marines and Chaos won't eventually get their flyers. Any of the factions that had planes in the original AI should be easy conversions.

 

Now, whether we get odd-balls like Custodes or Genestealer Cults remains to be seen.

[INKS]

Have they talked at all about when some of these might see the light of day?

[gilt_imp]

Eldar were confirmed last year by Andy Hoare himself.

 

Tau were meant to be introduced in March/April but were delayed by Covid-19. Hopefully a May release is possible now the online store is back up and running, the key though will be distribution. I was told the Skies of Fire expansion had already been made and was waiting ready for release.

 

I also have a rumour there had been a plan to introduce another new faction later this year, in September.

 

This would coincide with the 12 month release of this version of the game. Which also means that if we follow from release Sept 2019, Tau planned release March/April 2020, new faction (probably Eldar) Sept 2020, there seems to be a pattern of every 6 months an expansion with a new faction. Getting 4 factions in a 12 month window is pretty good for a niche specialty game.

 

Things to bear in mind:

 

Covid-19 and related shipping/distribution may alter plans obviously.

 

Last year Andy Hoare also stated that the 'scout' class of flyer was ready to go. So far we have not seen it, for either Imperials or Orks.

 

With the previous previews of Vultures and Arvus (FW resin) and plastic Avengers, Imperials are almost complete which means other factions have to be introduced in the future.

 

Other rumours I've also heard but not been able to verify (some are a bit sketchy) include:

 

Chaos is a definite but not sure how they'll be introduced, as in which faction they'll be paired off against.

 

Eldar could be released with new Ork fliers.

 

Eldar could be released as adversaries for Chaos.

 

Chaos could be released as adversaries for Space Marines.

 

Necrons could be released as adversaries for Space Marines.

 

 

 

Thing to remember with any new factions, initially GW themselves stated clearly in a couple of different places there were plans for 5 factions.

 

So, Orks, Imperial Navy* and Eldar are already 3. Maybe the talk of 5 factions was just to start with, maybe it's all subject to if the game proves successful.

 

*Astra Militarum can be considered included with them instead of their own separate faction.

[INKS]

Thank you for that information, exactly what I was looking for. Cheers

[Firedrake Cordova]

Now, whether we get odd-balls like ... Genestealer Cults remains to be seen.

Wouldn't Genestealer Cults be defaced Imperial Navy craft? 

 

Hmm ... I do have a soft spot for Genestealer Cults, and this is giving me ideas ... when I've started painting my Imperial Navy models ... :lol:

Edited May 2, 2020 by Firedrake Cordova

[Arendious]

Wouldn't Genestealer Cults be defaced Imperial Navy craft?

Somewhat. But I'd love to see things like second-line PDF fighters and zany stuff like a cargo Zeppelin with turrets added.

(Which, if I recall, cultists actually use in a Cain novel. Or maybe it's just an airborne IED...)

[Firedrake Cordova]

But I'd love to see things like second-line PDF fighters and zany stuff like a cargo Zeppelin with turrets added.

(Which, if I recall, cultists actually use in a Cain novel. Or maybe it's just an airborne IED...)

Now that could get interesting :)

[plastic_slug]

My concern would be the fate of the game in general at this point. From the lack of forum,YouTube/in person playing, I think it is very fair to state this is the lowest performing Specialist Game. Necromunda and Titanicus seem to be doing alright; Blood Bowl has cooled off considerably, but already had a ton of stuff released anyway; so there’s not much to release there except an occasional odd product.

 

As the second wave of Imperial Navy and Tau releases appear to be largely done already, I have no doubt we’ll see those. Beyond that, I am less optimistic about this game unless I hear more chatter and see it getting played more.  

[Mandragola]

I think it’s way too early to write off aeronautica. There’s been a bit of a theme for GW of messing up specialist game releases I think, leading to very slow starts. With AT they certainly set the barrier for entry way too high, so few people initially bought in. Now it’s doing really well.

 

I think it’s a very different experience to AT. It’s quite a bit cheaper for a start. Games are quicker and the mechanics are simpler - though both use alternating activations, limited manoeuvres and fire arcs. There’s far less scope for modelling than you get in AT (or any game with humanoids represented), with no opportunity for posing and models that are tricky to convert.

 

AI might do well, or not. The game probably does need more factions and variety. I’m not sure how much depth there is to the game really. But ultimately it’s too early to say. I did recently recommend it to a guy at my club who was looking for a plane-based game to play. I think the missions offer real potential, whether or not it is realised.

[Arendious]

Something that has surprised me, is the non-appearance of a Forgeworld "weapons kit" or "squadron identifiers". Something like the gang packs for Necromunda.

 

I could easily see resin Thunderbolt tails with extra details being 'easy' to produce, for example. Or a pack of "Mek gubbins" for orks.

[Mandragola]

There’s certainly stuff like that they could do. There are supposed to be other marauder versions too, and it’s an airframe (and model) that can more easily be changed. You could stick an AWACS type thing on the middle turret mount, and the nose and tail can both be altered more or less at will.

 

Actually the imperium has a ton of planes it can use anyway. And I guess some of those can probably be used by chaos renegades too. But some other races only have one or two planes, which makes their involvement a lot harder.

 

I’m curious to see what FW does with marines. They’ll have to do them eventually I think. So far they’ve preferred to build their own plane designs it seems (though that may just be because they’ve got so many). Their marine stuff is mostly heresy era though, so not as suitable. The thunderhawks pretty much has to happen eventually though, even if it’s flying with stormhawks instead of Xiphons.

[Arendious]

I suspect we'll get both Xiphons and Stormhawks, the former in resin if I had to guess.

 

Speaking of the Xiphon, I'd like to see the Legions get more air options using the design cues from that airframe. (And that can then become tiny planes too).

[plastic_slug]

I’m still not very optimistic about the future. Sorry guys. The super slow start, hit from the pandemic, and lack of chatter is not a good sign. I have skin in the game - here is my completed, painted starter. 

[Mandragola]

Well you could be right. It has been a slow start and obviously the pandemic is preventing any of us from playing.

 

It’s definitely too soon to despair though. AT had a really slow start and quite a negative initial reception. I didn’t buy into it until quite a long time after release but there’s now a great community.

 

I was very unimpressed with the way GW went about releasing blood bowl and necromunda too. Those are campaign-based games but on release you couldn’t actually play a campaign, because hardly any of the gangs/teams were available – and it took years until they were. But now they both have great ranges.

 

It seems to me that specialist games don’t particularly reward early adopters. Right now would be an excellent time to get into AT, as the new(ish) starter set that provides a very good start to an army. The Grand master set really didn’t do that. But now the game has been out ~18 months the whole range is available and you can get good discounts too.

 

I think AI is similar. The Imperial faction is hardly able to do any of the transport missions with only the marauder destroyer able to do them, but that will presumably change when Valkyries appear. And from what I hear the missions aren’t particularly balanced at the moment – perhaps because they were tested with complete model ranges, or they just weren’t tested much at all.

 

Anyway my point is that all specialist games so far have looked pretty bad for most of the first year after release. AI is no different. Most of the others have survived so there's every reason AI will too.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I was very unimpressed with the way GW went about releasing blood bowl and necromunda too. Those are campaign-based games but on release you couldn’t actually play a campaign, because hardly any of the gangs/teams were available – and it took years until they were. But now they both have great ranges.

^ This

 

It seems to me that specialist games don’t particularly reward early adopters. Right now would be an excellent time to get into AT, as the new(ish) starter set that provides a very good start to an army. The Grand master set really didn’t do that. But now the game has been out ~18 months the whole range is available and you can get good discounts too.

To be honest, it seems that GW's Specialist Games release strategy is just a bit broken from the end-consumer's point of view - it seems to be "toe-dip and if successful drip-feed content", when it would benefit from a greater amount of releases nearer the initial release. :/

Edited May 5, 2020 by Firedrake Cordova

[Arendious]

To be honest, it seems that GW's Specialist Games release strategy is just a bit broken from the end-consumer's point of view - it seems to be "toe-dip and if successful drip-feed content", when it would benefit from a greater amount of releases nearer the initial release. :/

I feel like some of this is driven by GW's "peek in on the sculptors and see what's done" approach to range planning.

[Mandragola]

The "toe dip" thing is very frustrating. One of the ways it seems to manifest is that they place far too small orders for stuff with the 3rd parties who produce some of the essential accessories. And so with AI we have a board game where you can't buy the :cuss board anywhere, and with AT there have been constant issues with terminals and transfers selling out.

 

This sort of thing can't be deliberate. But it shows how handing off specialist games to a bunch of keen amateurs isn't necessarily a great business strategy.

 

The decision to market a starter set with an incomplete rulebook and board, just so they could fill up more shelf space (when they're in stock) with two more essential products that you can't play the game without, is truly stupid and a direct route to irritate your customers right at the start of the process. At least AT gives you the whole rule book in the starter.

 

Sadly this is just the situation with specialist games. The games themselves are often good. The miniatures are fantastic. The customer experience is pretty dreadful.

Edited May 14, 2020 by duz_
Don't dodge the swear filter

[Arendious]

I'm convinced there's a checklist at GW they reference when preparing to release a game. And somewhere in the middle is a picture of 'Dreadfleet' and the words, 'take all your projections and halve them'.

[plastic_slug]

The game industry has changed to such an extent that even the big dogs like GW have had little choice but to move away from an ‘everything is available all the time’ business model. So much product is vomited out onto the market every week, stuff has a super short sales window to catch the attention of a customer before 8000000000000 other things are screaming for attention. So even GW is being much more cautious in how much they produce. They’d rather make 5000 of something and sell out leaving some demand on the table, rather than making 10000, and having 4997 left in the warehouse when the bill comes due for all 10K 90 days later. That’s the game biz in 2020. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

with AT there have been constant issues with terminals and transfers selling out.  This sort of thing can't be deliberate. But it shows how handing off specialist games to a bunch of keen amateurs isn't necessarily a great business strategy.  Sadly this is just the situation with specialist games. The games themselves are often good. The miniatures are fantastic. The customer experience is pretty dreadful.

It's the same with the cards for Necromunda - GW weren't even able to honour the pre-orders they took on their web site for the last pack. :(  It's almost as though they're being constrained in the amount they're allowed to order (either by due to capacity or financial allocation).  It's a bit frustrating for me, as I'm only really interested in the Specialist Games these days (I've somewhat gone off 40K and WHFB/AOS as they became "larger").  Still, hopefully the Taros release won't be marred by those issues. :)

[Burni]

The first paragraph in Taros, which introduces the AI galactic setting, mentions Orks, traitors, slumbering forces and young vibrant empires on the Imp borders. I think that’s a decent clue to what we can expect to see.

[abraxus]

There is also mention of the Tau using Remoras, which has me excited

[Arendious]

...mentions Orks, traitors, slumbering forces and young vibrant empires...

Imperials

Orks

Tau (Young Empire)

----

Necrons (Slumbering)

Chaos (Traitors)

 

That's our "five factions" right there. Though we've had Aeldari vs. Orks brought up in an article. (And both Craftworlds and Dark Eldar have flyers from 40k and previous AI.)