What factions are missing, from ages past?

[Noserenda]

Arbites I feel would be better suited to skirmish games like Necromunda or Kill Team. Like, military police don't generally deploy as fighting forces in a full on battlefield, especially not the "Somme except worse" battlefields of the 41st Millennium. By all means I'd like to see more of them but maybe not as a full army.

 

 

Arbites absolutely arent Military police though, they essentially have nothing to do with any of the Imperium's armed forces unless they engage in widespread rebellion or tithe denial and the Arbites turn up to judge/execute em :D 

[roryokane]

 

I was going to say Space Slann, but Brother S2D above rightly covered it. Also:

 

Hrud - from 3rd ed

 

Imperial Beastmen - oh boy this would be a fun one. They were considered Imperial Abhumans. This is even more tragic than Squats.

 

Starchild and Senseis - this would be a mini-Codex, like the Inquisition or Rogue Traders.

 

Malal - the 5th Chaos power, the aspect of Chaos that is self-defeating and fights the rest of Chaos. Could be renamed Malice

 

Orks that followed Chaos and Ork Genestealer Hybrids - that's probably written out of the lore, or we could convert ourselves

bro I would love imperial beastmen, too bad GW is dead set on beastmen being inherently chaos

 

Imperial beastmen were mentioned in something I read recently. One of the Warzone Books - Octarius, I think?

[Guest Triszin]

Rakgol

 

 

Think of it as a inverted Tau

[Jings]

No mention of Zoats? Would like to see them make a return (other than the single BSF model we got). Ditto Saharduin, the space sharks (no not those guys) which are a fun thing that could be played with. 

 

Now Squats have returned as a distinct faction, I'd love to see these other forgotten races return. Of all the sins of 7th, the introduction of 'mini factions' was probably one of the best directions 40K has taken in the 10 years I've been active in the hobby and I'd love a return to that. 

 

In my ideal world, GW would focus on ressurecting some specific Xenos races as mini-dexes designed around smaller-scale games (500-1K forces). There's a lot of cool things they could do with this approach - particularly expanding them under the Tau. Zoat refugees incorporated as an indebtured warrior caste, and Saharduin ocean worlds unsuitable for Tau colonization allying under the Greater Good to expand their territory. Expand the Tau as the Xenos Alliance faction they began as, instead of just the Manga faction. 

 

These could easily be done with relatively small model releases too, just like the Tempestus Scions or Harlequins were handled. A HQ model, a dual purpose troops kit, and some sort of medium sized monster/vehicle unit and bam, you've got a small force for each that could be utilized in larger games (if a touch spammy) or integrated within a larger Tau alliance. I'd go ham with it. 

 

Saharduin 

- 1 HQ model, maybe a sprue similar to the Genecoven with multiple characters to fill in Elite slots. 

- Dual kit Piscean Warriors, or with options to allow for two separate loadouts. 

- Larger dual kit monster that can fill Fast Attack or Heavy Support slots. 

 

Zoats

- 1 HQ model, some sort of Alpha zoat

- Dual kit of Zoat Warriors / Dominators (imagining 3 larger models per kit, with Dominators acting as more heavy support, maybe a third fast attack variant on top of that provided the kit doesn't get too crammed) 

- Mind Slaves, alternative troops choice that act as chaff based on older Nids lore

 

A man can dream. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Jings

[N1SB]

You know who has a Saharduin in this very forum?  Brother Apologist.  He is living The Dream.  Don't worry, I'm as jelly as you are.

[Slave to Darkness]

I wonder how much coin GW would make off of Anime fans if they released the Cat Abhumans?? 

[Jukkiz]

I wonder how much coin GW would make off of Anime fans if they released the Cat Abhumans?? 

dunno, Artel W has pretty nice ones. Other third party too. Seen alot goat men hybrids going around

[Brother Tyler]

The whole range of abhumans, not to mention experimental soldiers (e.g., gland warriors), are rich fodder for inclusion. These might be done at the individual level for games such as Necromunda or Blackstone Fortress (Warhammer Quest), as well as in Inquisitor retinues; or it might be done at the squad level or higher as adjuncts to the Astra Militarum (expanding beyond the Ratlings and Ogryns). Expansion beyond that, such as the Squats being/becoming a full faction for Warhammer 40,000 might be done, too, though I'm doubtful that most (if any) will see that.

 

I love the Dark Mechanicus and Lost and the Damned (or Renegades and Heretics) ideas.

 

I'd love to see the Daemonkin revisited, expanding to include each of the powers as well as an undivided option. I see the "daemonkin" name as inaccurate, though, as being too focused on the daemon aspect. I'd rather see them presented as Chaos, with five such (sub-)factions - either that or a reliable way to soup all of the Chaos factions into a coherent army based on two keywords (CHAOS and either KHORNE, NURGLE, SLAANESH, TZEENTCH, or UNDIVIDED).

[sitnam]

I'm holding to the off chance that the CSM codex will contain rules similar to Brood Brothers from GSC, which will mostly allow us LatD fans to relive the IA13 glory days, especially if the cultist and mutants rumors pan out.

 

The latest Tau codex actually gave Kroot a fair amount of attention, but I'd still like to see the Kroot expanded. As others have said, a Tau vassal codex would be very nice down the line. Honestly, given how Harlequins we're rolled back into CWE, you might even be able to add Tau vassal detachments in the main Tau book. The layout of the Drukhari might actually work too

[Scribe]

So something bouncing around in my head for the last few weeks, has been this question of where 40K, not the game, but the lore, models, release structure, factions, is going to go from here. I've started and deleted a few posts all dancing around this topic, but the Leagues of Votann being potentially 'Men of Stone' really got the wheels turning.

 

If you go back far enough, you can see this reinvention or reimagining of factions, starting with the Dark Eldar, back in 5th the reintroduction of AdMech, and Harlequins and Sisters, and the eventual inclusion of Custodes, Sisters of Silence, Knights, Genestealer Cults, and more, and then a bit of a divergence, in the Primaris.

 

I think that was a branch, that has since been bent back towards the norm, in the way of models like Mephiston, and then the reboot essentially of the Black Templars in the Primaris Template. The 9th Edition box also pulled us away from the clean military sci-fi of the original Primaris, back towards what I would call 'proper 40K'.

 

Then we have the Necromunda stuff as well, all essentially mining the games rich history and lore (decades long at this point, at almost a quarter of a century since 3rd edition!) and Blackstone Fortress, with its own set of call backs.

 

Then we come to the Squats, reimagined as Leagues of Votann.

 

A lot of this, in my view is pulling out of the history of the game. Either snips of lore, classic art (Mephiston for example) all reaching for a nostalgia kick that many of us cannot ignore.

 

---

 

So whats next? I have to think the biggest gap we have right now, is the Inquisition. They dont really have great table top representation, they dont have much of a definition at all in the game, and the model line is either old, or extremely limited.

 

Outside of updates to existing lines, or things like World Eaters, is there much out there still that sings to that nostalgic part of your soul?

[Brother Tyler]

Note that I merged the topic that Scribe created today with an existing topic that discussed the same subject.

[WrathOfTheLion]

I'm of the opinion the biggest gaps are on the Chaos side, notably any organized Lost and the Damned (Traitor Guard armies, Dark Mechanicum).

 

Don't know to what degree they're 'from ages past' in the same way Squats are, but as far as contemporary factions, that's what I see a hole.

Edited May 13, 2022 by WrathOfTheLion

[Scribe]

The next Chaos book should address Lost and the Damned, so thats another nostalgia hit taken care of.

[LameBeard]

I guess the Sensei and the Star Child would be a real nostalgic kick - I had something planned but our “Chaos Warbands in Space” campaign never quite got started. The itch that wasn’t scratched - 30 years ago or more?

 

Edit: also, some things from the old Imperial Guard army list, like imperial beastmen, penal legions, sorry if we said this already? I feel like Scribe’s question was slightly different from the original post so I’m just saying what might make me nostalgic. Maybe a few things from the ork army list too. Do Madboyz still exist? Do we still have some of the tanks that got ported over from Epic like the lungbursta and the bowelburna? Human allies for Blood Axes - that seems to me a very early 40k kinda thing - a big old galaxy where things start twisting back in on themselves.

Edited May 13, 2022 by LameBeard

[Scribe]

I guess the Sensei and the Star Child would be a real nostalgic kick - I had something planned but our “Chaos Warbands in Space” campaign never quite got started. The itch that wasn’t scratched - 30 years ago or more?

 

Edit: also, some things from the old Imperial Guard army list, like imperial beastmen, penal legions, sorry if we said this already? I feel like Scribe’s question was slightly different from the original post so I’m just saying what might make me nostalgic. Maybe a few things from the ork army list too. Do Madboyz still exist? Do we still have some of the tanks that got ported over from Epic like the lungbursta and the bowelburna?

 

That may be coming as of the latest novels.

 

My hope/thinking, is that it could tie in to the Inquisition, as that was I believe, a facet of the old Inquisitor game?

 

I do hope we get Beastmen (loyalist and other) for sure.

[LameBeard]

I think it could tie to the Inquisition yes. I never read the RPG but I think in Lost and Damned it was implied they are hunted by Inquisition and generally live as outlaws from Imperial rule. It’s a nice layer in the irony of 40k. Not Imperial, non-chaos, human factions have a lot of mileage in 40k I feel. It adds to the tragedy since conflict with the Imperium is almost inevitable.

 

They need to update the beardy terminator inquisitor with bionic leg - a great excuse to do a terminator in the primaris age (because he’s not a marine!)

[Snazzy]

No mention of Zoats? Would like to see them make a return (other than the single BSF model we got). Ditto Saharduin, the space sharks (no not those guys) which are a fun thing that could be played with. 

 

 

The problem with stuff from BSF is that it is only kinda meant for 40K.  The units themselves have rules and costs, which are overblown due to when they were published.  The biggest issue is that the 40K basic rules make it extremely detrimental to include any of these units, unless it is some weird faction stamped thing like the Black Legionnaires.  It is an unfortunate case of the rules interfering with the models, which are great.  I'm also not sure what it is meant to stop.  Tau using Imperial fortifications?

 

I think there is a space for one off of unaffiliated units on the 40K table without having to pay 2CPs for an Aux Detachment to prevent said units from stripping your faction bonuses.