NOVA Open Preview - August 28th/29th

[Marshal Loss]

 

Those roadmaps are so bad lol. What were they thinking

[DeadFingers]

Well hey, I wanted to see when Eldar, Guard and Emperor's Children fit and I got two out of three. Neat.

 

I'd prefer roadmaps to not be at least 50% past and present, and for them to follow a horizontal timeline, but I really can't say I didn't get what I wanted.

Edited August 29 by DeadFingers

[Astartes Consul]

 

‘No hope is better than any hope’ is a very Warhammer universe appropriate statement, tbf. 

 
Well, didn’t expect to be provided *this* right

[CL_Mission]

 

Feels like they’re trying to push AOS hard right now but it just doesn’t seem to have the following. I check some online retailers every now and then that show AOS skaventide stock to see what sells. Gamers Guild still has 258 boxes of Skaventide.

This is purely anecdotal obviously but I play in group that historically has been very 40k focused, almost entirely in fact, but since the new edition came out there's been a lot of interest in AOS, especially with spearhead. Almost everyone has picked up at least one spearhead and a couple of people are expanding those into larger forces, I'm working on one myself right now. I'm also quite happy to see Skanventide still available as I'm very seriously considering buying now.

[TheWarmaster]

The fact that they say "You do NOT want to miss this one" every time they announce a reveal event is annoying enough, but for this one it was just insulting. 

It's literally just to get people on Twitch to get that Twitch money.. they really didn't even need to do an event at this point. Could've just been a WarCom article. 

We got some AoS Stormcast and a Chaos Dwarf BB team.. and then a few extremely vague and utterly pointless 'roadmaps' for '2025'. 

Utter waste of time tbh lol. 

[Astartes Consul]

 

To be honest, I suspect the reason everything else is getting a seemingly quiet end to 2024 is to make room for Middle-earth (big license), Necromunda Secundus and boxed games like Warhammer Quest. 

I agree. Would it kill GW to just say this and not have to pretend that every month might bring some game changing release for another system?

[TrawlingCleaner]

"We want roadmaps!"

*Given Roadmaps*

"No! Not like that!"

 

Ah NRBA, never change

 

Confirmation on Krieg and Aspect Warriors (Hawks specifically) is much more than I expected to see for a roadmap to be honest. AoS truly stays winning and doesn't miss 

At least there's some ace conversion potential in the Lord Relictor and the Terminos, undoubtedly some mad folks will convert the Morrgrpyhs too

[Dark Shepherd]

I think we should hold off on judgement until the roadmap is FAQ'd

[ArielRSA]

Insultingly bad. Glad I didn’t get up at 2am to watch it

[ZeroWolf]

I've really got nothing to add that hasn't already been said here but I have one question that's bugging me...

 

Why change the design of the road maps they've been using? Those ones were clearer at least.

 

Only thing I can think of is the old ones gave a more exact timeframe than is being offered now.

 

Anecdotally, I've also heard there's been a uptick in Spearhead play locally, whatever GW did differently for that mode seems to be working. I suspect Combat Patrol in 11th will see similar changes.

 

Oh, one more thing:

 

I know why GW wouldn't have come out straight away with the truth of production capacity (better break ground on factory 4 then!) and that's worry about what investors and stocks might do. Better to omit the truth and smooth it over with things that are technically true.

[Mogger351]

 

"We want roadmaps!"

*Given Roadmaps*

"No! Not like that!"

 

Ah NRBA, never change

 

Confirmation on Krieg and Aspect Warriors (Hawks specifically) is much more than I expected to see for a roadmap to be honest. AoS truly stays winning and doesn't miss 

At least there's some ace conversion potential in the Lord Relictor and the Terminos, undoubtedly some mad folks will convert the Morrgrpyhs too

Because it wasn't a roadmap, it was an infomercial and restrospective that didn't warrant a Nova slot. If we're nitpicking they haven't told us much still, we know Guard are next "some time in 2025" followed directly by Eldar and then knights "some time after". Being cynical they might drop next November and that roadmap might be accurate and "treats for chaos" is apparently being given all their codex near the end of the edition. It's sort of clear why people are annoyed.

[Halandaar]

Hard to disagree that the roadmaps are basically worthless, but if nothing else I appreciate the confirmation that there's nothing good going to pop up before Christmas that's going to demand a chunk of my hobby time or budget. 

 

The fact that they chose to bury the one bit of actual news in 40K that would get people excited (that Krieg are being expanded to a full plastic range) as a single line of text in the article, rather than making that the big deal, is baffling. They would have been better just not including these roadmaps at all and leaving the focus on the AoS Stormcast minis (which are largely great, even if they reinforce my impression that they can't decide what they want this range to be)

 

EDIT - Also, the not being anything aside from Blood Angels for the rest of the year isn't strictly correct, as Kill Team Hivestorm brings units for Guard and Tau, and will probably also see the teams from the last couple of boxes (Mandrakes, Night Lords, Yaegirs and Brood Brothers) get standalone releases. Then you've got the characters from army boxes (Chaos Lord, Jump Canoness, Benefictus, Coteaz) so there is a little something for a fair spread of factions, even if none of those things are strictly "new", it'll be the first time a lot of people can get their hands on them.

 

Between those things, the Stormcast and Skaven waves (both of which are big enough to warrant being split over 2 weeks each), Warcry warbands, remaining Old World Chaos Warrior releases, Chorf Blood Bowl team, imminent new edition of Middle Earth, probable new Underworlds box, inevitable Christmas battleforces, there's plenty of stuff to come out before the end of the year.

Edited August 29 by Halandaar

[Valkyrion]

Taking effectively a 6 month break during what is only a 3 year edition cycle when there are half the factions still without a codex smacks of terrible planning, poor management, or production issues being kept quiet. 

 

Go back to 4 year edition cycles and take the proper time to sort stuff out. No need for road maps to tell you to stop driving for the rest of the year. 

[Orange Knight]

I think GW might have one too many fingers in one too many pies.

 

Ultimately, there is probably an upper limit to what they can realistically shift in terms of product. 40k is very popular, as are some of the other games, but remember that miniature wargaming is a small niche compared to something like video gaming or the movie industry.

 

They are supporting a lot of massive games at the moment. 40k is arguably too big as it is, too many sub-factions and too much bloat in some rangers, whilst others are in desperate need of extra support. Age of Sigmar as a range is almost as big. Now you have the Horus Heresy, Necromunda, Lord of the Rings, The Old World, etc

There will be a point of diminishing returns in terms of expanding the production capability and I don't believe that growth in this hobby is limitless.

 

Maybe the wheels have started to fall off, and some delays are causing a knock on effect. When I look at the fact that the 40k range will receive no further additions beyond the Blood Angels for the rest of the year and leading up to Christmas, it seems pretty strange.

[Magos Takatus]

I think I've figured out who is providing these laser-accurate roadmaps that allow us to peer into the future...

 

[TheArtilleryman]

I know it’s all about getting extra money from more releases, but I just think they’d be so much better off making one big book for Chaos Marines that includes all the factions, similar to the Liber Hereticus in HH. Same for Space Marines; just put all the Marines apart from maybe Grey Knights into one massive book. Sure it would be a more expensive book, but it would take care the speed of updates and the convenience factor, and prevent people from complaining about not getting one.

 

Personally I miss the 8th edition index books. I bought all of them at release and didn’t need a single codex for the whole edition because all the armies were balanced and right there in front of me. Meant I could use my budget for miniatures instead. In my view, we could do away with codexes altogether now and just go with the index format forever. What’s the point in buying a new codex every edition that’s going to be invalidated in less than a year in some cases?
 

A bit off topic but also sort of related cos we’re taking about roadmaps and release schedules of codexes etc.

Edited August 29 by TheArtilleryman

[Matcap86]

I do think some of the comments that these roadmaps falling flat are signs of ots of troubles brewing in the company might be a bit overblown.

 

They scaled up their production and product diversification massively over the past few years. Added on that they fostered a culture of "every week new stuff!! Buy,buy,buy". Which has really done wonders for their financials.

 

Downside of that is when you reach your peak of production/design capacity, you can't push any further. So it is the logical thing to turn the volume down a bit. But as customers are so tuned into "every week new shiny!" that will seem like a failure on the company's side. 

 

Everyone expects the same rapid fire release schedule for all of the games all of the times which becomes less feasible the more systems you put out. Leading to people declaring things like the old world or legions imperialis as dead games everytime there wasn't a new set immediately on the horizon. (Which then can become self fulfilling prophecies, which is a thing GW wants to avoid).

 

A little slower releases (which mind you as others have said is relative, with tons of killteam, LOTR and AOS stuff coming). Is honestly not a bad thing in my opinion.

 

I do think they have some incompetent dingus in marketing management who thought it was a good idea to put these roadmaps out like this. But then again their marketing department is iffy at the best of times.

Edited August 29 by Matcap86

[Dark Shepherd]

Super rose tinted view but all remaining codices must have substantial accompanying releases or be bundled in with something sigificant (for them not to come out this Autumn)

[Halandaar]

 

3 year edition cycle when there are half the factions still without a codex smacks of terrible planning, poor management, or production issues being kept quiet. 

 

This is a feature, not a bug. They know most hobbyists collect more than one faction and the best way to get those people to go all in on every release is to spread them out, not least because people might be baited into buying for their smaller armies if they don't know how long they'll have to wait for their main. It might suck, but drip-feeding the factions out across the entire 3-year cycle is definitely intentional, not accidental.

 

As for this

 

Taking effectively a 6 month break

 

Not sure how this works given Blood Angels Army Box releases next weekend, at which point it's less than 4 months to 2025. Assuming the main BA wave is at least a few weeks behind that (like DA were) it's more like 2 months. And it's perfectly possible that Guard could be in January, as they were in 9th Edition.

[TrawlingCleaner]

 

Because it wasn't a roadmap, it was an infomercial and restrospective that didn't warrant a Nova slot. If we're nitpicking they haven't told us much still, we know Guard are next "some time in 2025" followed directly by Eldar and then knights "some time after". Being cynical they might drop next November and that roadmap might be accurate and "treats for chaos" is apparently being given all their codex near the end of the edition. It's sort of clear why people are annoyed.

 

Roadmaps are just vague infomercials of upcoming products or content. I agree, there's not much content on there and it really didn't warrant their Nova slot but that's all Roadmaps? I've yet to see a Roadmap that was honest with expectations or worth anyone's time? They're deliberately vague so they can pivot away from a thing that hasn't panned out. People asked for vague timelines of releases, were told that's all they were getting and were given it but don't like the vague timelines given which I find funny in a way. Anyone that's worked in a customer facing role sees this kind of thing daily

As others have said, the 4 month gap in 40k releases isn't really a gap in overall releases, they're still producing a tonne of new stuff that's mostly not 40k like Killteam, AoS, MESBG, TOW etc

Edited August 29 by TrawlingCleaner

[TheArtilleryman]

 

people might be baited into buying for their smaller armies if they don't know how long they'll have to wait for their main.

This. Been thinking exactly the same thing for a while

[ZeroWolf]

 

 

This is a feature, not a bug. They know most hobbyists collect more than one faction and the best way to get those people to go all in on every release is to spread them out, not least because people might be baited into buying for their smaller armies if they don't know how long they'll have to wait for their main. It might suck, but drip-feeding the factions out across the entire 3-year cycle is definitely intentional, not accidental.

 

As for this

 

Not sure how this works given Blood Angels Army Box releases next weekend, at which point it's less than 4 months to 2025. Assuming the main BA wave is at least a few weeks behind that (like DA were) it's more like 2 months. And it's perfectly possible that Guard could be in January, as they were in 9th Edition.

I bet if it wasn't for the new Lord of Rings movie coming out this year, they would have held off a big new LotR release and we may have gotten Krieg army set before Xmas. Of course I don't blame GW for wanting to jump on the back of the new movie (though it ie weird seeing hyper stylized anime like designs turned into the realistic style of the miniatures game) as it makes good business sense.

[RWJP]

 

A little slower releases (which mind you as others have said is relative, with tons of killteam, LOTR and AOS stuff coming). Is honestly not a bad thing in my opinion.

 

I do think they have some incompetent dingus in marketing management who thought it was a good idea to put these roadmaps out like this. But then again their marketing department is iffy at the best of times.

I don't think anyone here would argue that slowing down a little is a bad thing.

The reason people are unhappy with this apparent slow down is because GW aren't communicating that in an appropriate way to us, their customers.

If this is actually a case that GW is intentionally slowing down in order to catch up, bring things back into stock, reorganize etc then they should say that!

If GW had said the following: "Hi all, we know it's been crazy busy over the last couple of years with the launch of a new edition of 40k and AoS and a lot of stuff people want has been out of stock for quite a while. As such, for the last 3 months of 2024 we're going to slow down on new releases to focus on restocking old products and getting prepped for an existing year of Warhammer in 2025" I don't think we'd have seen half as many complaints.

As a second point though, the fact that GW may be slowing down while 10th Edition is still only 50% complete (roughly 13 of 26 Codexes) is not a good way to handle things and just demonstrates that GW really needs to reconsider their model for releasing rules. Taking a break of several months while most of the Chaos factions are in a holding pattern for rules isn't the way things should be done.

[Mogger351]

 

 

Roadmaps are just vague infomercials of upcoming products or content. I agree, there's not much content on there and it really didn't warrant their Nova slot but that's all Roadmaps? I've yet to see a Roadmap that was honest with expectations or worth anyone's time? They're deliberately vague so they can pivot away from a thing that hasn't panned out. People asked for vague timelines of releases, were told that's all they were getting and were given it but don't like the vague timelines given which I find funny in a way. Anyone that's worked in a customer facing role sees this kind of thing daily

As others have said, the 4 month gap in 40k releases isn't really a gap in overall releases, they're still producing a tonne of new stuff that's mostly not 40k like Killteam, AoS, MESBG, TOW etc

I think you're ignoring the context of what they provided last year:

 

 

Look at that lovely clarity on what's when and slightly vague but helpful cadence.

 

To that end good job they missed off Autumn, poor old BA on their own.

Edited August 29 by Mogger351

[Borbarad]

 

To that end good job they missed off Autumn, poor old BA on their own.

I’m a bit confused about the roadmap … that’s it for 2024? Does the BA release have to carry 40k till end of year?