11th edition starter speculation.

[jimbo1701]

Greetings all. I wanted to pen some thoughts about not only what might be present in the 11th starter set, but also a retrospective on the past 3 edition starter army releases. Warning in advance - this will be a long post. 

 

8th edition - dark imperium 

 

This set the scene for what was to come with the 3 year renewal cycle and the look / feel of the starter sets and release waves. A summer release of completely new and reimagined armies for space marines and death guard in dark imperium was followed by release waves for both the death guard and space marines in the autumn. This not only added multipart kits to the starter equivalents but also expanded on them, providing both a comprehensive range for the death guard and also a good start to the eventual succession of the huge ‘firstborn’ marine range. 

 

I see this edition as a testbed for what came in 9th and 10th. We saw every model in the starter get a multipart equivalent (MPK) where appropriate. In the case of the space marines, eventually all the models got an MPK, whereas the death guard retained some push fit equivalents from the starter. The sprue layout was not as well designed as the subsequent starters as can be seen from the presence of death guard plague marine parts on the poxwalker sprue that is used to this day. 

 

Other quirks included a small release of MPK separate kits - the dreadnought and flame storm aggressors were effectively a cheaper (but ultimately redundant) addition to the space marines that was phased out, whereas the death guard retained some of theirs in the form of the Blight hauler, which joined the main range. Later releases would also include some simple build models without options incorporated into the main range, such as the ballistus dreadnought. 

 

The imperium magazine was another new feature that reused the models from dark imperium for the most part, a trend that would continue through to today with indomitus. Lastly, dark imperium was a limited run release with smaller sets such as first strike existing to offer a smaller price point for those wishing to start the game with a smaller amount of the same models in. 

 

To finish off 8th edition it is of course worth discussing shadowspear, a mid to late edition release which was a vs set including some chaos space marines (prior to the range getting an update) vs Phobos marines. To this day some of the sprues from this set remain available with the Phobos sprues being firstly in the combat patrol and now available separately and being the only way to get space marines suppressors and the Phobos lt. Chaos marines reused the master of possession and the sprues containing the venomcrawler / obliterators and to this day they do not have an MPK. It remains to be seen if they will ever be replaced as it wasn’t until 2 years ago that the space marine characters from dark imperium got the last of their MPKs in the form of the gravis captain and ancient. 

 

9th edition - indomitus. 

 

Things kicked into high gear with this Summer release, again being a limited run (but with a second run printed due to demand greatly outstripping supply) and now with several tiers of smaller starter sets generally available with lower model counts but the same models found in indomitus. 

 

The sprue designs were much better this time around allowing models / some characters to be easily grouped and reused in the smaller kits and most of the necron starter kits remain range items to this day for this reason. Space marines did, however, receive MPKs for their units save for the outriders, and the cleverly designed ‘special’ sprue for each army is now a range item for a high price, including some units that can only be purchased by buying that sprue. There were also a couple of push fit kits that became line items: the invader atv and doomstalker. 

 

Both armies got a second release wave in the autumn Again the models were featured in a Hachette publication, this time with some other imperial factions also mixed in with the space marines. This time around there was no shadowspear equivalent, with marines getting a small second wave in the form of strike force Agastus late in the edition. 

 

10th edition - leviathan 

 

This edition follows the trend of the previous edition very closely with the same approach taken with sprue design and subsequent inclusion in kits. Subtle changes include the addition of the Marine faction models from the starter as a terrible value deal combat patrol and a distinct change in the way the Hachette publication is marketed, offering several small armies now rather than focussing primarily on the two starter faction. 

 

As before the ‘enemy’ faction (tyranids this time) has reused much of the starter contents in their main range, with subtle improvements such as the addition of a weapon sprue to the gaunts. Marines this time have not got an MPK for their basic ‘troops’ (the infernus marines) and have retained a model in the form of the ballistus dreadnought, which will likely remain a main range item for the foreseeable future. 

 

11tb edition - ? 

 

I fully expect the 3 year cycle and release pattern to continue as it has for the previous 2 editions - if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I predicted that tyranids would be the starter faction for 10th and have speculated that orks will be the faction for 11th, which seems to be supported by some of the reliable rumour sources. Generic space marines will be the other half of the set and precisely what units come for them depend on several factors. 

 

Firstly, what is the plan for firstborn? I certainly thing that tactical and devastator marines will disappear, with the rhino variants also likely to be on the chopping block. What releases we get towards the end of 10th edition for marines, rumoured to be characters and a few updated units, will also determine the contents. As nothing is confirmed at time of writing this I will presume anything is fair game. I also note that AOS replaced some of the original starter units from 3 editions prior with updated versions so think this may well apply here too. 

 

Marines:

 

Likely to be 10 ‘troops’, 4 characters, 2 elite squads and one squad / unit of larger models based on the previous box contents. 

 

Characters: captain and lt are certainties. It’s not a given that the armour type will necessarily match the rest of the box contents as leviathan showed. I would speculate at least one model will be in non-Tacticus armour (indeed none were in leviathan) 

 

Troops: I think we will see new intercessors on a 5 man sprue and that we will start to see them molded more towards tactical marines, with an option for a sergeant melee weapon and perhaps a choice of 2 ‘special weapons’. (I would also speculate the MPK intercessors kit will be replaced or updated with an extra sprue for sergeant and weapon options) 

 

Elites: if we don’t get them towards the end of 10th I think assault terminators and vanguard veterans are the obvious choices here. Other options may be to phase out devastators and add in a unit of 5 Tacticus models with say las or grav weapons. 

 

Big unit: there doesn’t seem an obvious dreadnought option here and I don’t think a tank would be practical size wise. I suspect centurions will go to legends. So it’s anyone’s guess really. 

 

Adversary:

 

I personally think orks are most likely as there will never be an imperial vs imperial starter, csm and their subfactions have a very complete range now and of the xenos factions only orks seem in need of having a decent amount of units refreshed. It’s not impossible a new faction could be a starter army (dark eldar and death guard have already done this) and 12th ed will present a conundrum for GW as to what best to out in the starter set I suspect. 

 

There are several items in the ork range showing their age and orks are rather unique in that they already had a release wave with models (megaboss, boys, deffkoptas) that were used in a previous combat patrol and looked suspiciously like they were intended for a starter kit, being push fit with slotta bases. I doubt these would all be reused though as it would kill a lot of the enthusiasm for the starter kit of a chunk of the models were existing kits. Plus the boyz MPK is pretty unfit for purpose as it stands. 

 

Similarly to space marines, there is a perceivable trend with the necron and tyranid kits in the limited launch starter set. 20 troops, 2 elite squads and a mixture of characters / big things and another squad filling the remaining 5 spaces.  

 

Characters: I can’t see a warboss wouldn’t feature here and so I think a standard warboss with big choppa would be a good fit. A weird boy is another obvious pick as is a nob with bosspole given that they are both currently finecast models. 

 

Troops: I think regardless of whether they feature in the starter set or not, the boyz situation needs addressing. Likely the old kit will go and the more recent kit will either also go or be supplemented with an extra sprue to allow players to build both melee and shooty versions. An upgrade sprue that allows you to turn the 5 melee orks into shoota boys and the 3 shoota boys into melee boys means you would only need one for 20 boys to be able to to build 2 squads of 10 each. (And please GW feel free to add snotling swarms same as the necron and tyranids troops get) Alternatively just replace it wilth an MPK or put the push fit in the starter with an MPK coming later (or push fit with upgrade sprue) which would go with the previous approach for tyranids. An alternative would be a ‘primaris ork’ type of unit such as ard boyz in the starter set to go alongside the regular boyz, but this would overlap with the nob squad role. 

 

Elites: the 9th and 10th starters tended to focus on new things for the armies rather than replacing existing units map for the rest of the box contents I suspect we will see new units, though replacing some of the older kits when the wave release lands is still probable. Lootas / burnas, some of the retired named characters, stormboys to name a few. 

 

Other: to be honest I’m struggling to come up with any ideas as to what else could be added but I’m sure gw will come up with lots of new, copywritable units to add to the range in both the starter and wave. 

 

That’s all, phew. Thank you for reading this far. Please share your thoughts below. 

[skylerboodie]

Valrak keeps hinting that 11th edition may be coming a lot sooner than we expect, so if that's the case, I could see it being a fast-attack focussed box for marines, including the assault terminators, vanguard veterans, perhaps a new drop pod as the big model.

 

I love Orks - they're my largest army by far - but I was surprised to hear they would be the antagonists for 11th, as feel their range is wide and the minis are in a pretty good shape (IMHO), with quite a few mini waves in recent years already. Still, given the marine focus predicted above, I can see Stormboyz being a suitable troops choice, maybe backed up by some new meganobz as worthy opponents for the assault terminators, and possibly new killa kans / deff dread for the bigger model(s).

 

If 11th does drop sooner than 3-year cycle, presumably it's more like a 10.5 than a rules-reset, more like when 7th edition followed less than 2 years after 6th.

Edited Thursday at 08:50 PM by skylerboodie
typo

[Ahzek451]

1 hour ago, jimbo1701 said:

 

I fully expect the 3 year cycle and release pattern to continue as it has for the previous 2 editions - if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. 

 

Well, in a way its kind of broke for some. I'm curious to see what the long term results of this practice will be. From 3rd ed. onwards I collected every codex. I liked seeing new artwork and any lore updates along with unit descriptions. With a noticeable decrease in these aspects coupled with such a short edition window, I'm more than happy finding a PDF version at this point and skipping out on the purchases. Plus I am burned out on the rapid fire rule changes and potential for codex's only being good for a couple of months if your the unlucky faction at the end of edition. 

As for firstborn? Well, its been slowly happening already. GW probably would have acted quicker on phasing them out if not the sales. As of a handful of months ago, the basic marine tactical squad somehow was still a big seller for them. At a minimum, we will continue to see a lot more firstborn units disappear slowly as we move forward. 

Edited Thursday at 09:07 PM by Ahzek451

[Tawnis]

I was also one of the ones that called Tyranids as the big bad for this expansion, so I'll try my hand at it again, though I'm far less certain this time around. As far as I can see, there are 4 possible options with their own pros and cons, but before I get to them, what I think of the Space Marines.

Similarly to you I think that the Captain and Lt. are obvious picks and while they certainly didn't do it this edition, I think it would be smart to have them paired with units they can lead. 

So, I think we'll get a Jump Captain to lead the new Vanguard Vets

I also think we'll get a Terminator Lieutenant to lead the Assault Terminators. 

Like you, I think we'll a Tactical squad equivalent, though I think it will be as a 10 man unit with a couple swappable parts. (Ie each sprue would have say a plasma gun and a lascannon for instance so you can build one of each.) 

For the additional characters, I think we'll get a Company Champion again as well as a Terminator Ancient.

For the big unit, Dreads seem to sell pretty well, and while we do have the Brutalis, I'm thinking of a kind of re-imagining of the old Ironclad Dread. 

Now, what they are up against. In no particular order:

1. Orks: 
I agree with most of your points that they certainly would be a good choice. They need a refresh on some older kits, Lootas (that actually have the missile launcher), Meganobz, Storm Boyz (even though I still rather like that kit aside from it not coming with a power claw), Deffkoptas, ect. There's a lot to refresh here while bringing in some new units too. I also think that if they did do Orks, there would not be a Boyz unit in the release and that they would do a more customizable kit as a separate release later. 

 

Warboss with 3 Meganobz
A Jump Pack Character with 5 Stormboyz.
A unit of 10 Loots and a unit of 10 Burna Boyz now on their own sprews and not a dual kit. 

A Weirdboy as well as a sneaky little Gretchin character similar in style to the distraction Grot from the Kommando unit. 

Deffkoptas, and Grot Tanks. 

 

2. Drukhari:

While far from the most popular faction, you could have said the same about the Necrons prior to their explosion of popularity in 9th, even if it wasn't to the same extent. My thoughts on them are two fold. First, they very much need an expansion to their model range and this would be a great way to do it. Second, lore wise it makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of rumblings that Jaghatai will be the next Primarch to return, and he's been off in the Webway this entire time and it's been heavily implied that he's come into a lot of conflicts with the Drukahri, this would be the perfect way to narratively set up the story for his return. 

I don't know enough about Drukhari to speculate on what the box contents would be for them. 

 

3. Chaos:
While the Chaos range has gotten a pretty big glow up recently, there's still lots of "new" space it could tread. I think they'd clean up the last few gaps in the range while brining in a few new cultist models to expand on that side of things. In addition, they we're the faction in 8th and I have a gut feeling that 14th edition is going to be the 14th Black Crusade, just seems like something GW would do, so 11th is the perfect mid point for another Chaos starter without them being too close to each other. 

Chaos Lord on Bike with 3 Chaos Bikers.
Dark Mechanicum cult leader with 10 Negavolt Cultists

20 Cultists with Ranged Weapons

3 Mutilators (For those who don't remember, they were the melee obliterators)
A Cultist Vehicle and a Daemon Vehicle.
 

 4. Tau:

This only faction on this list that has never been part of a starter set, I do think there's some potential here. While the main Tau line of suits is pretty much exhausted with how far they can take it, people have been begging for more of the Auxiliary part of the Tau faction pretty much since its inception. While the sales of Kroot were luke warm, I think that is mostly because of the price of the Kroot as an army and that most of their units are pretty meh outside of the Kroot Detachement, which is prohibitively expensive. That being said, it is a very strong and fun army to play if you are actually able to collect enough to play it. However, they should go further and expand on the other races allied to the Tau as well. 

Kroot Mounted Character leading 3 Knarloc Riders
Vespid Character leading new type of (5-10)Vespid unit. 

A Nekusar unit (5-10man) to finally give the Tau a Psyker choice. 
A unit of 5 Galg as a heavy shock troop and really push the weird part of their alien coalition. 
Some Terrelian Dog Soildiers (10-20) as the lighter chaff unit. 
A Charpactin Lone Op character that buffs and debuffs things. A single Tau character as an ambassador / handler. Or a new Jokero Weaponsmith in place of either of these. 
A Great Knarloc and a vehicle for one of the other auxiliary races. 

Those are my predictions and what I think would make the best choices for kits that could cover the next couple expansions in any order really. They all have their pros and cons, though I do think that the least likely one is Tau, though I wouldn't be surprised if we do eventually see this kind of starter set from them, perhaps in 12th. 

Edited Thursday at 09:34 PM by Tawnis

[ZeroWolf]

36 minutes ago, skylerboodie said:

Valrak keeps hinting that 11th edition may be coming a lot sooner than we expect, so if that's the case, I could see it being a fast-attack focussed box for marines, including the assault terminators, vanguard veterans, perhaps a new drop pod as the big model.

 

I love Orks - they're my largest army by far - but I was surprised to hear they would be the antagonists for 11th, as feel their range is wide and the minis are in a pretty good shape (IMHO), with quite a few mini waves in recent years already. Still, given the marine focus predicted above, I can see Stormboyz being a suitable troops choice, maybe backed up by some new meganobz as worthy opponents for the assault terminators, and possibly new killa kans / deff dread for the bigger model(s).

 

If 11th does drop sooner than 3-year cycle, presumably it's more like a 10.5 than a rules-reset, more like when 7th edition followed less than 2 years after 6th.

This is the rumours I'm really on the fence with as earlier than we think doesn't leave a lot of gaps for it (unless they want to move the three year cycle to the beginning/end of the financial year) we already have rumours of hersey...whatever it'll turn out to be in the summer and there's still codex to be released.

 

Could this be the start of a new paradigm?

[DemonGSides]

1 hour ago, Tawnis said:

So, I think we'll get a Jump Captain to lead the new Vanguard Vets

I also think we'll get a Terminator Lieutenant to lead the Assault Terminators. 

Like you, I think we'll a Tactical squad equivalent, though I think it will be as a 10 man unit with a couple swappable parts. (Ie each sprue would have say a plasma gun and a lascannon for instance so you can build one of each.) 

For the additional characters, I think we'll get a Company Champion again as well as a Terminator Ancient.

For the big unit, Dreads seem to sell pretty well, and while we do have the Brutalis, I'm thinking of a kind of re-imagining of the old Ironclad Dread. 

 

A second Jump Captain so soon?  That would be a crazy repetition for them.  I'd like something new to lead Jump units though instead of another captain, as it probably wouldn't get a new datasheet.

So instead of Captain w/ JP, how about Bike Captain.  We need that.  And I think new bike unit, possibly even jetbikes, could take the place of the Dread/big unit and no one would bat an eye.

Otherwise I like the list; Terminator LT/ancient would be great, I think we're still a bit out for Tactical Intercessors.  Ironclad would be sick; love dreads with only one arm.

Edited Thursday at 10:37 PM by DemonGSides

[Tawnis]

10 minutes ago, DemonGSides said:

 

A second Jump Captain so soon?  That would be a crazy repetition for them.  I'd like something new to lead Jump units though instead of another captain, as it probably wouldn't get a new datasheet.

So instead of Captain w/ JP, how about Bike Captain.  We need that.  And I think new bike unit, possibly even jetbikes, could take the place of the Dread/big unit and no one would bat an eye.

Otherwise I like the list; Terminator LT/ancient would be great, I think we're still a bit out for Tactical Intercessors.  Ironclad would be sick; love dreads with only one arm.

True. We could see a Bike Captain all on his own without a unit to lead I supposed, I just don't see them re-making the Outriders. I would love to have some new bike units to go with the few that we have, it just seems that GW doesn't really care about the bike ranges very much. Though, if they did go with the Chaos list I suggested, having two bike characters going at it would make for some pretty cool box art. 

Other option, if they decide we don't NEED a Captain (crazy thought I know) would be a Jump Librarian since we don't have that yet. 

I think Jetbikes are probably staying firmly in the realm of custodes personally, as much as I'd like marines to have them. 

[ZeroWolf]

To be fair, if 11th was the edition were outriders went multipart, I think it's likely we'd see a captain on bike as part of the SM releases.

 

Also, it's not like GW hasn't included characters in a launch box that had no units to lead before (glares at the biologis) so it isn't out of the Realm of possibility, especially if they give him some ork bikers to go against.

[Emperor Ming]

2 hours ago, skylerboodie said:

Valrak keeps hinting that 11th edition may be coming a lot sooner than we expect, so if that's the case, I could see it being a fast-attack focussed box for marines, including the assault terminators, vanguard veterans, perhaps a new drop pod as the big model.

Unless gw breaks its 3 year cycle it will be not this summer but next

 

I cant see them breaking that cycle

[ThaneOfTas]

1 hour ago, DemonGSides said:

A second Jump Captain so soon?  That would be a crazy repetition for them.  I'd like something new to lead Jump units though instead of another captain, as it probably wouldn't get a new datasheet

Jump Chaplain seems like a reasonable bet.

[ThePenitentOne]

If rumours say Orks, then I guess that's likely; Marines are a given.

 

I HOPE that means the remainder of the edition is good for Drukhari. Given how much they need, they would have been a good starter faction. I've written out many wishlists for Drukhari many, many times; I was prepared to be content with a Court box (1 of each Hench), a Beastbox (1 master, one Fiend, 2 Khymerae, 3 Flocks) and grotesques. I'm hoping for more (obviously), but trying to keep expectations realistic.

 

Similarly, Votann, WE, and EC will have small ranges, depending on where this edition ends.

[Felix Antipodes]

3 hours ago, Emperor Ming said:

Unless gw breaks its 3 year cycle it will be not this summer but next

 

I cant see them breaking that cycle

As a counterpoint, could GW extend the 3 year cycle to 4 due to the current cost of living crisis?  I can’t see it as they love profits too much, but if things get tighter they could see sales drop off a cliff.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

If it’s orks I just hope it’s standard orks, but new and/or refreshed kits ala tank bustas.

[Emperor Ming]

1 hour ago, Felix Antipodes said:

As a counterpoint, could GW extend the 3 year cycle to 4 due to the current cost of living crisis?  I can’t see it as they love profits too much, but if things get tighter they could see sales drop off a cliff.

No is probably the short answer, hell would freeze over first

 

Interrupting profit spikes and dividends for shareholders, anyone who suggests that will prob end up with a fate worse than servitude impertuatis 

 

esp with gw moving into the ftse 100. it would seem no matter the prices rises, people are buying more and more

[TheMawr]

26 minutes ago, Felix Antipodes said:

As a counterpoint, could GW extend the 3 year cycle to 4 due to the current cost of living crisis?  I can’t see it as they love profits too much, but if things get tighter they could see sales drop off a cliff.

 

Imagine.. a new plan where an edition takes 4 ( or even 5 ) years. With the first half consisting of the "rules" segment and the second half consisting of the "narrative" segment.

An evolution of the end of edition campaign so to speak. So where the first half is the release of most of the codexes, the second half follows narrative campaign books or maybe warzone books.

Both halves starting with a boxset as we know from the start of a new edition. However, whereas the rules half starts with the classic "Ultramarine" vs Big threat villain starterbox, to mix it up the second half is launched with a narrative boxset, smaller, think shadowspear, and not necessarily the classic Ultramarine vs Villain matchup.

 

Lets say for example, the narrative boxset is Space wolves vs Orks, how would this translate to rumors, where people make assumptions that big narrative or next boxset of this kind means new edition,  Sentences used in the rumorverse would be :

"11th edition Narrative is spacewolves vs orks, but the boxset will be normal marines ofcourse"
"I hear great things for Orks"
"I heard nothing about the marine side, but I heard a lot of details about new stuff coming for space wolves"
"next edition is coming sooner rather than later"

 

Sounds familiar

 

Im not saying this is the case here by the way, but on the other hand. It does kind of fall together a little too well. And these kind of ideas have been thrown alot at least since 8th, and GW often does react to feedback, just not instantly.

Ofcourse in the highly likelyhood that I didnt correctly guess whats going on based on crumps, and the possibility that the rumor is true. it wont be a true new edition either way. ( wich already wasnt my expectation even if it would stick to 3 years.)

 

 

As for Orks, I have a feeling that either way the boxset Orks are more likely a "kruleboyz" thing.. I have typed this more often, but I dont think I ever hit the submit reply button.. not sure. For example Cyborks.. but not as a unit but as an entire new subculture.

Maybe even involving Vashtorrs storyline, the old one weapon and lock/vault he is going for unleashing or awakening something about orks, spores that grow inside machines, rapidly creating various Cybork orkoids of various types, Bionik Boyz battleline, a Krork among them for big centrepiece epic hero material.

I envision things like in the Battle angel Alita movie, when I saw it I had to think about the Dawn of War 3 ork warboss.

 

Gutfeeling says more the tech side than the savage side, wich Beastsnaggas already cover, but then again they do cover alot of cybork elements as well. ( and Im still half convinced we have 2 or 3 beastsnagga or bad moonz painted cybernetic rumor engines pending, but thats not the topic.)

 

[Halandaar]

All I will say here is that if 11th Edition arrives this summer, I'm done playing 40k for good. I'll continue to collect cool models but the gaming aspect of it will be done. The three-year turnover for editions is already too fast when some factions don't even get their Codexes until over two years in and hardly get chance to play before a new edition nukes them back to zero again.

 

On the other hand, if they came out with a sort of 10.1 box (2 new armies, rulebook reprinted with the changes introduced in Balance Updates etc) and then pushed 11th out to 2027 I would actually find that pretty encouraging. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Halandaar

[Frogian]

yeah that would be great. a 10.5 with just some minor tweaks, carry on using all your codices, your army is gonna play the same and then a big narrative campaign/mode to go with it would be great.  though i can't see the box ever being anything but generic SM!

 

they really do need to figure out some way for factions not to get left behind because they have to wait 2+ years for their codex.

[Jscarlos18]

Yeah, the 3 year cycle is too short. GW tried to ease the transition from 9th to 10th with the index detachments and a couple of new ones added to the free PDFs later, but even that isn't great.

[DemonGSides]

11th will just be a continuation edition anyways. Same thing as 9th, same as 7th. 

[Ahzek451]

2 hours ago, Frogian said:

yeah that would be great. a 10.5 with just some minor tweaks, carry on using all your codices, your army is gonna play the same and then a big narrative campaign/mode to go with it would be great.  though i can't see the box ever being anything but generic SM!

 

they really do need to figure out some way for factions not to get left behind because they have to wait 2+ years for their codex.

I'm not exactly a fan of 10th, BUT....I would much rather have this ^^^, a longer edition lifespan. I would definitely be ok with playing 10th a few more years if it meant that.  Honestly, its going to take the community to stand up and speak out more. This is one of those things that we as fans just let GW get away with for too long. It truly is a crap thing to do to customers and it still baffles me a bit that more people don't speak up about it. I suppose part of it is "well its not my book that its happening to, what should I care", until it does. Or, there are so many new players that don't know any better. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Ahzek451

[Tawnis]

57 minutes ago, Ahzek451 said:

I'm not exactly a fan of 10th, BUT....I would much rather have this ^^^, a longer edition lifespan. I would definitely be ok with playing 10th a few more years if it meant that.  Honestly, its going to take the community to stand up and speak out more. This is one of those things that we as fans just let GW get away with for too long. It truly is a crap thing to do to customers and it still baffles me a bit that more people don't speak up about it. I suppose part of it is "well its not my book that its happening to, what should I care", until it does. Or, there are so many new players that don't know any better. 

Problem is that while in general, that is what players want, it's also undeniable that there is a hype train going for each release from both content creators and players. GW know this and that it's one of the main things driving sales. For the most part, they'll stick with the sure thing over trying something new, at least on a large scale. Yeah we might get boarding action or other things along those lines, bus as soon as they run out of big released to hype everyone up over, they'll swap editions. 

What I could see changing this, or at least pushing it out a little bit is that if after all the codecies are out for a few months, they drop a new set of detachments like they did this Christmas to push certain models in new ways and refresh things for a bit longer before they swap over. That being said, I sadly just don't see a world where GW isn't in perpetual codex release mode. 

[skylerboodie]

I think a 4-year cycle with a second BIG box halfway through would be a great move.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

4 hours ago, DemonGSides said:

11th will just be a continuation edition anyways. Same thing as 9th, same as 7th. 

That’s not really the point…no one wants to be the last codex in an edition because they’re rarely balanced or optimized for the upcoming rules changes for the next edition meaning they’ll be less than ideal after only 2-3 months.

 

sure errata and FAQs can help but it still isn’t great.

[DemonGSides]

41 minutes ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

That’s not really the point…no one wants to be the last codex in an edition because they’re rarely balanced or optimized for the upcoming rules changes for the next edition meaning they’ll be less than ideal after only 2-3 months.

 

sure errata and FAQs can help but it still isn’t great.

 

I think you're mistaking and edition change like from 9th to 10th.

 

In the other type of edition change, Codexes remained valid because the rules changes weren't big and sweeping.  Tyranids famously used their 6th Ed codex in 7th for a long time; the difference now is the quicker turn around on FAQs and errata would keep that "pain" quite a bit lessened; we've seen them make big emergency moves like giving Drukari a whole new detatchment and re-indexing Deathwatch in the middle of an edition, I think they could quite easily do the same for any sore points in a small edition change like being discussed. 

[siegfriedfr]

As the Edition draws to a Close and Drukhari are still nowhere to be seen, i think they will receive a substantial update when their Codex is released (which, by the look of things, is not before autumn 2025/winter 2026). So that writes them of for 11th starter box.

 

So Orks or generic CSM are very likely, unless GW pulls of a new evil faction out of nowhere.