Fungoids in 40K as a new faction?

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

I have recently played two sessions with the Fungoids in Stellaris and wondered, if those chaps would be good material for a 40K faction. What do you think? And to all the naysayers who worry about limited shelf space in hobby stores to house yet another army: Mushrooms don´t take mushroom. 

[Bouargh]

Well, technically orks and grots are fungus related, being grown out of spores and mushrooms. So here they are already!

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

11 minutes ago, Bouargh said:

Well, technically orks and grots are fungus related, being grown out of spores and mushrooms. So here they are already!

Orks sporulate because the fluff says so. However they don´t look like fungi themselves. They look like orks. Fungoids are supposed to look similar to the Myconids of D&D.

[calgar101]

On one hand I'm up for more of 40k being explored and brought to life;  but GW can't give us enough of what we already have in any great detail.

Personally if they dialled back on having to now push the story forwards constantly and giving every faction their super weapon character, perhaps exploring some lesser factions or introducing new ones would be refreshing. 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

7 minutes ago, calgar101 said:

On one hand I'm up for more of 40k being explored and brought to life;  but GW can't give us enough of what we already have in any great detail.

Personally if they dialled back on having to now push the story forwards constantly and giving every faction their super weapon character, perhaps exploring some lesser factions or introducing new ones would be refreshing. 

What was the verdict on the vespids featured in Kill-Team? Good minis or bad minis? Maybe you could put the fungi people first in Kill-Team and judge from there, if they are good enough for a new faction.

[Ramell]

1 hour ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

Mushrooms don´t take mushroom. 

You made this thread just for this pun, didn't you.

[MARK0SIAN]

I don’t disagree that they might make an interesting faction but my thoughts generally align with Calgar101.

 

Even if you completely ignore loyalist space marines there’s still 20 factions already in the game. If you add in loyalist marines then that’s another 3 factions minimum, Grey Knights, Deathwatch and General Marines (and could be significantly more depending on whether you class certain chapters as separate factions).

 

That means that even if they went at one book per month (which they don’t) you’d still be two years into the three year edition cycle before each faction got a book, let alone model support. 
 

The game is just too packed with factions already.  Apologies to their fans but I don’t think LoV really added much to the game when they were introduced, it’s not like people were crying out for a particular niche to be filled that only a new faction could fill. 
 

Like I said. It’s not that they’re a bad idea, I just don’t think there’s room for them from a scheduling point of view or a particular need for them from a game point of view.

[calgar101]

1 hour ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

What was the verdict on the vespids featured in Kill-Team? Good minis or bad minis? Maybe you could put the fungi people first in Kill-Team and judge from there, if they are good enough for a new faction.

 

I think kill team being used to explore/expand lesser factions and lesser units of factions is a great idea. It is definitely a test the water scenario.

But GW aside from game design issues are also struggling to physically make enough products, and to some factions this has seen units totally disappear. Although there is also other factors at play too.

A kill team though for these Fungoids and other Xenos races would be great for the hobby in general.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

14 hours ago, Ramell said:

You made this thread just for this pun, didn't you.

Creating an immersive faction is no laughing matter.

[Cleon]

Honestly I wish they'd put a few more interesting Tau auxiliaries in, obviously a faction similar to something in someone else's IP is probably a no go, but rather than adding more factions, flesh out the one that's supposed to have that diversity so it's a valid option and not just ne funny looking unit next to the uniform battlesuits.

[Gamiel]

The artist WolfdawgArt did som fanart pictures of sanctioned xeno-acolytes that was fungus based:

 

Edited December 31, 2025 by Gamiel

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

21 minutes ago, Gamiel said:

The artist WolfdawgArt did som fanart pictures of sanctioned xeno-acolytes that was fungus based:

 

They look good. Now we need some fungus zombies to support them. 

[Jscarlos18]

I think if I remember correctly, T'au have an auxiliary race that's based on fungi?

[calgar101]

Using Tau auxiliary races could be a great way to showcase more Xenos (for us to kill) without adding too much bloat. 

[Jscarlos18]

5 minutes ago, calgar101 said:

Using Tau auxiliary races could be a great way to showcase more Xenos (for us to kill) without adding too much bloat. 

Yeah. Nicassar, Tarellian Dog Soldiers, Zoats... T'au should field them and let us see some of the weird races without needing to commit to making them new factions.

[Norman Paperman]

The people demand Shroommen! 

 

[Magos Takatus]

I like the idea of a proper fungus-based race. Orks are humanoids with some fungal/algal DNA worked into their anatomy, saying we already have fungus people because of that is blocking the development of Vespid because Tyranids are "bugs". There's also a lot of interesting ideas where it could go. I'm quite a fan of Miko from Battleborn, for example:

 

I know the "mushroom person with a mushroom cap for a hat" isn't terribly original, but I like the character. They were the last part of a sentient mushroom colony, so it was some kind of inter-connected consciousness. I also really like the art that Gamiel found. For some reason I particularly like the space-badger, too. 

 

17 hours ago, Ramell said:

You made this thread just for this pun, didn't you.

What can I say? He's a fung*BLAM*

[Zoatibix]

I thought this was a shiitake idea until I got to the guys riding Fel Badgers, and now I’m all in! 

[calgar101]

4 hours ago, Zoatibix said:

I thought this was a shiitake idea until I got to the guys riding Fel Badgers, and now I’m all in! 

Fel badgers would make some dangerous mounts to face!

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

5 hours ago, Zoatibix said:

I thought this was a shiitake idea until I got to the guys riding Fel Badgers, and now I’m all in! 

Wait when they pull off their symbiosis shenanigans with gargantuan ents the size of Imperial Knights!

[SvenIronhand]

I remember seeing an ad for a game called Mushroom Men in an issue of a magazine once and being taken by the concept. Sure, why not?

[TheMawr]

I'm suprised by all the outside images and "wild" out of universe speculation while ( and im not talking about orks ) 40k has a canon mushroom alien race WITH artwork ( ok.. I think the image is the only element excisting officially )

 

However I'm on mobile phone so I can't easily fix that ( I say this as if it's a limitation of mobile phones while the limitation is all mine .. im very a technical with them )

[Tawnis]

On 12/30/2025 at 12:17 PM, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

What was the verdict on the vespids featured in Kill-Team? Good minis or bad minis? Maybe you could put the fungi people first in Kill-Team and judge from there, if they are good enough for a new faction.

 

I quite like the Vespid kit, I'll probably get a second one sometime in the near future. 

As for fungi, I think the closest in 40k would be the Hrud, which I would love to see as a Kill Team release at least, they're so cool. 

 

The trouble with this idea is that there are already so many smaller races and factions in 40k that don't have models yet that would be cool to see that I don't think brining in an entire new faction out of nowhere is the right way to go. As cool as they would be, I'd much rather see an expansion on the T'au auxiliary races, and/or some of the lesser known smaller races showing up in Kill Team. 

 

You still might like this mushroom guy though, I picked one up for a narrative campaign I was running. 

 

https://wargameexclusive.com/shop/hive-citizens/distillery/distillery-the-botanist/

[TheMawr]

 

I managed to do it !

bottom right, 40k's fungoids

[Jings]

Don't think there's really space for it (seeing Ork already exists). A Stellaris-inspired Great Crusade era Xenos maker could be a solid move for the Heresy ruleset tho. 

 

Shame GW don't really do that sort of thing anymore.