Because I love discussing the 40k lore here is a fun post:

What Xenos race already mentioned in some part of the 40k fluff do YOU think deserves a modern codex/army? Pretend for a moment that you worked for GW and were given this as an assignment (so no cop out: “We already have all the races we need!” answers: the emperor ordered you! [at least: that's who I assume runs GW])

I would also like to hear some rationale for your pick, and (this is the author part of me talking) if possible some cool references to fluff pieces where they are showcased.

So how about it folks? What hideous Xenos abomination needs more love?

PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

I think there is a lot of possibility for a codex composed of the Kroot and other Tau affiliated Xenos (the Kroot actually had their own complete codex at one point).

Instead of doing one species for the entire codex, it could be done piecemeal. For example:

Kroot: Master Shaper/Shaman as HQ, Carnivores as Troops, Knarloc Cavalry as Fast Attack, Great Knarloc as heavy support.

Vespid: Stingwings as Fast Attack or Troops. A queen either HQ or Elite (possibly a Flying Monstrous Creature here).

Gue'vesa Technically not Xenos) as troops, wth a HQ option and maybe a tank for Heavy Support

Demi-Urg: Battlesuit-clad elites and some super artillery heavy support.

plus others as the whim carries the author.

Rak'Gol. They're the only Xenos race that could prove to be a bigger threat then the Tau by intercepting shipping, they're unique, and they have potential for a large array of units.

I know several users have stated their desire for the Hrud to be done (Skaven equivalent).

Personally, I'd like to see the Slaugth, but to be honest, they don't appear to have anywhere new the level of galactic influence that anyone that currently has a codex has.

Aside from the Tau. Considering the minor, insignificant blip on the radar that the Tau are for pretty much every other race, I have to sometimes question why they even have a codex (I do like them though, just not as much as worms that walk).

So I guess Hrud would be the most clear cut choice, with a galactic presence and constantly annoying (and scaring in some cases) the gak out of everyone. Personally, I don't care for the Skaven parallel comparison.

Hrud can't be done. Their army would consist of one unit type that murders everything with their damage and attacks multiplying exponentially the more Hrud there are.

 Wyzilla wrote:
Hrud can't be done. Their army would consist of one unit type that murders everything with their damage and attacks multiplying exponentially the more Hrud there are.

Nothing a little retcon can't "fix"

 King Pariah wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:
Hrud can't be done. Their army would consist of one unit type that murders everything with their damage and attacks multiplying exponentially the more Hrud there are.

Nothing a little retcon can't "fix"

The entire shtick of the Hrud is that they're entropy incarnate. You might as well make a new xenos race.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 King Pariah wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:
Hrud can't be done. Their army would consist of one unit type that murders everything with their damage and attacks multiplying exponentially the more Hrud there are.

Nothing a little retcon can't "fix"

The entire shtick of the Hrud is that they're entropy incarnate. You might as well make a new xenos race.

Eh, just a barebones codex like the Oldcrons

Leader Hrud (rending)
Specialized Hrud (some tailored against inorganics - Newcron entropic strike, others suited for taking out organics - Eldar bladstorm's quasi-rending)
Regular Hrud (New/Oldcron gauss rule)
Faster Hrud and Flying Hrud (New/Oldcron gauss rule)
MC sized Hrud (Wardcron entropic strike)

Add new fluffy reason for different types of Hrud and Done

leerm02 wrote:


Because I love discussing the 40k lore here is a fun post:

What Xenos race already mentioned in some part of the 40k fluff do YOU think deserves a modern codex/army? Pretend for a moment that you worked for GW and were given this as an assignment (so no cop out: “We already have all the races we need!” answers: the emperor ordered you! [at least: that's who I assume runs GW])

I would also like to hear some rationale for your pick, and (this is the author part of me talking) if possible some cool references to fluff pieces where they are showcased.

So how about it folks? What hideous Xenos abomination needs more love?

PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

More aliens? Space Marine players are STILL throwing a bitch-fest about the last time GW did that.

I was actually one of those players at the time the Tau were introduced.

I totally feel ashamed of it now because I actually think they have become a welcome and thoughtful addition to the universe...and so much so that I really wouldn't mind more xenos races being added!

Whatever happened to the Cabal that was anti-chaos at the start of the Horus Heresy?

They were an alliance of xenos including eldar. Are they still kicking around? It might be interesting to have an alien version of the inquisition.

At any rate, given how old the eldar are, they should have more factions than just the good the bad and the silly.

Computron wrote:
Whatever happened to the Cabal that was anti-chaos at the start of the Horus Heresy?

They were an alliance of xenos including eldar. Are they still kicking around? It might be interesting to have an alien version of the inquisition.

At any rate, given how old the eldar are, they should have more factions than just the good the bad and the silly.

Exodites. The Cabal aren't an Eldar faction if that's what you were saying, we only know of one Eldar that was part of them.

I wasn't saying they were an eldar faction, just that they included eldar.

You could have a force made up of various xenos who are anti-chaos.

Then I though that the Eldar could do with another fleshed out faction. The Exodites are relatively well known, how much different are they to craftworld ones?

I also agree with having another Tau allied race or maybe doing more with the vespids.

Exodite are fairly different from CW Eldar I believe. They have dinosaurs for a start

oh jeez, those guys...it's like some bad 80s cartoon.

Well Squats are not Xenos but abhumans

I'd rather see a Xenos Mercenaries and Minor Empires Codex yes I know Tau are technically a minor empire - there are quite a few interesting BL mercenary races.........

 Wyzilla wrote:
Hrud can't be done. Their army would consist of one unit type that murders everything with their damage...

IK?

Jefffar wrote:
I think there is a lot of possibility for a codex composed of the Kroot and other Tau affiliated Xenos (the Kroot actually had their own complete codex at one point).

Instead of doing one species for the entire codex, it could be done piecemeal. For example:

Kroot: Master Shaper/Shaman as HQ, Carnivores as Troops, Knarloc Cavalry as Fast Attack, Great Knarloc as heavy support.

Vespid: Stingwings as Fast Attack or Troops. A queen either HQ or Elite (possibly a Flying Monstrous Creature here).

Gue'vesa Technically not Xenos) as troops, wth a HQ option and maybe a tank for Heavy Support

Demi-Urg: Battlesuit-clad elites and some super artillery heavy support.

plus others as the whim carries the author.

Something like this would probably be my pick for a new codex, sounds awesome.

 koooaei wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:
Hrud can't be done. Their army would consist of one unit type that murders everything with their damage...

IK?

Typo. Left out entropy. Hrud warp space-time and can age anything to death, including planets and blow them. They're also capable of teleporting/independent space travel and are probably the most dangerous Xeno there is. Even Necrons or Tyranids would get wiped out by pissed off Hrud considering they can age you until your atoms fall apart into quarks from their half life aging away in a matter of seconds or minutes.

Sisters of Battle.

Tarellian Dog Soldiers are pretty cool, who doesn't want to play saurus warriors in space

I believe that we should have one codex that adds a multitude of races that can be taken in a 'Xenos Detachment' like the Inquisitorial and Knight codices.

That way they can throw in all of the awesome races they've shown such as -
Thyrrus (Awesome slug type aliens who love being flashy and treat war like a west-end musical) http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Thyrrus#.T1U-J3lLOAg
Hrud (Time-distorting bog monsters who rapidly age anything they're near) http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Hrud#.T1U0WnlLOAg
Slaugth (Maggot-men who constantly want to feed on the dead) http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Slaugth#.T1U2L3lLOAg
Loxatl (Komodo Mercenaries with highly perceptive senses) http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Loxatl#.T1U_HnlLOAg
Rak'Gol (Cyborg pirates who are utterly merciless) http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rak'Gol

These are but a few of the races we've seen and since so many of them are deserving of a codex (and they'll never do a codex for all of them), I believe they should have one book that includes lots of them. So we can take alien mercenaries or allies etc.

For codices I suggest
- Exodite Eldar
- Corsair Eldar
- Rak'Gol
- Laer
- Mix of human/xenos, like Diasporex and the Interex
- Adding varius races to the Tau codex

Laer would be fun for 30k players.

 ChazSexington wrote:
For codices I suggest
- Exodite Eldar
- Corsair Eldar
- Rak'Gol
- Laer
- Mix of human/xenos, like Diasporex and the Interex
- Adding varius races to the Tau codex

Laer would be fun for 30k players.

If they ever add aliens to 30k, then it won't be for another ten years, or at least until they finish all of the Legions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If we're thinkin' 30k too, then I want me some Nephilim.

We keep hearing about the scary things in the Ghoul Stars, why don't they expand on that. It would mean that they do not have to contradict old fluff to make a working codex.

Yeah I'd love to see the Laer too, easily one of the more interesting factions mentioned in 30k.
The Interex would be cool too.

I like the exodites, personally, and I think the advantage they have is that their worlds are scattered around the galaxy, rather than just a small local area. So, you know, more chance of them actually getting into conflicts with the other factions.

 King Pariah wrote:
I know several users have stated their desire for the Hrud to be done (Skaven equivalent).

Personally, I'd like to see the Slaugth, but to be honest, they don't appear to have anywhere new the level of galactic influence that anyone that currently has a codex has.

Aside from the Tau. Considering the minor, insignificant blip on the radar that the Tau are for pretty much every other race, I have to sometimes question why they even have a codex (I do like them though, just not as much as worms that walk).

So I guess Hrud would be the most clear cut choice, with a galactic presence and constantly annoying (and scaring in some cases) the gak out of everyone. Personally, I don't care for the Skaven parallel comparison.

you're not the only one who thinks the Tau are, as they stand out of place. not bad just a little out of place given that they're a regional power. every other race in 40k is galaxy spanning and could be encountered literally anywhere in the galaxy (which is really part of what 40ks all about it's a monsterously large canvas allowing just about anything to happen) Tau are a bit differnt from that, they are essentially restricted to about a quarter of the galaxy and are comparitivly small scale.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

leerm02 wrote:


Because I love discussing the 40k lore here is a fun post:

What Xenos race already mentioned in some part of the 40k fluff do YOU think deserves a modern codex/army? Pretend for a moment that you worked for GW and were given this as an assignment (so no cop out: “We already have all the races we need!” answers: the emperor ordered you! [at least: that's who I assume runs GW])

I would also like to hear some rationale for your pick, and (this is the author part of me talking) if possible some cool references to fluff pieces where they are showcased.

So how about it folks? What hideous Xenos abomination needs more love?

PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

More aliens? Space Marine players are STILL throwing a bitch-fest about the last time GW did that.

It makes you feel special to say that, huh?

Because, you know, nobody does that.

 ImAGeek wrote:
Exodite are fairly different from CW Eldar I believe. They have dinosaurs for a start

If done right they could at some exoticness that seems to be missing from Xenos factions like the Tau (they're too neat somehow). I'd love to see more of the Exodites since they're hardly explored in fluff and would make for really cool models (a much wilder look that would contrast nicely with the Aspect Warrior look). You could change the dinosaurs to weirder creatures, That said, they just released lots of Harlequin stuff so I doubt we'll see another Eldar faction soon.

For other Xenos factions, my first vote would be for the Barghesi. They're mentioned as a "hyper-violent" race that inhabit the Grendl Stars. There's hardly any fluff on them so they could really expand on that.

If Barghests from Fantasy settings are anything to go by, they could potentially look really badass, especially with a sci-fi twist!


Actually the bat creature all the way to right in this rulebook pic potentially looks like a Barghesi:


The Rak'Gol also have potential but the name always makes me think of Rakghoul from Star Wars. They have interesting fluff and look cool too though.



For 30k, I'd like to see the Interex, Nephilim, and Laer. All of them are super interesting and much more exotic than anything in 40k.

Or better, just introduce new Xenos factions we haven't heard of yet. There's depictions of weird looking alien creatures but all we get are humanoids like Tau and Necrons (well skeletal humanoids in the latter case but humanoids all the same).

Btw, the current Dark Eldar are probably what my ideal for a Xenos faction in a sci-fi fantasy setting should look like. Exotic, high-tech, and really out there, but still enough fantasy and eldritch magic left to fit properly into the setting. Unlike the Tau I think (even though I still like them... kinda).

Rak'gol also have the problem of havign been created by FFG, that in itself might be eneugh to ensure GW avoids them for fear of potential legal issues with "who owns them" popping up

By the Emperor
Imagine the squats now, A tanky, shooty army, that holds it's own in cc, on bikes. They'd be dominating.

You would have to find a race that fits into the circle and doesn't do to much of anther's job.
Tyranids > kroot > orks > tau >humies > necron > eldar and back again. There's probably something out amonst the halo star's... maybe.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

leerm02 wrote:


Because I love discussing the 40k lore here is a fun post:

What Xenos race already mentioned in some part of the 40k fluff do YOU think deserves a modern codex/army? Pretend for a moment that you worked for GW and were given this as an assignment (so no cop out: “We already have all the races we need!” answers: the emperor ordered you! [at least: that's who I assume runs GW])

I would also like to hear some rationale for your pick, and (this is the author part of me talking) if possible some cool references to fluff pieces where they are showcased.

So how about it folks? What hideous Xenos abomination needs more love?

PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

More aliens? Space Marine players are STILL throwing a bitch-fest about the last time GW did that.

It makes you feel special to say that, huh?

Because, you know, nobody does that.

... except the one honest Marine in this thread who said he did do that?




What this game needs are Lizardmen in SPAAAAAAAACE!!!! Seriously, this game needs dinosaurs with lasers strapped to them, like Dino-riders!

 EmpNortonII wrote:
What this game needs are Lizardmen in SPAAAAAAAACE!!!! Seriously, this game needs dinosaurs with lasers strapped to them, like Dino-riders!

Uh, wouldn't the Exodites fill that bill? Well, except for the being lizardmen themselves part. But they got the Dino-riders part down!

 EngulfedObject wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
What this game needs are Lizardmen in SPAAAAAAAACE!!!! Seriously, this game needs dinosaurs with lasers strapped to them, like Dino-riders!

Uh, wouldn't the Exodites fill that bill? Well, except for the being lizardmen themselves part. But they got the Dino-riders part down!

Has to be Lizardmen. Skinks and Saurus and Kroxigor and all.

Think I've found an intreasting concept. it'd be potentially differnt that's for sure.

Thexians. they're based in the eastren fringe, and are famous manipulators, with immense influance over the Brolac, Loxalti and Nicassar races. the Lex also notes that "their battleforms are quite terrifying to behold" this gets me thinking maybe they're a race of shape shifters, who infiltrate alien civilizations and try to gain influance/control. this could be a FANTASTIC army. you get a number of various troops etc from various controled races. and match em up with infiltrating MCs or something. maybe even give em a special rule that you can buy upgrades for some of your squad sergents to really have tghem be "Thexian controlers" that are revealed when the sergent would be killed or something. it could be very intreasting

BrianDavion wrote:
Think I've found an intreasting concept. it'd be potentially differnt that's for sure.

Thexians. they're based in the eastren fringe, and are famous manipulators, with immense influance over the Brolac, Loxalti and Nicassar races. the Lex also notes that "their battleforms are quite terrifying to behold" this gets me thinking maybe they're a race of shape shifters, who infiltrate alien civilizations and try to gain influance/control. this could be a FANTASTIC army. you get a number of various troops etc from various controled races. and match em up with infiltrating MCs or something. maybe even give em a special rule that you can buy upgrades for some of your squad sergents to really have tghem be "Thexian controlers" that are revealed when the sergent would be killed or something. it could be very intreasting

I like it!

Btw, there's also a surprising number of Xenos factions mentioned in this article (the Draxian Hegemony, the Worldweave of Noisome Reek, and the Uluméathic League).
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Time_of_Ending

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Has to be Lizardmen. Skinks and Saurus and Kroxigor and all.

I'd rather have Exodites

And it'd be boring to have a clone WH: Fantasy Battles faction when there are so many unexplored Xenos factions out there.

 EngulfedObject wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Has to be Lizardmen. Skinks and Saurus and Kroxigor and all.

I'd rather have Exodites

And it'd be boring to have a clone WH: Fantasy Battles faction when there are so many unexplored Xenos factions out there.

We already have three flavors of Space Elves. We really don't need a fourth.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 EngulfedObject wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Has to be Lizardmen. Skinks and Saurus and Kroxigor and all.

I'd rather have Exodites

And it'd be boring to have a clone WH: Fantasy Battles faction when there are so many unexplored Xenos factions out there.

We already have three flavors of Space Elves. We really don't need a fourth.

eh in fairness how many flavors of space Marines do we have?

 EmpNortonII wrote:
We already have three flavors of Space Elves. We really don't need a fourth.

True, that's why I said it would be unlikely to see them but I do think they would be way more interesting to explore than lizardmen clones. The Harlequins are also thematically much more limited than the Exodites and also represent a smaller (if very important) fraction of the Eldar.

BrianDavion wrote:
eh in fairness how many flavors of space Marines do we have?

Also true.

Still, at this point it would make more sense to consolidate the factions and explore an entirely new faction like the Barghesi.

If the Hrud actually looked like this, I would love them to have a codex.



Didn't they royally wreck the Star Phantoms? I guess if I had to look forward to a new faction it would be Exodites or Laer (that is, somehow coming back to 40k.) Thexians seem cool, and I would love to see a new race from the Halo Stars emerge.

I've never heard of the robot faction, is there more on them? I've kinda got bored with my chapter's fluff and I would rather expand outward with something new than say, Nids or whatever we are already used to.

Edit: RT had a lot of old fluff on races, right? I wasn't around so I am assuming/guessing but it seemed like it had a lot of unique lore (especially Rogue Trader, Xenos, and Inquistion fluff.) Are there any races from that to discuss?

 EngulfedObject wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
We already have three flavors of Space Elves. We really don't need a fourth.

True, that's why I said it would be unlikely to see them but I do think they would be way more interesting to explore than lizardmen clones. The Harlequins are also thematically much more limited than the Exodites and also represent a smaller (if very important) fraction of the Eldar.

BrianDavion wrote:
eh in fairness how many flavors of space Marines do we have?

Also true.

Still, at this point it would make more sense to consolidate the factions and explore an entirely new faction like the Barghesi.

seems like GW's moving in the oppisite direction. and with allies is moving ahead to flesh out the micro-factions that wouldn't nesscarily stand on their own. which raised the intreasting question of "what microfactions, deserve a codex?" there's a few obvious IoM ones. whats Xenos ones are there? Gene stealer cults obviously.. what else?

BrianDavion wrote:
seems like GW's moving in the oppisite direction. and with allies is moving ahead to flesh out the micro-factions that wouldn't nesscarily stand on their own. which raised the intreasting question of "what microfactions, deserve a codex?" there's a few obvious IoM ones. whats Xenos ones are there? Gene stealer cults obviously.. what else?

Well in that case the Exodites certainly deserve a codex as they come quite frequently in fluff and would look really cool to boot.

Umbra...

....LINGER

BrianDavion wrote:


which raised the intreasting question of "what microfactions, deserve a codex?" there's a few obvious IoM ones.

No, no, a thousand times no! We need fewer IoM codexes, not more. BA, DA, and SW should be rolled into the main SM Codex.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:


which raised the intreasting question of "what microfactions, deserve a codex?" there's a few obvious IoM ones.

No, no, a thousand times no! We need fewer IoM codexes, not more. BA, DA, and SW should be rolled into the main SM Codex.

No, leave my DA alone!



Nah, I'm actually torn on this issue. I'd like to see more factions and have them fleshed out but at the same time it's getting messy. A wider variety of xenos would be great though.

as I said GW seems to be moving in fleshing out these minor sub factions. The IoM still has some obvious targets.

Xenos wise I'm trying to think of how various armies could have subfactions....


Tyranids: this is easy, Genestealer cults.

Necrons: let's expand on the flayer virus, and go with Flayer cults. you could stat up some special ICs etc for flayers, like a "flayed Lord etc" and maybe even a new IC, and it'd work great. Proably be reasonably popular.

Tau: given the Tau's federation like nature GW could proably pump out a number of codices on par with the IoM. I bet Codex: Geu'vesa would be a smash hit.

Chaos : Chaos renegades would be nice but in light of Forge World's excellent IA 13 I imagine it'd be met with a resounding "meh"

Orks: ok, I'm blank here


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:


which raised the intreasting question of "what microfactions, deserve a codex?" there's a few obvious IoM ones.

No, no, a thousand times no! We need fewer IoM codexes, not more. BA, DA, and SW should be rolled into the main SM Codex.

maybe so but the AdMech is easily the most major faction in 40k without codex representation.

I have an idea for Orks!

How about a group of Ork commando type fellas? You know: less mindless, more focused ect.

Or some form of powered armour orks :-)
("We iz da Ork marines!!")

Or, heck, combine them both. Heck, there is already an awesome book about that (kinda)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunts!

We need a fullscale grot army. Or at least something like Militarum tempestus is to IG. MT fits a role of elite allies to non-elite IG. Grots would fit a role of a so non-elite allies that even boyz could feel speshul!

You know, a t2 tide! And a true tide of squadronned grot tanks, kanz, megagrots and things like that.

I finkz dat just a grot unit wifh herdz and a bunch of kanz iz a undareprezentation of such a possibly awesum army. ©Da Red Gobbo

I'd rather fix/expand on what we have, there's a lot within existing races that's barely been touched. The Imperium has (count them) eleven different Codexes and any number of novels dealing with all walks of life, but for the Eldar we have two books describing the military of two different civilizations and brief references to a post-scarcity Communist utopia and a brutal feudal society built on murdering people that are both completely inconsistent with the idea of a dying race. What about the Exodites? Corsairs? The Black Library? What's day-to-day life like for a citizen of the Black City? What does the inside of the Webway look like? What about minor Corsair settlements? What do the cultural differences between different Craftworlds look like? What happens when two Farseers have conflicting visions? Why is there never any social conflict within a Craftworld? Can the spirits in the Infinity Circuit communicate, what's their relationship to the living like? For the Tau we have one book talking about the blue people in charge and brief snippets of data on the Kroot, but what about the Vespid? What's their civilization like? What does a Kroot world even look like? The Kroot were an interstellar civilization with psykers and Warp navigation long before they found the Tau, how did they function before the Tau? What does a Kroot starfighter look like? What about the Demiurg? What about Gue'vesa? What other client races are out there? What happened to Feral Orks? What are the Tyranids running from?

Lots of space to explore within what we have, the xenos in general don't have much in the way of spotlight or detail.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'd written for Aegis a list of what I'd think the Codexes ought to be; instead of the mishmash of Codex, supplement, splinter Codex, et cetera we get these days there would be a number of big books with multiple complete army lists and variants within as follows:

Space Marines. Covers C:SM, BA, DA, and Space Wolves, all First Founding legions are treated approximately equally, none of this "DA get four unique units nobody can hope to replicate and five Special Characters, Salamanders get Vulkan and a Chapter Tactic" nonsense (would probably need to make up at least a few Special Characters). The list is organized as one core list and unique elements for a given Legion are a mini-supplement in the style of the 30k army lists.

Imperial Guard. Covers AM, MT, and a lot of Forge World content. Mini-supplements are built around style of army rather than specific Regiments; there'd be Drop Regiment rules, Irregulars rules, Siege Regiment rules, et cetera.

Forces of the Imperium. Covers Inquisition, Assassins, Grey Knights, Sororitas, AdMech, Imperial Navy, possibly Arbites. Not so many variants here, these are small army lists designed to be used as Allies/supplemental content for other Imperial armies or in conjunction with each other for more complete forces.

Chaos. Covers CSM, Renegades/Heretics, and Daemons, built and fully integrated to be used as one army list. Mini-supplements would exist for each Traitor Legion and for some styles of pure Renegades and pure Daemons, Dark Mechanicum content would happen here. Some supplements are more focused on integration with the other components of the army list than others; Alpha Legion focuses on using Marines and Renegades together, for instance, but Black Legion is more pure CSM.

Eldar. Covers DE, Craftworld Eldar, Corsairs, Harlequins, and Exodites, they can be used alone or in some combination. Different Craftworlds and the Coven/Kabal/Wych Cult at least would have mini-supplements.

Orks. Covers Orks, Feral Orks, and Grots. List variants for a number of Clans plus pure Grots and some styles of Feral Orks.

Tau. Covers Tau, Kroot, Vespid, Demiurg, and Gue'vesa. List variants would include various styles of Tau force with varying degrees of client race integration as well as pure client race lists.

Tyranids. Covers the Tyranids. Would be making up a lot more mutations and environmental adaptions and the like. I don't know that Behemoth, Leviathan, and Kraken were sufficiently distinct from each other in character to need mini-supplements their own so appendices may focus on what a 'Tyranid Siege-Breaker Force' versus a 'Tyranid Ambush Force' versus a Genestealer Cult might look like.

Necrons. Covers the Necrons. I don't know the Dynasties well off the top of my head but I assume there's enough content there to get a start on putting together list variants.

(I know it's still three Imperial books and one each of six non-Imperial books but part of the goal was not to take anything out of the game and 1/3 Imperial is a little better than 11/20 Imperial)

Kroot
Fra'al
Thyrrus
Q'orl

Other species either work as mercenaries, avoid open warfare, or just generally don't have the numbers to be nothing but a minor nuisance.

I like the Hrud love. Probably the most fleshed out minor race. As for the person earlier claiming that the Hrud would be all one unit and be unstoppable, that's just bogus. First of all, they're far from unstoppable in the fluff. Secondly, while a Hrud attack is described as a wave of misshapen figures, that's a report from some frightened guardsmen. There could very easily be different types of Hrud warriors, humans just don't know how to recognize them. Here's how I would do the army:

Everything has low Armour Save (6+) but the entire army has the Shrouded special rule and the more elite stuff has stealth on top of that.
Lots of rending (or Guass/Bladestorm equivalent) and poison weapons to represent the Hruds' entropy abilities. In fact I would probably make rending a CC rule for all the Hrud.
Hrud can deep strike from reserve into cover. Specialized units can teleport from one spot of cover to another, similar to how Grey Knight Interceptors can teleport anywhere.
A Hrud psyker HQ with Biomancy and a Hrud specific Decay discipline.
The entire army is footsloggers. No vehicles. Why have vehicles when you can shadow-warp across the galaxy? The deep strike/warp into cover rules will help alleviate this disadvantage.
Umbra. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Umbra Flying MC's with weapon morphing abilities like Mutilators have, but not sucky.

Different from anything out there now, and I don't think overpowered. It's very possible.

Other than Hrud, my vote would be for a mercenary/space pirate army list with little of everything. Basically, a Dogs of War list for 40k.

Rak'GoL need a codex, now.

Lizardmen could be amazing...I mean slann mage priests would seriously mess stuff up and...Stegadons

Also possibly an abhuman codex? Or even better but probably not realistic at all an ogryn codex.. for HQ you could have pimped up Bone'eads, troops-flak armor ogryns with either ripper guns or huge combat knives, fast attack- uhhh.... ogyns with jump packs? , elites- bullgryns variants, heavy support- ogryns towing artillery/carrying lascannons...

One can dream....

leerm02 wrote:
I have an idea for Orks!

How about a group of Ork commando type fellas? You know: less mindless, more focused ect.

Or some form of powered armour orks :-)
("We iz da Ork marines!!")

Or, heck, combine them both. Heck, there is already an awesome book about that (kinda)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunts!

I was talking to friends about Ork Harlequins:

"So we paint ourselves lots of funny colours, nail a face mask to our head and run really fast at the enemy and we get 'arder - job done"

If it doesn't work - you were obviously not running fast enough or having enough paint splotches..........

at least one of them was thinking about modelling them

a contigent of the men of iron coming back from the outer rim, using DOA tech, tech that makes the elder look like children playing with their dads gun.

I would love to see the men of iron introduced, even if it were just a small thing for necromunda so it would only be a single model. The problem is that they would be too similar to necrons in design.

The forgeworld Horus Heresy books series has a really good system of dividing the legions and making them unique, just spending a few pages each to outline special rules and to give them an HQ and a few troops. The current codexes could follow their example to release one SM codex with all of the chapters, one craftworld eldar codex with various craftworlds, one ork codex with various clans.

I would love to see the tau auxiliaries get their own codexes. A kroot army with almost orky tanks flying across the table with a few monstrous creatures as support would be fun. A vespid army of all jump infantry and hover tanks would pose some interesting challenges. The background in those books would be fascinating.

I want Codex:Hrud.


Give them variations of entropic strike and what amounts to a GK Tele-Pack. Call it shadowporting or something similar, then give them a psyker HQ plus a combat HQ and you should have a mobile force that has decent capabilities against everything.

I'd love a dermiug codex. It would be a bit like modern squats, but noble nomadic traders, instead of crazy biker dudes (although they could still have bikes).

Slann!
More machine spirit type robots!
Genestealer cults!
Mandalorians / rouge traders!

 Formosa wrote:
a contigent of the men of iron coming back from the outer rim, using DOA tech, tech that makes the elder look like children playing with their dads gun.

So we'd pretty much have OldCrons alongside NewCrons?

I really like this idea. After all, some people really liked necrons back before Ward got his claws on them.

Squats because Dwarves in Space are far more interesting than Elves in Space.

Also I liked their fluff.

 Silent Puffin? wrote:
Squats because Dwarves in Space are far more interesting than Elves in Space.

Also I liked their fluff.

I was quite happy with Squats - but Eldar have hotter women so they win Unless of course Dwarf women look nothing like their menfolk - interesting....

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Giant codex recombination

I like this! This is a thing I'd support - but in a slightly different manner and some new stuff added, as that's what the OP asked

Space Marines - obviously! I feel like it should be split into two main sections, Codex-compliant and non-Codex, as these seem to be the big organization differences...I don't play them, though, so feel free to jump on me if that would be too difficult/cut out too much cool stuff.

Forces of the Imperium - Covers Guard, MT, Sisters of Battle, and Imperial Navy. This is the one I'd drool over. Lots of customization options to build everything from an armored regiment to a Rogue Trader's air-supported House Troops to a poorly-equipped PDF swarm. Sisters seem a bit...odd here, but they don't really fit into any of the other two Imperial books, since they're more than just allies. Total rewrite of MT fluff, of course

Imperial Agents - This would be the ally codex, like Anomander laid out. Inquisition, Assassins, Grey Knights - I agree that they fit in here more than with the Space Marines - reworked Imperial Knights, the Mechanicus...all those little dudes. Agreed that they should be allies.

Chaos - I was torn between liking the idea of Renegades, Marines, and Daemons all operating out of the same book and comparing it to the way Space Marines and IG would be in different ones...but in fairness, Chaos is more integrated anyway. So fair enough.

Renegades and Heretics - I DO, however, think that the Dark Mechanicum should be its own thing. This would be another ally codex, just with a focus on Chaos instead. Evil Admech, Chaos-aligned xenos (are the Loxatl pure mercs, or do they worship Chaos?), pirates both Marine and squishy human who aren't necessarily devotees of the Dark Gods, Chaos Knights, that sort of thing.

Eldar - Agreed again, as the split between Dark and Craftworld Eldar is more of a "you do your thing, we'll do ours" than the sort of hatred that defined Dark and High elves in WFB. All eldar covered in one book makes sense!

Orks - I'd make the book focused more on different Clans that on regular vs. feral, since you could cover that with the Snakebites, but there ought to be a rebel Grot army for sure. That and Freebootas. Maybe options for using Blood Axes as mercs?

Tau - Yup, more emphasis on the auxiliaries. Bring Gue'Vesa into play and add a couple of new client races for variety, but definitely leave the option for a Tau-focused list.

Tyranids - LOTS of options here. A 'stealer cult would be an absolute must, and I agree on the emphasis on force types over Hive Fleets. Maybe have variants based on the different stages of world consumption?

Necrons - I don't know a whole lot about them either. I guess you could do something like Tyranids and have forces based on how awake the Tomb World is...as well as the Dynasties.

Minor Empires - This would be the xenos ally codex. Lots of little things that are dangerous without being players on a galactic scale. Hrud, Tarellians, Loxatl (maybe? Unless they're with the Chaos ally book) Q'orl, Rak'gol if we can use FFG material, that sort of thing. Obviously they'd work more easily with some allies than others. Maybe Tyranids can't ally unless they take a Genestealer Cult, to represent the 'stealers getting into the local population?

Can we please just have differently coloured Space Marines instead? We still need a proper codex for purple and orange marines.


In all seriousness, I would love to see the Rak'Gol for 40k, and the Laer and Nephilim for 30k.

Squats.

Return us our glorious robots...

I think a more realistic idea than a full codex is expanded options for Xenos Inquisitor warbands. I mean if I was an inquisitor who made a point of capturing and studying dangerous xenos, I'd throw them at en enemy when I'm done with them. Especially with the more mercenary races, I'd hire them and study them as they fight.

Rouge traders re known to employ xenos...

Grots , atliest a little supplement with bounch of fast skimers and tanks and a grot hq

The Megarachnids, I think they would make a good supplement to the nids.

I would like all the xenos in the fluff to be added. It would bring more diversity to the table top.

Each faction would be too small to be represented by a single codex though, but they could all be added into a single book.

Something like a codex: xenos mercenaries or xenos free states.

Regional codices might work. Codex: Ghoul stars for example. This would give them more of an identity.

The ulumeathi - they might have something which gives d-weapons 'gets hot!'

(mentioned in the GK codex with the 'ulumeathi plasma syphon' which makes all plasma weapons 'gets hot!' on a 1 and 2)

Tau auxiliaries. Kroot, Vespid, and their other, weirder allies.

Squats. And I'm not just saying that to be a donkey-cave.

Picture it: an army that uses tunneling tanks with feth huge drills on the front to deepstrike! They can drill holes in your Aegis defense line! Squats can have access to high tech that the Imperium has forgotten... imagine troops armed with Volkite weapons (I have no idea what a volkite is, but its in 30K and not 40K, so the Imperium has forgotten it) or gravtion guns as far as the eye can seeI T4 models with ALL of the carapace armor! A tank with six Squats on the roof strapped into old-fashioned AA guns to fill the sky with flak and shoot down all your opponents' pesky flyers!

Squats can be cool! We just have to give them the chance!

I can't reccomend anyone else, because I don't know too much about the actual xenos races in 40K, apart from the Hrud, and I'm not sure they would work. They don't have much in the way of tech, and "I kill you with an entropy field my body generates" would make it kinda hard to assault them in CC...

leerm02 wrote:


Because I love discussing the 40k lore here is a fun post:

What Xenos race already mentioned in some part of the 40k fluff do YOU think deserves a modern codex/army? Pretend for a moment that you worked for GW and were given this as an assignment (so no cop out: “We already have all the races we need!” answers: the emperor ordered you! [at least: that's who I assume runs GW])

I would also like to hear some rationale for your pick, and (this is the author part of me talking) if possible some cool references to fluff pieces where they are showcased.

So how about it folks? What hideous Xenos abomination needs more love?

PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

Slaugth

"But, Hr-"

SLAAAAAAAUGTH!



After that though? Yeah sure the Hrud, Umbra, Rak'Gol, Kroot, Squats, Exodites, Genestealer cults, Men of Iron etc would be nice.

I BADLY want Hrud as long as they are Space Skaven, the fish boogeyman thing holds no interest at all for me, unless maybe they can be some sort of amphibious infiltrate/assault unit like Lictors on a smaller scale.

Fusils being a gun that combines sniper rules and plasma AP, that would be freaking sweet.

We don't really have a horde army backed up with truly deadly snipers.

Could have hamster wheel styled AFVs

Suicide rat bombs/swarms

And all sorts of dirty traps.

And this would be awesome

HQ:
Grey Seer/pskyer

Hurd table example with some 40K tweaks:

Primaris: Skitterleap blessing

1: Warp Lightning (witchfire/soul blaze)
2: Pestilent Breath (witchfire/ flame template, poison +4?)
3: Death Frenzy (blessing, with all the pros and cons)
4: Wither (malediction)
5: Crack's Call (beam, Play it similar to Jaws but let jump infantry/flyers/skimmers etc. avoid it. Destroy stupid crap like ADLs.)
6: 13th Spell (malediction)

A book on Snotlings, Grots and Squigs with all their variations and uses.

Kroot and hurd for me please thanks

What I'd like to see in terms of priority.

Slaugth
Hrud
Slann
Squats/Demiurg
Exodites
Rak'Gol

Then we'd have a cleaner counterparts to the Vampire Counts, Skaven, Lizardmen, Dorfs and Wood Elves in FB. The Rak'Gol can be pretty Ogreish at times too. /Silly reason.

Seriously, each would offer its own largely unique aesthetic which I think is crucial for any faction in 40k; each one needs to have its own look and feel and provide both its own flavor of stories to be told and its own unique feeling gameplay.

You can argue with me from a Watsonian perspective, but from a Doylist one I think new factions for 40k should draw from what would be largely fresh and new from doylist perspectives for the setting as opposed to rehashing things already seen in other factions. Like the Men of Iron I'm not super keen on because I'm not convinced they offer a great deal that the Adeptus Mechanicus and Necrons don't, whether aesthetically, narratively, or gameplay wise.

Spehss Dorfs I believe should be approached carefully with the goal of making them feel unique as an army kept in mind at all times. It can be done mind you, but as a designer you should approach creating the aesthetic, the kinds of stories you tell with them, and the style of play carefully. 40k is already a game with a large number of armies and a setting with a lot of factions in it, so extra care must be taken to ensure everyone has their own character.

Like with the Hrud, while just making them space skaven would be fairly lazy admittedly, it does most certainly provide for a character both fluffwise and crunchwise that is largely unique to themselves. Yes there are lots of other armies that rely on weight of numbers but each one does it remarkably differently. The way a tyranid list plop lots of things onto the board and use it is rather different than how you'd do it with the Orks or Guard, and the Hrud would in turn be able to and should provide their own special flavor. Plus we already have quite a lot of small numbers of elite unit using armies (and one that has like, three clones of itself in the game) so more model spam armies isn't exactly throwing the scale out of whack.

Similarly, while the Slaugth's likely mix of cheap disposable thralls and bio-constructs and much more potent true-slaugth and their more horrific creations may scream Tyranid to you, if you more fairly priced the Tyranid models to their capacity (so like, getting more points for using Pyrovores as repayment for actively hurting your chances of winning) you'd find that generally the big scary things are meant to be more spammable than what you'd find in other armies. Similarly, the Tyranids are a very in your face force with barely anything capable of fighting past bolter range and as a rule, are a high mobility army. So you already have openings to create something different with the Slaugth.

Now you may ask why I'm speaking mostly from gameplay; well, the thing about promoting a minor faction into the big leagues is that it entails it getting models and rulebooks in the tabletop game. So discussing their lore viability needs to take a backseat to discussing what they'd offer to the game if you really do want them to get to those lofty heights. You can't read any codex lore if they don't have a codex after all.

 ChazSexington wrote:
For codices I suggest
- Exodite Eldar
- Corsair Eldar
- Rak'Gol
- Laer
- Mix of human/xenos, like Diasporex and the Interex
- Adding varius races to the Tau codex

Laer would be fun for 30k players.

Going off of your Interex/Diasporex thought, I like the idea of a new faction that isn't xenos but rather a faction of mankind that doesn't fall under the Imperial or Chaos banner. I know it's a "Xenos" thread but I think this would be a solid idea; it's unique insofar as the current factions are considered, and could be a really cool way to expand another part of the lore.

 Jambles wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
For codices I suggest
- Exodite Eldar
- Corsair Eldar
- Rak'Gol
- Laer
- Mix of human/xenos, like Diasporex and the Interex
- Adding varius races to the Tau codex

Laer would be fun for 30k players.

Going off of your Interex/Diasporex thought, I like the idea of a new faction that isn't xenos but rather a faction of mankind that doesn't fall under the Imperial or Chaos banner. I know it's a "Xenos" thread but I think this would be a solid idea; it's unique insofar as the current factions are considered, and could be a really cool way to expand another part of the lore.

From a Doylist perspective, what would they offer aesthetically, thematically, and mechanically to the game and its setting?

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
I BADLY want Hrud as long as they are Space Skaven, the fish boogeyman thing holds no interest at all for me, unless maybe they can be some sort of amphibious infiltrate/assault unit like Lictors on a smaller scale.

Fusils being a gun that combines sniper rules and plasma AP, that would be freaking sweet.

We don't really have a horde army backed up with truly deadly snipers.

Could have hamster wheel styled AFVs

Suicide rat bombs/swarms

And all sorts of dirty traps.

And this would be awesome

HQ:
Grey Seer/pskyer

Hurd table example with some 40K tweaks:

Primaris: Skitterleap blessing

1: Warp Lightning (witchfire/soul blaze)
2: Pestilent Breath (witchfire/ flame template, poison +4?)
3: Death Frenzy (blessing, with all the pros and cons)
4: Wither (malediction)
5: Crack's Call (beam, Play it similar to Jaws but let jump infantry/flyers/skimmers etc. avoid it. Destroy stupid crap like ADLs.)
6: 13th Spell (malediction)

Hrud have absolutely nothing in common with Skaven. There's no need for force WHF armies into 40K now. Somethingt that's actually original and interesting would be a far better option. Although even better- don't add any goddamn armies until the Codex Creep is beaten to death and buried in concrete.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
I BADLY want Hrud as long as they are Space Skaven, the fish boogeyman thing holds no interest at all for me, unless maybe they can be some sort of amphibious infiltrate/assault unit like Lictors on a smaller scale.

Fusils being a gun that combines sniper rules and plasma AP, that would be freaking sweet.

We don't really have a horde army backed up with truly deadly snipers.

Could have hamster wheel styled AFVs

Suicide rat bombs/swarms

And all sorts of dirty traps.

And this would be awesome

HQ:
Grey Seer/pskyer

Hurd table example with some 40K tweaks:

Primaris: Skitterleap blessing

1: Warp Lightning (witchfire/soul blaze)
2: Pestilent Breath (witchfire/ flame template, poison +4?)
3: Death Frenzy (blessing, with all the pros and cons)
4: Wither (malediction)
5: Crack's Call (beam, Play it similar to Jaws but let jump infantry/flyers/skimmers etc. avoid it. Destroy stupid crap like ADLs.)
6: 13th Spell (malediction)

Hrud have absolutely nothing in common with Skaven. There's no need for force WHF armies into 40K now. Somethingt that's actually original and interesting would be a far better option. Although even better- don't add any goddamn armies until the Codex Creep is beaten to death and buried in concrete.

Accept for the fact their early artwork was CLEARLY a cloaked Skaven with a rifle. Take out the stupid fishmonger RETCON stuff and see the similarities.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/9/91/Other_dangerous_aliens.jpg

They have been depicted as being a crouched, diminutive creature swathed in rags, its face obscured by a hood, and possessing a rat-like tail

The Hrud prefer darkness and are basically scavengers and tunnel-dwellers.

From the interrogations of a Human slave that served the Hrud, its known that they are a secretive race of subterranean scavengers who lived in tunnel-cities known as "juunlak"s. These typically are formed near the greatest centres of Human population. They tend to be fiercely tribal and are expert scavengers of technology to the point that they can easily assemble from a mongrel collection of weapons and devices with the resources they have at their disposal.

Hrud Fusils...they worked as a form of "plasma musket" that uses an unfathomable mechanism to phase a plasma bolt between realspace and the warp.

The Skaven are humanoid rat creatures from Games Workshop's fantasy counterpart game to 40k, Warhammer. Both races have a similar unkempt, crouched appearance, scavenger culture, and both are depicted as having rat-like tails; both utilize warp-plasma based technology, which appears archaic but is technologically superior to other, contemporary engineering - the Hrud rifle is a "fusil" while the Skaven rifle is a jezail (a musket) - and finally both seem to have similar social habits being described as living in warrens or similar underground tunnel systems.

It could be presumed that the Hrud were originally meant to be Warhammer 40,000 counterparts to the Skaven. With the exception of the Skaven, most Warhammer fantasy races have a counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. Incidentally, early Warhammer 40,000 rules included a toxin called rodotoxin which was effective against Skaven.

So, warp/plasma tech of their own, scavenged wargear otherwise, tunnel dwelling scavengers, stick close to humans (like rats, though could fluff this out to other races easily), can breed like crazy, take slaves, etc.etc.

Not to mention since the WHF world went BOOM there is plenty of reason to bring the rats into 40K to wreck some havoc. Not to mention they are one of the few truly unique IPs GW has.

But boiled down a Space Skaven is just so cool, I'd give up my Chaos Space Marines in a nano second for one.

 Kain wrote:

 Jambles wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
For codices I suggest
- Exodite Eldar
- Corsair Eldar
- Rak'Gol
- Laer
- Mix of human/xenos, like Diasporex and the Interex
- Adding varius races to the Tau codex

Laer would be fun for 30k players.

Going off of your Interex/Diasporex thought, I like the idea of a new faction that isn't xenos but rather a faction of mankind that doesn't fall under the Imperial or Chaos banner. I know it's a "Xenos" thread but I think this would be a solid idea; it's unique insofar as the current factions are considered, and could be a really cool way to expand another part of the lore.

From a Doylist perspective, what would they offer aesthetically, thematically, and mechanically to the game and its setting?

Today, I learned what a "Doylist" perspective is!

In truth I didn't think that far... going off the example of the Interex, in my mind's eye I imagined a very clean, utopian view of futuristic humanity (with the appropriately grimdark underpinnings of inhumanity, naturally) to contrast the dirty medieval aesthetic of the imperium. Thematically they're a subset of humanity that espouses a very different set of ideals than the imperium, which could be reflected mechanically by a more elite human army - imagine guardsmen with the kind of equipment you'd see a space marine packing. Obviously it's a pipe dream idea, but there it is.

 KingmanHighborn wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
I BADLY want Hrud as long as they are Space Skaven, the fish boogeyman thing holds no interest at all for me, unless maybe they can be some sort of amphibious infiltrate/assault unit like Lictors on a smaller scale.

Fusils being a gun that combines sniper rules and plasma AP, that would be freaking sweet.

We don't really have a horde army backed up with truly deadly snipers.

Could have hamster wheel styled AFVs

Suicide rat bombs/swarms

And all sorts of dirty traps.

And this would be awesome

HQ:
Grey Seer/pskyer

Hurd table example with some 40K tweaks:

Primaris: Skitterleap blessing

1: Warp Lightning (witchfire/soul blaze)
2: Pestilent Breath (witchfire/ flame template, poison +4?)
3: Death Frenzy (blessing, with all the pros and cons)
4: Wither (malediction)
5: Crack's Call (beam, Play it similar to Jaws but let jump infantry/flyers/skimmers etc. avoid it. Destroy stupid crap like ADLs.)
6: 13th Spell (malediction)

Hrud have absolutely nothing in common with Skaven. There's no need for force WHF armies into 40K now. Somethingt that's actually original and interesting would be a far better option. Although even better- don't add any goddamn armies until the Codex Creep is beaten to death and buried in concrete.

Accept for the fact their early artwork was CLEARLY a cloaked Skaven with a rifle. Take out the stupid fishmonger RETCON stuff and see the similarities.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/9/91/Other_dangerous_aliens.jpg

They have been depicted as being a crouched, diminutive creature swathed in rags, its face obscured by a hood, and possessing a rat-like tail

The Hrud prefer darkness and are basically scavengers and tunnel-dwellers.

From the interrogations of a Human slave that served the Hrud, its known that they are a secretive race of subterranean scavengers who lived in tunnel-cities known as "juunlak"s. These typically are formed near the greatest centres of Human population. They tend to be fiercely tribal and are expert scavengers of technology to the point that they can easily assemble from a mongrel collection of weapons and devices with the resources they have at their disposal.

Hrud Fusils...they worked as a form of "plasma musket" that uses an unfathomable mechanism to phase a plasma bolt between realspace and the warp.

The Skaven are humanoid rat creatures from Games Workshop's fantasy counterpart game to 40k, Warhammer. Both races have a similar unkempt, crouched appearance, scavenger culture, and both are depicted as having rat-like tails; both utilize warp-plasma based technology, which appears archaic but is technologically superior to other, contemporary engineering - the Hrud rifle is a "fusil" while the Skaven rifle is a jezail (a musket) - and finally both seem to have similar social habits being described as living in warrens or similar underground tunnel systems.

It could be presumed that the Hrud were originally meant to be Warhammer 40,000 counterparts to the Skaven. With the exception of the Skaven, most Warhammer fantasy races have a counterpart in Warhammer 40,000. Incidentally, early Warhammer 40,000 rules included a toxin called rodotoxin which was effective against Skaven.

So, warp/plasma tech of their own, scavenged wargear otherwise, tunnel dwelling scavengers, stick close to humans (like rats, though could fluff this out to other races easily), can breed like crazy, take slaves, etc.etc.

Not to mention since the WHF world went BOOM there is plenty of reason to bring the rats into 40K to wreck some havoc. Not to mention they are one of the few truly unique IPs GW has.

But boiled down a Space Skaven is just so cool, I'd give up my Chaos Space Marines in a nano second for one.

So basically, the irrelevant, worthless information that is hopelessly outdated and retconned.

Plus they're too powerful for TT, and their entire range would only consist of one model.

Rak'Gol. They seem like an absolutely terrifying race

This isn't 40k, and they're not xenos themselves (although they've possibly been influenced by xenos) but post-Humans that were so modified they could barely be considered Human at all, but one race that really stuck out to me was the Olamic Quietitude from the HH novel Prospero Burns. They utilised various cybernetic warriors, the largest of which was arguably superior to an average Astartes, protected by armour equivalent to power armour & gravitic force fields that could be adapted to provide maximum protection to adios threats. They were armed with gravity rifles that easily pierce power armour, silent fusion-based heat beams & kinetic hammers similar to thunder hammers.

Can we get rid of the Tau codex while were at it

Why...?

 Wyzilla wrote:

So basically, the irrelevant, worthless information that is hopelessly outdated and retconned.

Plus they're too powerful for TT, and their entire range would only consist of one model.

How? A clanrat with scavenged up space gun or even upgraded to a warp plasma fusil wouldn't be that scary. And the range would have to be at least close to what WHF Skaven have. So far from one model. Even if you take into count the fishmonsters in fluff they have attacked in great numbers and been defeated. But still Hrud will always be Space Skaven, and as the topic states What Xenos race in the lore do I think DESERVES a codex/army. For me that answer is Hrud/ Space Skaven.

 Jambles wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 Jambles wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
For codices I suggest
- Exodite Eldar
- Corsair Eldar
- Rak'Gol
- Laer
- Mix of human/xenos, like Diasporex and the Interex
- Adding varius races to the Tau codex

Laer would be fun for 30k players.

Going off of your Interex/Diasporex thought, I like the idea of a new faction that isn't xenos but rather a faction of mankind that doesn't fall under the Imperial or Chaos banner. I know it's a "Xenos" thread but I think this would be a solid idea; it's unique insofar as the current factions are considered, and could be a really cool way to expand another part of the lore.

From a Doylist perspective, what would they offer aesthetically, thematically, and mechanically to the game and its setting?

Today, I learned what a "Doylist" perspective is!

In truth I didn't think that far... going off the example of the Interex, in my mind's eye I imagined a very clean, utopian view of futuristic humanity (with the appropriately grimdark underpinnings of inhumanity, naturally) to contrast the dirty medieval aesthetic of the imperium. Thematically they're a subset of humanity that espouses a very different set of ideals than the imperium, which could be reflected mechanically by a more elite human army - imagine guardsmen with the kind of equipment you'd see a space marine packing. Obviously it's a pipe dream idea, but there it is.

Now here's the kicker; how do you differentiate them from the Tau, another generally Utopian minded, highly tolerant,, and progressive faction noted for being small but flexible and overall quite advanced. Aesthetics is easy enough, as the Tau draw heavily from East Asia; particularly the Japan/Korea/China area and there's plenty of other historical (or even modern) cultures and styles to draw from. It's the thematics and mechanics where you start running into trouble with making the interex stand out as a unique faction due to the very substantial thematic overlap with the Tau and potential mechanical overlap with the Tau and possibly the Adeptus Mechanicus and Necrons (both of which have mechanics to give the impression of being high-technology and are generally more elitists than spammers) and that's where you need to start thinking carefully.

Obviously game balance is an ephermal, shifty thing and nearly any idea can be made to be at least somewhat balanced so let's not get too concerned about that. What people who want the Interex in need to think about is how to make that faction unique.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

leerm02 wrote:


Because I love discussing the 40k lore here is a fun post:

What Xenos race already mentioned in some part of the 40k fluff do YOU think deserves a modern codex/army? Pretend for a moment that you worked for GW and were given this as an assignment (so no cop out: “We already have all the races we need!” answers: the emperor ordered you! [at least: that's who I assume runs GW])

I would also like to hear some rationale for your pick, and (this is the author part of me talking) if possible some cool references to fluff pieces where they are showcased.

So how about it folks? What hideous Xenos abomination needs more love?

PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

More aliens? Space Marine players are STILL throwing a bitch-fest about the last time GW did that.

Like they have the right. Imperium makes up half the armies and they can all be battle brothers! If you aren't winning with marines you're not playing them right


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BrianDavion wrote:

 King Pariah wrote:
I know several users have stated their desire for the Hrud to be done (Skaven equivalent).

Personally, I'd like to see the Slaugth, but to be honest, they don't appear to have anywhere new the level of galactic influence that anyone that currently has a codex has.

Aside from the Tau. Considering the minor, insignificant blip on the radar that the Tau are for pretty much every other race, I have to sometimes question why they even have a codex (I do like them though, just not as much as worms that walk).

So I guess Hrud would be the most clear cut choice, with a galactic presence and constantly annoying (and scaring in some cases) the gak out of everyone. Personally, I don't care for the Skaven parallel comparison.

you're not the only one who thinks the Tau are, as they stand out of place. not bad just a little out of place given that they're a regional power. every other race in 40k is galaxy spanning and could be encountered literally anywhere in the galaxy (which is really part of what 40ks all about it's a monsterously large canvas allowing just about anything to happen) Tau are a bit differnt from that, they are essentially restricted to about a quarter of the galaxy and are comparitivly small scale.

They are also the only faction that actually has sections of their own worlds besides Chaos and Imperium... soooo... Eldar types just hide. Exodites don't count because anything they have the Imperium wants the Imperium will get easily unless a craftworld comes out of hiding. The exodites are basically irrelevant themselves. Necrons sleep under imperial worlds and actually hold very very few as their own. Tyranids just float around killing things.

Tau are the only empire besides IoM. They have more control over their worlds then any race besides man

None of them, at least not until Sisters finally get some new fething models.

After that, I'd say squats.

Rak'gol. Perfectly grimdark (not like those silly noblebright blueberries), and hell, GW could make them another one of those doomsday races, saying their raids are spreading ever further into the Imperium and towards Terra

 Toastaster wrote:
Rak'gol. Perfectly grimdark (not like those silly noblebright blueberries), and hell, GW could make them another one of those doomsday races, saying their raids are spreading ever further into the Imperium and towards Terra

You could also give the Hrud and Slaugth doomsday capacity. The Hrud are constantly expanding in numbers and getting more and more active and violent with their great migrations as they see that the time to rise from the shadows and reclaim the legacy of the old ones in their own particular way is now. The Slaugth, while seemingly likely native to the Calixis sector; have confirmed non-warp based FTL, and could very well have established strongholds beyond the reach of most other factions and upon seeing that the dominoes are all rapidly falling into place decide that now is the time to impose their horrific brand of order upon the galaxy.

The Slann are more iffy, but they're probably in a position closer to the Eldar than anything else; though before the End times the Lizardmen were actually on the up and up; reclaiming lost cities and seeing a huge population boom; so perhaps they'll be one of the few factions who after suffering a severe setback, is actually recovering with interest?

The Squats are probably in pretty dire straits, though the Demiurg are near complete unknown.

Bring back the space dwarves

1. The lost and the damned (re-released)

Now includes all xenos species that worship chaos (Laer, Gykon) as well as new introductions + Humans.

2. The Imperial Resistance

The great crusade turned around and went back to terra at some point - leaving many planets untouched. In the 10 000 years since then new planets would have been colinized but not at such an extent.

The Imperial Resistance is a strictly non-chaos driven resistance force of survivng civiliastions that are not under imperial rule and never have been. (Think interex)

The imperial resistance welcomes xenos allies and dark technologies

The true humans! During the age of Technology a huge colony fleet with the best of humans left earth in their hyper space ships after being the dominant species in galaxy L55 for 25 000 years they send an investigation fleet back to how our civilization is progressing. They are not pleased!

Eh, "True Humans" and "Human Resistance" are far to non-grim dark for mah grim dark

What if they belive themselves to be the only "true" humans, and that all other humans are an abomination to the gene-code. Boom, grimdark.

I'd say the Slaugth and the Yu'Vath.

The Yu'Vath effectively halted the Crusade to claim the Calixis sector in its tracks for several decades, showing that they were at one point able to compete with the Imperium of Man on the campaign scale. They worship the Warp (note: The Warp itself as opposed to the Chaos Gods), use Warp energy in their technologies, use armies of slaves, both human and xenos, and were responsible for the Hell-worlds, in essence worlds moved halfway into the Warp by their technology

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Yu%27vath

As for the Slaugth, they are physically incredibly tough, able to shrug off massive amounts of damage and regenerate quickly. Their technology is highly advanced, especially in the field of biology. Spoilers for Dead Stars (Dark Heresy adventure) ahead:



http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Slaugth

Tyranids.

Would be great if they could get a Codex.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Tyranids.

Would be great if they could get a Codex.

Too soon.

This discussion always comes up at least once a month lol.

I don't really see a reason for new xenos armies, the range is pretty diverse as it is. What would be nice is the expanding of the current xenos forces. At the moment IoM has a host of ally abilities, but the xenos are lacking support. But they are starting to expand in a way, with Khorne Daemonkin, and supposedly every chaos god will get similar treatment.

Its cool but I would also like to see an actual expansion of the races, like Harlequins are to the fey. Something more than a few relics, different warlord traits and 2 special rules. The imperium gets all the love, and even as IoM player I'm starting to get annoyed.

I agree, we don't need a lot of xenos armies, but the currents armies could get more xenos (chaos worshipping xenos, that's a good exemple to get new xenos and new possibilities for chaos gamers).
One, maybe two news xenos squads in the Tau Empire, the same for chaos and for dark eldars,and that will be a huge amount of diversity.
The true problem is there are too many imperial armies in differents codices.

 godardc wrote:
I agree, we don't need a lot of xenos armies, but the currents armies rmy could get more xenos (chaos worshipping xenos, that's a good exemple to get new xenos and new possibilities for chaos gamers).
One, maybe two news xenos squads in the Tau Empire, the same for chaos and for dark eldars,and that will be a huge amount of diversity.
The true problem is there are too many imperial armies in differents codices.

You'd have a tiny handful of Ork social outcasts out of the current crop of Xenos given that the rest are either pretty much flatly immune to Chaos corruption (Necrons, Eldar Harlequins), are so resistant they may as well be (Tyranids, Tau, Orks [the few who fall to Chaos are ostracized if not killed outright), or take so many steps to avoid falling that the number of chaos corruptees among their ranks is infinitesimally tiny [Eldar].

It'd be better to take the Eldar path of exploring the subdivisions of each of the armies.

Though just having the Tyranids as a single supermassive codex with more options than any one army would be most thematically fitting, with maybe a Genestealer Cult book.

Squats, because they are the Dwarves of 40k. And like the orks, they are just awesome.

Plus the history of them deserves to be in 40k. They had to own cluster in the galaxy, and would essentially be the techno-opposite of orks.

They would epitomize human-mechanical usage in a way even different to the Mechanicus and Imperial Guard.

Like Orks, I would see their vehicles as being sources of pride, very much purpose built, and very useful, and very deadly.

I would see them as being also really good against Xenos, and being stubborn/impervious to psyker and warp magics.

How bout some Traitor Guard?
or a Codex that provides formations based on the fighting styles of many of the Traitor Space Marine Chapters?
or add in some Dark Mechanicum. stuff.

Personally I wish GW would tell us more about the Barghesi, besides them being hyper-violent. Or really any of the various Xenos they mention in a forgotten section of various rulebooks AND NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN.

I'm always looking for more xenos to purge. We scions of the Imperium are quite open-minded about these types of things.

What if GW made a codex with all the xenos you suggested and made it Battle Brother with Tau empire?

Call it Codex Xeno Alliance or something.

 DoomShakaLaka wrote:
What if GW made a codex with all the xenos you suggested and made it Battle Brother with Tau empire?

Call it Codex Xeno Alliance or something.

The Barghesi, Rak'Gol, Slaugth, Slann, and Hrud really wouldn't make any sense as BBs with the Tau.

I want to fight Rak'Gol army on TT someday, the are really distinctive compared to other races that now have codex.

 Phydox wrote:

How bout some Traitor Guard?
or a Codex that provides formations based on the fighting styles of many of the Traitor Space Marine Chapters?
or add in some Dark Mechanicum. stuff.

Traitor Guard exist - Imperial Armour 13.

Kinebrach sound cool in the HH series. Some interesting rules could be made with the anathame weapons.

 Melissia wrote:
None of them, at least not until Sisters finally get some new fething models.

After that, I'd say squats.

Ironically, after many years of neglect: "Not until Squats finally get some new fething models!", is pretty much exactly how I felt at the end of 2nd edition, when GW decided to bring out this "brand new faction" called Sisters of Battle, instead of the only outstanding codex: Squats... They then proceeded to also neglect SoB for the next ~18 years.

GW seems to be stuck in exactly the same imbecilic loop with Sisters that they were with Squats, refusing to update them because they aren't selling, when the reason they aren't selling is because they refuse to update them. I really hope Sisters don't end up sharing the same fate.

leerm02 wrote:
PS: If you say “Squats” you should please have some backup for that answer, because I've been trying to find interesting lore/info on them for about a week now and haven't found even one bit that seemed worthwhile!

Do you mean you couldn't find much info, or do you mean you found plenty of info but you deemed all of it "not worthwhile" in your opinion? It is hard to tell.

In terms of art style, I would probably drop a lot of the Hell's Angel and Anglo Saxon stuff, as I think it is too specific (the same as making all marines White Scars), if people want to do that then fine, but I'd like a more neutral canvas as a base. I'd make the rank and file very similar to Imperial Guard in appearance, since human PDF is essentially what they are. Like this guy, only more manly, as he would have a beard and a leadership of 9.


In terms of vehicles, elites and support. I would play up the mining/industrial theme, with subterranean driller transports, mole mortars, exo-armored elites with thunder hammers and drill weapons. The gyro copter is a pretty awesome flyer. And they'd have lots of super heavy options. STC and DAoT is kind of their thing. Squat Guildmasters are considered much more adept than any Ad Mech. And there would still be room for mercs and bikers.

The ancestor lord is their psychic option. He is an incredibly powerful psyker, but his powers are typically more strategic than outright offensive/defensive. Force Dome for example allowed him to isolate models inside a huge psychic dome, which was completely impenetrable. It could just as easily be used to protect friendly models as it could to imprison enemies.