Some very cool news, I really like GW going to the talent and recruiting them.
One thing of note is that the Last Templar and Iron Within aren't on youtube anymore, but can be still watched if you don't mind Valrak talking over them on his channel.
Great news! I have been hoping this would happen for quite some time now. Astartes is a phemonemal piece of moviemaking and seeing the creators behind it getting support from GW (and hopefully a nice big budget) is awesome.Same goes for the other creators, not seen any of their stuff but I look forward to seeing what they create.
That short clip for The Exodite looks equally great. Who knew Tau could look so cool!
I just saw the email. OMG. So.excited. I really hope that corporate dullmuggery doesnt intrude here. Astartes was basically perfect. Just throw money at him to do more of the same!
I'm hoping that for the most part, these creators will be able to retain as much creative control as possible, without GW jumping in and wanting serious changes.
I think this is great news and marks another step in the direction of GW becoming their own studio. Happened with Marvel and can totally see GW trying to go the route.
Fantastic news - can't wait to see the Iron Warriors in action. Curious how much they'd be paying the Astartes guy, given that he already turned them down in the past thanks to how much he was making from his day job + patreon combo, but regardless it's brilliant that he's on board.
So it says where can we watch them, stay tuned to find out.
And have a MyWarhammer account.
My assumption is that it’ll be a paid portion of the app or website or whatever.
Perhaps buy each one, or a monthly rental I suppose but then you could just wait till they are all on and binge it all (not exactly gonna be 100’s of hours of stuff..
I certainly think we should be paying for it (not something I like doing, paying for things that could have been put online for free), but for the creators that could be where revenue comes from to pay them. Which they for sure deserve (I mean yeah GW will make a load of money too, but ya know..)
Commander Cain wrote: Great news! I have been hoping this would happen for quite some time now. Astartes is a phemonemal piece of moviemaking and seeing the creators behind it getting support from GW (and hopefully a nice big budget) is awesome.Same goes for the other creators, not seen any of their stuff but I look forward to seeing what they create.
Agreed. This is what GW (and other companies) should do when their fans do stuff, particularly stuff so utterly good. Instead of C&Ding them, give them a job.
Time to buy more stock, sounds like GW is not only planning on developing into a Lucasfilm-esque multimedia studio but potentially heading in the direction of offering its own streaming services down the line (I'm sure thats on a 10+ year plan somewhere).
That being said, it feels like GW has spent more time telling us about their tv/film/animation efforts than actually showing us anything. Its been what 2 or 3 years now since they first started talking about Hammer and Bolter and Angels of Dearth or whatever its called and they still haven't released anything other than I think a soundtrack (note - is it just me or is it weird to release a soundtrack for a film that hasn't actually released yet?) and a couple of short teaser trailers.
I get these things take time, but it feels like an unfocused scatter-brained approach to content development, they keep starting projects but not delivering on any of them.
chaos0xomega wrote: Time to buy more stock, sounds like GW is not only planning on developing into a Lucasfilm-esque multimedia studio but potentially heading in the direction of offering its own streaming services down the line (I'm sure thats on a 10+ year plan somewhere).
That being said, it feels like GW has spent more time telling us about their tv/film/animation efforts than actually showing us anything. Its been what 2 or 3 years now since they first started talking about Hammer and Bolter and Angels of Dearth or whatever its called and they still haven't released anything other than I think a soundtrack (note - is it just me or is it weird to release a soundtrack for a film that hasn't actually released yet?) and a couple of short teaser trailers.
I get these things take time, but it feels like an unfocused scatter-brained approach to content development, they keep starting projects but not delivering on any of them.
My sense of time isn’t great at the moment, but I’m pretty sure we really started seeing the animation stuff during their first few COVID previews, so a little under a year ago. Certainly not 2-3 years.
'Even more animation?' Was some of the previously previewed stuff actually released somewhere? This sounds like more of the same- snippets, but no content.
I'm sure we started seeing it way before Corona I want to say at least a year before?
Thing is these projects take time and I hope GW takes their time with them to make them quality. Whlist they've dabbled in the past I think they are making a serious go of animation this time!
And I'm really glad to see Astartes get official recognition - that's got to be a great thing for the guy behind it even without being brought in to work on more officially as well!
chaos0xomega wrote: Time to buy more stock, sounds like GW is not only planning on developing into a Lucasfilm-esque multimedia studio but potentially heading in the direction of offering its own streaming services down the line (I'm sure thats on a 10+ year plan somewhere).
That being said, it feels like GW has spent more time telling us about their tv/film/animation efforts than actually showing us anything. Its been what 2 or 3 years now since they first started talking about Hammer and Bolter and Angels of Dearth or whatever its called and they still haven't released anything other than I think a soundtrack (note - is it just me or is it weird to release a soundtrack for a film that hasn't actually released yet?) and a couple of short teaser trailers.
I get these things take time, but it feels like an unfocused scatter-brained approach to content development, they keep starting projects but not delivering on any of them.
My sense of time isn’t great at the moment, but I’m pretty sure we really started seeing the animation stuff during their first few COVID previews, so a little under a year ago. Certainly not 2-3 years.
A quick google search indicates that the first announcement about Angels of Death came in December of 2018, so yeah about 2-3 years ago.
Patreon tells you how many people subscribe doesn’t it?
How many does he have, and what’s his lowest offer, like $1?
Automatically Appended Next Post: Or what’s his lowest proper tier. As they do it something like that don’t they?
I don’t follow anyone on it or anything..
IIRC Patreon takes 40% of those $2, but even if all those 9,717 supporters are at the lowest tier level he's still theoretically getting somewhere around $11,660/month before taxes and whatnot.
chaos0xomega wrote: Time to buy more stock, sounds like GW is not only planning on developing into a Lucasfilm-esque multimedia studio but potentially heading in the direction of offering its own streaming services down the line (I'm sure thats on a 10+ year plan somewhere).
That being said, it feels like GW has spent more time telling us about their tv/film/animation efforts than actually showing us anything. Its been what 2 or 3 years now since they first started talking about Hammer and Bolter and Angels of Dearth or whatever its called and they still haven't released anything other than I think a soundtrack (note - is it just me or is it weird to release a soundtrack for a film that hasn't actually released yet?) and a couple of short teaser trailers.
I get these things take time, but it feels like an unfocused scatter-brained approach to content development, they keep starting projects but not delivering on any of them.
My sense of time isn’t great at the moment, but I’m pretty sure we really started seeing the animation stuff during their first few COVID previews, so a little under a year ago. Certainly not 2-3 years.
A quick google search indicates that the first announcement about Angels of Death came in December of 2018, so yeah about 2-3 years ago.
Yeah. Then selling completed animations to GW (I can’t see them paying a wage).
He’s making some good cash!
Though deservedly so I guess, he’s very skilled.
(And the fact lots of people get paid for dancing on an app - and not even in their underwear - so making an online living isn’t unusual)
This can only encourage more fan projects, knowing there's a chance they could get picked up and canonised, so that's really great to see. Be nice if more properties did this besides 40k.
Tyranid Horde wrote: Astartes is now no longer on Youtube unfortunately as a result. Shame that they'd take down content that they're advertising.
Yes a real shame. I wanted to watch the original again because I thought there were some changes made.
Also - the reason it got so popular was because it was on Youtube and so many people were reacting to it who have never heard of Warhammer. They're not likely to subscribe to Warhammer Community.
But maybe GW will now post it to their official YouTube channel, or make a new one for animations.
To me, the Astartes animation has had quite a negative change to it already - the music changes completely ruin the tone and feel it had. Just look at the last part where the Marine arrives on the alien world surrounded by ancient statues. Previously it had music that gave it an otherworldly, strange, mysterious yet imposing tone. Now it's generic horror music that feels out of place and has more of a forced sense of tension.
If you want them, I'd suggest you get them ASAP, far more mainstream content has disappeared from the web (though not really, if you know where to look).
Yeah.. I dont think this is going to result in any creative improvement to the works. In fact most likely bastardised commercialized toned down version resulting in a detriment. It will most likely result in higher technical and quanittiry aspects due to budget but even thats debatable..
I think its a shame but I don't blame the guy. Its his work. Sure as hell sucks for any of his supporters and patroens.
Argive wrote: Yeah.. I dont think this is going to result in any creative improvement to the works. In fact most likely bastardised commercialized toned down version resulting in a detriment. It will most likely result in higher technical and quanittiry aspects due to budget but even thats debatable..
I think its a shame but I don't blame the guy. Its his work. Sure as hell sucks for any of his supporters and patroens.
Very much agreed. The orginal Astates videos where unique in tone and aesthetic from what we can expect from GW-sponsored content, I suposed we should be glad that the supercut only changed the audio.
Mentlegen324 wrote: To me, the Astartes animation has had quite a negative change to it already - the music changes completely ruin the tone and feel it had. Just look at the last part where the Marine arrives on the alien world surrounded by ancient statues. Previously it had music that gave it an otherworldly, strange, mysterious yet imposing tone. Now it's generic horror music that feels out of place and has more of a forced sense of tension.
That's the part I was thinking of in particular. The high pitched sound leading to the drum beats was great.
Also in the original it seemed that we see other members of the squad teleported onto the far pillars as each drum beat struck - that is removed.
Actually - I just watched it again and the animations are still there but they don't sync up to the drums.
Voss wrote: 'Even more animation?' Was some of the previously previewed stuff actually released somewhere? This sounds like more of the same- snippets, but no content.
I'm gonna be honest, most of the animation we've seen looked extremely amateurish, just one step above those 3D animations using ripped in-game models you see on twitter. There's been one or two projects that looked actually competent, and they will take years to materialize.
Voss wrote: 'Even more animation?' Was some of the previously previewed stuff actually released somewhere? This sounds like more of the same- snippets, but no content.
I'm gonna be honest, most of the animation we've seen looked extremely amateurish, just one step above those 3D animations using ripped in-game models you see on twitter. There's been one or two projects that looked actually competent, and they will take years to materialize.
Well, that's what I mean. It has been 2-3 years since the first announcement. Personally, I would've gone with talk about how near the existing projects are to completion, not announcing more for the even farther future.
And it kind of compounds the current issues with the release schedule. All sorts of things are coming 'later,' to the point that GW is talking over things that aren't even out yet- in some cases (like underworlds) they're doing sneak peaks and silhouettes of products 3-4 releases ahead of what was going to come out this month. In the case of DE, even earlier.
'Awesome things that aren't here' is pretty tired refrain.
I just pulled this from the Astartes patreon page.
This may feel like it's coming out of nowhere but I'm happy to announce today that from this point on I'll be working with GW to continue Astartes and transition the project to an official one with the Warhammer Animations team.
Many of you have no doubt been wondering what the status of the project is lately, but work on it has never stopped and now it's at a very exciting place, with everything I've been able to create and develop up to this point now transitioning to an official project where I hope to take it to new heights.
I can't thank you all enough for the support and opportunity to pursue both my 40k and animation dreams. When I threw that first episode up on the internet I had no idea it would take me here, and it wouldn't have without your amazing support and encouragement to keep going and so I'm truly grateful.
I just hope I can make you all proud with my future contributions to the 40k universe we all love.
Astartes will have a new home over at the Warhammer Community website so head over there to watch the existing series and for more news and exciting updates.
This Patreon page will cut ties with Warhammer and the Astartes project. It will be overhauled to represent me personally as an artist and it will be put into an 'inactive' mode and perhaps re-awoken in the future, if I get the chance I'd love to let some original ideas that are bouncing around in my head out into the world...but right now it's time to animate the Emperor's Chosen!
Was that the German one? If so, if memory serves there were unique legal issues there, whereby the creator couldn’t sign it over to GW, even if both parties agreed on it?
I mean, Do Not Quote Me On That. It’s a hazy memory, and based on the opinions of armchair lawyers. I could be incredibly wrong.
So, he's ditching his Patreon, which we have established as giving him, at minimum, $11k a month.
This makes me think that, either:
1. GW put the screws on him (ie. sign a contract with us or find we start claiming copyright).
2. They offered him a lot of money, enough to be worth giving up the above mentioned $11k a month.
3. He was blinded by being made 'official' that he's giving up a major source of income.
Also, how long before Astartes gets rebranded to 'Primaris'.
It’s possible they’ve offered him other appealing things - such as the standard employee package, which is pretty decent if memory serves, and it’s not changed any since my day.
It might not even be a lot of money, it might be the potential for regular income and the loss of potential future legal challenge by GW for him clearly profiting from using their IP. A fan made thing shifts gears when it starts raising money and the whole legal situation changes.
Also nothing stops him restarting the Patreon for other projects outside of GW's work. He's already made a big name for himself and could easily do his own styles of animation and get it going again if done the right way and soon enough.
Mentlegen324 wrote: To me, the Astartes animation has had quite a negative change to it already - the music changes completely ruin the tone and feel it had. Just look at the last part where the Marine arrives on the alien world surrounded by ancient statues. Previously it had music that gave it an otherworldly, strange, mysterious yet imposing tone. Now it's generic horror music that feels out of place and has more of a forced sense of tension.
I think this has to do with copyright issues. There was some music from third parties on there. I preferred the original, but I do think this is less GW suits meddling and more legal IP issues. But, I could be wrong of course.
If it was under something like creative commons non-profit or such it might well no longer count now that the video is formally endorsed by the commercial firm that is GW.
This isn't unheard of, the Yes song Homeworld isn't in the Homeworld 1 remaster by Gearbox because when they did the remaster even though the song is in the original game, the new owners mean that a totally new contract is needed and they couldn't reach an agreement with the Yes managers so it was cut.
I think some people are over-estimating the amount of money involved here. Animation and related talent is an expensive game. A significant salary, a cash sum for work done so far, and bonus related targets, stock options, security, and a chance to work with an entire team, I don't think GW would have had to try hard.
Hollow wrote: I think some people are over-estimating the amount of money involved here. Animation and related talent is an expensive game. A significant salary, a cash sum for work done so far, and bonus related targets, stock options, security, and a chance to work with an entire team, I don't think GW would have had to try hard.
wouldn't that be Under-estimating the amount of money involved?
Ideally, since anything he creates with GW will be more or less entirely his vision, but under GW, we shouldn't get weird, disjointed music, since he'll have a chance to choose something appropriate himself
GaroRobe wrote: ... he creates with GW will be more or less entirely his vision...
I'm not so sure of that. GW doesn't really let people run wild with their stuff.
Yeah but its not like the creator actually appears to want to go wild with it. He's not trying to make the MLP Space Marines adventure TV series
Look at all the fantastic stuff that the Creative Arts team have done with Old World - sure they have to check with GW, but in the end they've created some outstanding stuff and even gone off the page some in doing things like the Vampire Pirates army that was just a white dwarf issue and one model (I've dim recollections that the skeleton walking thing got made by FW at some stage?)
GaroRobe wrote: ... he creates with GW will be more or less entirely his vision...
I'm not so sure of that. GW doesn't really let people run wild with their stuff.
There was lots of anecdotal evidence that the staffers loved the series and one would hope, that with his near perfect execution, he showed he had capable hands in handling the IP. But, GW will be GW.
However, it really does need to be stated that this is how far GW has come since the Kirby days. This type of thing would have been C&D'd so quickly in the dark times and GW should get some credit for endorsing and involving fan creators. Something I'm not sure some of the Hollywood outfits would do. On that note it seems amazing to me that they haven't commissioned some of the other miniature designers for the myriad guard regiments etc.
I think it’s pretty lazy of GW just put a stamp on a existing product to make it official lore rather than creating from ground up; good for the artist/s getting rewarded for their hard work.
I think it's great that his work was well-done enough to garner positive attention from GW. I am certainly looking forward to see more of Syama's work.
However, I don't expect this will end well. It may take a few years before the creator pulls away, but I do think it will be inevitable - likely when they clamp down on "approving" what he's actually animating and begin dictating what stories to tell.
I am downloading a copy of Astartes for my own future viewing. When this goes south, I suspect the original version will quietly vanish (into GW's vault, no less).
GaroRobe wrote: ... he creates with GW will be more or less entirely his vision...
I'm not so sure of that. GW doesn't really let people run wild with their stuff.
Yeah but its not like the creator actually appears to want to go wild with it. He's not trying to make the MLP Space Marines adventure TV series
Look at all the fantastic stuff that the Creative Arts team have done with Old World - sure they have to check with GW, but in the end they've created some outstanding stuff and even gone off the page some in doing things like the Vampire Pirates army that was just a white dwarf issue and one model (I've dim recollections that the skeleton walking thing got made by FW at some stage?)
True, but I don’t think I’d have any takers if I bet that all future work will be Primaris marines; GW aren’t going to want to promote classic marines outside of 30k.
People say they should employ the guy behind Astartes.
GW employ the guy behind Astartes.
Apparently that’s now cheating, and selling out, and bad, and going to ruin it because The Internets Said So Clearly It Will Suffer Because Of Course It Will It Stands To Reason And Everyone Knows That.
I wonder what's gonna happen to Kromlech's Retributor torsos and shoulderpads? they had a partnership with the creator to use his icons on their bits but if he was getting a cut from Kromlech and then gave his IP to GW then that could muddy the situation a bit. Although i really doubt Kromlech would be stupid enough to even dream about fighting GW over it.
People say they should employ the guy behind Astartes.
GW employ the guy behind Astartes.
Apparently that’s now cheating, and selling out, and bad, and going to ruin it because The Internets Said So Clearly It Will Suffer Because Of Course It Will It Stands To Reason And Everyone Knows That.
Never change, Dakka. Never change.
Hmm perhaps what GW needs to do is hire the Astartes guy from a different dimension that's out of sync with us time wise. So that he's hired both before, during and after he worked on Astartes Thus allowing him to produce it formally in-house and out of house whilst having all of and non of GW's influence at the same time!
Of course then someone will complain that its not healthy for the economy to be employing people across dimensional boarders.....
I read your comments and to summarise it seems the only real complaint (aside for changes to the music - didnt check it) is that the Astartes was taken from youtube. I agree though. It should stay where it was.
I like the idea there might be some bigger, longer production out of this marriage. Hopefully the artist will have good enough artistic freedom.
But we couldn’t wrap things up without a reference to that title. The project is called The Exodite, after all, so what about the titular Aeldari? For now, you’ll just have to wait and see, but suffice to say that The Exodite will offer your most vivid look yet at an especially enigmatic branch of the Aeldari family tree.
Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
Mr Gutsy wrote: I wonder what's gonna happen to Kromlech's Retributor torsos and shoulderpads? they had a partnership with the creator to use his icons on their bits but if he was getting a cut from Kromlech and then gave his IP to GW then that could muddy the situation a bit. Although i really doubt Kromlech would be stupid enough to even dream about fighting GW over it.
Going to guess that these will disappear fairly quickly from Kromlech's site now that Astartes is an official GW licensed product.
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
I'm guessing we get the Tau version of Predator, with the Exodite systematically murdering the apparent MC's squad.
Mr Gutsy wrote: I wonder what's gonna happen to Kromlech's Retributor torsos and shoulderpads? they had a partnership with the creator to use his icons on their bits but if he was getting a cut from Kromlech and then gave his IP to GW then that could muddy the situation a bit. Although i really doubt Kromlech would be stupid enough to even dream about fighting GW over it.
Going to guess that these will disappear fairly quickly from Kromlech's site now that Astartes is an official GW licensed product.
I don't see why they would, though? They had the approval of the creator at the time.
So what are the chances the Exodite is a teaser for another sub faction of Eldar to be released? Would be a cool and unique way to introduce a "new" faction to the game.
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
lol...watch GW release a whole new army for Exodites Sigmar style and totally ignore Craftworlds.
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
lol...watch GW release a whole new army for Exodites Sigmar style and totally ignore Craftworlds.
That would be a bittersweet release if ever there was one. On the one hand loads of people (myself included) super excited for Exodite models; on the other craftworld fans (also in that camp) dashed against the rocks for any hope of a range update for even more years.
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
So, who wants to get together and work on an animation based on Squats? Maybe GW will hire us and then turn our designs into an army.
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
So, who wants to get together and work on an animation based on Squats? Maybe GW will hire us and then turn our designs into an army.
Cant we just compress the images to make the marines shorter and call them Squatmarines?
People say they should employ the guy behind Astartes.
GW employ the guy behind Astartes.
Apparently that’s now cheating, and selling out, and bad, and going to ruin it because The Internets Said So Clearly It Will Suffer Because Of Course It Will It Stands To Reason And Everyone Knows That.
Never change, Dakka. Never change.
Hmm perhaps what GW needs to do is hire the Astartes guy from a different dimension that's out of sync with us time wise. So that he's hired both before, during and after he worked on Astartes Thus allowing him to produce it formally in-house and out of house whilst having all of and non of GW's influence at the same time!
Of course then someone will complain that its not healthy for the economy to be employing people across dimensional boarders.....
Clearly the best answer is The Creator of Astartes buying GW
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
So, who wants to get together and work on an animation based on Squats? Maybe GW will hire us and then turn our designs into an army.
Cant we just compress the images to make the marines shorter and call them Squatmarines?
Mr Gutsy wrote: I wonder what's gonna happen to Kromlech's Retributor torsos and shoulderpads? they had a partnership with the creator to use his icons on their bits but if he was getting a cut from Kromlech and then gave his IP to GW then that could muddy the situation a bit. Although i really doubt Kromlech would be stupid enough to even dream about fighting GW over it.
That could be GW playing some 4D chess...
The war against chapterhosue never ended.. The battle was lost but they never stopped fighting the war.. Now they have their "In"
This is an interesting development, as to me it suggests they’re eyeing platforms outside of Warhammer Community.
As much as fans will hopefully love them, I think this big move by GW is clearly to outreach like they have with video games. The only difference is that GW is doing this and funding it directly rather than having a 3rd party take the licence on (though that might have happened too since we really don't know all that much about the back end of these projects or how they came to be). So it makes perfect sense that they want to get their films onto other platforms. For GW this isn't just about seeing their IP in media, its about getting the message out there that Warhammer is a cool setting and you want to be a part of it so come buy some models.
Streaming TV being a thing now, and a big thing, likely made this all the more possible for GW because now there are many streaming services far easier and more willing ot have smaller names like GW come on board. I can see them appearing on Amazon Prime and the like quite easily; whilst in the past they'd have had to have either contended with Sky (limits your market to just sky customers); or the mammoth that was the main 4/5 in the UK who likely would have cost a fortune to get your TV show into, esp as a name approaching from the outside.
Well the Eisenhorn show for instance (I know moving away from the animation) is very low cost until it gets picked up for a show. With pilot costs at most (Though some do get optioned without one depending on the idea/story etc) and just the cost of scripting and deals getting put into place and such.
Still obviously a waste if no one did, but x files guy did say they’d had interest and I’m guessing where this article mentions Arnesen was glad to see tentative deals already being reached out about, its most likely for that.
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
If it's any consolation, the recent(ish) necron story "The Infinite and The Divine", featured the exodites pretty heavily in the first few chapters. Gotta love them dino riders. Much like with kroot, I don't know why GW hasn't given them their own faction
Overread wrote: Freaking heck it would be the first official Exodite anything from GW since what 20-30 years ago? Besides the odd mention in codex and articles we've not had art or model in decades for them.
If it's any consolation, the recent(ish) necron story "The Infinite and The Divine", featured the exodites pretty heavily in the first few chapters. Gotta love them dino riders. Much like with kroot, I don't know why GW hasn't given them their own faction
Tau should split like Tyranids and Genestealers have. Let Tau be the core race with their mecha-suits and a few support factions. Then have a Tau Auxiliaries or something which is formed around Kroot being the core of the army, but then adding in a lot of other alien races in specific roles. Basically representing the united xenos forces of the Tau.
It's something I think Tau were originally going to be; both a lore and creative outlet for different races and designs that basically can't compete with the Imperium on their own. However the mecha suits took off on their own and dominated. That's not bad, but I think its time for the army to split along those two lines.
Just like splitting Genestealer Cults into their own army gave them room to add loads of fancy new models and units and their own design approach, whilst not overloading Tyranids or ending up with two armies in the same army trying to compete for space. Now both forces can take the other as allies if you want to merge them or you can go pure with either one.
