6th ed rumors 40K, from BoLS

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**Reecius**

These sound too good to be true, therefore, knowing GW, the opposite is probably the case.

Fat, massive, toadacious blocks of salt with these, guys. I mean huge. Moon sized. Like, if the moon was the size of the sun, then they would be moon sized blocks of salt that you should take, but they're more like sun-sized blocks of salt. I didn't believe them when I heard them second hand, but here they are.

As we get towards 6th edition, some things are rumored to be changing. White Dwarf is rumored to be going back to what they had before, with more battle reports and painting how-tos and less advertisements. Sisters of Battle is the poster child for the 'White Dwarf Codex' which may be getting more full-on Codices in the future depending on popularity. One such example would be for the Chaos Legions Codex, which would have a core, and then White Dwarf additions for other Legions as the months progress.

Oh by the way, Chaos Legions by March 1012 and 6th edition by October 2012, which will feature Eldar as the poster child. Heavy Xenos influence for 6th edition, including the long-awaited Tau update.

Here's a doozy. Fluff changes. (prepare for heavy summary) We're moving on from the 41st millenium into the 42nd. Yup. Here's the rumor: mankind's days are really waning. They're heading down the crapper fast and xenos, especially Necrons, are coming into quite the threat. Well, mankind just doesn't have the power, and now Necrons are threatening Chaos, and the Chaos forces are like 'well wtf guyz'. So, Chaos has to fight across the galaxy against the enemies that mankind were fighting against, perhaps even allying with loyalist forces against a common foe. This will be expanded on in the coming Codices, including Necron and Chaos Legions, which should set up for the big fluff change in 6th edition. Some of the rest sounded more like wish, opinion, and extrapolation; Void Dragon coming up, Primarchs coming back, Emperor's descendants being found by an unnamed portion of the Imperium in order to fight the Void Dragon, etc etc...

Now here are some other things that are founded in reality: Matt Ward? Gone. Don't expect him to be writing any more Codices. His baby was 5th edition, and now that 5th edition is up, Ward is done. Board Members for GW? 3 of the old geezers gone. Company-wide changes. Everything since Tyranids? Made for 6th edition.

Speaking of 6th edition again, the main rulebook that comes out is supposed to be 'the book to rule all books'. It'll have ways to include Superheavies and rules for Fliers in regular games, and should errata a lot of rules in Apocalypse, past FAQ's, and past Codices to make it all fit together. It'll have updated stuff for Planetstrike, Cities of Death, etc, perhaps even to make room for more expansions in the future.

Ugh. The person I heard this from is a good friend and reliable source, and the person *he* got this information from is an unnamed employee of a certain facet of our favorite gaming company that deals with items made out of a material that is notorious for melting if exposed to direct sunlight and heat. By the way, all those rule sets that Forgeworld has been making? They may suddenly find themselves approved for regular games.

I honestly feel tainted by a lot of this information. I'll be the first to say that so much of it is so unreal and so uncharacteristic for Games Workshop that it doesn't feel like it could happen at all. Moving the fluff forward? Having superheavies in a regular edition? Making Codex *supplements* exclusively through White Dwarf (and subsequently free a month later on their website like most White Dwarf stuff)? Knocking Space Marines down a notch?

But think about it. 5th edition has been the edition for the Imperium. Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and of course Space Marines have all gotten Codices, and Black Templar and Dark Angels have been FAQ'd to match up. The only xenos forces we've seen have been Orks (which were technically still 4th edition), Tyranids, and Dark Eldar. And now Sisters of Battle are going to be covered. That leaves Tau, Orks (since they weren't really in 5th), Eldar, Chaos Marines, Necrons, and Chaos Daemons left to be covered. NONE of those are imperial forces, so it almost seems like they've been stacking the deck so that they can put a heavier focus on the xenos, which is a prime opportunity to advance the fluff. By advancing the fluff through xenos codices, they can then re-glorify the imperial forces by updating them further into 6th edition after they've figured all that stuff out.

Also, Chaos Marines have been a group of much attention. The Horus Heresy novels, Black Crusade RPG, and features as main villains in many a video game. They have a lot of new fluff that hasn't been explored before, and a lot of new material has been created that has kept them in the limelight, even if they haven't been on the gaming tables. They are Imperial Enemy No. 1. They are a very popular force. To have them suddenly take the spotlight in new fluff in a new edition only makes sense. A force as potent as the Chaos Legions, Legions of marines that number in the thousands, whose leader commands the last Black Fortress (one of the few great weapons against the C'Tan), is a force that can wreak proper havoc again, either in the form of a new Black Crusade, or in the form of a totally different type of war. Thus far, Chaos has seemed content to chill out in their warp homes within the Maelstrom and Eye of Terror, with the 13th Black Crusade being the last great push, and that was solely against the Imperium and anything else that happened to be in the way. There are many an enemy that Chaos can fight besides the waning Imperium, such as the Necron that they abhor for their desire to snuff out the sensation that Chaos enjoys.

There are a lot of other things that simply don't fit. We've already heard rumors about fliers, but the superheavies thing is a stretch. 'One book to rule them all' is a bit of a stretch, as that would cannibalize all of the books that have already been printed. Also, Forgeworld being brought into the fold doesn't make sense either. Though they've been pumping out a lot of new stuff, their business model is built as a boutique, and if they suddenly shift gears to mass-produce their stuff to satisfy the new net lists that come out, then that will completely undo their business model. On the other hand, Games Workshop has kicked metal straight out, so to get all their factories devoted to resin might end up increasing Forgeworld's production as well simply by volume of production.

Anyway, like I said. Salt, salt, salt. Not only am I hearing all of this second-hand, but it's difficult to weed out what's speculation on the speaker's part, and what he intended as rumor. I suppose we'll just see if he's right. The first hint would be Chaos Marines in March 2012 huh?

But anyway...

**BrookM**

It's BoLS, so yeah..

**Ma55ter_fett**

We will see.

I've been thinking of starting an elder army for awhile now though. A big release might just get me started on them.

**Alpharius**

When you start out with:

Fat, massive, toadacious blocks of salt with these, guys. I mean huge. Moon sized. Like, if the moon was the size of the sun, then they would be moon sized blocks of salt that you should take, but they're more like sun-sized blocks of salt. I didn't believe them when I heard them second hand, but here they are.

well, what's the point?

And I'd LOVE for them to advance the timeline but again, these hints? No a lot of sense being made.

Points for putting in 'real world' stuff, I guess (Mat Ward and the Board Members?!?!?), but again, huh?

**Ixquic**

If Matt Ward is done who the heck is writing their books??? He's like 90% of the company now.

**BrookM**

Is Jeremy Fantasy only? If not, let him take a crack at 40k.

**streamdragon**

Cruddace writes all the books now!

**Polonius**

I don't buy the idea that GW would move the timeline up. It would change a core element of the game world, and it would change the way that gamers approach the game world.

**whitedragon**

So...if Chaos allies with the Imperium to fight Necrons....then what will the Blood Angels do? They are like best friends with the Necrons right?

**darkPrince010**

I call hyperbole. I suspect the underlying ideas (More xenos, less IoM) may be on the money, but not quite to the degree of the BoLS OP. Plus, I agree that the superheavies/Forgeworld stuff doesn't seem plausible either. Ah well, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

**Sasori**

streamdragon wrote:Cruddace writes all the books now!

Don't even talk like that.

I'd be very surprised if Mat Ward is gone. His Codexs have been a huge success in terms of sales and he writes good rules. If they should kick anyone to the curb, it should be Cruddace.

If the Necrons become as mainstream as they are talking, it would be just fantastic. The fanboy inside me would squeal with joy.

That being said, I'll believe it when I see it.

**DX3**

"We warned you of the price of your actions, now you must pay it full - in blood."

Hooray for the Eldar rumor !

**BeefCakeSoup**

Glad to hear it! Gonna love nerd rage as Xenos wreck in TT and fluff against the Imperium of Fail

Edit:

I put money on some of this being true, GW hasn't been making any substantial profits last few years. I'd wager this is a push at making their company more dynamic and less stagnant. Hopefully the days of waiting 13 years for a codex are gone for good.

**monkeyh**

Interesting ideas - theres a grit box somewhere in our village, I'll just go and shovel some salt out of it........

**Andilus Greatsword**

Hmmm... I have difficulty believing this until we get some real proof, but it sounds very promising.

**Morathi's Darkest Sin**

As interesting as all of this stuff sounds, I fear there is so much salt in the thread, should you place it in warm water, it would dissolve.

I suppose the Necron Codex will grant an insight to any truth to these rumours, but I am having serious doubts.

Would also be shocked if Ward was gone.

**SickSix**

I am leaning with the general direction of these rumours. I think they have to move forward. The story has stagnated. And I think expecting them to go backwards is just a pipedream. I don't know why everyone is so staunchly against story progression. GW is on a downward slide. Moving forward provides them with the ability to change things up and recapture the 'hearts and minds' of all those who have felt disenfranchised recently.

**Morathi's Darkest Sin**

Not against would love it, just don't believe GW is capable of making the decision. Hope they prove me wrong. Hence doubts, concerns and mild amusement at rumours.

**Sersi**

Well...that sounds almost entirely like wish-listing.

Still any update to timeline would be a welcome change. I'm not buying the focus being taken off the Marines though.

**AgeOfEgos**

Kind of doubt the Ward thing--since it refers to him writing 5th (When it was mainly Alessio Cavatore).

The fluff change (If true) could be interesting--but it's going to be very strange to get Chaos/Loyalist allying. 40k is the Heresy to me---mankind's greatest foe being his own ambitions/inner self and all of that--and picturing Horus/Dante bro hugging after a Necron battle wouldn't settle very well in the gut. BloodAngelNecronFistBump.jpg

Thanks for posting this up Reecius.

**Alpharius**

I'd don't see much, if any, of this coming to fruition.

Again, I'd love to see the storyline moved forward, and there are MANY awesome ways that this could be accomplished but what I think we'll get is a few minor changes here and there to the rules, maybe a few major ones too (especially if they necessitate buying even larger armies!), and on the Background side of things, I'll think we'll be stuck with another "red light blinking on the Golden Throne" reference.

**MightyGodzilla**

Sounds too good to be true. Very hopeful and excited for the Eldar. I don't keep too much up with the fiction these days, so it'll be interesting to see where they go from here.

**Theduke07**

Does anyone ever keep up with the old rumors that turn out wrong? Because rumors seems to follow the same logic that conspiracy nuts use; throw out a bunch of junk and hope even a small portion is right so you can claim to be a valid source.

**gorgon**

I'm willing to buy the "one book" thing. Seems like we've heard similar whispers elsewhere. And Chaos Legions and Eldar being big tentpoles of the new edition seems reasonable and believable. I think the bit about emphasizing xenos over imperials is more likely a slight shift and a relative thing. SM will still have umpteen codices, the Imperium will still be featured in the rulebook, etc.

"Advanced" fluff does not sound reasonable and believable. Methinks that just like with 3rd, 4th, and 5th, after talk of big fluff changes we'll only get some slight tweaks, retcons and new areas of emphasis, but no real wholesale changes. Which is fine with me. It's not a story, it's a background.

The Mat Ward rumor gives me pause about the entire batch, because that sounds like the wishes of a pocket of haters on the internet.

**Alpharius**

In my opinion, GW is more likely to advance the background before they would ever think about any 'one book' type of scenario!

**streamdragon**

Ma55ter_fett wrote:I've been thinking of starting an elder army for awhile now though. A big release might just get me started on them.

Same. Cause ya know what I needed? Another 40k army.

Sasori wrote:
streamdragon wrote:Cruddace writes all the books now!
Don't even talk like that.

The proud tradition of "Codex: Go Buy New Models!" shall continue! I can only assume his releases have made more money than Ward's books.

**gorgon**

Why? They'd likely be optional rules...not like we'd necessarily see superheavies, flyers, etc. in normal gaming.

And how many of those supplement books sell after the initial push? I'm guessing darn few. And it doesn't mean they couldn't produce more supplements that expand on the rules in the main book.

**Swara**

All this seems way too much, but I guess we'll have to see. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it sounds nice. Progressing the story line and making Chaos and Xenos more of a threat to the imperium?
Yes please.

**rabidaskal**

It reads like a mission / vision statement for what GW SHOULD do . . . advancing the timeline? Fantastic, we've been teetering on the brink of 41.999 so long that it's become boring, but I'll believe it when I see it.

**Alpharius**

Actually, it is all fairly irrelevant, as I'm sure that most of this is someone's idea of a joke - throw stuff at wall, see what sticks, see what I can get the Internet to believe, etc.

I think that this thread will soon become a Wishlisting Thread, and the soon after that it will find its way to "40K General Discussions" and then, soon after that, it will drop into oblivion...