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In the same way that Warhammer Fantasy ended and Age of Sigmar was created? Personally i think after the Horus Heresy is finished (probably in 2025 at the rate the books come out) theyll move on to the end times. Missing primarchs return to fight with the chaos primarchs, gork and mork show up to stomp a bunch of people, old ones are raised, and one final battle to determine who will control the universe for the next decade before the tyranids consume them all? Im hopeful they reveal the two missing primarchs and the stories behind them as well since i think most fans would just prefer answers to the great mystery as opposed to two build-a-legion workshops

Then in 2035 after a decade of 40K end times, they announce Warhammer 40Mil(lion years after the Tyranids have moved on to the next galaxy). Life has returned to the galaxy and all there is only war!

Nah, doubt it personally. 40k is too popular to be messed about with like WHFB was.

(also I could have sworn this has been talked about already)

It has been. Several times.

No was the general consensus I believe.

The HH novel series is telling us a story we already know the ending of. It really has no impact on 40k in general.

 Psienesis wrote:
The HH novel series is telling us a story we already know the ending of. It really has no impact on 40k in general.

I know, but they're expanding on it and releasing models that tie into the setting. my thought was when they eventually finish with this event they would move on to something as equally as big


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pm713 wrote:
It has been. Several times.

No was the general consensus I believe.

sorry, all i found was a thread from 2012, so i thought i would ask

Silly Vulpes, when one group of people have discussed something, no one else is allowed to either discuss it again nor restart the old discussion .

Oh, 40k will be Sigmared long before 2025.

"Advancing the setting" does not necessarily mean that 40k is going to end. Plenty of other games have backgrounds that constantly advance and shake things up. And it hasn't invalidated anything that has come before, nor caused players' stuff to become obsolete overnight.


All of the fears and speculation concerning the "end" and "advancing the setting" is just that. Or GW marketing-based fear mongering that has become hammered in to the fanbase in order to sell more gak.

 SickSix wrote:
Oh, 40k will be Sigmared long before 2025.

2025 is less than a decade from now. While I agree that the game (and GW in general) will undergo some sort of massive shakeup/metamorphosis before then... 2025 is not the distant future.

I'd be really disappointed if GW did the End times for 40K within the next 10 - 15 years. In my opinion, that would speak volumes to their lack of imagination as well as lack of dedication to continuing what is (IMO) undoubtedly their most successful overall line of products. My only concern is that when (not if) they get to changing 40K, they'll see the idea of simply advancing the timeline (as opposed to doing End Times) as too much of a hassle because they may have to re-brand it (at least slightly), meaning that they might as well make the re-branding effort on End Times. That would be a mistake I hope they never make.

Yes 40K will eventually come to an end. This is largely due to GW and has little to do with the actual plot line of 40k. I believe this for many reasons, but the biggest one is money.
Another perspective could be that with dwindling profits and an increased amount of time and resources defending their IP form every jimmy with a halfway decent 3D printer, the company my shift in the coming years to a more profitable support based system.

The problem is GW is trying to base its current product line and consumer strategy of TCG's because it’s the golden goose of hobby shops. TCG players are the drug addicts of the gaming world (no value judgment, just basing the observation on behavioral patterns. I play TCG's and I am not demeaning those players in any way. Can’t we all just get along and respect everyone’s chosen form of escapism?) They always keep coming back for more and it’s relatively cheap to produce new cards and expand a game. For something as high cost and intensive as model war games, this, I think, is becoming an increasingly unsustainable business model.

I could see GW moving into a support role for the game, providing updates and new rules and possibly eventually 3D printer schematics for models at a price. They may produce new schematics, rules and content at a greater pace than they are now, but they will either have to streamline/ or fix the escalating production costs and escalation and power creep problems with the game (its almost impossible to start the hobby for less than 500 USD without buying something second hand, and to play anything but the fluffiest of friendly games, you need way more than just the 2000 points you are bringing to the table. The new modular formation design makes your play a lot more flexible but necessitates we buy two or three of almost everything in the product range for that faction). Especially for a market wholly dependent on disposable income, this will prove increasingly difficult to overcome. On top of that, the entry cost in time and dedication is huge, and there are a relative few people who have both the time and disposable income to do this hobby. 500 USD + and 50 plus hours of assembly and paining just to play your first full pointed game or participate in your first tournament, while a large and much beloved part of the hobby, turn a lot of new players off, and even if you are an elitist this is bad. (It may be fun to make Artisanal Tibetan Cheese, but if you and 4 other people are the only ones doing it, there isn’t much of a community). The company itself does little to facilitate this currently. Short of kill team rules, there is little support for games below 1850 tournament mark. You can play them, but the rules and stuff are written for games much larger and armies, who function great at larger point values sometimes simply don’t work at skirmish levels. I have seen more layers get into the game through FLGS escalation leagues than simply buying into it. A possible remedy would be updated Kill team rules that actually make sense and aren’t just poor attempts at scaling the game down, this could help the game system compete with Warmahordes and infinity, whose entry costs in both money and time are significantly lower. New players are the only way the hobby will survive and grow, because the current set of players can’t sustain the company and allow it to grow, or GW would be posting significantly higher profits.

Please don’t mistake my suggestions as complaining about the game itself. The game is very fun once you build up enough models to play at the intended levels, but for most of us that took over a year, and in the modern gaming world that is an eternity to spend in prep when I can go play another game for a lot less and much faster.

Unfortunately, the hobby caters to those who usually have technical savvy, creativity, and drive. These in combination will always guarantee that GW is at war with its fan and customer base over legal, pirated, and counterfeit materials and figures. If GW wants to survive long term, it’s going to have to adapt and change to become enticing to younger more computer acclimated players (I’m pretty sure AOS was an attempt at this), lower its entry cost (some attempts are being made with the BOC box) or put a variety of smaller, relatively cheaper games out there (cue Specialty games like Deathwatch, Battlefleet Gothic, Necromunda, Space Hulk and Blood Bowl). The signs that they are trying to branch out are there, but production and development costs are still too high, and with technology in home fabrication and 3d modeling/printing advancing in a way that hurts rather than helps GW it’s only a matter of time until the market forces a change or the company will fold.

So yes there will be an “end” to 40k as we know it, but if that will take the form of a different game (a la AOS), A game with an advanced story line and a supported but not wholly in house produced product line, a defunct company who went bankrupt, or some other form is yet to be seen.

 Psienesis wrote:
2025 is less than a decade from now. While I agree that the game (and GW in general) will undergo some sort of massive shakeup/metamorphosis before then... 2025 is not the distant future.

Are we talking about the YEAR 2025 AD? NINE years from now? That is a lifetime in the business world. And, a few lifetimes in the Hobby entertainment world. In ONE nine year period, two different airline companies I worked for both went through bankruptcies. And, my wife worked for two internet services companies that were both bought out. . During that time, we bought our house and had two kids. And, there is nothing unusual about our experiences

Don't take anything for granted. Like WFB, 40K will last as long as it is profitable, and, then, not much longer.

I think a reboot would be cool. Advancing the storyline without stopping anything. A worldwide campaign in which the bad guys do something for once. What I'd like to see is something like Lufgt Huron takes over as the stronger Chaos leader over Abaddon and launches his own Red Crusade, meaning new releases for Chaos. The Red Crusade is successful and Chaos seizes new planets.A new Tyranid Hive Fleet, stronger than any seen before, eats some planets and is threatening the IoM. Other factions like the Necrons and Tau grow in power (Cron tomb worlds wake up and the Tau seize more land while the Imperium's distracted). Ghazkull comes back bigger than ever. The Imperium calls for a new SM Founding (meaning new marines for the fanboys) and mass IG conscriptions (new units). Everybody gets new models, the story's progressed so that the Imperium loses some ground but calls up new forces to fight.

A re-boot?

You can have a boot --- the Army boots of the Imperial Guard kicking all those traitor and xenos behinds. See - 40 re booted.


The "not.in.universe" answer is:
GW isn't existing in their own, a different world, they are part of the circle of "rise and fall", like any other buisness. Thats why IMO the end of 40k is rather a side effect of changes to its ownership than a planned end.

My personal fave idea is that the Men of Iron escape from the Mechanicum dungeon on Mars (where they kept a few, this is in the fluff) and these sentient robots escape and start self reproducing and take everyone on.

Tyranids Chaos Smarts Eldar Orks these tin heads don't give a f***. Basically the emperor has to go into hiding even the warp has nothing on these guys and Chaos has to back pedal cos the men of iron start wrecking one or two of the Chaos God's some weird way..

That's how I would do it. Have a superman got killed moment


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If you don't know who the men of iron were they were self aware artificial intelligence robotic warriors made by robots men made in around 20k. I.E. the men of Iron were the next gen soldiers designed by the first wave of independant intelligent helpful robots made by humans, the next gen were to help kill mankinds enemies. The first gen were just helpful friendly folk. Word on the street was the men of iron were more powerful than even the Eldar. But they rebelled and were wiped out. All but a few.

Totally predates chaos btw

age of sigmar happened because GW wasn't happy with warhammer fantasy. profits where too low and the army size requirements where worse then 40k and thus was a barrier to entry. by all accounts GW's mostly happy with where 40k is right now.

Not soon enough. GrimDark needs a reset, like the 42 millennium.

BrianDavion wrote:
age of sigmar happened because GW wasn't happy with warhammer fantasy. profits where too low and the army size requirements where worse then 40k and thus was a barrier to entry. by all accounts GW's mostly happy with where 40k is right now.

Except actual sales have been dropping steadily for a few years. The only reason they remain profitable is their arbitrary price hikes every year and now they are farming out their IP like crazy to anyone capable of making a mobile game.

You can still play in the Old World. Same way the 40k background, like the stars, is immutable. How stories play out against that background is infinitely mutable, and could probably do with a few revisions.

40k doesn't need Age of Sigmarised. Fantasy is told in a traditional linear fashion. Start at the beginning, you experience the middle and then the end, now we have a full sequel to go with. 40k started at the end and worked backwards, and have 10,000 years of huge events to play with. First, Horus Heresy is HUGE. HH is what The End Times was trying to be, and what AoS aspires to kiss the feet of. The money they rake in from Forge World and the money from BAC alone is massive. And the novels. And once, if HH tabletop ever truly dies off, they have other events to go for. For example, the early days of the Imperium including the Scouring, the rise of Vandire (the guy who nearly conquered Terra), rise of the Beast, the 12 other black crusades, in which they can rerelease Codex supplements for this one particular campaign, limited edition Abaddon model, etc. AND IF they eventually run out of EVERYTHING from 40k and 30k, they can move back to the pre-Imperium age to let you play around with Thunder Warriors and Techno-barbarians, Dark Age of Technology, Men of Iron rebellions, board games like Deathwatch and Space Hulk, Great Crusade such as the battle of Laer or Murder, and if ALL ELSE FAILS they then move it onto 50k, where everything is broken. But they have no reason to radically edt 40k for anything. They have so much to work with.

I hope not.

End? No progress? Yea.

Imo I eventually see them doing at least 3 more major events

Death of the emperor: someone finally pulls the plug and the emperor dies this results in massive losses for the imperium of man, eldar, maybe tau, large gains by chaos, necrons, and orks


The return of the Big E.
Probably the most meaningful event, at mans darkest hour, terra is about to get wiped out, BAM! Big E comes rolling in with leman Russ in tow and the other primarcs and their space marines, kick so chaos ass, and then starts the new age of mankind.

Empire makes massive gains, might even help the eldar out because even though filthy xeno scum, they have that web way tech.

Last big event is the tyranid invasion, this gives GW the option to end the universe or open it and leave it as an open ended story where you right off the tyranids, but push out to explore new galaxies.