40k release schedule

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Puscifer**

Kroothawk wrote:
Here a Thunderhawk with less decoration by Dakka member Gareth:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/482565.page

It is absolute identical to the one shown. And the last page isn't used as an announcement page anymore, just to hide true releases (GW's anti-marketing to keep sales artificially low). Otherwise we would already have a White Scars Codex

The paint jobs are completely different, but I agree, I doubt we'll see a plastic Thunderhawk.

**Motograter**

Left Hand of the Pheonix wrote:
I would expect around the Baneblade price range, or even a bit more around £80-100.

From GW really. Not a hope. A thunderhawk would not only be about 2 to 3 times the size of a baneblade but about 2 to 3 times the price as well

**Kroothawk**

Puscifer wrote:
The paint jobs are completely different, but I agree, I doubt we'll see a plastic Thunderhawk.

Posted this in the other thread: The original model of the GW studio has been found on a 2008 WD pic:

And no, even if GW released a plastic Thunderhawk in May, they wouldn't show a sneak peek.

**RogueRegault**

Kirasu wrote:
PredaKhaine wrote:
Kid_Kyoto wrote:
creeping-deth87 wrote:
Wow... my sympathy goes out to all you Eldar players. I don't understand why marines would be bumped in front of Eldar, the Space Marine codex is still perfectly playable. What a shame.

SInce RT it's been established the Eldar are a dying race, their power spent. Frankly it's time to fold them into the Tau codex as another also ran like the Vespids and Kroot.

If various races get folded into other codex's because they've had their day in the sun - doesn't that mean 40k ends when every army gets folded into the tyranid codex?

The Squats got folder into the Tyranid codex just fine.

Now I want to see a Tyranid Land Train

**Snrub**

pretre wrote:Swoosh, right over your head.

He was being silly. (Replying to someone talking about Unicorns and he referenced the 'Wonderland' GW store.)

In my current condition thats not at all surprising. I've got a cold thats been kicking my butt for the better part of a week and it was like 2.30am when i posted that. So combine those two factors and it makes for a fairly clueless me.

**chris_valera**

Damn you guys, getting my hackles up for nothing. Plastic Thunderhawks are like the plastic Sisters of Battle - they're just trolling us at this point.

For the record, they could easily make one, anime resin model kits range from $150-$2000. The various wings and engine pods could be "flippable" so they could repeat the sprue, and so could the landing gear. And they could break it up into smaller boxes or make it Mail Order only so they don't get hit by returns.

There's a guy selling styrofoam titans for $300 as a garage kit, they could easily make a kit like this.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

**ausYenLoWang**

chris_valera wrote:
Damn you guys, getting my hackles up for nothing. Plastic Thunderhawks are like the plastic Sisters of Battle - they're just trolling us at this point.

For the record, they could easily make one, anime resin model kits range from $150-$2000. The various wings and engine pods could be "flippable" so they could repeat the sprue, and so could the landing gear. And they could break it up into smaller boxes or make it Mail Order only so they don't get hit by returns.

There's a guy selling styrofoam titans for $300 as a garage kit, they could easily make a kit like this.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

yes they could

but excuse my wish to keep what i have slightly exclusive what i REALLY want with the "rumored" upcoming apoc release is a titan to go with my thunderhawk.. preferably a reaver... now we REALLY are talking dreams

**Capamaru**

Well all I can say is that I like Gareth's painted one much more than the above GW example

.

**MajorStoffer**

Heh, Dakka, by and large, has better painted models than GW. The newer WD's in particular have been quite underwhelming; I'm maybe a decent amateur painter, and even I could match some of those paint jobs, and Dakka often blows them out of the water. I wonder what GW is paying them for quite often.

Maybe they intentionally low-ball the paintjobs to something readily achievable by an average person with basic skills, but the end result is pretty unattractive models, especially when compared to Forgeworld paintjobs.

More on topic, as cool as a plastic thunderhawk would be, I think a warhound titant would sell better; any Imperial or Chaos player can justify using them, Orks can loot them (Orks can loot anything), and would also be more eye-catching on the shelves. Time will tell I suppose.

**pretre**

Very impressed by GW's release schedule right now. Geeze an army a month. How long can they go for?

**Mathieu Raymond**

However many armies they already have, if they stagger the release of fantasy and sci-fi rulesets, and we keep sucking at the teet long enough for them to make a profit.

**Kroothawk**

Stickmonkey's take, as emailed to Natfka:

May: High Elves
June: Eldar
July: Apocalypse
August: Lizardmen
September: Blood Bowl
October: Space Marines
November: Dwarves?
December: Hobbit
January: Tyranids

I had Dwarves a lot sooner than others, so its probably safe to leave a question mark. It could possibly be brettonians or wood elves. Im basing my prediction of Dwarves on where I recall them being design wise, which was right after lizardmen.

I've had multiple confirmations of space marines being the last 40k codex of 2013 and Tyranids being the first codex of 2014.

October is a Black Box release, blood bowl and Warhammer quest have come up, although...it could be something surprisingly different...

When Hastings weighs in, I'd go with his schedule always.

But keep in mind that release schedules are not his strong suit, it's mostly Hastings with some educated guesses mixed in. Here is his previous one, with Bloodbowl and DA last December, and Tau in June earliest:

Nov - rumored WoC model wave (Harry, somewhat confirmed by Hastings)
Nov/Dec - DA. ( me, Hastings, others, pretty much looks like it will be a rare codex release in Dec to me despite historical precedent, however if WoC is only a wave release maybe, just maybe they will be in Nov.)
Dec - Hobbit (LOTR, pretty much a shoe in based on the shareholders meeting)
Dec - bloodbowl ( I don't have anything on this, but there has been a lot of speculation and hinting of something else special and signs point to a BB set. My take - I think this will be GDUK2013 surprise release and we won't see it this year)
Jan - Daemons ( me, Harry somewhat, Hastings, all have Jan as a double dipping of wfb and 40k daemons following up on the August wd update)
Feb - WoC wfb (I think Harry, others, full army book for WoC)
Mar - LOTR ( I don't follow the LOTR dev much, but things I have heard lead me to believe there is a big release slotted either here or April)
April - 40k supplemental wave ( this is where the chatter I hear has a bunch of wave releases for 40k, could be the delayed 2nd wave of flyers, or possibly the ork wave I've heard of...)
May - wfb High Elves (Harry I think, others)

June - assuming I'm close with my above. Then the first slot Tau could occupy is June. I have nothing penciled in here.
July - 40k expansion book (allies? Terrain?) and supporting models (me. This should firm up in the spring for sure, but my info all points to a book expansion for 40k in July)
August on - your guess is as good as mine, but I expect a big box release with GDUK which I have pencilled in as Blood bowl as mentioned above. August is likely a fantasy release based on my info, could be Dwarves or more Men. And then my info points to another marine dex before year end and eldar...but logic seems to dictate two codexes between September and year end is unlikely...but so it w this year and most rumormongers are expecting a second codex before year end. So there you have it. That's pretty much the logic I have behind the release schedule. Feel free to pick it apart, it just my best guesses based on how and who I have heard things from.

**pretre**

Did Stickmonkey really just e-mail that to Natfka?

**Mathieu Raymond**

yes, today of all days.

**pretre**

Weird. I knew that Warseer wasn't treating him well, but of all the places to go to release your rumors... Natfka.

**Kroothawk**

As said, it is a slight variation of hastings' list, so no April thing and nothing too shocking. We know High Elf, then Eldar, then Lizardmen, then Space Marines this year plus maybe Bloodbowl. Stickmonkey fled to BOLS originally (thanks to Avian mostly), but everyone knows that Natfka posts every rumour he gets

**pretre**

Yeah, two or three people have thrown out HE as the next release since the FB leak. lol

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kroothawk wrote:
everyone knows that Natfka posts every rumour he gets

I should start e-mailing him the most outlandish crap to see where his line is for posting.

**Kroothawk**

pretre wrote:
Yeah, two or three people have thrown out HE as the next release since the FB leak. lol

Since the FB leak? High Elves in May are in the Dakka rumour roundup for a couple of months, with only minor variation since Hastings made his list June 2012 (up to June 2013).

With all your tracking, don't forget to respect the main track.

**pretre**

Kroothawk wrote:
pretre wrote:
Yeah, two or three people have thrown out HE as the next release since the FB leak. lol

Since the FB leak? High Elves in May are in the Dakka rumour roundup for a couple of months, with only minor variation since Hastings made his list June 2012 (up to June 2013).

With all your tracking, don't forget to respect the main track.

I wasn't counting Hastings, he's had the release schedule down forever. I meant 2 or 3 other people have come out since the FB leak a couple days ago with HE in May and then their own list.

**Kroothawk**

Actually, the 2 phoenix types were posted a few days before the pic leak. That's why I finally started the new High Elf thread.

**pretre**

nm

**Kirasu**

Im still at a loss of why GW wouldn't produce a plastic thunderhawk to go with a rerelease of Apocalypse. The FW one is awful due to the mold being incredibly old, even ignoring the ludicrous price. When a model takes 30 hours to assemble due to poor mold lines, warped pieces and just an aging product it's time to replace it.

What better way to replace the mold than by making it in plastic? I seriously doubt FW sells very many these days.

**AlexHolker**

Kirasu wrote:
Im still at a loss of why GW wouldn't produce a plastic thunderhawk to go with a rerelease of Apocalypse.

Because they are stoopid. They could have released a plastic Thunderhawk to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Warhammer 40,000. Instead we got some limited edition skull-shaped rocks, the Storm Raven and the Stormtalon.

**MajorWesJanson**

Kroothawk wrote:
but everyone knows that Natfka posts every rumour he gets

Or even some people's posts which were meant to be speculation, and not rumors at all...

**chilledmonkeybrains**

@Kirasu - Is the mould really that old on the FW Thunderhawk? I would be very surprised (ok - maybe not that surprised, but defo shocked and disappointed) to hear that FW don't produce fresh moulds when an old one has passed its usable shelf life. That's very poor form indeed! I have a mate who's ordered an FW Thunderhawk - I'll have to check it out when it arrives.

But I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon calling for a plastic Thunderhawk. Ok, so metal tooling and injection moulding are more expensive, but if GW think enough people would buy them, it would be worthwhile. Although saying that, maybe FW need to upgrade to metal tooling...

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

chilledmonkeybrains wrote:
@Kirasu - Is the mould really that old on the FW Thunderhawk? I would be very surprised (ok - maybe not that surprised, but defo shocked and disappointed) to hear that FW don't produce fresh moulds when an old one has passed its usable shelf life. That's very poor form indeed! I have a mate who's ordered an FW Thunderhawk - I'll have to check it out when it arrives.

But I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon calling for a plastic Thunderhawk. Ok, so metal tooling and injection moulding are more expensive, but if GW think enough people would buy them, it would be worthwhile. Although saying that, maybe FW need to upgrade to metal tooling...

Don't worry FW do make new moulds as/when needed

and the way resin works they'll have multiple copies of each mould (they may need to wait an hour or more before they remove the cast from the mould)....

whether they change the moulds often enough is a different question, but they probably do, as the FW issues are most commonly warpage (either removing a cast before it's fully set, or temp changes in transit) and bubbles (lack of suffient care/vibration/vaccuum when casting), not the 'blured' edges or missing detail of a worn out mould

**chilledmonkeybrains**

OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
chilledmonkeybrains wrote:
@Kirasu - Is the mould really that old on the FW Thunderhawk? I would be very surprised (ok - maybe not that surprised, but defo shocked and disappointed) to hear that FW don't produce fresh moulds when an old one has passed its usable shelf life. That's very poor form indeed! I have a mate who's ordered an FW Thunderhawk - I'll have to check it out when it arrives.

But I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon calling for a plastic Thunderhawk. Ok, so metal tooling and injection moulding are more expensive, but if GW think enough people would buy them, it would be worthwhile. Although saying that, maybe FW need to upgrade to metal tooling...

Don't worry FW do make new moulds as/when needed

and the way resin works they'll have multiple copies of each mould (they may need to wait an hour or more before they remove the cast from the mould)....

whether they change the moulds often enough is a different question, but they probably do, as the FW issues are most commonly warpage (either removing a cast before it's fully set, or temp changes in transit) and bubbles (lack of suffient care/vibration/vaccuum when casting), not the 'blured' edges or missing detail of a worn out mould

Well that's good news and bad news... good to hear that they have multiple copies of each mould and make new moulds as required, but it would be pretty bad to either:

1. Not change the mould often enough, or
2. Remove a cast before it is fully set!

I used to work in rapid prototyping and fully appreciate the pressures of delivering product on time, but not to the detriment of the product quality. Can I just ask where you get your info from regarding FW practice? Do you know someone who works at FW? Just curious to know!

Cheers

**Davespil**

I really hope they make a plastic Warhound (though there is probably a 1% chance of that happening), don't care at all about the Thunderhawk.

Assuming that the above schedule is correct (not unreasonable) then GW has released the following codexes for the 6th ed:

Dark Eldar (close enough to 6th ed release to count as 6th ed me thinks)
Necrons (absolutely 6th ed)
Chaos Space Marines
Dark Angels
Chaos Demons
Tau
Eldar (June?)
Space Marines (October?)
Tyranids (January?)

What's left:

Black Templars
Blood Angels (don't think it was close enough to 6th ed)
Grey Knights (could it be considered 6th ed?)
Imperial Guard
Orks
Sisters of Battle
Space Wolves (don't think it was close enough to 6th ed)

Then by Jan 2014 they will only need to release 7 codexes to bring everyone up to date. I'm truly impressed... And I've honestly liked the new models, codexs, and 6th ed. I do hope the sisters get a new codex, and the pace they're tossing them out they'll have to. The rest minus BT are mainstream armies that will definately not be ignored. A Marine codex can't be that hard to make, its just a variation of the SM codex really.

**pretre**

I would consider GK 6th ed. The book was pretty clearly setup for 6th.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

My FW supositions, (and they are only that is based on observation). FW are a pretty good resin producer, especially considering the amount of stuff they make but

The large flat panels are often warped to a greater or lesser extent (not everything, not most, but enough to be a known issue)

even stuff traveling within the UK which is the key

(the moment you stick anything in a container/hold on a ship or in a plane the temp changes can be significant enough to cause trouble)

the only real reason for warping with resin pieces is pulling the mould before it's fully set (& cruicially cool). It's what you might expect when a company tries to squeeze an extra cast or two into they day.

This is based on what I've seen/heard from resin casters working on 1/35 scale kits/conversion bits rather than minis, but it should still apply

As I said above FW DO change the moulds when needed, (their stuff is usually nice and sharp)

As to bubbles, FW are usually pretty good but you do get some. Now you can reduce them by your choice of resin (thinner mix = less bubbles as they can escape easier), by de-gassing the resin in a vaccum (if the set time is slow enough to let you do so), by manually removing them (again a lot easier with slow setting resing), by using a vibrating probe or table, and by your choice of release agent (not sure how this one works, but that's what I'm told).

All the methods that reduce your bubble load mean more hands on time for the caster, and more setting time for the resin, so again the more you see (from a generally decent caster than FW) the more likely it is they were trying to get too many done in a day