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Right now, I'm mostly an Age of Sigmar player (Don't laugh. I really enjoy it!). But, I've slowly picked up some 40K boxes. I wanted to pick up more, but I'm a bit nervous about getting stuff that will be obsolete by the end of the year.

Right now, I've painted up a box of Deathwatch: Overkill, another 5-Man DW Kill Team, a couple boxes of Genestealers Hybrids, and the Kill Team box of Space Marines/Tau. I haven't needed to pick up any Codexes since the Overkill boxed game came with formations.

I was thinking about picking up a couple of more boxes to flesh out my Deathwatch, Genestealer, Space Marine (Salamanders), and Tau armies to start fielding larger games and sort of "graduate" from just playing Kill Team. I'd also like to possibly pick up some vehicles or dreadnaughts etc... I won't be getting any codexes until 8th hits.

But, I'm curious how well supported these armies have been in the past when moving from one edition to the next.

Is there anything I should watch out for in particular?

it's ahrd to say as GW's brough in so many micro armies that we're ALMOST in unknown territory here. that said if you wanna really hedge your bets with 40k? grab space marines. that is the one army beyond all others you can count on being supported

BrianDavion wrote:
it's ahrd to say as GW's brough in so many micro armies that we're ALMOST in unknown territory here. that said if you wanna really hedge your bets with 40k? grab space marines. that is the one army beyond all others you can count on being supported

I guess that's true! I thought Tau had been around for a long while as well.... (still new at this). But, Deathwatch and Genestealers were one's that were new to me until the boxed game came out.

I wouldn't worry about anything getting axed yet. Usually stuff that get's axed is special characters.

Editionr changes are always tricky. It can shake up your entire army even if they do not change a thing about your codex. A subtle change in how the rules work can be all that is needed to make or ruin a unit. All veterans have faced this, but none can offer you any help in advance since we do not know what is going to change. The only thing that I can advise is not build your army around shenanigans or loop holes since the rule makers are likely to close these loop holes in a next version of the rules.

Now on the positive side you are playing a SM army they are historically somewhat protected by gw from most negative effects from edition changes. So you will probably be ok.


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 jreilly89 wrote:
I wouldn't worry about anything getting axed yet. Usually stuff that get's axed is special characters.

Special characters and web only models tend to have a higher risk on going away. You do not have to fear for the new plastic kits.

Buy the models you like. Don't worry about it.

 Elbows wrote:
Buy the models you like. Don't worry about it.

^This.

Buy models that you like, even if they're axed in the next edition (most units will be fine though) you will still have some cool models to show off and you can always proxy them as something else in the next edition.

Plus, you never know, if the models you buy now are axed they might become rare and sort after models. I myself have a lot of 2nd and 3rd ed Orks and CSM which I love, especially the old mek biker and guitar wielding noise marines (gotta love that hair).

OK. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Ya, I would just be looking to get "cool" models. Not too concerned about nerfs/buffs etc.. I just didn't want them to be completely unusable. I just play at my house and friends houses, but we try to stick to the rules since we have no real experience balancing stuff ourselves.

Funny thing is the Space Marines are probably my least interesting army of the four. I like the other three about equally. I guess I can always proxy Deathwatch "as SM" if nothing else.

I'm just steering clear of buying any named IC. Just proxying units that look like them.

Space marines have traditionally fared pretty well during edition changes, and all but the 2nd to 3rd ed allowed rules from the prior edition until a new codex came out. So odds are you will be ok.

None of us really have any idea what 8th is going to be like, but My suspicion/hope is that 8th is going to take a more AoS route with codices, in that the codices are fluff and formations but the unit stat lines and special rules are available on the web. We shall see though.

Even special characters can usually be used as a generic HQ of whatever army if they get axed along the line.

 Grimgold wrote:
Space marines have traditionally fared pretty well during edition changes, and all but the 2nd to 3rd ed allowed rules from the prior edition until a new codex came out. So odds are you will be ok.

None of us really have any idea what 8th is going to be like, but My suspicion/hope is that 8th is going to take a more AoS route with codices, in that the codices are fluff and formations but the unit stat lines and special rules are available on the web. We shall see though.

Ya the main bummer coming from AoS was the need to buy a Codex for doing more Kill Team. I was getting over that, but with 8th "looming", it scared me right off of that. I like the AoS model of get the Warscroll for free, but if I want to get the Battletome with extra fluff and Battalions and Battleplans. I'm all for a more granular ruleset though. Will be nice to have both styles I think.

Genestealers and Deathwatch will probably never get any kind of support again.

Space Marines will always be good. Tau will probably always be good.

 DarknessEternal wrote:
Genestealers and Deathwatch will probably never get any kind of support again.

Space Marines will always be good. Tau will probably always be good.

Deathwatch stand a better chance of ongoing support due simply to the addon sprue making any new release/configuration into a DW unit.

 Eldarain wrote:

 DarknessEternal wrote:
Genestealers and Deathwatch will probably never get any kind of support again.

Space Marines will always be good. Tau will probably always be good.

Deathwatch stand a better chance of ongoing support due simply to the addon sprue making any new release/configuration into a DW unit.

I don't want to believe that, but I fear it could be true. I really love those two though :(

Tau had some rough editions, and the whole shooting to the exclusion of all else makes them vulnerable if the melee vs ranged pendulum swings back the other way. As a mainly necron player, every new codex has made us wildly different, so I have some trepidation about 8th, but I'm willing to take one for the team as it were if the game as a whole gets more balanced.

However I feel deathwatch has done really well for itself, the fluff is wonderful, the models aren't too exotic, and at least in my meta it seems to have sold fairly well. So since it's low effort to maintain and fairly rewarding, I think we can look forward to continued support for them.

 Grimgold wrote:
Tau had some rough editions, and the whole shooting to the exclusion of all else makes them vulnerable if the melee vs ranged pendulum swings back the other way. As a mainly necron player, every new codex has made us wildly different, so I have some trepidation about 8th, but I'm willing to take one for the team as it were if the game as a whole gets more balanced.

However I feel deathwatch has done really well for itself, the fluff is wonderful, the models aren't too exotic, and at least in my meta it seems to have sold fairly well. So since it's low effort to maintain and fairly rewarding, I think we can look forward to continued support for them.

Interesting they just released an SC for Deathwatch. Not sure how much to read into that.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Start-Collecting-Deathwatch

Deathwatch were reported as overall some of the hottest and best selling stuff frontline has moved. GW has also put out great boxed sets for them including the winter one. That usually indicates they are super popular.

I know my FLGS accidentally ordered one too many kill team's for me and they didn't care since they said it would likely sell fast.

GSC might take awhile to get something new. I get the impressions they sold decently to above average just from the talk around the ITC and the competitive player base. It's the non-comp players who I can't really gauge. They didn't seem too popular here, not even with existing Nids players.

I'm straight up not buying anything until 8th drops.

They destroyed Fantasy, and released that dumpster fire of a game they call AOS.

I'm not buying into another End Times until I see the result.

I'm not so much worried about buying, I've got more then enough models to keep me busy with building and painting (40k stuff and games/models I've bought just for the fun of it). What worries me about the 40k End Times and 8th edition is building models now only to have them lose effectiveness or just flat out not be valid anymore*. It always seems that when I get the building bug, GW goes and starts setting up for the next edition and I 1/3 of what I build becomes dust collectors. 2 months after I built my huge Empire army they started the End Times and destroyed Fantasy (sorry to it's fans but AoS isn't fantasy, completely different game styles and thus different games). Looks like the same is going to happen with 40k.

 jreilly89 wrote:
I wouldn't worry about anything getting axed yet. Usually stuff that get's axed is special characters.

Brett and Tomb kings for WFB both got axed in the changeover. Nothing to say this can't happen with races in 40k

Buy some basic troops, some transports and a plastic HQ. Learn how to magnetize so you can swap out the squad's loadout later if the meta favors different wargear. You should be fine then. Space Marines (Of any flavor), Tau, Orks and Eldar are always the safest bets.

Even Mr. Brexit says buy what you want.
Indeed, a new edition will not render a whole army to be useless.
However, I'd stay away from all those shiny new formation and supplementary books. They could be rendered useless.

Personally I'd advise a wait and see approach we'll get leaks ahead of release months In advance that'll give us a better idea.

Sadly there's no guarantee with GW rules we've seen them take a good edition and gack it up before look at the transition from 5th to 6th, or epic.

You'll be absolutely fine. All of the above mentioned armies are stable enough to see support in the next ed, genestealer cults might see some new works though.

I've been playing since 3ed, and only had 4 units completly taken away from me. However all of them can still be used as thematic versions of something similar. Theese units are:

Inquisitorial storm troopers- now militarum temptestus OR Inquisitorial henchmen with appropriate wargear.

Inquisition summoned lesser Deamons- now allied deamons or summoned by psykers as a Deamon pack

Inquisition summoned greater deamons- now allied deamons or summoned by psykers as a greater Deamon

Imperial Guard penal soldiers- now Astra militarum veterans.

It might seem like they havn't changed but all theese where modelled for their old rules. As you can see 3 of them come from a Inquisition codex and the last is just thematic guardsmen, though I kind of went to town with all theese concepts. Anyway that's 4 units out of 3 armies that's seen play over 5 editions, and all of the above are arguably still usable. You have nothing to really worry about. As others have pointed out, focus on cool models.

 Fenrir Kitsune wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
I wouldn't worry about anything getting axed yet. Usually stuff that get's axed is special characters.

Brett and Tomb kings for WFB both got axed in the changeover. Nothing to say this can't happen with races in 40k

Just looked on GW's site, and they've got the rules for them posted, and they have points costs listed in the General's Handbook.

Not currently selling the models isn't the same thing as being axed.

tilarium wrote:
I'm not so much worried about buying, I've got more then enough models to keep me busy with building and painting (40k stuff and games/models I've bought just for the fun of it). What worries me about the 40k End Times and 8th edition is building models now only to have them lose effectiveness or just flat out not be valid anymore*. It always seems that when I get the building bug, GW goes and starts setting up for the next edition and I 1/3 of what I build becomes dust collectors. 2 months after I built my huge Empire army they started the End Times and destroyed Fantasy (sorry to it's fans but AoS isn't fantasy, completely different game styles and thus different games). Looks like the same is going to happen with 40k.

It's just a case of being smart and trying to read into what GW are going to do - it might be difficult, but lets be honest we know something is coming, so I personally have limited the amount of GW stuff I buy like not buying Codex: Traitor Legions as I remember what happened to Fantasy and all those books/supplements are now rendered useless as a result of AoS.
Buy models you like but keep your money by and large for 8th ed. If you like it, then you know you're buying completely supported stuff, if not then go support another game system.
I don't want to see 40k streamlined too much, perhaps a new activation system based off units to make it more realistic (e.g. Bolt Action), and some fixes for silly things. It does not need a major overhaul to fix the problems that 40k has, just a bit of clever fixing. If 40k turns to sci fi AoS then they will lose me as a regular player of 40k.

I only buy the campaign books I want for the story mostly. So basically none except the Tau ones. If one comes out featuring the DE or Exodies I'll consider it.

 Asmodai wrote:

 Fenrir Kitsune wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
I wouldn't worry about anything getting axed yet. Usually stuff that get's axed is special characters.

Brett and Tomb kings for WFB both got axed in the changeover. Nothing to say this can't happen with races in 40k

Just looked on GW's site, and they've got the rules for them posted, and they have points costs listed in the General's Handbook.

Not currently selling the models isn't the same thing as being axed.

And at this point it seems like they may be thinking of bringing them back in some new form, given some of the lore stuff in the background.

 Asmodai wrote:

 Fenrir Kitsune wrote:

 jreilly89 wrote:
I wouldn't worry about anything getting axed yet. Usually stuff that get's axed is special characters.

Brett and Tomb kings for WFB both got axed in the changeover. Nothing to say this can't happen with races in 40k

Just looked on GW's site, and they've got the rules for them posted, and they have points costs listed in the General's Handbook.

Not currently selling the models isn't the same thing as being axed.

Might start a new TK army......oh, er, wait.....maybe not.