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With the Gathering Storm series, GW is moving the story forward and introducing galaxy-shaking events.

What's your prediction for the end result?

Will we end up with an AoS-like setting? Or will everything return to the status quo?



My prediction is that, since the HH series has been so successful, with people snapping up those repetitive books , GW will bring back all the Primarchs for a return to 30K.

Chaos will wax to great heights, then the 'good guys" will defeat them and remove Slaanesh's racial hold on the Eldar. But not destroy Slaanesh of course. The Dark Eldar would probably continue to raid slaves for the fun of it though.

They might introduce new conflicts like Forces of Chaos vs Tyranids Or some crazy gak like a Tyranid God (http://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Maw)

The Tau will end up becoming a powerful major player. Perhaps the Imperium will become a more robust, happier place?

Since the Eldar have a new Avatar, for the Orks, why not an Avatar of Gork? Lastly, the Necrons, I can't imagine what GW might do with them sadly.


What are your predictions?

I'm predicting the Necron Silent King finally returns.

BrianDavion wrote:
I'm predicting the Necron Silent King finally returns.

hasn't he already returned?

Maybe the Void Dragon will awaken

GodDamUser wrote:
Maybe the Void Dragon will awaken

ahh, that's a good one

Well personally I hope a lot of the character of the Imperium stays the same.

I find the Baroque/ Gothic nature of the Imperium with the profusion of different cults and overlapping organisation all pulling in different directions is what makes the setting so appealing.

What could be very cool is that Roboute tries to reform the Imperiums organisations but meets with such resistance and inertia at every turn that he then creates his own new organisations that further adds to the great creaking edifice of Imperial bureaucracy (Guillimanic plenipotentiaries perhaps haha!) and creates even more conflict between Imperial institutions! The politic dramas this could spawn would be endless.

I do think that we need to see some proper Imperial successes though, I'm tired of reading how every campaign results in heavy Imperial losses and thousands of Imperial worlds being put to the sword by Chaos/ Orks/ Fish Warriors of Nepo. But everything is always OK because the Imperium is massive and there are always more worlds to fight for. I just finished reading the Solar Marcharius books and it is fun reading about a successful Imperial campaign.

Maybe Roboute could be a Richard the Lion Heart or Hannibal Barca type figure, very successful in military endeavours but never really able to get handle on politics at home.

It is unlikely but my personnel wish is to see the Tau Empire shattered by a massive Tyranid or Ork invasion. Those goodie two shoe are by far the most boring bit of the current story!
Putting them in a position where they have to make terrible sacrifices and commit despicable atrocities on their own people just to survive will make them them much more fun imo.

It would bring up questions like how far they are willing to go for the 'greater good'? How seriously do they take the 'all races are equal in the greater good' mantra? How will setbacks expose the fault lines and rivalries in Tau society?

Like what they did with the Necrons, I don't think it would take too many tweaks to make the Tau a really cool and appealing part the the 40k universe.

Kroem wrote:

It is unlikely but my personnel wish is to see the Tau Empire shattered by a massive Tyranid or Ork invasion. Those goodie two shoe are by far the most boring bit of the current story!
Putting them in a position where they have to make terrible sacrifices and commit despicable atrocities on their own people just to survive will make them them much more fun imo.

It would bring up questions like how far they are willing to go for the 'greater good'? How seriously do they take the 'all races are equal in the greater good' mantra? How will setbacks expose the fault lines and rivalries in Tau society?

Like what they did with the Necrons, I don't think it would take too many tweaks to make the Tau a really cool and appealing part the the 40k universe.

brilliant!

Kroem wrote:
Well personally I hope a lot of the character of the Imperium stays the same.

I find the Baroque/ Gothic nature of the Imperium with the profusion of different cults and overlapping organisation all pulling in different directions is what makes the setting so appealing.

What could be very cool is that Roboute tries to reform the Imperiums organisations but meets with such resistance and inertia at every turn that he then creates his own new organisations that further adds to the great creaking edifice of Imperial bureaucracy (Guillimanic plenipotentiaries perhaps haha!) and creates even more conflict between Imperial institutions! The politic dramas this could spawn would be endless.

I do think that we need to see some proper Imperial successes though, I'm tired of reading how every campaign results in heavy Imperial losses and thousands of Imperial worlds being put to the sword by Chaos/ Orks/ Fish Warriors of Nepo. But everything is always OK because the Imperium is massive and there are always more worlds to fight for. I just finished reading the Solar Marcharius books and it is fun reading about a successful Imperial campaign.

Maybe Roboute could be a Richard the Lion Heart or Hannibal Barca type figure, very successful in military endeavours but never really able to get handle on politics at home.

It is unlikely but my personnel wish is to see the Tau Empire shattered by a massive Tyranid or Ork invasion. Those goodie two shoe are by far the most boring bit of the current story!
Putting them in a position where they have to make terrible sacrifices and commit despicable atrocities on their own people just to survive will make them them much more fun imo.

It would bring up questions like how far they are willing to go for the 'greater good'? How seriously do they take the 'all races are equal in the greater good' mantra? How will setbacks expose the fault lines and rivalries in Tau society?

Like what they did with the Necrons, I don't think it would take too many tweaks to make the Tau a really cool and appealing part the the 40k universe.

Well, the Tau did gift the Dark Eldar a bunch of their guys from all castes in exchange for their help against the Tyranids in the War of Dark Revelations. The DE called it a "cultural exchange".

I have an idea for how things could go in future campaigns, but they're less 'predictions' and more 'fan fiction.' Don't judge too harsh.

Basically, I think it would be neat if they shifted the way in which the Tyranids were a threat. Rather than being a consuming force that leaves a trail of destruction in their wake, they could essentially colonize the outer rim of the galaxy and start processing the galaxy wholesale - absorbing the energy of stars via planet-wide photosynthesis, and using it to slowly grind their foes via both spawned Tyranid forces and increased Genestealer cult revolutionary activity.

The advantage of this is making them more of a ever present threat - one that is building its strength after an intergalactic transit, rather than just being always on the brink apocalyptic swarm but never quite reaching it. Its foes could launch campaigns against them, leading to potentially more plots than constantly relying on the typical Hive Fleet Attack plot life cycle.

If we're gonna go further into the 'fan fiction' part of this idea, I think it would be neat if they would expand the Genestealer cult influence as being the forefront of Tyranid activity in the galaxy - perhaps by also expanding it into Ork and / or Eldar forces. Perhaps the Tyranid could pull a page from the Zerg and have corrupted Orks or Eldar heroes as the lynchpin of this - both as a source for Tyranid Triumvirate models, and a way to have corrupted Ork / Eldar as allies for Genestealers and Tyranids.

And taking the final step into fan fiction, I think it'd be neat if they used this corrupted hero idea as a way to remove Ghazkull as the face of Orks without killing him. I realize that's a crazy idea, but I think it'd open up some interesting avenues. Gork and Mork could fight over a new champion for them, with new face characters appearing, and the chaos caused by corrupted Tyranid-Ghaz Orks could lead to all sorts of fighting and fun. Nothing against Ghaz, but I think that's a potentially more interesting storyline than the current path of "Ghazkull leads even more orks on an even bigger Waaagh!".

It's a dumb idea, but I'm amused by it.

Well, the Tau did gift the Dark Eldar a bunch of their guys from all castes in exchange for their help against the Tyranids in the War of Dark Revelations. The DE called it a "cultural exchange".

Oh really? That is cool. Maybe I don't give the Tau enough credit then. A cool direction would be to have them develop AI with their technical skills and then have it slowly enslave their society.
They are a young race after all and haven't learnt the dangers.

perhaps by also expanding it into Ork

Yea there used to be models for this, but I think it is a lot harder to create cults in Ork society because their society is much less complex.
There is no veneer of respectability to hide behind whilst the cult builds up strength, if an Ork doesn't like the look of you he can just kill you no questions asked. It has been implied that Orks can instinctively detect contamination in their fellows as well.
As Ork society is always at war is is possible for the cult to be eliminated accidentally in the internecine tribal warfare.
Orks don't look for salvation like humans, so the cult might have difficulty attracting members willingly.

So definitely not impossible, but I would think the cult would have to change their business model if they want to be really successful in Ork society.

Well... the DE called it a cultural exchange to the Tau's faces. IIRC, later on the Tau met their 'ambassadors' who fully demonstrated what they'd learned on their exchange to Comorragh by, er, being turned into horrific combat monstrosities following nightmarish surgery (if a narrator) / torture (if Tau) / fun (if Dark Eldar).

It may have changed their foreign policy a little.

 Flanker wrote:

Well, the Tau did gift the Dark Eldar a bunch of their guys from all castes in exchange for their help against the Tyranids in the War of Dark Revelations. The DE called it a "cultural exchange".

Not all castes.

The Ethereal's they wouldn't send. Presumably on orders from said Ethereal's.

Pilum wrote:It may have changed their foreign policy a little.

Considering the Dark Eldar promptly removed or killed the entire population of a Tau world I suspect you're correct.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

 Flanker wrote:

Well, the Tau did gift the Dark Eldar a bunch of their guys from all castes in exchange for their help against the Tyranids in the War of Dark Revelations. The DE called it a "cultural exchange".

Not all castes.

The Ethereal's they wouldn't send. Presumably on orders from said Ethereal's.

Pilum wrote:It may have changed their foreign policy a little.

Considering the Dark Eldar promptly removed or killed the entire population of a Tau world I suspect you're correct.

didn't they send ethereals too?

Kroem wrote:


Yea there used to be models for this, but I think it is a lot harder to create cults in Ork society because their society is much less complex.
There is no veneer of respectability to hide behind whilst the cult builds up strength, if an Ork doesn't like the look of you he can just kill you no questions asked. It has been implied that Orks can instinctively detect contamination in their fellows as well.
As Ork society is always at war is is possible for the cult to be eliminated accidentally in the internecine tribal warfare.
Orks don't look for salvation like humans, so the cult might have difficulty attracting members willingly.

So definitely not impossible, but I would think the cult would have to change their business model if they want to be really successful in Ork society.

Yeah, as far actual cults go, ork genestealers definitely have to adapt themselves to different techniques of survival and domination than the ones used in human culture. They'd likely start a lot of fights and try to get big enough to command authority (possibly even fighting other cults), then infect new boyz via shamanistic traditions or radical surgery. They'd likely get isolated as being weird and un-orky, but that might not matter once the Biggest Boss descends from the stars to bring them all to endless Waaagh!.

As far as my idea above goes, it wasn't traditional genestealer cultists - more turning Ghaz into a Locutus of Borg analogue and having his psychic powers dominate nearby orks to fight for him. A bit more ham-fisted and cliche, but at least it wouldn't require new cultist ork models to let them be Tyranid allies.

I should note that the idea originally came as the result of the thought experiment 'is there any way that Ghazkull isn't the centerpiece of an Ork triumvirate.' The only way I could figure out how to do that without killing him was to Locutus him and make him part of the Tyranid one :p.

Maximus Bitch wrote:


didn't they send ethereals too?

No. They refused to send them.