Collected rumors regarding a new 40K race Updated with FFJump's Information September 15th

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.

**Lythrandire Biehrellian**

I would love a "mercenary" alien faction.

Just a list of aliens who have a shared keyword that allows them in any army. Kroot and sslyth for sure, add in the Ork flash gits because why not, and then a slew of other critters that people can then throw in as they wish.

**NobodyXY**

Angels of Order that are basically a bigger primaris marine...

**SnotlingPimpWagon**

@ Lythrandire That would be just a pretty boring codex release, wouldn't it?
Some completely new Xenos race surely would be much more exciting to anticipate, IMHO

**Gamgee**

That's it. I know this the new race coming. I wonder if they're faking us out and it's a beast skull of a creature tamed and used in battle by them. Either way I'm hyped. Also can I see Atia's post on the matter? If it's true she said it, it's practically guaranteed.

Spoiler:

**Pseudonym**

Kaiju army. Lots of giant stompy lizards. And giant monkeys.

**shade1313**

I think a lot of fun could be had with an "enlightened" and powerful race, theoretically benevolent, in a remote and impersonal way. They're really wiping out imperial worlds for humanity's own good, you know, got to keep the various malevolent infestations (chaos, ork spores, genestealer cults, etc) from endangering such a promising race...

OTOH, while I started this out thinking of them kind of like the Vorlon, wiping out whole worlds that were tainted by the presence of the Shadows, I realized partway through writing that...that's sort of already how various internal Imperium organizations have been known to act, what with exterminatus for infested worlds, GKs wiping out whole refugee fleets because the Changeling MIGHT be on one of the ships, etc.

**Kid_Kyoto**

NobodyXY wrote:
Angels of Order that are basically a bigger primaris marine...

40k already has a Lords of Order Faction

Spoiler:

**Malachon**

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Hive City Dweller wrote:
Although the current roster of races in need of updating and new plastic kits is quite long, (Looking at you Eldar plastics) GW has shown propensity for new faction releases. It makes sense; it encourages new players to start new army, and omits the issue of old players buying just the models they need from the release. If we were to speculate about a new race, there would have to be some kind of new artistic direction/theme not already at work. GW has already covered the bases with the xenos so far:

1) Magical ancient space elves who use advanced tech? -Check

2) Space dark elf pirates with Mediterranean flare and a thing for flesh sculpting? -Check

3) Unstoppable "Alien" hive-mind swarm which uses biologic weapons and consumes everything in sight. -Check

4) Undead in space, all sentient robot faction, Egyptian flare. --Check

5) Technologically advanced humanoids with a thing for Power Suits, and a neat ideology. -Check

6) Orcs in space, true techno-savages -Check

I am trying to reference other sci-fi universes and it's hard to invent a brand new aesthetic/feel that isn't at least partially covered by these tropes. Sure, we can get a new insect race, but how will that differ from Tyranids? If we get another savage faction, how will they differ from orks?

The only truly unique thing I can think of is some sort of low-tech hunter-gatherer species who ride around on big alien mounts, use improvised magical weapons and fire magic ballistic projectiles akin to bows.

Sounds like we need Space Lizardmen then. Space Lizardmen confirmed.

I think you have the right frame of thought about this. Where are the gaps in the current faction list? I don't think there are any major gaps really, so much is already covered. Can you really do an insectoid like faction without infringing too much on Tyranids? There is a little room there as Tyranids cover a massive range of different creatures and you could envision a more tech-mindded single insectoid race without all the biological modifications. Still, insectoids would in all likelihood still have that communal 'hive-mind' like society going, so I don't know if it would be separate enough.

A draconic/lizardmen race could work I suppose, but what niche would they cover? Strong flying units with high movement. but low in numbers due to high point cost?

**xerxeshavelock**

How about some kind of mining race that uses gravity tech to float around.....?

**Gamgee**

As much as Lyacramoles would be neat mechanically I can't help but feel it's a cheap way to add in a new race by trying to reuse other races sprues. For a new race I want to see new models that is the whole point.

I get the feeling it won't be a crazy dumb horde race. We have enough of those. I definitely think it will be a race that plays nice with most Xenos but not the IoM/humans/eldar dynamic. Honestly we don't really have any mid-level technology species. They are either low tech or super high tech or crazy beasts.

I swear the skull on the Xenos index 1 looks sort of like a Vespid or a vespid redesign. What if the "Vespid race" that the Tau conquered (I mean enlightened) was just some backwards country bumpkins of their Empire lol. Woops.

Also we have nine million flavors of marines. I think xenos can have some visual overlap and not be the end of the universe if they aren't too similar.

Oh don't you worry about the Tau. They'll make that breakthrough in FTL tech yet and achieve it. I like how the Tau have gradually risen in threat rating. I can't wait to see the day the lore advances enough they become a huge threat it's neat to watch.

**The Green one**

If they are going to add another new race it will most likely be one that has been at least heard of or a new Extra-galactic force (reference tyrandids). One thing I believe that we must consider though if it is an entirely new race is that GW will have tried to make it unique enough to be copyrighted (or maybe just a new stupid name for something old).

**Lance845**

space lizardmen riding cyber dinos.

it's all i want in this world.

**SnotlingPimpWagon**

Malachon wrote:
Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Hive City Dweller wrote:
Although the current roster of races in need of updating and new plastic kits is quite long, (Looking at you Eldar plastics) GW has shown propensity for new faction releases. It makes sense; it encourages new players to start new army, and omits the issue of old players buying just the models they need from the release. If we were to speculate about a new race, there would have to be some kind of new artistic direction/theme not already at work. GW has already covered the bases with the xenos so far:

1) Magical ancient space elves who use advanced tech? -Check

2) Space dark elf pirates with Mediterranean flare and a thing for flesh sculpting? -Check

3) Unstoppable "Alien" hive-mind swarm which uses biologic weapons and consumes everything in sight. -Check

4) Undead in space, all sentient robot faction, Egyptian flare. --Check

5) Technologically advanced humanoids with a thing for Power Suits, and a neat ideology. -Check

6) Orcs in space, true techno-savages -Check

I am trying to reference other sci-fi universes and it's hard to invent a brand new aesthetic/feel that isn't at least partially covered by these tropes. Sure, we can get a new insect race, but how will that differ from Tyranids? If we get another savage faction, how will they differ from orks?

The only truly unique thing I can think of is some sort of low-tech hunter-gatherer species who ride around on big alien mounts, use improvised magical weapons and fire magic ballistic projectiles akin to bows.

Sounds like we need Space Lizardmen then. Space Lizardmen confirmed.

I think you have the right frame of thought about this. Where are the gaps in the current faction list? I don't think there are any major gaps really, so much is already covered. Can you really do an insectoid like faction without infringing too much on Tyranids? There is a little room there as Tyranids cover a massive range of different creatures and you could envision a more tech-mindded single insectoid race without all the biological modifications. Still, insectoids would in all likelihood still have that communal 'hive-mind' like society going, so I don't know if it would be separate enough.

A draconic/lizardmen race could work I suppose, but what niche would they cover? Strong flying units with high movement. but low in numbers due to high point cost?

Considering, that 5/6 points of this list are all just Reskins of humans in terms of how they look, I'd say there is an infinite gap of what GW can do with a new race. Applying one of the Earthly tropes, for example It's humans, but with scales= lizardmen, wouldn't be anything new really. Anything with more, than 4 limbs is already 95% more original. (Tyrannies have 6, that's where 5% went). Then there can be no limbs at all, they can be blobs in different technology, or an army of aliens, that consists of very small numbers(like 3-5 hard to kill dudes, which are not the size of imperial Knights), and most their offensive capabilities are psychic: they cast and recast units so to say, which are somewhat materialized versions of spells so to say.(that's what other miniatures take form of)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lance845 wrote:
space lizardmen riding cyber dinos.

it's all i want in this world.

There are space cats riding raptors minis coming soon to kickstarter

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1812843885411607&id=1454893044540028

**barnacle111**

Fingers tightly crossed for zoats and fimir in space...

**Gamgee**

If GW wants to make them visually distinctive we don't have a race of energy beings aesthetic. Actually I struggle to think of any race/army in any tabletop game I've seen as a race of pure energy.

There is also the concept of "Grey Goo" which is a blob of sentient nanites that's sole purpose is to create more nanites. In the game grey goo they even adapt and create different forms to fight back against the locals.

Those are the two "big" sci-fi tropes I can think of that are not being met by any competitor out there. So all GW would need to do is crank that 40k dial up and take them to crazy levels.

I'll tell you what would disappoint me. if the entire race was chaos xenos. :( Chaos is bad mmkay.

**Malachon**

**Gamgee**

See above. Also with pure energy being faction they could consume their own soldiers to power up their survivors and play with that as their big mechanic. So perhaps you could wound a unit and add +1 to a damage roll on a completely other one. Teleportation anywhere on the battlefield at the cost of a mortal wound or two ect.

Make some interesting mechanics for them get creative. Visually a pure energy race could look very interesting. Like an army of walking fire and deadly Protoss Archons.

Grey Goo could be an near pure melee faction but once they get there and wound they begin to heal. They can also "destroy" objectives on the map and consume them to heal or power their abilities or even call in summons.

These are just rough ideas off the top of my head. I'm sure an actual game designer could come up with something super cool.

Edit
I would also like to see a Xenos faction bring the Khradron Overlords speargun mechanics into the game. If you hit with their spear gun they can move the enemy unit around a little. So it would be neat to pull models around ect or have tractor beam guns that can push people around for battlefield control.

There 4 niches.

Pure Melee Grey Goo Area Denial/healers
Archons energy mechanics
A "board control" Xenos with lots of abilities to affect opponents positons.
A debuff faction.

**Geifer**

Gamgee wrote:
If GW wants to make them visually distinctive we don't have a race of energy beings aesthetic. Actually I struggle to think of any race/army in any tabletop game I've seen as a race of pure energy.

There is also the concept of "Grey Goo" which is a blob of sentient nanites that's sole purpose is to create more nanites. In the game grey goo they even adapt and create different forms to fight back against the locals.

Those are the two "big" sci-fi tropes I can think of that are not being met by any competitor out there. So all GW would need to do is crank that 40k dial up and take them to crazy levels.

I'll tell you what would disappoint me. if the entire race was chaos xenos. :( Chaos is bad mmkay.

And yet xenos with open Chaos affiliation is something not currently in the game.

Regarding beings of energy, the Inquisitor rulebook had a crystalline weapon. Crystalline beings would be visually distinct from anything we currently have, and since crystals seem to be associated with zappiness, they might have natural or "biologically" engineered energy attacks.

Or something. Personally I think GW would do something with already major, currently unrepresented xenos than going with something entirely new. Mostly these things are unexplored, so there is plenty of room for development and new things.

At the end of the day, I think people in this thread put a lot more consideration into it than GW will (you know, if a new race actually happens). With their miniature driven design philosophy, the only question is whether they get models they think look cool. Whether there is overlap with other stuff or not is not going to matter much if the overall appearance is fitting and distinct.

**Gamgee**

Oo there you go crystals.

Also for some reason we don't have Predator (from the Predator movie) ripoff Xenos. Why! GW loves ripping off everything fom the 80's and I can't start a cool faction of super power aliens who hunt stuff. I even proposed multiple times how "Dark Kroot" would fit the bill perfectly if beefed up a bit. Just have it represent the part of their species who didn't want to go primtive.

Look up Yajuta folks. Super cool inspiration.

Their niche would be stolen technology and relics. For example their ancient Kroot lord could take one relic form any other faction to represent one of his famous hunts. Troops would have Tau plasma weaponry on their shoulders and all troops have some sort of basic cloak. They would be the xenos equivalent of the Deathwatch. Super small groups but extremely powerful and customisation.

**Formosa**

are these rumours coming from the "off the cuff" remark of one designer, or are there actual substantial rumours, form reliable sources (I.E not Bols).

I ask I have have heard nothing about a new race.

**Ragnar69**

Whatever it will be, I bet it was already mentioned in Rogue Trader.

**Gamgee**

Who did you ask? Also allegedly Lady Atia has said something but no one can confirm if this is true or not and if so where is the link.

If it turns out she did it's all but guaranteed. Hence why i want to see that link folks.

Edit
New GW loves teasing future release way in advance now. I can confirm that at least since we've all seen it. Lot's of factions in AoS were hinted at early on are now out.

**cuda1179**

After they introduced DeathWatch, Genestealer cults, Knights, and AdMech I'd say that almost any faction could show up. Ones I wouldn't mind seeing:

Kroot
Demiurge
Space Slan
Feral Orks
Vespid. (I'd love to see a crisis suit sized queen)

In the cases of kroot, vespid, and demiurge this could simply be additional Tau allies, at least initially.

**Malachon**

An energy based faction I could see, as the models would look cool. A 'Grey goo' faction? Not so much. I don't think it would look cool and I assume it would probably be difficult to copyright the miniatures.

**ProtoClone**

Well, we know it is not an insect race because of the skull...unless said race have both an exoskeletal structure and endoskeletal structure. This would give them an assumed durability on par of that of other armies.

**Albino Squirrel**

Well, if what they said was "a new race for 40k", that doesn't mean a new army/faction. It could be a new race added to the Tau empire, or some other faction.

**cuda1179**

Well, it kind of depends on the species. It could have an exoskeleton that has some internal hard growth that further protects the brain that just resembles a skull. Or perhaps the "skull" is just an exoskeleton part that has lost some external fleshy parts.

**SnotlingPimpWagon**

Malachon wrote:

Considering, that 5/6 points of this list are all just Reskins of humans in terms of how they look, I'd say there is an infinite gap of what GW can do with a new race. Applying one of the Earthly tropes, for example It's humans, but with scales= lizardmen, wouldn't be anything new really. Anything with more, than 4 limbs is already 95% more original. (Tyrannies have 6, that's where 5% went). Then there can be no limbs at all, they can be blobs in different technology, or an army of aliens, that consists of very small numbers(like 3-5 hard to kill dudes, which are not the size of imperial Knights), and most their offensive capabilities are psychic: they cast and recast units so to say, which are somewhat materialized versions of spells so to say.(that's what other miniatures take form of)

[

**Slayer-Fan123**

Gamgee wrote:
See above. Also with pure energy being faction they could consume their own soldiers to power up their survivors and play with that as their big mechanic. So perhaps you could wound a unit and add +1 to a damage roll on a completely other one. Teleportation anywhere on the battlefield at the cost of a mortal wound or two ect.

Make some interesting mechanics for them get creative. Visually a pure energy race could look very interesting. Like an army of walking fire and deadly Protoss Archons.

Grey Goo could be an near pure melee faction but once they get there and wound they begin to heal. They can also "destroy" objectives on the map and consume them to heal or power their abilities or even call in summons.

These are just rough ideas off the top of my head. I'm sure an actual game designer could come up with something super cool.

Edit
I would also like to see a Xenos faction bring the Khradron Overlords speargun mechanics into the game. If you hit with their spear gun they can move the enemy unit around a little. So it would be neat to pull models around ect or have tractor beam guns that can push people around for battlefield control.

There 4 niches.

Pure Melee Grey Goo Area Denial/healers
Archons energy mechanics
A "board control" Xenos with lots of abilities to affect opponents positons.
A debuff faction.

The first paragraph mostly reminds me of the Soulburst mechanic so I don't see that happening.

**cuda1179**

Another niche that there is is mobility. Can you reposition your army easily?

A while back when Dreamforge was trying to get its Iron Core game launched the was an interesting idea for a faction based on futuristic soviet troops. Have a couple large tanks (think smaller superheavies) forming slow moving HQ's / mobile rally points while troops deploy from them into quick deploy mini bunkers.

Another idea is an army that totally ignores all normal objectives (and can't claim them) for a large list of their own objectives.

How about a faction that actively gets stronger with each turn? Perhaps there is a chance they literally evolve, or maybe they just take over enemy units.