That’s right! Games Workshop sent shockwaves through our power armour last week when they announced the upcoming Warhammer: 40,000 9th Edition!

40k

At Good Games, we love good games, and 40k is no exception. Regardless of your feelings about previous editions, we can all agree that Warhammer: 40,000 has an ongoing and profound effect on the gaming world at large- and we absolutely cannot wait to get our mits on this mighty tome!

So, what do we know so far?

 

Backwards Compatibility

Sinilar to the 2018 release of Age of Sigmar, Warhammer: 40,000 9th Edition will be completely compatible with your existing codexes, and of course the current run of Psychic Awakening books.

We can assume then that many of the things we love about 40k – the familiar stat lines, weapon types and army-specific special rules – will remain in effect for 9th Edition.

This is speculation, but if Age of Sigmar is anything to go by, we can assume that 9th will be a clean-up and refinement of the rules after Games Workshop has spent three years taking on fan feedback.

Also, it’s been confirmed that tanks can shoot while in combat now- so that’s neat!

 

Necrons and Space Marines

necronThe super soldiers of the Imperium as well as the Ancient Ones have each received a bit of a make over, and 9th Edition will see new Necron and Primaris Space Marine models!

The Primaris Space Marines – the bigger, bulkier, sleeker suited hammer of the emperor continue to make modern Space Marine armies look and feel fantastic!

Regular Space Marines aren’t going anywhere, so if you have models in your collection, never fear! They’re still good to go (as they always have been), but if you’re like me, you won’t be able to resist the call of some fancy new tiny dolls!

Meanwhile, the ancient, skeletal robots (fight me!) of the Necron Tombs have revealed new faces, boasting a new range of basic warriors, C’tan, and some big beefy (skinny) boys we’ve not seen before!

(and look, while we’re here, I think It’s probably safe to say that 9th edition will likely feature a 2-player box with both Necrons and Primaris Space Marines, so start prepping your new armies!)

 

Prepare for Crusade!

In recent years, Games Workshop has taken huge strides to produce modes of ganeolay that are suited to everyone’s tastes.

With 9th Edition, they’re introducing a new narrative playstyle called ‘Crusade’, which Stu Black of Games Workshop says “adds an ongoing narrative to your games of 40K. Many of us like our games to have a sense of consequences from one game to another, where success on the battlefield has an impact on future games.”

The rise of narrative games like Necromunda and Warcry suggest that Crusade could be something truly excellent. We don’t know a lot right now, but Games Workshop has flexed it’s muscles with narrative game design, so our expectations are high!

We’d love to see squads gain XP and boost their stats, generals gain wounds and change over time – and perhaps even see how a Necromunda style ‘Dominion’ campaign could translate to bigger scale war, with participants fighting over entire worlds in their ongoing conquest!

 

The App! The App!

sister of battleShowing once again that they continue to listen to their fanbase, with 9th Edition Games Workshop are delivering an official Warhamme: 40,000 companion app!

If, like me, you’re sick of navigating the ins and outs of ugly UI’s of 3rd party army tracking applications, then you must be so super stoked about this!

The app promises to allow us to ‘travel light on your way to game night’, a prospect I constantly struggle with, given my love for the beautiful hardcore books Games Workshop produce, and my disdain for dragging them across town to play games.

The app will include an army builder and rules for our collections. I’m excited to see how else this might be used – I’m personally hoping it will be able to act as a tracker for Crusade campaigns (whatever they’re going to entail!).

Lastly (but very not least-ly), Games Workshop confirmed that when you buy a physical copy of your codex (say from your favourite local Good Games store), you’ll receive the digital version of those rules for free, in the app.

Praise the Emperor!  

 

We absolutely cannot wait for more information on the 9th Edition of Warhammer: 40,000- so stay tuned to Good Games on social media in the coming weeks as we sit ourselves down firmly aboard the hype train on our way to New Edition Town.

In the meantime, be sure to stock up on your next hobby project by shopping our range (at 10% off!) on the Good Games Online Store.

Information on preorders will be available as soon as we have it – rest assured, we can’t wait to host your first games of Warhammer: 40,000 9th Edition in the warm comfort of your favourite Good Games store!