For those that don't know, 6th Edition of Warhammer 40000's rulebooks has started to ship out, and according to the early release owners, while the fluff has not changed dramatically in terms of content, tone certainly seems to be changed.
Here is a list I found on the DakkaDakka forums relating to certain Fluff changes and revisions.
-Sisters of Silence may officially be gone. Black Ships are described as being crewed by Adepts of the Adeptus Telepathica with Inquistors as captains. -The Iron Men and their war are alluded to, stating that during the Age of Technology mankind relied heavily on robots. Short before the Age of Strife they rebelled, and a massive war took place that saw such devastation that it helped herald in the Age of Strife -The largest Ork Waaagh!'s the Galaxy has ever seen took place shortly before the Horus Heresy. They seem to make current Waaagh!'s seem like picnics. Horus' role in defeating them is what earned him the title Warmaster -The Inquisition still retains the 3 classic Ordo Militants it seems. It is flatly said that the Grey Knights are the Ordo Militant of the Ordo Malleus, the Deathwatch Ordo Xenos, while the SoB maintain "close ties" with the Ordo Hereticus. The SoB don't seem to be formally an Ordo Militant but a de facto one. -The Tau-Ultramarines alliance or Tau ties to the Emperor is never alluded to. Beyond the Allied chart there's no explanation why the Astartes and Tau are brothers in arms. -The excerpt about the Golden Throne malfunctioning is in there, but it's the exact same one from 5th Edition. No progress. The only new bit of info really is that the Golden Throne requires far more psyker sacrifices than it used to, about four times the original level. -There's a new ship called the "Blade of Eternity" that was lost in the Warp over 20,000 years ago and seems to appear again before any major Chaos incursion. -In M39, 5 great heroes returned that are comparable to the Primarchs. They do a bunch of great stuff and oversee a bunch of great victories but vanish suddenly vanish. -A major war against the Hrud occurred in M35, the "Hrud Rising". If GW is ever going to add another Xenos race (unlikely), but guess is it'll be Hrud by this point. -In late M41, much of Segmentum Pacificus is in full-fledged rebellion -The Adeptus Mechanicus is no longer part of the Adeptus Terra. It is separate and reports directly to the High Lords of Terra, like the Ecclesiarchy. -During the Dark Age of Technology, mankind went on an alien-extermination campaign. Many xenos species were wiped out and their worlds colonized by humanity. Humanity had some sort of relations with the Eldar during this time, and also mentioned Orks (undoubtedly meaning wars with them). Today, often invasions by lesser alien races on "Imperial" worlds are just attempts to reclaim their lost homelands -A few new Xenos seem to be mentioned. The Zygo live on Camgia have successfully fought off Imperial invasions for the last 500 years, The Dracolith, an emerging alien empire mentioned in 5th edition, are described as being chrystalline beings. There's a big picture with an illustrtion of lots of interesting-looking minor Xenos races. However none are identified by name. Frustrating. -At one point, an Ork Warboss known as "The Beast" seemed to have united the Ork race (or at least most of it) and nearly took over the galaxy in an "apocalyptic greenskin uprising". This was during the Age of Imperium and is described as one of its darkest hours. -Dark Eldar don't just seem to not use Farseers and Warlocks and what have you, they are stated to not be psychic altogether. No explanation as to how this difference from Craftworld Eldar took place. -Tyranid Hive Fleets encountered are described as consisting of millions of Bio-ships each with millions of Tyranids on board. So it seems that Hive Fleets can easily approach the trillions figure in size. -Tyranids fight with each other now. Hive Fleets compete with each other and clash over food on planets. The Hive Mind is still stated to be directing the overall Tyranid race regardless of this, this is probably the stupidest thing in the Codex. -The Tyranid Hive Fleets seen so far are just a splinter of the 1 furthest tendril of the main Tyranid invasion force in the galactic void. -The section on Chaos is entitled "The Greatest Threat". They get a lot of fluff dedicated to them, Chaos as a whole has a level of fluff coverage (almost 20 pages) only the Imperium surpasses in page amount. Hyperbole, or is GW making Chaos out to be the big baddie again? With downgrading the Tyranids to fighting one another, who knows. -Chaos is definetly displayed in a more united fashion of CSM, Daemons, and heretics working towards a common goal. CSM/Daemon/Cultist fluff is all intermingled together and their models showcase are intertwined together under the title "The Great Enemy" -Non-Marine Chaos followers have their own section of fluff (though it says what we already know), preparation for GW to give the Lost and the Damned a greater role in the future perhaps. -The actions of the battles between the 4 Chaos Gods in the Warp directly effects the Materium in a more material fashion. For instance, if Nurgle is doing well in the war before he is inevitably pushed back, there will be rampant plague in the galaxy. -A funny tidbit about Alpha Legion taking over Imperial communications outposts and sending false reports for decades at a time (not relevant, just found it funny...) -Abaddon's Black Crusades are described more as repeated blows to the Imperium to gradually weaken it and as part of a greater plan, rather then 13 separate attempts to march on Terra. None of the Black Crusades are described even as failures. GW trying to end the stereotype of Faildabbon I take it.
On a separate note, the Dark Angels seem to take center stage here. They have cover art, back art, and the intro art for the Space Marine section.
What strikes me the most is that 6th edition seems to have taken a step back from the insanity of 5th edition, and is more in line with 4th. The Spess Mahreens aren't as Ultramarine focused as Matt Ward would like you to believe, and a lot of the more EXTREME DARKNESS has been reigned in.
It's still the end times, no doubt, but unlike how utterly bleak 5th edition was, there seems to be an undercurrent of hope. The Imperium is no longer a lost cause. Rather, it sits on the brink. It can either topple, or it can get back on its feet and make a better future. I love it.
While extreme darkness for the sake of darkness is its own sort of humor, I enjoy tempering that with optimism. You want to see your faction win. Instead of everyone beating each other to a pulp before getting stomped by the Tyranids, they have clear goals in mind that stretch beyond "kill everybody who's not us."
It gives you a sense that even in all the madness, there is something worth fighting for.
Thoughts? Do you like the direction that 6th edition is going, with the more heroic and slightly less broken Imperium?
Seems pretty cool, all the, "Humanity is doomed," stuff seemed to make everything a bit pointless, although this bit
The Tyranid Hive Fleets seen so far are just a splinter of the 1 furthest tendril of the main Tyranid invasion force in the galactic void.
doesn't exactly bode well for the future.
I hope the Dark Angels are taking centre stage as well, they're my favourites, much more interesting than the Ultramarines (or Generomarines, as I think of them).
*meh* I in't bothered much... though that Tyranid Hive Mind over-control thing-y seems dumb... (Tyranids competing for resources seems a competent enough premise, though).
Still, why were they contemplating getting rid of the Sisters of Silence... I really wanted to see them as a 0-1 Elite unit at some point...
DJjaffacake: much more interesting than the Ultramarines (or Generomarines, as I think of them).
Dark Angels? Dark Angels everywhere?! Dear lord...I must go to the attic! Some poor kid's going to wander into the shop with all these new plastic/Finecast shit and be blown away by my 2nd Edition DA's! Must...make...it...known...I...liked...Dark Angels...before...they...were cool...
SckizoBoy: *meh* I in't bothered much... though that Tyranid Hive Mind over-control thing-y seems dumb... (Tyranids competing for resources seems a competent enough premise, though).
Still, why were they contemplating getting rid of the Sisters of Silence... I really wanted to see them as a 0-1 Elite unit at some point...
DJjaffacake: much more interesting than the Ultramarines (or Generomarines, as I think of them).
'smurfs'... they're called 'smurfs'...(!) -_-
When you consider Tyranid vs Tyranid, it makes sense from a Darwinism standpoint. Whichever Hive Fleet wins won because they were stronger. Any losses they take will be automatically replenished, since the losing Hive Fleet will be assimilated. So the stronger wins, and gains all the experience and biomass from the loser, making the fleet even deadlier.
I don't care how GW spins it, all 13 Black Crusades were utter failures that accomplished zilch and Abaddon is a seriously moronic Chaos Commander. Even when they had the place served up to them in a silver platter during the Gothic War they still got their arses kicked by the awesomeness of the Imperium.
As far as the rest, I like some things and dislike others. I like that the Hrud are getting more spotlight, but I doubt they'll be the next xeno race. That would put 40K one step closer to Fantasy, since Hrud are space Skaven.
And I still find it kind of weird that the Deathwatch is considered an Ordo Militant. I mean yes, they are seconded to the Ordo Xenos and all, but they've never fielded anything bigger than a couple of Kill Teams at a time.
Well, yes, I've read the book and I do like the fluff changes. But I'm a necron player, I was hoping that they would kill the emperor and do it so the factions think more like "warlords" that have to protect their own territory. You know... Progress the storyline.
GW will never kill off Emps, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot since there's no way for the Imperium to survive as it stands without him, and that's not good for sales.
Nouw: The question is, have they fired Matt Ward yet?
No, but it seems that they put a muzzle on him at least. Dark Angels are way more interesting than Smurfs, even if they did hide their primarch in the asteroid cellar.
Honestly, as a person who likes to read and discovered warhammer 40k fiction not so long ago, it both excites and terrifies me that there is so much of this going over my head.
It excites me because I will not be getting through these books anytime soon. For certain. Perhaps never. Unless I become a millionare, in which case I will have a black library in my mansion.
It terrifies me because it is evident that some of it is terrible, and at the price of books nowadays, eventually I stand to lose a lot from it. I mean seriously, matt ward? The tau and the ultramarines...I don't even know that much about 40K, and even I know that is just dumb. Beyond all belief.
At least I know Dan Abnett can never fail me.
Little side note/question here for all the people saying to finally kill the emperor, isn't he kinda part of the established way of warp travel/navigation? Effectively, without a similiarly psychically gifted person to replace him (and I'm not even sure that would suffice), wouldn't the entire empire be instantly reduced to holding their ground on whatever planet they end up stranded on? I mean, that could be an exciting direction, but surely, with such a disadvantage, chaos could literally take over planets one by one as they could access reinforcements/resupplies while the imperial forces would eventually run out. The empire's only choice would be, afforementioned moronic allience with tau, and nobody wants that.
Of course, I'm kinda a newb at this, so please don't be offended if I'm wrong.
THERE CANNOT BE HOPE, THERE CAN BE ONLY WAR, I WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO TEMPER RIDICULOUS NON-STOP APATHY-INDUCING GRIMDARKNESS WITH SUCH INTERESTING THINGS AS "HOPE"
They mentioned some of it in the tau codex for 4th edition (or was it 3rd?)
only in a fluff piece when an ultramar captain was being given a tour of a tau training facility and he mentions they would make admiral brothers or some such.
THERE CANNOT BE HOPE, THERE CAN BE ONLY WAR, I WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO TEMPER RIDICULOUS NON-STOP APATHY-INDUCING GRIMDARKNESS WITH SUCH INTERESTING THINGS AS "HOPE"
Dammit Kharn, go back and eat your Khorne Flakes. Still, he's a pretty cool guy.
Before he was beaten to a pulp by Horus, the Emperor was working on connecting the Golden Throne to the Eldar Webway, effectively using their channels to bypass the Warp's currents. However, I believe Magnus the Red screwed it up somehow, so the portal didn't work properly.
I've always placed my money on Jagahatai Khan shall find a way to finish the connection between the Webway and the Throne, returning to the material Realm.
They mentioned some of it in the tau codex for 4th edition (or was it 3rd?)
only in a fluff piece when an ultramar captain was being given a tour of a tau training facility and he mentions they would make admiral brothers or some such.
I think the main reason behind the Ultramarines more neutral attitude towards the Tau is because of their space technology. They can avoid the perils of the Warp, and though their ships travel slower, they don't end up traveling through time.
With the Golden Throne potentially breaking down, they're looking for alternative mehods of faster than light travel.
Soviet Heavy: I think the main reason behind the Ultramarines more neutral attitude towards the Tau is because of their space technology. They can avoid the perils of the Warp, and though their ships travel slower, they don't end up traveling through time.
With the Golden Throne potentially breaking down, they're looking for alternative mehods of faster than light travel.
That and asking the blue aliens with really nice guns to shoot Tyranids instead of them makes for quite the occasional teamup.
Soviet Heavy: I think the main reason behind the Ultramarines more neutral attitude towards the Tau is because of their space technology. They can avoid the perils of the Warp, and though their ships travel slower, they don't end up traveling through time.
With the Golden Throne potentially breaking down, they're looking for alternative mehods of faster than light travel.
That and asking the blue aliens with really nice guns to shoot Tyranids instead of them makes for quite the occasional teamup.
The only reason that the Black Templars and Tau didn't tear each other to pieces at Damocles was because Hive Fleet Behemoth was bearing down on the Gulf. And then the Tau did pretty much tear the Tyranids to shreds.
at $125 for a rule book and $70+ for 10 models there is no hope on my end. yay for living in australia and GW blocking any 3rd party stockist shipping to us.
-Abaddon's Black Crusades are described more as repeated blows to the Imperium to gradually weaken it and as part of a greater plan, rather then 13 separate attempts to march on Terra. None of the Black Crusades are described even as failures. GW trying to end the stereotype of Faildabbon I take it.
Oh please.
Lord Steve Blum the Inheritor needs to shove a power sword up that guys ass.
Soviet Heavy: I think the main reason behind the Ultramarines more neutral attitude towards the Tau is because of their space technology. They can avoid the perils of the Warp, and though their ships travel slower, they don't end up traveling through time.
With the Golden Throne potentially breaking down, they're looking for alternative mehods of faster than light travel.
That and asking the blue aliens with really nice guns to shoot Tyranids instead of them makes for quite the occasional teamup.
The only reason that the Black Templars and Tau didn't tear each other to pieces at Damocles was because Hive Fleet Behemoth was bearing down on the Gulf. And then the Tau did pretty much tear the Tyranids to shreds.
WAIT! I know the real reason why the Ultramarines and Tau agree to work together. They're both BLUE.
Xpwn3ntial: That and asking the blue aliens with really nice guns to shoot Tyranids instead of them makes for quite the occasional teamup.
The only reason that the Black Templars and Tau didn't tear each other to pieces at Damocles was because Hive Fleet Behemoth was bearing down on the Gulf. And then the Tau did pretty much tear the Tyranids to shreds.
WAIT! I know the real reason why the Ultramarines and Tau agree to work together. They're both BLUE.
Would you like your Smurfs as Catholic Space Nazis, or as Weeaboo Space Communists?
"-Tyranids fight with each other now. Hive Fleets compete with each other and clash over food on planets. The Hive Mind is still stated to be directing the overall Tyranid race regardless of this, this is probably the stupidest thing in the Codex."
Yeah that's pretty stupid, if they're still connected to the hivemind then they know they're of the same species and are buddies, the best thing probably to do would be for one to consume the other for it's genetic material so instead of 2 fleets you get one superfleet. The only time I've ever seen nids killing nids is when in Dawn of War 2 you kill a creature with a synapse link, then they become feral and suddenly it's every nid for his/her/itself.
The only reason that the Black Templars and Tau didn't tear each other to pieces at Damocles was because Hive Fleet Behemoth was bearing down on the Gulf. And then the Tau did pretty much tear the Tyranids to shreds.
WAIT! I know the real reason why the Ultramarines and Tau agree to work together. They're both BLUE.
Would you like your Smurfs as Catholic Space Nazis, or as Weeaboo Space Communists?
Space commies anyday
"It saddens me greatly that we must take arms against the peoples of the galaxy. By their deaths, they deny themselves the liberation that is only to be found in total surrender to the Greater Good." Tau 4th ed quote
While I'll always follow the fluff since Ive been a big 40k nerd for over 10 years, and continue to find it an awesome universe, I will simply not support a company with the business practices of GW.
Fuck them, yearly price increases, lowering the number of models in each box (particularly frustrating for swarm armies orks/nids etc) and the overall worst thing they could and can do, their total silence on the subject. No reason or attempt to give a reason is made by Games Workshop as to why they have increased prices every year by an average of 10% for at least the past 5-6 years. If they were to point out that the increases were a knock on from increased costs of production or another issue, then maybe my hate for them would be held back. But since they give no explanation and just keep upping the prices, Fuck 'Em.
Some cool fluff developments in 6th edition though.
Little side note/question here for all the people saying to finally kill the emperor, isn't he kinda part of the established way of warp travel/navigation? Effectively, without a similiarly psychically gifted person to replace him (and I'm not even sure that would suffice), wouldn't the entire empire be instantly reduced to holding their ground on whatever planet they end up stranded on? I mean, that could be an exciting direction, but surely, with such a disadvantage, chaos could literally take over planets one by one as they could access reinforcements/resupplies while the imperial forces would eventually run out. The empire's only choice would be, afforementioned moronic allience with tau, and nobody wants that.
His soul/spirit/psychic force/whatever acts as the North Star of space, yes.
But. The theory is that if the Emperor dies, he'll be reborn in the Warp as an actual God, kicking the Chaos Gods' arses, et cetera et cetera the Imperium of Mankind wins all of space. Or, he dies and all is lost.
"Tyranids fight with each other now. Hive Fleets compete with each other and clash over food on planets. The Hive Mind is still stated to be directing the overall Tyranid race regardless of this, this is probably the stupidest thing in the Codex."
This had been addressed in the previous Tyranid Codex. Their infighting is in no way "stupidest thing in the codex". They fight and compete with one another to find the strongest genes and mutations - the "defeated" fleet is consumed by the winner and ALL the biomass is used to improve the Tyranid species as a whole. Tyranids do not waste their own - they eat and re-purpose them in an improved form. 'Nids suffer no losses from such "war". It's more akin to bio research, as nothing is lost, but a lot is gained, in exchange for time. Survival of the fittest for the benefit of all Tyranids. While other races kill each other, 'Nids just keep growing better and better. Makes me wish that GW did not alter the fluff for the C'Tan - having "The Outsider" as a potential Great Hive Mind was sooo neat.
In regards to Tau, I've read somewhere previously that GW introduced the idea that Emperor was searching for aliens that are immune to Chaos influence, and imparted onto Astartes to continue the search. Tau are these aliens. Now the Marines are protecting them, as they are the mankind's hope to push back the Ruinous Powers back into the Warp and seal them there.
Hope is good. I'm actually in the middle of building an army that is the herald of Emperor's return, composed of Custodes and the Terran guard(Allie rules FTW). Oh and an Avatar of "The Man" himself. Great Crusade II: the Sequel :D
Nouw: The question is, have they fired Matt Ward yet?
No, but it seems that they put a muzzle on him at least. Dark Angels are way more interesting than Smurfs, even if they did hide their primarch in the asteroid cellar.
Oh praise the God Emperor! Seriously, this is why erratic fanboys should never be allowed to write canon fluff.
Little side note/question here for all the people saying to finally kill the emperor, isn't he kinda part of the established way of warp travel/navigation? Effectively, without a similiarly psychically gifted person to replace him (and I'm not even sure that would suffice), wouldn't the entire empire be instantly reduced to holding their ground on whatever planet they end up stranded on? I mean, that could be an exciting direction, but surely, with such a disadvantage, chaos could literally take over planets one by one as they could access reinforcements/resupplies while the imperial forces would eventually run out. The empire's only choice would be, afforementioned moronic allience with tau, and nobody wants that.
His soul/spirit/psychic force/whatever acts as the North Star of space, yes.
But. The theory is that if the Emperor dies, he'll be reborn in the Warp as an actual God, kicking the Chaos Gods' arses, et cetera et cetera the Imperium of Mankind wins all of space. Or, he dies and all is lost.
Meh. The Tau can whip Chaos ass any day, plus they don't have to travel through the warp so even if the emperor dies it wont affect them in the slightest.
Smurfs and Tau teamed up for unexplained reasons? Sounds like usual Tau fluff to me. Half explained nonsense while the Imperium and Chaos get all the face time. Fuck that.
I could only skim through that, but Tau and Ultramarines are allied? Lolwut!? Seems like something that, even if it was tolerated by those in power, would cause a huge schism in the Imperium.
Nouw: The question is, have they fired Matt Ward yet?
No, but it seems that they put a muzzle on him at least. Dark Angels are way more interesting than Smurfs, even if they did hide their primarch in the asteroid cellar.
Oh praise the God Emperor! Seriously, this is why erratic fanboys should never be allowed to write canon fluff.
And that my friends is the TRUE undercurrent of hope in the 40k universe, a universe free of his fluff.
For those that don't know, 6th Edition of Warhammer 40000's rulebooks has started to ship out, and according to the early release owners, while the fluff has not changed dramatically in terms of content, tone certainly seems to be changed.
Here is a list I found on the DakkaDakka forums relating to certain Fluff changes and revisions.
What strikes me the most is that 6th edition seems to have taken a step back from the insanity of 5th edition, and is more in line with 4th. The Spess Mahreens aren't as Ultramarine focused as Matt Ward would like you to believe, and a lot of the more EXTREME DARKNESS has been reigned in.
It's still the end times, no doubt, but unlike how utterly bleak 5th edition was, there seems to be an undercurrent of hope. The Imperium is no longer a lost cause. Rather, it sits on the brink. It can either topple, or it can get back on its feet and make a better future. I love it.
While extreme darkness for the sake of darkness is its own sort of humor, I enjoy tempering that with optimism. You want to see your faction win. Instead of everyone beating each other to a pulp before getting stomped by the Tyranids, they have clear goals in mind that stretch beyond "kill everybody who's not us."
It gives you a sense that even in all the madness, there is something worth fighting for.
Thoughts? Do you like the direction that 6th edition is going, with the more heroic and slightly less broken Imperium?