Games Workshop’s latest cryptic teaser video has us incredibly excited, because it seems to herald the return of one of the coolest Astra Militarum regiments in the Imperium of Man – the Elysian Drop Troops. The short Warhammer 40,000 animation ‘Death from Above’ is only 15 seconds long, and ends by telling us to ‘Look to the Skies’ on August 16.
You may need to turn up the contrast on your screen to see this Warhammer 40k video – it’s incredibly grainy and hard to make out details. However, in our expert opinion, we think it depicts a high-altitude insertion by Elysian Droptroops, a specialised regiment of the Astra Militarum who make near-exclusive use of grav-chutes.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that these are Space Marines, as the small thrusters on these figure’s backs do look similar to jump packs. While the perspective makes it hard to judge, we think these are small thrust pods attached to the back by thin arm bars, and not than the large side-mounted pods seen in Mk V Space Marine jump packs.
We don’t think this is a teaser for a new Warhammer+ animation; GW is currently promoting a new animation anthology called ‘The Tithes’. A Warhammer 40k book from Black Library wouldn’t warrant this kind of advertising. So that means the teaser is advertising new models.
The Astra Militarum hasn’t received an updated Warhammer 40k Codex for 10th edition 40k, which means it will be easy to slip in a new unit. We suspect new Elysian minis will first be available as a Warhammer 40k Kill Team release rather than accompanying a new Codex. GW has been using Kill Team to add new and variant infantry units to Warhammer 40k factions since the current edition launched in 2021.
The Warhammer Community article revealing the trailer is titled “Critical Transmission Incoming from the Chalnath Expanse”: Chalnath was the setting for the the first season of Kill Team back in 2021. The Elysians will be a great narrative fit for Kill Team, as they’re an elite special operations unit that performs dangerous airdrops into enemy territory.
GW’s specialist model-making subsidiary Forge World made a range of resin models for the Elysians, including air-drop capable support weapons and support vehicles, but these were totally discontinued in 2018.
Fortunately, we don’t have long to wait to find out exactly what’s going on here! Make sure you follow Wargamer on Google News to keep up with all the latest on the grim darkness of the 41st millennium.
Source: Wargamer
