Although Games Workshop’s most recent release roadmap for Warhammer 40k was desperately light on details, there is some good evidence about what fans should expect in 2025. The short version – we expect to see new tanks, and lots of them. Here’s why.
During the Nova Open preview at the end of August, Games Workshop confirmed that the Death Korps of Krieg – one of the many regiments that make up the Astra Militarum Warhammer 40k faction – would receive a “division of new plastic kits” that would enable players to field a complete “meat-grinding army” in games of Warhammer 40k.
The Death Korps already has an expansive model range, which up until now has been produced in costly Forge World resin. A variety of tank subtypes were released alongside the original Death Korps, including the Mars pattern Leman Russ, the Malcador and its variants, the Crassus Armored Assault Transport and Praetor Armoed Assault launcher.
Games Workshop does have precedent for leaving some Forge World models in the dust when it renovates a Warhammer 40k army. The recent expansion of the Kroot could have adapted the old Forge World Gnarloc Rider models, but instead added new Krootox Rampager cavalry. So it’s not given that any specific Krieg kit will be converted.
But there are good reasons to think the tanks will make the leap to plastic. There are already plastic kits for the Mars Pattern Leman Russ and variants, and the basic Malcador, for the Horus Heresy Solar Auxilia army.
In the roadmap for the Horus Heresy that Games Workshop revealed at the Nova Open, it promised there would be a lot of new tanks coming for the game. The new plastic Malcador kit has a modular design, and could easily be converted into the anti-tank Valdor or mobile bunker Defender variants with just one new sprue.
Forge World’s stock levels also tell a tale. The firm runs down the stock on models it does not plan to keep producing. All of the Death Korps range (except the Hades Breaching Drill and the Cyclops Demolition Vehicle) is currently marked “Sold Out Online” on the UK webstore – meaning the product will not go back on sale. That’s just what we expect to see in the run up to the launch of replacement plastic miniatures.
Alongside the Krieg infantry and artillery, many Forge World tanks have been marked “Sold Out Online”: the Carnadon Battle Tank, Praetor Armored Assault Launcher, Crassus Armored Assault Transport, the Death Korps’ Mars Alpha Pattern Leman Russ, Valdor Tank Hunter, Malcador Defender, and Minotaur Artillery Tank.
All told, we’ve got high hopes that many, if not all of these kits will make the leap to plastic. Games Workshop has spent two years converting most of the Forge World Space Marines vehicles from resin to plastic, and the innumerable armored vehicles of the Guard – whether the Heresy era Solar Auxilia, or modern Death Korps – seems like an obvious next step.
If you’re a devoted son or daughter of Krieg, make sure you check out this interview with the staff officer of a Death Korps cosplay regiment!
Source: Wargamer
