Is the future of the Horus Heresy converging with the past of the 40k product line?
I’ve been having a lot of fun playing and painting mainline 40k this summer, but my Warhammer heart ultimately remains in the Age of Darkness. I love the gritty pseudo-historical approach to the 40k universe that the Horus Heresy provides, but I have a suspicion that the future of that game’s setting might converge with the future of the 40k product line in some interesting ways. With the next Space Marine codex for 40k not too far off, I’ve been thinking about what it might tell us about the future of both games.
The Fate of the First Born
When Games Workshop introduced the Primaris Space Marines back in 2017, it was one of the biggest shakeups to 40k since the arrival of the T’au. The Mk VII marine kits were showing their age, and the entire “Primaris Rubicon” was really a way of justifying the wholesale rescaling and reshaped aesthetics of the marine line for the first time in decades.
Since then, the “First Born” marine kits have started to vanish. By the time of the 10th edition Codex: Space Marines, only a handful of these old kits still receive official rules support. It seems like the writing is on the wall for these last units to either disappear completely or get upgraded to Primaris kits, as I recently speculated/hoped.
The truth is, the face of 40k hasn’t been a Mk VII Space Marine for almost a decade! I know, I know. I also feel very old. But I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the classic Mk VII Space Marine, though I think his future lies in the setting’s past.
The Future of Heresy
When the Horus Heresy novel series wrapped up with The End and the Death, Vol. 3, it was truly the end of an era. Almost two decades of world-building and novels culminated in a satisfying trilogy (is it a trilogy? Is it a novel? I don’t know, man. Go ask Dan Abnett to explain the difference). But that wasn’t the end of the novels or the game line, of course.
Some great one-shot Heresy novels have been released since, but most interesting was the arrival of Ashes of the Imperium: The Scouring, Book 1. Author Chris Wraight deftly picks up the story after the Siege of Terra to explore life in the ruins and the shaky, corrupt foundations of the new Imperium. Crucially, this new series is still branded under the Horus Heresy logo, and Games Workshop hinted that game supplements are coming to explore this “historical” era.
So, if “The Scouring” is going to be supported as a sub-game of the Horus Heresy, what can we expect? Well, the current edition of the Horus Heresy is supported by a regular series of “Journals Tactica”, small supplements that explore in detail specific corners of the game and lore. These have been really flavorful and full of fun rules and scenarios so far, so it makes sense that we’ll see the Scouring supported in just this manner.
First Born Reborn
This is where things get interesting for the First Born. The Scouring is the time in 40k’s history that the Codex Astartes is established, the Space Marine legions are broken up into Chapters, and the Imperium begins its long descent into dysfunction and decay. Following the Siege of Terra, the marine legions were badly decimated, and Mark VII power armor became their default suit.
It’s an era of change for the warriors of the Imperium, but for those of us who have been playing 40k for many years, it’s a return to form. When The Scouring becomes supported as a game setting, I imagine we’ll see a new plastic Mk VII Space Marine kit for use both in that era and in the Siege of Terra supplements that are certainly in the future of the Horus Heresy game line. This would be a fantastic opportunity to revamp both the 40k Rhino/Land Raider kits for use in both games.
With the return of the MkVII marine, rescaled for the Heresy, we might see a new Tactical squad in its classic configuration (7 bolter marines, 1 heavy weapon, 1 special weapon, 1 sgt). This product line would open up a way to play “classic” 40k like the Badab War and more as a subset of the Heresy rules and product line.
What’s Next?
The bigger question for me is if we’ll see xenos races start to appear in the Scouring setting. They’re certainly appropriate to the era as the Orks and Aeldari and others begin to prey upon the Imperium in its weakened state. However, that might be diluting the aesthetic and experience of mainline 40k too much for the GW studio, so it’s hard to say.
Whatever may come, I really do hope to see the MkVII marine return, even if it’s in a “historical context. They’re such an iconic part of the history of Warhammer, and they deserve preservation.
Is there an era of 40k’s history you’d like to see in a supplement?
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Simon Berman has been a wargamer since 1993 and has worked in the tabletop games industry since 2008 as a staff writer for the first three editions of WARMACHINE and HORDES. These days he’s the General President of the Brush Wielders Union, a worldwide organization of miniatures painters of all skill levels, a freelance games writer who has contributed to a number of roleplaying games like Eclipse Phase, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and The Hammer and the Stake. He runs his own small-press publishing company, Strix Publishing, and paints more miniatures than he can keep track of. Simon lives with his wife in Tacoma, Washington along with a number of cats and a pack of savage wiener dogs.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
