It finally happened! Games Workshop has pulled their hard-copy Warhammer 40k Indexes from their website. What’s next for those units?
Games Workshop looks to have pulled their hard-copy indexes from their online store. You can still seem to find the hard-copy/epub download for the UK version of the site. That, however, could be because they have most of their product storage overseas, but we specifically looked at the U.S. store for this article.
GW Pulls Indexes From Online Store
If you look at the rules section on their webstore, you’ll find that the only thing for sale, as of this writing, is the most recent Vigilus book, 2018 Chapter Approved, the original rulebook, and a bunch of other epub downloads. The Index books have now all been removed. Remember when some factions got their codex book, thier corresponding index section actually had more unit options with some units being excluded from the new codex!
So What Do We Do Now?
Remember there are still viable options to be found in the codex books. After the first big FAQ dropped in November of 2017, GW came out and gave us this flowchart on how you can field units where there is datasheet conflict.
Now as the books have disappeared completely GW has been issuing the following replies to email questions regarding the disappearance of their Indexes:
The Warhammer Community Post they are referring to can be found here and references the first codex releases versus the index units in July of 2017.
Is my index invalid now?
Not at all. Even with the pace, we’re planning on releases these new codexes, it’s going to take well over a year to get to all of them. No single codex will cover all the contents of an index book, so you’ll get plenty of use out of all your indexes, don’t worry.
The last link refers players to the flowchart we posted above, which seems to provide a more current solution to the situation. The second message seems to also indicate the validity of the rules for models not updated in Codex books as well.
It may be worth noting that with GW publishing “all the codexes for armies”, it’s unclear if Ynnari is still left to get a book of their own. Thier rules were from one of the Xenos Indexes. While they did get updates in Chapter Approved, you in theory still need the index to play them.
The problem going forward for some players may be actually obtaining the index rules to play with. If GW doesn’t plan on reprinting these books, perhaps they can put out a PDF for each of these Index books featuring the rules from them that are still valid for new and existing players.
Do you still use units from the index books? How do you think these books being discontinued will affect players going forward?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at the Las Vegas Open, each of which attracts thousands of players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the 2011 Adepticon 40k Team Tournament. He was even featured for his painting in issue #304 of Games Workshop’s White Dwarf Magazine.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
