First price hikes, then NERFS and points increase for days. Forge World hasn’t made it easy for hobbyists in the last 3 years. That may change soon.
If you haven’t already heard, GW announced that a new set of books is coming with updated 40k rules for 8th edition. Largely, almost all of their Forge World 40k compatible units either weren’t being used at all, or everyone was/is spamming them because there was an exploit.
Hi, I’m a Chaplain Dreadnought, but also represent the Custodes Caladius Tank, Artemis Pattern Hellhound, Maelific Psyker, Fire Raptor, Earthshaker platform, Rough Riders, Xiphon Interceptor, Y’verra suit- just to name a few.
To their credit after years of having units with rules on polar opposite ends of the spectrum, Games Workshop saw that a change was needed.
The Official Word From GW
Since the release of the Forge World indexes a couple of years ago, Warhammer 40,000 has changed a lot. While the indexes were a great reference resource, we want to give you something even better – which is why the Warhammer 40,000 studio embarked on a project to bring you a series of all-new books with updated rules for these units and armies.
The Warhammer 40,000 Studio – those industrious people behind rulebooks, codexes and expansions like the Psychic Awakening books – are hard at work on a new series of tomes that will cover the range of Warhammer 40,000 miniatures Forge World produce. These books will include updated datasheets and army rules that give these glorious models abilities and benefits that are comparable to the rest of the forces in the game.
As far as we can tell, only the RULES will be changing. That means we may see the current points cost sit at where they currently are and have rules added or taken away to create for more playability/fairness.
To their credit as well, GW has also said that the rules making for Forge World units was going back to the main studio as well that handles 40k at large.
Forge World Units Sit on Polar Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
Currently, there are some units from Forge World that are so bad, it makes you think that they copy and pasted rules from another edition into their datasheets. Rules for the Death Korps of Krieg, for example. The models are beautiful, but nobody plays them. Why? Because preventing total morale failures across your entire army is leagues weaker than the Cadian reroll 1’s. Thier rules are also split between the IA: Imperial Guard book and a ton of FAQs as well, which is super unfortunate.
Another absurdly horrible unit as an example is the Relic Falchion. This thing is a twin volcano cannon on T9 tracks. It’s t9 and gets 2D6 shots that do 2D6 damage each. (You might think this is a monster, but it isn’t). At a whopping 1100 pts, it’s way too expensive and doesn’t even have an invuln save. And you know something as big as that rolling into a 2,000 pt game is going to draw ALL of the anti-armor firepower.
You can easily get roughly the same amount of firepower and more damage output from something like a Castellan + another Knight.
Then, on the other end of the spectrum, you have units that are incredibly cost-efficient. So much so, that the meta revolves around them for a time and nearly half the lists spam them. For example, we saw triple Death Guard Leviathan lists out there because they were able to unleash a hailstorm of S8 firepower that could topple a Knight, and came with what some would argue as “better than Knight stats” for fewer points (which did get corrected some).
Plus, with the Iron Hands in the meta, a Leviathan in that army is probably the most abused unit. Iron Hands can make it so a single Leviathan is in every sense of the word, immortal. All while dumping twenty S7 shots downrange on a 2+ each turn.
What we’re getting at is Forge World unit rules are either hot steamy trash or so abusable, that’s all you ever see.
An Honest Letter to GW: Don’t Screw This Up.
It’s obvious that something needs to be fixed. But with Forge World prices being notoriously high and only keep increasing, they really can’t screw this one up. After TWO big price hikes since 2017, they teeter on the edge of nobody being able to afford nor wanting to purchase their product (in our opinion).
If it’s true that only the rules will be touched on for 40k 8th edition, then all of the Horus Heresy players should feel safe. But with that said, 40k fans may be a little nervous as the past three years of Forge World play has been tumultuous at best…
those industrious people behind rulebooks, codexes and expansions like the Psychic Awakening books – are hard at work on a new series of tomes that will cover the range of Warhammer 40,000 miniatures Forge World produce.
So while its good that the GW studio is on the case now instead of Forge World, as we have seen with the Space Marine books recently even they have struggled as well.
For example, one of the biggest nerfs we saw hit the Salamanders codex. At their release, they had a Stratagem that could cause a mortal wound for every wound roll of a 4+ in addition to normal damage. That meant that for 1CP, you could easily do 20 mortal wounds to a unit with something like Aggressors. Amazingly, nobody caught that wording error and nerfed it to a max of 3 mortal wounds with the Stratagem.
Keep in mind, this has just been one look at the fixes that have had to take place for every single release since the new Space Marine codex. And they’ve all come within a week of the book hitting the shelf.
All we saying is that hopefully, GW will take their time with this one and get the rules done right. Nothing says feels bads like spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on ONE model (not to mention the hobby love required for said model) just to have it NERFED overnight.
These are our models GW, give us a reason to actually play with them again.
What do you think about the coming rules change for 40k Forge World units? Which units are you most excited to use?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
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 Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 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 Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
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.
