So now that GW is open, we have some ideas of what new Warhammer releases we could see in May. There are a lot of angles here so grab your tinfoil hats and salt shakers!
There are a lot of angles here so grab your tinfoil hats and salt shakers as there are our best guess for just how May might go…
New GW Releases We Could See in May: RUMORS
We’ve still got releases on the way from previews back as far as February, like the LVO, GAMA, and the 3 three mostly back-to-back online previews. In other words, we’ve seen more stuff that’s on the way than ever before with no crystal clear picture of when it’ll all hit the shelves due to the crisis.
But with Games Workshop’s online webstore opening up, it’s given everyone a little hope that May might have some new releases in store.
Check out our best guesses for what we think May will hold…
May 9th- A 4th Online Preview?
They didn’t explicitly mention a 4th online preview. But if you hung around to the last few minutes of their live stream of the 3rd preview, the WHC team had a certain tone that made it sound like we’d be seeing even more ahead. With that said, we know that Pariah is looking to be huge with four new characters previewed in the teaser video. We might be seeing more on that and whether or not there will be a Box Set that drops with the expansion.
It’s also worth noting that any time we’ve seen two characters hit as a part of Psychic Awakening, there’s always been a Box Set involved. Plus there was also supposed to be another preview at May 2nd’s Warhammer Fest last weekend.
May 16th- Lumineth Realm-Lords Army Box
The Lumineth Realm-Lords are also something big on the radar. As the completely reworked Aelves in Age of Sigmar, they’ve gotten new models left and right on the same level as the Ossiarch Bonereapers when they hit the scene.
But before we see the entire faction’s model line hit the shelves, we might see the Army Box first…
This is a box containing the core rules, a Battletome, three units, warscroll cards (which look redesigned), some dice, and a 3″ measuring stick. If this is anything like the Sisters of Battle Army Set that dropped a few months before their whole faction came out, then we’ll probably see a rough three-month gap from the box’s release to when multipart kits from the faction drop.
That’s all speculation, but we’ve picked up on the pattern from what they did to Sisters in 40k. Be sure to check out the entire Lumineth Realm-Lord model line if you haven’t seen everything already.
Or perhaps we’ll see the sons of Behemat first, anything is possible these days, as both of these new releases have hit Games Workshops warehouses already.
With all things considered, this would be a fairly easy release for GW since they may just dropping a single box (with multiple pose variants) as well as their Battletome, which we’ve seen hit the ports months ago are acre currently in their warehouses.
May 23rd- Engine War
Engine War was supposed to have already been released (as per GW’s a book a month release statement). However, due to changing circumstances, we’re stuck still wondering what the rules on all those dope Ad Mech goodies are.
Pteraxii Sterylizors
Pteraxii Skystalkers
Transvector Archaeopter
Fusilave Archaeopter
Stratoraptor Archaeopter
Skitarii Serberys
Skitarii Sulphurhounds
So far, we don’t know much about Engine War aside from the fact that Ad Mech are getting more new units than anybody else. Looking ahead, we may see this expansion drop nearing the end of May perhaps on Memorial day weekend.
May 30th, War of the Spider
War of the Spider is sizing up to be a huge lore turning point. With Custodes killing traitor Primaris, Assassins hunting down a Chapter Master, and Fabius doing surgery on fallen Custodes all while pissing off the Death Guard by stealing one of their relics, a lot is going on.
You might be thinking that with only a week separating the two Psychic Awakening releases, things might be a little bit awkward. But we’ve seen GW do this in the past with Blood of Baal and Ritual of the Damned back in November into December.
They’ve at least shown us that it’s possible for them to drop two big content boosts into the game only days apart, so it isn’t unhead of…
We Know Bandai Marines Are Still Coming To Some Regions Too
Coming from Alex Carros on Spikey Bits Hobbies, he managed to already get his out of the box weeks before anybody else.
If you’re still waiting on yours, the reason why he might’ve gotten his so early is that he ordered his from a Japanese hobby website. Now don’t get discouraged. If you live in the U.S and ordered yours through regular means, it probably won’t be long before you get yours either.
Bandai Marines Spotted Hitting GW’s Warehouse
Using a little port scrying, it looks like something from Bandai hit US ports two months ago. Plus, the only time we’ve ever heard of Bandai working with Games Workshop is for the Primaris figure and chibis (but those have already been spotted on shelves for sale).
Advertised as only 9,000 made, its unclear if that means just the US/ North American market alone. The numbers may support that conclusion as 897 cartons look to have made their way to the US. It’s unclear though what the carton count is, but assuming it is ten, that would put roughly 9,000 of these models having arrived at the Memphis, TN warehouse.
Why Did We Pick That Order?
Why did we pick that order? -We’re glad you asked!
We should remind you once again, these are just spitballed dates and is more of an “educated guess” than anything. However, it would make sense for GW to release their bigger ticket items like Psychic Awakenings later in the month. That could buy more time for regions in the world to open up once again. As of right now, US customers still can’t order anything off their webstore. Which is rumored to be over 50% of their revenue.
So why would they drop all these big releases back-to-back?
If we had to guess why they would want to throw out their more popular/bigger releases, it’s because the GW fiscal year ends on May 31st. That means that they have whatever they can sell this month to go into their numbers for yearly revenue. But with nearly two months of disrupted sales, they may want to balance the scales a little bit. They could be trying to pull in as much support as they can in their final month. That would also put them back on track for their Q1 fiscal year in June.
GW has already dropped a financial report saying that they’ve been impacted, however, projected to still make £70 million profit by the end of this month.
GW Dominates Stock Market in Early 2020
Looking at their last financial report before the crisis, it looks like their sales have still gone up since then despite the world shutting down for a month or two.
Once again, this has all been our two cents on what we might be seeing this month. However, we can all probably agree that it’s logical to think that GW will try and make the most of the time they have left on their fiscal year!
What do you think we’ll be seeing drop this month? Is there a chance GW puts it all on the backburner and comes out of the gate extra strong in Q1 of their new fiscal year?
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: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
