Games Workshop just pulled the Primaris wool over Sigmar’s Eyes, as it looks like all the old Stormcasts are moving to Legends.
It looks like it’s time for the Space Marines of AoS to cross the Rubicon Primaris! GW just moved tons of older Stormcast models to Legends (not necessarily the rules), and it feels oddly reminiscent of what has been happening to the Firstborn Space Marines for years.
The Age of Primaris Stormcasts is Here
The age of Stormcast Firstborn is over; the time of the Primaris, er Thunderstrike, has come!
GW announced that tons of units will be moving to Legends as they will either be gone from the game or totally reworked. We already saw this as the Liberator, which was the first model shown off for 4th Edition AoS. You will still be able to use the old models, but GW is going to remove the chunky look of the older Stormcast models and replace them with sleeker alternatives.
Then, just like the Space Marines, the older heroes are probably just going by the wayside to be replaced with new shiny toys. Games Workshop just moved them out much more slowly, but Stormcasts seem to be getting the treatment in one fell swoop.
You can only make so many new units for Stormcast (or any army). Instead of expanding the line further, GW seems to be dipping into its bag of tricks and reworking them all into Thunderstrike armor variants. The new version of Primaris is Thunderstrike!
Gone are the days of normal armor; it’s time to reach back into the wallet and grab the new armor variants. If Games Workshop’s history is any indicator, it was bound to happen at some point. Plus, it is most likely to happen again in some form or another. Perhaps something even as simple as we saw with the Titanicus and Aeronautica minis getting folded into a whole new game (Legions Imperialis).
GW Reveals First New AoS Model For 4th Edition
Here is the latest on the first model for 4th Edition AoS from Warhammer Community.
We’ll see plenty from the Ruination Chambers shortly – but these grim heroes aren’t the only ones heading into the warpstone-poisoned depths of Blight City. They are joined by ranks of bold Liberators – stalwarts of Sigmar’s cause from the very first days of the Realmgate Wars.
Clad in gleaming sigmarite armour, Liberators are the backbone of the Stormhosts. They fight with stout shields and crushing warhammers, rebuffing incoming blows before launching a bone-shattering counterattack.
The Liberators are getting a rework in this edition with a much sleeker look. GW is trying to push them out of the chunkier armor into this new style, just like they did with the Vindicators.
This new Liberator wears the sleek thunderstrike armour first seen on the spear-wielding Vindictors from the Dominion box. First crafted by the smith-god Grungni to help Stormcast souls punch through the Cursed Skies conjured by Be’lakor, more and more of Sigmar’s warriors have been Reforged with this mighty armour as fighting across the realms intensifies.
If you really loved that CHONKY look from 2015 until now, you had better get them sooner rather than later. From the looks of this, the new Liberator style will replace the old designs quickly once 4th Edition drops. Just like the upgrade from Firstborn to Primaris, this new Liberator does look great, and it gives us a look into what we can expect in 4th Edition!
New Stormcast Liberators Unit
Games Workshop went on to reveal the whole Liberators unit on social media and also previewed their new rules and how Warscrolls are changing in a Warhammer Community Article.
Let’s look back at the latest cull of Space Marine Firstborn models.
GW Liquidates More Space Marines Models to Legends:
There’s some departing units, like the Thunderfire Cannon or Land Speeder, that won’t have an appropriate analogue in the new Codex – but their rules will just shift to Warhammer Legends and will be free to download here on Warhammer Community. This means you can keep using them in all your games, with the exception of competitive Warhammer 40,000 events like tournaments. In most cases, these rules will be similar (if not identical) to the ones in the recent Index deck.
This was the latest of about eight rounds of moving Firstborn to Legends for Space Marines. So, it’s nothing new to see tons and tons of models leaving and giving way to new sculpts and Primaris figures.
If a unit didn’t have an appropriate proxy, it would just be moved to Legends with similar rules to what they have now. Either way, it’s sad to see something like the Landspeeder removed from the active product lineup.
It seems that the Age of Primaris Stormcasts has arrived, with GW moving tons of older Stormcast models to Legends and replacing them with sleeker alternatives. This move is reminiscent of what has been happening to the Firstborn Space Marines for years. It’s also probably that if a model is an older Space Marine or Stormcast, it doesn’t have much time left either…
All the Latest Warhammer Rules & Model Rumors
What do you think about the Thunderstrike takeover for Stormcast?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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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.
