GW said they plan on moving some Firstborn Space Marines to Legends, plus new product rotations, updates, and new 10th Edition 40k release rumors!
Ever since the release of Primaris Marines, people more or less assumed they were going to slowly rotate out the Firstborn models. However, with some of the more recent Q&As at Warhammer Fest, GW has been a little more candid about what their plans are for the range, how they are going to rotate models out, and some plans for 10th Edition Warhammer 40k.
With the newer codexes, we have seen some models rotate out (like Yarrick), and in 10th Edition, we might see this way more.
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RUMORS: Firstborn Going to Legends, Product Rotations & 10th Edition 40k Releases
This comes from GW’s Warhammer Fest Q&A via Valdrana published by Auspex Tactics. It also mirrors some of what we had heard from attendees at the show.
Well, let’s start at the beginning. Primaris were introduced at the start of 8th Edition, and ever since then, people have been concerned that their collection would become unplayable, and understandably so. This was a pretty unsubtle way to revamp the line.
However, GW has kept around Firstborn up until now and seems to be intent phasing them out much slower via rotations and moves Legends, than we expected.
Moving through 9th Edition, we really only saw Primaris releases with a few small characters here and there that are still Firstborn. While they haven’t had direct replacements (such as a devastator squad of Primaris with the exact weapons), almost every character sculpt has gone Primaris.
Even though there are no direct replacements, things are about as close as you can get, such as Outriders, Eradicators, and ATVs. Even the Horus Heresy Marines were upscaled, so pretty interesting. Still, throughout 9th Edition, we never saw a mass extinction, Thanos Snap, Order 66, or whatever you want to call it, of Firstborn units.
Now, let’s move into what may be happening with 10th Edition.
Firstborn Space Marines Product Rotation:
Before we go further, there has already been a fairly recent rotation of the Firstborn; this is what GW calls their last chance to buy list.
Some of the more recent ones you can see above and below:
GW didn’t say much about it when it was happening other than these models were leaving their webstore. If you look, they are all Firstborn models, and we assume the ones that were not selling well. So while GW didn’t say much about rotation, it’s already happened a few times.
Some of these went Primaris, but there are a lot of characters going away, and we would be surprised to see them in the 10th Edition codex books. Based on the Q&A, we would expect the characters or units above to move to Legends in 10th Edition.
However, this isn’t just with Marines; GW does this with every faction to eliminate characters and models that don’t sell. Every once in a while, they do throw these back up for sale as Made to Order, but they are gone from the main line and not fully supported any longer.
The newer codex books have been doing this, too, rotating out older minis and taking away datasheets. We just haven’t seen a ton of these more recent style books yet, but so far, each has taken some older models out of existence more or less.
Now onto the Q&A.
Games Workshop Q&A: Warhammer Fest 2023
So, from the looks of it, GW will keep the slow rotation going with models that do not sell, are too old, or no longer fit the setting. However, if something has not been selling well, we don’t expect GW will hesitate to take it out quickly. However, they did mention some kits are very safe, including the Firstborn Tactical Marines, as they are a fairly new kit (2013) and do still sell decently well.
Chapter-specific characters have already been hit, so we expect them to keep rotating out or over to Primaris. Overall it seems like maybe GW will rotate out the Firstborn throughout 10th and into 11th edition over to Legends.
Next up, the new Terminators do show us don’t all have to be “Primaris”; they can just update the size of a model to fit the new range. As above, this could be perfect for things like drop pods, tanks, etc., where they update the size but don’t name it Primaris.
Sort of like the update to the Land Raider and Rhino MKIII kits in the early 2000s.
Next up, the Sternguard kit is the first to directly replace an existing unit. This will most likely mean the Firstborn ones will just be gone, as GW does not seem to be worried now about directly replacing kits.
That could open the door for a ton of kits to also be reworked into Primaris. Also, if the rumored Primaris Jumppack unit does come out, this will be the second kit to directly replace an existing first born box set.
Last but not least (and something we’ve discussed before), GW is more or less taking away the Primaris keyword and just lumping everything together, which also opens the door for units to be replaced or updated with new models.
Instead of changing keywords and such, Games Workshop could, in theory, just replace the unit with a new kit.
So overall, look for big changes in the range of Space Marines moving forward into 10th Edition as Games Workshop makes changes to their product offerings.
Check out the latest Warhammer 40k rumors for the rest of the 9th and even 10th Edition, new releases, and more!
Here’s the most up-to-date list of new Games Workshop bits from preview models that we should watch out for. Click on the gallery above to see dozens of Rumor Engines with new models still to be revealed!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
