It is clear that – after the release of 7th Edition – Games Workshop is once again tinkering with the way they release new armies and miniatures. Orks had an unprecedented 5-week run, with another week and a ‘Red Waaagh!’ supplement in the making.
1. Piece of the Puzzle – The Red Waaagh!
The first piece of the puzzle is the upcoming book (?) on the Red Waaagh!.
To me, the announcement came a bit out of nowhere, but that is not actually true. Games Workshop already laid the foundations for the Red Waaagh!, and for the Ork Warboss Grukk, who is featured front and centre in the Red Waaagh!, in the “fluff-book” of Warhammer 40K 7th Edition, Dark Millennium, on page 47.
Warboss Grukk of the Red Waaagh! plows into the densely populated Sanctus Reach.
The Imperium prepares to make a stand upon Alaric Prime, a feudal world of linked archipelagos and crumbling gaols. When a flotilla of Ork rust-ships makes planetfall, the knightly houses of Alaric lead their Cadian allies in a worldwide counter-attack. Warlord Grukk’s bullish tactics take a heavy toll on the human defenders and destroy the Obsidian Glaives Chapter before the legendary Freeblade known as Gerantius joins the conflict, tipping the war into a new desperate phase.
2. Piece of the Puzzle – Space Wolves Rumours
The second part of the puzzle are the increasingly frequent Space Wolves rumours we’ve been hearing of the last 2 months or so. It is almost certain that Space Wolves are the next Warhammer 40K army in line after Orks.
– May 20th –
Orks
Space Wolves
Grey Knights
– May 6th –
“…this will come as no surprise to you after our talk today but I just talked to my sales rep and he told me that their is a new Space Wolf flyer sitting in the warehouse awaiting release right now.
– May 1st –
The next 40k army after Orks will be Space Wolves. Stay tunes for more information on Orks and Space Wolf releases.
3. Piece of the Puzzle – Black Library Releases
With my curiosity piqued, I googled for ‘Sanctus Reach’. What I found was this little gem on Warseer, where somebody appears to own an advanced copy of the Chris Wraight Space Wolves novel Stormcaller, which will be released – according to Amazon – on August 14th.
Soul Hunter at Warseer writes:
Well I just got my copy of Stormcaller in the mail, and regarding new releases I found these in the Coming Soon section;
Sagas of the Wolf by Nick Kyme and Andy Smillie – An audio drama omnibus containing the following audio dramas: Thunder from Fenris, Doomseeker and Deathwolf.
Blood on the Mountain by Ben Counter (A Sanctus Reach novella)
Iceclaw by Ben Counter (A Sanctus Reach audio drama)
No idea what the last two are, but I liked Ben Counter’s Arjac Rockfist novella so i’ll give them a shot so long as they are reasonably priced.
4. Piece of the Puzzle – New Realms of Battle Board
Finally, there were the pictures of the new Citadel Realms of Battle board. The rumours that came with this leaked said the new tiles would be released with a ‘Sanctus Reach’/Planet Strike style of product.
A tile from the new Imperial Sector Realm of Battle board. Looks amazing!
[Release] With in a month. Sanctus Reach(planet Strike Update) will pre-order next week.
Sanctus Reach – Putting It All Together
The theme that runs through all this is the mysterious ‘Sanctus Reach’ location.
- A huge Orks release, ending (and in a way starting with the 7th Edition background book) in a new piece of fluff, and a new Warboss, picking up a fight in the ‘Sanctus Reach‘ region.
- Rumours of Space Wolves being the next 40K release, with Black Library Space Wolves releases branded as ‘Sanctus Reach‘-products.
- A new terrain board and rumours of a Planet Strike update, which may carry the name or be themed around ‘Sanctus Reach‘.
It certainly seems like Games Workshop is rolling out a major piece of new 40K-fluff this summer, which runs through (and ties together?) a whole slew of releases,
- starting from the teasers in the 7th Edition book,
- now Orks,
- as rumours have it some form of Planet Strike and Space Wolves after that,
- and possibly even beyond that.
What does it all mean?
Well, there are many possibilities, and I’d greatly appreciate if you’d drop a comment below and let me know what you think. Is it all just coincidence? A planned summer campaign? What products would you like to see in the ‘Sanctus Reach’-series?
