More on new Necrons and 9th Edition Warhammer 40k are here, check out the latest rumors, and that big mystery shipment that’s headed to GW.

Rumors posted a few days ago on Bolter and Chainsword mentioned some potential details of what we could with a 9th edition fo 4ok. On top of that, we just saw GW bring in a massive shipment of mystery books that is raising a lot of questions, but remember to take it all with a grain of salt.

First up, let’s talk about these mystery books…

So essentially, we’ve got a shipment of “printed books” without any kind of title that just hit the port. Four different Purchase Orders (PO), seem to indicate that there are four separate book titles that comprise two different shipments from Chinese publisher Artron Art Group.

Now before we jump in head-first, it’s important to know what each abbreviation may mean:

PCS = Quantity

CTNS= Cartons (cases)

PLT = Pallets

PO= Purchase Order

The first shipment contains a whopping 38,880 pieces or what appear to be books, just in one purchase order alone.

Breaking down the second receiving entry from April 21st, it contains 11,800 pieces split among 693 cartons of two different titles or POs.

Anyway you look at it, this shipment is absolutely massive with a total of 68,000+ books hitting the US. Normally, we see anywhere between 9,000-14,000 books get imported when a faction gets a new codex or battletome for Warhammer.

To put it even more into perspective, these two shipments are roughly twice the weight of all new racking GW imported around this time last year to launch their Contrast line of paints.

Return of the Indexes?

Remember back when 8th edition first dropped? We saw a thicker hardcover rulebook come out as well as a supplement indexices with factions bundled together. If we got everything right above, it would make sense that GW ships more of a new rulebook because everyone will need them. It would also make sense that this would be heavier than normal because we know how GW likes to throw in a bunch of lore on different things as well as include certain missions, etc.

Assuming that the second shipment (and the other half of the first) is something akin to the 8th edition faction indexes, it would also make sense that they would not need to ship as many of a single title. Mainly because so many people play different factions.

But wait, there were 5 index books for 8th, and you just said there are only 4 new titles in this rumor, including a potential new 9th Edition rulebook Rob!

Correct!

Now look back at the index book image above, while there were 5 Index books for 8th, they covered only 3 major groups of factions: Xenos, Imperials, and Chaos. That could mean that any future index release could consist of only three supplemental books total, as the Codex cycle could then begin itself again…

More New Necrons & 9th Edition 40k Release RUMORS

Just days before this mystery bundle of books came to US ports, we saw rumors begin to make headway around the web once again. Coming from Sete on B&C, he had this to say:

Disclaimer:

The following are rumours so apply salt accordingly.

September a new edition will drop and Necrons will be the new bad guys in the block.

Some finecast units might get redone, I think the flayers were brought up.

There are rumours of a new Necron codex as well for 9th.

A new edition cycle will begin, so ya know what to expect, we have been trough this for a few times now.

Now there are a few key things to talk about from this rumor. For starters, it’s looking like September of this year is when we would see a new edition. Although, with the current global crisis we all face, we’re almost positive that the timeframe is considered “fluid”. We may see unexpected delays in a new edition drop assuming these rumors are true, of course.

Current Events Make These Necron Rumors Look Solid

As for Necrons being the new bad guy on the block, it’s definitely looking that way in Psychic Awakening currently. So far, we know an Inquisitor led a party of Imperial soldiers to uncover some machinations that Illuminor Szeras has been up to.

We don’t know the full magnitude of what kind of schemes the Necrons have been up to. However, it would be so easy for GW to make them a lore superpower if they decided to start waking up Tomb Worlds left and right. As far as Necrons go, life has only ever seen the tip of the iceberg.

From a tabletop standpoint, it would also make sense/be dope if Necrons got the spotlight for a few months. According to Nemesis Tyriks on B&C, Necrons have only gotten three new plastic kits since 5th edition. (Obviously, we have the Seraptek Construct which is nice), but we know Primaris gets about three new kits every year…Some support for the Necrons on the level of when GW first introduced Primaris into 8th edition would probably be welcome even for players who don’t play Necrons. This also ties in with the part of the rumor that old finecast models would be getting updated with new plastic counterparts.

It’s About Time For a Reboot

Finally, Necrons were mentioned to be getting a new codex. With GW following the normal cycle that they’ve been doing, it would be about time for Necrons to get an update. Necrons were one of the earlier factions to get a codex in 8th edition and when the book dropped, it was decently powerful.

However, power creep has definitely not gone away in 8th edition and GW has already gone over Space Marines and Chaos with 2.0 codexes, which makes Necrons a good candidate to get a new book.

What’s a better way to give a faction a new book than to start off a new edition with them?

With all of this now on the table, what do you think those mystery books from GW could be? Would you like to see GW spend some time giving a Xenos faction the spotlight? What’s a new unit that you’d like to see the Necrons get?

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