T I T A N O M A N C Y

Looking forward to the ascension of Governor Jerico Helmawr.

While I remain morally and philosophically opposed to the Amazon partnership, today's publication of the 2025-26 annual report brought with it an update to the seven-year-long saga.

On 10 December 2024 we announced the conclusion of our negotiations with Amazon for the adaptation of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe into films and television series, together with associated merchandising rights. This is a long-term partnership with Amazon - and these adaptations will take years to bring successfully to market. The project continues in line with our contractual agreement with Amazon. This same contract prohibits us from sharing certain specific details or commercial terms. What we can share is that Amazon has brought onboard United Artists (UA) and Mike Flanagan. Vertigo and Henry Cavill remain involved as they have been for some time. Having completed initial outlines, Mike should soon be moving on to script. Meanwhile, UA have been decisive and brought their renowned pace and quality to the project. Thank you.

You could probably do a whole hell of a lot worse than to bring in an established genre director like Mike Flanagan, especially given his proficiency with the prestige TV format. Considering the grim darkness of the far future, a horror director - and suspense horror at that - is no doubt a better fit for the material. This does not assuage my longstanding apprehension, however.

There are some other interesting tidbits including a decline in licensing revenue, owing almost entirely to Space Marine 2's overperformance in 2024/25, and two unnamed licensors electing not to renew. I'm sure there's a hope that Total Warhammer 40,000 makes up the deficit when it launches, but it's not everyday that you break containment like that.

With the revelation that the newly reboxed Baneblade - now priced at double its original MSRP - omits two full sprues which effectively increases the price by twenty percent, I thought it might be helpful to mention that there are a number of extremely WYSIWYG proxies from such talented artists as Nate Feyma, Golden Dragon Games, Solwyte Studio and Makers Cult, among others too numerous to name.

The new 40k terrain continues the trend of simplification we've seen in the core game over the past few editions, sacrificing modularity for uniformity. The new Manufactorum Ruins share more in common with III Edition's Gothic Ruins than they do with infinitely extensible Sector Imperialis; they're wonderfully detailed, but it's basically a box full of L-shaped walls

The Galvanic Network and Capacitor Cluster aren't much better, omitting the Promethium Relay Pipeline conduit junctions which have been standardized for over a decade. They're simply scatter terrain meant to serve as mission objectives.

None of this is especially surprising given that the Promethium Relay Pipeline and its successor kit, the Thermic Plasma Conduit, have been discontinued for some time - although even as recently as 2024's Killzone: Volkus, the scenery was absolutely studded with junction points.

It's a shame because so much of the range still supports that kind of modularity, especially in the Zone Mortalis range (where I really wish the plasma conduits had been shuffled off to because they make great line-of-sight blockers across otherwise open chambers).

It's neat that Games Workshop is distributing free terrain templates like it's the '90s, but it feels like kind of a needs must type of situation; I'm sure they could part out the .STLs of their clearly printed studio scenery and cut injection plates, but Exodite scenery seems a little niche even for a game like Kill Team.

And if it's Eldar scenery you're looking for, it's not hard to find in a variety of mediums including cast resin, cut MDF or as .STLs you can print at home. I expect that these primitive alien megaliths will be joining the Dawn of War reproductions soon enough.

The keen-eyed might have noticed what appears to be a stealth drop of the missing Aquilon Terminator update in the new Warhammer Academy lore video, Who Are the Adeptus Custodes.

Although the image quality isn't the greatest, it's apparent that there are some key differences between the existing resin models and the figures pictured here, and the fact that they're photographed alongside the Allarus Custodians neatly illustrates their scale relative to the rest of the range.

At a glance, the most obvious difference seems to be in the proportions of the torso, with the gorget seemingly much shallower relative to the plastron and the inclusion of a tilting shield. It's hard to tell but the raptor over the hood also appears much more integrated into the carapace than on the current design, where it's basically a decorative flourish on top of an otherwise pretty standard Terminator torso.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the new design is really leaning into the Tactical Dreadnought Armour designation, hewing much closer to the Custodes Dreadnought than to any of the Space Marine Terminator designs.

While I'm sure that the Siege of Death Mire came to a totally legit and not at all predetermined outcome, it sure is on brand that in the grim darkness of the far future where there's only war, that the global campaign ended in a brutal stalemate with no decisive victor - but neither would I have counted on a decisive victory for either the Imperium or the Orks making much of a difference on Armageddon, in the broader narrative, when the war world has been contested, uninterrupted, for the last thirty years. At least when the new Steel Legion drops in 2028, they'll have something to fight over!

Anyway, an Ork victory in Battlezone: Hive Heart means a new Ork preview so here's the new Boyz.

Nobody: Absolutely nobody: The Rogue Trader: