Warhammer 40,000 Introduces Seasons, Will Release New Campaign Storylines Every Six Month

Warhammer 40,000 will move to a season-based format in 2022, which will impact the game's release schedule, competitive play, and more. Games Workshop announced the change earlier today, bringing a more transient and story-based format to the game. This new season format will not only feature brand new campaign books, Grand Tournament Packs and mission packs, but also new miniatures to support the storylines being told. Basically, the new season format will introduce a new storyline that will play out over both match play and campaign play, with new miniatures being released to support the story and featured armies. Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team will also see its releases sync up with the new seasons, with expansions released to showcase various skirmishes taking place during the storylines.

The first season of Warhammer 40,000 will return players to Vigilus, a crucial chokepoint for the Imperium of Man. While the forces of Chaos are returning to Vigilus to take the planet and thus gain access to the Imperium's territory, the various chapters of the Space Marines and the Aeldari will make a push to hold the planet. As part of the new season's release, Games Workshop will release several new products, including the Vigilus Alone campaign book, the Wars of Faith mission pack, and the War Zone Nachmund: Grand Tournament Mission Pack for competitive play rules. The recently announced Eldritch Omens battle box is also part of the new season, which adds a number of new miniatures for both the Aeldari and Chaos Space Marines. The Aeldari were in particular need of new miniatures, as that faction still uses miniatures designed in the 1990s and was in desperate need of an update. 

Reaction to the new Season announcement was mixed. Since the launch of 9th Edition last year, Games Workshop has already adopted storylines informing competitive play and releases. This new announcement just formalizes a schedule for these releases, with new competitive play and campaign packs being released every six months. However, some Warhammer 40K fans are already less than thrilled by the accelerated release schedule and believe that the seasons will lead to more armies and factions getting neglected in the long run as Games Workshop focuses their releases on whatever the current storyline is. There's also the complaint that the seasons format is too much like the "Season Pass" microtransaction model seen in many live service games. 

What are your thoughts on the new seasons format? Let us know in the comment section!