It’s the end of 2025 and we are still under a year since the project started but in that time I think the community has really come on leaps and bounds. Thanks to everyone who has taken part in whatever way they have!

I launched the subreddit in August and, since then, we’ve had – a community campaign (ending today), the first book engaged with, the first supplements, our first event, and much more. As I’m writing this we have 996 people on the subreddit – agonisingly close to 1000. That’s way more than I had expected and I’m eternally grateful for this.

Looking forward, we have the following things being released today and I have a few goals I will talk about after:

• The new player’s handbook – One of the good things about the Meigor VI campaign is that it stopped me publishing any changes to the rules for two months. This gave me a lot of time to consider things properly, rather than constantly making updates. I’ll probably keep this up – perhaps updating core rules or books once every few months. In all honesty, though, I don’t see a lot that will need updating from the coming edition. We’ve added a few things (dual wielding pistols, being able to withdraw if your unit can’t wound the enemy) and been able to move a few rules out of that document to the new supplements. Similarly, I’ve updated the missions rules a lot thanks to our campaigns. What’s more – I learned how to use Affinity so it’s much more professional looking compared to the old PDFs made in Microsoft Word.
• The new Space Marine Supplement – This was the first proper supplement and a good chance to practice things like totalling points (I learned a LOT from this and will continue to learn as I do it), formatting a PDF in Affinity, and making amendments to rules. I’ve continued the philosophy of keeping things short – it’s 4 pages or 6 if you want the relic units. You can therefore print two sheets double sided and slide it in a Codex. I personally hate navigating books to find things – it takes you out of the game – so I’ve tried to keep it simple.
• The new Imperial Guard Supplement – While the Space Marine one I consider a 1.0 release, the Imperial Guard one is a 0.9 release like the current draft of Book I. It is a bit longer than the Marine one, but then it really adds a huge amount of new units and – particularly – guns. This quantity of guns will require a bit of playtesting to work out. One particular issue was discovering an edition change problem around Ordnance weapons and the Guard codex, that required last minute changes that need ironed out – so consider these rules unfinished but nearly there.

As for my plans going forward:

• Top priority is always finishing Book I. The reason I did the Marine and Guard supplements is because they are a core part of Book I. Most of the units from Book I are now in these supplements – meaning that it is now the characters, missions and campaign system that just need working through. I’ve done a fair chunk of this so far.
• The Votann – These are in Book I and needed a bit of a rework. I think the best route forward for these is the supplement system. It’s easier to check through than the main book for players and I think there is more space to think about the format.
• Missions – One advantage of writing all the mission systems was that it gave an idea as to the issues in the scoring systems in 5th ed and also some experience writing missions that are a bit more interesting. My plan is to move from the Vraks-style historical battles in Book I with specific armies to missions where you can make your own lists, just making it more accessible and giving more space to focus on the mission rather than the armies. I also aim to make an Open War-style system using 2D6 tables to generate missions. The aim is just to make missions more varied without overcomplicating things.
• Codex Alien Hunters – This is parly a me project. The Daemonhunter and Witch Hunter books are my favourites and it’s sad the Deathwatch never got the treatment. I playtested some very early rules over the holiday and have made decent progress getting this book in place. This is a tricky one because it’s a ‘new’ book insofar as Deathwatch don’t have 4th ed rules (the White Dwarf ones aren’t great) but it uses a lot from other books – so I have to navigate not republishing stats. The positive is that I absolutely love taking Inquisitors and Storm Troopers in Deathwatch armies! The result is that you need one of the ‘Hunters’ books and the Space Marine book. This experience will help me with the Votann project, though, which is quite a tough project on its own because it’s an entirely new army for the system. Best always to start small and layer on complexity.

I have been enjoying the Deathwatch so much I have even painted my own first veterans:

I hope you all have a wonderful new year. Please remember to share your projects and pictures. Seeing people enjoy the project is the biggest source of motivation I could have.

Happy new year!

Calgacus