A recent Games Workshop announcement had me thinking that the Orcs and Goblins might become two separate Fantasy Battle armies.
GW announced on the weekend (28th Feb 2010) that there is some exciting news coming in April about some Orcs and Goblins developments being released in May.Rumour has it that there are some new boxed sets coming out for Boar Riders and other Orc units. I'm fairly sure this is what the announcement is all about and that the part metal Boar Boys boxed sets are being updated to all plastic. Indeed there are rumours that mounted units in other armies are also going the same way (hurray !).
I was wondering if this could be a prelude to something bigger. After all, GW have been suggesting that a new army list is in development (whether it's 40k or Fantasy or both we don't know yet).
I think that dividing the current O&G army into two might be one of the easiest and most cost effective ways for GW to make new money by building on an existing concept. They could bring out a few new "specialist" greenskin units or army wide rules to spice things up and a lot of people would probably welcome the development because they could field two new armies with minimal investment. Such a change might also encourage people who brought the Skull Pass set to build out their goblinoid armies.
Also, it would not break anything in terms of fluff which certainly wouldn't need to change much and Jervis Johnson himself pointed out that they need to be careful with all new releases to ensure they fit in with the current Warhammer worlds. In fact, it might even be possible to retain the old army book and also release new Orc and Goblin specific ones.
However, I should point out that Jervis also suggested new unexpected things from new developments...
"...we also think it's important to keep on trying to surprise you with unexpected new things that aren't designed as part of an existing army." (Jervis in White Dwarf WD 363 March 2010)
And while separate army books for Orcs and Goblins might be a surprise but could not really be described as "...new things that aren't designed as part of an existing army."
He did however also say that you can expect to be able to use all your existing models in any new army development. So, you never know, I think it's certainly a possibility and I wouldn't be surprised at all. Hmmm...
I've kicked off a topic in the Battle Reporter forum about it :-
Splitting the Orcs and Goblins Fantasy codex into 2 separate army lists
Feel free to add your comments.