Cubicle 7 Announces New Horus Heresy RPG for Warhammer

Cubicle 7 is expanding their line of Warhammer TTRPGs with a new RPG set during the Horus Heresy. During last week's Warhammer Relics announcement event, Cubicle 7 announced that they were developing a new Horus Heresy RPG, set to launch in 2026. The Horus Heresy is one of the defining events of Warhammer 40K lore, and saw the famous Space Marine legions of the Imperium of Man engage in a bloody civil war. The Horus Heresy ended with the mortal wounding of the Emperor, which led to him being placed inside a massive supercomputer sarcophagus known as the Golden Throne, and led to the extreme stagnation of the Imperium that lasts until the present day.

One notable twist in this new RPG is that players will create two characters - a primary character that acts as a Consul within a Space Marine corps, and a secondary character that holds a specialty occupation. Players can swap between characters when their respective particular skills are needed.

Pre-orders for The Horus Heresy: The Roleplaying Game will start this summer, with a core rulebook and starter kit going on sale in 2026.

 

[Cergorach]

I’m lucky that the run on 4e has been a really good one and we’ve had circa 25+ products. I have enough to set me up for the next 10 years of gaming. But I really do worry for some of the spin offs.

WFRP4e (2018): 31 distinct physical products/books (not counting special editions, etc.) (WFRP2e had 29 physical products)
Soulbound (2020): 15 distinct physical products/books (not counting special editions, etc.)

With the big difference being that WFRP had 3 editions and 32 years of content to directly mine from, many of those 31 WFRP4e books are remakes of existing adventures. A lot of the content is direct translation of what came before it (1e/2e).

Soulbound is based on Age of Simar (2018) miniatures game, which was essentially a very different world as WFB (1983). WFRP4e just had a far easier time to produce material the Soulbound has, they have to invent the wheel, from what incoherent slop GW has been producing for AoS.

It also doesn't help that WFB has a baked in fanbase, AoS a whole lot less so. And that for the longest time people were playing WFRP2e and not really WFRP3e, which was a whole different beast.

Also keep in mind that Wrath & Glory was made by Uliesses Spiele in 2018 (the same time C7 started with WFRP4e), but they F-ed up. The 40k license went to C7 (2019) and they had to rewrite/redesign the whole game, which was entirely unplanned. Still it has 13 distinct physical products/books (not counting special editions, etc.)

The original Dark Heresy (2008) 1e only had 15-20 physical products (depending on how you count, there was a boxed set that combined three adventures for example) in 5 years. 2e only had 6 products in 2 years.

Rogue Trader (2009) 16 physical products in 4 years.

Deathwatch (2010) 14 physical products in 4 years.

Black Crusade (2011) 8 physical products in 2 years.

Only War (2012) 8 physical products in 2 years.

Imperium Maledictum (2023) 6 physical products in 2 years.

And Cubicle 7 is a whole lot better at supporting their lines with digital products the FFG ever was...

I suspect that if I ever were to run a 40k campaign I would turn to the old FFG (and Black Industries) versions of the games rather then going with W&G or IM versions...

 

[TheSword]

WFRP4e (2018): 31 distinct physical products/books (not counting special editions, etc.) (WFRP2e had 29 physical products)
Soulbound (2020): 15 distinct physical products/books (not counting special editions, etc.)

With the big difference being that WFRP had 3 editions and 32 years of content to directly mine from, many of those 31 WFRP4e books are remakes of existing adventures. A lot of the content is direct translation of what came before it (1e/2e).

Soulbound is based on Age of Simar (2018) miniatures game, which was essentially a very different world as WFB (1983). WFRP4e just had a far easier time to produce material the Soulbound has, they have to invent the wheel, from what incoherent slop GW has been producing for AoS.

It also doesn't help that WFB has a baked in fanbase, AoS a whole lot less so. And that for the longest time people were playing WFRP2e and not really WFRP3e, which was a whole different beast.

Also keep in mind that Wrath & Glory was made by Uliesses Spiele in 2018 (the same time C7 started with WFRP4e), but they F-ed up. The 40k license went to C7 (2019) and they had to rewrite/redesign the whole game, which was entirely unplanned. Still it has 13 distinct physical products/books (not counting special editions, etc.)

The original Dark Heresy (2008) 1e only had 15-20 physical products (depending on how you count, there was a boxed set that combined three adventures for example) in 5 years. 2e only had 6 products in 2 years.

Rogue Trader (2009) 16 physical products in 4 years.

Deathwatch (2010) 14 physical products in 4 years.

Black Crusade (2011) 8 physical products in 2 years.

Only War (2012) 8 physical products in 2 years.

Imperium Maledictum (2023) 6 physical products in 2 years.

And Cubicle 7 is a whole lot better at supporting their lines with digital products the FFG ever was...

I suspect that if I ever were to run a 40k campaign I would turn to the old FFG (and Black Industries) versions of the games rather then going with W&G or IM versions...

Good history of the franchise.

I’m a little confused though. Are you saying there is no reason to worry about the fact that the studio is spreading itself thin?

The timeline and product numbers seem to agree that both the studios splintered their product lines?

 

[Cergorach]

I’m a little confused though. Are you saying there is no reason to worry about the fact that the studio is spreading itself thin?

The timeline and product numbers seem to agree that both the studios splintered their product lines?

Yes both split their product lines. FFG only on the 40k side and not on the WFRP side, which at the time made a LOT of sense.

C7 is imho only 'splintering' 40k with W&G and IM, as HH might be the same setting, but GW also made that a distinct game from 40k (one might even argue multiple distinct games from 40k, with Aeronautica/Titanicus/Legions). WFRP is essentially the old tossed aside WFB (no longer supported) equivalent, Soulbound for the new AoS, and the 'new' Old Old World, which is supported. Now that I think about it, I wonder if we'll ever see a WFRP5e... Will GW not want it replaced with their 'new' Old Old World?

What I'm trying to say is that C7 might have multiple lines running, but as they are all distinct lines, they do not need to be run by the same people. It all having different systems helps in that regard. And what's there isn't that little for it's age, the company size, and it's audience. Look at how little WotC releases on a yearly basis for D&D... For the longest time it was two adventure books and a 'splat' book per year, that's about the same rate as what Souldbound has been doing for the last five years... And WotC is far bigger and D&D has far more customers. Imperium Maledictum is in a similar boat with 6 products in two years. I think only Wrath & Glory is running behind with only 13 products in 6-7 years, but I wonder how much that is because it's the adopted system they had to take over from someone else. I also wonder if Imperium Maledictum was finally their own spin on 40k with possibly a little more love...

And FFG still produced a TON of 40k product in the five years they were active with it. But their 40k lines were more like the old WW World of Darkness, each RPG focusing on a different aspect of the world, while having a common rule basis that was implemented differently.

I would say that 'splintering' is not a good word for a (RPG) company where different product lines do not need to be worked on by the same people. And sure there might be some overlap with creators, that might actually be beneficial for the longterm quality and health for all the games when creators are 'allowed' to do different things. It would have been different if it was a company where all products were centered around one or two people.

I think we have a couple of potential problems:
#1 Not more product in a line because the people at the publisher not feeling like it (Wrath & Glory might be the worst contender for that).
#2 Not more product in a line because of lack of subject matter, outside of more adventures. WFRP4e will eventually suffer from that, but we're not there yet.
#3 Not more product in a line because it's not selling well enough.

Now the advantage of the situation for C7 is that they are not just getting customers that play WFRP4e or any of their other GW IP licensed RPGs, but also of just the WFRP/AoS/40k/HH/OW fans from the GW camp. Someone like myself who has most of the WFRP1e/2e stuff in physical form, and most of the 40k stuff from FFG in physical form. I haven't run it once and I think I played WFRP1e once as a player 30+ years ago. While I would love to run it for my RPG group, I'm not seeing that happen, and to be honest there are other RPGs I would want to run with a higher priority. But I still have a LOT of the C7 GW products in pdf form and most of the WFRP 4e in FVTT module form (with the other systems generally just the starter set and the core book to take a look at the FVTT implementation). Why? I have been a WFB fan for 35+ years and a 40k fan for almost as long. I've stolen quite a bit from both for my D&D campaigns... I still love the settings.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I think IM has some promise. We'll have to see how the focus groups on the different aspects of play besides inquisitorial acolytes play out though.

 

[TheSword]

Yes both split their product lines. FFG only on the 40k side and not on the WFRP side, which at the time made a LOT of sense.

C7 is imho only 'splintering' 40k with W&G and IM, as HH might be the same setting, but GW also made that a distinct game from 40k (one might even argue multiple distinct games from 40k, with Aeronautica/Titanicus/Legions). WFRP is essentially the old tossed aside WFB (no longer supported) equivalent, Soulbound for the new AoS, and the 'new' Old Old World, which is supported. Now that I think about it, I wonder if we'll ever see a WFRP5e... Will GW not want it replaced with their 'new' Old Old World?

What I'm trying to say is that C7 might have multiple lines running, but as they are all distinct lines, they do not need to be run by the same people. It all having different systems helps in that regard. And what's there isn't that little for it's age, the company size, and it's audience. Look at how little WotC releases on a yearly basis for D&D... For the longest time it was two adventure books and a 'splat' book per year, that's about the same rate as what Souldbound has been doing for the last five years... And WotC is far bigger and D&D has far more customers. Imperium Maledictum is in a similar boat with 6 products in two years. I think only Wrath & Glory is running behind with only 13 products in 6-7 years, but I wonder how much that is because it's the adopted system they had to take over from someone else. I also wonder if Imperium Maledictum was finally their own spin on 40k with possibly a little more love...

And FFG still produced a TON of 40k product in the five years they were active with it. But their 40k lines were more like the old WW World of Darkness, each RPG focusing on a different aspect of the world, while having a common rule basis that was implemented differently.

I would say that 'splintering' is not a good word for a (RPG) company where different product lines do not need to be worked on by the same people. And sure there might be some overlap with creators, that might actually be beneficial for the longterm quality and health for all the games when creators are 'allowed' to do different things. It would have been different if it was a company where all products were centered around one or two people.

I think we have a couple of potential problems:
#1 Not more product in a line because the people at the publisher not feeling like it (Wrath & Glory might be the worst contender for that).
#2 Not more product in a line because of lack of subject matter, outside of more adventures. WFRP4e will eventually suffer from that, but we're not there yet.
#3 Not more product in a line because it's not selling well enough.

Now the advantage of the situation for C7 is that they are not just getting customers that play WFRP4e or any of their other GW IP licensed RPGs, but also of just the WFRP/AoS/40k/HH/OW fans from the GW camp. Someone like myself who has most of the WFRP1e/2e stuff in physical form, and most of the 40k stuff from FFG in physical form. I haven't run it once and I think I played WFRP1e once as a player 30+ years ago. While I would love to run it for my RPG group, I'm not seeing that happen, and to be honest there are other RPGs I would want to run with a higher priority. But I still have a LOT of the C7 GW products in pdf form and most of the WFRP 4e in FVTT module form (with the other systems generally just the starter set and the core book to take a look at the FVTT implementation). Why? I have been a WFB fan for 35+ years and a 40k fan for almost as long. I've stolen quite a bit from both for my D&D campaigns... I still love the settings.

I think this is exactly my concern. You have the books and don’t play it. These aren’t vanity exercises. What happens to the 4e line when 50% switch to the new edition. There is only

I do believe grimdark RPG is a niche whether fantasy or futuristic, and one which can only be made more niche by splinting into 3 different versions of each setting. Perhaps it makes strategic sense old fans (WFRP 4e, and IM) new fans (Soul Bound and Wrath & Glory), and historical spin off (Old World, Horus Heresy) but to me it seems very risky.

I personally think we will see very little support for 4e going forward. A token product or two. I doubt there will be anything else this year. Marienberg early next year and for the first time ever no forward release schedule. My understanding is that the older lines weren’t even discussed at Gencon.

IM has a painfully slow release CRB and screen in 2023. Inquisition books and starter set in 2024 and Equipment book in 2025. No further releases confirmed this year. No adventure books. No expanded setting beyond the starter set. It’s anaemic and a really concern. Honestly it’s the main reason I haven’t started a campaign - because I don’t think there is enough to sustain it.

Wrath and Glory has had a faster development but it is now petering out.

Is HH and TOW going to be any different? It’s disappointing.

 

[Cergorach]

I think this is exactly my concern. You have the books and don’t play it. These aren’t vanity exercises. What happens to the 4e line when 50% switch to the new edition. There is only

I do believe grimdark RPG is a niche whether fantasy or futuristic, and one which can only be made more niche by splinting into 3 different versions of each setting. Perhaps it makes strategic sense old fans (WFRP 4e, and IM) new fans (Soul Bound and Wrath & Glory), and historical spin off (Old World, Horus Heresy) but to me it seems very risky.

I personally think we will see very little support for 4e going forward. A token product or two. I doubt there will be anything else this year. Marienberg early next year and for the first time ever no forward release schedule. My understanding is that the older lines weren’t even discussed at Gencon.

IM has a painfully slow release CRB and screen in 2023. Inquisition books and starter set in 2024 and Equipment book in 2025. No further releases confirmed this year. No adventure books. No expanded setting beyond the starter set. It’s anaemic and a really concern. Honestly it’s the main reason I haven’t started a campaign - because I don’t think there is enough to sustain it.

Wrath and Glory has had a faster development but it is now petering out.

Is HH and TOW going to be any different? It’s disappointing.

It seems like you're more talking about splitting the player base then splitting the attention of the publishing company?

WFB => WFRP4e has a LONG standing fanbase that would have zero interest in an AoS RPG and vice versa. BUT there a ton of new AoS fans since the 2015 release because they don't know any better, as WFB was no longer available. Later maybe they've tasted WFB via computer games (like Warhammer: Total War) or novels. So it's obvious that for a fantasy version of warhammer there were already two options, which GW would want to exploit. Both as a source of income (license fees) and new customers for it's other products. We've seen how well splitting up the RPG licenses went (W&G by Ulisses), so I think that GW, seeing how well C7 did WFRP4e, just dumped the whole GW catalog for RPGs with C7. C7, being a business saw more money in producing other lines.

I honestly see an oppertunity to add another RPG into the mix, a 40k Necromunda RPG...

It honestly doesn't matter to a business if a person that buys their products actually usses them for their intended use or not. It pays their bills and their profits. You might be impacted by less players/GMs, but you only need a small number in a group to actually play. Especially with their increadible support of Foundry VTT modules, they not only have another way to play the games easily, but also additional ways to make significantly more money (and the FVTT module creation can be offloaded to external parties)!

I'm an old guy that jumped in early and bought most of the BI/FFG products, then bought the pdfs (via Humble Bundles) and then the FVTT modules. Others who missed the FFG boat and jumped later into the GW swamp, might have bought all the C7 books, pdfs. Don't get me wrong, I was tempted by many of the collectors books, especially the Enemy Within campaign I considered buying. But the room in my bookcases were already gone... And even others will in the future jump in, but they need to jump in somewhere to start and more points of access, means more total customers that might be spread out over multiple product lines. But again, if not with C7 product lines, they might go somewhere else that fits their needs/wants. Better to let C7 do it then imho.

Questions:

• What is Wrath & Glory missing in it's product line?
• Imperium Maledictum, is imho the replacement line for all the FFG 40k lines, instead of the W&G mess they inherited from Ulisses. I haven't read enough of it to see how compatible it is with the old FFG stuff, but could it be that IM is an attempt to get d100 corebooks out there to use with old FFG material (which they still sell as pdfs), while they slowly fill up the line?
• Horus Heresy, is again a whole different entry point for a specific group of fans. They can either come from the HH novel line and/or from the HH miniature lines/games (32mm and/or 10mm). Would you rather it not be there or just be part of one of the other lines? Wouldn't that delute either historical era/focus?
• The 'new' Old Old World, yeah... What can I say, it's imho a way for GW to not admit they were wrong by killing off old WFB a decade ago by saying that the 'new' Old World game was not set in the same era as WFB, but in a (far) earlier era... C7 is kind of stuck with that little bit of GW marketing. How would you want to handle writting the 'new' Old Old World into existing games? Would you make it part of WFR4e? Wouldn't that have even more of a diluted feel then 40k vs. 30k?
• How do you see WFRP's future in GWs current strategy? Personally, looking at what they did with the 'new' Old Old World, I suspect they are trying to remove it. And I suspect that after Creative Assembly is done with all the Warhammer: Total War DLC, GW will not see any benefit to keep WFB/WFRP around at all. Am I the only one that sees it this way or not?

Of HH vs. TOW I see HH doing better, having more, faster releases. But that's just a guess. Neither of them have as many releases as AoS or 40k either, so them having less releases then the other main systems wouldn't surprise me either. It might not be ideal for many, but not everyone can afford everything either. But just having the core rules there, with pdf and FVTT support makes it a very interesting toolbox if you want to play in those eras.

 

[BigZebra]

I think this is exactly my concern. You have the books and don’t play it. These aren’t vanity exercises. What happens to the 4e line when 50% switch to the new edition. There is only

I do believe grimdark RPG is a niche whether fantasy or futuristic, and one which can only be made more niche by splinting into 3 different versions of each setting. Perhaps it makes strategic sense old fans (WFRP 4e, and IM) new fans (Soul Bound and Wrath & Glory), and historical spin off (Old World, Horus Heresy) but to me it seems very risky.

I personally think we will see very little support for 4e going forward. A token product or two. I doubt there will be anything else this year. Marienberg early next year and for the first time ever no forward release schedule. My understanding is that the older lines weren’t even discussed at Gencon.

IM has a painfully slow release CRB and screen in 2023. Inquisition books and starter set in 2024 and Equipment book in 2025. No further releases confirmed this year. No adventure books. No expanded setting beyond the starter set. It’s anaemic and a really concern. Honestly it’s the main reason I haven’t started a campaign - because I don’t think there is enough to sustain it.

Wrath and Glory has had a faster development but it is now petering out.

Is HH and TOW going to be any different? It’s disappointing.

Which lines do you think C7 will focus on going forward?

 

[TheSword]

It seems like you're more talking about splitting the player base then splitting the attention of the publishing company?

WFB => WFRP4e has a LONG standing fanbase that would have zero interest in an AoS RPG and vice versa. BUT there a ton of new AoS fans since the 2015 release because they don't know any better, as WFB was no longer available. Later maybe they've tasted WFB via computer games (like Warhammer: Total War) or novels. So it's obvious that for a fantasy version of warhammer there were already two options, which GW would want to exploit. Both as a source of income (license fees) and new customers for it's other products. We've seen how well splitting up the RPG licenses went (W&G by Ulisses), so I think that GW, seeing how well C7 did WFRP4e, just dumped the whole GW catalog for RPGs with C7. C7, being a business saw more money in producing other lines.

I honestly see an oppertunity to add another RPG into the mix, a 40k Necromunda RPG...

It honestly doesn't matter to a business if a person that buys their products actually usses them for their intended use or not. It pays their bills and their profits. You might be impacted by less players/GMs, but you only need a small number in a group to actually play. Especially with their increadible support of Foundry VTT modules, they not only have another way to play the games easily, but also additional ways to make significantly more money (and the FVTT module creation can be offloaded to external parties)!

I'm an old guy that jumped in early and bought most of the BI/FFG products, then bought the pdfs (via Humble Bundles) and then the FVTT modules. Others who missed the FFG boat and jumped later into the GW swamp, might have bought all the C7 books, pdfs. Don't get me wrong, I was tempted by many of the collectors books, especially the Enemy Within campaign I considered buying. But the room in my bookcases were already gone... And even others will in the future jump in, but they need to jump in somewhere to start and more points of access, means more total customers that might be spread out over multiple product lines. But again, if not with C7 product lines, they might go somewhere else that fits their needs/wants. Better to let C7 do it then imho.

Questions:

• What is Wrath & Glory missing in it's product line?
• Imperium Maledictum, is imho the replacement line for all the FFG 40k lines, instead of the W&G mess they inherited from Ulisses. I haven't read enough of it to see how compatible it is with the old FFG stuff, but could it be that IM is an attempt to get d100 corebooks out there to use with old FFG material (which they still sell as pdfs), while they slowly fill up the line?
• Horus Heresy, is again a whole different entry point for a specific group of fans. They can either come from the HH novel line and/or from the HH miniature lines/games (32mm and/or 10mm). Would you rather it not be there or just be part of one of the other lines? Wouldn't that delute either historical era/focus?
• The 'new' Old Old World, yeah... What can I say, it's imho a way for GW to not admit they were wrong by killing off old WFB a decade ago by saying that the 'new' Old World game was not set in the same era as WFB, but in a (far) earlier era... C7 is kind of stuck with that little bit of GW marketing. How would you want to handle writting the 'new' Old Old World into existing games? Would you make it part of WFR4e? Wouldn't that have even more of a diluted feel then 40k vs. 30k?
• How do you see WFRP's future in GWs current strategy? Personally, looking at what they did with the 'new' Old Old World, I suspect they are trying to remove it. And I suspect that after Creative Assembly is done with all the Warhammer: Total War DLC, GW will not see any benefit to keep WFB/WFRP around at all. Am I the only one that sees it this way or not?

Of HH vs. TOW I see HH doing better, having more, faster releases. But that's just a guess. Neither of them have as many releases as AoS or 40k either, so them having less releases then the other main systems wouldn't surprise me either. It might not be ideal for many, but not everyone can afford everything either. But just having the core rules there, with pdf and FVTT support makes it a very interesting toolbox if you want to play in those eras.

I’m talking about splitting attention and splitting the fan base. I agreed with AOS and Wrath and Glory. It made sense. Old and new. There was no reason the Old World couldn’t have been a setting update - as could Horus Heresy. Colour me cynical but I think they just sell more core and early books and it requires less creativity because they churn out variations on the same formula.

 

[TheSword]

Which lines do you think C7 will focus on going forward?

Judging by Gencon. The Old World and Horus Heresy will get the attention for the foreseeable future. With reduced support for Wrath and Glory, AOS and token support for IM and WFRP.

Let’s be clear, Cubicle 7 has always been willing to share their pipeline in the past. The books that are in production are known about years in advance. That has turned off like a tap as their Games Workshop lines have multiplied.

Let’s be clear, I think C7’s work is excellent. Some of the best I have seen. That’s why I find this state of affairs disappointing.

Finite resources I guess. They put them where they think they’ll do most impact and I can’t complain about WFRP. It’s had a great run. Just sad that it’s winding down in terms of product support.

 

[chuckdee]

And apparently the Champions of Chaos book for Soulbound will be a standalone core rulebook. So, one more RPG.

That's just following FFGs example, it appears.