Your old Warhammer Horus Heresy models “won’t be resigned to a life on the shelf” as GW confirms new rules will accommodate old minis

A brand-new edition of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy is coming, and some players have been worried. Since Horus Heresy Saturnine pre-orders went live without references to older miniatures, fans noticed a complete lack of older units and loadouts in the new ruleset.

Thankfully, Games Workshop has confirmed that your old miniatures “won’t be resigned to a life on the shelf” as “the upcoming Legacies of the Age of Darkness PDF” will teach players how their old minis fit into the new rulebook.

Old Horus Heresy models will be supported

In a blog post by Games Workshop, the Warhammer company revealed that the new rules absolutely make space for older units to fight alongside new minis. While not all units will be playable “the vast majority of miniatures you’ve amassed over the last decade of collecting” will be usable.

The new Legacies of the Age of Darkness PDF will drop shortly after the release of the Saturnine boxed set, which is set to launch in a few days. This massive document will cover a “wide swathe of the more exotic and specialised units in the Age of Darkness”.

Of course, all of this confusion stems from the fact that the new Warhammer edition simply didn’t include older unit rules in the Liber books. Games Workshop states that this is simply because these new books are designed to only include the “current range of miniatures”, not the wider range of units.

“They are written to reflect the contents of boxed units, so new players can build armies without feeling the need to buy multiple kits just to make one unit,” the company said. “The boxes themselves are designed to represent the most typical wargear loadouts those units would have. It also means that these rulebooks can still be compact enough to transport to your games.

“However, Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness is designed as a game where legacy can live, and we fully intend for players with existing armies to use these Legacy units in their games, including in competitive play,” they continued. “These are no less official than those units with rules in the Liber books.”

Warhammer confirms notable absences

While a majority of units are available in the new rules, Games Workshop confirmed that there are “notable absences” including named characters who have never had miniatures released. This includes Champions, Captains and other characters that players have created with converted miniatures that have rules.

The company also confirmed that units that have new rules might also get brand-new versions. These miniatures “will return with new designs and possibly new weapon options and wargear. When this happens, you can expect to see those units’ rules here phased out, with the updated unit covered in an appropriate new publication.”