In my head, next year will see a new O12 sectorial. By then, they've run out of things to release for the faction.
That's assuming they intend to release an additional O-12 sectorial. I recall someone on the forum mentioning recently that Bostria (somewhere, somewhen) said the only sectorial unreleased as of now that they intend to release is the Gabqar Khanate. Now, that is by no means any proof - third hand news, Bostria was also known in the past to say things that, well, did turn out to be a subject of later change (to put it mildly), and things changing as they go. But on the other hand, we have 33 playable sectorials at this moment, and 9 playable vanilla factions. Depending on how do you see it, this makes up to 42 armies in-game that need to be more or less maintained, their rules updated, and their players do expect new releases / re-releases / resculpts. I think it is a significant amount of playable armies. Requiring significant effort from the company. So I consider it understandable if they decide they have to stop expanding the list somewhere. Stop multiplying the entities. Is there fluff space to introduce more factions? Absolutely. Both human and non-human. And CB can also use the existing prcatice and whip up a new NA2 merc company just during lunchtime, I guess (I still consider the merc companies to be a master stroke from CBs point of view: hardly any new SKUs required. I think only Brawlers are currently NA2-only. Well, and the entire Japanese Secessionist Army, but they are more of a legacy thing. The rest is mixing and matching existing units from variious other factiions). But whether is there the design space for much more, I don't know.
And yet they released Svalarheima instead of updating NCA or Acon. And yet they released Kosmoflot instead of updating CHA or MRRF. And yet they decided to resculpt the entire MAF range instead of adding a few new sculpts and profiles. And yet they constantly add new LE profiles and minis to the army. :P CB in my experience isn't too concerned about releasing new stuff while they still have old stuff to maintain. They do what they want. And O12 only has one sectorial yet and a lot of Fluff space to explore with the faction. But yeah, who knows what CB will do.
I expect Corvus Belli to continue to focus on the new or at least newest release until they are about half done.
Very much agreed with you that Remix Armies (errrr NA2…) are a genius move, both as a sales-oriented company and for playability. Cross-selling to customers who have already bought the other half of the faction is a really good strategy. And as a player, it is so fun to be able to use my existing man-dolls in an often very different way (unless you’re StarCoReggidor). There’s still a nice happy medium between NA2 and an all-new faction, with already-existing fluff: BRING BACK THE EXRAH!! An NA2 defectors faction, and a CA expansion faction, both possible with a couple new boxes. Commisariat vs. Concordat, just a matter of paintscheme and which non-Ezrah units mix in. Same could do for Fractaa, with even less new units required. Mainline CA army uses loyalist Tohaa units mixed with Fractaa ones, maybe Bit and Kiss and Ko Dali. Defectors mix in with Exrah in the CA-rebels NA2 faction. Boom.
Spoiler: Well, we've been there, done that... ;) On a more serious note, though: you are right, there is a fluff space for Exrach. Possibly design space (in game mechnaics / playstyle) as well. The question is whether CB considers there's market space for them: will the "space bugs of infinity" sell well enough to warrant their comeback, as this was one of the reason for the original insecticide: they did not sell all that well. The other problem was - at that point, we were told, the way they were designed caused increased mould wear, making the Exrach models effectively more expensive to produce in the long run. I guess we could write that issue off nowadays, however: it is, what, 15+ years since the original Exrach models were created. CB now has 15 more years of experience under their belt, they know way more about how to break models for casting, how to design them, and how to cast them (and also, they're apparently going for a different medium, at least for large Infinity models and for WarCrow models). They are aware where the problem was, and could design the new Exrach to go around it.
Un-fuggly and mold-friendly sculpts could certainly help! I bet an exclusive Exrah mini or one-time event sculpt would sell like hotcakes, if it was done well. Hell, put one in a Dire Foes box.
I'd really like to see EI and Sygmaa sectorials (provided they'll ever get a release) before Exrah. And there's a lot of design - and I believe market - space for alien armies. Tohaa/Sygmaa NA2. Non-CA Shasvastii...
Well... We have a name for the next due one. Operation: Blackwind Haqquislam (Hassassin Bahram) vs Aleph (Steel Phalanx)
I'm pretty curious whether the new TAG releases (Bultrak & Marut) will be done in the traditonal metal, or the new thermoplastic. well, or even the yet newer, harder thermoplastic (yes, yes, CB never calls it siocast). Kinda expect them to be plastic. On one hand, casting big, material-heavy models was one of the reasons to introduce the new material. On the other, so far we have seen only some REMs done in it so far. We'll see. As for new sectorials, moar! sectorials ;) - gentlemen, sure there is fluff space and design space for more. But as I said a while ago: the question is how many sectorials CB can keep updated. There are 33 sectorials in the game, 42 total playable factions. CB have quite a while ago realized they can't keep that many up-to-date anyway, which resulted in a number of sectorials getting "shelved". For years. And CB shifting their attention to other ones. Some of the exisitng sectorials have seen a refresh, makeover, re-release. Some haven't seen their turn yet (which, in case of MRRF, is since the release of N3!). Increasing the number of sectorials in the game will make this cycle effectively even slower. Do we want that? Personally, I would agree to draw a line where we are right now. Even if it would mean we won't be seeing the Gabqar Khanate, for which I've been waiting, well, about 12 years or so...
Not metal for sure. It has been addressed some time ago. Which material will they be, it is a mistery
Yes, bearpode is siocast, with the head cut at mid-level instead of trying to disguise joint like with the fur lines. Things like that make be think twice about the "X years of experience".
Both TAGs will be made in thermoplastic. I just had in my hands the Marut and looks sooooo nice, honestly.
According to an answer from Koni in the topic: "New HB Box", the hassassins will have new profiles (and we can assume that ALEPH will too). Post Koni: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/new-hb-box-contents-speculation.41091/page-5#post-437458 There will be some :)
Promo image posted by CB of the new Marut showing new Thorakitai and scenery Very much liking the new Thoras, great update of the old design and the helmets and shields add a lot of flavour to a previously unremarkable troop. The running and firing pose minis are particularly nice.
