Happy new years everyone! First, we want to wish all of you a happy beginning to a new wonderful year! Second, I wanted to take a moment to go over A4R’s growth during 2025. Third, I wanted to go over the road map for 2026 and its events.
First
I hope you all had a good year. May your pile of shame be less daunting then it feels.
Second
During 2025, A4R saw a huge influx of traffic. A grand total of 22,169 rulebook downloads occurred! This comes from 15,108 views from a total of 6,228 unique visiting devices.
This is a massive 414% download leap from 2024 where we had 5,356 downloads. We had 10,180 views from 6,234 unique visiting devices in 2024. I know a big part of this is the sheer amount of progress made and I appreciate all of your feedback, questions, and just general comments!
Grand total over the website’s life time we have had a total of 33,599 views and 30,047 downloads from a number of unique devices that is harder to determine. I can’t see how many of the same unique devices are persistent through the past four years, but based on the number I would say we are holding the same number of interested parties as last year.
Third
The past few months have been quiet because of schedule conflicts and remodeling projects on my house. But, we have a lot in store for 2026! Our expected road map (in order) as follows:
Eldar rebuild is nearing completion. We are reworking the Phoenix Lords to be Lord of War slots, massively boosting their abilities and leadership. All of their aspect warriors are being reworked with them as well. Currently I believe we are 2/3rd of the way through them with only points of concern on one or two of the remaining ones.
Custodes have been slated for a slight internal balance change. This has been planned for months but we only have a few core developers and limited game time. This change can be tested very quickly and will be rolled out probably as soon as the Eldar are updated.
Sisters of Battle are also queued up for their play tests. We have several new players offering to help on this and expect them to go through their final paces rapidly.
Chaos Knights are expected to be released around this time. We have the loyalist ones down pretty well and can now begin throwing chaos blessings into the mix. We have two roads to go down and determine which ones are the best. Either the general marks that already exist or their own set of mark like abilities (would behave as one for Pure Blessing rules and army building) that are catered to knights specifically.
Inquisition is mostly completed. It will offer a set of units that can be fielded in other Imperial armies (such as the Vindicare Assassin for a DoW 1 army list). In addition, it will offer the ability to take almost any Imperial unit from another Imperial army book. There are rules regarding this that need testing, but it is expected to not cause problems or balance issues. The slot mechanic will prevent exuberant combinations from breaking this army mechanic.
Event wise, we have a Slow Grow League happening in southwest Missouri. We started at the end of last year and will continue it throughout 2026. The packet is in the Special Rules link in the Rulebook tab for those wanting to run your own!
We also will be celebrating 5 years of Alternate 40k Rules in August 2026. The project has been going on longer than it has been public, but we want to celebrate! Event details will come around as we get closer, but expect a traditional style tournament. If you want to get your A4R game on, pop on by some of our Slow Grow events to hone your skills and strategies!
Personal goals, I failed to get all of my Imperial Guard Regiments painted, but I did get close! I have a few Steel Legion tanks and misc Death Korp of Krieg left. This year is the year to finish them and my other tiny piles of shame.
Lastly, work on a startup game has come along fantastically well this past year. I have mentioned in the past about working on Lux & Tenebris, but we are getting near the final stages where it can go public. It has its own original rules, lore, and dice mechanics. It can best be described as a high stress tactical shooter with RPG elements for those wanting a more in depth and personalized army.
What are your goals for 2026?
Alternate 40k Rules 