When is Warhammer 40k 11th edition coming out? The next edition of Warhammer 40,000 is almost certain to be in the works at Games Workshop, and will likely be released in summer 2026. The firm hasn’t yet announced it’s working on a new edition of its flagship sci-fi wargame, but unless it’s abandoned its strategy of releasing new editions of 40k every three years, work must already be underway. Here’s everything we can infer about the new edition, based on what we know about Games Workshop.
New editions of Warhammer 40k are a massive event. They offer new fans a great time to jump on board, and are accompanied by an impressive launch box set bursting with new models. They’re also an opportunity for the game designers to overhaul the rules, either by consolidating errata and updates into a new rulebook, or – more rarely – with a total rewrite.
Warhammer 40k 11th edition release date estimate
Games Workshop has not yet announced Warhammer 40k 11th edition, much less a release date for it. However, the firm has released new editions of 40k on a three year cycle since seventh edition in 2014. Warhammer 40k 10th edition launched in June 2023; accordingly, we expect 11th edition to release during the summer of 2026.
Warhammer 40k 11th edition rules
We expect the Warhammer 40k 11th edition rules to be an evolution of 10th edition, with the 10th edition codexes fully compatible until they are replaced by the 11th edition versions. 10th edition is working very well and has attracted many fans to the hobby – the main challenge for newcomers is the number of errata that have accumulated since the edition launched.
Games Workshop still has to release army books for a lot of Warhammer 40k factions this edition. The firm’s most recent roadmap of upcoming 40k codex releases covers all but four of them, one of which the firm has previously stated is coming this year. It can fit the remaining three books in before summer 2026, but some will have an extremely short lifespan unless they’re compatible with 11th edition.
Warhammer 40k 11th edition launch box set
So far, Games Workshop has not announced a Warhammer 40k 11th edition launch box set. Since 2020, Games Workshop has launched new editions of its tentpole games with a limited edition launch box set, containing two armies of brand new models, and the hardback rulebook for the game. These are phenomenally popular, so there is no obvious reason for GW to abandon this strategy.
Games Workshop might not have said anything about an 11th edition launch box, but you can be certain that Space Marines will be one of the two forces in the box. That’s because the Space Marine chapters are always one of the two forces in Warhammer 40k starter sets and launch boxes.
New Space Marine model predictions
The launch box sets for 40k ninth edition and tenth edition both contained new Primaris versions of old firstborn Space Marine units. Ninth edition had Outrider bikers, while 10th edition had Terminators and Sternguard Veterans.
The current Space Marine models for Vanguard Veterans and Assault Terminators are both showing their age, making them good candidates for replacements in the 11th edition launch box set.
Who’ll be the other army in the 11th edition launch box?
We don’t know who the Astartes will be facing off against in the next edition’s starter set – but, based on the previous launch sets and the other major releases slated in 2025, we can make some educated predictions. First, let’s rule some folks out.
8th Edition 40k featured the Death Guard as the opposing force, 9th Edition featured the Necrons, and 10th the Tyranids – so those three are all out of the running. As the Drukhari, the Chaos Daemons, and the Leagues of Votann will all apparently receive new codex army books very close to the end of 10th edition, they’re not likely to be the opposing force for 11th edition either.
Orks are always a possibility – they’re a classic starter set opponent, and they have a good number of old kits that would benefit from an update. But, with two editions in a row putting a Xenos race front and center, we think it’s likely a Chaos force will have another turn in 2026 – they’ve waited nine years, after all.
That leaves Chaos Space Marines, World Eaters, Thousand Sons, Chaos Knights, and the newly returned Emperor’s Children as possible candidates.
With the Emperor’s Children codex, spangly new model for Fulgrim, and renewed plastic model range already revealed and in the open, it seems possible, but very unlikely that GW has a whole starter army’s worth more brand new units under its hat for them. Knights are too expensive to fit a playable army in a starter box, so they’re out too.
We think Chaos Space Marines – either Warmaster Abaddon’s Black Legion or (more excitingly) the Night Lords – are most likely to be 11th edition’s big bad.
Abaddon the Despoiler – the main puppet master of modern chaotic happenings for many years now – has been behind most of the major events in the Dawn of Fire novel series (more on that below). Besides which, after a few years of focusing on Tyranid wars, it’s about time all the Black Legion‘s spooky plots with Vashtorr the Arkifane during 2023’s Arks of Omen narrative series started bearing some story fruit.
Option 2, the Night Lords, would be much more of a turn-up for the books. Unlike the last four traitor legions to be given a fully playable, revamped army, the Night Lords have neither a single patron chaos god they’re themed around, nor a daemon primarch (poor old Konrad Curze got killed by an Imperial Assassin during the Horus Heresy).
On the other hand:
- They’re incredibly cool, ruthless killers with a distinctive, goth-y style.
- A Night Lords Kill Team came out in 2024 (often an indicator that a larger range of new models is in development).
- A new Crusade campaign book released in February 2025 hints at new Night Lords Raptors and Warp Talons models we haven’t seen yet.
So there’s a good chance they could be our starter set baddies too – only time will tell.
Warhammer 40k 11th edition story
So far, Games Workshop has not revealed any information about the Warhammer 40k 11th edition story. 10th edition’s story began with a massive incursion of Tyranids attacking the Segmentum Solar, sparking the fourth and largest Tyrannic war. That will need to be tied up in some way before GW can make another new faction into the title baddie of 11th edition.
Games Workshop tends to wind down editions of 40k with campaign supplements that advance the narrative. Eighth edition 40k wrapped up with the Psychic Awakening supplements, while ninth edition ended with the Arks of Omen books. The recent narrative supplement Crusade Nachmund Gauntlet puts a lot of emphasis on the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines as a major threat, but we are at least a year out from 11th edition.
When 40k seventh edition ended, the loyalist Space Marine primarch Roboute Guilliman was resurrected. At the end of ninth edition, the Warhammer 40k Dark Angels primarch Lion El’Jonson returned. Games Workshop has revealed that the Salamander Space Marines will receive some kind of standalone codex supplement before the end of 2025. There’s a chance that this will lay the groundwork for their primarch Vulkan to return.
There are possible story threads in the Warhammer 40k books published by Black Library. The Dawn of Fire series notionally follows the current timeline of 40k in the Era Indomitus. It has built up a coalition of Chaos warlords called the Hand of Abaddon as the main antagonists. However, those stories haven’t caught up to the Arks of Omen or the fourth Tyrannic war yet – if they’re seeding villains for the new edition, there’s going to be a continuity jump.
Whatever form it takes, 11th edition has big boots to fill: the launch of 10th edition gave Games Workshop its best sales month ever. When it arrives, we’ll be there to cover it. To keep up to speed with the latest Warhammer 40k news, make sure to follow Wargamer on Google news to see us in your feeds more often!