The green tide gets the first codex of the new edition. Games Workshop’s Sunday Preview, published today, confirms that Codex: Orks — the opening codex of Warhammer 40,000’s 11th Edition — goes up for pre-order next Saturday, 22 August, alongside a genuinely enormous wave of new plastic: a fresh Warboss, a new Mek, redesigned Boyz, Warbikers, a rebuilt Trukk, and the standalone Armageddon kits. If you collect Orks, next weekend is going to hurt your shelf space.
The codex itself runs to 15 detachments and 50-plus datasheets, and comes with a code for the Warhammer 40,000 app so the rules stay current. There is also a Collector’s Edition with gold foil detailing, green foil page edges and a green ribbon marker, which Games Workshop lists as available while stocks last — historically that means it sells through in the pre-order window and does not come back.
What is going up for pre-order
Here is the full 40K side of the wave, straight from the preview. We have listed what is in each box rather than what it costs, because of a small matter we explain further down.
- Codex: Orks (hardback): 15 detachments, 50+ datasheets, full faction lore, plus a Warhammer 40,000 app code.
- Codex: Orks Collector’s Edition: same contents, gold foil detailing, green foil page edges and a green ribbon marker. While stocks last.
- Warboss: new plastic character kit with four upper head parts and four jaws — Games Workshop counts 16 different head combinations.
- Mek: armed with a kustom mega-slugga and carrying a back-mounted crane for patching up vehicles.
- Nazdreg: the Bad Moon warlord in plastic, whose reveal we covered earlier this year.
- Boyz: redesigned rank and file, each carrying shoota or slugga and choppa, with three models per squad able to take the heavier gear.
- Warbikers: twin dakkaguns on every bike, with a rokkit upgrade for the Biker Nob.
- Trukk: rebuilt kit with optional grabbin’ klaw, buzzsaw and spike ram.
- Orks Command Pack: 94 reference cards covering all 15 detachments, plus 36 double-sided tokens.
- Orks Dice Set: 16 mottled green dice with red pips.
- Armageddon standalone kits: Big Mek Dakkarig, Weirdboy, Wartrakk and the Kommand Krew (Bannernob, Bigboss and a Painboy with grot orderly), all previously boxed and now available separately.
It is not just 40K. The same Saturday brings a Made to Order run of eleven classic Age of Sigmar Skaven characters — Ikit Claw, Lord Skrolk, Queek Headtaker, Deathmaster Snikch and the rest — plus six Middle-earth Elf and Dwarf sets returning in metal. On the Black Library side there is a special edition of Deathwatch by Steve Parker, an illustrated and annotated edition of Nate Crowley’s Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh!, Bjorn: The Fell-Handed in hardback, and Demolisher in paperback.
The rules: everyone gets riled up
Games Workshop has spent the past week trailing the army rules, and the headline change is a rework of Waaagh!. Rather than one apocalyptic turn, the new version has two parts. All Ork units can re-roll Advance rolls as standard. On top of that, units can become riled up — via a once-per-battle War Cry ability used at the start of the Command phase, or handed out by characters such as Ghazghkull.
While riled up, a unit gains a 5+ invulnerable save, the [Assault] ability on its ranged weapons, and the ability to charge after Advancing. Meganobz get an extra +1 to hit in the Fight phase on top. The Stompa, being a Stompa, is permanently riled up, and anything that disembarks from it arrives in a foul mood for a turn.
The datasheet previews have been just as generous. Ghazghkull has been rebuilt into something closer to a Primarch-tier centrepiece — a Lone Operative while near friendly units, with the Prophet of da Great Waaagh! aura and a new Torrent profile on Mork’s Roar, though he can still only swing at one enemy unit at a time. Boyz gained a Never Too Busy to Fight rule that lets them scrap and score in the same turn, shootas pick up Lethal Hits against non-Monster, non-Vehicle targets, Nobz go up to three wounds each, and Killa Kans are quicker, tougher and can pick their weapon profile each turn.
Key dates
- Sunday 16 August: Games Workshop announces the wave in its Sunday Preview.
- Saturday 22 August, 10am: pre-orders open. Our prices go live on each product page at that moment — not before.
- Two weeks later: the usual pre-order window closes and stock ships.
On the price question: we are not allowed to show you our prices for these products until pre-orders actually open, which is why this article is a list of box contents rather than a list of numbers. Bookmark the Warhammer pre-orders page and everything will appear there, priced, at 10am on the Saturday.
Worth knowing before you plan your order
Two small caveats, so nobody is caught out. The new Nobz kit — five models with kustom krumpas, a skorcha option and three Grots carrying the spares — was revealed last week but is not in this Saturday’s pre-order. Games Workshop has said it follows a little later, so if Nobz were your priority, hold some budget back. And the Collector’s Edition codex is a limited run; if you want one, the first day of the pre-order window is the day to act, not the last.
That aside, this is about as good a first codex as an edition could ask for. Orks have not had a plastic refresh on this scale in years, and getting the Warboss, Mek, Boyz, Warbikers and Trukk all in one go means a brand new collector can build a coherent, entirely modern army from a single order.
What it means for you
Already play Orks? The codex and Command Pack are the obvious day-one buys — the 94-card pack covering all 15 detachments will save you a lot of phone-squinting mid-game. The Trukk and Boyz kits are the ones worth doubling up on, since almost every detachment wants bodies and transport.
Thinking of starting Orks? Do not wait for Saturday to start planning. The Armageddon launch box remains the most complete single-box route into 11th Edition with a proper Ork force in it, and the Getting Started with Orks and Orks Army Builder Bundle both give you models to practise on while you wait. Pair either with the Orks essential paint set and you can have a squad painted before the codex lands on the doormat.
Our take: the riled up mechanic is the smartest thing in here. Splitting the Waaagh! across several turns instead of one all-or-nothing alpha strike means Ork games should feel less like a coin flip and more like a running brawl — which is, frankly, what Orks are for.
Fifteen detachments, a new Warboss with sixteen possible faces, and a Stompa that is permanently in a mood. The Orks have waited a long time to go first — they have not wasted the turn.
Further reading: Faction Files: Orks — Lore of the Green Tide and New Warhammer 40k 11th Edition Starter Sets: A Beginner’s Guide.
