Games Workshop closed out Sunday evening with a Space Marines preview, and it was not a modest one. Heading for the Space Marines range is an 11th Edition Codex: Space Marines running to 232 pages, four of the range's core kits rebuilt from the ground up, a brand-new named character, and the Armageddon units finally breaking out into boxes of their own.
Games Workshop's preview did not attach dates or prices to the Space Marine releases. Hobby press reporting puts pre-orders on Saturday 19 September with a release on Saturday 3 October, and no UK prices have been published anywhere yet — those land when the store listings go live. Everything below is what Games Workshop actually showed. Here it is, box by box.
The codex: 232 pages, three editions
Games Workshop's announcement calls it a hefty 232 pages of collecting guides, updated datasheets, and an in-depth look inside a Space Marine fortress monastery. It comes in three flavours:
- Standard edition: softback, supplied in a slipcase.
- Collector's Edition: hardback with gold foil and printed page edges.
- Limited Edition: six swappable metal Chapter badges for the cover, a set of art prints, a metal Crux Terminatus, and the Command Pack bundled in. Games Workshop exclusive, while stocks last.
For a sense of scale on pricing, Codex: Orks — 11th Edition's first codex — arrived at £25 for the standard book. The Space Marines book is a good deal fatter, so treat that as a floor rather than a forecast.
Four core kits rebuilt
This is the part that matters if you already own a pile of blue plastic. Four of the most-bought kits in the entire 40,000 range are being replaced:
- Intercessor Squad — 13 helmets spread across three marks of armour, plus a power sword, a power fist and a sergeant's back banner.
- Outrider Squad — three bikes with ten helmet options; the sergeant takes a power sword or a thunder hammer.
- Vanguard Veteran Squad with Jump Packs — five models, combat shields available to every one of them, and a spread of master-crafted power swords, axes, a relic blade, a power fist or a thunder hammer.
- Captain on Bike — three weapon options, five heads, and a choice between a bike caught mid-charge or planted with one foot down.
Kaius Konorius, the Chapter Master's champion
The new character is Kaius Konorius, a blademaster. Games Workshop describes him as a Chapter veteran who fought alongside Marneus Calgar and has now ventured into the stars once again to serve as the Chapter Master's personal champion, adding that he is equally skilled at skewering Characters as he is at mowing down hordes of lesser foes.
In plainer terms: he is a duellist who also protects your warlord from Precision attacks, which is the sort of job an Ultramarines character tends to end up with.
Outriders & Captain on Bike
Anyone who has spent the last year trying to buy a single Land Speeder without a boxed game attached will appreciate this one. Three Armageddon releases are going standalone:
- Champions of Armageddon — a Chaplain with jump pack, an Ancient and three Eradicators, as a Games Workshop exclusive set.
- Eradicators with heavy bolters — in a box of their own at last.
- Land Speeder — armed with either an onslaught gatling cannon or a pyrecannon.
Cards, dice and a Black Templars novel
- Command Pack: Space Marines — 94 reference cards and 24 double-sided tokens.
- Premium Dice Set — 16 dice carrying the Crux Terminatus.
- Helbrecht: Sin of Hope by Mike Vincent — a Black Library Special Edition, which Games Workshop has confirmed goes up for pre-order on Wednesday 23 September at 3pm UK time. One for the Black Templars shelf.
Fifteen detachments to pick from
Games Workshop published the detachment list separately on Friday, and there are 15 of them — Gladius Task Force, Stormlance Task Force and Ironstorm Spearhead among the familiar names, joined by armour-specific forces tagged Tacticus, Phobos and Gravis. Games Workshop's own framing is that they split into three broad groups: those that change Combat Doctrines, those that buff core infantry, and those built around a specific armour type.
That last part is the genuinely new bit. If your collection is all one armour mark, several detachments are simply off the table for you — worth knowing before you buy on a whim.
What it means for you
Our take, clearly labelled as opinion: this is a codex release that rewards patience rather than reflexes.
- If you already own Intercessors, Outriders or Vanguard Veterans, nothing in your army box stops working. The old kits still assemble, still play, still count. You are buying a new sculpt, not a legal requirement.
- If you were about to start Space Marines, hold off a fortnight. Buying the outgoing Intercessor kit the week before its replacement lands is the sort of thing you will still be grumbling about at Christmas.
- If you want the Limited Edition codex, that is the one to be quick on. Games Workshop exclusives with metal bits attached have a habit of vanishing on day one, and nobody who waited has ever been pleased about it.
- If you are new to all this, a codex is the last thing you need. Start with a box of models and some paint — our starter set guide is a better first purchase than a 232-page rulebook.
We will update this piece with UK prices and confirmed dates the moment Games Workshop publishes them.
Four redone kits, a new blademaster and a 232-page book. The Space Marines were not exactly short of options before, and now they have more. Somewhere, an Ork player is sighing into a cup of tea.
Further reading: Codex: Orks is out now — 11th Edition's first codex arrives at £25 and Faction Files: White Scars — Lore of the Sons of the Khan.
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