Warhammer Big Autumn Preview: a new duardin army, a Custodes codex and 150 new paints

Games Workshop ran its first ever Big Autumn Preview tonight, Friday 18 September, and it was not a quiet one. Twelve reveals across nine game systems, headlined by an entirely new Warhammer Age of Sigmar duardin faction, the next Warhammer 40,000 codex, the return of the Legion of the Damned, and 150 brand new paints.

Only one of those has a confirmed date so far: Warhammer Tone Pro, the new 150-paint range, lands in stores on Saturday 26 September. Everything else was shown without pricing or pre-order dates, which Games Workshop will drip out over the coming weeks. Here is every reveal, what is actually in each box, and which ones we reckon are worth clearing shelf space for.

A note on our images: the pictures in this article are composites we have assembled from Games Workshop's own official reveal photography, with the studio backgrounds removed. They are not photographs of products in our shop, and nothing here is AI-generated.

The Khazalite Holds: a brand new duardin army for Age of Sigmar

This was the headline, and it is a big one. The Khazalite Holds are an entirely new Age of Sigmar faction, and they are the classic mountain-hold dwarfs that Age of Sigmar has been conspicuously missing. Not sky pirates, not shirtless slayers. Stone, runes, gunpowder and grudges.

Games Workshop's announcement says the faction launches with an Army Set led by Hjulda Drakkblud, described as a complete Spearhead force in a box. Inside it:

• Hjulda Drakkblud — the named leader, hunting for lost karaks
• 10 Clanshields — armoured infantry with interchangeable Kromdron axes and hammers
• Gholems of Gazul — animated stone constructs that can alternatively be built as Gholems of Valaya
• An Oathkeeper Cannon — which can also be built as a Stonebreaker Mortar
• The battletome with an army-set-exclusive cover, plus 53 warscroll cards

A second wave follows: Thrynns and Runewrights as leaders, Clangunners with thrundok rifles and thrundrin shotcannons, Valayan Guardians as elite infantry, and a centrepiece kit for High Kyng Valankrom riding an enormous stone War Throne, which also builds as a generic Thrynn on War Throne.

Here is the part that matters if you already own dwarfs: the Fyreslayers are being folded in. Renamed the Grimmdron in the new lore, they share the Khazalite Holds battletome, so existing collections carry forward — either as a full Fyreslayers army or mixed in alongside the new Kromdron. They also get a new beastmaster character, Ormyr, with his kyndledroth Ashtongue, a Regiment of Renown usable by any Order army, and a Magmic Fyrds Spearhead built around a Magmadroth.

Our take: this is the most significant Age of Sigmar range release since the Sons of Behemat refresh, and the Fyreslayer absorption is genuinely good news rather than the usual squat-shaped panic. If you have a shelf of Fyreslayers gathering dust, they just became part of something much larger.

Codex: Adeptus Custodes is the next 40,000 book — and the faction is being rescaled

The next Warhammer 40,000 codex is Adeptus Custodes, following the pattern set by the recent Orks and Space Marines books: softback with a decorative slipcase, lore, hobby guides and army rules.

The new kit is the Aquilon Terminator, buildable with either lastrum storm bolters and Solarite power talons, or adrathic combi-destructors and Solarite power gauntlets. They are dual-legal, usable in both the 41st Millennium and The Horus Heresy, with Heresy rules in the Liber Custodes army book.

The bigger story is the rules change. Games Workshop says Custodes datasheets are being fundamentally rescaled so that even a basic Custodian fights at a power level beyond most Space Marine heroes, with points and squad sizes adjusted to match. Fewer models, each one considerably harder.

Alongside the codex come a Combat Patrol (a Shield Captain, six Sentinel Guard, three Venatari and a Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought, with alternate build options for all three squads), a faction Command Pack of reference cards and tokens, and standalone dual-branded releases for a raft of existing kits: Shield Captain, Custodian Guard Sodality, Sentinel Guard Sodality, Venatari Sodality, Custodian Dreadnought, Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, Gyrfalcon Jetbike Sodality, Pallas Grav-attack, Caladius Grav-tank, Caladius Annihilator Grav-tank and Coronus Grav-carrier.

Our take: that is close to a full range relaunch wearing a codex's clothes. If you have been waiting to start Custodes, waiting a bit longer just got sensible — the boxes are about to change and the rules underneath them are changing more.

Kill Team: Armageddon brings back the Legion of the Damned

The new Kill Team boxed set is Armageddon, and it pits the Legion of the Damned against a mob of elite Ork Boss Nobz.

The Damned play unlike any other Space Marine team. Games Workshop describes them as starting the game slower than normal Marines and solidifying as turning points tick over, growing into what the announcement calls terrifying spectral monsters wreathed in eldritch fire. It is a mechanical read of the lore rather than a straight stat line, and it should make them a genuinely different proposition on the table.

Opposite them, the Boss Nobz — already seen in Codex: Orks — arrive here first in plastic. Expect dual kustom shootas on some, an enormous skorcha on others, and the usual Ork approach to problem solving.

The box also carries a full Killzone: Armageddon terrain set, styled to sit alongside the existing Battlezone Fronteris kits but considerably more battered: two bunkers with their own close-quarters rules, ruins, and scatter terrain including a wrecked Redemptor Dreadnought and a Rogal Dorn Battle Tank. Datacards and the Armageddon Dossier round it out, with rules for both teams and the background lore.

Warhammer Tone Pro: 150 new paints, in shops 26 September

The one with a date. Warhammer Tone Pro is a new range of 30 colours in five numbered tones each, giving 150 paints. Tone 1 is the darkest, tone 5 the lightest, so your shade, base and highlight for any colour are simply three numbers on the same shelf.

Games Workshop is claiming strong coverage from the first coat, specifically calling out yellow and white — historically the two that eat an evening. The formulation is pitched as usable for basecoating, layering, highlighting, glazing and drybrushing, and the range comes with two mediums:

• Shading Medium — turns any Tone Pro paint into a shade or glaze
• Blending Medium — extends drying time for wet blending
• Four new drybrushes — XS to L, with a tapered edge aimed at avoiding the chalky drybrush finish

Our take: a numbered tone ladder is the single most useful thing a paint range can do for a newer painter, and it is what has made ranges like Speedpaint and the AK sets so easy to teach from behind the counter. Whether it replaces the existing Warhammer Colour range or sits beside it was not confirmed on the stream. We will update this piece when we know.

Warhammer Necromunda Roleplay: a full miniatures-driven RPG

So that is why the new Necromunda Core Set says Skirmish on the front. Necromunda Roleplay is a separate, fully-fledged RPG where you play a crew of bounty-hunting Venators, with an Arbitrator running the game in place of a games master.

The Core Set contains 18 new plastic miniatures:

• Four Iconic Characters — an Escher Assassin, Orlock Gunslinger, Squat Fixer and Goliath Champion, all with alternate builds
• Five Adversaries — a Scabber, Saboteur, Hive Preacher, Cadaver Merchant and a Heretek with servo-skull
• Eight Hive Scum — with a wide spread of weapon options

Also in the box: a 224-page Core Rulebook with two complete adventures, two double-sided card playmats, 11 player handouts, an Arbitrator's screen, 50 blank character sheets, and D10 and D100 dice alongside the usual Necromunda D6, Firepower and Injury dice. Character creation covers all six Clan Houses plus a seventh Underhiver origin, with the option to play a Squat. A first expansion, Journal Apocrypha: Denizens of the Hive, launches alongside it with 51 additional Adversary profiles.

Combat uses a roll-under system based on skill values and difficulty modifiers, which will feel familiar to anyone who has played Necromunda Skirmish but reads much more like a traditional RPG.

Tomb Kings get 78 new plastics for The Old World

The Host of Nehekhara Army Reinforcement Set brings the first new plastic Tomb Kings Warriors, Archers and Chariots to Warhammer: The Old World. The contents are exactly the kind of bulk an undead army wants:

• 36 Skeleton Warriors — interchangeable shields, full command, spear or khopesh options
• 36 Skeleton Archers — interchangeable heads and quivers, plus scenic extras
• 6 Skeleton Chariots — musician, standard bearer and champion options

The next Arcane Journal, River of Bones, arrives with it. It follows one of Settra's forces into Athel Loren after ravaging the Border Princes, and carries the Barrow Kingdoms Army of Infamy for Tomb Kings plus rules letting Wood Elf Realms players field Gargantuan Treemen. There are also new magic rules for enchanted terrain.

Blood Bowl: Night Goblins, and a great many Squigs

The new Blood Bowl team is the Night Goblins, and their entire gimmick is bringing Squigs onto the pitch. The kit holds six Night Goblin Linemen plus two each of four new positionals: Cave Squigs, Squig Wranglers, Squig Hoppers and Squig Herders.

On the rules Games Workshop shared: Linemen have Dodge, Stunty, Taunt and Shadowing, making them irritating to catch and irritating to escape. Cave Squigs and Squig Hoppers both have Pogo. Squig Wranglers are ST7 Ball and Chain players, which is either brilliant or a disaster depending on the dice. And you will want Squig Herders nearby, because everything else risks something called Squig Rage, which was named but not explained. Full rules land in Spike! Journal issue 23.

Seraphon and Warhammer Quest: Darkwater

A new Seraphon battletome is on the way, fronted by a new centrepiece character: Blessed Tetaxi, Prophet of Tepok, a skink seer riding a large flying reptile named Ma'toq. The book adds battle traits built around interpreting the Great Plan, two Armies of Renown, a Claws of Tepok Spearhead (a Skink Starseer, 12 Skinks, 3 Terradon Riders and 3 Ripperdactyl Riders) and the Horns of Quetzl Regiment of Renown, which packages a Stegadon Chief and a Stegadon for Order or Destruction armies.

Warhammer Quest: Darkwater gets its first expansion, Agents of the Order Azyr, adding four heroes to the fight for the Jade Abbey: Safiya Ashcross the witch hunter, Caul Durnan the sharpshooter with swappable specialist bolts, Brother Belias the battle-priest, and Ignus Sharn, a Bright Wizard whose spells can hurt him as readily as the enemy. Games Workshop confirmed these are four of the new Warhammer Heroes miniatures, and that Ashcross was the range's unannounced secret model.

Horus Heresy: Slaanesh arrives in the Age of Darkness

The next Journal Tactica, The Battle for the Signus Cluster: Assault on Kol, covers the Legio Custodes fighting the hordes of Kyriss the Perverse beneath the mining world of Kol — the other half of the Signus campaign, running parallel to the Blood Angels' better-known ordeal against Ka'Bandha.

Rules-wise it adds an Ephoroi Venatari-Proconsul, a Hykanatoi Proconsul-Delegate for smaller games, an updated Gyrfalcon Jetbike Sodality profile, and — the headline — a complete new army list for the Daemons of Slaanesh, bringing Fiends, Seekers and Daemonettes into the Age of Darkness, with army-wide special rules and Exalted Sections representing corrupted Solar Auxilia.

Astartes II lands in December, Arkanaut in October

Two Warhammer TV reveals, both for Warhammer+ subscribers. First, a new teaser for Astartes II, confirmed for a December release and confirmed to be significantly longer than the original.

Deathwatch and Terminators feature heavily, with a distinctly Space Hulk flavour to the corridors and storm bolters on display.

Second, Arkanaut — the first 3D-animated outing for the Kharadron Overlords and, more to the point, their skyvessels. It is a three-part series following the crew of the Therodoson, an Arkanaut Frigate out of Barak-Zilfin, and the first episode arrives in October.

Watch the whole thing

If you would rather see it all unfold as it aired, the full stream is below.

What it means for you

Only Tone Pro has a date, so nothing else here needs your wallet this month. That said, a few practical thoughts from behind the counter:

• If you paint: 26 September is the only hard date on the board. Tone Pro is a full range launch, and range launches are when the interesting colours sell out first.
• If you play Custodes: hold off on individual kits. The packaging, the points and the datasheets are all in motion, and the Combat Patrol looks like the sensible entry point once it lands.
• If you own Fyreslayers: good news. Your army is not going anywhere, it is just getting a much bigger family.
• If you want the Kill Team box: Legion of the Damned have been off the shelves for years and the Nobz debut here. Boxed sets with a returning fan-favourite tend not to hang around.
• If you have a Darkwater copy in the cupboard: the expansion is a reason to get it back on the table rather than a reason to start over.

Pre-order dates and prices will roll out over the next few weeks. When they do, they will appear on our Warhammer pre-orders page, and we will update this article as each one is confirmed.

Twelve reveals, nine game systems, one new army and a hundred and fifty pots of paint. Games Workshop has quietly built a brand new seasonal show and then filled it to the brim. Whatever you collect, something in tonight's stream was aimed squarely at your shelf.

Further reading: Codex: Space Marines revealed — new kits, new character, pre-orders Saturday and Codex: Orks is out now — 11th Edition's first codex arrives at £25.