Few Necrons are so terrible and ruthless as Imotekh the Stormlord. Awoken into a galaxy littered with the ruins of his people’s fallen empire, Imotekh had no time for the petty squabbles of his noble superiors, and ruthlessly snatched the throne of the Sautekh Dynasty for himself.

Imotekh’s machine mind fizzes with hyperlogical strategic abilities that give his intricate plans the uncanny feeling of prescience, and with a casual gesture he can blacken the skies with teeming invasion forces. Thanks to his Gauntlet of Fire and Staff of the Destroyer, he’s pretty handy in a fight too – and just look at that cloak.

This auspicious Phaeron is just one of the new miniatures in Codex: Necrons – awakening protocols for the rest aren’t quite complete yet.* The fourth Codex of the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 contains everything you could possibly want to know about the severe and uncompromising Necron Dynasties.

Alongside detailed lore covering the history of the dynasties, galleries of their miniatures, 47 datasheets, and Crusade rules, there are five full Detachments – each with unique Enhancements and Stratagems – that exemplify the way these immortal alien androids do battle.

The Awakened Dynasty returns from the Index, and is still the perfect way to run a silver tide of Necron Warriors that your enemy just cannot put down. More esoteric forms of warfare are enabled by the Hypercrypt Legion,which lets Necron units hyperphase into Strategic Reserves at the end of the enemy turn. Bring along a Monolithor two to make use of their Eternity Gates to return units, and trigger powerful Stratagems like Hyperphasic Recall.

Contingents of noble Overlords who prefer to enact their master plans from the front line benefit greatly from bonuses provided by the Obeisance Phalanx, while the Canoptek Court taps into buried Necron technologies to empower Crypteks and their mindless constructs in areas of the battlefield they control.

For those that prefer something simpler, the Annihilation Legion unlocks the true murderous potential of the Destroyer Cults. Even death cannot put an end to the Eternal Madness of these deranged killers, who will continue to butcher their foes on a 4+ when taken down in the Fight phase – just what the Skorpekh Lord ordered.

Codex: Necrons also features a range of tweaks and updates to various datasheets and rules, making it a must-have to ensure the warriors of your dynasty are in tip-top fighting shape after their very long nap.

* Some say they just want their chroming repolished and their actuators tightening ahead of their big reveal.

Warhammer Day Preview – The Sydonian Skatros Pops Into View Alongside Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus

The glow of irradiated weaponry and luminous eye lenses penetrates endless clouds of toxic smog, joined by the rhythmic thudding of feet and the static drone of machine cant. It’s not the hit new sound sweeping the 41st Millennium – it’s the tell-tale signs that the dogmatic cults of the Adeptus Mechanicus are marching to war.

Looming above the processions of Skitarii Vanguard and trundling Kataphron Breachers, a curious figure makes its first appearance.

The Sydonian Skatros is a sinister sight – stalking into position on its stilt-like legs before standing deathly still, a living cyborg watchtower that scans the battlefield for targets. It’s a perfectly engineered sniper, and little escapes its all-seeing achillan eye and fine-tuned elimination protocols.

Equipped with either a radium jezzail for popping INFANTRY or a transuranic arquebus for penetrating the armour of VEHICLES and MONSTERS, the Skatros is an exemplary marksman. Its Achillan Eye zeroes in on vulnerable quarry, providing re-rolls for Wound rolls against its favoured targets.

Counter-sniping this elevated assassin is a futile effort. The Stealth and Lone Operative abilities will keep it alive and kicking – and with legs like those, kicking is a real threat.

The Syondian Skatros will be released alongside Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus, a tome of sanctioned and sanctified machine learnings, and your primary source of information for the Cult of the Omnissiah in the new edition of Warhammer 40,000.

Like any good conclave of fanatical worshippers, the Adeptus Mechanicus cannot agree on how best to worship the Machine God of Mars, and their many sects each have their particular way of veneration through the act of war.

Five full Detachments – each with their own Enhancements and Stratagems – feature alongside 30 datasheets, supported by lashings of lore, painting tips, galleries of beautiful miniatures, and new tech-hunting Crusade rules.

The new Skitarii Hunter Cohort is an ideal pairing with the Skatros, sharing all the sensor-baffling tools you need to sneak your entire army around the battlefield. It grants all your SKITARII INFANTRY and MOUNTED units (plus your Ironstriders) the Stealth ability, and also provides the Benefit of Cover to all SICARIAN units targeted by ranged attacks from more than 12” away.

Once your army has tiptoed into position, Binharic Offence lets two SKITARII units attack a prime target with unthinking synchronicity, their lockstep assault improving their Armour Penetration by 1. Pin down an enemy with a Skatros sniper, then blast through their vulnerable spots with a Skorpius Disintegrator or a squad of Rangers.

On top of that, the existing Rad-zone Cohort receives revisions increasing the efficacy of its Rad Bombardment, and the new Explorator Maniple sets its sights on acquiring rare archeotech from the battlefield, no matter the cost. The Cohort Cybernetica provides you with seriously powered-up Kastelan Robots, while the Tech-priests of the Data-psalm Conclave exhort the Cult Mechanicus to eradicate their foes.

There are plenty of tweaks and changes to datasheets and rules in store for the Adeptus Mechanicus, so hook your data-tethers to Warhammer Community to get the latest previews from the Codex in the near future.

Warhammer 40.000: Kill Team

Warhammer Day Preview – Scorpions and Scouts Skirmish Above Savage Seas

By now, your kill teams have conducted clandestine operations across numerous war zones, from the ruin-strewn battlefields of Octarius to the claustrophobic confines of the Gallowdark. After the cataclysmic finale of Gallowfall, this creaking space hulk has plummeted through the atmosphere of the planet Bheta-Decima.

This nascent forge world has been heavily wounded by the devastating impact, but its Tech-magi continue to conduct clandestine experiments deep within seabound industrial rigs. These perilous platforms are the setting for the next season of Kill Team, and two teams of stealthy operatives are already preparing to clash above its predator-infested seas.

This is Kill Team: Salvation.

Dispatched to Bheta-Decima to rescue a Farseer held captive by an ambitious Magos, the Blades of Khaine draw their members from various Aspect Warrior shrines, including the Striking Scorpions, the sneakiest close combat specialists in the Aeldari field.

Striking Scorpions are consummate hunters, specialised in stalking their prey through dense environments. These patient warriors often lay motionless for days, observing their victims before descending upon them in a whirlwind of shuriken pistols, mandiblasters, and chainswords.

To free their Farseer, they must battle the Scout Squad kill team brought in to defend them. Space Marine Scouts are Astartes-in-training, sent on exacting missions to stress-test their skills and demonstrate their mastery of the battlefield.

Armed with a diverse array of weapons, including Astartes shotguns, boltguns, pistols, sniper rifles, heavy bolters, and missile launchers, these customisable squads are more than capable of tackling the Asuryani threat – and the myriad other crash-landed kill teams now operating on Bheta-Decima.

Kill Team: Salvation is a more tightly focused box than previous releases. It contains two kill teams consisting of 10 Striking Scorpions and 10 Space Marine Scouts, plus six pieces of Salvation Rig Apparatus terrain.

The box also contains a Kill Team: Salvation book, packed with background information on Bheta-Decima and the combatants in the box, as well as rules for both teams, and for fighting skirmish battles on extraction-rigs jutting out of a lethal ocean. There are also exclusive reference cards for both teams – including datacards, Tac Ops, ability, ploy, and equipment cards, as well as token sheets.

You can use these kill teams with your own collection of existing terrain, or grab the upcoming Killzone: Bheta-Decima. This set contains 18 pieces of terrain to use with the new killzone rules in Kill Team: Salvation – including a Ferratonic Furnace with a redesigned platform and ramparts, eight modular gantries (two large, two small, and four medium), and nine industrial-themed objective markers, plus a double-sided game board representing the toxic, fume-shrouded oceans of Bheta-Decima.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

Warhammer Day Preview – Lord-Relictor Ionus Cryptborn, Sigmar’s Prodigal Son

The Twin-Tailed Crusade continues to wind its way across the realms in Dawnbringers: Book III – The Long Hunt, but there are many who wish to see it fall. The Goretide, those legendary warriors of Khorne, have returned to the Great Parch – straight into the Dawnbringers’ only path of escape.

In order to continue on their quest, the warriors of Sigmar must rely on the help of a dubious ally who has not been seen in the Mortal Realms for as long as many can remember. Enter the God-King’s prodigal son and first Lord-Relictor, Ionus Cryptborn.

The Warden of Lost Souls is a tragic figure, who has spent decades searching Shyish fruitlessly for a cure to the flaw in the Reforging – an affliction which has robbed his closest friends of their hearts and minds, and left his own voice no more than a sepulchral rasp. Now though, he has been called upon by Sigmar once more, to serve an as-of-yet unknown higher purpose.

Since abandoning his old Chamber to scour the Realm of Death, Ionus has made a new friend – the sinister draconith, Cthorak, who has a morbid quest of his own. Now the two descend upon beleaguered battlefronts with Cryptborn’s personal Stormdrake Guard, and when the day is won, rumours say, they wordlessly spirit away those Stormcast who have become too changed by the scouring storm of Reforgings.

Ionus has seen many battlefronts (pictured on foot above right, as a Lord-Relictor) and stood shoulder to shoulder with many allies in the centuries he has been fighting. Most notable of these is Vandus Hammerhand (pictured above, left) his closest friend and confidante. But is their reunion in Dawnbringers a friendly one, or could it spell disaster for both?

Ionus Cryptborn takes flight alongside two fire-belching Stormdrake Guard in Cryptborn’s Stormwing, a box which will be released alongside the Dawnbringers: Book III – The Long Hunt. 

Warhammer Day Preview – Belthanos, First Thorn of Kurnoth, Calls the Hunt

The Twin-tailed Crusade forges ever onwards in Dawnbringers Book III – The Long Hunt, encountering  trials at every turn. In the Scabrous Sprawl, the Ghyranite half of this military excursion has met the ravenous servants of the Gulping God.

As the frenzied Ogor Gorgers close in around the scouts of the crusade, the trees part and a new Sylvaneth champion prepares to turn the hunters into the hunted.

Belthanos, First Thorn of Kurnoth, has arrived. He is responsible for keeping the spirit of Kurnoth, the Sylvaneth God of the Hunt, alive, and should his eternal chase ever cease, the dim embers of godhood would gutter out forever.

Belthanos is always at the fore of the Evergreen Hunt, sounding his warhorn from atop his Carnelian Greatspite. This is more than just a big, brutish, and bellicose bug – the Greatspite is a manifestation of pure jade life magic, and conveys Belthanos to his targets with vital haste and perfect coordination.

Belthanos himself is an adept of arboreal warfare, and holds authority over all Kurnoth Hunters. Their prey do not know they are marked for death, but once the Evergreen Hunt has a quarry little can stop its pursuit – spurred on by the primordial rhythm that pulses in the heart of all Sylvaneth.

Belthanos’ involvement in the Twin-tailed Crusade is chronicled in Dawnbringers: Book III – The Long Hunt, and this harmonious hunter will be released as part of the Blades of Belthanos, a box containing Belthanos, three Kurnoth Hunters, and three Revenant Seekers – who can also be built as Spiterider Lancers.

This box is the perfect core for the new Evergreen Hunt Army of Renown, which features in The Long Hunt. This hard-hitting force of Kurnoth Hunters and flying cavalry forsakes regular Sylvaneth hit-and-run tactics in favour of escalating buffs unlocked by running down prey. It can also be used alongside a more traditional sylvaneth force.

Warhammer Day Preview – The Twin-Tailed Crusade Continues its Long March in Dawnbringers III

Dawnbringers is the narrative series at the centre of Warhammer Age of Sigmar happening right now. While war rages in Andtor and adventurous warbands plumb the frozen depths of Ghur, the tale of the Twin-Tailed Crusade continues apace in Dawnbringers: Book III – The Long Hunt.

The Aqshian Crusade pushes into the Great Parch where they must battle the Goretide of Khorne, as old allies from the earliest days of Warhammer Age of Sigmar lore reunite for a grudge match against Khorgos Khul. In Ghyran, the Dawnbringers are beset on all sides by teeming hordes of deranged Ogor Gorgers, but a powerful new Sylvaneth ally makes himself known.

The Long Hunt amps up the twisting and turning narrative of the Twin-Tailed Crusade, and is stuffed with new rules to represent the major movers, shakers, battles, and forces in the next chapter of this two-sided story.

Continue your Cities of Sigmar Path to Glory campaign with The Twin-tailed Crusade: Chapter 2 – Against the Odds, which includes setbacks, blessings, treasures, and eight separate battleplans. There are two each for Aqshyian and Ghyranite crusades, and four story battleplans that recreate critical moments in the story of The Long Hunt – all split into two elaborate branching quests.

There are four new Armies of Renown. The two new headline characters have their armies represented by The Evergreen Hunt – a cadre of Sylvaneth enthralled by the harmonies of the hunt – and the Draconith Skywing, a force of mounted Stormcast Eternals.

Ogor players can eat their fill with The Roving Maw, which turns the battlefield into a tapestry of ravenously toothy orifices that nibble and chew at units who stray too far from safety, as Gutbusters and Gorgers nimbly weave between them.

The Lofnir Drothkeepers round things out, pairing Vulkyn Flameseekers with Magmadroths that embody the searing ardour of Vulcatrix – and especially bold Flameseekers can even hitch a ride on these flame-filled beasts as they charge into battle.

Warhammer: The Old World

Warhammer Day Preview – The Kingdom of Bretonnia Revealed

Warhammer: The Old World is a game of massed combat set in the World of Legend, in which whole regiments do battle in a swirling melee of ranking, flanking, thundering charges, roaring monsters, and powerful sorcery.

We’ve revealed a handful of new miniatures so far, and there’s been a long-running Development Diary that’s covered the intricacies of the game, the main factions you will be able to play, as well as art, lore, and weapon concepts.

Today’s reveal is a little more expansive… So here’s a video dedicated entirely to the Kingdom of Bretonnia. Hit play for the Lady.

That is a whole lot of chivalry – it’s the entire launch range for the Kingdom of Bretonnia for Warhammer: The Old World. The only way to comfortably drink in all of those miniatures painted in the heraldry of the Duke Gastille, the Red-Hand, is with some high-quality photography. Speaking of which…

First up are new plastic kits you haven’t seen before, in all their glory.

Lord on Pegasus

You can’t have a Bretonnian army without a mighty general to lead them, and where better for such a supercilious strategist to survey the battlefield than from atop a soaring Pegasus?