Warhammer 40,000: 11th Edition – Early Review & Impressions
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon Returns – Early Review & Impressions
We’ve officially seen the first real look at the next edition of Warhammer 40,000, and it’s clear right out of the gate that this isn’t just a light refresh. Between the return to Armageddon, a new launch box, and some pretty fundamental rule changes, this is shaping up to be a meaningful shift in how the game plays.
For this one, we’ve also got some added perspective. Mac, the founder of Wargame Portal and a long-time hobbyist, is chiming in throughout with his thoughts as both a collector and player.
Back to Armageddon
Kicking things off with Armageddon feels right. This is one of the most iconic warzones in 40k, and the setup is classic: Orks flooding in, Imperial forces on the brink, and a desperate call for reinforcements going out across the galaxy .
The involvement of multiple Space Marine Chapters alongside the Blood Angels gives this a proper large-scale war feel, not just a localized conflict. It sounds like the launch box is going to lean heavily into that narrative, which is a strong start.
Model Reveals
For the Space Marines, we have a "new" Intercessor squad incoming. Mixing armor marks is something hobbyists have been doing for years, and now it’s finally being baked into the official kits.
Mac: Dark Angels collector here. I mean, I was already modeling most of my standard Marines with different helmet options, either from beaky helmets to Mk VII. I'm glad to see them finally doing this, but for those of us who’ve been collecting for a while, we mostly have these. If you look, though, the new helmets have the same curvature over the sides that the Mk X helms do, which you can't get outside of these new helms (Grey Hunters have them, for instance) or by getting custom bits made.
That last point is actually pretty important. Even if you already have the “look,” these new kits are introducing subtle design details that weren’t easy to replicate before.
On the Ork side, giving Boyz all three weapons is a nice gameplay and thematic upgrade, even if the pose didn’t blow anyone away.
Mac: The Ork is a nice touch, albeit I think they could have picked a better pose. I know some folks don't like the monopose models but at least now you don't have the same issue as the last Boyz kit where you had to buy multiples to end up building a squad full of a certain loadout, now they just have it all. Quality of life improvement for Ork fans for sure.
Codexes & Army Building
This is one of the biggest wins in the entire reveal.
Codexes staying valid is huge. No hard reset, no immediate invalidation of collections, and no forced rebuy cycle right out of the gate. On top of that, 70+ detachments at launch gives a ton of flexibility.
Mac: It's nice to see the codices are remaining for now, similar to between 8th and 9th edition, and the advertised 70 detachments we're getting. I hope that we don't end up with 50 of them being just for Marines, but we will see, lol. I'm an avid Boarding Actions fan, so not having to rock that boat again is appreciated. Same for the recent and upcoming campaign books being valid still. It reminds me a lot of Psychic Awakening, but at least these rules aren't as impactful on the actual game, just more for fun. Crucible of Champions, etc., will be nice to keep.
That comparison to Psychic Awakening is spot on, but with a key difference. This feels more contained and less disruptive, which is exactly what players want after a few turbulent edition shifts.
Missions
This is where things start to get interesting.
Missions now being influenced by your army composition adds a layer of strategy before the game even begins. It pushes identity and playstyle harder than before.
Mac: Not really sure how this will play out, but I'm all for it. I think we are going to see some grumbling from the competitive crowd, but as a player who prefers more of a "lived-in" feel than the current, somewhat sterile mission layouts, I'm eager to see how it plays out. The rock-paper-scissors feel is interesting, and hopefully they stick the landing. My only fear for the competitive folks and Tournament Organizers is that it'll be even harder to plan around armies and set up Tournaments since the missions shift based on the armies, at least from what I'm reading here.
This is probably going to be one of the more divisive changes. Narrative players will love it, competitive players will immediately start trying to solve it.
Objectives
This is one of the boldest changes in the entire preview.
No more circles. Objectives are now tied to terrain footprints.
Mac: This is quite exciting, but once again I think a lot of competitive players are going to have a feels-bad moment, and the players, YouTubers making merch, and third-party vendors that invested a lot in making these pads are going to feel hosed. It makes more sense thematically and will make battlefields more alive, which I love. I do feel competitive players are going to figure this out, and we are going to have flat squares or footprints that represent this, thus sort of defeating the purpose, but it's understandable.
He’s probably right. The intent is clearly to make battlefields feel more real, but the competitive community will almost certainly optimize it back into something standardized.
Terrain Changes
Terrain shifting from a save bonus to a hit penalty is a massive philosophical change.
Mac: I would like to see more on these terrain rules, but I like the penalty to hit rather than the current bonus to the saving roll. However, with units being easier to hide, I think there may be some issues where shooting armies are going to have a very rough go of it versus fast melee armies. We will need to see more before we can really make a judgment. Hopefully, we get a mission and core rules to experiment with again before the edition fully launches.
This is one of those changes that sounds great on paper but will live or die based on execution. If shooting gets too suppressed, the balance could swing hard.
Fight Phase & Combat
The combat changes look like a cleanup more than a full overhaul, but one key improvement stands out.
Mac: Yeah, once again, I'm going to actually field this before I can make a decision on it personally. I think it's fine. The new charge rule is really nice, and being able to just roll a charge and pick a target based on the result is better than the current system for sure. That's not here in this article, but it was mentioned in the reveal show.
That flexibility in charges alone is going to remove a lot of awkward moments in gameplay. If the rest of the phase is as streamlined as they’re suggesting, this could be one of the better-feeling combat systems we’ve had in a while.
Final Thoughts
This reveal feels different from past edition launches.
Instead of tearing everything down, this looks like an attempt to evolve the system while keeping player investment intact. Codex continuity, campaign book relevance, and expanded detachments all point toward a more stable transition.
At the same time, there are some real risks. Objectives, missions, and terrain changes are all big swings, and they’re going to take time to settle.
But overall, this is one of the more promising starts to a new edition we’ve seen in a while. And if nothing else, heading back to Armageddon is exactly the kind of tone-setter this game needed.
