During Adepticon 2026, Games Workshop presented upcoming releases for Warhammer 40,000. The highlight: the 12th Edition of the Tabletop including a new box with two armies. The focus shifts to one of the most dangerous planets of the Imperium with a now legendary war.
Adepticon is one of the largest events of the year when it comes to presenting new content for Warhammer 40,000. It’s not only about new figures – which many simply display on their shelves – but also about new rulebooks, animations, and more.
In 2026, Games Workshop announced the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. There will be a new set, the “Armageddon Box,” set to be released in June. Specific contents have not yet been revealed, only which armies you can find inside: Orks and Blood Angels. Only two new models are already known, Intercessors of the Blood Angels and Boyz of the Orks.
Armageddon is, however, not just a term in Warhammer 40,000, but a planet of the Imperium, which has been fought over for years and has been a site of some of the greatest wars in history. The two armies from the box fit perfectly into this setting.
A species that exists only to wage war
If you don’t know them yet: Orks are the most warlike race in Warhammer 40,000. The Greenskins are literally born for war, if one can speak of a “birth” when it comes to fungi.
Only when they fight do Orks thrive, and they are constantly looking for a new conflict. If they can’t find opponents, they fight each other, perhaps the only reason they haven’t yet conquered the galaxy. They also have a remarkable resistance to Chaos.
Orks need battles to exist. In peace, they perish. The more enemies they defeat, the bigger they become, and yes, literally here as well. The largest Orks rise to Waaaghboss, rally more Orks around them, and lead… well, even larger wars.
In galactic terms, Orks are one of the strongest factions in Warhammer 40,000.
Space Marines, in whom uncontrolled rage slumbers
Their opponents in the new box are the Blood Angels, who are among the strongest chapters of Space Marines in Warhammer 40,000. They are not only known as excellent fighters but above all for one thing: their brutality.
Like all Astartes, the Blood Angels Space Marines inherit traits from their Primarch, in this case, Sanguinius. Sanguinius was regarded as the most charismatic and beautiful Primarch, but he had a flaw that should have made him an outcast in the Imperium.
The “Red Thirst” is a kind of berserker state that drives the fighter into such a rage that he charges into the enemies without any regard, causing a massacre. If the Blood Angel fails to free himself from this wrath, he can enter the permanent state of “Black Rage,” which is considered irreversible.
That these two factions meet on Armageddon is highly fitting, as the planet already has a long history of bloody and brutal wars.
Armageddon is the site of some of the worst wars of the Imperium
Originally built as a macroworld meant to house several huge “Hive Cities” with billions of people, Armageddon has now become a single war zone where people still live.
The first war was devastating: Chaos cultists infiltrated the planet and were only repelled with the help of the Grey Knights. Since the existence of the Grey Knights is secret, all inhabitants of the planet were sterilized and forced into labor, some even killed outright by the Inquisition. Armageddon was resettled. This did not last long:
- Shortly after, the Orks arrived, who could only be defeated because Commissar Yarrick managed to contain the Waaaghboss and his troops in a city.
- In the third war, after the return of the Waaaghboss, Armageddon became a sort of holy site for the Orks, where they could always find fights and glorious deaths.
- Finally, after the opening of the Great Rift, the fallen Primarch Angron and his Khorne followers also got involved.
Now Armageddon will be the setting for the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 with new rules, including for the Steel Legion, the steadfast defenders of the planet. The planet itself is very similar to the world regarded as the Apocalypse itself: On a planet in Warhammer 40,000, Fallout has become reality, and now some of the toughest people of the Imperium live there
