Everything announced for the Warhammer World Anniversary 2024 at a glance

March 5, 2024: Warhammer seems to be reading my mind, because it's just dropped news of a Darkoath force for Age of Sigmar just after I made this round-up. More specifically, Warhammer finally reveals the barbarian army fans have been waiting for (it's me, I'm the fan).
- Benjamin Abbott, Tabletop & Merch Editor

Warhammer World Anniversary Warhammer 40K reveals

• New heroes for Adeptus Custodes & Orks
• Both have incredibly powerful loadouts
• Big Mek can warp through walls (!)

The 41st Millennium enjoyed a couple of reveals for new hero units, and both are pretty ridiculous if you dig into the stats. The new character for Adeptus Custodes (golden Space Marines who are the Emperor's personal guard) is a great example. 

A standalone Shield-Captain with a new loadout, his prowess in combat is utterly eye-watering. For starters, the Pyrithite Spear the Shield-Captain wields provides a hard-hitting 7 Attacks in melee with a Weapon Skill of +2 and and a Strength of 7. Then, its Armor Piercing/AP is -2 to Saving Throws, while Damage is 2 for each wound.

Basically? If you get up close and personal with this hero, you're in trouble. Big trouble.

Next, its shooting Melta attack is equally withering. While it only has 1 Attack, it's packing a Strength of 9, an Armor Piercing/AP value of -4, and a Damage score of 1 d6.

You'll be able to get this model first in the upcoming Auric Champions Battleforce. The rules for running all these are available in the Adeptus Custodes Codex, which is due soon.

The new Ork hero is similarly punishing.

Nothing the Orks make in Warhammer 40K is pretty, but it always does the job. (Which is, y'know, stomping things or making them blow up.) The best mechanics can often be found riding Meks into battle, and the strongest of these is now available to lead your army. These Big Meks "possess prestige on par with Warbosses," and their exoskeleton is absolutely covered in bizarre weaponry. 

One of those weird weapons is the powerful Traktor Blasta. Even though it isn't all that accurate, it should definitely ruin your day if it hits – it deals d6+1 damage upon a wound.

Because this Big Mek boss is armed with a Shokk-Boosta as well (a steampunk gadget that looks as if it'll explode at a moment's notice), you can zip through the warp to end up on the other side of terrain or enemy units. Besides sounding like a lot of fun, it should infuriate your opponents.

The Big Mek will be available first in the new Stompa Boyz Battleforce, and you'll be able to find rules for them via the refreshed Orks Codex that's launching in the near future.

Warhammer World Anniversary Age of Sigmar reveals

• More Darkoath barbarians come to tabletop
• Based on the warband from Warhammer+ and a new novel
• Not tied to the Chaos gods

Gunnar Brand and his Oathbound barbarians made their first appearance on Warhammer+ and will pop up again in Chris Thursten's soon-to-be-released Darkoath novel. But before that, they're taking to the battlefield as plastic models. Which look really, really cool, by the way.

The Darkoath don't have much patience for the gods as a whole, and Gunnar is even more dismissive of them (which doesn't seem wise in a world where deities are very real and trigger-happy). That makes his warband one of the rare barbarian forces in Warhammer that isn't completely enamored with Chaos, and they're bringing major Conan energy as a result.

I mean, Broken Nadja (a hunched bird-person skulking in the background) is clearly into some dodgy magic, but they're the exception to the rule. Otherwise it's all axes, furs, and loincloths. Because proper armor is for cowards.

Seriously Games Workshop, can we have a Darkoath army already?

Warhammer World Anniversary Blood Bowl reveals

• New team uses animals to help in the game
• The first Warhammer gnomes in almost 40 years
• They're all a bit weird

The strangest Warhammer World Anniversary reveal by far was the Glimdwarrow Groundhogs, and these gnomes are the most perfect little oddballs ever added to Warhammer Blood Bowl. A team that look like its players snuck away from a garden center, they're the epitome of '80s/'90s fantasy with massive heads, pointy hats and shoes, and knee-length beards for the men. There's even an occasional pipe for good measure, not to mention knuckle dusters with sneaky blades on the end. I don't know about anyone else, but they bring me back to the old-school Warhammer of my childhood.

However, they're not the star act. That honor goes to a band of animal companions that totally overshadow their teammates. More specifically, a fox, badger, goose, and gosling are part of the lineup. Besides being adorable, these are chaos incarnate: the fox can be depicted running up the pitch with the ball in its mouth; the goose wears a helmet and honks murderously as its gosling runs away with a sock in the background; and a grumpy badger snarls as if it's got rabies.

We don't have details on how the team will work yet, but they are apparently masters of "illusions and capricious trickery." When combined with their critter teammates and a massive tree-man rounding out the roster, these gnomes make up for any shortfalls in the strength department.  

For recommendations on what to play while you wait, be sure to check in with our guide to the best tabletop RPGs and the best card games.