I think this might be our first look at Warhammer 40K 11th Edition

I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think we may be seeing the first snippets of the next Warhammer 40K edition.

Publisher Games Workshop has been laying down cryptic teases this week (small glimpses of a weapon or armor, you know the drill) for its fight-iest faction, the Orks. However, I think there's more to it than building hype for a handful of new models – I have a suspicion we're being drip-fed our first look at Warhammer 40K 11th Edition instead. That's due to persistent rumors of Orks being the second army in new starter sets fans are expecting to get this year. (Unlike the best board games, Warhammer enjoys another edition every three years like clockwork… which means we're due an update in 2026.)

Let's rewind from those teases for a second to make sense of all this. As I say, it feels all but guaranteed that we're getting Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition this year due to the game's lifecycle. And even though there's some debate over which faction will be facing off against Space Marines in its headline box set (e.g. the equivalent to 2023's Leviathan), most fans agree it's between two groups: Chaos Space Marines or Orks. Because Chaos has received a lot of love over the last few months with new models for 40K's traditional end-of-edition campaign, my money's on the green meanies instead. Plus, it's been an age since we saw this iconic army stomp across starter sets. It's past time.

So, would dropping a handful of new miniatures this close to 11th Edition make sense? No, it wouldn't – particularly because we got a faction refresh for Orks a couple of years ago without many new models. They're prime candidates for an overhaul with revitalized squads and heroes as a result. With all that in mind, I'm increasingly sure that the war-loving Orks are going to storm the new boxed sets… therefore, these must be the first 11th Edition models we're seeing.

Why now? Well, it seems likely that a big reveal is imminent. Besides Games Workshop promising "an even bigger reveal" next week via its initial tease, it just so happens that an AdeptiCon 2026 Warhammer livestream is set for the end of this month. Consequently, I'd put money on 11th Edition being shown off before April. I reckon the leak of a new Ork Warboss earlier this month on forums like reddit (which is why Warhammer came out with its own reveal in response) accelerated that plan, but it was always the plan.

This tracks with what we've seen from Warhammer 40K before, and the fantasy-based Age of Sigmar for that matter. These new editions were always shown off around this time (10th Edition broke cover in March, as did Age of Sigmar's Fourth Edition), so I don't see why Games Workshop would break with tradition now.

What do you want to see from Warhammer 40K 11th Edition? Let us know in the comments below.

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