1. Space Marines
2. Armies of the Imperium
3. Chaos
4. Xenos
Warhammer 40K 11th Edition is finally upon us! The Armageddon launch box is out in the wild, and both Space Marine and Ork players are bathing in the warm glow of new models.
Delightful for them — congrats, happy for you, nice etc — but what about the rest of us? There's definitely plenty more plastic crack on the way for us to add to our collections, and the Big Summer Warhammer Preview event on Friday, June 26, will be our first chance to see what's in store.
I'm too impatient for that, though, so I'm going to shout out one new model or unit that every faction needs in Warhammer 40K 11th Edition. This list sits somewhere in the no man's land between predictions and wishlisting, but I'm pretty confident most of these will happen during the 11th edition. If I'm wrong, I owe you a drink*.
*Ian does not owe you a drink
Space Marines
1. Space Marines - Land Raider
The obvious joke answer here is another bloody Marneus Calgar model, but I'm going with my heart on this one. The Land Raider is the most iconic tank in the Space Marine army, and the current model is 26 years old. While it still looks great, it's an absolute bear to build, so let's get a new kit that's as lovely as the Horus Heresy one.
- Honorable mentions: Rhino/Predator — the other iconic tank chassis
2. Black Templars - Eternal Pyre
After a sizable range update in 9th Edition, the Black Templars aren't really missing anything, which means I'm going to have to think up a new unit for the Eternal Crusaders.
The Land Raider Crusader would be a nice cop-out answer, but I feel like the Templars are missing a big centerpiece model… something that screams "religious crusaders" loud and clear. Enter, the Eternal Pyre — a procession of Templars carrying an enormous funeral pyre that is kept alight by a never-ending fuel of heretics, witches, and traitors. Picture the Triumph of St. Catherine, but way darker.
- Honorable mentions: Honestly, I've got nothing. Another dude with candles and a loincloth.
3. Blood Angels - Baal Predator/ Baal Gladiator
I can hear the Blood Angels players screaming "Sanguinary Guard" in unison, but it's not going to happen. Some model refreshes give the rizz, and some take it away, but GW is not going to redo them again so soon.
Instead, let's revive another classic Blood Angels model that's showing its age — the roasty toasty Baal Predator. Obviously, this flamethrowing variant would come alongside a refresh for the generic kit, but this is THE iconic Blood Angels tank.
- Honorable mentions: Librarian Dreadnought — A psychic flying dreadnought? Sign me up.
4. Dark Angels - Ravenwing Black Knights
Dark Angels got a tasty model refresh in 10th edition, but it was very focused on the Deathwing side of the chapter. The Ravenwing are long overdue for an update, and the Black Knights are their most iconic unit. Sure, Outriders are perfectly cromulent as a throwaway unit, but it'd be great to see a biker unit with some punch on the table.
- Honorable mentions: Sammael - The master of the ravenwing is nearly 20 years old at this point. Give him an update, for pity's sake.
5. Space Wolves - Thunderwolf Cavalry
I generally prefer it when the Space Wolves lean into the Viking aesthetic, and away from the big wolfy wolfmen in space thing (god, I hate the Wulfen), but the Thunderwolf Cavalry is such an iconic unit for the Sons of Fenris that they need a redo because the current models look goofy as all hell.
It could be dudes riding big wolves, or it could be bikers riding wolf-pelt-adorned choppers into the battle, but either way, it needs to happen.
- Honorable mention: Bjorn the Fell-Handed — I really don't want to see the old box dreadnought characters fade away, but also not sure I want to see them updated as Redemptors.
6. Deathwatch - Watch Master
Honestly, Deathwatch players should just keep their heads down and hope GW doesn't try to squat your army again in 11th edition.
I don't think the Xenos hunters are getting much beyond their recent Kill Team refresh, but a new Watch Master model seems like the safest bet here. The current model came out in 2016, well before the Primaris upscalling of Space Marines, and he's starting to look rather stubby next to his brothers.
- Honorable mention: Watch Captain Artemis — The special Watch Master.
7. Grey Knights - Kaldor Draigo
From an outside perspective, it was extremely funny that GW decided to squat the leader of the Grey Knights last edition — especially given his prominent role in the Grey Knight-focused video game Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters — but it's time for the Supreme Grandmaster to make his return… preferably alongside an entire range refresh for the pint-sized hammers of Titan.
- Honorable mention: The entire GK range — They need it, Strike Marines look hilariously small next to Primaris Marines, and their Terminators are barely taller than a guardsman.
Armies of the Imperium
1. Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard) - Catachans
Here is a picture of the current Catachan models.
I rest my case.
- Honorable mentions: Steel Legion (Feels like cheating as we know they're coming)
2. Adepta Sororitas (Sisters of Battle) - Repressor
Sisters are so well kitted out — their entire model range is only a few years old, and every classic model has a current edition… well, almost every model.
Back in the early 2000s, Forge World released an upgrade kit that dared to ask the question "What if the Rhino was well hard?" Enter the Repressor. This was a heavily armoured version of the classic transport that also sported a Dozer blade that was perfect for clearing heretics out of the way.
Let's bring this one back as a chunkier alternative to the humble Rhino.
- Honorable mention: Generic living saint model
3. Adeptus Custodes - Vertus Praetors
The Golden Boys and Girls of the Adeptus Custodes just got a stunning range refresh… in Horus Heresy. GW is being unusually coy about what's going on with the 40K range, but I think it's time to just embrace these new sculpts as the current range.
Some iconic Custodes are missing from the stylish new 30K line-up, though, and chief among them is the Vertus Praetors. These big old banana jetbikes are cool as hell, but the current kits are a bit chunky and clunky looking for my liking.
- Honorable mention: Allarus Terminators
4. Adeptus Mechanicus - A big tank
The Adeptus Mechanicus are the guys that make all the tanks and weapons for the rest of the Imperium, so why don't they have a massive tank? Something bristling with guns. Yeah, the Dunecrawler and Scorpius are both cool, but they're more akin to a Predator. Ad Mech needs a Land Raider/Monolith equivalent
It doesn't have to be a conventional tank — Ad Mech loves that weird stuff, so make it a big centipede walker or something like the AT-AT from Star Wars.
- Honorable mention: Any of the Horus Heresy robots they don't have in 40K.
5. Imperial Knights/Chaos Knights - Plastic Acastus Knight Porphyrion
I'm grouping the spikey and non-spikey Knights together for this entry, because the answer is the same for both: give us a plastic version of Acastus Knight Porphyrion.
The Porphyrion is the biggest and coolest Knight in the range, and at the moment it's a £460 resin monstrosity. GW has been steadily converting the Forge World knights into plastic, so I'm pretty confident this will happen.
- Honorable mention: Another Armiger/War Dog variant with a slightly different gun.
6. Agents of the Imperium - Inquistorial Stormtroopers
Agents are not a real army. They're a PDF that got out of hand, but if we're giving them a codex, then I guess they get a new model too. Bring back the Inquisitorial Stormtroopers to give them a reliable battleline unit so it doesn't feel like someone deployed 12 random Kill Teams in front of you whenever you face them.
- Honorable mention: Inquisitor Coteaz — look how they massacred my boy. I know I said we're not redoing the Sanguinary Guard, but this one was so much worse. Just do it again, and right this time.
Chaos
1. Chaos Daemons - Furies
Another faction that should probably just be happy to still exist, GW seems to have chilled out on their mission to roll Chaos Daemons into the various other Chaos codexes. The model range is relatively solid, if a bit cartoonish by modern GW standards, but rather than redoing any specific model, I'm voting that we undo an injustice and bring back Furies.
Furies are the generic Chaos Undivided daemons. They were stuck with ugly ass models from 2002 until 2019, when we got a stunning refresh as a Warhammer Underworlds warband. Then, in one of the many injustices hurled at Daemon players, they were promptly sent to Legends a year later when 9th edition rolled around.
Daemon players were understandably… furious.
- Honorable mentions: Bloodletters (they so ugly)
2. Chaos Space Marines - Bikes
Another easy win here. The majority of the Chaos Space Marines lineup has been refreshed over the last couple of editions, including the infamous Defiler (which would have topped my list otherwise). As it stands, it's the Chaos bikers that stand out like a sore thumb now. They're literally from last millennium. Sort it out, Abaddon.
- Honorable mention: Chaos Terminators (they're not that old, but the update their loyalist brothers got in 10th edition has left them looking a little stubby).
3. Death Guard - Plague Marines
OK, this is a controversial choice, but I really don't like the current Plague Marine models. Nurgle's aesthetic used to be rot and decay, but these guys are all about weird tentacles and bony growths, which was always more Tzeentch's thing.
The Death Guard range is the healthiest of the divergent legions, so they don't need anything else desperately. Let's fix up the rank and file, and bring back some of the grim decay of Papa Nurgle's favorite sons.
- Honorable mention: Death Guard Hellbrute
4. Thousand Sons - Psychic Hellbrute
The Thousand Sons range is quite limited, and yet it's tough to come up with a unit they really need. So, I'm going to use this soapbox to campaign for unique dreadnoughts. Thousand Sons already have a psychic dreadnought in the Horus Heresy — the Contemptor-Osiron — so let's get a 40K Hellbrute version of that.
- Honorable mention: Another magical golem-type construct (they're wizards, let's lean into that).
5. World Eaters - Red Butchers
Nice simple one here. The Red Butchers are the World Eaters' special brand of Terminator in the lore, and they were conspicuous by their absence when the Twelfth Legion broke away into their own codex.
- Honorable mention: Khorne Berserkers of Juggernauts (aka stop releasing characters designed to lead units you haven't made yet).
6. Emperor's Children - Sonic Hellbrute
I am once again asking you for another Legion-specific Hellbrute. Back when Chaos Space Marines still used Dreadnoughts, Forge World sold a Sonic Weapon upgrade kit (alongside an Emperor's Children-specific Dreadnought chassis), and they were awesome.
This isn't just me begging for a cool model, though; an updated Sonic Hellbrute would provide some much-needed long-range firepower for Emperor's Children players now that Noise Marines shooting only has an 18-inch range.
- Honorable mention: Doomrider
Xenos
1. Aeldari (Eldar) - Karandras
It was very funny when GW gave the Aeldari range a massive refresh, redid all the Aspect Warriors and their respective Phoenix Lords… and then randomly decided not to do Karandras. Good joke, GW, you got us…
OK, but now redo Karandras.
- Honorable mention: Falcon/Wave Serpent
2. Drukhari (Dark Eldar) - Grotesques
The real answer is their entire range, but if I had to pick one unit (and I'm being told that contractually I do), then it's got to be Grotesques.
The unit was sent to Legends in the 10th edition, but even before that, it barely existed at all. A monopause, monosculpt, resin model that you had to buy individually, even though you ran them in units of six.
I don't think I ever saw the official model, because every Drukhari player I ever played converted them from something else to avoid the misery of spending a fortune on 18 identical resin models.
- Honorable mention: The rest of the Drukhari range
3. Necrons - Trazyn the Infinite
This one seems like an inevitability, given that he's the only finecast Necron character that still hasn't been sent to Legends. He's also wildly popular thanks to the excellent The Infinite and the Divine novel, and his model looks like… well, it's showing its age, which is impressive for a Necron.
Oh, and while you're at it, GW, could you maybe redo his rules so that he doesn't suck? Thanks.
- Honorable mention: Lokhust Destroyers
4. Orks - Kaptin Badrukk
Orks are the main antagonists of 11th Edition 40K, starring alongside Space Marines in the launch box, so they're going to be getting a ton of new models. We already know that Warbikers are getting a resculpt, alongside a new Warboss and all the goodies in the Armageddon launch box itself. So I'm going to avoid the obvious stuff and make a bold prediction: the return of Kaptin Badrukk.
Why?
He's a pirate-themed Ork Warboss. No further arguments, your honor.
- Honorable mentions: Grot tanks
5. T’au - Crisis Suits
The current Crisis Suit models don't look terrible… until you stand them alongside the newer Commander and Twin Blade kits. They need a redo that scales them up a bit, and hopefully engineers a way around some of the horrendous seam lines in the current models. Throw some new gun options in there because the Tau love developing new guns, and we're laughing.
- Honorable mention: Devilfish/Hammerhead
6. Tyranids - Shrikes
I already scolded GW for making leaders but not giving them an appropriate model to lead, and I'm doing it again. They gave us the Winged Tyranid Prime in the 10th edition starter box, and we all rejoiced, because we thought it was heralding the arrival of the Shrikes (AKA winged Tyranid Warriors).
So, where are my Shrikes? I demand Shrikes.
- Honorable mentions: Gargoyles
7. Genestealer Cults - A big drill platform
Genestealer Cults players have resigned themselves to getting another random character every time their turn swings around, but we can do better than that. They need a centerpiece, and a massive mining machine is the way to go.
The worshippers of the four-armed Emperor are supposed to be blue-collar, working joes who have risen up against their Imperial oppressors, grabbing whatever tools they had at hand. If that was me, and there was a massive drilling platform on wheels lying around, you bet your ass I'd be driving that into the local Ministorum building.
- Honorable mention: Another random character.
8. Leagues of Votann - Land Train
When the Squats made their triumphant return under the rebranding of Leagues of Votann, they forgot to bring their most iconic unit with them. Bring back the Land Train, you cowards!
Will it be massive and wildly impractical on the tabletop? Yes. Do we care? No.
- Honorable mentions: A flyer.
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