It’s here. The moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to open the lid on the jam-packed launch box for the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 – Leviathan.
If you missed the live unboxing on Twitch, or just want to revel in it again, you can watch it here. Otherwise, read on for all the juicy details.
What’s in the Box?
As the name suggests, Leviathan is an absolutely gigantic box, packed to the brim with miniatures, books, and more. When you lift the lid, you’ll find stacks of sprues containing two armies full of gorgeous new miniatures. Beneath that, you’ll find the massive Leviathan book, the Chapter Approved Leviathan Mission Deck, and a construction booklet.
The miniatures are divided into 25 elite, battle-hardened Space Marines* – the Imperium’s ultimate defenders against innumerable horrors – and a seething swarm of 47 ravenous Tyranids that desire nothing more than to consume all the biomass in the galaxy. Let’s take a closer look at each army.The Space Marines are the Emperor’s Angels of Death, vengeful warriors who have sworn an oath to protect the beleaguered Imperium from all assailants. As the jaws of Hive Fleet Leviathan close on the Galactic West, they’ve got their work cut out for them, and are deploying new units to combat the Tyranid threat.
Captain in Terminator Armour
A storied and stalwart warrior protected by a sacred suit of Tactical Dreadnought armour, this Captain is a resilient commander who excels at leading Terminator strike forces deep into enemy lines.
Librarian in Terminator Armour
Librarians are the battle psykers of the Space Marines, smiting foes with bolts of witchfire and manipulating the empyrean to shield their allies. Encased in Terminator armour, he's one of the most durable psykers available to Space Marine forces.
Apothecary Biologis
Understanding your enemy, no matter how vile, is the key to defeating them. Thanks to his mighty Gravis armour, the Apothecary Biologis can advance through withering enemy fire to take samples of enemy biomatter with his vivispectrum, turning his foes' biology against them.
Lieutenant in Phobos Armour
Wielding a combi-weapon and two combat blades, this Phobos-armoured Lieutenant can infiltrate ahead of the main Space Marine force, sowing discord among his enemies and disrupting their battle lines.
Sternguard Veteran Squad
Renowned for their unerring proficiency with bolt weapons, Sternguard Veterans are fearsome combatants drawn from their Chapter’s 1st Company and issued with special ammunition designed to combat the Tyranid threat.
Terminator Squad
Terminators are the elite of the elite, veterans clad in hulking armour, wielding power fists, storm bolters, and devastating assault cannons. Beamed into the thick of the action with a teleport homer, few horrors in the galaxy can withstand their sledgehammer onslaught.
Infernus Squad
When you’re faced with innumerable hordes of xenos, an Infernus Squad is the perfect tool. Armed with Pyreblasters that spit gouts of incandescent flame, they purge their foes with fiery wrath.
Ballistus Dreadnought
The Ballistus Dreadnought is a fearsome weapons platform armed with a versatile missile launcher and a devastating lascannon, the perfect counter to heavily armoured enemy monsters and tanks.
Read more about the Space Marine side of the box here:
Tyranids are a voracious alien swarm invading the galaxy from beyond the void. Guided by the Hive Mind, they have one terrible purpose – to devour every last shred of biomass, reconstituting it into even more powerful biomorphs and repeating the nightmarish cycle anew on the next world in their path.
Winged Tyranid Prime
The Winged Tyranid Prime is a hideous alpha-beast that combines strength with agility, swooping above the battlefield and identifying targets to descend upon and tear apart with razor-sharp talons.
Neurotyrant
Radiating ahead of every Tyranid hive fleet is the terrifying silence known as the Shadow in the Warp, a psychic phenomenon that blocks warp-based communication. During invasions, the Neurotyrant acts as a focusing node for this strange power, liquifying the minds of its prey as it orchestrates hordes of Tyranids to victory.
Screamer-Killer
The living battering rams known as Carnifexes come in many shapes and sizes, but the Screamer-Killer is the most infamous adaptation – and the biggest. Named after the sinister howl emitted as it unleashes their bio-plasma blasts, Screamer-Killers are unstoppable shock creatures.
Von Ryan’s Leapers
Before the main hive fleet force lands, vanguard organisms like Von Ryan’s Leapers often embed themselves on the hive fleet’s target planet. These ambush-hunters lie in wait, avoiding detection until they can do as much damage as possible.
Termagants
Huge shifting swarms of Termagants are the mainstay of many Tyranid invasion forces. Armed with ranged bio-organic weapons, these scuttling beasts rush forward to erode their enemy’s defences through sheer weight of numbers.
Neurogaunts
Neurogaunts are a variant strain of gaunt, that share a symbiotic relationship with the parasitic neurocytes that cling to their backs. Their primary purpose is to protect the powerful synapse creatures that coordinate the Tyranid invasion, and they will sacrifice themselves in droves to fulfil this task.
Barbgaunts
A strange fusion of gaunt, bio-cannon, and a ganglio-parasite that enslaves the two, Barbgaunts are living ordnance that shower targets with projectiles that explode into shards of serrated chitin.
Psychophage
The Hive Mind has imbued this particular biomorph with a hunger for enemy psykers, its digestive tract somehow able to metabolise psychic lifeforms into psychocorrosive ash, which it projects forward in blistering torrents.
Read more about the Tyranid side of the box here:
While you can deploy both armies in full to play a brutal but balanced game of Warhammer 40,000, the box also contains more than enough models to form two full Combat Patrols that will let you play this new, faster-paced game format right out of the box.
What Else is in the Box?
Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan is a weighty tome packed with lore, rules, artwork, and stunning photography of models. This book covers the core of the hobby, background information for Warhammer 40,000, information about every faction, and a gorgeous showcase of beautifully painted miniatures.
On top of that, you’ll get the core rules for Warhammer 40,000, and the rules – as well as specially designed missions – for the new Combat Patrol game format. You’ll also find a full complement of Crusade rules to get your narrative campaigns up and running ahead of Codex releases, and a full Crusade expansion that delves into the story of the Fourth Tyrannic War through a series of linked campaign games.
What about the missions? There’s a 66-card Chapter Approved deck in the box which combines the best Matched Play options from previous editions, which is designed to provide the best and most flexible mission experience for everyone from the most casual players right up to the most competitive.
On top of this, you’ll also find a construction booklet to help you build your miniatures and a decal sheet for the Space Marine force.
Read more about the books and cards in the box here:
Discover the Tyrannic War
This set will get you bang up to date with the current storyline in Warhammer 40,000, but if you want to explore the horrors of the Fourth Tyrannic War, there’s the Leviathan tie-in novel by Darius Hinks, in which the Ultramarines mount a desperate defence in the face of the monstrous Hive Fleet Leviathan.
For a closer look at the Space Marine and Tyranid miniatures from the Leviathan set, and more details of the rest of the awesome contents, head to the Warhammer Fest hub. There’s also a whole host of other reveals as the weekend continues!
The Leviathan box will be available to order in June, and will be the first place to get your hands on the new Tyranids and Space Marines. The Leviathan book is exclusive to this box and its contents, though all the rules – and the Crusade section – will be available separately soon after.
The Warhammer 40,000 Roadmap
Leviathan is just the beginning for the new edition of Warhammer 40,000. There’ll be a brisk pace of releases following hot on the heals of the launch set.
You won’t even have to wait for your Codex to start playing! Every single faction is getting a complete set of Index Cards with datacards for each unit that’s currently available, as well as their own Detachment rules, Stratagems, and Enhancements. These will be available to download online for free from day one, while they’ll also become available in the app. You’ll be able to buy inexpensive physical copies at the same time.
Win a copy of the Leviathan boxed set!
You can also sign up for our newsletter to get all the news sent straight to your inbox.If you have a MyWarhammer account and are signed up to the Warhammer newsletter before May 14th, you could win a copy of the Leviathan boxed set! Terms and conditions apply.
*Who also get a cool teleport homer model to bring them into action!