Sunday Preview – Chaos comes to the Mortal Realms

The forces of Chaos are ever-present in the Mortal Realms: the legions of Archaon wage war to extend his dominion, alongside the innumerable daemonic servants of the Ruinous Powers.

The World Championships of Warhammer are taking place in Atlanta, Georgia next week – alongside the Grand Narrative. Teams from all over the world will be competing for glory at the most prestigious tournament event in the world, while the fate of the Kessandaras Sector will be decided during parallel events held simultaneously in the United States and Great Britain.

There are also loads of Warhammer reveals coming during a special preview show on Friday the 22nd of November. Tune in on the Warhammer YouTube channel at 6pm GMT for oodles of good stuff.

More soldiers are on the march in next week’s pre-orders, while a collection of combatants are heading to the Warhammer Underworlds. There’s also a great selection of Black Library books incoming. 

Battletome: Slaves to Darkness

With the Skaven shifting the balance of power in the eight realms, the forces of Chaos are resurgent once more. The Slaves to Darkness are ready to grind all opposition beneath their fur-lined boots with a brand new battletome taking them into the new edition. 

Battletome: Slaves to Darkness covers the background for the faction from top to bottom across 128 pages. It includes Battle Traits, Battle Formations, Heroic Traits, Artefacts of Power, and Spell and Manifestation Lores, with a total of 43 warscrolls, alongside a new Darkoath Spearhead. Armies of Renown, such as Be’lakor’s Legion of the First Prince also feature and includes eight daemon unit warscrolls for use exclusively with this army. The Anvil of Apotheosis lets you create your own ambitious hero and lead them to bloody victory on the Path to Glory. There is also a small-format Gamer’s Edition, packaged with a complete set of reference cards, available while stocks last.

Chaos Sorcerer Lord

The forces of Chaos are full of those that have mastered the use of dark magic. Those warlocks and sorcerers who tap into the powers daemonic are sometimes granted the gift of foresight, manipulating events and rising through the ranks to become all-powerful Chaos Sorcerer Lords. This new miniature has options for both head and staff toppers.

Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen

The Eight Circles of Varanguard are manned by elite warriors personally chosen by Archaon himself. Abraxia, Spear of the Everchosen, commands the Swords of Chaos, the First Circle of Archaon’s chosen, with matchless skill and an unbreakable will. From atop her monstrous steed Thanatorg, Abraxia wields the cursed varanite spear Gorbolga the Accurs’d, whose merest touch rends armour and warps flesh armour alike. Available for the first time as a solo release, Abraxia is ready to command your Slaves to Darkness with an ironclad fist. 

Spearhead: Darkoath Raiders

Under the command of a fearsome Darkoath Warqueen, a new Spearhead raises its weapons to do battle for the Slaves to Darkness. Accompanying her on her path to glory littered with future bloody conquests are 10 Darkoath Savagers, 10 Darkoath Marauders and five Darkoath Fellriders, making this the greatest muscle-to-miniature ratio available in any Spearhead box. 

Warscroll Cards and Dice Set

No army is complete without warscroll cards and dice. This set of 57 quick reference cards has every warscroll found within Battletome: Slaves to Darkness. including those for use with the battletome’s Legion of the First Prince Army of Renown, as well as those needed for the Darkoath Raiders Spearhead. A set of 16 black dice with bright white pips and the eight-pointed star of the Slaves to Darkness on the six face rounds things out.

The Jaws of Itzl

The primal might of the Seraphon comes to Warhammer Underworlds in the Jaws of Itzl. Separated from their cold-blooded cohort and Slann Starmaster by a cave in, this band of Saurus Warriors and accompanying critters act part through bloodthirsty instinct, and in part through sporadic telepathic commands by their Starmaster. As a Strike warband, they excel at hitting hard and fast, their scaled armour and savage weapons making them resilient and dangerous in equal measure.

Grandfather’s Gardeners 

Rot finds its way into all corners of the Mortal Realms, and the sweltering tunnels beneath Embergard are fertile ground for the roots of the Garden of Nurgle to take hold, especially under the watchful gaze of the Grandfather’s Gardeners. A gaggle of dour-faced and green-thumbed Plaguebearers, they plod inexorably into combat at the whims of the ever turning cycle of decay, weathering incoming blows with ease. This Mastery warband is governed by the cycle, their abilities and damage output keying off the constant ebb and flow.

Reckless Fury & Wrack and Ruin Rivals Decks

Accompanying these two warbands are two Rivals decks matching their play styles. Reckless Fury embodies the Strike archetype, tasking players with accumulating and manipulating Charge tokens as they invade enemy territory. Wrack and Ruin is a Mastery deck which requires players to use positioning in the treacherous depths of Embergard to set up traps and score big from leading opponents to terrible fates. 

Heroes and Hunters

The forces of Order head to Embergard. Get involved in the new edition with a set of four pre-existing warbands and their accompanying fighter and warscroll cards. This box contains Hexbane's Hunters, Myari’s Purifiers, Thundrik’s Profiteers and Ylthari’s Guardians. 

Despoilers and Daemons

Fans of Chaos can prepare for the new edition with a set of four pre-existing warbands and their accompanying fighter and warscroll cards. This box contains Khagra’s Ravagers, Ephilim’s Pandaemonium, the Dread Pageant and the Gorechosen of Dromm.

Revenants of the Realms

Warhammer Underworlds is no stranger to the forces of Death – the box that kicked it all off was set in a city cursed by the Supreme God of the Undead. You can extend Nagash’s dominion with a set of four pre-existing warbands and their accompanying fighter and warscroll cards. This box contains the Headsmen’s Curse, the Crimson Court, Kainan’s Reapers and the Grymwatch.

Brutes and Bandits

Where there’s fighting to be done, and plunder to be found, the Brutes and Bandits of Destruction are sure to be near. Grab your weapons and join the brawl with a set of four pre-existing warbands and their accompanying fighter and warscroll cards. This box contains Grinkrak’s Looncourt, Morgok’s Krushas, Blackpowder’s Buccaneers and Da Kunnin’ Krew.

Warbands of Embergard

If you’ve got all of the above warbands or most of them, then you can get the fighter and warscrolls cards for all 16 in the Warbands of Embergard set. The cards differ slightly to those contained within the four boxes above, with photography of the warbands on the reverse of the warscroll card. 

Interceptor City (Mega Edition)

Dan Abnett returns to the deadly skies of the 41st Millennium with Interceptor City, a new novel set 20 years after the events of the legendary Double Eagle. Locked in a gruelling war of attrition, the Imperium once again employs the daring dogfighters of the Aeronautica Imperialis to tip the scales in its favour. Former ace Bree Jagdea returns to the cockpit to undertake death-defying aerial acrobatics and suicidal runs through the rat runs of Vesperus alongside the infamous Circus 66 squadron.

This novel is being released in a Mega Limited Edition packaged in a box that’s designed to look just like an Imperial flight recorder. Inside you’ll find a signed and numbered novel with a gorgeous screen printed cover and blue ribbon bookmark, alongside an embroidered patch, a metal pin badge and a map of the planet Lysander. Also featured is a 64-page pilot’s log, Pilot’s Notes for Avenger Strike Fighter. This product will only be available while stocks last. 

Elemental Council

The T’au Empire has annexed the planet of Cao Quo, but its population constantly resist the embrace of the Greater Good, and Artamax, a cunning Space Marine of the Raptors Chapter, has kicked off an armed rebellion. In retaliation, the ethereal Yor’i assembles a council of Fire, Earth, Water and Wind Caste members to fight the insurgency, but the mounting threat is greater than any of them could have imagined. Noah Van Nguyen’s Elemental Council is available to pre-order in hardback, eBook and audiobook formats next week.

Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge

Lazarus and his 5th Company have been summoned by Grand Master Azrael in order to fulfil an old Chapter oath to the Knight world of Reis. When he arrives, he finds a planet that he is not sure wants to be saved. With its Knights lost and internecine conflict consuming its governing bodies, its defences are weakened against an ancient evil which threatens the world, and only the Dark Angels can muster a defence. Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge by Gary Kloster is available to pre-order in paperback format next week.

Gaunt’s Ghosts Print on Demand

Under the command of Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, the Tanith First and Only have undertaken many daring and dangerous missions, their exploits near enough the stuff of legends. Relive their highs and lows with a new hardback Print on Demand run which features books eight through 11 of the Gaunt’s Ghosts series, Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt and Only in Death. You will be able to order your books from next week, until Monday the 9th of December at 8:00am.

French and German Editions

Four Black Library books are available to pre-order in new language editions next week. German Readers can tackle the lies and half-truths of Cypher in John French’s Cypher: Lord of the Fallen in hardback and eBook, or follow the exploits of Morvenn Vahl: Spear of Faith by Jude Reid, available in paperback and eBook. The Exorcists are in a race against time to keep their dark secrets hidden from the wider Imperium in Robbie MacNiven’s Oaths of Damnation, available for French readers in paperback and eBook, alongside the release of Horus Heresy Collection XIV in hardback and eBook, which features Corax by Gav Thorpe, The Master of Mankind by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and Garro by James Swallow.

The Mortis Praetorians are the archetypal faction of the Ossiarch Bonereapers, their glossy black armour contrasting against the bone of their bodies. This week on Warhammer+ learn how to paint this morbid armour to a high level with the help of the Citadel Colour Masterclass. 

There’s also a very special episode of Battle Report incoming. Cast your mind back to the starter set for the third edition of Warhammer 40,000 in 1998, which pitted the Drukhari against the Black Templars… we’re not sure that fight ever had a conclusive winner, so the team are taking new models and new tactics, and deciding to settle the matter forever in a 1,500 point narrative game using the classic Meat Grinder mission from the third edition rulebook. We’re getting misty eyed just thinking about it.

Next week we’ve got another Necromunda reveal coming in hot, alongside coverage of the rules in Battletome: Slaves to Darkness.

And remember – it’s the World Championships of Warhammer next week, so there’ll be two live blogs: one for the tournaments and one for the Grand Narrative. On top of that, there are substantial reveals for four game systems – you won’t want to miss any of it. Tune in here at Warhammer Community.

Finally, we have news of this year's Christmas shipping dates. Wherever you are in the world, these are the latest dates that you can place an online order at Warhammer.com to ensure that your packages will arrive before Christmas Day.

UPDATE: Please note that the dates for Australia, New Zealand, and Northern Ireland have changed since this article was originally published.