The new edition of Horus Heresy is here; check out the latest on the plastic starter set contents, pricing, value, rules, and more rumors of what else is on the way.
The new Horus Heresy Starter Set was the big summer 2022 blockbuster release from Games Workshop. Now the latest rumors seem to align with a larger general release for growing the game once again!
Here’s the most up-to-date list of new Horus Heresy Rules & Product Leaks. Click on the gallery above to see new Horus Heresy models and rules rumors!
Horus Heresy Starter Box set
Even though it’s been out for a while now, it’s good to know the actual value in the set! With the recent releases, we know for certain how much value is inside the box and what the current kits are going for.
This is a complete game for two players in a box that’s packed with incredible new miniatures. If you don’t feel like sharing, it’s a fantastic way to start or expand a new Warhammer: The Horus Heresy army! The miniatures are all plastic and much easier to build, making the game more accessible than ever before. (Who are we kidding, you’re not going to share it…)
New Horus Heresy Starter Set Sprues
The new sprue pics come from GW influencer Tale of Painters
Let’s start with the biggest part of the box (or at least the most numerous), the Marines! This is broken down into 4 sets of MKVI marines, with each set getting two identical sprues (5 Marines on each sprue) and then one upgrade sprue per 10 minis. The upgrade sprue has a decent amount of extra weapons and heads, but nothing too crazy on it.
The bolters are attached to the hands as well, just like the change when they rolled out the MK III and MK IV marines back in 2015/16.
We also expect this box to basically just be 4 of the main sprues and two upgrade sprues. The current MK III and MKIV boxes are currently $55 so perhaps these will be discounted to around $100 for essentially two box sets.
Praetor Sprues
These are pretty much what we expected, each grabbing one of the small-sized character sprues. Unfortunately, there are no other weapon options than what they come with.
However they do have a bare head option and don’t have iconography, so you could paint them up to be whatever legion you like. Which is obviously very cool.
This is about the most you’ll be able to customize with the different head option, but we’re sure you could get some awesome conversions done with the kit!
Terminator Sprues
There aren’t many options in this kit, but you do get the bits for Lighting Claws or bolters and power fists. You also get the option for a heavy flamer and a power sword.
This is the same kit that came in the Betrayal at Calth box and eventually was released separately.
Contemptor Dreadnought
This sprue is pretty awesome because it’s a smooth transition from the resin kit and that really terribly posed first plastic one GW did with the previous starter sets.
It has tons of nice upgrades like ball joints and movable elbow and knee joints! Then for weapons, you get a gravis bolt cannon, a gravis autocannon, a gravis melta cannon, and gravis lascannon. However, that’s just the right arm. The powerfist can be equipped with a combi-bolter, heavy flamer, plasma blaster, meltagun, or a graviton gun.
Getting this in plastic will be awesome, and it looks pretty sweet!
Spartan Tank
To say this is huge might be an understatement! With 6 giant sprues, you know this will be massive and quite the build. The commander on top can have two different options, and the weapons are basically all covered. Looking at how everything fits together, you should be able to magnetize the kit and future-proof it.
With such a big kit and so many options, we would really recommend magnetizing, if for no other reason than you will get more value out of the kit!
You also get templates, measuring sticks, dice, and the new rulebook for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – which you’ll be able to buy separately soon after the boxed set is released. The rules have been updated and improved, perfect for a time of Titans, Primarchs, and Legions of superhuman warriors.
It wouldn’t be a proper starter without all this stuff! Plus, getting the templates is nice if you haven’t played before or haven’t played 40k since the age of templates.
Horus Heresy Starter Set Price, Value & Savings Breakdown
You won’t have long to wait to get your hands on this unbelievably packed boxed set, and while we can’t reveal full details of pricing, we can confirm that the set will cost less than £200 or $300 (US) when it launches. That’s a lot of Beakies for your bucks…
There are two big things to note first. We don’t know the prices of the individual kits 100%, so this is as close as we can get for now. Also, just to note, these will all be priced in plastic, with estimated pricing compared to the latest price increases.
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – The Age of Darkness Retail Price: $299
Click here to get yours for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Gold Goblin Games | Frontline Gaming | Games Workshop’s Store Link
- 40 Mark VI Space Marines $160 ($80 for 20)
- 10 Cataphractii Terminators $85
- Contemptor Dreadnought $60
- Characters $67
- Spartan $112
- Rulebook $70
Total MSRP: $554 (not counting accessories) Confirmed Box Price: $299
Total Values Versus $299 Box Price: $255 in value
So while the initial price is a little higher than we had hoped (but expected), this has some great value, and you get more than 100% of the box price in value. Plus, you just get so many minis!
Horus Heresy Age of Darkness Launch Accessories
Further rumors forecast the new rules and settings, plus some helpful accessories to get new legions up and running faster with rules and hobby support.
Age of Darkness Rulebook:
Main Rules for Games Workshops new main System
– Core Rules are technical 7th Edition 40k
– Units and formations are like in 8th and 9th Edition
Black Books:
First “Warzone” Book
– Featuring the Legions of Imperial Fists and Blood Angels for loyalists
and SoH and World Eaters for traitors, also Imperial Army
– Includes content before the Traitors entered the sol system
Age of Darkness Horus Heresy Compendium
“Codex-like” Book for the Age of Darkness
– Over 200 Sites
– Summary for most of the FW Rules Content after the old Books will get
replaced by new Warzone Books
– Rules for all 18 Space Marine Legions
– Mechanicus
– Imperial Army and Auxilia
GW Internal:
There will be some internal changes at Nottingham
– Staff from the FW Team (which were working on HH) switched already to the
GW Main Studio
– Work on the new Age of Darkness Rulebook began before this
– White Dwarf Team will grow for more HH featuring content
These are also new Citadel hobby rumors for new sprays coming to help hobbyists paint up their armies faster.
- 12 new Spray cans
- some of them are fitting to layer colors
- Sons of Horus Green Spray
- White Scars Spray (return of “true white” as a spray)
- Valrak Orange Spray (sorry, a joke by the source…)
New Horus Heresy Edition & Plastic Starter Set
Getting its ruleset makes sense, especially when you see what looks like a scatter die in the images of the models. GW taking decals makes sense, especially since pretty much all of them still apply in 40k in some ways. Horus Heresy getting “Warzone” style expansions is exciting; maybe it will make the rules easier to follow. Specifics on locations seem legit but could technically not be true.
GW has long-term plans to start working on Horus Heresy and making it the main game. Hopefully, that means there will be an upsurge of players and some growth in the community, as right now, it’s pretty small.
RUMORS: Horus Heresy Releases June-September with Prices
According to Faeit, these are the new Horus Heresy releases that we will see this summer! Keep in mind these prices seem a little low compared to some of their 40k equivalents.
- “Heta-Gladius” Launch Box: – £240
- Rulebook – £43
- Three Codex like compilation Books – £32.50 each: Loyalists, Traitors, Other Age of Darkness Armies – Loyalists and Traitors
- Three different Starter Sets – £180 /£100 / £40 each
- Space Marine Legionary + Paints Sets (A + B) – £23 each featuring 3 Space Marines and 7 paints
- Getting Started with Horus Heresy Magazine – £10 Includes 2 Space Marine Legionaries
- Space Marine Legion Tactical Squad – £36
- 10 Models multipart in the same fashion as the Chaos Space Marines
- Common weapon options
- Deimos Pattern Rhino – £31
- Space Marine Legion Praetor – £22 Not the same Model than was already shown
- Deimos Pattern Predator – £39
- Upgrade Sprue Sons of Horus – £9.50
- Upgrade Sprue Imperial Fists – £9.50
- Upgrade Sprue Blood Angels – £9.50
- Upgrade Sprue Emperors Children – £9.50
- Upgrade Sprue White Scras – £9.50
- Upgrade Spue World Eaters – £9.50
- Deimos Pattern Vindicator – £39
- Kratos Battle Tank – £52.50
- Land Raider – £52.50
- Land Raider Spartan – £60
- Contemptor Dreadnought – £35
- Space Marine Tactical Squad + Rhino – £57
- Deimos Pattern Rhino Suqadron – £87
- Deimos Pattern Predator Squadron – £107
- Space Marine Auxillary (details unknown)
From how it looks, there may be a pretty aggressive four-month path to market for the new edition of Horus Heresy starting in June of 2022.
Horus Heresy Special Weapons Packs
It looks like the rumored bits we saw are all coming true and in plastic!
The Mark VI Tactical Squad is one of the most flexible kits ever. It’s the lynchpin of your army – which you need to claim objectives and win games, and with the addition of these new weapon upgrade kits, you can transform it into Legion Tactical Support Squads or Legion Heavy Support Squads to really bring the hurt.
The Special Weapons upgrade set contains 10 meltaguns, 10 plasma guns, 10 volkite calivers, 10 volkite chargers, 10 flamers, and 10 rotor cannons.
This is a ton of weapons, and it’s so nice that you’ll be able to arm your squads with the weapons you want!
Need to kill your enemies from further away? There’s an upgrade kit containing 10 heavy bolters and 10 missile launchers.
Prefer fire, melta, and plasma weapons? There’s an upgrade kit for you! It features 10 plasma cannons, 10 heavy flamers, and 10 multi-meltas.
Getting 10 of each is just so much better than worrying about what you’re arming each model with. Let’s just hope they are easy to magnetize.
Finally, there’s an upgrade kit with 10 volkite culverins, 10 lascannons, and 10 autocannons.
New Horus Heresy Expansion Boxes & Rulebooks Unveiled!
First up are the two Legiones Astartes army books – one for Loyalists and one for the Traitors.* Each book includes the profiles for shared units, from heroic Praetors to armoured Contemptor Dreadnoughts, as well as weapons, special rules, and guides to building your Legiones Astartes army.
The Liber Hereticus contains rules for all nine Traitor Legions, including Rites of War, Primarchs, Legion-specific units and wargear. If you’re of a more Loyalist bent, the Liber Astartes contains the same for the nine Loyalist Legions.
If you’re playing the game, you’ll obviously have to get these rules for the legions.
Got the rules but need some reinforcements? The Mark VI Tactical Squad will also be available separately. This kit is packed with options and makes 20 Space Marines, so you can muster either two 10-man squads or one big 20-man one. Good luck to any enemies who want to shift that.
Prefer older marks of power armour? The Mark III and Mark IV Tactical Squads are getting repackaged into units of 20, making it easier than ever before to fill out the ranks of your Legion.
Forge World Horus Heresy Upgrade Kits Announced
Here are all of the new Horus Heresy upgrade kits from Forge World that have been released for Age of Darkness. Click Here to Read More
Horus Heresy Leviathan Siege Dreadnought: Unboxing & Magnetization
Don’t miss our unboxing, build, and how-to magnetize the new Horus Heresy Leviathan Siege Dreadnought kit from Games Workshop. Click Here To Read More
Horus Heresy New Kratos Tank: Unboxing & Build
Rob is back unboxing the new Horus Heresy Kratos Tank and, most importantly, sees how to future-proof this using modularity and magnetization. He’ll see what it takes to get it ready for the tabletop, show the model’s size, and tell you the GOTCHAS to be aware of when building it! Click Here To Read More
How Many Horus Heresy Starter Boxes Will be Made?
According to the rumor on Faeit there will be 100,000 of the new Horus Heresy starter sets made worldwide.
Honestly, though, the first version of the rumor said one million, which is pretty much an imaginary number, and perhaps may actually sorta disprove this rumor altogether.
Regardless, let’s assume for a second it’s valid, are 100,000 copies of a starter set even a realistic number? It turns out it may be.
When 40k Indomitus hit preorder mid lockdown in the summer of 2020, supposedly there were 35,000 for just here in the states. You may remember those sold out pretty much immediately due to FOMO and secondary market speculation from resellers.
Eventually, Games Workshop put it on MTO. It delivered additional stocks before Christmas of 2020- which means that perhaps 70,000 copies of this starter set were available to consumers in the United States that year.
Fast forward to 2021, and amid a drop in consumer confidence, no new release has sold out since Paraiah Nexus. Sales from Dominion forward were reportedly semi-disastrous for retailers who still have those, various 40k army boxes, and starter sets on shelves this spring. Even GW themselves dumped the last of their stock at Adepticon as they sponsored their VIG bags with at least two pallets worth of Dominion Starters.
So while we hope that Horus Heresy re-ignites the hobby passion for a lot of players and potentially converts tons more to battles in the Age of Darkness, 100,000 copies of this new starter set may be a bit ambitious on Games Workshop’s part after the events of the past year and the state of consumer confidence in their products.
However, in GW numbers, it’s a totally plausible number as they started to hype up this release starting in May 2022 with the Horus Heresy open!
But the good news is that if you want it, you should be able to get the new Horus Heresy start set if they do indeed make 100,000 copies!
Either way, new rules and even just one new Horus Heresy starter box set at the bare minimum would be great to see. Here are all the latest rumors on the upcoming rules updates and new models for the Horus Heresy system.
Here’s the most up-to-date list of new Horus Heresy Rules & Product Leaks. Click on the gallery above to see new Horus Heresy models and rules rumors!
- 4 New Plastic Horus Heresy Starter Box Sets
- All the Horus Heresy New Models & Rules
- Horus Heresy Legion Rules
- Horus Heresy Weapon & Unit Rules
All the Newest GW Model & Rules Previews
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
