Games Workshop’s Sunday Preview revealed the new Warhammer 40k Ciaphas Cain model, 4 Battleforces, and the heresy battlegroup hitting pre-order this Saturday.
Four brand-new 11th Edition Battleforces hit pre-order alongside the rest of the lineup GW revealed for next Saturday. One of the heroes of the Imperium, Ciaphas Cain, finally gets a plastic mini after 23 years of Black Library novels, and the Horus Heresy side lands a stack of brand-new MkIV plastic in the Maximus Battle Group.
For Guard players, the Centaur RSV and Hippogriff AFV finally ship outside the Armageddon Battalion box, so anyone who skipped that bundle gets a clean shot at both vehicles separately. Plus, Black Library even has exciting releases with a Sandy Mitchell re-issue, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade lore book, and a chunky special edition of Rynn’s World.
Here’s the full lineup hitting pre-order this Saturday, and our thoughts on the products.
New Warhammer 40k Pre-Order Releases:
These go up for pre-order on Saturday, June 27, around 1 p.m. EST in the States, with a street date of Saturday, July 11, for store shelves.
And if you’re still waiting on something else to hit pre-order, check out the latest lineup in our updated Warhammer Roadmap for 2026.
Ciaphas Cain
Honestly, this one took GW long enough. Sandy Mitchell has been writing Cain since 2003, and somehow the Imperium’s most beloved coward had to wait until 2026 to get a plastic kit. He arrives alongside Jurgen with his trusty meltagun, and the kit ships with a diorama base option so you can run them on separate rounds or pose them back-to-back for a single display.
For Guard players, this is the first new named Commissar character in a while.
Ciaphas Cain Hobby Tips
Pin Jurgen’s meltagun arm before priming. The duo base option means you’ll want to magnetize Cain’s chainsword arm so you can swap him between the diorama plinth and a single 32mm round without re-gluing. A muted Valhallan grey-blue greatcoat with a sepia wash is perfect for a cold-front Astra Militarum look without going full white-on-white snow scheme.
Tyranid Swarm Battleforce
A Hive Tyrant anchors this one, with a Lictor, three Tyranid Warriors, three Von Ryan’s Leapers, ten Hormagaunts, ten Termagants, and two Ripper Swarms padding out the rest of the swarm. Plus, the Hive Tyrant build option opens up Swarmlord and winged Tyrant alternates depending on how you want the centerpiece to perform on the table.
Tyranid Swarm Battleforce Hobby Tips
Subassemble the Hive Tyrant before painting. The wings and arm options make centerline access miserable once the body’s together, and the Von Ryan’s Leapers need their tongue-feelers handled before they touch primer. A zenithal basecoat off the Hormagaunt carapaces with contrast over the flesh will move a hundred-plus models through your painting queue faster than layered highlights.
Chaos Space Marines Warband Battleforce
Ten Legionaries, twenty Cultists, a Venomcrawler, two Obliterators, and a Lord Discordant on a Helstalker round out this one. The Lord Discordant helps the box stand out with a clear centerpiece instead of a generic CSM start, and the Venomcrawler makes it perfect for anyone leaning into the daemon-engine side of the army.
Honestly, the cultist squad is a huge deal if you are going to play the whole box. Twenty bodies is the difference between a hobby project and an actual screening unit on the table, and the Obliterators give the box a real heavy-weapons answer.
Chaos Space Marines Warband Battleforce Hobby Tips
Build the Venomcrawler in three subassemblies: the body, the legs, and the gunhead, before anything touches primer. The Lord Discordant rider should come off the Helstalker for paint access, and pinning the rider before gluing saves an evening of fixing alignment. Finally, use a red-brown contrast over a black undercoat to push the Cultists through painting in a single sitting.
Necron Host Battleforce
A Catacomb Command Barge leads the box, with twenty Necron Warriors, five Flayed Ones, three Ophydian Destroyers with their Plasmacyte, a Canoptek Doomstalker, and six Scarab Swarms. So GW finally gave Necron players a Battleforce with an actual board-control footprint, since twenty Warriors cover objectives and the Scarabs and Flayed Ones do the dirty work on the flanks
For anyone starting a Dynasty or topping off a Necron force for 11th, this is the box the faction’s been missing.
Necron Host Battleforce Hobby Tips
Stick the Catacomb Command Barge skimmer base on a pin before paint, so you can airbrush underneath without fighting the flight stand. The Necron Warrior unit looks better with contrast over metal undercoats than over plastic ones, since the green rod glow needs a reflective base to pop. A glaze-grade Tesconite Green over leadbelcher on the rifles is the easy way to make that signature Gauss look.
Astra Militarum Platoon Battleforce
A Commissar, a Cadian Command Squad, ten Cadian Shock Troops, a Basilisk, a Field Ordnance Battery, and a Rogal Dorn round out the Guard box. So GW remembered the Astra Militarum works best when it brings enough firepower to crater a city block, and the Rogal Dorn centerpiece earns its place as the big-gun anchor.
The Basilisk plus FOB combo gives the box two indirect-fire options before you even open the codex, and the Cadian troops cover objectives and screening duty. Honestly, this is one of the stronger Battleforce buys for anyone running Guard heading into the back half of 11th.
Astra Militarum Platoon Battleforce Hobby Tips
Magnetize the Rogal Dorn turret. The kit comes with a battle cannon and an alternate turret loadout, and you’ll want both options without committing to one for the whole army. The Basilisk Earthshaker barrel also benefits from a pin before glue, so it sits clean at full elevation, and can break down for transport as well.
Centaur Rapid Strike Vehicle
The Centaur RSV finally hits a standalone box. This is the lighter, faster Guard transport with the open-top firing deck rule, and it carries twelve Infantry into rough terrain at twelve inches a turn. Honestly, the Firing Deck 12 rule is big, as it allows for some pretty rude special-weapon combos once Guard players figure out the angles.
This vehicle was previously only available in the Armageddon Battalion box, so Guard collectors who passed on that bundle finally get a shot at it. Plus, since it ships separately now, players can run two or three of them without buying three battalion boxes’ worth of Cadians they don’t need.
Centaur Rapid Strike Vehicle Hobby Tips
Build the troop bay as a separate subassembly. The open-top deck means you’ll need to paint the interior before closing it up, and it’s the part of the kit that catches the eye when the model is empty. A quick drybrush of bone over the tarpaulin straps gives the worn campaign look without needing a full layering pass.
Hippogriff Armored Fighting Vehicle
The Hippogriff AFV ships standalone too this week, carrying its choice of vigilator cannon, chiron gatling cannon, melta cannon, or heavy lascannon. So Guard players finally have a fast-attack escort gun that actually shoots back, and the four weapon options mean you can spec it for anti-infantry, anti-armor, or a mix depending on the rest of the list.
The vigilator cannon’s blast profile is the one we’d expect to see most on the table, since it pairs well with the gatling cannon’s volume of fire on a flanking pair. Plus, the melta loadout gives Guard a smaller, cheaper anti-armor option than committing a full Leman Russ for the same job.
Hippogriff Armored Fighting Vehicle Hobby Tips
Magnetize the turret weapon. With four options in the box and only one model in the kit, you’ll either build one of each and live with it, or pin a magnet under the weapon mount and swap as needed. The hull design also rewards a sponge-weathering pass on the lower armor, since the Hippogriff sits low enough to read as field-rolled rather than parade-ground polished.
Warhammer Horus Heresy: New Pre-Order Releases
New pre-orders are here for The Horus Heresy Age of Darkness, and there is plenty to keep 30k players busy this week.
Maximus Battle Group
The MkIV armor finally gets the “new-sized” plastic treatment that 30k players have been waiting for. The box includes twenty Tactical Marines in brand-new MkIV plastic, ten new MkIV Assault Marines with chainsword or power-lance options, a Sicaran Battle Tank, a Contemptor Dreadnought, and a pair of Infantry and Vehicle transfer sheets each.
Honestly, this is the Horus Heresy box that folks have been waiting on for a while now. Plus, the MkIV sprues by themselves justify the price of admission for anyone running Legion infantry, and the Sicaran plus Contemptor combo turns the bundle into a real army-in-a-box for new Legion projects.
Maximus Battle Group Hobby Tips
Build the Assault Marines as power-lance variants if you have a Veteran Assault Marine slot to fill, since the chainsword build is closer to the standard Legion loadout and easier to swap later. The Contemptor Dreadnought benefits from subassembling the arms before paint, and the Sicaran turret should come off the hull for airbrush access on the chassis.
Whirlwind Missile Tank
The classic Rhino-with-a-missile-rack returns in fresh plastic, and it’s loaded for indirect fire against enemy infantry from across the table. The HE or Pyrax missile options give Legion artillery commanders two flavors of long-range pain to drop on objectives.
The rules for the Whirlwind live in Journal Tactica: Mailed Fist, the Legiones Astartes super-heavy tank book. So anyone running this on the table will want both releases in the same buy, since the kit by itself doesn’t give you the datasheet to push it across the line.
Whirlwind Missile Tank Hobby Tips
Magnetize the missile rack. The HE and Pyrax loadouts use different rocket sculpts, and the rack lifts off cleanly if you mount it on a small magnet rather than gluing it flat.
Journal Tactica: Zone Mortalis
The Zone Mortalis rules get a proper update, with refreshed missions, new units to try, and a fresh focus on the tight 1,500-point format that defined the original Heresy Calth boxed sets. So 30k players who’ve been running boarding-action games on house-rule modifications finally get an official rules update with current-edition cohesion.
For anyone running confined-space games at the FLGS or building a Heresy boarding board, this is the rules book to grab. Plus, the new unit options tucked inside should give Legion commanders fresh content for the format as well.
Black Library: New Pre-Order Releases
The latest Black Library pre-order titles are here; they’re hotter than a Salamander Space Marines’ forge! So if you’re into far-future battles, mysterious quests, or tales of heroism, there’s probably something here for you.
For the Emperor (Illustrated and Annotated Edition)
Cain’s first Black Library novel gets the deluxe treatment to ride alongside the new model. Sandy Mitchell adds fresh author annotations to sit beside Inquisitor Vail’s, and a stack of new artwork lands inside the hardback. So anyone picking up Cain’s plastic will probably want the matching director’s commentary edition of the book that started it all.
Plus, For the Emperor has been hard to find at retail for years, so the timing on this re-issue lines up with the model in a way that feels deliberately convenient.
The Valhallan Regimental Banner
A cotton banner of the Valhallan Ice Warriors with a gold hanger rope. So that’s the hobby-room wall decor side of GW filling out the Cain-week lineup, and it’ll likely sell to Valhallan collectors and Cain readers more than tabletop players.
This one ships while stocks last, which is GW’s usual way of saying don’t sit on the pre-order button if you actually want it in your hand.
The Sabbat Worlds Crusade
The foundational lore book for the Gaunt’s Ghosts setting returns in a fresh hardback. So Dan Abnett’s deep-cut Imperial Guard fans finally get the in-universe history book of the Sabbat Worlds back in print, and this one has been a hunt-the-secondary-market title for years.
This is the first time the new edition is hitting shelves, and GW notes it ships while stocks last with no commitment to a long print run. Plus, the timing pairs with the Cain re-issue to make this a heavy week for Guard-side Black Library completists.
Rynn’s World (Special Edition)
Steve Parker’s Crimson Fists novel gets a blue cloth-effect cover with red and gold foil. Pedro Kantor’s stand against the Ork Waaagh on his Chapter’s home world, returning with a deluxe binding, and Crimson Fists collectors have been waiting for this one to come back into print.
Paperbacks
The usual paperback rotation rounds out the English-language releases. So readers chasing affordable formats get a fresh batch of releases for the shelf too.
FAQ About Ciaphas Cain and the June 2026 Sunday Preview
Does Ciaphas Cain have a model?
Yes, Games Workshop revealed an official Ciaphas Cain miniature alongside his aide Jurgen, with a diorama base option so they can be built together or separately.
When does the Ciaphas Cain model come out?
Ciaphas Cain hits pre-order on Saturday, June 27, 2026, with a street date of Saturday, July 11, 2026.
What’s in the new Warhammer 40k Battleforces for 2026?
Four 11th Edition Battleforces hit pre-order this Saturday, covering the Tyranid Swarm, Chaos Space Marines Warband, Necron Host, and Astra Militarum Platoon, each centered on a faction anchor unit plus infantry, support, and a vehicle or monster.
What is the Maximus Battle Group?
The Maximus Battle Group is the new Horus Heresy bundle featuring twenty MkIV Tactical Marines, ten MkIV Assault Marines, a Sicaran Battle Tank, and a Contemptor Dreadnought in fresh plastic.
What are the Centaur RSV and Hippogriff AFV?
The Centaur Rapid Strike Vehicle is a fast Astra Militarum transport with a Firing Deck 12 open-top rule, and the Hippogriff Armoured Fighting Vehicle is a fast-attack escort gun with a choice of four weapon options, both shipping standalone for the first time outside the Armageddon Battalion box.
Are the Sunday Preview products delayed in South Korea?
Yes, Games Workshop notes that Ciaphas Cain and the four Warhammer 40k Battleforces are delayed in South Korea, so collectors in that region should plan around the regional supply note.
Final Thoughts on Ciaphas Cain and 11th Edition Pre-Orders
This week’s drop makes it easy for new players to start 11th Edition Guard or one of the three other Battleforce factions. The Cain model finally gives Astra Militarum players a named-Commissar centerpiece that isn’t Yarrick, and the Centaur and Hippogriff standalone boxes pull two of the edition’s most talked-about vehicles out of GW’s bundle-only purgatory.
Looking forward, the next Saturday’s queue is shaping up around the new Horus Heresy and continued 11th Edition codex support. But anyone holding off on a Cain or Battleforce pre-order should check the updated 2026 Warhammer Roadmap to see what’s still on deck now.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Ciaphas Cain Model Finally Brings the Imperium’s Hero to the 40k Tabletop
- New MkIV Space Marines Hit Horus Heresy in the Maximus Battle Group
- Warhammer 40k Battleforces Hub
- Updated Warhammer 40k 2026 Release Roadmap
- Centaur and Hippogriff Datasheets From Armageddon
- Horus Heresy News Hub
- Black Library News Hub
What do you think of this week’s Battleforce pre-orders and the Ciaphas Cain model?
