Commissar Yarrick Returns in New Animation, Model Reveal for Armageddon

GW left him out of Codex: Astra Militarum back in 2022 with a vague eulogy that nobody quite believed, and now we know why the obituary was so carefully non-committal. In an animated trailer, Games Workshop revealed a brand new Yarrick model and confirmed that Old Bale Eye is playing a major part in the game's upcoming Armageddon storyline. The "Return to Armageddon" animation is the announcement vehicle, and it does not waste its runtime.

Yarrick's return comes in the form of a fully voiced animated short, which shows a wavering Guard general attempting to order a full retreat from embattled war world Armageddon, before being shot in the back of the head by Yarrick. The laspistol he uses is not incidental scenery. He still carries that laspistol in a holster at his hip, the same weapon he uses to execute the cowardly, traitorous official in the animation.

The miniature itself is a studied tribute to 30 years of Yarrick sculpts. Warhammer Community published a comparison image showing the three eras of the model side by side: Yarrick models across the years, from the 1990s (left), 2000s (right), and his latest incarnation (centre). The Hero of Hades still sports the iconic pose, raising his pilfered Ork power klaw high and shouting defiance at his foes, with the blazing bionic eye, billowing sash, shoulder epaulettes, and distinctive hat all carried through from earlier versions of the miniature. What is new is the weight of time. Old Bale Eye looks older than ever before, with his aging body now held together with servo-enhanced callipers and an iron will. This marks Yarrick's first new miniature since 2000.

The reaction from the community was telling: fans who had basically written him off because GW left him out of the Codex, with him out of the game for years, were reminded that you can't really have an Armageddon fight without Yarrick. Bell of Lost Souls also floated the question of whether Old Bale Eye might be a "Living" Saint at this point, which is not the most outlandish theory given what the servo-callipers are doing for his longevity. The 2022 Astra Militarum codex had removed Yarrick from active play and suggested he had died after a lifetime of noble service. The new miniature and animation answer that question definitively.

Two and a half minutes of fully voiced, cinematic-level animation is not cheap, and would seem overkill to announce the release of a single miniature. Armageddon is heavily rumored to be the setting for the game's next launch box, with a battle between the Blood Angels and Orks as the two leading armies. Warhammer Community's own related topics page teased new Ork bits sightings and a "Reign of Iron Begins" story thread in the same week, which adds further texture to what appears to be a coordinated narrative build.

We'll be learning more about Yarrick, and the wider war for Armageddon, very soon, according to Warhammer Community. No release date, price, or rules statline has been confirmed yet, and no Codex inclusion has been announced. But if the animation's final frame is any indication, Old Bale Eye did not come back to stand on a shelf.