Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon reveals Space Marine unit cards ahead of pre-order

Games Workshop gave Space Marine players their first real read on Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon by dropping the unit cards before the box reached pre-order. That mattered because the cards were not just a teaser for the launch set, they showed how the models were meant to function on the table: Eradicators geared to shred lighter infantry, Vanguard Veterans built for aggressive melee pressure, and Land Speeders set up as fast-moving threats that could strike and vanish.

The timing fit the bigger push around the new edition. Games Workshop had already revealed 11th edition at AdeptiCon Preview 2026 on March 26 and described Armageddon as the biggest Warhammer 40,000 launch set yet. By June 1, the new core rules were available to download, and by June 6 the company had confirmed Armageddon was up for pre-order. The box brought 61 brand new miniatures split between Space Marines and Orks, plus the Core Rulebook, the lore book Operation: Imperator, Chapter Approved and Dominatus decks, unit datacards, and a transfer sheet.

The setting for the launch set also leaned hard into old-school 40k stakes. The story followed the fallout from Armageddon: The Return of Yarrick, with Wazdakka Gutsmek landing on the war world and Ghazghkull Thraka’s main force closing in behind him. Operation Imperator framed the Imperial response as a multi-Chapter counterattack, with Blood Angels singled out for their long record on Armageddon and strike forces from the Salamanders, Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and others joining the fight.

The fine print still mattered for list-building. These datasheets covered only the units found in the Armageddon box, in the exact configurations represented by the miniatures inside it. They were a preview of the launch force, not the final word on the wider Space Marine arsenal, because Games Workshop’s faction-pack downloads are designed to supplement existing codexes with additional rules, datasheets, FAQs, and errata.

That is why the Land Speeder stood out so sharply in the preview. With a 14-inch Move and Purgation Run, it was presented as a classic shoot-and-scoot platform and a fast flanking threat to infantry and light vehicles, a clear signal that Armageddon was built to reward speed, angles, and reactive play as much as raw damage. The box may have been sold as a launch product, but the cards made its battlefield identity plain long before the sprues were in hand.