Warhammer 40K Announces 10th Edition, Rules to Be Released for Free Online

Warhammer 40K is getting a brand new edition. At Adepticon, Games Workshop confirmed that a new edition of Warhammer 40K would be coming out later this year, with a new simplified ruleset that still offers plenty of complexity for longtime tabletop enthusiasts. Perhaps most notably, Games Workshop will also release the core rules for the new edition, along with datasheets for all of the Warhammer 40K armies, for free online. This is a massive change from previous editions, which usually required at minimum the purchase of an army-specific codex along with the core rulebook in order to play. Games Workshop will still release codexes for the new 10th edition of Warhammer 40K, but these books will feature mostly lore and faction-specific rules.

As with every new edition of Warhammer 40K, the new edition will be compatible with all miniatures published by Games Workshop. The new edition will also come with a new Starter Box, which will feature Space Marines and a revamped line of Tyranids. The lore for the new edition indicates that a massive Hive fleet of Tyranids is attacking a vulnerable area of the galaxy, forcing the Imperium of Man to unleash strike forces consisting of Terminators and a reborn Lion El'Johnson to try to stave off the threat alone. A cinematic trailer for the new edition can be seen below:

The good news is that Games Workshop seems to be gearing up its signature game to be easier to play than ever, with the new edition conveniently providing a major on-ramp for players interested in the new edition. And with the core rules available for free online, it should help stem the usual grousing from current players upset that the codex released last year for their army has been invalidated after just a few months. 

We'll dig deeper into the new announcement in the coming days. In the meantime, be sure to follow The Character Sheet, ComicBook.com's official tabletop channel, for more coverage on the new edition.