In addition to the miniatures themselves, there’s also a transfer sheet for the Space Marines. It’s normally something not worth mentioning, as a standard inclusion for most iconography-heavy GW game factions, but this one is brand new and completely redesigned for the new edition. It features symbols for six different Space Marine chapters - Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Imperial Fists and Raven Guard - along with generic squad markings and such, and has a lot more variety than we’ve seen before. There are some beautiful variant chapter symbols, often in gold, that are perfect for adding a bit of pizazz to your veterans and special characters. I foresee much frenzied trading of these between Space Marine players in the future. We arrive at the miniatures. With no fewer than 72 in the box – split 25 Space Marines and 47 Tyranids – there’s an absolute mountain of stuff to get through here. It can be a bit intimidating at first, particularly for newcomers, so we’ve put together our popular coloured sprue pictures for those of you who use them. People have been desperate for new Terminators for a while, and expectations will be absolutely smashed with this phenomenal miniature. Expect to see a lot of these at Golden Demons over the next few years! It is worth making clear here, however, that whilst this book contains all the rules you need to play the new edition of Warhammer 40,000, unless you’re already pretty comfortable with playing wargames and have a decent knowledge of Warhammer 40,000 up to this point, you’re probably going to struggle to get your head around this book. There is a lot of info in here, and whilst you can play a game based off the info here (provided, of course, you have the stats for your armies), it’s not exactly beginner friendly. The cinematic shot, featuring the ‘Eavy Metal Studio’s work on all the brand-new miniatures, shows off the Leviathan box at its absolute best. A horde of biomass-hungry Tyranids from Hive Fleet Leviathan descend upon a defensive line of Ultramarines led by the impressive new Captain in Terminator Armour.

But, dear reader, of course they can. And the vanguard of that fresh nightmare arrives in this very box! Don’t get this book confused with a how to play guide – that it is most certainly not. If you’re a newcomer to the world of Warhammer 40,000 and are hoping to learn how to play your first few games from the contents of this set, whilst this is probably possible, I’d advocate waiting to see if there are any Tenth Edition Starter Sets due to be released further down the line as these’ll be much easier to get to grips with. Gradually, Imperial commanders were abWhirlwind • Vindicator • Stalker • Hunter • Whirlwind Hyperios • Land Raider Helios • Thunderfire Cannon • Firestrike Servo-turret The stat lines for each figure and unit are also included in the construction guide. The guide first takes you through the new Space Marines before providing you with their statistics, then moves on to the Tyranid builds and finally finishes off with their stats too. Four indomitable champions of various flavours lead the anti-Leviathan forces, with the Captain in Terminator Armour pre-eminent among them. But what would you expect from Games Workshop? The company is where it is today because of the quality of its product. They are internationally-renowned for owning some of the biggest IPs in tabletop gaming – and their miniatures are second to none (though this is something Ross would likely disagree with me on given the sculpt quality of some miniatures available via STL). Ultimately, however, they still dominate the industry – and for such a household name, you expect the best of the best.

Huge shout-out to Ross for snapping these pictures and doing the wonderful coloured sprue photos. Sprues & Models – Command Units If they do make new starter sets for Tenth Edition (and we think it’s fairly safe to say that they probably will), it’s worth noting that if the previous editions are anything to go by, these won’t include all of the miniatures. With both Indomitus and Dominion, their starter sets didn’t contain all the more impressive single or elite miniatures – such as the Primaris Chaplain and the Judiciar in Indomitus, and Yndrasta the Celestial Spear and the Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis in Dominion. These were later released as part of the Space Marines: Honoured of the Chapter and Thunderstrike Command sets, but the astronomical price tag of these kits (which were eye-wateringly close to the retail prices of the big boxes they were originally from) left jaws across the world very much dropped, and the #WarhammerCommunity hashtag overflowing with anger. Scattered across two identical sprues, the Termies themselves – a long-standing favourite amongst Tyranid collectors – are brand-new and improved models compared to their decades-old counterparts. Here are the sprues:Yet Kryptman still had loyal allies within the Deathwatch, and incepted a plan to halt Leviathan without the loss of further Human life. When a Genestealer-infested space hulk drifted from the Warp, members of the Deathwatch loyal to Kryptman captured a brood in stasis. Using the brood of captured live Genestealers, the Inquisitor engineered a Tyranid invasion within the Ork-held Octarius System, very close to Leviathan's advance. The crowded Ork cities, so teeming with life, were the source of a huge Orkish infestation, and soon drew the entirety of Leviathan into the tight cluster of Ork star systems known as the Ork Empire of Octarius. The plan worked, and both races are now thoroughly involved with destroying each other in what has become known as the Octarius War. Chaos Rhino • Chaos Predator • Infernal Relic Predator • Chaos Vindicator • Chaos Land Raider • Chaos Land Raider Proteus • Infernal Relic Land Raider Achilles • Land Raider Hades Diabolus • Relic Sicaran Battle Tank • Maulerfiend • Forgefiend • Defiler • Brass Scorpion • Blood Slaughterer • Blight Drone • Foetid Bloat-drone • Kytan • Plague Hulk • Venomcrawler • Myphitic Blight-hauler At 6-8 chunky components each, they’re a breeze to build and look spectacular once assembled. Space Marines with extra drip are always welcome, and Dark Angels players will adore these minis for their slight resemblance to the near-archaeological Company Veterans, and those determined enough will easily find a way to make these guys look more like that unit of old. Terminator Squad Huge shifting swarms of Termagants are the mainstay of many Tyranid invasion forces. Armed with ranged bio-organic weapons, these scuttling beasts rush forward to erode their enemy’s defences through sheer weight of numbers. Neurogaunts Power has its cost though, and the systems of the Leviathan place a lethal level of strain on the minds of its occupants.

Leviathan ushers in the next era of Warhammer 40,000 with no small amount of gusto. The heap of new miniatures are all of superb, industry gold-standard-setting quality. The cards and rulebook will allow experienced players to get started with the new edition right away in supreme style, and even the new transfer sheet, covered in unique and individual markings to help bring more and more character to your minis, speaks volumes about personalisation, the embracing of different narrative directions, and multiple ways to play Warhammer. This box is meant to appeal to everyone – and we can’t help but agree that it certainly does. The final model here is a bit of an odd-one out, and honestly doesn’t fit super well. The Apothecary Biologis is a Gravis-armoured Apothecary showing off a mighty T6 defensive profile, and is clearly mostly designed to boost an attached Gravis unit, offering them Lethal Hits. In addition, if the unit kills something in melee then the Apothecary gains an impressive Objective Control of 9 for the rest of the battle. This seems ideal for taking something like Aggressors to an objective, wiping the enemy off, then holding the position forever, but there aren’t any joinable units in this box! He does have a starting OC of 3, so can be somewhat decent used just to babysit an objective behind a wall in this box, but he’ll definitely need the full index to really shine. The Infantry In all, the positives on this side of the box drastically outweigh the negatives. The leggy dreadnought, the duplicate Infernus Squad sprues, and the push-fit models (which won’t be a criticism for some people who aren’t fans of the building process) are tiny niggles that are easily forgotten amidst the spew of exciting, detailed, and unique miniatures. The Neurotyrant has all the look of a model that should be difficult to build, but as you’ll be able to see from a cursory glace at the sprue above, this isn’t true. It has a few smaller parts, such as its forelimbs (or whatever they are), but on the whole, this is still a very easy to assemble mini.

Leviathan Tyranids

These are awesome. Hopefully we’ll see some chapter-by-chapter variations, such as those linked above. Infernus Squad There are some striking similarities (and some even more striking gaps and seams on this model, the worst of which is obvious in the photo above) between the Psychophage and the Venomcrawler, but that isn’t to say the Psychophge is an ugly model (well, no more so than it’s meant to be). It’s one that will require some work filling gaps, but one that will look very impressive once completed. It’s basically a gigantic dino-bug tank, after all. First up, the Lieutenant in Phobos Armour. The Primaris Lieutenant memes will run wild with this guy – who has reinforced his own armour with the chitins of slain Tyranids. Similar to several other Primaris Lieutenants in Phobos Armour, but appropriately updated to the new edition with his extra Tyranid-y bits, this guy cuts an impressive figure.