It’s Orks. The Orks are going to be the big bad for Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition, right? RIGHT?! Let’s chat.
Games Workshop is taking us back to Armageddon. The teasers are pretty much saying so. But does that mean the Orks will be the big bads of 11th edition? Are they going to get the spotlight and the big story push this time around?
Those questions got me thinking. While it sure seems likely that the Orks will be included somehow, I wanted to take a look back at the previous editions, their launch boxes, and what factions were included to figure out what’s going on. Can the past help predict the future?
Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition – Space Marines vs Orks
This boxed set was awesome. It had Orks vs Space Marines. I had this one as a kid, and I traded the Orks to a buddy for the Space Marines. It was a glorious time. But the big bad for this was the Orks.
Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition – Space Marines (Black Templar) vs Dark Eldar
Without getting into all the details, this was a nice change of pace. We got the Dark Eldar (a relatively newish army at the time) and the Black Templars on the cover of this edition. This boxed set stuck around. This was also the edition that brought us to Armageddon once again with Codex: Armageddon. I wonder if the Black Templars are going to get a push this edition, or if the Blood Angels are going to be defending the Hives once again.
Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition – Space Marines vs Tyranids
In 4th edition we had the Tyranids as the big bads. We also had some great scatter terrain, and I still love those old beacons they included. Looking back, this box sure did seem like a tiny intro box for the game. It was also pretty lightweight compared to the other editions. I remember the big core rulebook separately, and it was massive. Anyhow, this was a classic Tyranid vs Space Marine setup.
Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition – Space Marines vs Orks
Oh man. Assault on Black Reach was an awesome starter set. You got a hefty amount of miniatures, and it was the only place to get Ork Deffkoptas for a LONG time. The cool part was that we had Orks back in the box once again in another classic match-up. Who doesn’t like fighting Orks?! It’s always a blood bath.
Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition – Dark Angels vs Chaos Space Marines
This was another banger of a starter box. You had Dark Angel Space Marines vs Chaos Space Marines, and it was the first time we really saw a Chaos vs Chaos boxed set. I really hope one day we get another Chaos vs Chaos set like this. It’s always nice to see the traitors fighting fence sitters in my opinion. And if you don’t get the joke about Dark Angels being traitors, well, you must be new around here.
But seriously, this was another good boxed set, and Chaos was the big bad in the set. Which version of chaos-flavor Space Marine you wanted to play was up to you.
Warhammer 40,000 7th Edition – Age of the Battlebox
So this edition was honestly kind of weird. Because of how the edition changed, Dark Vengeance was still around as the “Starter Box” for 7th edition. However, GW started releasing refresher boxes called battleforce boxes. The two main ones were Stormclaw and Death Masque.
Stormclaw featured Space Wolves vs the Orks once again. It was a good box for what you got inside. Death Masque was kind of a weird one, though.
This had Harlequins vs Death Watch, and it was really just a way to sneak in Eldrad and Captain Artemis. Again, kind of a weird edition shift. There were also other smaller product releases like the Kill Team box and the Battle for Vedros. But I don’t really consider those proper starter sets.
So the big bad for this edition was still kind of Chaos with a splash of Orks and Xenos. But considering this edition brought back a Primarch at the end and also split Cadia…I’d say Chaos was the big bad overall.
Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition – Space Marines vs Death Guard
8th Edition was the birth of the Primaris Marine. It was the shift in the narrative as well. We’d finally moved past the 1 minute to midnight of the 41st millennium, and we’d finally move beyond that. The Eye of Terror ripped open. Cadia had fallen (even though it still stands), and Chaos had split the Imperium into two. The Dark Imperium box launched with Space Marines battling the Nurgle following the Death Guard. Many of these miniatures are still viable to this day!
I also want to call out the other Starter Sets, as GW changed up the model for their sets this time around. We had multiple versions of this boxed set, with the Ultimate box having everything, followed by other versions having fewer miniatures but still keeping the core rules. We also had a TON of Battleforce boxes that were released for this edition. These dual-army boxes were great for getting two players into the game. If you could find a buddy to split one with. Forgebane, Tooth and Claw, Shadowspear, Wake the Dead, Prophecy of the Wolf, Blood of the Phoenix, and the super weird Wrath and Rapture Box were released. We were living in a crazy time for Warhammer 40,000!
Warhammer 40,000 9th – Space Marines vs Necrons
As we’re getting closer to the current edition, I’ll keep this short since these are in pretty recent memory. The Indomitus boxed set launched with Space Marines vs Necrons, and I’m sure everyone still remembers the flood of Necrons that became available afterwards. If you wanted to start a Necron army, oh man, did this edition ROCK for you.
Again, there were many versions of this boxed set that slimmed down the contents for different starter editions. But we also had a good swathe of Battleboxes, too. Piety and Pain, Shadow Throne, Eldritch Omens, and Wrath of the Soul Forge King. GW seemed to cut out the battleforce boxes after this edition, though.
Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition – Space Marines vs Tyranids
The current edition launched with a bit of a callback here. Once again, we had the Space Marines battling the Tyranids, and both sides had some new toys to play with. This is still a fantastic intro to 40k for 10th edition, and you really do get a TON of miniatures in there. And let’s not forget that the Tyranids managed to win the Global campaign for this boxed set launch, too!
Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition – Space Marines vs ???
So yeah, the rumor mill is grinding away. GW is teasing Orks and a return to Armageddon. Does that mean we’re going to get a Space Marine vs Ork box? Shoot, how do we even know it’s going to be a Space Marine starter army in there? What if it’s something completely crazy like Orks vs Astra Militarum? Or Orks vs Chaos!
Looking back at the previous editions, there’s really not enough data to point to a pattern. You could say it’s Orks followed by Tyranids or Tyranids followed by Orks. Occasionally, there’s some other Xenos mixed in or even some Chaos. Whatever happens, I’m betting it’s going to be just as big (or bigger) than the Indomitus boxed set! And that’s going to be a good thing for 40k players regardless.
Space Marines vs Orks for 11th? I guess we’ll find out!
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Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and now Tex-Pat, Adam covers all things Tabletop Gaming. Which includes Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and everything else that involves dice, boards, cards and a table.
A hobbyist, player, and collector of miniatures and games, Adam’s current obsession are his Death and Chaos Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, an expanding collection of Marvel: Crisis Protocol minis, and his ever growing Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.
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