The Warhammer Skulls showcase returned today with its 10th anniversary, delivering a slew of exciting world premieres, massive updates and announcements for a huge range of titles in the vast worlds of Warhammer video games.
Hosted by Sister of Battle herself, Alanah Pearce (Boltgun 2, Rooster Teeth), the show headlined with premieres of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch (the sequel to 2022’s Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters) and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster, whilst Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus 2 has also been released today on PC and console.
Tony Cross, Senior Producer at Kasedo Games, said:
Warhammer Skulls has quietly become a key yearly milestone in the Mechanicus II journey. From the initial announcement to the first gameplay reveal, the festival has played a major role in how we’ve shared our progress with fans. Skulls 2026 marks the biggest moment yet: the release trailer will be live, Mechanicus II will be out and players will finally be able to get their hands on it. We can’t wait to hear what they think!
Andreas Bonnardel, Game Director at Old Skull Games, said:
“We are proud to announce Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster, a game dedicated to the Skaven, where you get to be one of them and discover their world from the inside. Unveiling the game at the Skulls Showcase, where we could speak directly to the Warhammer community, was a no-brainer for us and our publisher Dotemu. We know how rich and deep this lore is, and we’re excited to bring our own take on what makes the Skaven so iconic. We can’t wait to hear what the community makes of it. Yes-yes.
In addition, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV announced preorders are now live for the standard edition and Commander editions of the game- inviting players to return to the planet of Kronus once again – and also unveiled the year one plan for the game, including Crusade mode, free updates, a new campaign expansion and a new faction. Dawn of War IV will be released on 17th September it was revealed. Commander editions pre-orders will get early access on 14th September.
Jan Theysen, co-founder and co-CEO of KING Art games:
We at KING Art Games are really excited to be part in this year’s Skulls Showcase with Dawn of War IV. It’s a chance for us to see first-hand the reaction of Warhammer fans to our hard work and we can’t wait for the game to be in players’ hands later this year.
Brand new DLC for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was unveiled, dropping on 23rd June. The new DLC brings a brand new playable and fan-requested class: the Skitarii, who are arriving on Tertium to support the Rejects. The DLC will be available to buy alongside a Deluxe Edition with extra gear for your Skitarii.
Alongside exclusive world premieres, Auroch Digital joined the fray to announce two demos for their titles Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 and Warhammer Survivors – both receiving explosive new trailers, with Warhammer Survivors also being revealed to be launching on mobile platforms. Nitro Games, in association with Auroch Digital, have also announced their pre-registry for Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom, bringing the heretic slaying shooter to Android and iOS in 2026!
As part of a mysterious teaser, Commander Yarrick also appeared during the showcase talking ominously over a CRT to confirm Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will be going to the endless war of Armageddon.
The showcase also featured two exciting crossovers with Warhammer 40,000 collaboration with PlayStation and Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2, coming later this year, alongside the launch of the console collaboration with Rust, which allows PlayStation and Xbox players to get suited up in cosmetics inspired by the Death Korps of Krieg.
On top of all of these announcements, the following was also announced:
- Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy – Today’s trailer revealed more gameplay as well as heralding Beta access on Steam for players who have purchased one of the Founder’s Packs via the Dark Heresy website. The Beta will see players travel to Scintilla’s spires, mingling with the planet’s prestigious elites and contains around seven hours of playtime which will stay open until the game’s release.
- Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus – Launched a Dawn of War IV event, featuring a campaign event pitching Dark Angels versus Necrons introducing Lion el’Jonson as a new guild Raid Boss and Captain Cyrus of the Blood Ravens entering the Last Stand.
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Launched a brand new free update, including the new ‘Purgation’ Operation for PVE mode, a new weapon with the Bolt Carbine sidearm and variants for many other weapons. Additionally, 6 new armour pieces and a brand new Battle-Barge Hall Practice arena, and a big update to Siege mode. There is also new DLC available to Season Pass 2 owners with the Iron Hands Chapter pack, which includes brand new cosmetics and skins (also available to buy separately).
- Total War: Warhammer 3 – Released the Bhashiva Character Pack – introducing the Tiger Warriors to reinforce the armies of Grand Cathay, led by Bhashiva, the White Tiger.
- Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Infinite Museion – Owlcat Games announced the 3rd DLC for Rogue Trader will be arriving on June 11th – inviting players to explore a secret vault curated by Trazyn the Infinite to delve into his obsession with the Von Valancius dynasty and decide whether they want to disrupt or fulfil his plans. This DLC will also launch with a brand-new companion, a Tech-Priest Manipulus with a shadowed past.
- Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks – Speed Freeks is screeching onto Xbox and PlayStation with full cross-play support with PC, across all game modes! Launching on Skulls.
- Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector – Celebrating Skulls with the release of the new Ultramarines DLC and 1.0 launch of Crusade Mode. The base game will be Free to Try on Steam for the duration of Skulls.
- Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Slitherine are releasing a new unit pack DLC – the Eradication Pack. Not only that, the base game will be Free to Keep on Steam for the week of Skulls.
- Talisman: Digital 5th Edition – Has released the Dead King expansion. Whether playing Solo, Co-op, or Competitive, the Dead King changes the fundamental rules of the race for the Crown.
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 – Back for another year, the fan-favorite Skulls event lets players rack up kills and collect daemon skulls to earn seasonal rewards.
- Warhammer Combat Cards – Keeping up to speed with the tabletop events of Armageddon, introducing a new Draft mode, new campaign and Yarrick and Wazdakka Gutsmek arriving in game.
- Warhammer Chaos & Conquest – To celebrate the Skulls festival and the 7-year Anniversary of Warhammer: Chaos and Conquest, Game Update 5.0 is arriving with the long-awaited Territory system, work together with your Alliance to claim regions of the ‘Old World’ to earn new equipment, buffs and loot!
- Warhammer Classics – Available now on Steam in an accessible, future-proofed form, Warhammer Classics restores more than 20 seminal and cult-favorite Warhammer video games, bringing them back to PC.
And that’s your lot. For the Warhammer-illiterate like myself it likely won’t mean much but there’s plenty of good looking games there still!
