Games Workshop’s weekend pre-order wave brought Custodes players the plastic Telemon Heavy Dreadnought they have been requesting for years — bundled inside a six-model Support Battle Group that went live Saturday, August 30 — alongside five new Warhammer: The Old World Battle March army boxes and the confirmed end of the company’s Miniature of the Month in-store program. Spikey Bits confirmed the pre-order wave went live worldwide, with a street date of September 12, 2026.

The combination of a significant plastic transition, five faction entry-points for a game mode designed to cut The Old World’s steep buy-in, and a free-freebie program that is now confirmed to be ending made this one of GW’s more eventful weekends of 2026 — and left hobbyists with a specific set of questions to answer before September 12.

The Legio Custodes Support Battle Group contains six miniatures: one Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, one Pallas Grav-attack vehicle, and four Gyrfalcon Jetbike Sodality riders. GW’s list price is $230 USD (£150 / €190). The box is compatible with both Warhammer: The Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000.

Plastic Telemon Is Here — and Why That Matters More Than the Price Tag

The headline is the Telemon, and the reason matters beyond the model count. Until this release, the Telemon Heavy Dreadnought was only available as a Forge World resin cast — the premium-price specialty line that GW’s Forge World subsidiary has historically used for elite and esoteric models that either sell in too-low volumes to justify expensive steel tooling, or that predate GW’s modern plastic engineering capabilities.

Resin and plastic are not interchangeable materials, and the difference shapes every hour of the hobby experience. Forge World’s polyurethane resin is a thermoset material: once it cures, it cannot be re-melted, which is why a warped resin kit cannot simply be pressed flat — it has to be softened in near-boiling water (exploiting polyurethane’s relatively low glass-transition temperature) and held in position until it re-cures in the correct shape. Injection-molded polystyrene — what GW calls “plastic” — is manufactured under high pressure into precision-machined steel molds, emerges dimensionally stable, and never requires this treatment because its material properties are established during the manufacturing process at temperatures far above anything it will encounter in a hobby room.

The practical consequence: Custodes players who wanted a Telemon previously paid a Forge World premium, waited for delivery from the specialist line, and then spent time correcting warps before the model was buildable. Moving it to plastic does not just reduce that friction — it eliminates an entire category of problem from the project. The box also ships with 210 vehicle transfers and 160 dreadnought transfers — waterslide sheets covering icons, script, honorifics, and filigree for both vehicle and dreadnought models.

All models are dual-stat for Horus Heresy and 40K, which extends the box’s value to any Custodes player regardless of era. GW has marked the Support Battle Group “while stocks last,” and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan face regional release delays. The street date for all regions where stock is available is September 12, 2026.

The box follows the release cadence established with the earlier Legio Custodes Battle Group, which launched in March 2026 — GW has been introducing new Custodes kits inside Battle Group bundles first, with individual kits available separately later, typically around four to six weeks after the bundle.

Old World Battle March Gets Five Armies at Once

Running alongside the Custodes release are five new Warhammer: The Old World army boxes designed for the game’s Battle March format — a compact mode running 400 to 750 points, designed to deliver rank-and-flank mass combat in a shorter session.

The five factions in this wave are the Empire of Man ($170 USD), Beastmen Brayherds ($170 USD), Wood Elf Realms ($115 USD), High Elf Realms ($170 USD), and Orc and Goblin Tribes (price not solicited to stores; available directly from Games Workshop). Spikey Bits confirmed full pricing across all five factions.

These boxes join two Warriors of Chaos Battle March boxes that launched with the broader Warriors of Chaos release earlier in August. The format is Battle March’s value proposition: for a player new to The Old World, or unwilling to commit to a full 2,000-point army before knowing if the game is for them, a $115–$170 box with a coherent starter force represents a genuine on-ramp, not a starter trap. The boxes draw from existing kit ranges rather than new sculpts, which keeps GW’s development cost down and means experienced collectors will not find anything in the box they couldn’t already own — but for a new player, the curation is the value.

The Empire box includes a Commander, 20 State Troops, 10 State Missile Troops, 10 Archers, 10 Flagellants, and 5 Pistoliers — a functional gunline with a melee screen included. The Beastmen box packs in 50 models across a Chieftain, Shaman, 10 Ungor, 10 Bestigor, 20 Gor, and 10 Chaos Warhounds, making it the densest modeling project of the five. The Wood Elf box, anchored by Araloth, runs lighter in model count and heavier in build options — two of its kits offer assembly choices. The High Elf box includes a Lothern Skycutter and a Tiranoc Chariot, giving it considerable fast-attack presence at the 400–750 point scale. The Orc and Goblin box, exclusively through GW direct, contains three characters — an Orc Boss on War Boar, a Battle Standard Bearer, and a Goblin Shaman — alongside 15 Orc Mob, 5 Wolf Riders, 5 Orc Boar Boyz, and an Orc Boar Chariot.

What Is Battle March in Warhammer: The Old World?

Battle March is GW’s supported compact game format for The Old World, running 400 to 750 points versus the full game’s typical 2,000-point armies. Its rules maintain the rank-and-flank feel of the full game in a shorter session, making it accessible to players who want the Old World experience without the full army investment. The five new boxes are designed as Battle March-sized complete forces out of the box, or as efficient core-troop expansions for existing collections.

The Old World street date for these boxes is also September 12, 2026, shared with the Custodes Support Battle Group.

Ogor Mawtribes Wave 2 Now in Stores

Completing the picture for the weekend: Ogor Mawtribes Wave 2 moved from pre-order to worldwide general sale on August 29, with thirteen kits entering general release, completing the Ogor Mawtribes comprehensive range refresh that began with the Army Set on August 1. The standalone Battletome: Ogor Mawtribes, faction dice, and Okar’s Torrbad Regiment of Renown are all now individually purchasable — including items not bundled in the earlier Army Set.

Miniature of the Month: What GW’s Free Store Mini Was Actually Buying

Games Workshop has now confirmed what community reports had been predicting since late August: September will be the last of the traditional free monthly miniatures. GW announced a new store offer will replace the program in October, though the format of that replacement has not been disclosed. The Warhammer Community Miniature of the Month program page still carries the legacy copy directing hobbyists to visit their local store “each month.” The August miniature — a free Ork Boy available from August 1, 2026 — was the final confirmed release in the traditional cadence. Spikey Bits first reported the apparent discontinuation on August 28, based on reports of a store manager removing Miniature of the Month signage after an internal announcement, with no corresponding Warhammer Community statement at the time.

The collectible coin program — which requires an in-store purchase to claim — appears to be continuing. That distinction is the tell: GW has drawn a line between incentives that require spending money (coins, retained) and an incentive that required only showing up (free miniature, ending with September).

Understanding why the free monthly mini mattered requires understanding what it was actually doing for GW’s retail network. GW-owned Warhammer stores face a structural disadvantage that independent retailers do not: GW’s trade terms prohibit its company-owned stores from discounting below the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Independent retailers — which collectively carry 65% of GW’s core revenue — regularly sell GW products at 10–15% below MSRP. A hobbyist who knows this faces an obvious question every time a new release drops: why pay full price at a corporate Warhammer store when the shop down the road charges less?

The Miniature of the Month was GW’s answer. It was an exclusive benefit that only the company-owned stores could offer — independent retailers cannot receive and distribute a free monthly model tied to an in-store visit. For many hobbyists, the free mini was not primarily about the mini itself; it was the monthly reason to make the trip. Once inside, they bought paints, replaced brushes, and picked up kits they had been considering. The program’s real cost to GW was the plastic — its real return was the foot traffic and the secondary purchases it generated, a pattern confirmed by community reporting on in-store behavior.

If the replacement program has not yet been announced, GW’s own stores lose the only structural competitive advantage they held over discounting independents until a new one-of-a-kind draw is established. That is a significant retail strategy development at a company whose FY2026 annual report showed record total revenue of £659.7 million alongside a 37% decline in licensing revenue as Space Marine 2’s one-time boost faded.

GW could use the October announcement to reveal a more compelling replacement draw — one that keeps its own stores differentiated from independents. Until that replacement lands, stores that relied on the monthly free mini to bring in foot traffic are operating without their primary exclusive benefit.

Exchange rates as of August 31, 2026; all currency conversions are approximate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Telemon Heavy Dreadnought now available in plastic?

Yes — as of the August 30, 2026 pre-order wave, the Telemon Heavy Dreadnought is included in plastic form inside the Legio Custodes Support Battle Group, which also contains a Pallas Grav-attack vehicle and four Gyrfalcon Jetbike riders. Before this release, the Telemon was only available as a Forge World resin kit, which required specialized hobby techniques to correct warping. The box ships September 12, 2026 and is priced at $230 USD (£150 / €190). Individual kit availability is expected to follow later, likely in October, based on prior Custodes Battle Group release cadences.

What is included in the Old World Battle March boxes, and are they worth buying?

The five Battle March army boxes each contain a coherent starting force for the 400–750 point Battle March game format. Model counts and contents vary by faction: the Beastmen box includes 50 models across two characters and five units, while the Wood Elf box is lighter in count but includes Araloth and multiple build-option kits. Prices range from $115 USD (Wood Elves) to $170 USD (Empire, Beastmen, High Elves). The Orc and Goblin box is a GW-direct exclusive with no publicly listed price. For players new to The Old World or unwilling to commit to a full 2,000-point army, these boxes offer genuine value as entry points into the rank-and-flank format.

Is Miniature of the Month still active? Can I still get September’s free model?

GW has confirmed that September will be the last month of the traditional free miniature program and that a new offer will take its place in October. The September free model should still be available at Warhammer stores as usual — check with your local store before making a specific trip. The format of the October replacement has not been announced. The collectible coin program, which requires an in-store purchase, reportedly continues unchanged.

Why does it matter if GW ends the Miniature of the Month program?

The free monthly miniature was the only exclusive benefit that GW’s own company-owned Warhammer stores could offer that independent retailers — which carry about 65% of GW’s trade volume and often discount GW products 10–15% below list price — could not match. GW-owned stores are prohibited from discounting below MSRP, so the free mini was their structural answer to the price gap. Hobbyists who made monthly store visits to claim the freebie frequently made additional purchases during the same trip. Until the October replacement is announced, GW’s own stores lose their only format-exclusive competitive advantage over discounting independents.