Goliath vs Escher — This Week in Warhammer

Sunday Preview

✦ ✧ ★ ✧ ✦ Down in the underhive, family disputes are settled with chainaxes… Games Workshop  ·  Sunday Preview  ·  August 2026 Goliath vs Escher Showdown Necromunda's two loudest houses hit pre-order with new gangers, champions, Underhive Journals, and very hungry pet crocodiles—plus White Dwarf 528 and new Black Library

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The new Necromunda Skirmish Core Set on our shelf right now — the very Forge Smelters and Blades of the Matriarch this wave builds on. Just one in stock.

The new edition of Necromunda is barely out of the box and the underhive's two most famous rivals are already re-arming. This week's Sunday Preview is a full-on house war: House Goliath gets new gangers, champions, and pet Sumpkrocs, House Escher answers with Matriarchs and Phyrr Cats, and both houses land their own Underhive Journal, reference cards, and themed dice. Beyond the hive walls, White Dwarf 528 stampedes in with the Ogor Mawtribes, and Black Library opens pre-orders on two new novels. Here's the full rundown — and how to be first in line when our pre-orders open.

Subtlety is for other houses. Goliath's vat-grown bruisers solve problems with muscle, and next week they get a lot more of it.

Goliath Forge Smelters Eight new foot soldiers with a range of specialist skills — the rank-and-file backbone for any Goliath gang built on brute force and carefree violence.	Forge Bosses & Sumpkrocs Six champions plus a pair of “tame” Sumpkrocs, ready to chow down on your rivals. The quotation marks around tame are doing heavy lifting.
Underhive Journal: Goliath — The House of Chains A 48-page paperback of variant rules, background lore, and expanded gene-smithing mechanics — the way to get more from your gang.	Goliath Cards & Gang Dice Reference cards keeping Gang Tactics, Territories, and Fighters at hand, plus themed dice: two Injury Dice, three Goliath D6s, one Scatter Dice, and two Firepower Dice.

House Escher gets its time in the sun — or as bright as it gets in the underhive — answering Goliath blow for blow with chem-alchemy, deadly pets, and impeccable style.

Blades of the Matriarch The specialist fighters from the Necromunda Skirmish Core Set, now mustering as their own squad — Escher's answer to the Forge Smelters.	Matriarchs & Phyrr Cats Six Matriarchs and two Phyrr Cats. GW clarifies it's pronounced like “fear” — because they're scary. Goliath brought crocodiles; Escher brought cats. Fair fight.
Underhive Journal: Escher — The House of Blades Rules for Wyld Hunt gangs (big fans of deadly pets) and Chymist Cults, expanded chem-alchemy options, and a wealth of House Escher lore.	Escher Cards & Gang Dice A matching pack of reference cards, plus House Escher dice cast in bright translucent yellow with purple pips — easily the best-dressed dice of the wave.

The Ogor Mawtribes stampede through this issue: a big battle report sees them smashing the Ossiarch Bonereapers to bits (no meat on those enemies — very annoying), while Paint Splatter walks you through painting ogors start to finish. Elsewhere there's a hobby guide to customising majestic Cogforts, lore for Snikrot's infamous Red Skull Kommandos, and rules for the Gorkanaut and Morkanaut in White Dwarf's Titanic Duel minigame. Ogor player? Our Warhammer collection has reinforcements waiting.

Huron Blackheart's schemes collide with the Great Devourer, and a Cadian regiment makes its final push. Browse everything bookish in our Black Library collection.

Blackheart: Claws of the Maelstrom Marc Collins continues Huron Blackheart's dark adventures: baiting the White Scars across the burning Yasan Sector — until the Tyranids pour out of the Cicatrix Maledictum and threaten everything he's built since Badab. A Special Edition with alternate cover, printed page edges, and ribbon marker goes up for pre-order at 3pm BST on Wednesday 10th September, while stocks last.

Voice of Command Richard Swan joins the Astra Militarum: the Cadian 2002nd Mechanised has spent two years grinding Chaos off a shrine world, and the final assault on Saint Stanislava's Adoration might be the last thing Colonel “Venom” Velterson and his men ever do. If, and only if, they can survive.

Our Take

Goliath vs Escher is the oldest rivalry in Necromunda — they were the two gangs in the original 1995 box — and GW leading the new edition's first expansion wave with exactly this matchup is a statement of intent. The mirrored releases make this the easiest “bring a friend” pitch in the store: two players, two houses, one campaign, and the Underhive Journals keep it fresh for months. With rules reveals promised from Warhammer Community all week and a “long-awaited reveal” teased for Monday, this wave is only the beginning.

GW hasn't announced pricing or the exact pre-order date yet — just “next week.” The moment our pre-orders go live, we'll update this post with direct links, and the email list hears first.

✦ ✧ ★ ✧ ✦ Pick a house. Bring a friend. Settle it on the tabletop. Your local Warhammer HQ Shop the new Necromunda edition now—we'll have the Goliath and Escher waves the moment pre-orders open. Shop Necromunda GW Pre-Orders Get pre-order alerts for the Goliath & Escher wave First gang wave of a new edition—list members hear from us the moment ours go live. < >

All product images credit: Games Workshop / Warhammer Community. Necromunda, Warhammer 40,000, and White Dwarf © Games Workshop Limited.