Do you need the mission deck or the Dominatus deck to play 11th edition Warhammer 40,000?
Deck facts checked against Games Workshop articles dated 11 May to 23 July 2026.
Not for Combat Patrol: the app gives each army its mission and scores the game. For full-size games, the mission deck is the printed way to get missions, and the app's War Journal can generate them from your Force Dispositions too. The Dominatus deck is only for running a campaign, and it needs the core rules and the mission deck as well.
What each deck is for
| Deck | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mission deck | 15 mission matchups with deployments and objectives, plus twists and secondary mission cards |
| Dominatus deck | A campaign for two or three alliances over three phases, with Battle Honour, Agenda and Relic cards |
Which one you need
- If you only play Combat Patrol, you need neither deck. Use the app's War Journal.
- For full-size games at home, the mission deck gives you the missions on cards, with twists and secondary mission cards. It also carries rough maps for where to put objective terrain in casual play. The app's War Journal can generate a mission too, so you can get missions either way.
- For events, the Event Companion, which Games Workshop released as a PDF download, gives the rules and terrain layouts for organised play.
- For a campaign with friends, you need Dominatus, plus the core rules and the mission deck.
The Armageddon box (£153.00, sold out at the moment) includes both decks. Its listing names a 2026-27 mission deck and the Dominatus deck. See what else a first game needs.
How a Dominatus campaign runs
- Split into alliances. Players join two or three alliances: Liberators, Oppressors and, optionally, Raiders.
- Roll for a location. Each phase starts with a roll for one of three locations, each with a bonus and war zone rules.
- Play the missions. A standard campaign uses 2,000-point Strike Force armies and mission deck games. You can follow an Agenda card instead of your normal primary mission.
- Collect cards and tally up. The winner of each battle draws a Battle Honour, the loser a Battle Skill, and both give a unit a boost for the rest of the campaign. At the end of a phase the alliance with the most Battle Honour cards takes the location, and the one with the most Agenda Achieved cards earns a Relic.
A typical campaign has two battles in each of the first two phases and one decisive battle in the third. Games Workshop says that fits a two-day weekend or a weekday event, and you track nothing on a sheet or in an app, because it is all in the cards. The Dominatus Narrative Campaign Deck: Armageddon (£17.00, in stock) holds 88 cards and 6 tokens.
Check the edition before you buy
A mission deck carries a season in its name, and the one in Armageddon is the 2026-27 deck. Missions in earlier packs ignored how you built your army, so older decks do not match 11th edition. Our Dominatus listing says 11th Edition in its title. Check the season in the name before you buy any mission deck.
Common questions
Are the mission decks required to play 40k?
Not for Combat Patrol, where the app gives each army a mission and scores the game. For full-size games the mission deck is the printed way to get missions, and the app's War Journal can generate them too. For organised play the Event Companion gives the rules and terrain layouts.
What is the Dominatus deck in Warhammer 40,000?
It is a campaign in a deck of cards. Players form two or three alliances, fight several games across three phases and collect cards that upgrade their armies. It keeps bookkeeping to a minimum and suits a weekend.
How many players does a Dominatus campaign need?
At least two, split into two or three alliances of roughly equal size. You can expand it with more players and more games per phase, or run it again with different armies and alliances.
Does the Armageddon box come with the mission deck and Dominatus deck?
The Armageddon launch box includes a Dominatus deck, and our listing names a 2026-27 mission deck and the Dominatus deck among its contents. Games Workshop said both would also be released separately.
Do I need the core rules book for Dominatus?
You need the core rules and the mission deck to play it, and the Armageddon box gives you both. If you buy Dominatus on its own, you still need both, and the core rules are a free download.
Warhammer Community articles: mission deck, 28 May 2026; Dominatus, 13 May and 5 June 2026; standalone releases, 11 May 2026; Combat Patrol and War Journal, 23 July 2026; the app and War Journal, 17 June 2026; Event Companions, 12 June 2026; free core rules download, 1 June 2026. Armageddon contents and prices: this shop, read live.