I was not ready for Total War: Warhammer 40K. Starting at the tutorial, I’m given 35 space marines to fight more than 1000 orcs – odds I would never take in another Total War game. Spoiler: it is one-sided.
With my squads positioned across hillside vantages and behind cover, the orcs charge into a slaughter. Space marines unload bolter fire into their ranks, some throwing frag grenades before drawing chainswords and carving the survivors up in vicious melee combat. The orcs are routed, and when the battle ends in my favor, I’ve only lost three space marines.
This introduction to Total War: Warhammer 40K teaches me a lot – like how its fluid ranged-to-melee battle lines work, the importance of cover, and how its armor system allows a handful of space marines to stand against thirty times their number. Just as importantly, it confirms that no amount of experience in Total War: Warhammer 3 is enough to prepare for developer Creative Assembly’s jump to 40K – which has the makings to be the studio’s most ambitious game ever.
‘Eavy metal
Total War: Warhammer 40K is the freshest Total War game I’ve played since 2016, when Total War: Warhammer first took the series into fantasy territory. At the time, many wondered how its grounded strategic battles would survive contact with dragons and magic. I’ve asked similar questions about 40K – how much change is too much? – and after spending an hour with the game, it’s a relief that it is still unmistakably Total War.
Asymmetricity is the cornerstone of Total War: Warhammer 40K, with each faction designed around unique strengths and weaknesses. Orcs are genuinely overwhelming, designed to whittle down elite forces over the course of several battles. Aeldari should feel like playing with cheats activated, I’m told by one developer. Space Marines, who I play with for several battles today, are few in number and difficult to replace. They rely on their individual unit strength and flexibility, calling down reinforcements and powerful fire support from orbit.
Off-map abilities in Total War: Warhammer 3 are a hammer for every nail – at times so strong they undermine the strategic layer – but they barely even the odds here. In a campaign slice that sees me trying to wrest a relay station away from orcs, I throw everything from bombing runs to orbital laser strikes at them and still lose. That’s because each unit’s firepower is ranked separately against light, medium, and heavy armor. Bolter fire turns lightly-armored orcs to mush (and yes, I’m told by CA that a bolter round will outright pop a regular human unit). But when I don’t react in time to the orcs’ super-heavy units, keeping marines to hold the line when in hindsight I should have pulled them back and left it to my tanks, they’re slaughtered to the last man.
Picking the right tool for the correct job is more important than ever. I worried 40K’s battles would be simpler thanks to the ludicrously powerful weaponry involved, but I actually have to pay closer attention to things like positioning. One-and-done decisions are fewer. While I can coast through most fantasy battles by marching a mealy frontline forwards and letting them work, here I’m punished for not pulling back and using more of the map to avoid being overwhelmed. Not matching fire to appropriately-armored targets is part of the challenge, but so is the asymmetrical layer. I foolishly let a number of space marines stand their ground against a combined mass of orcs, but the latter thrives in massed melee – while my own troops fall one by one.
It’s been a long time since I felt tactically challenged by Total War’s battles, so the change of pace is refreshing. The principles are the same – control the map as best you can and hope the enemy routes before you – but with more nuance between troops (unit loadouts are customizable!) and Creative Assembly leaning into each faction’s unevenness, I get the impression that Total War is breaking new ground without losing itself.
I’ll be sharing more on my hands-on soon, including my campaign experience and a chat with the game’s developers. But if you’ve spent the last year worrying that there can be no Total War amongst the stars, I can put your mind at ease. After thousands of hours sunk into its fantasy predecessor, this already feels like a match made in heaven – for both Total War and 40K.
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