The last time I played a Warhammer 40k videogame was Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon, so I guess take this as proof of how much the setting appeals to me as a turn-based wargame. I think there is a difference in scale between the two games with the older one being a strategic level game while this one is tactical. But in a videogame the difference doesn’t matter as much as you’re pushing units around a map regardless. Here you’re playing on the side of the Space Wolves chapter of the Space Marines, which in practice means there is a lesser variety of units to play around.

The game comes with two campaigns but there is almost no attempt to tell any kind of story here. I think this is a straight adaptation of scenarios available for the physical wargame so the assumption probably is that if you care enough you can go read up on those. Both campaigns work similarly in that there are generic skirmish missions in between the major story missions. You can often choose which mission to do first but the choice is ultimately meaningless as you’re eventually have to play every mission to finish the campaign. There are no cutscenes and the only thing you get at the end of a campaign is a congratulations, you won message. Whether skirmish or story, the missions all involve taking and holding victory points. Sometimes there is a turn limit but sometimes there isn’t especially in the story missions. Sometimes you’re meant to hold a position against an incoming attack. Sometimes you have to assault the Ork positions. Or else you just fight over contested ground in the middle. You get the picture.

Mechanics-wise, this particular game seems to heavily favor offense. You can hide units behind cover but you can also blow up cover or just walk around it. There is defensive firing in response to enemy movement but each unit only gets to do so once. Meanwhile during your own turn, each unit gets to attack twice. This makes a huge difference. Heavily armored units are of course well protected but only to frontal attacks. Attack them from behind and they die pretty quick too. Even if they don’t die, they take morale damage and demoralized units are useless during their own turn. In practice, this means that any enemy units you can see during your turn you can usually kill or render useless. You have to be clever about it of course and use the appropriate unit against the appropriate enemy but the best defense in this game is not to have any enemy units in visual range when it’s their turn.

As a result of these rules, the best unit bar none is the Land Speeder. Its weapons have decent range and are powerful enough to shred any enemy unit and most importantly its incredible speed and flying ability means it can flank enemies and still be able to retreat to safety. Naturally anything that does area of effect damage like the Whirlwind artillery unit or the missile launcher carrying troopers are good too as they get rid of masses of Ork infantry easily. Conversely hero units in this game seem very weak which feels weird. As they’re a unit of their own with only a single figure they die quickly and most of them excel only in melee combat. I don’t like the special powers they have either as most of the time I prefer to have reliable, steady damage instead.

You can level and upgrade units over the course of a campaign and that does make a huge difference in their effectiveness. (Hint: always choose the offensive upgrades.) Unfortunately you don’t develop much of an attachment to your army as each mission imposes strict constraints on the type and number of units you can bring. Sometimes you can bring a Whirlwind, most of the time you’re not allowed to. In the final mission of the second campaign for example you can’t use Land Speeders at all, probably because that would make that map too easy. Compounded with the lack of story, the missions end up feeling very generic and impersonal. The campaigns are quite long as well so it eventually devolves into a tiresome slog.

There are moments when the game shines to be sure. I’m a big fan of the missions where you have two armies facing off against one another in a more or less traditional battle line. It’s satisfying to make use of the terrain and different unit types to effectively pick off the most dangerous units of the opposing army first. Occasionally there are also maps where obstacles force you to split your army, which makes for an interesting challenge. But too many of the missions are just derivative slogs. Quite a few of the story missions for example force you to slowly comb painstakingly through a map that is absolutely crammed full of enemy unit to hit the victory points one by one. Enemies are hidden behind obstacles or in the corners of the maps so the most effective strategy is to slowly advance your own units one step at a time and destroy obstacles to create clear lines of sight. Those missions have no time limits so this really does seem like what you are meant to do and it takes an interminably long time to play through those.

The graphics of this newer game are appreciably better and it is rather astonishing how close the game lets you zoom in, but on balance I think I actually liked the older game more. I find that this one is too focused on offense and the emphasis on quick movement and flanking doesn’t feel much like Warhammer 40k. The weakness of the hero units doesn’t feel right either. This game does allow you to play with giant robots but the older game had a much larger variety of units to play with and it actually felt like you were building up an army of your own. Combined with the lack of story and the length of the campaigns, it is difficult to work up much enthusiasm for this game. I do see that this game has its share of fans who like the large number of missions it has and its no nonsense all tactics all the time style but it’s not for me.