From developer Complex Games and publisher Frontier Foundry comes yet another expansion within the overarching Warhammer franchise: Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate — Daemonhunters. The turn-based tactical RPG was announced alongside a teaser trailer, which also reveals that the game is currently targeting a 2022 release window for PC through both Steam and the Epic Games Store. 

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters has a single-player campaign written by author Aaron Dembski-Bowden. The story will set players as humanity's final hope against the forces of Chaos, the Grey Knights. 

It was also revealed by the teaser that fans can expect to see more from Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate — Daemonhunters this August, when a full cinematic trailer is set to launch sometime that month.

This is was the fourth new game in the Warhammer franchise to get some attention at the recent Warhammer Skulls showcase, alongside a new 2D action platformer, a VR title, and a strategy title set to release on PC. It's safe to say the Warhammer franchise is expanding at a rapid pace, and that's not including the recent releases of Necromunda: Hired Gun and Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground. 

We don't know too much else about Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate — Daemonhunters, but stay tuned to GameSkinny for more as we learn it and approach the game's tentative 2022 launch date. 

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall, the VR Warhammer game currently in development at Carbon Studios, has received its first gameplay trailer. Revealed at the recent Warhammer Skulls event, which is where the upcoming 2D Warhammer game was also announced, the gameplay trailer gives Warhammer fans a good look at what they can expect from the game before it arrives later this summer. 

Along with the reveal, Carbon Studios also announced a closed beta that fans can sign up for now if they're keen. Signups for the closed beta are live now until June 10, 2021. Registrants must also be a member of the Carbon Studios' Discord channel to sign up. 

Those who want to take part in the closed beta will need to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before being able to play, according to the closed beta signup channel on Discord. 

This isn't the first footage of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall, but it's the best look at the game to date. 

"We're very excited to show off a small slice of what we've been working on for over a year," said Aleksander Caban, Carbon Studios Co-Founder. "We know you are eager for a first look at gameplay footage from Tempestfall, and we look forward to seeing your reactions."

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall is set to release later this summer for Oculus Quest and Steam VR. 

With the recent release of Necromunda: Hired Gun and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground, as well as a handful of other Warhammer games announced during the recent Warhammer Skulls showcase, the Warhammer franchise is expanding at what seems to be an exponential rate. Now there's a new 2D, shooter platformer on the way in the form of Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef.

Developed by Rogueside, the team behind Guns, Gore & Cannoli, this new Warhammer experience will feature a bevy of new weapons, unique classes, and online and local co-op. 

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef will have players step into the shoes of a savage warrior from the Green Tide, and it's their job to lead an Ork invasion through the city of Luteus Prime and achieve vengeance. 

The Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef trailer really shows off the intense and chaotic combat encounters that players will face, along with the vibrant and detailed world design. This is the first expansion into 2D for the Warhammer franchise, and it will be launching on all platforms, including PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2022.

As of this writing, there's no firm release, nor are there too many concrete details, but stay tuned for more. 

Looking for a new space marine obsession to add to your list of bingable content? An officially licensed Warhammer 40K animated series titled Angels Of Death is now in the works from the same crew that put together the Helsreach fan film.

A new trailer for the show recently premiered at the Las Vegas Open gaming convention and has now hit YouTube -- check it out below!

Although this will be the first licensed TV series in franchise history, Angels Of Death isn't actually the first 40K foray into animated space marines on film, following the Ultramarines movie released back in 2010.

Stay tuned for more info on the release of Angels Of Death -- does the trailer have you stoked to see more?

On the video game front, the Games Workshop license has been as prolific as ever over the past year. Ship to ship combat RTS Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 came out in early 2019 and was followed by action RPG title Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Prophecy.

A new version of Necromunda Underhive Wars is also currently in the works, although it missed a planned 2019 release date.

On the fantasy front, the Warhammer tabletop war game recently saw a universe shakeup as the series rebooted with the Age Of Sigmar line. 

In your role as Magos Dominius Faustinius of the Adeptus Mechanicus, you may find yourself a bit overwhelmed at first by the FTL-meets-XCOM gameplay of Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus.

Luckily, the designers created a game that remains internally consistent enough to play by its own rules, and once you get to grips with what those rules are and learn how to use them to your advantage, what looked at first like a daunting challenge can be a breeze. Follow these quick-start instructions and you'll be an expert in no time.

Step 1: The Player Sets the Difficulty

You'll notice that unlike most games, Mechanicus doesn't bind the player to a difficulty level throughout the game. Difficulty is chosen on the fly by which missions you take, and they're marked as such right on the mission select screen.

The rewards from Easy missions are often very useful in completing the more difficult missions, as well; when you have more troops, more Tech Priests, and more varied firepower, it becomes a lot easier to defeat those harder enemies.

But at the same time, if you're a good enough tactician, you can punch above your weight, and that leads to the second big important tenet of playing Mechanicus effectively.

Step 2: Time Is of the Essence

One of FTL's most commonly known game mechanics is the part where you've always got the Rebel Fleet on your tail, forcing your forward and making it increasingly difficult to hang around one place for too long.

This mechanic is very much alive and well in tomb layouts here in Mechanicus.

Every mission gives you a layout of rooms in a temple, and several paths you can take to the temple's main objective.

In theory, you could visit every room, get all the treasures, and become highly powerful in so doing.

But the more time you waste exploring, the more the little green meter in the upper left hand corner of the screen keeps advancing, and at levels 2 and 4, “more Necrons in battle” serve as your disincentive for tarrying about.

Put simply, if you don't move quickly, the battles will have so many enemies that you'll be overwhelmed.

So what you're going to want to do is plot a course through the temples that either makes the trip in the fewest number of moves or, as a compromise, deviates maybe one room off the ideal path between your starting point and the diamond-shaped objective marker at the end.

There are exceptions to this rule, however; if you're playing a particularly easy level, you can do a lot more exploring because none of those extra enemies are going to pose a real threat. In that case, you can more thoroughly loot.

But try that on Hard and you're toast.

Step 3: Choose Your Upgrades Carefully

Everything in Mechanicus comes with a cost in the form of Cognition Points, basically action points from other tactical strategy games of this type.

As a general rule, the more damage a weapon does, the higher the cost to use it, and there are rarely enough CP to go around in order to allow you to use the heavy artillery on everyone.

This is where you need to pay attention to your upgrades.

As you hover over your Disciplines banner, you'll see the full tech tree laid out for you; you'll want a Lexmechanic to farm CP and a Dominus to deal damage at the bare minimum, and either an Enginseer or a Tech-Auxilium for healing or support fire, respectively.

In fact, a Tech-Auxilium can often be equipped with the most fiendishly overpowered weapons since the ability to manipulate the Cognition Point meter means they'll have a much higher rate of fire and therefore a much higher damage-per-turn rate if you use them correctly.

As a good rule of thumb, have either a powerful melee weapon with a CP cost and a relatively weak energy weapon without one, or the other way around, so no matter where on the map you are, you'll be able to deal damage on any given turn.

Step 4: Don't Neglect Your Armor

Another mechanic lifted right out of FTL's playbook is the relatively low numbers rolled on the attack dice.

This is a game where having 20 HP means you're a tank, and where doing more than 5 points of damage means you've got a very powerful weapon.

With that math in mind, you're going to want to armor up, because armor works as a form of damage threshold (as it's known in Fallout 2 and New Vegas).

Basically, if you have a 3 for energy armor, and you're hit by an energy weapon, three points are subtracted from the damage dealt, and there is no minimum damage modifier; get hit for three points of damage with three points of armor and you take no damage.

This is how heroes survive battles.

Step 5: Never Concentrate Your Forces

In battle, always remember to spread your forces out on the map, because most of the game's stronger enemies come equipped with area-of-effect weapons.

In a perfect world, you are going to want to maneuver in such a way that you're kiting your enemies and forcing them to concentrate, not the other way around.

In addition, weapon trajectories consider whether there's a player in between the shooter and the target, and rather than letting you hit your own guys in the back, the game will simply disallow the shot.

Indeed, if you've got your own guys creating a chokepoint in a narrow passageway, you're going to have a traffic jam on your hands, as units cannot move through other units.

Put simply, a lot of things can happen with a crowd, and none of them are good. Don't pack your allies.

Step 6: Rules Make Tactics

A unit in melee range of an enemy cannot use its ranged weapon, and ranged weapon users have restrictions on their ability to hit enemies at range with friendly units in melee range.

What does this mean in practice?

It means shoot first, axe questions later. As in use ranged attacks before closing in and hitting with melee second.

Similarly on the rules-make-tactics front, the Opportunity Attack system, where one character disengaging from melee range from another character with a melee weapon takes damage on a free melee hit, combines beautifully with the “ranged units can't use ranged weapons from point-blank range” rule.

Basically, closing on melee on a ranged character, even if you don't have the CP to use your weapon right away, means you'll get an Opportunity Attack just because the AI character has to disengage to fire, and sometimes this will tilt the balance and leave it such that your free hit is a killing blow.

Even if you have to use a Cognition Point for a “forced march” move (the orange-outlined range beyond the blue-outlined normal movement range), it's often worth it.

Likewise, don't let melee enemies do this to you. Shoot them before they can close the distance.

A good tactics game applies the same basic ruleset to every unit on the field, and Warhammer 40K, with its tabletop roots, is nothing if not a great tactics game.

Step 7: Canticles Are Playstyle-based

Canticles, or what are basically bonus cards, are earned by doing, and the game makes it very transparent what you need to do in order to earn them.

This is perfect for reinforcing a playstyle. Heck, it's even self-reinforcing insofar as two mutually exclusive ways to earn extra cards are to play a battle without using them at all (which grants increasing amounts of Physical damage) and to use them extensively (which does the same for Energy damage.)

Basically, the strategy with these is to mix, match, experiment, then always use the three specific upgrades that best suit what your team is out to do.

Step 8: Save Scumming Is Rewarded

The tombs and battlefields aren't procedurally generated. While this limits replay value, it also completely removes the issue of failing a mission, trying again, and finding to your dismay that the mission parameters changed so much that the new strategy you wanted to try won't work either.

You get 5 autosaves. You get a manual save. And while playing Iron Man style is noble and a worthy challenge, the blunt fact is that the game's got your back.

This also works for every decision tree in the tombs, where you're given three lore-appropriate choices for a bit of story and flavor text, and the “right” choice isn't immediately apparent.

Nobody's going to ding you for save scumming. It's a single-player game.

Step 9: Don't Be Afraid to Experiment

The devs really, really want you to use and try everything. So within the parameters of the previous 8 steps in this guide, remember you will be generally—not always, but often enough—rewarded for getting strategically creative.

Much like the games this game cribs from, there's no one right way to play it. So try them all; you'll get much more longevity out of the game that way anyway.

Good luck! Check out my review of Mechanicus if you're still on the fence on getting this satisfying strategy entry to the Warhammer 40K game series.

For now Telltale is wading through the third season of The Walking Dead, and we know that next up will be Guardians of the Galaxy and a return to Game of Thrones, but from there absolutely anything could be up for grabs.

What did you think of our picks for the series Telltale should pick up next, and what movie or comic book do you think the developer needs to re-imagine soon?

Hellraiser

Those who only read The Hellbound Heart or just watched the movies might be surprised to know there's several different comic series covering the actions of various Harrowers and the denizens of hell. Some of those were pretty “meh," while others were simply phenomenal.

As the various graphic novel series show, there are many more ways to access or interact with Leviathan's realm than just the toy maker's box, and there's a lot more to this universe than to what went on in the handful of decent movies and horde of godawful direct-to-DVD entries that never should have been filmed.

If Telltale truly wants to dive into a horror story with some gruesome quicktime events, this would be the series to mine for inspiration next.

Black Science

A story that rivals Shutter for its wide-ranging creature options but with a very dark bent, Black Science is essentially a hard R-rated version of that old dimension-hopping TV show Sliders.

With multiple timelines and unlimited possible realities, the choice-and-consequence aspect of a Telltale game could create some really interesting and unique branching stories, allowing the developer to add a layer of complexity previously unseen.

As anyone who has read the comic knows, there's also a strong emphasis on those episode/season ending cliffhangers Telltale just adores.

Warhammer / Warhammer 40,000

Games Workshop just hands this license out to literally anyone -- even development studios with absolutely no previous releases to their name -- so there are a ton of subpar Warhammer games covering every style and genre you can imagine. Why not finally get a new twist that's actually worth playing from Telltale?

The Fantasy Flight tabletop RPG line covered a multitude of scenarios that aren't primarily combat-based, so there's precedent there for an investigative game that would fit the Telltale genre.

There's a huge range of options that would work well, like the player taking on the role of an Inquisitor rooting out corruption, a Rogue Trader doing as he pleases beyond the bounds of the Imperium, a squad of Imperial Guard soldiers stuck behind enemy lines, or even a group of cultists working to bring down the Emperor's minions from within.

Borgia / The Borgias

Several different shows throughout the years have covered this infamous family, most recently with both a European version and a separate U.S. rendition from Showtime just a few years back.

Political intrigue within the Catholic church between these dueling aristocratic families, punctuated by occasional moments of violence when people decide to stop plotting and act more directly, is absolutely perfect for Telltale's style and is already mirrored in Game Of Thrones. 

While perhaps constrained a bit by the history aspect, there's still plenty of wiggle room here for players to choose differently than their historical counterparts did.

Star Wars

Seeing as how Telltale already did Batman and is slated to cover Guardians Of The Galaxy later this year (and now that Star Wars mania is at an all-time high with the release of Rogue One and the impending Episode VII) this combination seems like an obvious choice.

With Telltale backing perhaps could see the story from the tragically canceled Star Wars 1313, or maybe even a return to the KOTOR storyline. Of course, they could also go with totally different characters and location than with existing movies and animated shows, allowing us to see a different side of the galaxy far, far away.

Either way, I'd love to get a notification in the corner of my screen that a Hutt will remember what I just said and then worry about the implications of my choice for the rest of the episode.

Shutter

If you loved the juxtaposition of classic children fairy tale characters doing very adult things in Wolf Among Us, then Shutter from Image Comics is absolutely for you! Amazingly, there's an even stronger and more shocking mashup here with an anything-goes cartoon style.

From a platypus who will beat you down if you a screw up an assassination job to a salamander going on a killing spree after getting served divorce papers, this is a truly wild world that rivals the insanity of Borderlands and could be just as much fun if done over by Telltale Games.

True Detective

A tale of amazing highs and truly abysmal lows, True Detective was a double whammy that came out of nowhere, showing us that Matthew McConaughey could act and had been hiding it for years, and shocking the world with the revelation that this was actually a mythos story about the King In Yellow and not a cop drama (as it was pretending to be).

Did you know Telltale released both Law and Order and CSI games before hitting the public gaming consciousness with Walking Dead? With a strong precedent on investigative based games featuring police officer leads, it's an obvious fit for this series to get the Telltale makeover with a proper second season.

What's that you say? You think there was already a second season of True Detective? No, I'm sorry, you are mistaken, there wasn't anything of the sort, and it certainly didn't feature Vince Vaughn uttering jaw-droppingly bad dialog such as "It's like blue balls... for your heart." That was all just a bad dream my friends.

Telltale picking up the series could be a shot at redemption for both this developer's aging engine in need of a massive overhaul, and HBO's stunning ball drop with the follow-up to television's best debut season ever.

Since the show was named after an anthology comic series, there's no reason it couldn't cover totally new mythos or weird fiction territory, but there's plenty of story left to mine from the first season as well. From that silent cop in the dress blues who was clearly part of the cult to the schism between the backwoods practitioners and the high class cultists like Reverend Tuttle, there's a ton of material for players to explore in a Telltale version of the story.

Stranger Things

It seemed everybody just knew from the first trailer that we were in for something special with Stranger Things, which landed on a perfect blend of Stephen King and classic '80s Spielberg adventure.

While many are elated, personally I was disappointed at the announcement that season two would continue with the same characters, as this is a show that really should have been an anthology. The story of Eleven and the Upside Down was already told and it had a satisfying, conclusive ending. It remains to be seen how it will all play out, but I'm of the opinion that artificially extending it will only reduce the quality.

That's where Telltale could step in -- covering minor characters from the show and seeing what they were doing during the major events, bridging the gap between seasons one and two with the main characters, or even spinning off to an entirely new story with a similar tone.

Recently another Gameskinny writer mentioned how Telltale Games should dive into the classic Johnny The Homicidal Maniac comic, which got me thinking of what I'd like to see from the developer's ever-growing catalog. 

It's no secret that I've been very critical in the past of Telltale's lack of meaningful choices in their entirely choice-based games, and I also wasn't a fan of the ending of the first season of Game Of Thrones.

That being said, I'm still a sucker for all things Telltale, and would desperately love to see the company return to the glory days of Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead.

More than many other developers, Telltale has managed to nab some very big name IPs across film, television, other video games, and of course comics / graphic novels. These are the eight series -- including the Netflix smash hit Stranger Things -- we'd love to see Telltale tackle next.

There are tons of amazing foam cosplays out there that there, and I couldn't possibly cover them all. Hopefully, I gave you an idea of the amazing creations foam can make. Now it's your turn; head down to the comments link some of your favorite foam insulation cosplays!

Aeron's Sword

Creator:  Ameno Kitarou
Game: Pandora's Tower

While there has been tons of details throughout these featured pieces, Aeron's Sword from Pandora's Tower takes the cake....or rather the foam. The first time I saw this sword, I honestly thought it was carved from wood -- but it's all foam. The detail work on the handle alone is amazing. 

Diablo The Prime Evil

Creator:  Sayakat Cosplay
Game: Diablo

I have never seen a Diablo cosplay so good! True, it isn't as finally polished, smooth and regal looking as some of the other foam creations that have been featured thus far but it's Diablo; The Prime Evil isn't supposed to be pretty. I just can't believe that this is the result of insulation foam. Hats off to Sayakat Cosplay!

Fem Shep

Creator: Jacky Cosplay & Props
Game: Mass Effect

Mass Effect cosplays are always cool, but did you ever think a spot-on recreation of one of the suits could be made from foam?  Just like Kagato Cosplay, Jacky Cosplay & Props had a helping hand from one of Punished Props' kits. And I have to say...if I ever had the time to cosplay, I definitely would want to try it out myself. 

Reaper

Creator: Kagato Cosplay
Game: Overwatch

Remember how I mentioned how much I love Punished Props? Well, he offers a kit to cosplayers to create their own foam cosplays -- and this Overwatch Reaper by Kagato Cosplay is a result of that. I love that the same tools can create a wildly different creation. 

Imperial Fists Terminator Captain

Creator: Roses and Boltshells
Game: Warhammer 40k

If you know anything about Warhammer 40K, then you know that cosplaying anything from this game is a challenge. Well, Roses and Boltshells were clearly up to the challenge. And if we were to rate them, they'd pass with flying colors. If you didn't think you could walk around in a fully operational suit made from foam, this proves that idea wrong. 

Kindred's Bow

Creator: Samui Cosplay
Game:  League of Legends

Most foam weapons that have been created have that natural worn, super detailed, and rugged look but, Samui Cosplay proves that you can create some gorgeous foam pieces without all the bells and whistles. Check out her life size replica of Kindred's Bow. Isn't it beautiful?

Draugrs

Creator: Punished Props
Game: Skyrim

Punished Props has to be one of my favorite cosplay creators -- and with amazing foam creations such as the Draughers from Skyrim, you can't help but to see why. Who would have ever thought that foam could be this detailed? To be honest, the first time I saw it I almost didn't think it was real. 

Garuda

Creator: Egg Sisters Cosplay
Game: Final Fantasy XIV

Garuda is getting a lot of love this post, but this time around we focus on her costume -- which is completely unbelievable. Egg Sisters Cosplay absolutely nailed this look, and the fact that they managed to make such a detailed piece with foam is a true testament to their cosplay skills.  Check out that headpiece! 

 Druids Tier 8 Pauldron 

Creator: Kamui Cosplay
Game: World of Warcraft

If you follow cosplayers closely, perhaps you have heard of Kamui Cosplay. If you haven't, you should check her out. She makes some phenomenal cosplays, and a great deal of them involve insulation foam -- such as her awesome pauldron for her Druid Tier 8 cosplay. The colors definitely scream World of Warcraft.

Garuda's Spine

Creator: Volpin Props
Game: Final Fantasy XIV

You would never guess in a million years that Garuda's Spine could be made from foam, but Volpin Props proved that anything is possible. The smooth surfacing and details are so impeccable that it looks like it comes straight out of the game! I also appreciate the super clean and shiny paint job.

Without a doubt, cosplay is an any-means-necessary type of craft. It's an art form that pushes the cosplayer to experiment with nontraditional methods to create nontraditional and even never-before-seen looks. From armor to weapons and even boots, there are just some things that can't be found in stores, which then leads to a lot of imagination.

Such imagination might lead to a $5 can of foam insulation being picked up from your local hardware store. As crazy as it might sound, insulation isn't just for your windows. It's now for that much needed Buster Sword or Imperial Armor to complete your cosplay look. 

Insane. Ingenious. Inventive. Whatever you want to call it, you better believe it makes this list of unbelievable foam cosplays.

There are a number of Warhammer 40k games to be found on the Steam marketplace, and for good reason. The games are fun, the universe in which the games take place is interesting, and it allows you to play as one of the ultimate badasses -- the mighty Space Marine of the Imperium of Man.

Now Straylight Entertainment is teaming up with publisher Slitherine Ltd. to add to the franchise with the latest installment of endless warfare in the 4th millennia with their title Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach. Here’s what we know from their press release on their Steam page.

Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach is a 3D turn-based strategy game like you’ve never seen before: fast, immediate, deep, impressive to look at and incredibly fun! Lead the Space Wolves in their struggle against the Orks through two uncompromising and long story-driven campaigns: Stormclaw and Hour of the Wolf.

Command several dozen different authentically crated units and heroes, each with unique and extremely detailed 3D models that bring the world of Warhammer 40,000 to life. The gameplay is rich and varied: spend your points, make your list, choose your deployment, and fight!

Units at your disposal have different abilities, strengths and weaknesses, can level up and are carried over between scenarios. Choose among many different types of weapons, watch your flanks and make wise use of the terrain: any tactical choice will be vital.

Sanctus Reach is scheduled for release sometime this November. It boasts two story-driven campaigns (Stormclaw & Hour of the Wolf), a skirmish mode, a map generator -- and if that wasn’t enough for you, it will also have multiplayer content. For me, this all translates to hours of my life that I’m going to spend leading the Space Wolves chapter to victory against the foul Ork menace and generally crushing my roommate in the online game modes. Until then, here is a sneak peek at what we can expect in a few short months.

Jay Wilson, director of Diablo III, reveals he is leaving the video game industry through a tweet.

After 10 years with Blizzard Entertainment, Wilson decided to leave the video game industry and head back to his true passion, writing. Wilson served as director of Diablo III for seven years with some memorable controversial comments.

“I’m leaving to pursue my original passion, writing. It’s what I was doing when I fell into this job, and I’ve always wanted to return to it.”

An example came from his Facebook comment about Diablo’s designer, David Brevik’s, in which he called him a loser. Wilson later apologized for this comment and stated that he should better communicate what’s going on with Diablo.

Wilson later left the project in 2013 with a post on Battle.net that stated,

“I feel I have made many mistakes in managing that relationship, but my intent was always to provide a great gaming experience, and be as open and receptive as possible while still sticking true to the vision the Diablo team has for the game.”

Wilson also worked on Warcraft expansion Warlords of Draenor. He’s been in the gaming industry since 1999. Relic Entertainment is where he spent some time working on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes.

I also want to mention two other WH40K games before closing. Total War: Warhammer launched in May 2016, but, sadly, I have not yet played it. Everything I’ve seen and heard about it has me thinking it will definitely make this list. Same goes for Dawn of War III, whenever the powers that be decide it’s ready for release. I anticipate I'll be spending many hours in each of these games.

So if you’re looking to get into the best Warhammer 40,000 video games available, take my list of suggestions here and play them all. And tell us which WH40K video games are your favorites in the comments section below!

Warhammer 40,000: Regicide (2015)

Regicide is my final pick for this list. If you love WH40K, and you also love chess, then this game is your bag. For me, it takes me back to the 80s when I spent countless hours sneak-playing Archon: The Light and the Dark on school computers. Except these chess matches take place in the grimdark of WH40K, which means some exceptionally brutal combat.

Regicide is of course available on Steam.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution

Retribution (Relic Entertainment / THQ) is the last DoWII expansion, and is also another standalone expansion, playable all on its own. You’ll choose which faction to play at the start, and you’ll have to play each faction through to completion in order to experience all the different endings. Retribution has new units and new upgrades to old units, and the Last Stand mode gets upgrades, as well.

Retribution is available on Steam. 

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Rising (2010)

Chaos Rising (Relic Entertainment / THQ), the first DoWII expansion, continues the intricate storyline from that game and takes it to a deeper and darker level. As expected, CR adds new units and upgrades to each faction. The big addition here is called the Corruption System, which tracks how close your forces are to giving in to Chaos depending on the choices you make in certain in game events. Your choices also lead to you having one of the multiple endings play out at end game. Really, you’ll want to play through again and again to see all the endings.

Chaos Rising is available on Steam.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (2009)

Just less than a year after the release of Soulstorm, Relic Entertainment and THQ released Dawn of War II. DoWII kept its RTS and RPG roots, but also drastically changed the gameplay to a much more strategic direction, influenced by hardcore wargames such as Company of Heroes. Base building was done away with, the AI and physics engine improved, and Skirmish and Last Stand modes added. As far as story goes, the arc through DoWII and its expansions is my favorite -- not to take anything away from the previous story arcs.

Dawn of War II is available on Steam.   

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm (2008)

Iron Lore Entertainment (Titan Quest) took on the development of the third Dawn of War expansion, Soulstorm, published by THQ. Soulstorm also doesn’t require the base Dawn of War in order to play it. Soulstorm’s gameplay is the same non-linear style as Dark Crusade, and involves an interstellar conflict over the sudden appearance of a Warp Storm. This expansion adds two new armies (Sisters of Battle, Dark Eldar), and adds new flying units to each faction.

Soulstorm is available on Steam. 

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade (2006)

The second Dawn of War expansion, Dark Crusade (Relic Entertainment / THQ) is unique in that it is playable as a standalone game, and not dependent on having Dawn of War to play. DC bumps up the playable factions to seven, and breaks away from the previous standard campaign paths to opt for a non-linear single-player campaign. Similar to Sid Meier’s Civilization series, you’ll pick which faction you want to play at the start of the game, then set about building up your forces while methodically destroying the others in classic RTS fashion.

Dark Crusade is available on Steam. 

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Winter Assault (2005)

Winter Assault is the first expansion for Dawn of War, and is also from the Relic Entertainment / THQ team. Winter Assault will have you take charge of the same factions as in DoW in two single-player campaigns to discover the location of an Imperial Titan, a colossal ancient war machine capable of dealing massive damage. It’s also notable for having a few different game endings available, each depending on your path through the single-player missions.

Winter Assault is available on Steam.  

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (2004)

Dawn of War was developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ, and was the first huge WH40K hit video game, spawning three also very successful expansions. DoW plays out in real-time strategy mode, and instead of controlling one Marine at a time, you’ll move whole squads as one unit. You’ll control a company of Blood Ravens Space Marines in the short 11-mission single-player campaign, but get to expand into playing as Chaos Marines, Orks, and Eldar factions in multiplayer.

The Dawn of War GOTY edition is available on Steam. 

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate (1998)

Developed by Random Games and published by the magnificent Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI), Chaos Gate is a turn-based strategy RPG that looks and plays similar to XCOM. As Captain Kruger, you’ll lead Ultramarine Tactical, Assault, Devastator, and Terminator squads against the Chaos forces lead by Lord Zymran as you both search for the Concordat Chaosium.

Chaos Gate is available at GOG.com for Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8).

The Warhammer 40,000 space fantasy setting, launched way back in 1987, has been and continues to be a favorite amongst gamers. WH40K was created by Rick Priestley and produced by Games Workshop as a companion piece to the classic Warhammer Fantasy Battles tabletop wargame. Since then, its dystopian universe has been adapted into various entertainment genres, including books, a movie, a collectible card game, and video games.

Fans of WH40K video games have long enjoyed the dismal perpetual war environment that began with 1992’s Space Crusade. That’s a fact not lost on Games Workshop. They have plans for about a dozen more WH40K-based video games in the foreseeable future, not including the recently released Total War: Warhammer.

But before we drift any deeper into the grim darkness of the Warhammer universe, let’s take a Devilfish transport for a look at my recommendations of the best WH40K video games so far. The games here are listed in order of release, not ranked in any preferred order. These are the games I think you absolutely should play for the immersive WH40K video game experience.

Dark Elves incidentally destroyed their own homeland

In the early days of Warhammer Fantasy, Malekith, the King of the Dark Elves, ordered his sorcerers to undo the Vortex of Ulthuan – a passage between their world and the malevolent forces of Chaos. As a result, the powerful magic completely destroyed the basis of the entire Ulthuan – the homeland of elves.

The cataclysm that shattered the land of elves and killed thousands of its representatives later became known as “The Sundering.” Eventually the magicians managed to keep afloat several fortresses, which are now known as "Black Arks" floating in the dark seas of Naggaroth – the new home of the Dark Elves.

Now, with all the necessary knowledge of the Warhammer lore, you can play the first game of the planned Total War: Warhammer trilogy released on May 24, 2016.

Which other great facts from the Warhammer universe you know about? Let us know in the comments section! 

Vampires can wage battles during the daytime

Vampires in Warhammer are generally considered a weaker race than Dwarfs or Orks. They are vulnerable to all sorts of things, especially daylight. Some of the higher Vampire Counts are, of course, strong and can survive anything, although will lose a massive amount of their powers.

However, despite all these shortcomings, Vampires have a way out and can fight and win during daytime, as well. So, how do they do it?

The higher Vampires can cast dark clouds in the sky as thick as the night itself, and this allows their armies to use their full potential at any time of the day without being exposed to the odious sunlight.

Waaagh! never changes

The principle of “Waaagh!” is heavily used by the Greenskins in both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K universes. 

In Warhammer Fantasy, this guttural cry prompts all the Orks and Goblins to unite for one sole purpose -- to battle against a common foe. However, even if there is no enemy to fight, the Greenskins gladly wield wars against each other.

In Warhammer 40K, “Waaagh!” carries an even bigger meaning – this is how Orks call their entire military campaigns, which are regularly held to satisfy an infinite hunger of the Greenskins for violence and destruction.

"Waagh!" is just like "war," and it never changes.

Dwarfs are strongly influenced by Viking culture

Besides a strong visual resemblance of long beards, horned helmets and characteristic armor sets, Dwarfs in Warhammer Fantasy have lots of other, much smaller details that are strongly influenced by the culture of Vikings. 

For example, Dwarfs in Warhammer Fantasy never use last names, only the first ones and the names of their fathers, if they need to distinguish one representative of the race from another. Nordic warriors had the same custom and never used last names.

Also, Dwarfs are known to be extremely violent to other races and can cause a battle even for the smallest reasons. Due to their constant need to fight and use their huge pool of weapons and armor, Dwarfs are considered one of the most dangerous tribes in the Warhammer universe -- just like Vikings were throughout their historical existence.

Warp is not the same as Warpstone

Warp and Warpstone play huge roles in both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K universes. However, these two notions are vastly different, although they do share the same origin, which is the Realm of Chaos.

In Warhammer 40K, Warp is a dimension of magic energy that allows spaceships to activate their engines and travel to distant areas of the universe. This area of space is inhabited by Dark Gods and their demonic servants, which also serves as the origin of all life in the universe.

On the other hand, in Warhammer Fantasy, Warpstones, although considered to be the solidification of the energy of Chaos, are used for completely different purposes and have nothing to do with space travel. These precious crystals are used to create weapons and give them special attributes.

Sigmar Heldenhammer is Conan the Barbarian

It is no surprise that Warhammer Fantasy is based on the real history of humanity and the combination of several other fictional universes. If you are more or less familiar with the chronicles of Warhammer Fantasy, then you will notice how much they resemble certain elements from other well-known stories.

One such similarity can traced down in the Sigmar Heldenhammer's lore, the god-emperor of mankind, the son of Bjorn Unberogen, the chief of the Unberogen tribe -- who was born on the battlefield, and whose mother died right after she gave birth to him. In exactly the same way Conan the Barbarian, another famous fictional character, was born in Cimmeria during the battle of barbarians.

The similarity of these two characters is striking and probably not incidental at all.

Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K once shared the same world

In the early stages of development, these two worlds shared the same history and setting. Warhammer 40K was simply the futuristic version, a continuation of the Warhammer Fantasy’s saga. Only years later did Games Workshop decide to separate the two universes, which is why today most fans consider them to be completely different.

For example, it is considered that the Warhammer 40K universe began on Terra – a planet just like our Earth, but the world of Warhammer Fantasy was something else. Now, early scripts cite that it was actually the same world, which was later terraformed by the beings known as the Old Ones.

So, this explains why both of these universes share so much in common, but at the same time have traditions of their own.

Warhammer is definitely one of the most detailed and well thought out fictional universes out there. Every branch of both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K has been scrupulously planned out by a whole army of the industry's finest writers and designers.

Many of you may not be aware of some of the facts that play a huge role in the life of Warhammer universe due to the overwhelming amount of materials. For this reason, we present you with some of the biggest and most surprising facts from the world of Warhammer that every fan should know about.

1. Pandora

Game: Devil May Cry 4
Type: Devil Arm

Pandora is not your common weapon – it’s a living weapon, a manifestation of a Demon’s soul. It can transform into seven deadly forms:

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1. Epidemic – a basic rocket launcher that shoots with high-powered projectiles.
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2. Hatred – a more powerful version of Epidemic.
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3. Revenge – an even more powerful version of Hatred, which is a particle cannon with an almost infinite range.
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4. Jealousy – a Gatling gun with a super high fire rate.
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5. Argument – a helicopter-like vehicle that can be used for air transportation that also has 14 rocket launchers attached to it.
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6. Grief – a huge and deadly boomerang with sharpened blades.
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7. Omen – a weapon that blinds all enemies within its range of effect using a massive flash of light.
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You can obtain Pandora’s box after defeating Dagon in Mission 15 - Fortuna Castle.

Which of these ten firearms  do you like the best? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

2. Redeemer

Game: Unreal Tournament series
Type: Thermonuclear Warhead Launcher

Redeemer is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon in the whole Unreal Tournament series of games. This is not your typical rocket launcher but a fully controllable missile launcher. This means that you can manually guide the flight path of the warhead and strike it at an exact spot of your choice.

Even if you can’t see your target, you can launch the missile and travel around in order to find the best hitting area. Also, you should not worry if you don’t happen to strike at the precise location since the blast wave will destroy everything within its radius.

The only drawback of Redeemer is that you can’t see your character while in missile flight mode, which obviously makes you vulnerable to sneaky enemy attacks.

3. BFG 9000

Game: DOOM series
Type: Plasma Cannon

BFG 9000, also known as Big Friggin’ Gun, makes a return in the upcoming DOOM 4 game and will continue to shoot its highly powerful green balls of energy at all sorts of demons.

The energy particles that comprise the BFG’s projectiles are the so-called smart particles. This means that they guide themselves onto the enemies within the range of the projectile’s activity, leaving no enemy untouched.

According to the official history of the DOOM universe, BFG 9000 is the most powerful weapon ever created by humans. Well, this indeed makes it a fun toy to play with.

4. M42 Fat Man

Game: Fallout series
Type: Tactical Nuclear Catapult Weapon

Portable mini-nukes have always been the favorites of many shooter fans. Fat Man from the Fallout series is probably the most beloved and well-known handheld nuclear weapon. It doesn’t have any fancy features, such as homing missiles, but it does the job and it does it well by simply launching a nuke at an area of your choice.

Fat Man was called after the atomic bomb that was dropped over Nagasaki, Japan during the World War 2, so in order to avoid controversy, the famous gaming weapon had to be renamed in the Japanese version of Fallout into Nuka Launcher.

5. M-920 Cain

Game: Mass Effect series
Type: Heavy Weapon

Cain, also known as Nuke Launcher, is the best weapon in Mass Effect series of games for quick and effective aerial purges. It can also be used to insta-kill massive bosses. When it shoots and hits the target, the explosion creates a miniature nuclear explosion followed by a familiar mushroom cloud.

This portable nuclear device is very slow and requires a 100% charge before it can spew its massive charge of energy, so you must take into account the behavior of the enemies or the bosses before activating this amazingly overpowered weapon. The statistics show that Cain can be used once every mission, which is not much, but if used correctly, it can help you finish the game very quickly.

6. Meltagun

Game: Warhammer 40K series
Type: Fusion Gun

Have you ever seen a version of an energy/beam weapon that melts enemy tanks? Here’s Meltagun from the Warhammer 40K series of games that can melt anything that stands in its way. Every space marine knows that Meltagun, also called the Cooker or Melter, is the strongest handheld weapon you can obtain in the game.

The hissing sound that Meltagun emits when it shoots its high-energy beam is produced due to the boiling of the water molecules in the air. If you direct the beam at any NPC, it will simply vaporize the poor guy into the smallest particles. More than that, this fusion weapon can melt Adamantium – the strongest metal in the entire universe, so beware Wolverine!

7. Bozar

Game: Fallout series
Type: Light Machinegun

The strangest thing about Bozar is that by looks it is a typical sniper rifle, but in reality it is a light-weight machine gun with a sniper scope attached to it. The fans of Fallout call Bozar “the ultimate refinement of the sniper's art,” which is absolutely correct.

Imagine a machine gun with a super-high fire rate and the precision of a sniper rifle – there is probably no deadlier firearm in any other game. It easily pierces right through the hardest of the armors and just as quickly deals with heavy vehicles damaging their inner parts.

8. GK8 Gauss Rifle

Game: Crysis 3
Type: Long-ranged Weapon

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"The much beloved Gauss rifle in its second generation form with more power and less recoil, improved in all the ways that matter. This electro-magnetic rifle will provide Snipers with the sheer power needed to get the job done."

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What makes the Gauss weapon so powerful in Crysis 3 is the remarkable speed of the bullets made from the alloy of tungsten carbide and depleted uranium. The speed of these bullets equals Mach 8, which means that they are hypersonic or eight times faster than the speed of sound.

Besides the groundbreaking bullet speed, GK8 is equipped with a whole array of auxiliary navigational attachments, such as sniper scope, reflex sight, laser pointer and flashlight. All this makes Gauss rifle in Crysis 3 not just fast, but also super precise and super deadly.

9. M134 Minigun

Game: Grand Theft Auto series
Type: Heavy Weapon

Minigun is a staple weapon in the GTA series of games. If you want to have fun in GTA, all you have to do is find a high spot, enter a cheat command for infinite ammo and shoot at everything that comes in your sight. Then, it doesn’t matter if it’s a helicopter or an NPC – everything gets smashed to pieces.

M134 changed its size and ammunition capacity several times throughout the existence of the GTA series, but in the latest installment it also increased its shooting speed to 3000 rounds per minute, which made it even deadlier and more overpowered than ever before.

10. AWP (Arctic Warfare Police)

Game: Counter-Strike series
Type: Sniper Rifle

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“High risk and high reward, the infamous AWP is recognizable by its signature report and one-shot, one-kill policy.”

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AWP, also known as Magnum Sniper Rifle, is the deadliest weapon in the Counter-Strike series of games. It can instantly kill an opponent with one mere bolt-shot aimed at almost any part of the body. It’s a heavy weapon, and players who decide to go with it loose speed, but that doesn’t prevent it from being one of the most popular firearms in the game.

AWP is so overpowered that it completely ignores any type of armor that your enemy might be wearing and pierces right through it. Of course, you can’t fire that well without setting up a shot using the optics, but if you have just a little bit of time – the reward will be huge.

First-person shooter developers approach the design of firearms in their games differently – some want them to be as realistic as possible, such as Rainbow Six: Siege, or on the contrary, make them ridiculously overpowered, such as DOOM or Unreal Tournament.

This top 10 list will provide you with a selection of the most overpowered firearms in video games that would never exist in the real world (yet). Some of these weapons are so unbelievably strong that they require just one precise shot in order to finish any of the big bosses.

There are many other ones, of course, that didn’t make the list, so give it a go and share in the comments section the weapons you think deserve to be in this top.

There are only a few days left until the SEGA strategy bundle sale ends its offer for some great games at quite a bargain. If you're not familiar with the Humble Bundle sales, they offer a set tier of games for a variety of prices, and with the purchase of each tier you also gain access to the previous one. This in turn means you can buy a stack of 12 games for as low as $12 total. You also get to send a portion of your spending to a charity of your choosing, making it a worthwhile experience all around.

 The SEGA bundle, which ends on April 5th, includes well known-games such as Company of Heroes, Total War: Attila and Warhammer 40k. For a full dropdown of the sale, check out the screenshot below.

The top two games on offer, Total War: Attila and Company of Heroes 2: Master Collection, normally go for around $40 and $30 respectively, making this a pretty big steal overall! So whether you're itching for some WWII style RTS action, or have been waiting for the newest Total War game to go on sale, this is your chance for a great bargain.

To check out the bundle, go to the SEGA strategy bundle page here.

We all do it from time to time. You paint a model badly or glue a part in the wrong place or just buy  a used model that you want to repaint to fit your scheme. Experienced painters know you should go to the bare metal or plastic and start over for the best results. I will take you through three of the best methods I know of stripping paint on your used or badly painted models. Each has pros and cons. All of them are effective.

Brake Fluid

Brake fluid is corrosive and incredibly effective at breaking apart the paint and the glue on a model. You simply need to place a model in a cup with the brake fluid and let it sit overnight. The paint separates from the model rather quickly. Any joints with glue will break up with a little more time in the fluid. You can dip the model once to remove the paint and then a second time to break up the glue. When cleaning off the paint, you will want to use an old toothbrush and toothpicks for getting the paint out of the crevices. If you run the model under water, the paint and glue will start to dry back up almost instantly, making it difficult to remove. You may have to wash your model with water and dip it back into the fluid multiple times to clean it entirely.

Brake fluid is a toxic substance and should NOT be disposed of down a drain. Fortunately,  the brake fluid strength isn't diminished significantly while using it to clean off paint. You can use the same fluid for multiple models easily.

Pros

• Incredibly effective at breaking down paint AND glue.
• Highly reusable for multiple models.

 Cons

• Disposal is limited. Auto shops can tell you the best ways to dispose of brake fluid.
• It will take 12 hours or so before the fluid completely dries from the model.

Acetone

Acetone is stored in several ways. It is found in large tins in some automotive supplies or in several varied containers as nail polish remover. The nail polish remover comes in multiple containers that can be chosen based on your needs.

Acetone is probably the strongest substance among these three. You will need to ventilate the area as you should not inhale the acetone fumes. Acetone is better for spot cleaning models because it evaporates quickly. You can trap acetone into a cup with your model, but it will still dry up quickly. You will need to make sure that acetone does not destroy the cup. A hard plastic cup or metal container is the only way you should hold acetone. It will eat thin plastics and paper or styrofoam cups. It breaks down glue and makes it a gel-like substance for  a short time. If you can't remove the part quickly, the glue will dry back into place.

If you find the right container for acetone, you can store a model inside and keep it sealed. Since the container is designed to hold acetone, it should slow down any evaporation issues you might have.

Pros

• The best substance on this list for removal.
• Almost no down time before being able to prime thanks to quick evaporation.
• Requires less time before paint and glue are removable than the other two substances here.

Cons

• Requires ventilation.
• Evaporates quickly when not in a completely sealed container.
• It dries quickly along with any glue it has weakened. It's paramount to move a model from acetone to cleaning as fast as possible.

Concentrated Cleaner

Cleaners such as Purple Power or Simple Green fall into this category. The key here is to not dilute the cleaner, at all. The concentration is where the strength is. Pour some into your cup and drop the model in. In only a few hours, you should have the paint ready to wash off. If you don't leave the model in the cleaner for an excessive amount of time, it won't affect the glue on your model.

If you are putting a model in that has some bare metal, that metal will likely stain and look dirty. It is nearly impossible to remove the stain, but it will not have any adverse effects on your primer or paints.

Pros

• It only requires a few hours to break down paints.
• Perfect for cleaning paint without breaking down the glue holding it together.
• No need for excessive ventilation or specific disposal.

Cons

• Stains the bare pewter if left in direct contact for too long.
• Isn't good at breaking down glue in a short amount of time.

Additional thoughts

All three of these substances should be kept away from children and animals. If anyone of them is ingested, a hospital visit will likely be necessary. You should wash your hands after use with any of these. There are plenty more options to choose from, but these are tried and true for my models. There are few, if any, options on game store shelves for removing paint from models and they are usually over-priced. These options are cheaper and more effective.

Hopefully this will help you clean up those old armies you've been wanting to repaint!

The 7th edition of Warhammer 40k drops on May 24th, and the wargaming community has been a-tizzy with all the tidbits that have been leaked.  There is a new psychic phase (much like Warhammer Fantasy's magic phase), a new Daemonology power, and a bunch of other adjustments.

But the best part?  They've released a new ally matrix!  It looks like this:

I'm thrilled by the new update (if not the new price tag) - it streamlines the alliance process and makes things so much easier.

All Imperium, All The Time

First of all, individual armies under the Imperium no longer have their own entries on the chart.  This one change makes a world of difference!

It reduces the giant grid from 6th edition to a much more manageable 9x9, makes the chart easier to read, and gives enough space on the page to include the army names next to each icon - instead of putting them in a key at the bottom - so that the chart can be scanned by newer players without overwhelming them.

You also don't have to sort through a series of  different Imperial-related icons to figure out if Necrons/Tau are allying with Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Grey Knights or Space Wolves as Allies of Convenience - it's all the same.  Speaking of which...

Imperial Racism Returns

The Imperium returns to its roots and genuinely hates most of the Xenos again.  They are Allies of Convenience with the Eldar and Desperate Allies with Dark Eldar and Tau, but the vast majority are only allies 'Come The Apocalypse'.

While Come The Apocalypse is now actually a playable alliance, it comes with some hefty penalties that help maintain a bit of balance.

Allying With Yourself

You can now have an allied contingent with your own army, which means Battleforged armies have a bit more flexibility without branching out of their own codex.  Players can potentially have three HQs (or more, depending on which codex they're playing) without breaking the Force Organization chart and going into Unbound army territory.

Fewer Xenos Shenanigans

And finally, we have fewer issues of alien-on-alien action causing issues on the competitive scene.  This BoLS article explains why the Tau + Eldar combination was so powerful in 6th edition better than I ever could, but here is the basic gist:

• They are both new codices, which tend to be a bit stronger than previous editions;
• They were Battle Brothers in 6th, which let their abilities work very well with each other;
• Their abilities naturally complemented one another, stacking buffs for huge bonuses.

Since it was discovered, the Tau + Eldar combo (known to some as the Taudar threat) has been a huge source of contention/complaints from the 40k community.

Now that the two armies are Allies of Convenience instead of Battle Brothers, it should make things a little more balanced on that front and reduce the amount of craziness that comes from the pairing.

Two of the recent releases in the Warhammer 40k Space Marine line-up, the Centurion Assault Squad and Centurion Devastaror Squad, are both forces to be reckoned with. These literal walking tanks wear an armored exo-suit over their existing Power Armor suit. Outfitted with heavy weaponry, Centurion Squads can rip the toughest foes to shreds.

Hand picked from the best of the Devastator and Assault Squads, Centurion Squad members must excel in their squad's battle area. 

Assault Squads:

Here's a Centurion Assault Squad from the Ultramarines chapter.

Centurion Assault Squads lead the front lines of confined siege warfare. Since a Centurion squad can go where a tank or a Dreadnought can't, they are perfect frontline soldiers. Giving up the heavier guns, members of the assault squads instead carry massive Siege Drills. These drills can rip through walls, armor and flesh with ease. In a game, I'd recommend trying to take these units out from a distance instead of facing them in hand to hand combat.

Devastator Squads: 

Here is a Devastator Squad in the same style.

The Devastator Squads fill a defensive role. These units care little for mobility, the guns they carry have a large range to make up for their lack of mobility. Devastator Squads excel when mobility isn't a necessity. Protecting fortifications or besieging enemy defenses are a Centurion Devastator's primary missions. Unlike Assault Squads, you'll want to engage in hand-to-hand combat with these units to render their guns useless.

A well positioned Centurion Squad can be the difference in a game. Be sure to use their strengths to the fullest.

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.  And there are fifteen armies currently playable in that grimdark future, all vying for supremacy in the universe.  For a new player, that can be a bit overwhelming - especially since you will most likely be learning the rules as you play the army instead of poring over the rulebook, trying to learn every little loophole before picking up your first figures.

So how do you decide what to play?

1. Consider The Models

The later sections involve things you might not necessarily know about yet, but one thing you can check right now?  What looks cool!

One of the amazing things about 40k is the wide variety of models available to you.  And you are going to be looking at those miniatures whenever you're playing the game - moving them around, trying to ruthlessly destroy your opponent - so they should look the part!

Dark Eldar Wyches?  Mechanics aside, they look FANTASTIC.

40k is not just a game - it's a full-on hobby.  You can spend hours painting and building and (if you're like me) trying to compare how awesome your army's storyline is to everyone else's, before you even get to the gaming table.  

If you consider an army but don't like its style and how the miniatures look... there's probably a similar army that has a design that appeals to you more.

Maybe you don't like Dreadknights.  I dunno.  It's possible?

2.  Consider Your Playstyle

Think about what sounds fun to you.  There are ways to fit most any playstyle in with any army, but some are more suited to one style than another.

Do you want to rush your opponent's front line with everything you've got, not caring about your casualties because you have hundreds of models in a gargantuan horde rushing toward them?  You might be interested in Orks or Tyranids.  

(Note: there's a landing page on the Games Workshop site - to see the lists, you'll need to select your country, then re-click the link.)

Look at all those terrifying talons...

Maybe you don't want to have a horde of melee fighters, though.  You could be more interested in having a gun line of superior firepower, ready to mow down the enemy with maximum pew-pew.  There are other armies out there for you - like Necrons or Tau.

Beep boop - they may be near-mindless mechanical drones, but they can shoot!

Or maybe you want to throw some giant mecha into the mix.  Imperial Knights could be just the thing!

Who needs a big army when you can take three superheavy war engines?

3.  Consider the Fluff

Whether an army is suited to your playstyle or not, the stories behind the army can also have an impact on what you'd like to play.

Bloodthirsters thirst for your blood... and probably your soul too.

 A Daemon army might excel at rushing enemy lines and tearing their models apart piece-by-piece, but if you aren't interested in playing the soulless corrupting influence of the Ruinous Powers, they probably aren't going to be the army for you.

 Likewise, if there's just something about space elves that bothers you, you may want to just look past the Eldar section...

Space elves.  They're like elves.  But in space.

4.  Consider the Paint Job

When you're first getting into the hobby, people are generally pretty forgiving of having an unpainted army, but there will come a time when you are going to get tired of a sea of grey on your side of the table every time you set up.

You can always get painting tips from your local hobby store - shout out to the Dragon's Den here in Richmond, which is very newbie-friendly - or enlist a more experienced player to help, of course, but the point remains that your troops are going to need some sort of color to look good on the battlefield.

If you're like me, and aren't a huge fan of painting, then an army like Necrons (I keep bringing those up - it's almost like they're my go-to army or something) or Space Marines might be a good choice.  A skilled painter can make them look amazing, but even a fledgling 40k player can paint a passable army with just a couple colors.

Space Marines: Color-Coded For Your Convenience

5.  Check Out Your FLGS

This is possibly the best way to learn what kind of army you want to play.  Your Friendly Local Game Store most likely has either dedicated staff for 40k or has a group of avid players that are well-versed in the lore and the rules of the game. 

These folks can help you get started, play sample games and guide you down the path.  Games Workshop even has a convenient Store Locator to help you track down where to go next!

"For ten thousand years the Grey Knights have stood between the Imperium and the Daemons of the Warp."

The Main Force

Formerly listed as Daemon Hunters within the army lists from Games Workshop, the Grey Knights are easily one of the most powerful armies you could field in a game. Not only is the majority of the army made up of Space Marines, but each of these Space Marines could fight on equal footing with the lead units of other armies.

Almost every Space Marine model in the army carries a Nemesis Force Weapon. I believe the most notable exception would be the special character Castellan Crowe. Crowe's Blade of Antwyr (Crowe's sword) is treated as a normal close combat weapon. Furthermore, all Grey Knight marines are Psykers as well. While their available psychic powers are limited, and differ per unit, these powers make even a basic troop squad a force to be reckoned with.

Inquisition

If the Space Marines weren't daunting enough, there is also the Inquisitorial side of the army. The Inquisition contains the Inquisitors and their retinues of of minions. Some of the named Inquisitors can even match the ferocity of the greatest Grey Knights. Inquisitor Valeria wields powerful weaponry collected from the corpses of her enemies. The Dagger of Midnight, her close combat weapon, is the epitome of a "double-edged sword." If she rolls doubles on her two extra attacks, the attacks hit her instead.

My History with Grey Knights

I've never faced Grey Knights in a game, as either their own army or an ally unit of the main force. I however do run a contingency of Grey Knights in my Space Marine Apocalypse army. I field Brother-Captain Stern leading a squad of Terminator Grey Knights. I also recently acquired a Dreadnought with a Nemesis Force Sword close combat weapon, unused as of yet.

The last time I ran my Apocalypse army, I think I only lost one Grey Knight. Even though I deployed them with Deep Strike rule right in front of the enemy army they held until the remainder of my army caught up. One day, I do hope to expand my Grey Knight collection enough to create a separate standard army with them.

It's rare to see Grey Knights fielded in any capacity, mostly because there were limited options on models until the past few years, but if they are used it will be no easy battle for their opponents.

Painting Basics

So I’d like to make a basic guide for painting your Warhammer 40k models. I'll be using a Dark Angels Space Marine basic infantry model from the Dark Vengeance set for this guide. Also, the paints I use are from the Citadel Paints line so I'll be using the names on the current listing when I name colors.  You will need the following materials for this:

• Paint (preferably Citadel Paints as they supply the colors intended for use on the armies)
• 2 sets of paintbrushes. (2 of each of the following: fine detail brush, basic brush, and large brush. 1 set for light colors 1 set for dark colors. The dark color large brush can also be used for base coating. Games Workshop’s online store has all the brushes you could want for your projects basic or otherwise.)
• 2 brush cleaner bowls with water in them. (Again 1 for light colors and one for dark colors.
• 2 rags to wipe your brushes on.
• A few models to paint. (You’ll want to do a few at a time so you can work on one while another dries.)
• A plan for what you want your models to look like.(Basically pick an army color scheme before you start or they will look like crap later.)

Once you gather all materials and ideas you want to start with the base coat. Get your large dark color brush and paint a happy little base coat on all the models you plan on working on. Abaddon Black is the color I suggest using for base coating.

Next step is details

I like to do the details before the main painting because I can just do touch ups after if necessary. On the front side I used Ushabti Bone on the chest insignia and the scroll work on the gun, with the light color medium brush. It takes a second coat normally to paint light colors onto black.

I then cleaned the brush and used White Scar on the left shoulder insignia, note I will wash brushes after each individual section so just remember to wash your brush after each color is finished.

For the left knee, I used Flash Gitz Yellow, to hand modify it with what I assume is a company insignia. I'm using the base color scheme the set used for the Dark Angels, however some sections don't have the details molded into the model.

After that I switched brushes to the medium dark color brush to paint the tactical squad insignia on the right shoulder, as well as the main part of the gun in Evil Sunz Scarlet. Added in a dot with the fine detail dark color brush to each eye as well.

Next step was pretty basic, I just painted the main sections of the model Caliban Green.

For the final step

I removed all 3 pieces from the sheet. I then added the green to the kneepad. Afterwards, I touched up the areas where I had to cut away the plastic from. Finally, I added in the metal coloring with the fine detail light color brush, Runefang Steel on the gun and Auric Armour Gold for the skull on the back pack.

It’s the 41st Millennium and the armies of Man are at war. They are beleaguered on all sides by the forces of Necrons, Orks, Tyranids, Tau, Eldar, and their own traitorous brothers, the Chaos Space Marines. In this battle-worn universe it’s up to you to decide the fate of the war. So pick your army, grab some dice, and find an opponent to battle against. I'll give you a brief overview of the game, with future articles giving you a more in depth look at some of the armies you have to choose from. I'll also be sharing details of Warhammer 40k in other media in the future.

Warhammer 40k is a tabletop battle game set in a futuristic universe. Mankind’s greatest hope, the Space Marines, are bio-mechanically enhanced super soldiers. However, one does not simply have to defend mankind, instead you could aim to conquer it using one of the many Xenos armies. The game is played using miniatures of your chosen army using your codex for the reference material of skills and armory. After you have that you just need strategy and luck to win.

I currently run two armies: Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines. My Space Marines army is geared more towards the Apocalypse expansion, which allows for much larger battles that the standard 1500 point games. Whereas my Chaos army is geared more towards tournament play and standard games. For more info on the armies check out Games Workshop. There you can also purchase your armies as well. In future articles I will be focusing on specific armies of Warhammer 40k, I will also be doing a basic painting guide for new players. So I hope you all come back to check out these upcoming articles.