Welcome to Thunderdome

I've been a fan of 40k for a while, and Humble Bundle just released a warhammer 40K themed bundle. Picked it up for Scooty and myself and we played one game so far. If you aren't a fan of the table top version of Warhammer 40K, you may not need to read any further.

It's a pretty good representation of the table top version of the game. Not an exact replica, but pretty good. I always played T'au on the tabletop, so I bought the T'au expansion. He always liked Chaos, Imperial, Blood Angels, etc. We played as T'au vs Blood Angels. It's been a LOOONG time since we've played the table top, but things seemed very familiar, as far as the units, and building your army. We used pre-built armies (1000 points) just to get a quick feel for the game.

Similarities:
The units, their abilities, their looks (nailed their looks).
Game modes: Annihilation, capture points, attack/defend, hold objectives, etc.
Building an army follows all of the unit cohesion rules (can turn this off if you want).

Differences:
Fog of war - You couldn't see units outside of your line of sight, or beyond your sight distance, but the game would show you where movements occur. Of course, with the table top, there was no fog of war as you could see the whole board.
Movement - Movement is done using square tiles. In the tabletop version, you used a ruler.
Shooting - Again, measured using squares, not a ruler.
Close combat - At least when we played, if a unit was locked in melee combat, it couldn't use its ranged weapons, and ally units could not shoot the enemies locked in melee combat with your own units. This was a HUGE issue for T'au (they are excellent ranged fighters, but fall like cardboard in melee). In this game, I could shoot the melee ranged enemies. Of course, good news for me.
You can field an entire 3000 point army for about $11 instead of $1200.

That's as much as we got out of one game.

If you liked the table top game, this will be very fun for you, assuming you have people to play with. There were about 30 active games waiting to be joined at any given time. But like any game with a HUGE learning curve, you'll probably get pasted going up against strangers. But maybe I just suck at the game. . . When we played back in the day, I would win most of my games when playing against people I knew. Strangers, I fell like dominoes.

It's been out since 2021, but is still receiving updates and DLCs. T'au was the last one, last February. They are about to release Imperial in December (Scooty is VERY excited for this one). Notable omissions: Eldar. Outlier units from armies (T'au is missing Kroot and those winged, plasma shooting guys. I never used them, so not missing them).

The bad:
When it's your opponent's turn, you can't do anything, and you can't really see anything. You can't zoom out, look at the map, plan your next turn, look at your own units, etc. Camera is locked and will move to show you the area where there are enemies moving, and that's it. VERY limiting. Even on your turn, you can't get a good feel for the battlefield and your surroundings. The camera is very limiting. They do have a map overview that lets you see the whole battlefield, but you can't interact with anything. You have to go back to the third person view of the board and make your move. It's hard to keep your spacial awareness. That being said, I got used to it's limitations and could work through them. So, this is a 'bad', but it's not crippling or game breaking.
**** Was just watching someone stream the game. They had full control of the camera while it was not their turn. So, need to figure that out. They could scan the field, see the action unfold, etc.


Summary: This plays VERY much like the table top, but there are definite differences. But once the nuances are figured out though, I believe it will be just as fun as the table top. Like the table top, this is a slow paced, very strategic game. Highly recommend it, for those that know what it is.

Just figured out how to describe the game play/rules. It's like a cross between tabletop 40K and X-Com. Or 40K armies running on X-Com mechanics. So really, if you like X-Com type games (Wasteland, etc), you should find some enjoyment here.

Warhammer is a property I could see myself getting more into and that's why I avoid it.

Ya. I don't want to talk about how much my son and I have dumped into that hobby. That being said, it's not like golf is a cheap hobby (an argument pretty much everyone in the hobby uses to make ourselves feel better). In fact, I bet you've paid WAY more on golf than we have on Warhammer. It comes down to spending $80+ on a model that should cost $12. The price of models isn't based on how hard they are to manufacture, the materials invested, etc. It's based on how much you need it to win. The better in combat the model is, the more it costs. That being said, I was the guy that would buy all the used models at half the price of retail just to sleep better. My army always looked old and busted. But the damn things are just place holders for stats and abilities in a book (don't ask how much the books are. . .). To put this in context, pretend like there's a tee in golf that if you used it, you got to move your ball 25 yards in any direction after you hit it. But that tee cost $150. Would you buy it? We did. . . .

It's a GREAT hobby, and a TON of fun to play. But fuck if it ain't financially disastrous for the players. But the game is so damn good, they have players paying for it. It just occurred to me, this may have been one of the first, large scale, very successful pay to win games that EVERYONE in it payed to win.

Played a ton in teens and even 20s.

Warhammer 40k: Speed Freak Orks.
in 20s
Warhammer Fantasy
Lizardmen (in the snow) <--- threw away, army was pretty uniquely painted though
Huge Empire Army. <--5k worth, still have this one. Traditional red/white style.

If only 9/10 game stores weren't putrid dens of awful smells and questionable people. Found a good one back in Atlanta, at least.

Ya. The stores. Ugh. That's where we learned the most though and were able to find 2v2 games.

It's been a long time since I had it all out. But I'd guess:
5k T'au
4k Orks
2k random stuff I got in bulk used sales that I intended to sell

Scooty:
4k Chaos
3k Imperial
3k Eldar and other random stuff. He liked to try everything.

I played T'au 90% of the time. Acquired most of the orks in bulk used bundles and intended to play with them, but never really did. I wanted to use the Koptas. I have a ton of those.

Never played Fantasy or LOTR. Didn't appeal to me/us.






Played two more games tonight. Full camera control when it's not your turn is a 'game changer', no pun intended. Can watch things unfold and plan reactions, etc much better. I won the first game very handily. He won the second game quite handily.
There were a few moments of "Hey, he can't do that" because what was happening in the game wasn't part of the table top rules. We have to keep in mind, this is 40K units and abilities in the X-Com universe. You play by X-Com rules/mechanics.

While the game is not super intuitive (camera and how some abilities are played), once you have stuff figured out, it works very well.

In summary, if you like X-Com, you'll like this. It does have at least 4 campaigns that you can single play as well. Have not touched those yet.
This will be one that we play for a bit, then put away. Check back later and play again with the new armies they've added. Next Steam sale, I'll probably pick up the Orks.