Warhammer 40,000: Regicide: Blood Angel Takes Rook Company: Hammerfall Publishing The Warhammer 40K universe is no stranger to video games. We’ve seen Games Workshop’s sci-fi war between armored Space Marines and punkish Orks play out in shooters, strategy games, and even a scrapped MMO. What we haven’t seen, however, is a game that brings the series back to its tabletop roots. Sure, the strategy games did an okay job at translating the grid-based movements and combat into a fun experience, but it was still more of a video game than a tabletop experience. Warhammer 40,000: Regicide, which recently hit Steam Greenlight, is a grid-based experience in-line with the game’s roots, though not in the way you’d expect. In short, it is Warhammer 40K themed chess… at least until the grenades and guns come out. Then it is something all its own. For the most part, Warhammer 40K: Regicide plays like a standard game of chess. The battlefield is an 8x8 grid and your goal is to take down your opponent’s King using an army of pieces with their own unique movement sets. In fact, purists can enter a Classic Mode and play through a normal game without the added strategic options offered in the game’s main mode. Straight Warhammer 40K chess is fun in its own right – particularly for fans – though it is the added bits that make the game a unique and interesting offering. Once you’ve maneuvered your pieces into position, you enter a combat phase introducing special unit abilities adding defensive and offensive options to an otherwise standard chess match. During your combat phase, you are given a pool of points to spend on abilities. Some are unique to single pieces, while others affect entire areas of the board. For example, you can move a piece into position then, using some of your points, toss a grenade into a group of enemies or command units to fire with their guns. Do enough damage to a piece and it is removed from the board. But, even with the psychic blasts and heavy machine gun fire, Warhammer 40K: Regicide still follows traditional chess rules. In other words, you can use your abilities to remove pieces from the board or, if you’d rather, move a piece into position and remove your opposition in a more traditional manner. The combination of chess gameplay and special moves adds a thought-provoking meta-game to the entire experience. Not only do you need to think about your opponent’s next move, but you also need to consider how they’re playing. Chess? Combat? A combination of both? If anything, Warhammer 40K: Regicide is a cool experiment in gameplay and something strategy-minded players will want to check out. Warhammer 40,000: Regicide is currently available on Steam Greenlight. -Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker Related Links: Warhammer 40,000: Regicide | Steam Greenlight Warhammer 40,000: Regicide | Official Site