Warhammer 40K: Regicide Review - A Fitting Tabletop Marriage
If there was ever a more fitting use for the phrase "Red Wedding", I surely cannot think of it. Now I have GOT your attention, I need to convey my thoughts on the union of the Gamesworkshop's Warhammer 40K universe and that of the gentleman's game that is Chess. The gap between these two tabletop games has been bridged by Aussie developers Hammerfall and what an elegant bridge they have constructed. By bringing these two games together in the form of the Steam release, Warhammer 40,000: Regicide (Regicide), which left "Early Access" on the 9th of September 2015 for the price of US$14.99.
Regicide is a turn-based tactical game based on the classic game of Chess with the addition of Regicide’s uniquely added Initiative Phase or attack phase if you will. All of your Chess pieces are there in their normal formation but in place of the boring old pieces we are used to seeing on a Chess board, we now have brutal Space Marines and blood thirsty Orks to control in their place. Each turn is cut into two segments, the initial move phase where each character is capable of moving like its Chess counterpart. Following the move phase is where Regicide takes a turn from the strategy of Chess and now incorporates the traits of a Warhammer match. In this phase we are tasked with spending our initiative points in one of three ways, being offence, defense or character and team based abilities (i.e stun, shield and life drain).
Each character on the game board has a life bar and this can be depleted by attacks that take place in the initiative phase or outright killed by capturing in the move phase as you would in a normal match of Chess. It is in the attack phase that it shines as a Warhammer game because most of the law is relevant. You can't attack without line of sight and throwables and other ranged abilities are governed by a certain range that the unit is capable of. Another glaring resemblance to a table top encounter of Warhammer is the probability aspect, which was originally achieved with the rolling of dice but now is automatically calculated by the A.I., meaning not every attack is a sure thing. Taking all this into consideration, checkmate can be achieved many different ways with many different abilities depending on the character or race.
Going straight from a 5 step tutorial, we are chucked into the deep end with the campaign or you can choose to duke it out in a true Chess style arena in Skirmish mode. In regards to the campaign though, which consists currently of 50 playable missions with differing objectives and side objectives, it is not straight up and down Chess. From very early on we are introduced to each of the characters almost level by level helping us, the player integrate these new units into our previously developed strategy from the mission before. It does not take long at all to slot the new abilities and move zones of the new units into what we have learnt prior and embracing them as individual units in the game. Each unit consists of their own individual weapons and animations coupled with their own personality given by the voice actors.
Now I know you are probably sitting there thinking to yourself that you have played a form of Battle Chess in the past and as far as the Chess aspect is concerned and wondering how can this be different. Well taking the initiative phase out of it for a second and touching on the Chess aspects, the main aspect that needs highlighting is all the individual death dealing animations, I mean Regicide at times is flat out brutal and who doesn't love a bit of blood and guts splattered on their Chess board to reconfirm your dominance? Another glaring difference is there is also randomly generated places of cover to help dig a specific unit in or protect a high value unit by snuffing out your opponents' line of sight. The uses of these obstacles can also attribute to a unit not being able to move to its greatest potential, this thoroughly puts a unique spin on things.
Here is a list of the launch content available initially:
Here is a list of the launch content available initially:
• Play in Regicide Mode or Classic Mode.
• Online multiplayer for both Regicide and Classic Mode.
• Local Hotseat and AI games for both Regicide and Classic Mode.
• Two races with unique modes, voices, traits, animations, player and unit abilities.
• 50 playable Campaign Missions.
• Fully voiced campaign written by Ross Watson featuring voice acting giants such as Steve Blum and
Brian Dobson.
• Level up to improve player abilities and unlock army Customization by claiming Victory and learning
from defeat.
• Several Ork Klans and Space Marine Chapter available to play and purchase.
• Customize your army and select player abilities to customize your playstyle in the Armoury.
• Additional maps and objectives.
• Get access to bonus content by participating on the Warhammer 40,000: Regicide forums.
I must say that I find it very refreshing to have such a quality game with simple values portrayed in such a fantastic way developed here in Australia. It really gives hope to all of us that the gaming industry is not dead here in Australia. In order to keep all your Australian and international gaming news present in your life, be sure to head across to our Facebook page and give us a like and have an opinion on our daily posts. There is also a comment section below that is monitored so if Facebook is not your thing feel free to make contact below and listen to us on our weekly Podcast that consists of news, reviews and giveaways. I very much appreciate your time.
Red