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Warhammer 40,000: Regicide introduces machine guns and airstrikes to chess

Warhammer 40,000 Regicide

Did you ever think that chess was just a bit too bland, and that the only way to jazz it up would be to spray the board with artillery and blood splatter? Apparently that’s the thoughts driving Hammerfall Publishing, the studio behind latest Warhammer 40K game Regicide. If you’re utterly befuddled by what this all means, this highly informative new trailer is what you need.

Despite looking a lot like chess with Space Marine and Ork models, Regicide is closer to a traditional turn-based skirmish game. Rather than individual moves being the be-all-and-end-all of the game’s strategy, movement is just a phase. Each model is allowed to move and then perform an action, and that action could be mowing down an enemy in a hail of gunfire, or summoning an ability from off-board.

It’s all based on initiative points, and you’ll have a pool you can draw from that needs to be effectively managed throughout the game. Increasingly powerful abilities cost more and more initiative. Abilities are also split into two distinct groups: unit abilities that can only be used by specific models on their turn, and player abilities that can be used at any point and are ‘off-board’.

Essentially, whilst played out on a black-and-white checkerboard, winning and losing will depend on how abilities are employed as much as the location of units on the board. Just because you’re closing in on that Queen unit doesn’t mean the game is practically over if the enemy can pull out a powerful ability.

Warhammer 40,000: Regicide goes into Early Access in May, with a full launch planned for later in the year. The game will eventually support cross-play with mobile devices.