The immensely popularWarhammer 40k: Space Marine 2has recently come to players globally, and with it, there will no doubt be a surge in popularity for recent Warhammer titles and the tabletop game of Warhammer 40k itself.
But Games Workshop has its own Black Library’s worth of titles that have accrued over the years, and with the advent ofSpace Marine 2and its gruesome,gore-filled splendor, now is the perfect time to take a look back at some older Warhammer titles that, in particular, have grown too obscure or too obtuse for the average player today.
5Space Hulk - Vengeance Of The Blood Angels
A Strategy-Styled, Doom-Inspired FPS
Genetic manipulation is something of a mainstay in the 40k universe, withthe use of geneseeds, in particular, vital to the creation of the titular space marines.Space Hulk - Vengeance of the Blood Angelsis a Doom shooter that focuses on one particular element of this within the canon - the fearsome genestealers.
The game has a complicated blend of strategy, behaving at times like its RTS predecessor while also operating in the wildly different medium of an FPS. It’s also rather obscure and not available on any conventional gaming platforms, making it a tough title to both find and play through. An incredibly rewarding look at the fearsome Blood Angels chapter of the Imperium awaits players who can land this title, however.
4Blood Bowl (1995)
The First Digital Iteration Of The Bizzare Blood Sport
This DOS-exclusive title was Games Workshop’s first attempt at digitizing the iconic, brutal fantasy football series (that is, literal ‘fantasy’ football, with elves and orcs and whatnot), and echoes of it can still be seen in the morerecent third iteration of the title.
This title operating through DOS, a feat only achievable through third-party software nowadays, means that the initial challenge for players before any gameplay will simply be getting ahold of the software and the programs to run the thing.
3Warhammer 40,000: Glory In Death
An Obscure Title On An Obscure Platform
A doubly obscure title, not just for the title itself but for the strange platform it was hosted on,Glory in Deathwas a title developed by THQ and made solely for the Nokia N-Gage. The title was restrictive in terms of its features, offering a far cry fromthe plethora of weaponsmodern titles do, but generally well received considering the restrictions of the platform. Players could battle each other through the N-Gage’s Bluetooth capabilities.
It’s very difficult to get a hold of this title today, with the N-Gage being a distant footnote of history in a world that has long forgotten flip phones and keypads. N-Gage titles hold little appeal due to the constraints the software was under to work on a mobile phone from 2006, and no online retailers sell or host this game either.
2Dark Omen
An Innovative RTS On Limited Hardware
Strategy games are an immensely broad genre, with titles that allow youto build kingdomsor focus on in-depth battles. A much more traditional translation of tabletop gameplay into a digital format,Dark Omenwas praised at its time of release for its innovation that allowed a wide host of features on its limited hardware. The combination of 2D sprites on 3D backdrops allowed for graphical fidelity and plenty of units on screen at once, without taxing the hardware too much.
The game still has a small cult following today, if that’s an indication of quality, but the game is not available through any conventional means, as no platforms offer it and the title seems relatively forgotten by Games Workshop.
1Space Crusade
A Faithful Adaption Of The Board Game
The first video game ever set in the Warhammer 40k Universe, the 1992Space Crusadeis a faithful video game adaption of the board game with the same title. Thetactical options and utilityfound in modern Warhammer games can be traced back through a long line of titles to this one DOS-based strategy title.
But like other titles on this list,Space Crusadehas been left in the past, with its software left to run on archaic systems like DOS. Tracking it down can be a difficult feat, but the game remains an oddly addictive trek through an early Warhammer board game well-realized in digital form.
