Creative Assembly has officially revealed Total War: Warhammer 40,000, bringing Games Workshop’s sci-fi universe to the franchise’s signature blend of turn-based empire management and massive real-time battles.
Revealed at The Game Awards, the announce trailer shows a galaxy-scale strategic map where players zoom from star systems down to individual planets and then into ground battles. Leveraging Total War‘s strategic combat systems and scale, the tabletop miniatures game is finally represented in a format that really reflects its physical origins.
Four factions are confirmed at launch. The Space Marines, mankind’s genetically enhanced warrior elite, operate in small but devastating numbers. The Astra Militarum fields the massed ranks of humanity’s conventional armies with legions of lasgun-wielding infantry backed by artillery and armored vehicles.
The foes of humanity are the Orks and Eldar. The Orks swarm the battlefield in brutal hordes with ramshackle war machines powered by the collective psyche of the WAAAGH! The Aeldari, on the other hand, strike with speed and psychic precision, using hit-and-run tactics to wittle down numerically superior foes.
While the Space Marines and Astra Militarum are aligned with one another in the lore, due to the nature of Total War it is quite likely that there will be no barriers between these factions of humanity fighting one another. Just as the Empire can fight other human and elven factions in Total War: Warhammer, it seems logical it would apply here too.
The game also introduces several new mechanics for the series, like a cover system reminiscent of the older Dawn of War games, a first for Total War. Aircraft maneuver above ground forces, and titans stomp across battlefields as super-heavy units. There will also be army customisation, letting players recolor units to suit their favorite forces.
The trailer shows spacecraft on the galaxy layer, though whether space battles are playable or auto-resolved remains unclear. This may be a new element to the game, or just another way of showing the campaign map evolving.
Creative Assembly built this in a new engine, not the tech powering the previous Warhammer fantasy trilogy. The shift makes sense for handling ranged combat, vehicles, and modern warfare at scale, and some fans speculate this could enable future historical titles set in gunpowder or industrial eras.
The next big Total War is still ways away
No release date was announced, suggesting it’s still far from launch, and a Steam page is already live with official faction descriptions. Notable factions like Chaos, Tyranids, Necrons, and Tau are absent from the launch roster, but given the massive DLC strategy that defined the Total War: Warhammer trilogy, these will almost certainly arrive as paid expansions.
The previous trilogy was a commercial juggernaut built on years of faction packs, lord packs, and three interconnected base games. Warhammer 40,000 is a significantly larger IP than Warhammer Fantasy, with broader tabletop appeal and media presence.
One interesting thing to mention is its release on both PC and consoles, which is unusual for a game like Total War. It could hint at some of the ways mechanics have changed for battles in the grimdark future.
The reveal positions this as a long-term platform for content, potentially spanning multiple standalone titles that link together like the fantasy trilogy’s Immortal Empires mode.
Recently, Creative Assembly announced Total War: Medieval III in very early development. That simultaneous reveal suggests the studio wants to reassure historical Total War fans while betting big on the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
