Review of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide The Miniatures Game: Easy To Use But Powerful<br>

It’s amazing that a tabletop adaptation of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has taken this long. But Games Workshop has come through with the goods at the second best possible time.

With the recent release of a significant upgrade for Path of Redemption’s computer game Darktide, fans of the board game Darktide may find themselves enticed to return to the 21st-century digital warfare. Is tabletop gaming, though, a decent place for lovers of the universe to start? Is the £65 price tag justified?

The miniatures are what most people will rip into first when they open Darktide. This isn’t a game for seasoned gamers, who are generally dissatisfied that they’re all existing models. Although the most generic figures in the box are your squad of antiheroes, the gorgeous sprue of Traitor Guard should make up for whatever disappointment newcomers may still feel about your Kill Team (more on that later). Considering that these are currently uncommon models, the more chaotic Warhammer players might find a tiny motivation to check the box.



But after you’ve rummaged through the plastic, you’ll see what else is within. Beneath the usual sheet of card that Games Workshop employs to safeguard paper components are two almost similar A4 sheets of tokens, a large deck of cards, a bag of dice, four boards covered with hex tiles, and datacards for each model.


As you might expect from a game designed to introduce novices to Games Workshop’s frequently intricate concepts, the game plays fairly simply. It makes use of an altered version of the Kill Team rules (see why your operatives are now referred to as a Kill Team?) that mimics opponent actions to create a smooth cooperative experience.

However, you must first set up the board before you can proceed. Made of durable cardboard with a glossy finish, the four double-sided A4 boards can be assembled in various ways to add variety to each mission. This doesn’t, however, fully capture the video game’s striking scene shifts.

Darktide’s gigantic set pieces are energizing and highlight the finest aspects of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, from the massive furnaces beneath Tertium’s surface to the final stand on the Bridge of Martyrs. The miniatures game makes no attempt to replicate this.


Nonetheless, both the cooperative feature and the many mission kinds of the video game adapt nicely. Activating your Kill Team and the “Darktide” of enemy models—whose datacards have predetermined behavior profiles—comes from drawing cards from the activation deck. Now it’s your chance to draw the Ogryn. Utilizing a Flamer, draw the Traitor Guardsman and utilize their card’s profile to execute their assault patterns. Compared to Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower’s dice-based opponent actions, the enemy system based on cards is less arbitrary and more akin to the Dark Souls board game.


This is further complicated by the fact that your Kill Team has the option to scout, heal, or loot during the preparation phase, which comes before each turn following the initial one. They receive a random equipment card from loot, D3 damage is removed by heal, and scout lets you control the activation deck before the next turn.


Each of the six missions in the game, which include three rounds each, has a space for everyone. This approach is good since it lengthens matches while increasing the consequences of your actions. A member of your Kill Team cannot take part in the third round of a mission if they become disabled in the second. Additionally, injuries persist between rounds; however, as there is substantial healing in between missions, this shouldn’t be a problem for you unless you’re already in difficulty. Every round has a different goal and board arrangement, which helps to replicate the video game’s changing objectives and keeps things seeming new.

For those who are seasoned tabletop gamers, the missions themselves are entertaining and easy to complete. Though I’m not sure how much replayability you’ll get, it would have been beneficial to have a website that explains how to make your own custom missions. An experienced player could probably improvise something, but Games Workshop could guarantee that homebrew missions are reasonably balanced and maybe offer players more value for their money with just a few tables and dice rolls.


Still, value for money was never the main focus of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide The Miniatures Game. That much is evident from the £65 price tag, repurposed miniatures, and large Kill Team advertisement on the rulebook’s rear page. This isn’t a game designed to be played again; rather, it’s supposed to serve as a conduit for drawing fans of the universe into the much more lucrative miniatures systems. Play Kill Team, purchase an Astra Militarum army, and play Darktide (tabletop). Games Workshop wants gamers to go in that direction. It wants plastic in hands and feet in Warhammer retailers.

That being said, the board game Darktide is really entertaining. It may even be enjoyed alone, much like Darktide, but the true fun is finding a bunch of buddies to join you in the madness. To keep things interesting, you may consider switching operators after finishing all six tasks, but it would be difficult to take the Ogryn from me.


But is £65 really fun? Perhaps if you divided it up among the four of you and gave each other a model to paint and play with. Perhaps if you include the models in your army of Traitor Guards.

Still, what if, after playing the video game Darktide, you just want to give tabletop gaming a shot? It would be better if you played Kill Team as it is. Although there is a higher learning curve, the models are prettier, the ruleset is more comprehensive, and the replayability is unlimited.

For this review, a copy of Warhammer 40K: Darktide The Miniatures Game was provided by Games Workshop.