Review of Warhammer 40,000 Warpforge – “When your only weapon is a chainsword…”

Everguild is delving into the vast, fantastic, and dark universe of Warhammer 40,000 with their newest game – Warhammer 40,000 Warpforge, a digital CCG available in early access for both mobile and PC.

It is a component of a large influx of Warhammer mobile games, all aiming to profit from a profitable market and vast audience. Will it have a significant impact, or will it be a matter of luck for this captivating card game?

Summary

Warhammer 40,000: Warpforge is a card-collecting battle game that can be played on Android, iOS, and PC during its soft launch. It involves players competing against each other in the different groups of the famous tabletop miniatures universe created by Games Workshop developers Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell and Rick Priestly in the 1980s. Located in the dark and grim future of the 41st millennium, it combines imaginative space-faring species, intense action, and sometimes overly dramatic backstory.

It has also served as a significant inspiration for video games on almost every platform, including mobile devices. It is appropriate that Warpforge brings the game back to its collectible gaming roots with a card battler, considering it began as a tabletop game. In the version we experienced, there are six factions to choose from: Space Marines, Orks, Tyranids, Necrons, Eldar, and Chaos, giving players a diverse range of playstyles and faction mechanics.

Before we delve into discussing Warpforge seriously, it’s difficult not to make some connections to Marvel Snap, when considering turning a brand into a digital CCG. While neither Warpforge nor Snap are directly copying unique mechanics, they both share the commonality of expanding their IPs into a different platform. Nonetheless, Warpforge does not possess the same level of sophistication as Marvel Snap and other collectible card games that have tinkered with the concept.

This is especially significant when examining the economies of both. While Snap used the Marvel brand to introduce a cosmetics and battle-pass-only way of making money, Warpforge includes all the usual features and extras we have grown accustomed to. It is peculiar to pursue, particularly when Warhammer 40,000 offers just as many, if not more, chances for distinctive cosmetic characters.

That’s not to suggest that any of these elements, such as the booster packs and so on, are abnormal in any way. However, it appears that Warpforge is potentially becoming a game targeted towards a specific audience, rather than attempting to broaden its appeal. Casual fans seeking a enjoyable card game may view it as a purchase rather than a fresh way to engage with the realm of 40k.

Game mechanics

Warpforge doesn’t completely revolutionize the traditional formula, but it excels in executing established mechanics. As mentioned earlier, the primary energy system is straightforward, as players must decide which cards to play – stronger cards need more energy, and energy does not accumulate, but rather increases by a fixed amount each turn. Nevertheless, every card is equipped with a combination of both close combat and long-distance attack attributes, and some contain unique abilities like “Tide” that allow for the creation of multiple duplicates.

The variety of groups is impressive, including Space Marines, Chaos, Orks, Eldar, and Necrons, as well as some Tyranids that fans of Dawn of War will recognize. Regrettably, popular choices like the Tau, Imperial Guard, Votann Leagues, Dark Eldar, and Adeptus Mechanicus are still waitlisted. Nevertheless, the lineup we have available is still a strong selection with a variety of playing styles to choose from.

Every faction accurately represents its lore and tabletop version. Groups such as the Orks focus on getting as many cards on the battlefield as they can, while also drawing other cards that enhance effects according to the immense size of your army (like inflicting damage based on the number of cards in play on your side). The Necrons, however, possess the reanimation ability that is an important aspect of their tabletop design, allowing their units to return to the game with enhanced characteristics.

Overall, Warpforge’s gameplay is adequate and effectively immerses players in the role of their chosen faction. The unique trait it provides for each specific group sets it apart from other digital CCGs, where it can sometimes feel like you are just playing your hand instead of engaging in a true battle.

However, this often means that battles can feel excessively brutal at times. Due to the fact that troops are frequently eliminated immediately after being deployed, and since you cannot utilize them until your turn, strategic decisions can often seem ineffective. Usually, you need to improvise and adjust quickly without much planning.

Luckily, this means you are urged to familiarize yourself with your deck instead of quickly finding a winning combo and using it rapidly like in Marvel Snap. If you believe that having a chainsword allows you to solve every problem easily, you might be mistaken.

Visuals

The art and environment both have a very good aesthetic presentation. The artwork on the cards is generally great, although it may not have as much stylized or gritty elements as expected for a 40k game. The settings have a 2.5D design, featuring flat textures that are animated to give a three-dimensional effect. Unlike Marvel Snap’s abstract backgrounds, Warpforge feels slightly more connected to reality.

Every now and then, you may come across familiar art elements on specific cards, which is a nice touch but it also gives the impression that it’s disrupting the uniform art style to some extent. It might be intriguing to have a customization feature, akin to Marvel Snap, allowing players to use cards designed with inspiration from past Warhammer 40,000 artwork.

Playing on mobile can result in losing some details of the graphics as well. Understanding the cards remains simple, making it easy to follow along without any confusion. 

Concluding Remarks

Warhammer 40,000 Warpforge gives you the experience of playing a CCG and a wargame simultaneously. If you seek groups and card collections that truly capture the essence of the 40k universe in its dark and over-the-top glory, you will not be let down. However, it also has some problems.

If you are a Warhammer enthusiast who strongly opposes microtransactions or monetization in mobile games, Warpforge might immediately deter you. It fails to set itself apart from other CCGs and is missing the rapid advancements that games such as Marvel Snap have introduced in the past.

Given that we have obtained it slightly before, here is a Warpforge manual that will cover the fundamentals, in the event that you are interested in trying it out.