At this point, the Warhammer 40,000 franchise is about as well known for its video games as it is for its board games and miniatures. So much so, in fact, that board games based on their video games are now a thing, rather than the other wall around. Darktide: The Miniature Game is based on the 2022 co-op first-person action PC & Xbox game of the same name, and it’s a rather good deal, both in terms of models in the box and the game itself.
The game focuses on a team of Imperial Operatives who are tasked with dealing with a supernatural cult infesting a hive world (a sort of planet-wide megalopolis). Or, to put it another way, cool-looking grim-dark heroes vs zombie-like monsters and mad cultists.
In the box, we get four character models: a Pysker (basically a sci-fi wizard), an Ogryn (a big lad with a big gun), a Zealot (a robed character with a flame thrower) and a Veteran ( a heavily equipped soldier). We also get six pox-walkers (who look like super-gross walking dead) and ten traitor guardsmen who look more like well-equipped wasteland warriors than ex-soldiers. None of these models are unique to this set; fans of the excellent Warhammer Quest games will recognise most of them. These are good models; fun to put together and paint.
The rules are a lot of fun; it’s essentially a scaled-down, introductory version of the excellent Kill Team skirmish game. There are some very interesting changes; rather than it being a two-player game where one side is the Imperial operatives and the other is chaos, you instead pick an operative, and the game itself automates the enemy. This keeps it more like the video game, but still keeps the fun to play, tactical side still relevant.
The majority of the mechanics take place via various decks of cards. For example, if you’re playing the Ogryn, you have a card with his rules on it and separate cards for his weapons and abilities. Another deck of cards tells you when the monsters move, what they can do, and so on. Once set up (which takes a few minutes), the game runs pretty smoothly.
One gripe is the lack of actual terrain; we just get a nicely detailed board and some counters. This makes the game a bit more portable, but for all the plastic in the box, it would have been nice to have some barrels or rubble.
Darktide: The Miniature Game is easily the best tie-in game to turn up for review at Starburst Towers this year. It stood out amongst the crowd, not only for its They could have taken the easy route and gone for a similar design as Space Marine: The Board Game, turning it into a simple intro to their flagship Warhammer 40,000 miniatures war game. Instead, they’ve taken the time to create something unique (though still based on an existing rules set that they know works.) The models can also be used in Kill Team games, or for other Warhammer 40K games, if your so inclined.
This is one to add to the Christmas list, even if it’s a treat for yourself, and is currently only availble via the Games Workshop Website.
