Finally, Warhammer 40,000 gets the Total War treatment, and I can at long last build a 40K empire turn by turn

A screenshot from Total War: Warhammer 40,000

(Image credit: Creative Assembly/SEGA)

Creative Assembly and Sega have revealed Total War: Warhammer 40,000
There will be four playable factions, masses of iconic units from the 40K universe, and a galactic level of scale
There's no release date yet, but it will come to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S

Finally. Finally! The strategy game behemoth that is Total War is at long last welcoming the grim dark future into the fold.

Yesterday at The Game Awards, Sega and Creative Assembly dropped the announcement trailer for Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and it's got me firmly on the hype train for an epic empire-building adventure.

Featuring battle and turn-based strategy on a galactic scale, and four factions - Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Orks, and Aeldari - to choose from at launch, along with a host of familiar and iconic units from the universe, it's a match made in heaven, and could be a real visual real-time strategy spectacle.

The team has said it's currently a "little way off in the future," but if it does land in 2026, I am going to be up to my visor in delicious 40K goodness, given that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 is also on the horizon.

Total War: Warhammer 40,000 – Announce Trailer - YouTube

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I bounced off the fantasy-based Total War: Warhammer games a bit, but have always harbored a soft spot for the likes of the Rome and Medieval entries in the series. Combine that with my consistent gravitating toward the 40K side of Warhammer over the years, and this is likely going to be huge for me.

I can't wait to get to grips with each faction and wrestle the challenges each will face on the battlefield as well as the empire map.

This will take me right back to moving 40K units around terrain in real life more than 20 years ago in battle, strategically thinking about what to do and when, all in real time. But it'll also give me that sweet empire-building, diplomacy-acing, deal-doing satisfaction too; though how Creative Assembly might make negotiating between Space Marines and orks diplomatically remains to be seen - that could be fun!

There's no release date or window yet, but it's been confirmed that when it comes out, Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will be playable on PC, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

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Rob is the Managing Editor of TechRadar Gaming, a video games journalist, critic, editor, and writer, and has years of experience gained from multiple publications. Prior to being TechRadar Gaming's Managing Editor, he was TRG's Deputy Editor, and a longstanding member of GamesRadar+, being the Commissioning Editor for Hardware there for years, while also squeezing in a short stint as Gaming Editor at WePC just before joining TechRadar Gaming. He is also a writer on tech, gaming hardware, and video games but also gardens and landscapes, and has written about the virtual landscapes of games for years.

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