A Gamescom demo of Total War: Warhammer 40,000 left the writer eager to play the full game, despite offering only brief, carefully staged sessions. The preview suggests the game retains the series’ grand-strategy structure while placing greater emphasis on ranged combat, terrain and battlefield positioning, with poor deployment potentially outweighing favourable unit match-ups.

The campaign includes base-building, army movement and battles, although the demo did not show much of its interplanetary systems or construction mechanics. Players can prepare for engagements using orbital fleets, bombardments, gunships and huge artillery pieces, assembling the right support before battle; however, the writer’s skirmish against an overwhelming Ork horde demonstrated how badly things can go when positioning fails.