I’ve played a lot of card games in my day. Getting started with Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon and eventually transitioning into online CCGS like Hearthstone, MTG, Elder Scrolls Legends, and Legends of Runeterra, I can safely say I’ve given most card games a shot. Seeing a new 40k CCG go up on the Steam page, it felt only natural that I give it a shot, and so far I haven’t been disappointed.
Warhammer 40,000: Warpforge is a CCG that, as of the demo, has no collectible card mechanics. Meaning, right now there is no way to earn new cards to add to your collection. While this is a big draw for many CCG players, I’ll give the demo a pass on this since it is, well, a demo, and I’m sure there will be collection mechanics come the launch sometime in 2023.
Hopefully, it will not be as horrendously expansive as collecting cards in Hearthstone and will be closer to the cheaper, free-to-play model Legends of Runeterra uses. Given Games Workshop’s history of monetization, though, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
The actual gameplay of Warhammer 40,000: Warpforge is solid. It plays on a sort of boss-fight mechanic with each game, which is a unique take in online CCGs I haven’t really seen outside of MTG. Each deck is built around a commander, who has a special ability and their own unique stats, and the goal is to kill the enemy commander.
Not all commanders are equal stat-wise, but they all seem to have a 2/2 to their attack stats. Tankier commanders, like my personal favorite Ghazghkull Thraka, can take a beating and dish one out, leaving weaker commanders to use their abilities and decks to win a match.
The commander’s abilities are unique and strong, and that makes the game a lot more fun. To use my git Ghazghkull Thraka as an example again, each round you receive the “Greatest Warboss” card in your hand, which gives all of your units (except Ghazghkull) +1/+1 to melee and ranged attacks.
That’s another aspect of Warpforge that’s pretty unique. Every card has two attack values; Melee and Ranged. When you issue an attack against another card, you choose if you want to use a Melee attack or a Ranged attack, and the card you hit will return fire with its own value in the chosen attack type.
This mechanic makes for interesting card interactions. Some cards might be Melee stat sticks, but be lacking in the ranged department, meaning it’s best to focus fire ranged units on them before they can attack. In other cases, you might have a strong Ranged attack, but it’s better to use Melee to trigger buffs on Mob units (again, using Ghazghkull Thraka’s deck as an example.) The Melee/Ranged split is sort of the core mechanic of the game and thankfully it’s interesting enough to make the game stand out on its own.
The game also uses a unique way of presenting the battlefield. Cards stand straight up as if on miniature bases, with a 3d environment making up the play arena. It’s a little bit silly, and I can’t help but wonder if they should have made it a Miniatures battling game instead of a card game, but it works.
As I said above, the game is currently in development and only a demo is available to play. At the time of writing, there are three factions (Ultramarines, Orks, and Necrons) available to play and about three or four unique commanders each. I have no doubt that come launch there will e plenty more available, and I personally am looking forward to seeing Dark Eldar and Thousand Sons represented in the game.
I highly recommend you check out the demo, and I’m looking forward to the game’s launch some time in 2023.
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