ROGUETRITE

A universe has its PC debut in WARHAMMER AGE OF SIGMAR: STORM GROUND

- Rob Zak

With Warhammer games having the hit ratio of a blunderbuss shooting a target at 50 feet, I should really be immune to the IP’s allure by now. But something about its tone and lore just gets me, so when I was asked to review the turn-based tactics game Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground—the first Warhammer game on PC set in the newish titular setting—I felt that familiar frisson stirring.

But like so much Warhammer spawn, Storm Guard’s lore and fine writing flatter a flawed game that clumsily combines tactical turn-based combat with an odd roguelike metagame.

You start each battle with a single hero unit. As you amass ‘Power’ over the turns you can call in subsequent units using cards that you earn over a campaign run by completing missions and looting chests in battle.

Storm Ground’s three factions cater to different playstyles. You have your straightforward Stormcast Eternals—humans donning heavy armor and divine judgement. The Nighthaunt are a ghostly faction of low-armor, fast-moving swarmers, whose hero can throw down healing wisps each turn to heal allies and summon pyres all over the battlefield to act as spawn points.

INFECTIOUS ENTHUSIASM