I'm stoked to have these rare minis back in the new Warhammer 40K: Darktide board game
Corrupted Guardsmen and some old-school heroes return
A board game based on Warhammer 40K: Darktide is on the way, and it's bringing some hard-to-find miniatures with it.
Based on the 2022 first-person shooter that has you suffer not the alien, the mutant, or the heretic, the Warhammer 40K: Darktide board game offers the same setup but in a more focused tabletop form – you're still battling against corrupted hordes that infest the hive city of Tertium. However, like many of the best board games nowadays, this spin on Darktide provides linked missions for players to follow. Intriguingly, the announcement states that Darktide: The Miniatures Game also utilizes "rules based on Kill Team" (the smaller, faster skirmish system as seen in the likes of Kill Team: Salvation).
A key highlight would be the miniatures you'll use during your campaign. In what I assume is a cost-saving measure, publisher Games Workshop is bringing back older models that are pretty hard to find these days. While the mutated Poxwalkers are still easy to get hold of, the heroes and corrupted Imperial Guardsmen are rare models now. The very handsome Guardsman sculpts in particular haven't been seen since Blackstone Fortress, which isn't as easy to track down as it once was. Personally, they're my highlight of the pack and I'm already thinking up ways I can incorporate them into my Chaos Space Marine army.
Much like the original Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, you play "hopeless rejects from Imperial prisons" rounded up to go on suicide missions in Tertium. As a result, each playable character is based on one of the Darktide classes – the Psyker, the Ogryn, the Zealot, or the Veteran. It's a surprise that older models fitting those archetypes are being used rather than mini versions seen on the video game's cover, but seeing as it gives us another crack at elusive miniatures, I'm not complaining.
That's something Games Workshop has done before, too; we saw it recently via Combat Arena: Lair of the Beast, which also dusted off models from Blackstone Fortress.
Unfortunately, there's no word on when Darktide: The Miniatures Game is coming out, but you'll be the first to know when an announcement is made.
For recommendations on what to play until then, check out these must-have board games for adults. It's worth dropping in on our guide to essential 2-player board games, too.
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As the site's Tabletop & Merch Editor, you'll find my grubby paws on everything from board game reviews to the latest Lego news. I've been writing about games in one form or another since 2012, and can normally be found cackling over some evil plan I've cooked up for my group's next Dungeons & Dragons campaign.