Games Workshop has announced a board game based on Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, but, uh, maybe don't get too excited

If you've ever been playing Warhammer 40,000: Darktide and thought «I wish there was a tabletop version of this», it's possible there was a monkey's paw in the vicinity. Games Workshop has granted your wish with the newly announced Darktide board game, but whatever you're imagining in your head right now is probably cooler than what's on offer here.

To get it out of the way early: there are no new miniatures in this box. The models are simply recycled from other Warhammer releases, rather than being custom sculpts based on the videogame, which gives it all a bit of an uncanny valley feel. Sure, those are traitor guardsmen, but they're not quite the Moebian 21st. 

The worst offenders are the four heroes, who while technically embodying the roles of Ogryn, Psyker, Veteran, and Zealot, don't match the game at all and don't look remotely cohesive with each other. Half of them are even holding weapons that aren't in the game. More appropriate paint jobs would go a long way, but I can't help but feel like it's a disappointing offering. 

The game itself looks like a modest little combat game, played on a small pair of boards with cards describing the stats and abilities of each character. Though there are 20 miniatures included, it's not the kind of elaborate box you might expect from Games Workshop—but this likely isn't going to be something you find in its stores. 

GW frequently put out small, relatively cheap board games like this to be stocked by other companies, particularly Barnes & Noble in the US, as gateway games to catch the eyes of the uninitiated. Releases like Space Marine Adventures, Lost Relics, and Combat Arena tend to fly under the radar of more dedicated Warhammer players because… well, that's not really who they're aimed at. This is likely to be no different. GW already took this approach to a board game adaptation of the Space Marine videogame which was exclusive to Target, though that one at least included a whole new miniature for series protagonist