The Stage is Armageddon! ‘Total War: Warhammer 40K’ Gameplay Trailer Released

Gameplay footage for the new title in the Total War series, ‘Total War: Warhammer 40K,’ was finally unveiled today (the 24th).

The video is set in the Armageddon sector, a location intimately familiar to the Warhammer 40K fandom. In the original lore, Armageddon is the homeworld of the Armageddon Steel Legion and is famous as the site of three brutal wars between the Imperium of Man, Chaos Space Marines, and the Orks (Greenskins).

True to the original setting, the Armageddon sector in the video is under threat from an Ork invasion. However, the stage itself is not the planet Armageddon; rather, it is a civilized world within the sector, appearing to be a mid-sized city typical of the Total War series.

Before the battle begins in earnest, players can perform various actions. Notably, if a capital ship is positioned above the planet, players can weaken the enemy with orbital bombardment before engaging.

The protagonist of this video is the Astra Militarum. As the regular army of the Imperium of Man, they feature powerful armored units, but individual soldiers are quite ordinary. Since they cannot match the Orks in CQC, players must utilize tactics effectively. The first step is to assess the terrain. The video demonstrates typical Astra Militarum tactics: using the Scout Sentinel—a bipedal walker boasting high speed and a wide field of view—to scout the area, identify likely Ork paths, and set up ambushes with armored units.

However, these armored units are only a fraction of the Astra Militarum’s strength. Since most of the actual fighting is done by infantry, players must devise ways to minimize their casualties. The video shows soldiers, including Cadian Shock Troopers and Kasrkin, taking cover in ruins to reduce their exposure to enemy fire.

With the troops roughly dispersed and positioned, the front line is reinforced with heavy armor, including the Baneblade—the most powerful asset of the Astra Militarum—to compensate for the lack of firepower while waiting for the Orks.

The battle finally begins as the Orks appear. Fortunately, Orks are reluctant to use cover. The video shows the player luring the approaching Orks into a body of water to slow their advance, followed by a Valkyrie rocket strike that wipes out the clustered enemies, signaling the start of full-scale combat.

Of course, the Orks don’t just walk forward blindly. The Stormboyz in the video use jump packs to close the distance in an instant and devastate the player’s forces, clearly demonstrating the disparity in CQC.

As the situation descends into a chaotic melee, the ambushing forces finally break through a train acting as a wall, creating a path to join the front line. This relieves pressure on the vanguard and allows for a pincer attack on the Orks. Even so, the Ork offensive remains fierce, eventually causing the front line to collapse and forcing a regrouping in the rear. Unfortunately, not all remaining troops could be saved, but the player takes advantage of the slowed Ork advance to unleash a powerful bombardment, dealing significant damage.

In the latter part of the video, an Ork Stompa appears. This massive walker is equivalent to the Imperium’s Imperial Knight class; while slow, it is armed with a variety of weapons. It is powerful enough to require multiple standard tanks to take down, but fortunately, an Imperial capital ship is positioned in orbit, allowing the player to destroy it instantly with a Lance Strike.

The video concludes with the Stompa destroyed by orbital fire, causing the Ork’s power balance to collapse rapidly and forcing them to retreat.

The release date for ‘Total War: Warhammer 40K,’ which has captured the attention of both the Warhammer 40K and Total War fandoms, remains unannounced. With the Astra Militarum, Space Marines, Orks, and Aeldari (Asuryani) confirmed as major factions, gameplay videos for other factions are expected to be released in the future.