Wargames & Historical — After Strategy

Blood Bowl changes hands: Slitherine acquires Nacon licence and prepares Warhammer Blood Bowl

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The deal closed on July 1, and anyone following Nacon’s financial situation wasn’t entirely caught off guard. Blood Bowl — the Warhammer-licensed fantasy sports strategy game — now belongs to Slitherine, the British publisher whose catalogue has been built almost exclusively around wargames and strategy simulations for over two decades.

A publisher in collapse, a franchise that deserved better

Bigben Interactive, Nacon’s majority shareholder at 56.72%, disclosed in February 2026 that its banks refused to release funds needed to service a €43 million bond. Court proceedings followed, assets came under pressure — and the Blood Bowl licence became something to offload.

For players of Blood Bowl 3, released in 2023 and developed by Cyanide Studio, the Nacon years were mixed. The game was technically the most ambitious entry in the series, but a troubled launch and inconsistent post-release support fractured the community. A publisher fighting for financial survival is not well placed to maintain its catalogue.

Cyanide stays — under new management

The clearest piece of good news for franchise continuity: Cyanide Studio, the Paris-based developer behind every Blood Bowl game since 2009, isn’t going anywhere. Slitherine didn’t acquire the studio itself — Nacon retains Cyanide — but locked in a long-term development agreement.

In practice: the Blood Bowl back catalogue (BB3 and its predecessors) moves under the Slitherine banner, and future updates as well as the next franchise title will ship from there. Blood Bowl 3 stays on Steam and isn’t being pulled. Games Workshop retains ownership of the tabletop IP — Slitherine is acquiring the digital licence and publishing rights, not the board game property.

Warhammer Blood Bowl: what Slitherine is actually building

The next game is called Warhammer Blood Bowl — not Blood Bowl 4. It’s being built on Blood Bowl 3’s foundations, but with one structural fix that the series has never fully addressed: aligning the game with current Games Workshop tabletop rules rather than lagging behind the official ruleset.

Confirmed features include:

Updated roster aligned with current GW tabletop rules
Redesigned tutorials and new competitions
World Championship as an integrated competitive mode
Rumble mode: 7-player teams, 30-minute matches, smaller pitch

That last addition is probably the most strategically significant. Blood Bowl’s main friction has always been session length — a standard competitive match runs 45 to 90 minutes depending on player level. Rumble delivers a complete tactical experience in half the time without abandoning the turn-by-turn decision-making that defines the game. For onboarding new players while keeping the competitive scene intact, it’s a sensible design choice.

What to watch: Slitherine Next, July 22

Slitherine has scheduled a full Warhammer Blood Bowl reveal for its Slitherine Next showcase on July 22, 2026. Release date, pricing, and the complete feature set are expected then.

The structural shift here goes beyond a publisher logo change. Nacon covered a wide genre spread — racing games, narrative adventures, niche simulations — without particular depth in any single category. Slitherine’s whole identity is built around simulation depth and wargame fidelity: Panzer Corps, Field of Glory, Order of Battle, Close Combat. These games are made for the same audience as Blood Bowl — players drawn to tactical depth and tabletop accuracy. For a Games Workshop franchise with a committed miniature-painting fanbase, that alignment actually matters.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch Announced: Lead the Kill Team

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Announcement That Set the 40K Tactics Community Ablaze

On May 21, 2026, during Warhammer Skulls 2026, Complex Games and Frontier Foundry officially revealed Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch, the direct sequel to the critically acclaimed turn-based tactical Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (2022). The game is confirmed for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a winter 2026 launch window announced for the Xbox version.

Four years after the Grey Knights, the Canadian studio Complex Games switches its playable force to one of the Imperium’s most feared units: the Deathwatch Kill Team, an elite force of Space Marines drawn from multiple chapters and specialised in hunting xenos.

The Deathwatch: A New Narrative Premise

You play as Interrogator Bastian Rath, thrust into command of the Kill Team amid a conspiracy threatening the stability of the Tyrian Expanse. The tone appears darker than Daemonhunters, with a protagonist who must simultaneously unravel a political intrigue and lead high-stakes strike operations.

The Deathwatch draws Marines from different chapters — each brother retains the techniques and background of his home chapter. Complex Games promises nine playable classes, mixing Inquisitorial agents with Deathwatch battle brothers for even more granular tactical customisation than in the first game.

Seven Enemy Factions: No More Mid-Game Monotony

One of the most consistent criticisms of Daemonhunters centred on the lack of enemy variety in the late game. Deathwatch addresses this directly by introducing seven distinct factions, including:

Genestealer Hivecults — ambushes, infiltration, and swarm tactics
Orks — mass, brutality, and unpredictability
T’au — long-range fire support and coordinated fire teams
Forces of Chaos — warp corruption and psykers

Each faction demands radically different tactical adaptations: cover becomes essential against T’au fire; aggressive movement can pay off against Orks. Three more factions have yet to be named and promise further surprises.

Vehicles and Skirmish Mode: New Building Blocks

Chaos Gate – Deathwatch introduces iconic vehicles to the franchise for the first time:

Redemptor Dreadnought — assault firepower and resilience
Scout Sentinel — mobility, scouting, and reconnaissance
Leman Russ — long-range armoured support

These heavy units add a new strategic layer to maps that will need to be meaningfully larger than those in Daemonhunters.

The game also introduces a dedicated Skirmish Mode for composing and testing squads outside the main campaign — a consistently requested feature since the community first engaged with Daemonhunters in 2022. Three playable forces and more than ten mission archetypes are referenced in the official press release.

What Still Needs Confirming

The PC release date remains unannounced. Xbox Series X|S has a winter 2026 window, but PS5 and PC are without a specific calendar. No details on pricing, a potential co-op mode, or the post-launch DLC policy have been shared.

Complex Games and Frontier Foundry are expected to reveal more at summer and autumn 2026 events — possibly Gamescom in August or The Game Awards in December.

Conclusion

For fans of turn-based tactics in the 40K universe, Chaos Gate – Deathwatch is shaping up as one of winter 2026’s most anticipated releases. The promise of seven factions with distinct tactical profiles, nine playable classes, and iconic vehicles directly addresses the core criticisms of the first game. The Vigil begins this winter.

For more 40K tactical games, check out our Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II review.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II Review — Two Empires, Two Ways to Conquer

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Two Legions of Cold Metal Clash Over Hekateus IV

On May 21, 2026, during the Warhammer Skulls event, Bulwark Studios and Kasedo Games released Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II. Five years after the original, the challenge was clear: expand the scope without diluting what made the first game so compelling — its oppressive atmosphere, surgical tactical combat, and rare fidelity to the Games Workshop universe.

This review is based on the PC version, with roughly ten hours spent in each of the two campaigns.

Two Factions, Two Combat Languages
Cognition Points vs Dominance: The Mechanical Core
Campaigns and Storytelling
Art Direction and Sound Design
Where It Falls Short
Verdict

Two Factions, Two Combat Languages

The defining addition of Mechanicus II comes down to one word: the Necrons are finally fully playable. The first game kept you firmly in the boots of the Adeptus Mechanicus, those techno-fanatic pilgrims plundering a tomb world’s knowledge. The sequel gives you both sides of the conflict — and that choice fundamentally shapes the experience.

Playing the Adeptus Mechanicus means operating a precision machine. Your units — Tech-Priests, Skitarii, cybernetic servants — rely on positioning and cover. Every exposed flank is a liability; every piece of terrain a potential lifeline. Dominus Faustinius, the Mechanicus campaign’s protagonist, embodies this cold logic: every decision must be calculated, nothing improvised.

Playing the Necrons requires an entirely opposite philosophy. Your Lords — five distinct commanders grouped into Court formations — do not fear enemy fire. Their imperative is to advance, absorb, and crush. Antagonist Vargard Nefershah is not built for sacrifice; he imposes his presence on the battlefield. This asymmetry is not cosmetic — it genuinely transforms how you read the game depending on which side you choose.

Cognition Points vs Dominance: The Mechanical Core

The Cognition Points system — inherited from the original — remains intact for the Adeptus Mechanicus. These action-economy points accumulate and are spent to trigger offensive and defensive abilities. Frugal management is the hallmark of a skilled Mechanicus player: overspend early in a turn, and you leave yourself exposed when it counts.

The Necrons operate on an entirely different principle: Dominance. This meter charges by dealing damage to enemies — the more aggressively you attack, the more power you accumulate. Each Dominance level unlocks additional abilities for both your Lords and regular units, deliberately creating a momentum-building dynamic. Necrons do not win by defending; they win by pressing forward.

Having two such distinct resource systems under the same tactical umbrella is an ambitious move, and it pays off in terms of variety. Each campaign demands a mental reset of your tactical habits.

Campaigns and Storytelling

On the narrative front, Hekateus IV — the tomb world at the center of the conflict — provides a rich setting. The Mechanicus campaign explores the internal tensions of the Omnissiah’s faithful: the sacred drive for technological acquisition clashing against the brutal realities of war. The Necron campaign dives into dynastic politics, with Lords whose ambitions occasionally diverge and must be managed carefully.

The writing holds up well. Warhammer 40,000’s universe rarely tolerates half-measures, and Bulwark Studios clearly understands this: characters speak like entities born of this cosmos of metal and faith, never like generic RPG protagonists.

Total playtime is solid: expect 20 to 30 hours to complete both campaigns on normal difficulty, more if you replay missions to optimize decisions and scores.

Art Direction and Sound Design

Mechanicus II’s visual identity is preserved — and reinforced. The industrial environments of Hekateus IV exude the silent menace of a Necron tomb world: black metal corridors, spectral blue energies, silhouettes of awakened metal emerging from darkness. Unit models are detailed and animations remain readable even during the chaos of large encounters.

The soundtrack continues the first game’s austere, metallic approach — a score that amplifies isolation rather than alleviating it. This is not action music; it is ritual music. Players who pick up the Omnissiah Edition will also receive the original game’s full soundtrack as a bonus.

Where It Falls Short

Mechanicus II consolidates rather than revolutionizes. For veterans of the original, the onboarding is immediate — perhaps too immediate. Skill trees and base management (between missions) lack the ambition you might expect from a 2026 sequel.

Enemy AI, while competent on normal difficulty, tends to repeat the same attack patterns once you identify its logic. Players seeking deep tactical challenge will need to push into higher difficulties to recapture the natural tension the first game imposed more consistently.

A few minor technical issues were present at launch — primarily interface problems at certain resolutions — but nothing that undermined the experience overall.

Verdict

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II delivers on its core promise: bigger, fuller, with a dual-faction structure that opens genuinely new tactical perspectives. The Necron Dominance system is the sequel’s best mechanical addition, and the fidelity to the 40K universe remains beyond reproach.

This is not a game that reinvents the turn-based tactical genre. But if you’re looking for a solid tactical experience set in one of science fiction’s richest universes, it’s well worth your time.

For more recent reviews in the tactical genre, see our Xenonauts 2 version 1.0 review or our Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era Early Access review.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II — Developer: Bulwark Studios — Publisher: Kasedo Games — Released: May 21, 2026 — Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S — Price: $39.99 / €39.99 / £34.99

Company of Heroes 3: factions, campaign and tactical habits for 2026

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Company of Heroes 3 carries an odd burden. It is the return of a respected RTS name, but it is also a game whose campaign layer can feel less precise than its battles. In 2026, the healthiest way to approach it is to drop the nostalgia tax. The Italian map gives context, pace and useful pressure. The real heart of CoH3 is still somewhere smaller: ten seconds of squad control, a flank opening, an MG changing angle, a veteran unit retreating before it disappears forever.

This guide is not trying to sell Company of Heroes 3 as a perfect comeback. It is here to help you choose a faction, understand what the Italian campaign does well, and stop playing CoH3 like a mass-production RTS. In this series, losing a veteran squad can hurt more than losing a building.

What CoH3 still does well in 2026

Company of Heroes 3 is most convincing when it accepts its tactical scale. The maps are not as broad as a wargame, and the armies are not as huge as Total War, but every wall matters. A squad in the wrong street can melt in seconds. A squad in the right cover can hold an entire approach long enough for your mortar or light armor to change the fight.

The Italian dynamic campaign adds a strategic wrapper, but it does not turn CoH3 into grand strategy. Read it instead as a generator of tactical situations: where to attack, which company to commit, which ability to use before a difficult battle. If you expect a campaign map with the depth of Total War, you may be disappointed. If you want your battles to have context, it does the job.

The useful question is therefore not “is the campaign deep enough?”. It is “does the campaign push me into interesting tactical fights?”. When the answer is yes, CoH3 still has bite.

Which faction should you start with?

The four factions do not just offer different unit lists. They teach different habits.

Faction	Good fit	Habit it teaches
US Forces	Clean first campaign	Keep initiative with flexible infantry and mobile support
British Forces	Methodical players	Turn defensive positions into offensive footholds
Wehrmacht	Patient players	Buy time until heavier tools arrive without losing the map
Deutsches Afrikakorps	Mobile play	Strike quickly, back out quickly, avoid static fights

For a first serious campaign, US Forces remain the clearest entry point. They forgive more mistakes, expose the basic cover system well, and let you learn vehicles without making the whole army depend on one fragile trick.

British Forces are better when you already enjoy building a strong position before pushing out. Wehrmacht rewards patience and punishment: you survive awkward early moments so later units can matter. Deutsches Afrikakorps is exciting, but it asks more from your movement and retreat timing.

Four habits that change most battles

The first habit is retreating early. Many new players wait until a squad is almost dead before pressing retreat. That is too late. A surviving squad keeps its veterancy, returns to the front and repays the time you invested in it. A dead squad is a debt.

The second habit is flanking. An MG42 locking a street should not be respected like a wall. It should be moved. Smoke it, go through a garden, force the pivot, then commit the squad that was not suppressed. CoH3 rewards geometry more than courage.

The third habit is combined arms. Infantry alone gets punished by armor. Armor alone gets stopped by anti-tank and loses map control. Even in single-player, keep at least a basic answer to each threat: infantry, suppression, indirect fire, anti-vehicle pressure and a way to scout.

The fourth habit is tempo. Capturing a fuel point is not a good deal if it costs two veteran squads. Sometimes the profitable move is to give up ground for three minutes, then return with smoke, mortar fire and a light vehicle when the enemy line is already stretched.

How to read the Italian campaign

The Italian campaign works best when you do not try to run everywhere. Secure a beachhead, keep companies close enough to support each other, and treat ports or airfields as structural objectives rather than checklist icons. The common mistake is opening too many fronts because the map invites it. CoH3 punishes scattered forces quickly.

Your priorities should stay readable. Hold a simple supply line first. Improve a few companies instead of smoothing upgrades across everyone. Use strategic abilities before difficult battles, not after they go badly. Avoid automatic engagements when a manual battle can preserve veteran squads. Do not launch a major offensive without anti-armor options, even if the map appears open.

The campaign becomes more enjoyable when you stop treating it like a conquest puzzle and start treating it like a pressure system. Its job is to ask: which fight do you actually want to take?

Mods and multiplayer: keep the learning clean

The modding scene exists, but it does not have the long historical weight of Company of Heroes 2. For your first hundred hours, stay close to the vanilla game, perhaps with interface improvements or light fixes. Big realism mods can be interesting, but they also change timing, lethality and unit value. If you start with them, you may not know whether you are learning CoH3 or a rewritten ruleset.

For multiplayer, start with 1v1 or 2v2 before diving into 4v4 chaos. Large team games are spectacular, but they hide your mistakes. You can win without understanding why, or lose without identifying when the game turned. A 1v1 is harsher, but it teaches faster.

Quick diagnosis after a lost match

Use the replay like a tactical ledger. On the first pass, look only at squad wipes: Riflemen, Grenadiers, team weapons and light vehicles lost before they created value. On the second pass, follow fuel points and cutoff points. If your army was fighting near the wrong resource, the battle may have been lost before the first tank arrived.

Then check the support layer. A mortar that never forced an MG to move, an anti-tank gun facing the wrong road, or a scout unit arriving after the vehicle timing are all concrete signals. They matter more than blaming faction balance. CoH3 rewards players who can name the mistake: bad cover, late retreat, unsupported armor, no smoke, no reconnaissance, or a fuel point defended past its value.

Reading a defeat honestly

The right question after a loss is not only “which enemy unit was too strong?”. Ask which squad died for no reason, which point was defended too long, and which support weapon was never protected. CoH3 becomes clearer when you read a battle as a chain of small debts.

If you lose an infantry squad early, you also lose its future veterancy, its map presence and the chance to force a flank later. If you send out armor without scouting, you may hand the opponent a perfect anti-tank timing. If your mortars sit too far back, they never answer the MG at the moment it matters. These mistakes are not dramatic, but they explain many matches that slide away slowly.

A useful habit is to replay the minute before the disaster, not the last ten seconds. The battle was often already going wrong before the vehicle exploded or the point was lost. That is why CoH3 still works: it does not demand impossible speed, it demands that you recognize the fight you should refuse earlier.

Practical case: a squad can be worth more than fuel

Imagine two Riflemen contesting a fuel point. A German MG reveals itself, and a light vehicle is moving down the road. The impatient player stays, throws a grenade late and loses a squad. The stronger exchange is less heroic: retreat the suppressed unit, use smoke or mortar fire if available, then return with something that can force the MG to pivot.

That small decision explains why CoH3 remains interesting despite its uneven campaign. The game does not only reward taking territory. It rewards preserving veterans, rotating damaged squads and refusing fights where the opponent already prepared the ground.

Sources and media

This rewrite uses the official Company of Heroes site and the Steam page for Company of Heroes 3. The screenshots above are Steam media tied to steamAppId 1677280, matching the local game sheet.

Verdict

Company of Heroes 3 is not flawless, and that is exactly why it needs an honest guide. The campaign map can feel uneven, and some missions blur together. Its battles, however, still have that particular tension where one tiny decision changes everything.

Play it for what it does with clarity: tense, readable tactical command. If you learn to save veterans, flank support weapons and refuse bad engagements, CoH3 becomes more than a license returning. It becomes a very good RTS classroom.

For more World War II strategy, read our Hearts of Iron IV guide and our top PC strategy games 2026.

Wargames & Historical — After Strategy

Blood Bowl changes hands: Slitherine acquires Nacon licence and prepares Warhammer Blood Bowl

A publisher in collapse, a franchise that deserved better

Cyanide stays — under new management

Warhammer Blood Bowl: what Slitherine is actually building

What to watch: Slitherine Next, July 22

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch Announced: Lead the Kill Team

The Announcement That Set the 40K Tactics Community Ablaze

The Deathwatch: A New Narrative Premise

Seven Enemy Factions: No More Mid-Game Monotony

Vehicles and Skirmish Mode: New Building Blocks

What Still Needs Confirming

Conclusion

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II Review — Two Empires, Two Ways to Conquer

Two Legions of Cold Metal Clash Over Hekateus IV

Table of Contents

Two Factions, Two Combat Languages

Cognition Points vs Dominance: The Mechanical Core

Campaigns and Storytelling

Art Direction and Sound Design

Where It Falls Short

Verdict

Company of Heroes 3: factions, campaign and tactical habits for 2026

What CoH3 still does well in 2026

Which faction should you start with?

Four habits that change most battles

How to read the Italian campaign

Mods and multiplayer: keep the learning clean

Quick diagnosis after a lost match

Reading a defeat honestly

Practical case: a squad can be worth more than fuel

Sources and media

Verdict