Warhammer’s upcoming fantasy RTS is simple, sleek, and thrilling

Since Frontier Developments unveiled Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin back in May, the developer billed it as a “modern take on the classic RTS” – something with the polish of the current Warhammer fantasy universe, but mechanics reminiscent of Warcraft, StarCraft, or Command & Conquer. As skeptical as I was after the initial announcement — the wording is a bit of a buzzword, after all — I came away from a recent hands-on demo convinced that Frontier might be onto something.

I spent the first of three hours with Realms of ruin playing a short chapter of the strategy game campaign. As the Stormcast Eternals – superhuman knights who use wyverns, massive weapons and lightning magic to achieve their goals – I explored a part of Ghur, the untamed, swampy wilderness where the game is set. I started with a small group of scouts, fighting smaller groups of enemies belonging to the Orruk Kruleboyz faction, and sneaking past caves full of rogue trolls. But after an ambush sent the scouts deeper into the wilderness, I gained control of a larger Stormcast force.

At the base, Realms of ruin deploy the usual rock-paper-scissors triangle to dictate unit weaknesses: attacking units, such as Vanguard Hunters, fare best against shielded units, such as Orruk Guttrippaz; shielded units make ranged troops more easily, such as Man-Skewer Boltboyz; and ranged units can easily dispatch attacking units. Heroes, such as Sigrun, exist outside the triangle and have different abilities to strengthen their troops or destroy enemy forces. Using the strengths of each unit type and Sigrun’s ability to bolster the defenses of nearby troops, I captured an Arcane Conduit, which I then turned into a rally point. This served as the fallback location for any troops I had ordered to retreat, and could also heal weakened squads.

The combat itself is slow, but deliberate – faster than that Hero Company 3but slower than Age of Empires 4. At first it felt at slowly, as if I was ordering my units to wade through treacle. However, I came to appreciate the pace over time. Skirmishes last long enough to adapt to the enemy’s tactics, but end quickly enough to keep the overall fighting going. By the time I reached the Orruk camp and sent a wyvern-riding Stormdrake Guard forward, I was fully accustomed to the pace of the game.

My newfound solace couldn’t come a moment too soon: after completing the story mission, I plunged into a series of 1v1 multiplayer matches against a different journalist, each one more exciting than the last. The first few minutes were a frenzied rush to secure as many Arcane Conduits as possible without overloading my troops. After capturing a Conduit, I was able to choose from a handful of building types to aid my army. I opted for resource-gathering structures more often than not, the better to upgrade my home base and summon more powerful troops. In the last game, my enemy, playing as the Stormcast Eternals, built a defense tower on a crucial Conduit; it vaporized my lowly Orruks before they could do any damage.

In addition to Arcane Conduits, my opponent and I also fought for control of three command posts. By controlling two or all of these locations, the other player’s victory points gradually dwindle, similar to the reinforcement bar decreasing during a match of Star Wars: Battlefront or Battlefield.

Image: Border developments

The result of these interlocking objectives is a tense battle between opposing armies as they make an attack on one Conduit, before sending the bulk of their upgraded troops to one on the other side of the map. At one point I had upgraded my base enough to summon a Stormdrake Guard and a team of angelic accusers. The flying units flew over enemy melee units and it wasn’t until I encountered a duo of Orruk ballistae that I encountered any resistance. I landed my Stormdrake Guard, launched its fire-breathing charge, and made quick work of the war machines before capturing the nearby Conduit with ease.

The demo was an early version of Realms of ruin, so I won’t get into the many glitches I encountered. At one point, my minimap flipped every command I gave within its bounds, sending units to the opposite side of the actual game map than I intended. However, I became frustrated with the game’s key mapping several times during my playtime. The most egregious problem came from the fact that the “Charge” and “Retreat” commands are both mapped to the Q key on PC, and the only thing that dictates what maneuver the units perform is whether they’re in direct combat or not . On several occasions I accidentally ordered mighty heroes to retreat to my base, unaware that they were technically “in combat” due to a distant group of archers firing at them. In several other instances, I wanted my units to retreat, but inadvertently attacked them head-on against my opponent’s most powerful forces. My guess is that Frontier can separate these opposing commands before launching the game.

Despite these hiccups, I came away with high expectations from the demo Realms of ruin when it releases “soon”, as Frontier says. The studio is hosting an open beta from July 7 to 10, and it will focus on the same intense multiplayer mode that impressed me last week. The Dawn of War trilogy proved that Warhammer 40,000 was ripe for real-time strategy, and the Total War: Warhammer trilogy did the same for Warhammer Fantasy’s Old World setting. It remains to be seen whether Realms of ruin will do the same for the current Age of Sigmar universe, but after my hands-on time with it, I’ve come away with more optimism than before.