Today we bring you the review of Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, the RPG inspired by one of the most loved three-dimensional wargames of all time. Published in original by Cubicle7 and brought to Italy by Need Games, it aims to act as a bridge between two worlds that have always been in contact. On the one hand role-playing games, on the other miniatures (from Games Workshop). Has Cubicle7 succeeded in the enterprise? Let’s find it out. Certainly they can’t be blamed for lack of experience. In addition to Wrath & Glory, they already created other remarkable RPGs, such as Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play and Age of Sigmar: Soulbound. There is a lot of creativity here!
What Are We Talking About?
For those unfamiliar with it, Warhammer 40,000 (or 40k) is a miniatures game set in the 41st millennium. Strengthened by inspirations from cornerstones of space opera such as Dune, it draws heavily on various suggestions. We are talking about a sort of futuristic technological middle age, but there are also references to sci-fi classics such as Alien. All with superabundant touches of Gothic mysticism, at full blast: the spaceships seem more cathedrals than vessels. And above all, the most iconic miniatures of the game, the space marines: almost two and a half meters of muscles stuck in an armor of ceramite and plasteel, with the heart of a warrior monk.
Are you confused? It’s normal. The game is the result of a series of suggestions that intersect and overlap, based on a boundless lore developed over the last 35 years. The risk of creating only great chaos (no pun intended) was very high. But if Warhammer 40k has stood up solidly for so long, even surviving the fantasy version of which it was initially just a rib, there must be a reason.
Warhammer 40,000 – Wrath & Glory Review: the Manual
The volume is really valuable. Almost four hundred pages, a solid and robust manual, one of those that will withstand the worst attacks of aliens and heretics. Perhaps even the most careless players. Thick paper, very high readability. The illustrations are of a higher level, they seem to capture the reader and catapult him, willy-nilly, into the 41st millennium.
Wrath & Glory: the aesthetics of the volume already suggests which direction the game will take. A series of epic clashes between characters driven by a fervent and unstoppable faith. The care that has been put into the creation of the volume is very high, and impeccable.
Mechanics: Wrath…
The main theme of the game is also and above all reflected in the mechanics. Basically these are very simple. A pool of dice is rolled equal to the sum of characteristics and skills involved, plus any bonuses. You get one icon for every 4 or 5, two for every 6; if the number of icons reaches the difficulty set for the action, the test is passed. Each skill has several examples of uses and relative difficulty, in order to help the master.
The Wrath is determined by a die of the pool, which must be of a different color, and represents the heroic inspiration of each character. If the rage die rolls a 1, the action will face complications, regardless of whether it is a success or not. If he rolls a 6, the action will grant glory, and in the case of an attack it will be a critical hit. The Wrath is also a resource that the PC generates by reaching personal goals, which allows him to overcome what he normally perceives as his own limits.
… and Glory!
The Glory is a pool of dice common to all the PCs, obtained with the 6 rolled with Wrath die or sacrificing the extra icons. Glory is a fundamental element in the game, because it allows the characters to chain their efforts, achieving otherwise unthinkable results. A mechanic that rewards teamwork as much ongame as offgame, without breaking the narrative too much as happens with similar systems.
Then there is the Ruin, the counterpart of Glory available to the Game Master. There are also a variety of combat options, rules for mechanical implants and for managing the touch of Chaos on the characters. Surely these are options that make the game more complex and require the game master to pay close attention during the session. But in general the mechanics remain straightforward and simple. An advice? A few bookmarks, or some notes that refer to the right pages of the manual for the key elements of the game, will speed up the narrator’s work a lot.
Warhammer 40,000 – Wrath & Glory Review: Game Features
Anyone who has played previous role-playing incarnations of Warhammer 40,000 knows that the setting was divided into various games that shared settings and mechanics, but were not compatible with each other. In Dark Heresy you could play the inquisition, in Rogue Trader the crew of a ship, in Death Watch the space marine and so on.
In Wrath & Glory, on the other hand, every Archetype that can be chosen by a character – 27 in total, divided among Humans, Astartes, Eldar and Orks – falls into one of four Tiers. At each Tier specific threats are faced; the transition from one to the other requires a lot of experience to be accumulated, which is also used for an Ascension. A sort of step forward that will also allow you to deal with threats designed for higher-tier characters.
In addition, miniatures lovers will recognize some characteristic elements transposed into this ruleset. The traumatic injuries, for example, or the suppressing fire. Small goodies that make fans feel more “pampered”, and characterize the game more.
The 41st Millennium
The Warhammer 40,000 setting needs little introduction. In a world where futuristic technology has a strong analog flavor, humanity is guided by what remains of the God-Emperor. The goal of the Empire of Humanity is the galaxy, and eradicating the presence of the xenon scum, the aliens; and fighting against heretics and Chaos, a primordial force shaped by the lowest instincts of sentient creatures, generating traitors and demons.
A very vague smattering of a very vast lore; yet the manual manages to summarize it very effectively. Especially putting it in context with a single system, Gilead, where conflicts are on a controlled scale. Gilead has its own factions and NPCs carefully described. And thanks to the Cicatrix Maleficarum, a gash in the universe that makes travel and communication impossible, the game is well circumscribed. However, this does not prevent the game master from using the material at his/her disposal to make the players experience adventures throughout the (un)known galaxy.
Warhammer 40,000 – Wrath & Glory Review: Final Thoughts
Warhammer 40,000 – Wrath & Glory is not a game designed to be “light”. Powerful psykers capable of wreaking havoc on entire cities, Orks who constantly desire to go into battle. Inquisitors who can’t wait to set fire to heretics, and Space Marines genetically perfected who sow death in towering armor like angels of war. And more, such as chain swords, power weapons, psionic blades and biomechanical grafts.
This game is designed to leave the mark, and to do it without compromise. The characters are individuals out of the ordinary, who perform extraordinary feats or bring extraordinary ruins to a world constantly on the edge of the abyss. Warhammer 40,000 – Wrath & Glory demands that you make a difference even when overwhelmed by a sense of impending doom. And it does so with all the style that has always distinguished the 41st millennium.
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