In which Nick Horth discovers what lane strategy games are and turns a Space Marine into an explosive pig

There was more than a little confusion, after the initial announcement of Warhammer 40k: Storm of Vengeance, as to what the upcoming title really was. Some outlets called it a MOBA game, some argued it was tower defence. All wondered what the hell the press release meant by 'lane strategy game'.

So, some clarification. Storm of Vengeance is much more Plants vs Zombies than League of Legends. Eutechnyx's game sees burly Space Marine chapter the Dark Angels take on the savage Orks (think green, muscly football hooligans if you're not familiar with 40k. I mean, you are, obviously, because everyone is). The game is divided into five lines, each of which possesses a building slot at one end. Construct said buildings and you'll be able to train units, build vehicles and slowly charge up your psychic powers. Depending on the mission you're playing, some or all of these structures may be marked as an objective. Your job is to destroy the enemy’s objectives and protect your own.

It's like some terrifying future Olympic sport

Once built, you plop down your troops on a lane and they'll march up and down, destroying enemy soldiers if they find them and attacking those all important enemy structures on the other side of your lanes. The trick is to keep an eye on all your lines, making sure you're adequately defended and your opponent is not pummelling the hell out of a key building while you're messing around turning them into explosive Squigs (toothy bomb-pigs) via your suite of psychic powers. Destroy your opponent's marked lanes before he does the same to you and you win. Lane strategy, see? Simple.



Those powers mentioned above add an extra layer to the simple combat. You can buff troops, attack enemies directly, do various other things to help your army. Orks get the most satisfying powers from what I saw, particularly that Squig one I liked so much, but whatever your army you need to get the right balance between construction, placement and special psychic attacks. There are also various special troops for each faction to play with. Devastator marines, for example, can be built with the krak grenade item, which allows them to attack across adjacent lanes. Sneaky Ork gretchins, meanwhile, can be popped out at an astonishing rate if sheer weight of numbers is more your thing. There's various other ways you can mix and match your units with gear.

Orks aren't all swarming masses of screaming infantry. Here's a great big bloody truck

Dark Angels universally hit harder but build slower. Just like the tabletop game, they're the elites to the Orks mass mob spawn, but they still have to be on the top of their game in order to avoid getting swamped by sheer numbers. Fans of 40k will recognise various chapter signatures - Ravenwing bikes and big iron-balled hero character Belial amongst others. Orks are more fun, an anarchic bundle of disposable grunts and scattershot high explosives. They've got the excellently named hero character Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, a hulking Ork war boss with various unpleasant weapon attachments. Both play very differently. There's plans for other armies too, in particular those poor bastards in the Imperial Guard, the army of mankind staffed by hopelessly outmatched blokes in poorly-fitted fatigues wielding puny lasguns. They do have massive tanks, though, which must be some comfort. They're coming shortly after launch as DLC.

In terms of game modes, there's both multi-player and single-player to master. Single-player covers the historical 40k battle of the game's setting, based on further 40k backstory and novels, with regular chunks of dialogue to explain just what the hell is going on. Some missions, I'm told, will have varying objectives and scripted events to keep things interesting. In one you might have a limited supply of troops, for example, or an environmental effect might carve up the battlefield.

There are occasional entertainingly violent canned death animations when an enemy is defeated, much like those in the Dawn of War series

Eutechnyx are keeping a running total of results worldwide each month for multi-player, so you can see which army is getting the upper hand overall. The player versus player side of things is going to be the main draw here, I would imagine. All versions of the game are playable cross-platform, so there should be plenty of foes out there ready for smiting when the game launches.

So a decent amount of content and gameplay and enough depth to keep you entertained when it hits full release on mobile devices and PCs on March 27. One reservation. My gut feeling is that Storm of Vengeance will struggle to justify the PC version. From what I've seen and played, it's a straightforward but enjoyable little puzzle game distraction that suits mobile devices and tablets, and more specifically those touch-screen controls, very well. On a dedicated gaming platform though, it will struggle against the huge range of more gratifying strategy titles available. It's the sort of game you'd happily spend an hour or so on in the middle of a long train journey, not one you'll while away the hours playing back home. For £2.99 on mobiles and iOS (and without sneaky micro-transactions, the developers insist) the game makes total sense. For an increased price of £6.99 on PC? I'm not so sure.

Most anticipated feature: Turning more arrogant Space Marines into explosive Squigs. More fun powers like that, please.