Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy setting is a unique beast. Once Upon A Special Thing (Dark High Fantasy) Then It Was Rebooted In Warhammer Age of Sigmar (hard to explain), and now it looks like they’re bringing Warhammer Fantasy back (via Warhammer: The Old World). A little confusing, right?
Well, it does, and it doesn’t. Warhammer video games are a great way to familiarize yourself with the world of Warhammer Fantasy, as it is varied and quite complex. Luckily, most of the games below act as keyholes into this larger world. (If you’re more in the mood for grim sci-fi, we’ve also ranked the best video games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.)
7. Blood Bowl 2
Image: Cyanide Studios/Focus Home Interactive
Remember Blitz: The League? Well, Blood Bowl is the tabletop version of that, except with orcs, elves, and trolls. It’s an entertaining (and fun) tabletop game that has become one of the staple entries into the Warhammer Fantasy medium. If you’re unfamiliar with tabletop gaming, mastering the dice-based, turn-based approach to football may never be right for you, and that’s okay. But given its multiplayer mode and a robust league mode, Bowl of Blood 2 is an incredibly fun time for people who probably already have a soft spot for the universe it’s based in.
Bowl of Blood 2 is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
6. Warhammer: Chaosbane
Image: Eko Software/Bigben Interactive
The Warhammer Fantasy setting is perfect for a Diablo-like ARPG, and Eko Software and Bigben Interactive Warhammer: Chasobane capitalizes. Like, period. It’s a Diablo game with a new coat of Warhammer paint, with a dark atmosphere and lots of squishy, gory combat that makes for a fun, if a bit repetitive, gameplay loop. Warhammer: Chaosbane is pretty busy, but those opening hours are amazing, because the loot is cool, and Nurgle always has more gross mobs to send you. That high drops a bit as the game progresses, but it’s still a consistently rewarding game that really gets the gothic, decrepit beauty of Warhammer Fantasy.
Warhammer: Chaosbane is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
5. Mordheim: City of the Damned
Image: Rogue Factor/Focus Home Interactive
Based on the tabletop game that Games Workshop originally released in 1999, Rogue Factor and Focus Home Interactive’s Mordheim: City of the Damned is a weird and incredibly challenging take on the XCOM formula. Bands of mercenaries of all races from every region of the Warhammer world have descended on the city of Mordheim in search of the wyrdstone (a fantasy stone), and this leads to tough skirmishes throughout the game’s campaign. It puts the player in a third-person perspective à la Valkyria Chronicles, with permanent death and permanent wounds to make the long game even harder. The atmosphere is delightfully dark and the vague and unforgiving learning curve makes this game, in my eyes, quite special.
Mordheim: City of the Damned is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
4. Warhammer: Dark Omen
Image: Mindscape/Electronic Arts
Mindscape and Electronic Arts’ Warhammer: Dark Omen is a 1998 sequel to another game on this list (the one just below). dark omen is a bit like Total War: Warhammer on a smaller skirmish scale. Build your mercenary company roster and enjoy the trappings of Warhammer Fantasy’s dark but oddly charming setting. His take on Games Workshop Warhammer Fantasy Battle Tabletop gameplay is deceptively simple, with melee, ranged, and artillery units clashing across a variety of terrains. As is the case in the tabletop version, however, you need to consider lines of sight from target to target.
Warhammer: Dark Omen is available on Windows PC via GOG.
3. Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
Image: Mindscape
Many people prefer Warhammer: Dark Omen to his predecessor. I am not one of those people. I love this game and its now rudimentary visual approach to real-time strategy in the Warhammer setting. Mindscape has developed this 1995 strategy game in such a way that what it lacks visually, it more than makes up for in challenge (sometimes unfairly) and Warhammer Fantasy texture. Dark but campy cutscenes with over-the-top combat dialogue, Shadow of the Horned Rat is unmistakably Warhammer. New units offer new tactics in Shadow of the Horned RatThe missions, which play out along a relatively linear path, but the optional missions and some story path decisions make the game a bit more unpredictable. Plus, you can fight Ratmen, Skaven, and Orcs – the coolest and weirdest enemies in Warhammer Fantasy.
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat is available on Windows PC via GOG.
2. Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Image: Fatshark
I will say it: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is left for dead but better. by Fatshark Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a 2018 first-person cooperative horde survival game set in the End Times era (a somewhat slow-moving sort of apocalypse that ushered in the Age of Sigmar) of the Warhammer Fantasy era . Choose your class (I prefer Witch Hunter) and start slicing, shooting, stabbing, smashing and immolating your way through the hordes of Chaos. The gameplay, while simple, is incredibly satisfying. From Skaven to Chaos Champions to Beastmen, the variety of enemies is as surprising as the level design – which is only deepened and improved with the wonderful DLC campaigns. Additionally, the art direction is arguably the closest a video game has ever come to fully showcasing the variety of dark beauty that is Warhammer Fantasy’s setting.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
1.Total War: Warhammer 2
Image: Creative Assembly/Sega
With Total War: Warhammer 2, Creative Assembly has taken everything wonderful about Warhammer Fantasy and the tabletop fighting game and done it a hundredfold justice. Total War: Warhammer 2 takes everything great from the first game, adds more, and hones most of it to perfection: sprawling maps, still chaotic battlefields, a large-scale narrative plot, all the races you could want in a Warhammer Fantasy game, and wonderfully detailed graphics come together to make this the best Warhammer Fantasy game. Everything you see on screen, regardless of the battle, is wonderfully reminiscent of the tabletop game – detailed and intricate environments littered with as many miniatures as possible, battling in full-scale warfare. (Total War: Warhammer 3 also deserves to be noted on this list, especially after its recent immortal empires expansion, but it is still smoothing out its many wrinkles.)
Total War: Warhammer 2 is available on Windows PC, Mac and Linux.
