Guess who’s back from his annual vacation, and already penning news on whatever has been going on in the strategy and wargaming genres! We do have a lot to cover, so let’s keep the introduction brief! This week we get a look at a full Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 battle, providing us with a ton of new information to analyse, Sanctuary: Shattered Sun Kickstarter goes live and is surpassed in less than 2 hours, making it one of the most antecipated strategy games of the last decade; Company of Heroes 3 Final Stand DLC is out now; Broken Arrow gets a new DLC, and Zero Space, a Starcraft 2 inspired RTS goes into Early Access. Let’s jump right into it!
Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 Full Battle Revealed
Creative Assembly has finally showcased a complete battle playthrough for the highly anticipated Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000, and there’s a lot to unpack. Here are my highlights:
- During a Critical Moves Podcast, I mentioned that in 40K the idea of having reserves (similar to Steel Division) would make a lot more sense than just deploying all forces at once, like a medieval-style battle but in space. It seems like we’re going to feature tactical reserves, and decide when to drop them into the fray;
- Each unit will have its individual weapon selection, and it seems like stats are tied to the weapons a unit is currently holding. This is a massive departure from traditional Total War unit organization, where each unit has a unique weapon (say, spearmen only have spears, and archers only have one type of bow). Now, each squad can carry multiple types of weapons, making them as general or specialized as the player needs.
- The cover system is a lot more dynamic this time around, and will directly impact damage taken, but also reduce suppression (yes, there’s a suppression system now). While I was hoping for a more Company of Heroes kind of cover system, it looks like most cover positions are pre-determined, but new ones can be created by craters, for example.
Sanctuary: Shattered Sun Shatters Kickstarter
It looks like the Dyson sphere Sanctuary is based upon isn’t the only thing getting shattered at the moment. The team was asking the community via Kickstarter for $100,300 in funding, and it’s now sitting on top of a massive pile of cash of $530,000. With this funding, the team will now be able to finish the game, complete the air units, add an EDA campaign, new commander upgrades, a game replay vault, a mod manager, and add more naval units. There are still 4 tiers to unlock, and if the Kickstarter reaches $700,000, the developers will finish the remaining work on the earth-shattering and sea freeze mechanics, as well as the completion of 3 T5 Titans.
ZeroSpace Out Now
Starlance Studios and Ironward’s ZeroSpace, a Starcraft 2-inspired RTS and one of the best games I have played in the last Steam Next Fest, is out now in Early Access, and it features the following:
- 12 singleplayer missions from Campaign Act 1;
- 4 Playable factions: The Protectorate, the Grell, the Legion, and the Xol;
- 6 Mercenary Factions: Expand your army options with these;
- Galactic War: 10 co-op missions;
- Survival Mode: Fighting against endless waves of Grell;
- Ranked: 1v1 and 2v2 ranked ladder matches;
- Skirmish: 1v1, 2v2, and free-for-all against friends or AI.
While I haven’t been able to play this release version, in my assessment of it, I said that Zero Space seemed like a standout title for 2026. We’ll see if that’s the case once I boot it up, but most of the available reviews mention the game’s potential, yet there seems to be a consensus that the title is undercooked at the moment.
Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand DLC Available
Company of Heroes 3 might have had a rough start in 2023, but 3 years later, Relic Entertainment is still releasing new DLCs for it, so something must have resonated with the CoH community. While I personally didn’t dislike the game, in fact, I think it’s a fun, arcade RTS that’s well worth getting and playing for its singleplayer aspect, my opinion is a bit of an outlier. Released July 29th, the latest DLC for CoH3 is called Final Stand, and it’s the perfect addition for players who love to turtle in their games, by making it all about wave-defense with roguelike modifiers between each run. While I do love the idea, and I’ll be giving this one a go, players’ reception has been mixed.
Broken Arrow: Russian Guard DLC Announced
Despite being plagued with multiplayer-related issues at launch (and lacking a save feature for singleplayer), Broken Arrow still rocked 2025 as one of the best RTS of the year. It seems like work on it isn’t over, as I spotted a new Broken Arrow: Russian Guard expansion on the wild (on Steam, actually). Here’s what to expect from it:
- Russian Guard specialization;
- 8 infantry squads (plus 20 weapon loadouts);
- 31 new ground and air units;
- 2 new maps;
- 2 new scenarios focusing on the Russian Guard;
From the description, it looks like The Russian Guard is going to be quite adaptable, and it’s able to make use of massive tank deployments, advanced artillery, anti-air systems, helicopters, and planes.
