I'm obsessed with the Traitors so can't wait for this new Warhammer 40K hidden role board game

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Day of Ascension tasks you with corrupting a human city from within

Warhammer 40,000 Day of Ascension box outlined in white against a battle scene from Kill Team
(Image credit: Cubicle 7, Games Workshop)

I'm the kind of person who is seated for every single episode of The Traitors and will then dissect what happened with my friends, so this new Warhammer 40K board game with sneaky hidden roles caught my eye.

Created by Cubicle 7 (the developer behind numerous Warhammer tie-ins, including an official tabletop RPG), Warhammer 40,000 Day of Ascension feels like a mix of the best board games; it sees nefarious Genestealer aliens infiltrating a human settlement, and they've got to remain undetected whilst bluffing their way to victory. At the same time, the humans must sniff out these traitors and . It's like The Traitors injected with a healthy dose of Warhammer 40K grimdark.

Deception and lies

Traitors Aboard box and cards laid out on a wooden table

(Image credit: Benjamin Abbott)

Warhammer 40K Day of Ascension isn't available yet, but there are a couple of great deception games that are equally quick. I'd highly recommend Traitors Aboard, which is $19.95 at Amazon or £19.99 at Amazon in the UK. It rolls a lot of my favorite deception mechanics together for a tense bluffing experience, but it can be played very quickly.

You can currently pre-order the game for $19.99 via the Cubicle 7 store (or £17.99 in the UK) ahead of a late November release. It's made for 5 to 12 players and is described as a "fast-paced social deduction game," so shouldn't take much longer than 15 minutes per session.

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From the description, Day of Ascension (which shares a title with an Adrian Tchaikovsky Warhammer 40K novel about the same subject, incidentally) is very similar to games like One Night Ultimate Werewolf or Secret Hitler, which is arguably one of the best adult board games for fans of the genre. Loyalists must uncover Traitors in their midst and can call upon roles like the Magos Biologis to look at another player's secrets – presumably their identity card. Because the Traitors must lie and connive their way to victory, it's the kind of experience where paranoia runs rampant. As someone who's obsessed with The Traitors show right now, I can't think of anything better. Which is a little worrying now that I think about it, but hey – you can't argue with a good deception game.

For more tabletop recommendations, don't miss the best 2-player board games or the best tabletop RPGs.

Benjamin Abbott
Benjamin Abbott
Tabletop & Merch Editor

I've been writing about games in one form or another since 2012, but these days you'll find me managing GamesRadar+'s tabletop gaming and toy coverage (I spend my time here handling everything from board game reviews to the latest Lego news). I've also been obsessed with Warhammer since the 1990s, and love nothing more than running tabletop RPGs like D&D as a Dungeon Master.

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