Legions Imperialis surprised me.
Let's rewind for a second. I've been a fan of Warhammer 40K since before I hit double figures, and I blame the most '90s miniature that has ever existed: Kharn the Betrayer, skull aficionado and cover of a metal album come to life. This gloriously extra Chaos Space Marine epitomizes the grunge of the hobby's artwork during that time. John Blanche's portfolio is probably the best example of this, and I was always fascinated by his paintings. Those iconic scenes, featuring enormous battles that stretch into the horizon while skyscrapers loom overhead against a smog-fuelled sky, are what I think of when someone says the word 'Warhammer.' But most of the time, you can't hope to recreate those illustrations. Not their scale. Not their carnage. Not their impossibly gothic scenery.
A thimble of troops
Don't get me wrong. It's possible to fill a table with hundreds of models and terrain that scrapes the ceiling. Actually, there are dioramas at Warhammer World proving exactly that. But it'd be completely impractical to play on them unless you had several days, a colossal budget, and more patience than you'd need for most of the best board games combined. With Legions, though? It's easy.
This new game is the spiritual successor to Epic, a system that kicked things off in the 1980s with Space Marine – a game that reduced its soldiers to a handful of millimeters. This version, which is set during the famed Horus Heresy where all of the Space Marines had a falling out, is just as tiny.
Looking for Legions? You can pick it up from Warhammer directly, but it's a little harder to track down in the US. If you're in the UK, on the other hand, you'll be able to find it for less at Wayland Games - it's £96 there instead of £125. (Although it won't ship right away until more stock arrives.) Meanwhile, you can get it now from Firestorm Games for £102.
More specifically, its miniatures are so small that you'd be able to squeeze loads of them into a thimble. At around six to eight millimeters tall, the infantry units are like ants on the tabletop; if they weren't attached five to a base, you'd definitely lose them. And although their vehicles are a decent size (to say nothing of the towering mech walkers), it's still as if you've hit your regular Warhammer army with a shrink ray.
This isn't just a novelty. As we mentioned in our review, it allows you to represent the chaos of battle with orders that are given before you know what your opponent is going to do.
Crucially, though, it also lets me experience what we always saw in Blanche's art; hundreds of troops lined up in a shell-blasted cityscape crawling with sci-fi vehicles blowing each other to hell. You don't need several days to get through a round of combat like you would with the same amount of troops in 40K, either.
A world in miniature
In addition, Legions helps to sell the scale of Warhammer as it was always promised throughout lore or artwork – and in more ways than one. It's suddenly easy to understand how outrageously massive this universe's conflicts are; certain tanks make the foot-soldiers look insignificant, while Titans (which are the size of action figures here) could squish them underfoot without so much as a second thought. Warhammer 40K is like a zoomed-in, small-scale skirmish; this is the whole damn battlefield, one where hundreds of thousands of people are churned up in humanity's metaphorical (but sometimes literal) war machine.
Especially when you mix in to-scale terrain. Alongside Games Workshop's own Legions Imperialis sets (featuring city buildings, industrial gear, and mortar-wrecked ruins), there's no end of Epic scenery available online. If you have one of the best 3D printers and some time, you can create a truly ridiculous table. This makes a huge difference from the outposts, refineries, and dirt fields we normally fight amongst; it feels as if you're picking over the remains of a settlement that lives up to the artwork that's been decorating rulebooks for years.
I've been able to build towering skyscrapers that are several feet high
Actually, this has been my favorite bit of Legions Imperialis so far – making the gothic Warhammer city of my dreams. I was able to get my hands on Warlayer's Zone One kit, and I honestly can't recommend it enough. Using its modular pieces, I've been able to build towering skyscrapers that are several feet high, making a board that's doing its best Blanche impression. (I don't have pictures for it yet, but I'll dig into how I made it all when I do.)
Is Legions Imperialis going to take off? I don't know. I really hope so, however, because I've low-key fallen in love with it. And even if it doesn't, I'll just be happy to have finally gotten the Warhammer experience I've always wanted.
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