Spare a thought for our friends at Cubicle 7 Games. Back during the Relics festival in February 2025, they kicked off quite a bit of excitement when they teased a new role-playing game based on the Horus Heresy.
Here’s the pitch – the game opens with the infamous betrayal at Isstvan, after which you’re thrown straight into the maelstrom as Legionary Consuls leading a rag-tag warfleet bent on survival and vengeance.
Your first priority is to escape, harried by traitors bent on your destruction. But what then? How will you survive and regroup? How do you overcome the shock of betrayal and keep your forces supplied? Perhaps most importantly – who can you trust?
I don’t know about you, but that sounded exciting as hell to me even as I sometimes wonder if Cubicle 7 might not be trying to do too much with the Warhammer license they’ve grabbed hold of. Timing the preorder window with the launch of the latest edition of the tabletop game seemed a marketing coup, striking while the iron was hot. (It certainly would have prevented yer man here from impulse-buying the Saturnine box, which sits largely untouched even now in my pile of shame.)
But it seemed Cubicle 7’s reach exceeded its grasp as Saturnine came and went with scarce little on the progress of production, and by the time we arrived at the end of last December’s production update, it was given only a passing mention. (“work continues apace…”).
Meanwhile, it’s been radio silence over at their official blog:
The general temperature of the RPG community seems to be, “we’d rather wait and let them get it right instead of rushing it out and getting it wrong,” a position I find reasonable. It’s not like there isn’t plenty else for us to play to get our Warhammer RPG fix. But at the same time, this seems a clear case of overpromise and underdeliver, and the risk a company runs there is that if the end product doesn’t at least meet (let alone clear) consumer expectations, opinion may sour more quickly than it otherwise would.
I also have to question the “broad versus deep” strategy, given that we’re now up to three distinct game systems each for Warhammer 40K (Wrath & Glory, Imperium Maledictum, Horus Heresy1) and Fantasy (WFRP, Soulbound2, The Old World). Obviously there’s precedent here, with previous license-holder Fantasy Flight also stratifying the product line (Dark Heresy3, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, Black Crusade, and Only War).
![Warhammer 40,000: 500 Worlds [Trailers] - IGN](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pMLF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8aafdbe4-8d60-4031-bcdf-7a3c879c9fc6_474x474.webp "Warhammer 40,000: 500 Worlds [Trailers] - IGN")
An Alternative Proposal
As a fun thought experiment, here’s what I’d love to see for 40K. Mechanically, streamline down to one system. I don’t care which one, just pick a horse and focus on developing it. Other RPG game settings out there don’t split their attention between multiple mechanical systems, and while Warhammer is a massive property in many areas it’s not so vast for role-playing that it necessarily needs to support so many product lines.
Then, I’d explore the opportunity to more closely partner with Games Workshop. GW churns out a massive amount of usable lore, making tie-in products potentially low-hanging fruit. Cubicle 7 was excited to line up the Horus Heresy RPG preorder with the release of the Saturnine box for the marketing boost; imagine the extra buzz they might get if they released the “Ultramar Campaign Sourcebook” at the same time as the 500 Worlds narrative expansion dropped.
New Ultramarine-focused lore. NPC and planet profiles. Adventure hooks and scenarios that tied in with Guilliman’s push to reclaim the lost planets. Want to get really crazy? Split the difference and support both Wrath & Glory and Imperium Maledictum content in the same book. After all, with much of the content system-agnostic there’s plenty of room for dual stat blocks or appendices.
Then- and I’m gonna shoot the moon here, because I’m completely untethered by logistical reality- release mini-modules based on Black Library novels. Sticking to 500 Worlds here, there’s plenty to be mined from, say, Rob Young’s Master of Rites (review) for adventurers in both game systems.
Alright, that’s enough wishcasting for now, but this is a space I’ll continue to return to here. Watch this space!
ICYMI
While we await more from those stalwarts toiling away in the word mines at Cubicle 7, around the webway there’s been a bit of Warhammer RPG content to keep our appetites whetted.
Tabletop Tactics has kicked off a playthrough of Wrath & Glory, which is also a good opportunity for those curious about the game to get a feel for how it plays. “In Episode 1, four Inquisitorial agents come together at the command of their Lady Inquisitor,” they note, “secrets begin to surface, and a trail of heresy leads them straight into danger - ending with their first brutal taste of combat!” You can check that out here.
Next, Optimal Game State posted a preview of what’s currently known about WFPR 5th Edition’s mechanics. This comes largely from the new Temple of Spite sourcebook’s PDF. Temple of Spite has some bridge content adapting it for play in the upcoming 5th Edition, providing an early look at what awaits us.
Gideon at Awesome Lies did an in-depth review of Bare Bones, a 22-page adventure for WFRP’s 4th Edition set in the Sea of Claws. Finally, Jeff at The Gaming Gang took a stroll through the covers of Wrath & Glory’s Darktide Extraction.
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the known upcoming releases from Cubicle 7 based on the available preorder information we have.
This section will be updated weekly in this column, with new or updated info presented in boldface.
Shipping Q1
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Allies & Antagonists Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Weapons & Armour Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Spells Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Prayers & Miracles Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Wounds & Conditions Card Deck
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Grand Duchy of Talabec Dice Set
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Character Sheet Pad
Shipping Q2
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Dark Gifts Card Pack (Q2)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Spells Lore Card Pack (Q2)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Bloodwind Spoil Map (Q2)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Artefacts & Wargear Card Pack (Q2)
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, Voll Adventures (May 2026)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Player’s Guide (April 2026)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Gamemaster’s Guide (April 2026)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Collector’s Edition (April 2026)
Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Sons of Russ (Standard and Collector’s Edition)
Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Adventures in Gilead
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Collector’s Edition
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Player’s Guide
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus GM’s Guide
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, Imperium Maledictum: Adeptus Mechanicus Character Sheet Pad
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game Starter Set
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game GM’s Screen
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Grand Duchy of Talabec Map Pack (April/May 2026)
Shipping Q3
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Temple of Spite
Warhammer Age of Sigmar Soulbound, Champions of Chaos: Core Rulebook (Standard and Collector’s Edition) (Q3)
I hope you’re enjoying this new weekly feature, and feedback is always greatly appreciated. See you next week!
Yeah yeah, I know it’s technically 30K, you know what I mean.
While the upcoming Champions of Chaos expansion is billed as a standalone game, it’s close enough.
With the game’s second edition a mechanical overhaul from the first, you could almost list it here twice.