Another surprise drop this past week gave Wrath & Glory fans something to smile about, with the 30-page PDF-only Hammer of Tertium. While not officially a companion piece to 2025’s Darktide Extraction, the two combine to help bring Fatshark’s Darktide game to the tabletop.
Darktide Extraction served as a campaign sourcebook and five-part adventure, one designed for a squad of four Tier 2 agents (a flavorful mirror to the video game). The players are dispatched by Inquisitor Grendyl to retrieve some lost archaeotech from the depths of Hive Tertium’s ventilation warrens.
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Naturally, those hidden corners of the Hive are inhabited by residents who much prefer to remain undisturbed, from pockets of traitor Guard to Nurglite cultists to an esoteric, lost sect of the Cult Mechanicus.
While containing a fair amount of background information- certainly enough for an enterprising GM to take the party off-script and into their own adventures- Hammer of Tertium provides the engine under the hood for a fuller campaign experience based on the world of Darktide. It contains a wealth of player-facing information, including:
A new adventure Framework, “The Rejects,” which looks to port the full Darktide video game experience onto the tabletop.
A new Ascension Package, Grendyl’s Trusted, which inducts PC’s as low-level agents of the Inquisition (though also marks them as expendable criminals)
New archetypes, talents, and abilities for the Veteran, Zealot, Psyker, Ogryn, Arbites Arbitrator, and Skitarius
A few new threats to go bump in the night- and new weapons and wargear to help face them down
Meeting the Moment
There was some pushback from the WFRP community when Sylvania: The Cursed County dropped without a lot of player-facing content, which as I’ve discussed before more reflected a failure in Cubicle 7’s expectation management rather than an inherent flaw with the product itself. I was delighted to see so much in there for players this time around, though as a surprise drop Hammer of Tertium avoided the peril of advance expectation.
Unfortunately, that also means they avoided its benefits as well. When properly shaped, expectation is a powerful tool in a company’s business toolbox. I find “ambush drops” (or “stealth drops,” if you prefer) to be somewhat puzzling, because they forego the ability to whet consumer appetite and shape the consumer experience.
Now to be clear, I’m not advocating a full-court publicity press for a $5 product; the return on investment is unlikely to be there. But I love what Wizards of the Coast does for Magic: the Gathering, with frequent roadmaps keeping the drumbeat of anticipation steady.
To be sure, being a license partner like Cubicle 7 is with Games Workshop adds a layer of complexity to release scheduling. You might have every intention and ability to release a product by deadline, only to find your license partner sees something with the finished product that requires further editing or a rewrite at the last minute. Between the buying public and your licenseholder, I imagine it can at times feel a bit like navigating past Scylla and Charybdis.
In addition, with Alex Evans only recently taking the reins for marketing, he’ll be bringing his own ideas and initiatives to bear. That makes this a “watch this space,” particularly given that we’ve already seen a big push towards laying out a framework for greater communication in the last few weeks.
The other reaction I have to Hammer of Tertium is, why now?
Rise and Fall
Ultimately, the degree to which timeliness matters when adapting a property boils down to crossover awareness. If there was little cross-pollination between the Darktide video game playerbase and the Wrath & Glory one, there’s less to be gained by ensuring timely alignment of the products. In other words, they exist largely independent of one another.
On the other hand, if there is consumer movement between mediums, then timeliness is more important so that you can capitalize on the peak of interest and engagement around a property. With its Darktide tie-ins, I’m not sure where Cubicle 7 lands on this one- or even how much precision coordination is even possible when you’re dealing with multiple licensees.
Fatshark launched Darktide in November of 2022, following in the footsteps of its acclaimed Vermintide. Buoyed in part by the involvement of Dan Abnett (Necropolis, Hive), the game has had contributions from a significant number of other Black Library writers inluding fellow Black Library Readers’ Hall of Famers Aaron Dembski Bowden (Soul Hunter, The Emperor’s Gift), John French (Ahriman: Exile, Dropsite Massacre), and Sarah Cawkwell (Valkia the Bloody, Silver Skulls: Portents), as well as Jude Reid (Fulgrim: The Perfect Son, Daemonbreaker), Mark Latham (Kovos Falls, Judgement), and Victoria Hayward (Deathworlder, Blood Sands).
Since then, like many games it has had some ups and downs. Early complaints that tamped down some of the initial reception focused on issues like software instability and aggressive monetization. If No Man’s Sky has taught us anything, though, it’s that games can be successfully rehabilitated from early missteps, and Fatshark has continued to work on improving and expanding Darktide since launch.
With 2025 marking the “Ten Years of Tide” celebration, that made the release of Darktide Extraction rather well-timed. But Darktide’s most recent significant surge came earlier this year with March’s Beyond the Hive, the “biggest content injection since launch” according to the developer. June’s Summer update brought us the Skitarii class, seeing another burst of enthusiasm and excitement. Those both seem like more fortuitous delivery windows for Hammer of Tertium than the end of October (I talked about synchronizing publicity here as well).
But even if we’ve missed a potentially optimal window for marketing cross-pollination, that doesn’t mean that the release is unwelcome! Particularly for GM’s whose players have already enjoyed what Darktide Extraction has to offer, Hammer of Tertium is a very attractively-priced option to keep the good times going.
RPG Bestsellers
Bookwriters get their New York Times bestseller lists, so why shouldn’t we enjoy the same thing? While we don’t have any aggregated sales lists, we can use DriveThruRPG’s top-seller list as a reasonable barometer- and here’s this week’s snapshot!
Starting this week, I’ll also be including the metallic tier for each product. These are awarded based on the total volume of sales:
Copper: 51 units sold
Silver: 101
Electrum: 251
Gold: 501
Platinum: 1,001
Mithral: 2,501
Adamantine: 5,001
Warhammer RPG Titles in the Top 200:
#8 (-7, Platinum) Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Fifth Edition Core Rulebook
#9 (-3, Electrum) Imperium Maledictum: Macharian Adversary Guide
#11 (-7, Electrum) Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Wrecker’s Point
#36 ( - , Silver) Wrath & Glory: Hammer of Tertium
#155 ( - , Mithral) Imperium Maledictum: Core Rulebook
#194 (-101, Gold) Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Sylvania: The Cursed County
Total Books in Top 200: 6 (+1)
Last week you may recall we saw Cubicle 7’s strong Top Ten hold start to slip, so what we’re seeing this week should come as little surprise. Nor should it come as any alarm, either, as this is all part of the natural rise and fall of product engagement- though this is the first time I can recall of seeing a triple-digit freefall as in the case of Sylvania: The Cursed County.
ICYMI
Another week, another cracking review from Careless Conjuration! This time he looked at a WFRP fan-made adventure called Kemperbad, On the Ropes, which slots in well in Death on the Reik.
Gideon at Awesome Lies rang in 40 years of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay with a few choice links to previous articles examining the series- and a mention that he’s continuing to work on the forthcoming The Forging of Worlds book.
Meanwhile, Zekiel at Ill Met by Morrslieb put together a terrific WFRP buyer’s guide , listing the most important and significant WFRP titles for players and GM’s to pick up for each edition.
Not directly Warhammer-related (but certainly tangential), Cubicle 7 revealed that they’re also working on a role-playing game based on the Talisman board game, which was first released by Games Workshop back in 1983.
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the known upcoming physical releases based on the available preorder information we have. Note that Cubicle 7’s own delivery estimates appear to be just that- estimates- which is why many products have an upcoming delivery listed for Q1 while we’re already past that.
This section will be updated weekly in this column, with new or updated info presented in boldface.
Cubicle 7 Games
Shipping Q4
Limited Edition Warhammer Fantasy Map Bundle 1 (Nov)
Limited Edition Warhammer Fantasy Map Bundle 2 (Nov)
Shipping January 2027
Temple of Spite
Shipping Spring 2027
Fifth Edition: Core Rulebook (standard hardcover)
Fifth Edition: Core Rulebook (collector’s edition)
Fifth Edition: Character Sheets
Fifth Edition: Reikland Dice Set
Fifth Edition: Monsters & Adversaries Deck
Fifth Edition: Conditions & Injuries Deck
Shipping 2027
Sylvania: The Cursed County
Wrecker’s Point
Fifth Edition: Reikland Map
Shipping November
Starter Set
Gamemaster’s Screen
Shipping 2027
Talagaad Adventures
Shipping November
Limited Edition Age of Sigmar Map Bundle
Shipping Q1 2027
Champions of Chaos: Carngrad Adventures
Champions of Chaos: Dark Gifts Card Pack
Champions of Chaos: Spells Lore Card Pack
Champions of Chaos: Artefacts & Wargear Card Pack
Champions of Chaos: Core Rulebook (Standard and Collector’s Edition)
Champions of Chaos: Bloodwind Spoil Map
Undated
(Nothing at this time)
Shipping Q3
Macharian Sector Map (September 2026)
Shipping Spring 2027
Macharian Adversary Guide
Adeptus Mechanicus Collector’s Edition
Adeptus Mechanicus Player’s Guide
Adeptus Mechanicus Gamemaster’s Guide
Adeptus Mechanicus Character Sheet Pad (Q4)
Undated
(Nothing at this time)
Thanks for reading this week, and happy gaming!
If true that C7 is working on a Talisman RPG, this would be the second attempt by a company to make the property work and I have to ask why? Perhaps the later editions have spiced up the narrative in the game, but the versions I've played didn't have much meat on the bone to set this license apart from any other fantasy game. Seems like a questionable use of resources from where I sit, but maybe I'm missing something. I'd think a Necromunda RPG would sell much better. ;)