Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector | Preview, tested Closed Beta

Warhammer 40,000

We tried the closed beta of Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector, Slitherine's new turn-based tactician, based on the “grim dark” sci-fi universe conceived and developed since the 1980s by the British Games Workshop.

Screen by Slitherine

Battlesector's "game ladder" is the tactical one, the same as another game on WH40K by Slitherine, Sanctus Reach, and therefore sees us busy checking, turn after turn, about fifteen units for each mission, occasionally supported by some vehicles. The gameplay very much incorporates the mechanics already seen in the aforementioned Sanctus Reach, however winks at the structure of a game of the tabletop wargame that gave rise to the franchise.

Each unit has a certain number of action points that can be spent in a single turn, which can be used to move, fire ranged weapons, engage opponents in close combat and, on certain occasions, interact with the environment. The "advanced" action points in a turn can be spent to put the unit in overwatch mode, ie ready to react automatically during the enemy turn, against any opposing unit that comes within their range. So far, therefore, nothing particularly innovative compared to the classic mechanics of this particular type of games.

Momentum

The real novelty that Battlesector proposes, and which has a significant impact on the way of tackling the missions, is certainly the introduction of Momentum points. Momentum points are a kind of bonuses that are awarded to our units each turn they attack or approach opponents. For every 100 accumulated Momentums, the unit can spend them to get an additional action or an upgrade to its particular abilities.

If the Momentum points are awarded for each turn in which we encourage the momentum towards the enemy, on the contrary they will be subtracted in case of disengagement from the combat or if we get too far from the enemy ranks. It is therefore clear that Momentum points favor, and absolutely encourage, an extremely aggressive style of play, based heavily on line fire and blade charges, rather than on refined and elusive encirclement strategies.



All this could suggest an oversimplification at a tactical level, but, fortunately, this does not happen in Battlesector. Charging with your head down and without thinking, in order to accumulate as many Momentum points as possible, is never a good idea, as we would end up inexorably cut down by the reaction of the opposing troops in overwatch, as well as losing action points "devoured" by suppression enemy.

This, combined with the ideal range of the various ranged weapons, a parameter that indicates the optimal distance to optimize the damage of each firearm, means that we must implement strategies aggressive as possible, but always extremely reasoned. Being greedy, and not wanting to demote at no cost, will inexorably lead us to lose much more than a few Momentum points!

The Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector beta we tested consisted of a couple of single player missions, each of which provided for the achievement of some specific objectives. The mission objectives that were proposed to us were the classic ones of the genre: to protect a certain unit, to secure a certain area, to reach certain strategic points in a maximum number of turns and so on.

Screen by Slitherine

In Battlesector we will take control of the Blood Angels, one of the most iconic and beloved Adeptus Astartes chapters, committed (at least in the missions foreseen by the beta) in facing the invasion of their native system by a bio-fleet of terrifying Tyranids, an extra galactic alien species that bases all its "civilization" and technology on genetic manipulation and the creation of real living weapons.

Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector, in conclusion

The units of both sides that we were able to meet during the beta, turned out to be very well detailed both in terms of aesthetics and functionality. However, they weren't very varied, being basically just tactical, support teams, some characters and some vehicles. We hope that the finished game, which we remember will be released in May on Steam and GOG, has more variety of choices, even perhaps in terms of factions in the game and / or usable, varieties in which Battlesector's "cousin", Sanctus Reach, excelled. .

During the test the game behaved very well, without slowdowns, bugs or structural problems of any kind, thus giving hope for the next release of the full title.

If you want to know more more about the Blood Angels, the Chapter of Space Marines that we will use in Battlesector, we recommend the relative Codex, available for purchase at this link.