For gamers, the Warhammer 40K (it really stands for 40,000, with the said abbreviation being official nomenclature) universe represents one of the industry’s most enduring and iconic universes.

With a tremendous amount of gaming and non-gaming products (the novels still do exceedingly well) supporting it, and despite the archaic business model that the games are being marketed especially of late, the Warhammer 40K brand is still doing well.

The official image of the box, as revealed at Fantasy Flight Games' website

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) recently announced that it will be releasing the Horus Heresy two-player boardgame, on its website.

Well, I’ll be honest to admit that I’m no fan of the Warhammer 40K miniatures nor do I read the books, but this new boardgame has got me intrigued.

IMHO FFG has a decent track record when it comes to producing boardgame adaptations of popular franchises (as well as reprinting highly-rated boardgames), and from the spoilers revealed, Horus Heresy has all the ingredients for it to be an instant classic.

Set in the early days of the Warhammer 40K universe, Horus Heresy let’s you play out the pivotal battle between Warmaster Horus, who was once humanity’s greatest general, against the forces of good, namely the Imperium of Man, led by the Emperor himself. Corrupted by Chaos, Horus is attempting a massive invasion of mankind’s capital, Holy Terra, from both land and air.

Will you, as commander of the evil Chaos forces, succeed in your nefarious ways? Or will you, as the righteous and venerable commander of the forces of the Imperium, prevail and defeat the dark tide so arrogantly arrayed against the Emperor himself?

It’s got neat plastic minis. It’s got a really funky-sounding combat system. The art is, well, I like it, and people have been raving about it.

I therefore urge you all to check out the various preview articles posted at FFG’s website. It is expected to sell for a princely sum of US$100, and it may only support two players, but looks like it should be gaining hordes of fans when it’s out!

As for me, I am eagerly looking forward to it arriving here. Hopefully a review proper will be posted up online, when it does – keep on watching this space!