Moonbreaker Mixes Exciting Hearthstone Strategy With Chilled Warhammer Painting

ign.com:

The worlds of tabletop games and video games have often overlapped. Here at Gamescom 2022 there are three different Warhammer games, and over the years we’ve seen the likes of D&D, Pathfinder and more adapted into a variety of video game forms. But Moonbreaker, from Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment, is unlike any tabletop-inspired video game I’ve ever seen. Rather than making the lore a reality, Moonbreaker quite literally is a competitive tabletop miniatures game played with figures you paint yourself. It’s a celebration of the paint-and-play hobby, and I think it has the potential to be brilliant.

Unlike the games I’ve already mentioned, Moonbreaker is not based on an existing tabletop game. Everything has been created from scratch by Unknown Worlds - but it does have everything you’d expect of a miniatures game; a robust rule set for turn-based combat, simple tactical choices that build into deep strategies, and a collection of very cool miniatures split into colourful different factions. Its sci-fi universe even has lore created by beloved author Brandon Sanderson, which is delivered via audiobooks. Effectively, it’s the entire Games Workshop hobby on your PC, just without the Space Marines.

At Gamescom 2022 I was able to play Moonbreaker for an hour, which was enough to get through its quick tutorial and one match of its fast-paced versus mode. I love what I saw, but I’m also surprised by the fact that, rather than playing akin to real-life miniatures games such as Warhammer or Infinity, Moonbreaker is actually closer in design to card games like Hearthstone.

It begins with your captain. For me, that was Astra, a child genius mounted atop a huge frog. She’s the most important mini on the board,