Warhammer’s upcoming fantasy RTS is simple, sleek, and thrilling

polygon.com:

Since Frontier Developments revealed Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin in May, the developer has been billing it as a “modern take on the classic RTS” — something with the sheen of the current Warhammer fantasy universe, but mechanics reminiscent of Warcraft, StarCraft, or Command & Conquer. As skeptical as I was following the initial announcement — the phrasing is a bit buzzword-y, after all — I came away from a recent hands-on demo convinced that Frontier may actually be onto something.

I spent the first of three hours with Realms of Ruin playing a brief chapter of the strategy game’s campaign. As the Stormcast Eternals — superhuman knights that use wyverns, huge weapons, and lightning magic to accomplish their goals — I explored a portion of Ghur, the untamed, swampy wilderness where the game takes place. I began with a small group of scouts, battling lesser groups of enemies belonging to the Orruk Kruleboyz faction, and sneaking past caves filled with rogue trolls. But after an ambush sent the scouts deeper into the wild, I gained control of a larger Stormcast force.

At its foundation, Realms of Ruin deploys the usual rock-paper-scissor triangle to dictate unit weaknesses: Offensive units, such as Vanguard Hunters, fare best against shielded units, such as Orruk Guttrippaz; shielded units more easily bum rush ranged troops, such as Man-Skewer Boltboyz; and ranged units can easily dispatch offensive units. Heroes, such as Sigrun, exist outside of the triangle, and have a variety of abilities to buff their troops or annihilate enemy forces. By capitalizing on each unit type’s strengths, as well as Sigrun’s ability to buff the defenses of nearby troops, I captured an Arcane Conduit, which I then converted into a