Warhammer and strategy gaming has been on a bit of a roll lately, what with the excellent Total War and the great Dawn of War series. And now, the latest addition comes with Warhammer 40,000 Gladius: Relics of War. A 4X, "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate", joint ala Master of Orion. But on a planet with Space Marines and Orks.

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius has been designed to give four totally different gameplay experiences, depending on which factions players choose. Space Marines, Astra Militarum (aka Imperial Guard), Orks and Necrons each have dramatically different characteristics, both in how they develop and expand and in the way they interact with allies and enemies. This gives the game virtually endless replay value and players the chance to play out the same experience in totally divergent ways.

The deep storyline was created from scratch to allow players to explore an entire world and lead the expansion of an empire from the ground up. The discovery of ancient artefacts and the custom-crafted quests will reveal the secrets of the planet and its mysterious history as the story progresses.

Developed by Slitherine Games, Warhammer 40,000 Gladius is currently in development with a planned 2018 release window.