Nominally speaking, the world of Warhammer 40,000 is technically our own. Just 40,000-ish years in the future, so far and away from Earth that any historical connections can easily be handwaved. Even so, there's a certain appeal to exploring grimdark settings before the space stuff. The upcoming wargame Marcher: Empires at War does so through the lens of an alternate history of dieselpunk war.
Created by indie company Golden Dragon Games, Marcher's campaign takes place in 1940, two years after Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination. You heard that right, Archduke Ferdinand gets to dodge Death for a decade and some change. As a representative of the Holy Roman Empire no less, immediately establishing how different this timeline is from our own. Much like Warhammer 40k factions, the armies here are just as geared for constant war.
The gritty retro-futurist aesthetic is what drew me to the world of Marcher. The major change comes from the Industrial Revolution occurring a century before our own, resulting in massive shifts to warfare. Not only that, the discovery of Cavorite, a wholly new element, enabled the creation of power armor and aetherships. The whole vibe reminds of Command and Conquer: Red Alert, with all these technological marvels in the absence of nukes.
As for gameplay, Marcher is a D10 system, granting extra depth for units and weapons alike. Terrain is both buildable and destroyable, making it an active part of Marcher's battles. The action economy boils down to two actions per unit, each with specific functions according to their role. If a unit tries actions outside their role, it may cost all their actions in a turn. Alternatively, a specialized unit may get such actions for free.
Marcher is an impressively thought out world, and it's wonderful to see new wargames in a world dominated by TTRPGs. Even better, the developers are so user-friendly, as the core rules and a majority of the lore are readable for free. The game has already reached its campaign goals, but you can still back it for early access.
The Marcher: Empires at War GameFound campaign ends on December 11, 2025.
Join the timeline where you're part of the Wargamer Discord today. For a return to the grimdark galaxy, read up on the latest Warhammer 40k codexes.