Warhammer 40,000’s answer to Talisman, Relic, returns this summer

Relic, the Warhammer 40,000 board game based on Game Workshop classic Talisman, is back.

First released in 2013, Relic took Talisman’s die-rolling, card-drawing adventure and transplanted it to the 41st millennium. Two to four players would move around the board, fulfilling missions and dispatching baddies to work their way toward the warp rift in the centre and save the Antian Sector.

Expanding on the older design of Talisman were a number of additions to Relic, including multiple decks of threat cards inspired by encounters with Orks, Tyranids and Eldar. The board game also featured a deeper levelling-up system of progression, as well as secret objectives with equipment to earn and corruption cards that could apply positive and negative effects to the various characters in the game.

Even the ultimate goal in the middle of the board could vary from game to game, with Talisman’s Crown of Command replaced by anything from a battle with the daemon Kairos Fateweaver to an attempt to take control of the Lost Flagship of St. Antias.

Relic was originally created by Fantasy Flight, and was left in limbo by the publisher’s break-up with Games Workshop at the end of 2016, which officially took hold the following February.

In October 2017, WizKids announced that it would be picking up some of the Games Workshop games left floating in the ether, including a fourth edition of Fury of Dracula released earlier this year and a reprint of Relic. The studio also confirmed it was working on multiple new titles set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, including a dice-building game and at least two board games.

WizKids’ new edition of Relic will be available both as a $70 (£55) standard set with unpainted character figures and a $120 (£94) premium edition with ‘highly-detailed’ pre-painted busts of the ten characters. Other additions include ‘upgraded’ player and scenario cards.

The new Warhammer 40,000: Relic will be released this June.