Key Takeaways
- Warhammer 40K’s popularity extends into video games outside the franchise, with modders constantly adding new content to existing titles.
- Men Of War: Assault Squad 2 and XCOM 2 are examples of games enhanced by innovative Warhammer 40K mods.
- From Stellaris to Ravenfield, the Warhammer 40K universe continues to be a major source of inspiration for modders across different genres.
Warhammer 40K is an immensely popular franchise. While Warhammer has its roots squarely in the war game and board game space, video games contributed to the IP’s popularity. The last few years have been especially prolific for Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy, at least in terms of games released. Even that doesn’t seem to be enough, as fans keep modding Orks and Space Marines into their favorite video games.
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Common wisdom says that mods exist to fill a hole in the hearts of fans, but that’s not always the case. Even if there are plenty of Warhammer 40K games spanning (almost) any genre imaginable, modders are still hard at work. One has to conclude that they just like making games. Playing a Warhammer game, after all, is quite different from making one. Either way, this means that players have quite a lot of choice when looking for a great Warhammer 40K mod to play.
Updated on October 07, 2024, by Gerardo Molina: Modding isn’t always an easy task, as there have been many instances throughout the years when mod projects have been slowed to a crawl or completely stopped by the original IP owners, making modding a risky endeavor.
And even those mods who make it out onto the market for players to download and enjoy often stop getting updates and are left in oblivion, only to be remembered by those who once played them. Here are some of the most famous Warhammer 40K mods for classic strategy games that work very well with the concept and the various different elements around it.
1 Sins Of A Solar Empire
With The Mod Warhammer 40K: Time Of Ending
Sins of a Solar Empire
Real-Time Strategy
Tactical
- Released
- February 4, 2008
- Developer
- Ironclad Games
Sins of a Solar Empire was already set in the middle of a Sci-Fi setting during a futuristic war, so adding the Warhammer 40K: Time of Ending mod didn’t really change the atmosphere of the game too much.
That said, this mod did provide the base game with a refreshing feeling, adding Imperial Navy vessels, game mechanics that limit ammunition, and new and improved play styles that build upon those Sins of a Solar Empire, which many players often felt were limited and a bit constraining.
2 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
With The Mod Warhammer 40K: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Yuri’s Revenge
Real-Time Strategy
Tactical
- Released
- October 10, 2001
- Developer
- Westwood Pacific
As far as major game overhauls go, Warhammer 40K: Red Alert really went above and beyond. Based mainly on Command & Conquer 2’s expansion, Yuri’s Revenge, this mod replaced all the sounds, graphics, and maps of the original expansion with those from the Warhammer 40K universe.
Adding factions, such as Imperial Guards, Space Marines, and Chaos Space Marines, this clever and complete mod allowed fans of both franchises to get the best of both worlds and have hours of fun. Unfortunately, this mod hasn’t received any updates for over a decade, but the latest file can still be downloaded.
3 Men Of War: Assault Squad 2
With The Total Conversion Mod ASV UMW 40K
- Platform(s): GeForce Now, PC
- Released: May 15, 2014
- Developer(s): Digitalmindsoft
- Genre(s): Action game, Simulation Video Game
- Mod Author: Multiple Authors
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 isn’t a game everyone remembers, being a 2014 World War 2 strategy game with average review scores. Still, the game remained popular among some competitive players and even attracted the attention of modders. For our purposes, the fact that Men of War: Assault Squad 2 isn’t very popular means that it’s cheap enough to buy just to try out a mod.
If there’s one Warhammer 40K mod for Men of War: Assault Squad 2 that fans of the series must try, it’s ASV UMW 40k. What’s interesting about this mod is that it’s one of the most popular mods for Men of War: Assault Squad 2, but it was only published in 2018, years after the game’s release. What’s even more impressive is that it’s still receiving updates, and players (occasionally) populate the online servers.
4 Stellaris
With The Total Conversion Mod Warhammer 35M
Stellaris is probably the most popular strategy game set in space, a surprisingly popular setting among fans of the genre. It’s only natural that the mix of setting and genre would attract Warhammer 40K mods. Even so, Warhammer 35M, a total conversion for Stellaris themed after Warhammer 40K, is an impressive achievement.
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Stellaris also has plenty of regular mods that change the game to fit the setting or the tone of Warhammer 40K without completely changing the game the way a total conversion does. A compilation of smaller mods can serve some players better, especially those who don’t want to complicate their game with too much extra stuff.
5 OpenXcom
With The Total Conversion Mod Rosigma
OpenXcom is an open-source clone of the original XCOM game, UFO: Enemy Unknown. Compared to the original, OpenXcom has far fewer bugs, it’s easier to port to other platforms and new machines, and, most importantly, it’s easy to mod. Of the many total conversion mods available, Rosigma is one of the biggest.
Rosigma is a total conversion mod for OpenXcom based on the Warhammer 40K setting. It’s the union of two older OpenXcom mods, Rose and Igma. It features a plethora of fully realized factions, from Orks to the Imperial Guard and even some sub-factions like the Adepta Sororitas.
With ZoranTheBear’s Warhammer 40k Mod Collection
- Released
- February 5, 2016
- Platform(s): Android, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Xbox One, Linux, iOS
- Released: February 5, 2016
- Developer(s): Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive, The Workshop Entertainment, Inc
- Genre(s): Tactical role-playing game, Strategy game, Adventure game
- Mod Author: ZoranTheBear
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
XCOM 2 is the 2016 sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the game that rebooted the classic series and gave it a new life. It’s also one of the most popular games in the series with modders, which says a lot, considering the popularity of OpenXcom mods. Mods like the ones found in ZoranTheBear’s Warhammer 40k Mod Collection, a project that unites many Warhammer 40k mods under one banner.
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While there is no massive Warhammer 40K total conversion mod for XCOM 2, the dystopic sci-fi series is very popular among the game’s modding community. Keen players can browse the game’s Steam Workshop page and select which Warhammer 40K-themed mods they want. Alternatively, they can select a trusty mod collection.
7 Ravenfield
With Warhammer 40K: Overhaul Collection
- Platform(s): macOS, PC, Linux, GeForce Now
- Released: July 3, 2016
- Developer(s): SteelRaven7
- Genre(s): Shooter Video Game, Indie Game
- Mod Author: Kbarwich66 and Lordaloa
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Ravenfield is an early access game that emulates large-scale conflicts in a modern war setting, not unlike the much more popular Battlefield series. Even though it entered early access way back in 2017, Ravenfield is still being regularly updated and has since added better vehicle combat and improved modding tools.
Those modding tools are what make things like the Warhammer 40K: Overhaul Collection possible. This collection includes a staggering number of smaller mods, mostly created by just two fan developers. The mods range from character models to weapons and vehicles and even some maps inspired by the Warhammer 40K universe.
8 RimWorld
With Phonicmas’ Warhammer 40.000 Total Conversion Mod
- Released
- October 17, 2018
- Developer(s)
- Ludeon Studios
There’s something about RimWorld that makes it a magnet for modders. It might be the low-fidelity assets, making it quick to prototype a cool mod idea, or the extensive mod support rolled out through the years. Whichever it is, fans of the top-down colony simulator know that somewhere, there’s a mod made just to their tastes.
This includes Warhammer 40K fans: a franchise so popular, especially one so ubiquitous in the modding scene, couldn’t be absent. The most beloved Warhammer 40K mod for RimWorld seems to be Phonicmas’ Warhammer 40.000. This mod is divided into modules, and players don’t have to install the entire thing if they don’t want the base game to be completely unrecognizable.
9 Arma 3
Too Many Great Mods To Count
- Released
- September 12, 2013
Arma 3 is the latest installment of one of the most popular multiplayer tactical shooter series. This “military simulator,” as the game is usually called, puts a lot of emphasis on cooperation and teamwork. This might not seem like the best foundation to build a Warhammer 40K mod, but the game is extremely popular with fans of the series.
One of the most popular Warhammer 40K mods for Arma 3 is Imperial Conquest, also called ICP. This is not quite a total conversion mod, but it attempts to switch every item and character model in the game with a Warhammer 40K equivalent. Other popular mods include Kullervo’s Warhammer 40.000 Factions, which adds a lot of new armies to the game, and Departmento Munitorum, which adds new sub-factions to ICP.
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