The Total War franchise has been running a press campaign for their 25th anniversary full of reveals, and after promising a new engine, new historical games and the Warhammer Fantasy End Times, there was one big ask untouched.

The game many fans have been clamouring for.

Today, to much delight, it was announced: Total War Warhammer 40,000.

It’s a big ask. Total War’s Warhammer series is, arguably, far more enjoyable than the gameplay of the miniature battles (of course there’s no painting, which is a hobby in itself), but it was of a kind with Total War’s historical systems: quasi ancient or medieval combat.

Warhammer 40,000 is a sci-fi game with tanks, planets, orbital weapons and space fleets, so it was difficult to imagine how that would fit the Total War model… but from the looks of the trailer they’ve blown up that model entirely as in the background there’s an exterminates (when you want a whole planet to have one last bad day).