Warhammer 40000 Chaos Gate

This 1998 Warhammer 40,000 game was one of the earlier PC games set in the verse and one of the more obscure.

A turn-based game using a movement grid, each Space Marine has a certain number of action points per turn, used by shooting, opening doors, moving etc. As per the game, firing off a rocket launcher will use most of your points, while you fire a bolt pistol and move a fair bit.

The game came with a campaign, pitting an Ultramarine force (led by Captain Krueger) against Chaos Word Bearers (under Lord Zymran). Notably in this campaign, you had a limited number of Marines (which could gain experience and improve their stats) and if they died, they were not coming back. You also only had five-man squads rather than ten.

As The Lexicanum notes, this game came out before the third edition of the tabletop game came out, so many elements have been changed since then.


 * Anticlimax Boss: When you finally meet him, Zymran is a pushover for your Terminators, your heavy weapons or even your Assault Marines. He's basically a Khorne Berserker and uses the Power Sword instead of the more powerful Power Fist.
 * Awesome but Impractical: The Star Thrower Plasma Gun is a really neat weapon, but can only be used by your weakest type of squad (the Tactical squad).
 * Vehicles were included in the game but poorly implemented. They were only available in a few missions, and could only move about in very open terrain. Furthermore, the Rhino, an APC available in only one mission, was not very tough and, if destroyed, would cause all your marines inside it to die as well.
 * Ax Crazy: Khorne Berserkers.
 * Badass Army: Both Ultramarines and Word Bearers count.
 * Bald of Evil: Lord Zymran and the Chaos Cultists.
 * Big Bad: Zymran
 * The Captain: Captain Kruger
 * Cool Ship: the Battle Barge, your base
 * Critical Existence Failure
 * Drop the Hammer: The most powerful (non-artefact) melee weapon in the game is the Thunder hammer. It is usable only by your Terminators.
 * Eldritch Abomination: the various daemons.
 * Evil Gloating: Zymran does this in one cutscene. And all the Chaos Marines like to taunt you during battle (e.g. "I will crush the life from you!").
 * Facing the Bullets One-Liner: Both Ultramarines and Word Bearers do this. Sometimes leads to Narm.
 * Ultramarine examples: "Farewell my brothers, fight on!", "Long live the Emperor!"
 * Word Bearer exmaples: "I die foe the dark gods.", "Let the dark ones take my soul" and of course the narmtastic "I die!"
 * Hit and Run Tactics: Your Assault Marines can use these to good effect - e.g. jump-pack in, throw grenade, jump-pack out.
 * Humongous Mecha: Dreadnoughts.
 * Isometric Projection
 * Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Your marines use Bolters as opposed to the much weaker laser pistols used by the Chaos Cultists. However, the Lascannon is one of the most powerful weapons in the game.
 * Large Ham: Both Kruger and Zymran.
 * The Medic: Your Apothecary. Also a Combat Medic, but he is armed only with a pistol.
 * Mooks: Chaos Cultists
 * No Campaign for the Wicked
 * Perma Death
 * Powered Armor: There's 3 kinds: the standard Power Armour worn by all Space Marines, the heavier Terminator Armour worn only by veteran Marines and finally the Dreadnoughts, which are twice the size of a Marine.
 * Sidequest: You could gain more experience, but risked Marines...
 * Shoot the Medic First: The Chaos Marines really like to pick on your Apothecary.
 * Space Marine
 * Spikes of Villainy: The Chaos marines! Only Terminators and bunkers have actual spikes though.
 * Squishy Wizard: Averted. The Librarian and Chaos Sorcerer are just as tough as the other marines.
 * Storming the Castle: Some of the missions involve taking over Chaos fortresses, and one has you fighting to reclaim a fallen Ultramarine firebase.
 * Strong Flesh, Weak Steel: When they've gained experience, your Marines can sometimes completely shrug off bullet hits despite having lost all their armour.
 * Turn-Based Strategy