Games Workshop has revealed that it's releasing a roleplaying game based on the popular Warhammer: The Horus Heresy setting, and it's set to debut in 2026, with preorders opening up in summer.
The roleplaying game will begin with the massacre on Isstvan III, which saw Horus launching an Exterminatus attack on the planet, wiping out the vast majority of life. It's one of the major inciting incidents in the Horus Heresy mythology, and the one that uncovered Horus as the traitor he would come to be known as.
You and your compatriots will play as Legionary Consuls on the side of the Imperium of Man. Rather uniquely, you'll also create a secondary character like a Naval Commander or a Remembrancer, and you'll switch to playing as these characters "when their particular skills are required", according to Games Workshop.
The Horus Heresy roleplaying game is being developed by Cubicle 7, whose name you might know from its previous efforts in the world of Warhammer. The studio's prior efforts include Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play and Wrath & Glory.
Cubicle 7 head Dominic McDowall says that in the new game, you and your friends will get the chance to forge "legends" that will "rival those found in the classics" of the setting. He describes the Heresy itself as "as big as it gets" in the Warhammer universe.
If you're not familiar with the Horus Heresy, it's one of the most important events in the Warhammer 40k timeline. Horus Lupercal, one of the Emperor's sons and the Primarch of the Luna Wolves Space Marine Chapter, betrays the Imperium after being seduced by the Gods of Chaos.
While Horus and his traitor legions technically lose their war against the Imperium of Man, their efforts lead to the near-total destruction of the Emperor's body, which is now kept alive through constant horrifying sacrifice and venerated as "God-Emperor" among mankind.
It's a setting that has been covered in a number of Black Library novels, including the likes of Dan Abnett's Horus Rising and Aaron Dembski-Bowden's The First Heretic, among many others.
The Warhammer: The Horus Heresy roleplaying game's core rulebook and starter sets will launch in spring 2026, with pre-orders opening up this summer. Excitingly, Cubicle 7 also has an RPG in the works based on Warhammer: The Old World, so stay tuned for more on that.
