Warhammer 40,000's space dwarfs will make their videogame debut in turn-based tactics sequel Mechanicus 2 this year

A member of the Leagues of Votann in white armor fires a gun — (Image credit: Kasedo)

When Games Workshop first released sci-fi miniatures for Warhammer 40,000 in the 1980s the line included space dwarfs, also called squats, with a hairy biker aesthetic—like if the forgemasters of trad fantasy evolved into greasy spaceship mechanics. Never as popular as space elves or space orks, by the second edition of Warhammer 40,000 they were written out of the setting as a casualty of the tyranid invasion, and Warhammer players say old aspects of the lore that no longer apply have been "squatted" to this day.

The squats came back a few years ago, however, rebooted under the less insulting name of "the kin", with their main force arrayed as the Leagues of Votann. The descendants of human mining fleets sent to the galactic core in ages past, generations of genetic adaptation with technology they call cloneskeins have turned them into, well, space dwarfs. But now they wear cool armor.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II | Allegiances Unknown | Gameplay Trailer - YouTube

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Given their relative unpopularity and how long they spent in the stomachs of the tyranids, the squats never showed up in any of the many Warhammer 40,000 videogames. That'll change when Mechanicus 2 comes out later this year, though unfortunately they won't be a playable faction.

As revealed in the gameplay trailer shown during the Warhammer Skulls event, Mechanicus 2 will depict three forces using turn-based tactics to fight over a planet called Hekateus IV. Two of those forces will be playable, the cybernetic tech-priests and robotic necrons, with the mercenary Leagues of Votann as a non-playable faction you'll encounter in the field. Presumably we'll have the option of allying with them or wiping them out, and either way we'll get another amazing soundtrack of gothic monkstep to go with it.

Mechanicus 2 is coming to Steam and Epic this year. The original game is currently free to play on Steam until May 26.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

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