Games Workshop dropped a new trailer for Astartes II during its ‘Big Autumn Preview’ event, and the thing everyone was squinting for is finally on screen: Deathwatch and Terminators, in the dark, doing exactly what you’d expect.
It lands this December on Warhammer+, the company’s streaming service.
The Space Hulk influence isn’t subtle
Space Marines stomp through a shadowy interior that you just know is hiding something nightmarish. But the giveaway is a first-person shot down a corridor lit only by spotlights. That’s the beloved tabletop game Space Hulk, lifted straight into frame. Games Workshop said as much in a post on Warhammer Community, telling fans of the game they’d find plenty familiar here.
The company went further on what’s actually visible.
“We knew already that this was likely to feature Deathwatch and Terminators, from the unsubtle hints dropped at the end of the LAST trailer, and now we see them, they look like they mean business,” Games Workshop said. “The imposing line of storm bolter barrels and the crackle of a power fist, combined with the ominous surroundings, are certainly giving off some strong Space Hulk vibes.”
And then the detail that’ll launch a thousand forum threads.
“Somehow even more intimidating than the blank visage of the Terminator helms is that unhelmeted Space Marine veteran, who could certainly be described as ‘grizzled.’ And we think we clocked at least three different characters and Chapters of Space Marines in that trailer,” Games Workshop said.
It’s going to be longer, and that matters
Buried in the same post: Astartes II will be “significantly longer” than its predecessor. If you’ve watched the original on loop wishing it just kept going, that’s the line worth holding onto.
Why this one carries so much weight
If you’re new here, the original Astartes came from superfan Syama Pedersen, who was later brought into the fold to make the official sequel. Astartes is widely accepted as the greatest Warhammer 40,000 animation ever made, official or unofficial. The only real competition is Amazon’s Space Marine 2 animation for the Secret Level anthology series.
Its reach went past animation, too. Astartes was good enough that it shaped the look and feel of the Space Marines themselves in Saber Interactive’s hugely successful Space Marine 2.
About that earlier teaser
Last year’s teaser promised a scale and quality never before seen from Warhammer 40,000: melee combat, shooting, vehicle combat, even spaceship battles. Multiple Space Marine chapters fighting across varied environments. Tyranids, Orks and Tau.
None of it is in the animation.
“This teaser trailer is not actually clips from the new animation, instead showing a compilation of shots that represent the former lives of the characters that will appear in the show,” Games Workshop said in a post on the Warhammer Community website. “There’s a pretty unsubtle hint at the end as to the nature of the final story… We’ll leave you to speculate and start putting the pieces together yourselves.”
So the flashy montage was a resume, not a preview. What’s left is a Deathwatch unit investigating a Space Hulk, a row of storm bolter barrels and one unhelmeted veteran who looks like he’s seen the inside of a few of these wrecks before.
