Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 shows Astra Militarum and Orks clashing in new Bilibili World gameplay

Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 has received a new gameplay showcase from Bilibili World 2026, offering another look at how Creative Assembly is translating the brutal scale of the 41st Millennium into the Total War formula. The video focuses on a conflict in the Armageddon theatre, where Imperial forces move to defend a civilised world under threat from an ongoing Ork invasion.

Astra Militarum enter the defence of a world under siege

The new gameplay setup is classic Warhammer 40,000: a planetary governor calls for aid as Ork forces threaten to overrun a civilised world, and the Astra Militarum joins the defence. That framing immediately places the showcase in one of the setting’s strongest strategic fantasies. This is not a clean battlefield duel between equal armies. It is a war of survival, logistics, massed firepower and attrition against an enemy that thrives on momentum and chaos.

The choice of factions matters. The Astra Militarum represents the massed military arm of the Imperium: soldiers, tanks, artillery, discipline and sheer numbers. The Orks, by contrast, are built around brute force, ramshackle war machines and aggressive battlefield pressure. For a Total War game, that contrast is valuable because it gives players two very different readings of the same battle space. One side wants firing lines, layered defence and controlled escalation. The other wants impact, disruption and a green tide that turns order into panic.

The Bilibili World gameplay is therefore more than another visual teaser. It gives players a clearer sense of how Creative Assembly may be approaching the core problem of Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000: making a series known for formations, flanking and large-scale real-time battles work in a setting dominated by firearms, vehicles, artillery, orbital assets and extreme asymmetry.

That challenge is central to the project. Traditional Total War battles often revolve around melee lines, cavalry pressure, missile support and morale collapse. Warhammer 40,000 requires a different combat vocabulary. Cover, firing arcs, explosive weapons, walkers, vehicles, air or orbital support and faction-specific abilities all need to feel meaningful without losing the readability that Total War battles require.

Context and current situation

Creative Assembly officially positioned Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 as a major new chapter for the franchise, taking Total War into the far future for the first time. The studio has described the game as a galactic sandbox where players expand turn by turn, capture planets, upgrade fleets, manage a war economy and deploy armies into real-time battles over planetary installations and regions.

That structure is important because the project is not being presented as a narrow battlefield simulator. The campaign layer appears to be built around planetary conquest and galactic expansion, with fleets, strongholds, orbital bombardment and world-level decisions feeding into ground engagements. In other words, the game is trying to connect the strategic scale of Warhammer 40,000 with the operational rhythm of Total War.

At launch, the officially confirmed factions are Space Marines, Orks, Aeldari and Astra Militarum. Creative Assembly has also stated that Chaos Space Marines are not included at launch, but are part of the studio’s future plans alongside other iconic factions from the setting. That is a useful expectation-setting point. The initial roster gives the game a strong Imperial, xenos and elite-force spread, but it does not attempt to cover the full 40K universe on day one.

The project is also significant because it is planned for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, making it one of the most important console-facing steps in Total War’s history. Creative Assembly has not announced a release date yet, saying only that more information will be shared later in 2026. That means the Bilibili World gameplay should still be treated as part of an ongoing pre-release campaign rather than a final representation of the finished product.

What it means for players

For longtime Total War players, the new footage should be read as another test of confidence. The big question around Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 has never been whether the setting has enough scale. It clearly does. The real question is whether Creative Assembly can redesign its battle language enough to support modern ranged warfare, vehicles and science-fantasy devastation while still making it feel like Total War.

The Astra Militarum vs Orks setup is a smart showcase for that reason. It allows the studio to demonstrate mass warfare without relying only on elite units. Guard forces can highlight artillery, armour and defensive positioning, while Orks can stress-test battlefield chaos, pressure and close-range collapse. If the system works here, it is a good sign for the game’s broader faction design.

For Warhammer 40,000 fans, the Armageddon theatre framing carries immediate weight. Armageddon is one of the setting’s most iconic war zones, defined by massive Ork invasions, Imperial defence and apocalyptic industrial warfare. Even if this specific showcase focuses on one civilised world rather than retelling the full history of Armageddon, the reference gives the footage a strong lore anchor.

For strategy fans outside the Warhammer audience, the appeal is broader. Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000 is trying to offer large-scale sci-fi strategy with a mixture of turn-based galactic management and real-time tactical battles. That is a difficult space to execute well, but also one with enormous potential if the campaign, battle systems and faction asymmetry hold together.

A showcase that makes the 41st Millennium feel closer

The Bilibili World gameplay does not answer every question around Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000, but it does sharpen the project’s identity. The Astra Militarum defending a civilised world from an Ork invasion is exactly the kind of battlefield premise the game needs: desperate, large-scale, faction-specific and rooted in the grim logic of the 41st Millennium.

The most important thing now is clarity. Players need to see how campaigns flow across planets, how battlefield destruction changes tactics, how vehicles and infantry interact, and how each faction avoids feeling like a reskin of standard Total War roles. This showcase is another useful step, but the real test will come when Creative Assembly shows longer, less curated gameplay and explains how the war for the galaxy actually works from turn to turn.