Space Marine 2 is amazing but it's reintroduced me to an expensive hobby

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 has been a smash-hit on just about every platform, carrying that Helldivers 2 effect where every player feels like they’re part of something bigger.

After playing it for God knows how many hours by this point, I can honestly say it’s a contender for my Game Of The Year, but now the tabletop game is beckoning me like the Green Goblin’s mask.

Take a look at Space Marine 2 below

For those potentially unaware, Warhammer 40k isn’t just an awesome video game series, it’s a tabletop figurine game that can easily eat up thousands of hours of your precious time, as well as leave a sizable hole in your bank balance. To get started you’ll need to pick a faction, and unlike the Space Marine games everyone is on the table. The various Space Marine Chapters, Orks, Tyranids, Chaos Space Marines and many more are all viable options, so you’d usually just pick your favourite or whichever interests you the most.

After acquiring your figurines you can then paint them however you like and then start your battles, which seem complicated at first but with a bit of practise it’s easy enough to get your head around.

Now I’ve not played Warhammer 40k in years at this point, and even when I did it was for a very brief period because I was more interested in the painting than playing.

Smash-cut to my time with the online modes in Space Marine 2 and I’m getting the urge to pick the hobby back up again, mostly due to the in-game customisation. As I finished decorating my Space Marine to look like one of the Blood Angels I found myself thinking “yeah…yeah the Blood Angels are a really cool faction, I bet they’d be fun to play in the tabletop game.”

Focus Entertainment

I’m putting on new armour pieces and finalising the colours I want my guy to have, and then suddenly I’m scrolling through the Warhammer website, looking at all the awesome sets and their hefty price tags fighting the urge to start another expensive hobby. Sure you don’t need loads of figurines to play the game, but come on, you’d definitely want more especially if you want to try multiple factions.

To make matters worse Space Marine 2 has a roadmap of post-launch support, which means I’m going to be playing it for a while. I can already see my willpower wavering as I unlock more and more armour pieces and faction colour-schemes, eventually one of those figurine sets will arrive on my doorstep.

Space Marine 2 is a fantastic game, and I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone regardless of your prior knowledge of Warhammer 40k. The only downside is it’s about to unlock a new obsession in me, and I’m sure many others are getting the same urges.