The hit rate in a Warhammer game is comparable to a thunderbolt shooting a 50-foot target, so you should be immune to its charms by now. But something about that world, driven by Sigmar's steely scrotum, makes me fall in love with it: no matter which faction I command in Total War: Warhammer, I'm addicted to the Internet, telling my teammates to "shut up and wait a minute" during the onslaught of "Vermintide", I also indulge in the banter of heroes in search of small tidbits of lore.

So when I was asked to review "Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground," the first Warhammer game set in this new title's setting, I felt the familiar excitement well up inside me. I felt the familiar excitement welling up inside me. Unfortunately, like many Warhammer games, it is a clumsy attempt to combine tactical turn-based combat with an impenetrable roguelike metagame.

Each combat starts with a single hero unit. As you accumulate "power" over the course of a turn, you can call upon subsequent units using cards acquired by completing missions or looting treasure chests during combat. This card system is an interesting idea and can keep battles unpredictable and destructive (especially in multiplayer) because your opponents have no idea what units you will throw in next and where.

Cards include not only units, but also weapons and skills, which can change the strategic use of troops. For example, the classic sword and shield combo can be replaced with a two-handed hammer that deals lightning damage, or a slow-moving unit can be sped up by giving it a +1 skill that gives it +1 movement speed even when taking damage. Campaign progress is reset when a unit dies, but the unlocked weapons and skills remain attached to the unit, and two of them can be chosen to participate in a new campaign.

The three factions correspond to different play styles. The straightforward Stormcast Eternal are humans wielding heavy armor and divine judgment; the Nighthaunt are a specter-like faction composed of low-armor, fast-moving swarmers whose heroes cast healing wisps every turn to heal allies and cremations that serve as spawn points It can be summoned throughout the battlefield. Magotkin prefer decomposition, so they probably party in a brown bubble bath at the far end of society's sewers.

I love their temperament, from the heroic Equilian's tantrums of dada as he moves between hexes to the little Nargling dancing around in a perpetual trance (further reading reveals that the plague god they affectionately call "Grandfather" is actually a pretty (Turns out he's a decent guy and can cure any corruption and disease the worshippers desire). Their playstyle is to scatter green puddles of corruption all over the battlefield to heal allies, damage enemies, and spawn units.

The longer the battle goes on, the more of the battlefield that is covered in corruption. Nurglings scurry around spraying green goo while the enemy frantically chases after them, getting rolled up by the tongues of tanky Putrid Blightkings or sprayed by Blightlords in the air. They are truly despicable and I love them.

In addition to normal melee and long-range combat, they can knock back enemies and push them all over the battlefield, cascading damage in a manner similar to the excellent monster-bashing classic Into the Breach: Nighthaunt. When Banshee is slammed into an ally, it explodes upon death, knocking the enemy back even further and causing them to scatter in terror at its death screams.

But aside from these sporadic moments, hex-based tactical combat is lightweight enough that it could have been the combat portion of a larger strategy game (Warhammer 40,000: Gladius would have really benefited).

The map is flat and scant, with the only terrain advantage being a single high ledge to climb over. They can also shoot through dangerous tiles like cracks and rickety passages, but they are basic. Curiously, the prominent physical obstacles on the map do not protect against ranged attacks, so be prepared for arrows to penetrate hard rocks and ruins.

All of these things, while unassuming, are useful. I am a big fan of roguelikes, and when "Children of Morta" and "Dead Cells" are accused of "not respecting the player's time," I am the first to defend a well-crafted grind. In "Stormgrounds," however, a single misstep can lead to hours spent before the entire campaign is ruined, and no amount of leveling or unlocking cards or new units can make up for the tedium of starting over with little variation.

To make matters worse, completing one chapter (which takes about three hours, not counting the time spent failing) permanently unlocks a second chapter in the campaign menu.

Instead, clicking to play the next chapter will start the entire campaign over at a higher difficulty level, and only after hours of trudging through that difficulty can the campaign proceed to the next chapter. Yes, the campaign you have spent hours on, leading your finely tuned army of units and skills, will restart not only when you die, but also when you win the climactic battle at the end of the chapter.

I wanted to finish the Magotkin campaign, but after 25 hours of playing through all three factions, I grew tired of repeating the same battles and storylines. It feels like the roguelike format is being abused to water down the game with three lengthy three-act campaigns.

The appearance and quality-of-life issues don't help either. In a game with such high stakes, the lack of basic conveniences in Storm Guard is puzzling. For example, you can undo a move at least once during a match, you can cancel a delayed action (there is a button but it does not seem to work), and there is not even a clear signal as to which units still have a turn and which do not.

When a unit died, it disappeared without animation, and the last remaining enemy unit was sometimes invisible. When I clicked "Save and Exit" to see if the bug was fixed, there was no warning that progress was not saved during the battle, and I had to rewind 20 minutes and repeat the battle. Another 20 minutes wasted.

The game's straightforward combat is more easily enjoyed in multiplayer, free from the burdens of roguelikes. Especially if they diversify the tactical utility of the maps and add more of Age of Sigmar's unique factions in future DLC, it would be a lot of fun there.

I thank Stormground for introducing me to Magotkin, but I'll go check it out on the Internet rather than dabble in a game that misjudges the fun of roguelikes.