Space Wolf trailer offers a first look at Warhammer 40K's tactical card game

Here's an announcement trailer for Warhammer 40K: Space Wolf, the free-to-play tactical card game that was announced back in August .

. If you follow Warhammer to any extent, you'll have an idea of what to expect. If you don't, I've got some bad news: the Space Wolves are just people, not actual wolves who prowl around and do wolf things in space. I know, I was disappointed too.

Hmmm.

The game promises to "blend the grim, dark Warhammer 40,000 universe, collectable cards and turn-based tactical combat." That sounds appealing, but so far, all we've really got to go on is this pretty lacklustre trailer. Given the increasingly variable quality of Warhammer games, it's too early to speculate about how this will turn out.

That's why I'm going to talk about the game Card Hunter instead.

Card Hunteris a free-to-play tactical card game that you can play right now. It's great: beautifully blending turn-based tactical planning with the randomised element of card games. Your deck is tied to the armour and weapons you equip, which makes it an instantly understandable process if - like me - you've never really clicked with CCGs. And the upside is that the random card draws force you to adapt and plan encounters based on the hand you're dealt.

If you still think free-to-play is automatically synonymous with manipulative greed, if you usually dismiss CCGs as being too random or complicated to bother with, or if you just need something to play for half hour during your lunch break, I implore you to give it a shot.

Space Wolf, meanwhile, is due out during the first half of 2014, for PC, iOS and Android.