Gladius: Relics of War is an outstanding strategy game which immerses players in the deep lore of the Warhammer 40K universe while providing a combat-focused 4X experience. For me, it addressed one of the biggest issues I had with Civilization VI, which was the lack of satisfying combat (in an otherwise wonderful game).

The game has over a hundred and fifty achievements. While most are straightforward, some are nearly inexplicable, several are hidden, and some demand an incredibly daunting task to complete. The goal of this guide is to assist you in getting all of the achievements while still managing to enjoy the game. (I also very much enjoy figuring out the meanings of achievement names, and so I’ve added my notes on these references.)

I have them all now except “There is Only War” (killing 40,000 units.) I’m truly not sure how to get this one (other than the obvious), as I have over 600 hours in the game and am less than a third of the way there. Does it really require 2,000 hours of play? Update: I got this one eventually, and yes, it took 2,000 hours!

Please note that I will *not* specifically address achievements which are completely obvious from the description, such as We Have Tanks on Our Side (Win as the Astra Militarum.) Review the General Notes for tips if you're stuck on these badges, however.

[No mods were used in most of these achievements. I did eventually begin using a mod which increased the number and variety of neutral units (adding spice to the game and increasing the difficulty) and this one did not seem to interfere with achievements.]

In general, to get any achievement you’ll need to follow a few rules, but you’ll still usually have a huge amount of freedom to set the game up in your favor.

- You must always play on the Normal setting for your chosen faction. This is the third difficulty level from the top in the drop-down menu. If you pick any other difficulty, you are not guaranteed to get the achievement.

- You may choose any color or name you like.

- Become familiar with the “Advanced Settings” tab of the game on the setup screen. Tweaks to these settings can dramatically change the tilt of the game in your favor.

- Pay attention to the wording of the achievement…for example, most don’t require you to win the game to get the award.

- Some achievements *without* the phrase “in a solo game” can be unlocked using Hotseat Multiplayer. Creating a hotseat game is subtle, represented by a “chair” icon on the Single Player setup screen. Note that this may only be enabled if simultaneous turns are *disabled* in Advanced Settings.

- When playing, if you select a unit and then *right click* on a target, you’ll see a projected damage indicator, and available targets from the destination square will be highlighted. This feature is not obvious, but incredibly useful for achievements which require one type of unit to kill another.

- If you surrender a map and select “Just one more turn,” you can see the entire map revealed, then go back an reload a save, benefitting from the new knowledge. Don’t do it if you feel like it’s cheating, but at least you now have the option.

- A fair number of the achievements require winning on Impossible difficulty. After practicing a lot while trying to get the achievements, I wrote yet another guide to assist you in beating Impossible in general. Hopefully the tips are helpful in this very daunting task.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3000649357

Let’s get started!

Don't read further if you don't want to know!

I've never personally cared for secret achievements because they can be quite frustrating when you don't know which faction to play to get them. Fortunately, the Steam achievement statistics list at least includes secret achievements, so the names of the achievements are never that hard to locate. The specifics, on the other hand, require a "guess what the developers are thinking" game. Or you can just read on...

Here's the list for Gladius. Some are self-explanatory, but some (*) are listed in the specific achievement sections below.


Know It Vaul
Explore 20 ruins.

Rogue Trader
Buy an item from a Jokaero Trader Encampment.

Devil May Cry
Destroy a Catachan Devil Lair.
Reference: A video game series about a demon hunter named Dante.

C'tan Opener
Kill a C'tan.

Roughneck
Kill 1000 Tyranids.
Reference: Starship Troopers is a 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein, which was subsequently made into a movie and a quickly-cancelled television series. Both featured the "Roughnecks," a Marine unit especially successful at killing humanity's giant arachnid enemies, the Bugs.

Apotheosis & Apocolocyntosis*
Transform Chaos Cultists into a Demon Prince and a Chaos Spawn (respectively.)

John Stuart Mill Was Particularly Ill
As Tau, convert 20 units to your side

Reference: John Stuart Mill was a 19th century British politician and philosopher who advocated individual liberty, as do the T'au. The specific line alludes to Monty Python's Philosophers Song...
"John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill."
(Shandy is a beer watered down with a non-alcoholic brew, so apparently Mill was a lightweight.)

I Am Kroot
Have a unit of Kroot Hounds kill another unit of Kroot Hounds.

Tau Can Play At That Game
As Tau, kill a unit with melee.

Canonically Faster*
Attack a Leman Russ Battle Tank with a Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon.

The Mouse that Roared
Kill a hero with a Ratling.
[Reference: A book and movie by the same name from the 1950s. The story satirized the Cold War, depicting a tiny country declaring war on the United States.]

Steam Cooking
Destroy a loaded transport with a Retributor unit.*

Bug on Bug Warfare
Kill a Catachan Devil with a Greater Brass Scorpion
(This requires two DLCs: the Chaos Space Marines and the Firepower Pack).

The following achievements are described so clearly that I have nothing to add to the developers' words. If, however, an achievement is confusing to you, please post about it and I'll add it to the guide.

This list does not include Secret Achievements, which are listed in their own section.

Battle Royale
Win a solo game against 10 AIs on a tiny map.

Teching No Prisoners
Finish the Astra Militarum story.

Dictum Administratum
Start an Astra Militarum city edict.

Where It All Starts
Found a city.

Second Foundation
Found a second city.
Reference: "Second Foundation" is a science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov, in which an elusive civilization is pursued by a psychic adept.

Breaking Ground
Construct a building.

Land Grab
Acquire a tile.

There Are Only Warriors
Produce a unit.

I Need A Hero
Recruit a hero.

A Little Knowledge ...
Research a technology.

Airstrip One
Develop a city to 25 loyalty or more.
Reference: A derogatory term for the United Kingdom from the novel 1984. The country was essentially converted into a fixed aircraft carrier for US forces fighting in Eurasia.

Top Clearance
Clear a tile.

Know It Vaul
Explore 20 ruins.

Prime Mover
Explore the whole map.

Rogue Trader
Buy an item from a Jokaero Trader Encampment.

The Living Stone
Ian got you to capture an artefact.
Reference: A call-out to one of the founders of Games Workshop (creators of Warhammer 40K), Ian Livingston.

Planting The Flag
Capture an outpost.

Nothing But A Hound Dog
Kill some Kroot Hounds.
Reference: A blues song written for Big Mama Thorton, but more famously performed by Elvis Presley

Primal Rage
Eliminate a faction.

Super Trooper
Attain the highest level with a unit.

The Walls Came Tumblin' Down
Destroy an enemy city.
Reference: Multiple possibilities, but likely a Def Leppard song about the end of the world

A Commissar's Solution
Kill an enslaved unit.

An Ethereal's Solution
Free an enslaved unit.

Super-Brolly 2000
Use a Big Mek's shield to reduce damage taken by your unit.
Reference: "Brolly" is an extremely British term for umbrella, a reference to the Big Mek's force field.

Entry To Eternal War
Finish a multiplayer game with another human player.

The Players That Team Together
Start a multiplayer game with a team of human players against a team of AI opponents.

C'tan Opener
Kill a C'tan.

Safe From The Old Ones
Finish the Necron story.

A Test of Metal
Win as the Necrons.

Wake Up, Sleepyheads
Use rapid rise.

Intergalactic Headbutt
Finish the Ork story.

Another Green World
Win as the Orks.

WAAAGH!
Reach maximum Waaagh!.

Pyrrhic Victory
Finish the Space Marine story.
Reference: King Pyrrhus defeated the Romans at Heraclea, but his losses were so great that "another such victory would utterly undo him." Play the story and you'll understand.

The Emperor Protects
Win as the Space Marines.

Special Delivery
Deploy a Space Marine chapter tactic.

Pugio
Win a solo game on medium difficulty or higher.

Sica
Win a solo game on hard difficulty or higher.

Falx
Win a solo game on very hard difficulty or higher.

Gladius
Win a solo game on ultra hard difficulty or higher.

Beardy
Win with every faction.
Reference: "Beardy" means experienced, particularly to a dwarf.
Note: Yes, *every* faction. You need all faction DLCs.

Nothing Stops The Storm Troopers
Enter difficult terrain with a unit of Tempestus Scions.

In The Shadow of Death
Kill a unit of Neophyte Hybrids while they are shrouded.

Immortal Kombat
Kill a unit of Guardsmen with a unit of Immortals from range 2.

Taxi!
Disembark a unit from a Land Raider.

The Doom
Finish the Tyranid story.

Roadside Picnic
Win as the Tyranids.

We Can Rebuild Him
Reclaim a unit [Tyranid city ability].

Roughneck
Kill 1000 Tyranids.

A Whole New World
Finish the Chaos Space Marines story.

Warmaster
Win as the Chaos Space Marines.

Killing Joke
Heal a unit with Bloated.
Reference: The Killing Joke is one of the best written Batman stories (plot is somewhat similar to the recent Joker movie), but the Killing Joke itself involves two people escaping from an asylum, so...I'm at a loss. I've confirmed with the achievement's author that it does refer to Batman!

I'll Huff And I'll Puff...
Destroy a fortification with a Maulerfiend.

Empty Nest
Maintain 3 Void Shield Generators on the field at once.

Down To Earth
Kill a superheavy flyer [e.g. the Astra Marauder Bomber, or the T'au Tiger Shark] with a Gauss Pylon.

A Long Shot, But It Might Just Work
Kill an enemy unit with the Aquila Macro Cannon at maximum range.
Reference: Possibly to The Annihilation Score, a book by Charles Stross...an odd series mixing fantasy and spy genres.

What Is Yours, Is Mine
Kill 10 units with Spore Mines.

Consequentialism In Action
Finish the Tau story.
Reference: Consequentialism is a cynical philosophy which essentially holds that the ends justify the means, i.e. the true measure of whether an action is "right" is the outcome of that action.
It's a good fit here.

I Did It, My Way
Win as the Tau.

For Great Space Communism!
As Tau, convert 10 units to your side.

Supporting Fire Warriors
As Tau, kill 10 enemy units that are next to other friendly units with overwatch.

Monat
Attain the highest level with a Fire Warrior.

Farsighted
Win the game with a Commander on the field. Reference is to Commander Farsight, a T'au hero and independent thinker.

Suited and Booted
Have 10 battlesuit units on the field at once.

Crown of Thorns
Kill an enemy Psyker with a Noctilith Crown.

Don't Spare The Horses
Transport a Lord Commissar with Aura of Discipline in a Chimera.

It Was Beauty Killed The Beast
Kill a Scythed Hierodule with a flyer.

Weapons of Mass Construction
Construct 5 Tidewall Gunrigs in 1 turn.

Yarrick Did It With One Arm
Kill a Warboss with a Lord Commissar
Reference: Yarrick was a Commissar at Helsreach who did indeed defeat a Warboss after the mighty Ork cut off his arm. Watch it happen in the fan-made movie, if you're interested.

Dark Messiah
Kill a unit with an Ethereal.

Brain Food
Kill a hero with a Lictor's overwatch.

Drive Me Closer, I Want To Hit Them With My Sword
Kill a unit of Ork Boyz with a Tank Commander's roll over them ability.

There Is Only War
Kill 40000 units.

Battle Focused
Move a unit after using an action.

Burnt Umbra
Kill an Umbra with a Flame or Melta weapon.
Reference: Burnt Umber is a red-brown pigment color, famously found in children's Crayon boxes for many years.

Mission Improbable
Win a solo game on impossible difficulty by finishing the story quests.

Dragged Back In
Restore a unit's morale with Laurels of Command.

Militarily Distanced
Win a multiplayer game against a human opponent.

Omniscient? Omnissiah Ain't
Finish the Adeptus Mechanicus story.

Life on Mars
Win as the Adeptus Mechanicus.

You Said The Magic Word
Reprogram 10 Kastelan Robots.

Xenarite Heretic
Power Surge a tile with 4 Librarium Omnis buildings.

Shock Jock
Take damage while Siphoned Vigour (an Adeptus Mechanicus power for Electropriests) is active.

Master of Machines
As Adeptus Mechanicus, repair 100 units.

In general, achievements requiring a total number as a goal can be done over the course of multiple games.

The Anvil of the Gods
Finish the Craftworld Aeldari story.

Rage Against The Dying of The Light
Win as the Craftworld Aeldari.
Reference: This is a nod to Dylan Thomas' poem about his elderly father, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Sadly, Thomas himself only made it to age 39.

Battle Focused
Move a unit after using an action.

Webway Guardian
As Craftworld Aeldari, win a game without any Webway Gates getting destroyed.

Autarchy In The UK
Buff 5 units with Autarch's Assault.
Reference: This is a nod to the Sex Pistol's famous 1976 debut song "Anarchy in the UK."

Psychonautica
Kill a unit with a Farseer's Mind War.

Blood For... The Other Blood God?
Produce an Avatar of Khaine.

The Banshee's Call
Affect 3 units with Howling Banshee's War Shout.

Scorpio and Orion
Move a Scorpion side-by-side with an allied Wraithknight.
Reference: Both are constellations; additionally, Orion is the eternally reborn god of the Elves of Athel Loren in the Warhammer Old World.
------------------------------------------------------

Succession Guaranteed
Attain the highest level with a Space Marine Scout unit [i.e. level 10].

Enforcers of the Faith
Win as the Adepta Sororitas.

The Final Countdown
Finish the Adepta Sororitas story.

Witch Hunter
Kill a Psyker unit with a Canoness [Psykers are Astra Militarum units, plus a few others].

That's a Lot of Talking
Increase the armour of allied Adepta Sororitas units by a total of 100 points by using "Stirring Rhetoric".

Miracle Maker
Perform 100 Acts of Faith.

Righteous Executioner
Kill 3 heroes with Saint Celestine.

Archaeologist
As Adepta Sororitas, make sure all Holy Sites on the map are explored.
[Note: Since the Sororitas DLC, the "Advanced" tab on game setup includes a setting for the number of Holy Sites. I recommend turning it all the way down.]

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Kill a Knight Crusader with a Cerastus Knight-Lancer [requires the Adeptus Mechanicus DLC. [Note: If you play on an easy setting, the AI might never have a chance to build Knight Crusaders].
Note: Ash confirms that you can get this achievement in hotseat mode, which could simplify the setup quite a bit.

Brother Get The Flamer—The Heavy Flamer
Kill 100 units with flame weapons.
Reference: It's a little unclear exactly where this meme originated, but it appears to have become popular after a RussianBadger 2019 review of Space Hulk: Deathwing opened with the phrase. Not a bad game, by the way. :)

Delightful Sufferings
Win as the Drukhari.

How the Tables Have Turned
Finish the Drukhari story.

Supreme Ruler
As Drukari, gather 1000 influence in one game

Multitasking
Kill 2 units in a single turn with an Archon. (The Archon's Level 6 power allows an additional attack. Make sure he's adjacent to two weak units, then attack, then use the power, then attack again.)

Troublemaker Twins*
As Drukhari, win a game with an allied Craftworld Aeldari on medium (ranger) difficulty against a team of Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Astra Militarum and Space Marines on impossible difficulty. This can aslo be completed in multiplayer.

Five Star Shipping
Fill a Tantalus with allied non-Drukhari units.

Mortal Beauty
Kill 3 units with a Succubus with one use of the Whirling Death ability.
(Whirling Death is a level 6 ability for the Succubus, a Drukhari hero. It's a little easier if you buy gear from the Traders, but I did it without any additional boosts).

Kill both an allied unit and an enemy unit at once with the XV107 R'Varna using the Nova Electromagnetic Shockwave ability.
(Also requires the T'au DLC).





As Space Marines, win a solo game recruiting only Primaris units. (You can summon Fortresses of Redemption, however).

Reference note: "Crossing the Rubicon" is the procedure to convert "Firstborn" (i.e. normal) Space Marines into the larger, stronger Primaris Marines. It's also an idiom referring to an irrevocable decision, which is itself a reference to Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon River in Italy, thereby starting the civil war which ended the Roman Republic.

As Space Marines, control 10 Primaris Repulsor Executioners at the same time.

Research all technologies with any one faction.

This is fairly self-explanatory, but you often win before getting it. You can still get it if you beat your opponent before all research is complete. Select the “Just One More Turn” option at the end of the game, and finish your research.

Notes: An STC, or Standard Template Construct, was a comprehensive library of human knowledge during the Golden Age of Man before the subsequent Dark Age (the Age of Strife) which in turn preceded the current Imperium of Man. These fonts of knowledge are treasured artifacts in the 41st century.

Eliminate all native life on Gladius.

You must kill all neutrals (grey units) on the planet. I included Webway gates when I got the achievement, but I’m not sure if it’s a requirement (note...it's been confirmed that Webway gates are included in the neutral count...see Discussion). Use advanced settings to trim down the number of neutrals and Gates to make this easier.

By using the “Just One More Turn” option at the end of the game you can view all units on the map and track down that last pesky Kroot hound.

Finish a multiplayer game with another human player.


You don’t have to win, and you can be on the same team. I did this with friends online, so I don’t know if Hotseat will work.

Kill the Lord of Skulls.


The Lord of Skulls appears only if you have the downloadable content active in your game. He is the toughest unit in the game, but has a particular Achilles’ heel. You can simply wear him down the traditional way with high-tier units attacking over and over, but you only have ten turns so you’ll need to be prepared (or lucky) to have a decent strike force within range when he appears. Alternately, he has a devastating close melee attack, which means that a Chaos Lord with fully-leveled Ichor Blood can one-shot him (on defense). I couldn’t believe it myself.

My Chaos Lord even survived with one hit point! (I assume that the Tyranids could use this trick to a lesser extent as well.)


Note: “Skulls for the Skull Throne” is a reference to Khorne, the Chaos God of mindless bloodthirst. He has a penchant for the skulls of the defeated (he isn’t picky about who that is), piled into great heaps by those seeking his favor.

Finish a hotseat game.


This achievement can be cheesed fairly badly by starting a hotseat game and surrendering.

Note: “Fratricide” is the act of killing one’s brother.

Execute a coward.

As Astra Militarum, create a Lord Commissar and move it next to another unit (typically a unit of Guardsmen). Select the Commissar’s execute power, and then use it on your own unit to destroy one of the members. I don’t think it matters what the morale of the target unit is.

Notes: This is a reference to the completely unforgiving nature of the Empire’s loyalty requirements, as well as to the fact that Guardsmen are the most “normal” of the troops in this game and tend to lose morale easily when confronted with the horrors of the battlefield.

Side note based on a comment I’ve seen twice now: “Defence” is *not* a misspelling (despite what Steam is telling me as I type this)! It is the British spelling of "defense" (American spellings are currently used about twice as often globally as their British counterparts). Warhammer is a traditionally British game, and as such adheres generally to the Queen’s King's English.

Attack with Flash Gitz without moving.

(Requires the Reinforcement Pack DLC).

I had previously listed this as self-explanatory, but after a comment, I realized that the wording is actually somewhat confusing.

I think I got this achievement by simply attacking with the Flash Gitz (an Ork unit) without first moving them. However, I can't completely remember, so Ash's explanation is probably the safest: Use overwatch!

First, research and produce the Gitz, then move them towards an enemy unit or units (neutrals are fine) and don't fire. When a unit of Stingwings (or whatever) moves close, the Gitz' overwatch should trigger...if you haven't moved the Gitz, the achievement should be yours.

To make it a little easier, make sure that the Gitz are in clear terrain so they can trigger at range 2; also, remember that some units like Kroot hounds and Catachan devils don't trigger overwatch.

Lore note:
The title is a reference to the Flash Gitz favorite weapons, Snazz Guns. Basically, these are just shootas "snazzed up" with various attachments, most of which are useless except to broadcast the ego of the wielder.

Kill an enemy Psyker with a Noctilith Crown.

The Wyrdvane Psyker is an Astra Militarum unit which uses the force of the Warp as a weapon. The Noctilith Crown is a defensive structure created by Chaos Cultists after researching the appropriate technology. Getting the two together can be a chore, so I recommend sending a number of Chaos Cultists to the front.

When a psyker appears, build the crown but leave the psyker alone so it doesn’t retreat. The Crown can fire at a range of two spaces on the following turn, but you’ll need to weaken the psyker with another unit to get the kill.
I assume you can kill the Primaris Psyker as well (an Astra hero) to get the achievement.

Notes:
The Crown of Thorns is a reference to the literal crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head at the time of the crucifixion. Since then, the term has come to mean a mocking show of respect... in that sense, the warp tear of the Noctilith mocks the warp powers of the Psykers, and is designed specifically to injure them.

The Chaos Gods take their pawns' lives with as much glee as their foes'.

This achievement simply happened to me while I was playing, so I'm piecing together the path from Ash, Ivelios, and others' contributions. I think both the name and description are a little misleading, as they seem to imply that the cultist sacrifice city boost should be a part of the solution. This is confirmed to barely be the case (see below).

You need to kill 1,000 Chaos cultists ("models," meaning individuals, not squads).

• A "squad" of cultists is 10 cultists strong, so you'll get credit for 10 kills by destroying a full-health enemy squad.
  
• Neutral units count toward your total.
  
• Counter-intuitively, sacrificing your own cultists does not count all ten individuals, only giving a single point toward the goal of 1,000.
  
• No downloadable content is required.
  
• Killing part of a squad (e.g. killing five of the ten individuals) does not appear to add to the counter.
  
• Losing units in wire weed does not appear to count toward your total.

Transform Chaos Cultists into a Demon Prince and a Chaos Spawn (respectively.)

[These are two separate, but very similar achievements.]

Chaos cultists can actually become fairly solid fighting units when you give them Chaos Blessings, Marks, and they pile up the boons of Chaos (such as Diamond Skin, etc.) You should be building a lot of these anyway as they are fuel for the fires of industry in the cities, very inexpensive, and they are also your settler units. Send out groups alongside stronger units (such as the Chaos Lord), and let the cultists get the final blow to actually kill the enemy unit. The killing blow is the only way to transform the unit.

The odds of transformation are very low, so you could get lucky and have both the achievements immediately, or play an entire game and get neither. As an example, I recently completed a 140 turn Chaos game. I built at least twenty Chaos Cultists and attacked with them frequently…two became Demon Princes and none became Chaos Spawn (although a fully leveled unit of Havocs did. Grrr…..)

Some unconfirmed possibilities:
- I believe this is triggered as a boon, which means that the Chaos Lord's passive power should increase the odds of occurrence.
- I also think that the developers made transformation less likely with higher level units (to prevent your experienced troops from becoming Spawn). This is unconfirmed.

Note: “Apotheosis” is, in this context, the elevation of something to divine status. In Warhammer 40K, becoming a Daemon Prince is seen as the ultimate reward for service to the Chaos gods. “Apocolocyntosis” is a much more obscure word which was invented in Roman times as part of a play satirizing the “apotheosis” of the Emperor Claudius (Roman emperors were traditionally accorded divine status). In this context, I interpret it to mean that becoming a Chaos Spawn (which is a twisted wreck of a creature) is a mockery of the hoped-for transformation to Daemonic royalty. A sort of “joke’s on you” gift from the Chaos Gods. [You’ll know what I mean when one of your senior Chaos Marines is “promoted” to being a Spawn.]

Prevent 3 units from doing overwatch attacks with a Chaos Rhino with full cargo.


“Full cargo” means that the Rhino needs to have three units aboard, but the type doesn’t matter. This one is tricky for three reasons: You need the Dirge Caster technology to avoid overwatch; also, because the Rhino only avoids overwatch on *adjacent units* (i.e. units two spaces away such as Neophytes will still get an overwatch shot). Finally, it’s tough to slide a Rhino adjacent to three units because zones of control will prevent movement. Be patient and it’ll happen. I found the best solution was to wound, but not kill, a bunch of neutral Stingwings and then follow them back to where they were healing.

Note: The reference is to the Simon & Garfunkel classic folk song “The Sound of Silence.”

Even the Empire's mightiest war machines are fodder to a Chaos Lord.

The description is a little unclear, but the actual achievement is straightforward. The “Raider” is the Space Marines’ Land Raider tank, a ninth-tier armored unit. Damage a Land Raider below 50% health, and then finish it with a Chaos Lord’s Exalted Strike ability. Land Raiders have a lot of health and armor, so you may want to buy a few weapons at the Trader Encampment for the Lord. Also, he’ll need to be level 6 to use Exalted Strike. [In retrospect, I didn’t try to get the achievement *without* Exalted Strike, so any killing blow may unlock the badge. [b]Now confirmed, you do need to use Exalted Strike to complete the achievement (see the Discussion)[/b].]

If you want to ensure that you encounter a Land Raider, you can play through the Chaos campaign storyline. The final encounter will spawn waves of Space Marine vehicles, including Land Raiders.

Notes: Ram raiding is the act of driving a heavy vehicle through a storefront, typically in order to rob it. A “Raider” is also a blockish Dodge Ram 4x4 sports utility vehicle from the 1980s. While neither really fits the achievement, I assume the reference is to the first phrase…?

Sacrifice Chaos Cultists to boost growth on a city with an active Rite of Chaos and Our Lives for the Gods researched.


Just make sure you do the listed actions in the correct order, i.e. research the technology, then activate the Rite, and then sacrifice the Cultists. Our Lives for the Gods is a Tier 10 technology, so this will be a late-game achievement.

Blind 5 units with Warp Talons in a single jump.

When Warp Talons end a Jump action, they automatically blind all infantry and monster units around them. The hard part here is finding an empty space surrounded on five sides by critters. To get the achievement, I relied on the fact that AI units seem drawn to low-armor foes.

Catachan Devils are ideal for our purposes because they

• Appear in large numbers
  
• Don't tend to attack until attacked
  
• Swarm around low-armor units
  
• Have a high movement rate
  
• Ignore zone of control

I found that if you attack a Catachan Devil hive with one unit, and then have a different low armor unit (such as Chaos Cultists) nearby on open ground, the Devils will often move to completely surround the sacrificial unit (sounds like something Khorne would approve, doesn’t it?) If the sacrificial unit doesn’t die, simply disband it, and then drop the Talons into the resulting empty space.

Note: The achievement is named for a 1970s Stealers Wheels song which laments the stress of dealing with the business aspect of music.

Use Master of Possession's Incursion while under the effects of Venomcrawler's Reservoir of Daemonic Energy.


A level 6 Master of Possession can use a power called Incursion to summon a random mid-level ally. Venomcrawlers have a passive power to shorten the cooldown of this skill. Just make sure there’s a Venomcrawler next to your Master of Possession when you activate the skill.


Note: “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is most famously a quote from Shakespeare’s MacBeth (the scene with the three witches), but I think the reference is to a classic 1960s Ray Bradbury novel of the same name about a demonic sorcerer who grants wishes but feeds off of enslaved people to gain power. Great book, by the way.

These icons shine brightly in the Warp, gathering the malefic energies of Chaos to those who bear them.


I'm discussing this achievement because the description really doesn't give any guidance. The hint here isn’t in the description, but in the picture of the achievement. Research and bestow all four of the Marks of Chaos and the Mark of Vengeance (which can go on any unit, even one with another Mark of Chaos).

Reference: This one is unclear, as the phrase "Good Servant" is traditionally associated with a Gospel Parable about faith and virtue to God. However, that seems a little too twisted for a Gladius reference, so I'm assuming "a cigar is just a cigar" here. :)

As T'au, build every type of building in a city, with no duplicates.


The purpose of this achievement is to maximize the Tau’s unique loyalty bonus from not duplicating buildings. Build just one of each type of building to get it; the highest tier building is the aircraft factory. There is no way to deconstruct a building once it's done, so if you accidentally overbuild, you'll need a new city (or a saved game).

Remember that every city starts with a “building builder” building 😊 (the nearly unpronounceable Brachyuran'm Foundry). The icon looks like a construction crane. Don't build a second one by accident.

If you do this as a strategy rather than just for the achievement, you end up with a remarkably loyal and productive city which is capped at size 15 but is a steady producer of everything. Three cities like this let me beat Ultrahard without much difficulty.

Note: The word Utopia was coined by Thomas More, and was used to describe an island where all people lived in harmony; this is the society the T'au seek. However, More acknowledged the unlikeliness of such a place in the word itself, which literally translates to “no place” even though it’s a sound-alike for the Greek word eu-topia, meaning “the good place.” [This is probably too many layers deep to be a reference to the TV show, but it would an appropriate one 😊 ]

Kill a Dreadnought unit with a battlesuit unit.


The reference is a little obscure, but the achievement is straightforward…use any T’au unit labeled “Battlesuit” (e.g. XV8 Crisis Battlesuits) to get the killing blow on a Dreadnought, which is a Space Marine armored walker unit. Dreadnoughts do not appear in the campaign story, so you’ll need to face off against an AI opponent.

Notes: The reference is to Neon Genesis Evangelion, a Japanese animated series of a subtype called mecha anime. In this series, a group of human pilots in biomechanical giants square off against an alien race of semi-robotic spiritual beings called Angels. “Evangelion” is a religious reference to Good News, or the Gospel…the series delves deeply into references to faith, history, and literature. It's difficult stuff to watch, but has an extremely devoted following.

The name has been tweaked somewhat, with “Devil” replacing the “Angel” in the last word. I *think* that Argon was chosen because it’s the next noble gas in the periodic table of elements below Neon. Please correct me if there’s something deeper there! 😊

Construct 5 Tidewall Gunrigs in 1 turn.

You’ll need to produce 5 Builder Drones, which in turn come from the Brachyuran'm Foundry (the main construction building). Once you have these (and the Tidewall Gunrig technology), you then need to make sure you have at least 100 each of energy and ore. Now, cycle through your Builders and create a Gunrig from each.

Note: Gunrigs are actually excellent weapons, and five of them make short work of the most challenging neutrals such as Umbra and Kastelan robots. However, they can only move if they have a unit aboard, but this unit can be the Drone that built them! Or, you can use all those Kroots you recruited earlier in the game.

Attack a Leman Russ Battle Tank with a Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon.

The rapid-fire battle cannon is the main weapon of the Knight Crusader, a high-tier Adeptus Mechanicus unit. I actually got the achievement by stomping a Leman Russ with the Crusader, but now you get the idea.

Note: This is a play on words..."canonical" means, in this case, that an element of the game adheres to the official lore of the Warhammer 40K universe.

Construct 20 buildings adjacent to your headquarters tile.

Does this one seem impossible? Hexes only have six sides, and each hex can only have three buildings, so how can you build more than 18 buildings?

Here's the sneaky bit...for this one, you need to own the Adeptus Mechanicus DLC.

The Adeptus can build one extra building per tile compared to other factions (making them a good choice for a "tall" city faction). This raises the limit to 24 buildings surrounding the central tile. Just pick a non-edge spot not adjacent to an compound, cliff, or water tile, and you'll probably have enough room to complete the achievement (you may have to clear some ruins or forest.)

Comment: Citadel Miniatures is a game company which was created in close association with Games Workshop, and was one of the first companies to mass produce fantasy miniatures. As an interesting side note, the color choices available to players in the game setup screen are Citadel miniature paint colors.

Use a Canticle of the Omnissiah on 10 units.


Adeptus units are either aligned to Canticle or Doctrina (or neither, like the Crusader). Their alignment is identified in the unit's description. To get the achievement, you need ten Canticle units anywhere on the map (which can include your collection of converted Kastelan Robots) and then activate any Canticle in the upper left of the screen. These will not be visible until you've researched at least one Canticle.


Note: The name is a clever pun on the Adeptus penchant for binding metal to their bodies; Adeptus Mechanicus priests consider this to be a blessing from the Machine God Omnissiah. A canticle is a religious chant. A “metal anthem” is a heavy metal song so classic and important as to be almost a religious experience for its fans (e.g. Enter Sandman, Peace Sells, or best of all Black Sabbath, the song named after a movie which in turn inspired the band’s name).

Attack a 10 armour unit with a Graviton weapon.

While the achievement is relatively self-explanatory, identifying the correct unit definitely isn't.

You need to use the Kataphron Destroyer, an Adeptus Mechanicus high-tier infantry unit (which means you need the DLC, of course).
The graviton weapon is a devastating anti-armor cannon. Finding an appropriate enemy means locating a very high-armor unit; fortunately there many to choose from in the game, including armor and infantry in the Space Marines, Chaos Marines, and the Astra, just to name a few.

(The image below is someone's nicely painted miniature of a Graviton-wielding Kataphron from the 40K fandom site, with a bit of background added.)

Kill 10 units with Spore Mines.

Spore mines are generated by the Biovore unit, which is a Tyranid ranged infantry from the Fortification DLC. They are destroyed when they attack, so be sure to hold the right mouse button and hover over the enemy unit. This will show you in advance if the explosion will be enough to kill the unit.

Stomp a Carnifex with a Scythed Hierodule.

This one can be more challenging than it seems, because the AI will often not build units of all types. This can result in a frustrating game where you never see an enemy Carnifex.

The way I solved this was to find an Enslaver, let it capture one of my Carnifexes, and then stomp my own former unit. And to be clear, you just have to stomp the Carnifex, not actually kill it.

Note: This is a reference to Crocodile Dundee's famous scene where the title character faces down a mugger with a knife. Completely unphased, he pulls a far larger blade, and says "That's not a knife. This is a knife."

Win a solo game by only creating Haruspex units.

Haruspexes are Tier 4 Tyranid monstrous creatures which can only attack in melee, but self-heal for any damage they inflict. They aren’t much good against grouped units, but can bring down a city with some patience.

I recommend a tiny map, maximum water, minimum neutrals, and very easy difficulty. I played against the Tyranids because they tend toward melee as well. You can’t build any new units initially, but you can use the starting Termigaunts freely and you can capture artifacts such as the Siren Casters. It’s harder than you’d think because you can’t found a second city, and you can’t build any synapse units, meaning that morale is always a problem which makes you easy prey for Enslavers. I built libraries, monster-production buildings, and influence buildings to allow me to turn out five Haruspexes and keep them loyal with “Override Instinctive Behavior” (which costs 6 influence every three turns per Haruspex).

Note: The name of the achievement is a sigh-worthy pun taken from the 1983 song “Hello” by Lionel Richie; one of the lines in the chorus is “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” The only relevancy here is that in getting the achievement, you really “Can’t Slow Down” because your Haruspexes are no match for high level enemy units (feel free to groan at my attempt at humor).

Play a game where a Webway Redoubt is constructed on each Webway Gate.

This is one the fastest achievements if you get your settings right. Use a very small, very low landmass map, with neutrals and Webway gates set to minimum. Choose Very Fast game pace. This will yield a map with only two gates (not including yours). Now it’s just a matter of accumulating enough influence and ore to open the gates and build the Redoubts (30 each for the first Redoubt, and 60 each for the second).

Tips: You can open the gates for free if you research Webway cartography; otherwise it’s a another 15 influence total. Also, make sure build the Redoubts on the same turn as you open the gates to prevent neutrals from attacking them. Unguarded Webways are fragile!

Note: The description is misleading, as it states that any you can unlock the achievement if Redoubts are built on all gates. This isn’t strictly true…AI enemies’ or allies’ Redoubts actually prevent you from getting the achievement, so you can’t get it if you pick Aeldari as the “other” faction. You can probably get it solo, but I didn’t test it.

Kill a unit with a linked Fire Prism

You need two Fire Prisms (Aeldari tanks); one uses its action to “Link Fire” with the other, who can now kill the target unit.

Note: A prism is piece of glass or crystal which breaks natural sunlight into its component colors, producing a rainbow effect. This process is called refraction.

Reference: Probably to the 1987 film "Fatal Attraction," in which a certain 'linkage' between two people goes terribly wrong.

Restore a unit's morale with Laurels of Command.


The “Laurels of Command” is an item in the Jokero Trading Encampment. Buy it, equip it on a hero, and use it on a unit with Broken morale (the red morale symbol). You don’t need to fully restore the morale to get the achievement.

Oddly, I found it hard to locate a unit with terrible morale near a hero. To better control the situation, I ended up using my old friend the Enslavers. I sent a Chaos cultist (a unit with a low maximum morale, 5 in this case) to attack the Enslaver, who promptly took control of my unit. The cultist had already lost 2 morale to the Enslaver’s ability. I killed the Enslaver, which zeroed the cultist’s morale but returned the unit to me. My nearby Demon Prince used the Laurels, restored morale to “Shaken” (yellow), and voilà, achievement!

Morale comes back fast, so have your hero ready to go once the enslaved unit is returned to your control.

Win a multiplayer game by producing only heroes.

I’m surprised how rare this achievement is…it’s second only to Adeptus Monotonous, which is probably the most technically difficult and requires downloadable content. This one requires ten minutes, no DLC, and no skill. It does require a friend, though…?

Simply play a game with a pal; if you both want the achievement, just make sure you both build only heroes and then save the game before you kill his or her headquarters, then reload and let your buddy kill your headquarters.

A few caveats…it doesn’t seem to work in hotseat based on one game I tried. It doesn't seem to work if one of you surrenders rather than losing your headquarters. Also, if you receive a free unit as the result of a story quest (such as the Chaos Marines' free Chaos Spawn, or the free Ork Boyz), then you can’t complete the achievement.

Not as Space Marines, win a solo game on impossible difficulty without founding a second city.

This one isn’t easy at all because of the limited production from having only one city. I assumed that the Adeptus would be the best choice because they can build the “tallest” cities, but I tried it and was soundly beaten…the Adeptus story is quite brutal.

It turned out that my old friends the Necrons were yet again the best option. As usual, I used a large map with lots of neutrals and a fast development pace to help buy time, with the Space Marines as the opponent. I turtled up and let the story units come to me, along with the Marine probing attacks. Gauss Pylons are amazing, by the way. Interestingly, the winning play came when my AI opponent killed the last story unit (a neutral Bound Coalescent) as they were marching on my city.

City placement is *crucial* here, as you might imagine. Necrons are probably best on lava terrain because of the production, but most importantly, make sure that your city can use all tiles in a three-hex radius around it (i.e. avoid water or cliffs which can block your expansion.)

Note:
Several factions (e.g., Astra Militarum, Orks) actually can’t win this one through the story campaign because the story includes founding a second city. Don’t pick one of those unless you're a glutton for punishment.

"Chapter Approved" presumably refers to the fact that the Space Marines, who are divided into groups called Chapters, would approve of only using a single city.

Win a solo game on impossible difficulty.

Impossible difficulty is aptly named...the AI has such a huge loyalty boost (120) that it can build effectively infinite cities and units.

For a traditional victory, you should set your opponent to be the Space Marines, which takes away one of the biggest AI advantages of spamming cities. Usually bigger maps and faster game settings allow you to close the gap in technology, and then you weather the first vast assault of air units, push your way back to the enemy city, and destroy it. (Alternately, see the description of the Adeptus Monotonous achievement for an impossible victory on a Tiny map.)

I have created an entire separate guide on beating Impossible Difficulty; the link's at the end of this guide, above the the Comments section.


For a story victory, two options stand out for your faction choice (I still recommend Space Marines for the AI opponent). The Astra Militarum has the easiest campaign to complete, with many of the steps actually strengthening your position, and most of the quest-spawned units are relatively simple to defeat. However, Astra ain’t easy to master! The alternative is the Necrons, who are probably the best faction to play as they have very strong units throughout the game, excellent defensive structures, and limited resource types to juggle. The Necron campaign is more challenging than the Astra, but the same turtle strategy you need to beat the story also works against your impossible opponent as you buy time.


Note:
A spatha was a sword used by Roman armies in the latter days of the empire. It was a successor to the traditional Roman sword, the gladius. See what they did there?

A couple of readers have confirmed that you can get the achievement for playing against multiple opponents not on the same team, and one commented that *only* one of the opponents needs to be Impossible. This provides another alternative, as the AI titans battle it out and leave you in relative peace.

If you somehow unlock this before the other, similar achievements, then it will automatically unlock all of the easier difficulty versions at the same time.

Win a solo game on impossible difficulty against Astra Militarum on a huge map.

Please refer to the “Spatha” achievement for advice. The story victory is your best bet because the AI will build up to ten cities, making a traditional victory a painful slog. I came close once (I controlled over half the map), but I haven't actually beaten Astra on impossible difficulty in a true military victory.
Ultimately, I had to settle for a story win.

Update: Okay, now I *have* beaten Impossible Astra Militarum with a military victory with a couple of different factions. I still don't recommend winning conquest-style...huge maps can make for 150-200 turn games which take days.

Win a solo game on impossible difficulty as Craftworld Aeldari on a huge map against a team of 2 AI Chaos Space Marines.

This achievement was (for me at least) surprisingly easier than I’d thought. Although I had already gotten other "impossible" achievements, I thought that having two impossible opponents would make the achievement unobtainable. As it turns out, AI allies don't really help each other and end up competing for the same space on the map.

I used the usual slate of settings to buy time (maximum neutrals, wire weed, and land) and the “very fast” setting for game pace. Impossible AIs will completely fill every open space on the map with their units by about turn 100, so whether it’s one or two doesn’t really matter.

I founded a second city on turn 10, and didn’t build any more. I turned out a few units along the way to gradually build my empire in the lower right corner of the map, and then raced to build scorpions and crimson hunters. These, along with a few heroes and other units, gave me a strong defensive line around my cities.

The AI first bothered me at about turn 70, but then backed off when I got my forces up to eight Scorpions, five Crimson Hunters, and about six heroes. AI units seem very reluctant to advance into overwatch, so I used that trepidation against them to establish a stable perimeter. I didn’t really start the campaign until about turn 65 or so, but starting earlier doesn’t help because you aren’t ready to kill the resulting neutrals anyway. The final wave of the story is *long* (to the point where I was wondering if it was broken). Ultimately, it was mostly a matter of patience, and I won at around turn 100.


Note:
Rhana Dandra is the Ragnarök of Aeldari myth, an epic apocalyptic final battle with Chaos which destroys everything except a few hidden repositories of Aeldar culture.

The level six Autarch power “Return of the Aeldari” essentially solves any resource shortages.

The final wave assault of the campaign is faster if you kill all new units as soon as they appear, but not much faster. You're getting near the end when the Avatar of Khaine shows up!

Win a game as ZhukoDim, but without playing.

The description is quite mysterious, and definitely misleading as you don’t actually “win” a game to get the achievement.

Start two-player game, but with both being AIs. For efficiency, use a small map and fast game pace. You’ll be a spectator, and you click “Next Turn” until one AI beats the other. (I assume this works if you spectate a human game as well.) I found this actually quite educational in showing me how the AI behaves. I chose the name ZhukoDim when starting the match, although it's now confirmed that the name doesn't actually matter (thanks rUl3r for the information).


Note: ZhukoDim is a strategy gamer with a bit of online presence. Apparently, he (?) is famed for enjoying spectating games rather than playing. Interestingly, he actually helpfully commented when someone asked how to get the achievement, but modestly didn’t comment on his inclusion in the game. Personally, I’d think it was awesome (so feel free to include me, Slitherine!)

As Adeptus Mechanicus, win a solo game on impossible difficulty by producing units only from Sub-Cloisters.

This achievement was the most difficult and ultimately most rewarding for me. I would only recommend trying it after you have a thorough familiarity with the game, because you’ll have to use every trick of unit and city management to pull it off. I’ll spend much more time discussing this achievement, as I required extremely aggressive play on a carefully selected map.

First, know the rules:
- You can only build Sub-Cloister units, which include the Cybernetica Datasmith, Fulgurite Electro-Priest, Tech-Priest Manipulus, and Tech-Priest Dominus. The latter two are faction heroes; you’ll need a mix of all four to win the game.
- You must play on Impossible, with yourself set to the standard difficulty. I do not know if you can play with more than one opponent (non-allied Impossible players can sometimes take pressure off of the player).
- The developers have kindly clarified a couple of important points: to quote, “reprogramming Kastelans and building cities is fine.” (I would add "not just fine, but critical.")

Challenges:
- It’s a race against the clock. Your units are all relatively low-tier, and would get squished by a Wraithknight or Crimson Hunter, so you have to get victory early.
- You can’t win with the story victory. Again, your units aren’t up to the task, and it would take too long anyway.
- Heroes notwithstanding, the Sub-Cloister doesn’t produce the Adeptus’ strongest units. You’ll have to avoid neutrals like the Umbra just to keep them alive.

My game settings.
- Opponent was the Aeldari, so that I could limit the AI city construction.
- Wire weed: Very high. Neutrals: Very high. Webway gates: Very low. Map size: Tiny. Land Mass: Very low. Game speed: Standard.
- Seed: 1067065306. This was a random map, but chosen after about ten attempts.

Strategy
The map is roughly circular, with the Adeptus in the northwest and the Aeldar in the southeast. There are two Webway gates, not including the opponent’s initial city. One is just north of our start, and one is roughly halfway between the opponents. Taking out those gates is an early priority. If the Aeldar manage to build a second city, restart the game 😊

My build order with a tech building, then an influence building, and then started on my Sub-Cloister, and then a second and final Sub-Cloister. After that I just did the usual city management. The Adeptus does best if each building type gets its own hex, but it isn’t critical. What *is* critical is getting that first Datasmith out as soon as possible.

The technology tree has only a few important nodes. Obviously, you need the Sub-Cloister and the two heroes, and eventually the Electro-Priest. I recommend Litany of the Electromancer (a bolt from heaven to finish off wounded units) and all of the usual city building unlocks. I finished the game with the Tier Six technologies Hammer of Wrath and Ryzan Savagery, which were helpful but not absolutely necessary. Choose other technologies to your taste.

Starting units are two Skitarii Vanguards. They are relatively fragile and short-ranged, but they hit hard and dose nearby opponents with radiation, which is particularly good against groups. Keep these guys together so that you can finish off (rather than sliver) neutral units. After polishing off the northernmost Webway gate and the few neutral units in that area, focus on expanding to the south toward the second Webway gate.

Once I had my Datasmith, I assigned him a critical job…capturing Kastelan robots. There are two just east of the first city, and one in the south. Kastelans have excellent damage resistance, damage reflection, and a range of two hexes, all of which you need to push ahead of your more fragile Sub-Cloister units (soaking overwatch along the way). After I captured the first two, I sent the Datasmith south to found a city at the point where the central Webway gate was; I reprogrammed the third through sheer luck as it advanced toward me just before I founded the city.
While I was gathering Kastelans, I had built my Manipulus, who provides an infinite source of high-grade healing for all other units. This allowed my Skitarii to kill several wounded Aeldar units who were trying to expand in the region near the central Webway gate, while constantly being healed. Note that an Aeldari Guardian plasma grenade attack will wipe out a Skitarii unit with a single shot, unless the Guardian unit is wounded first!

I began to push toward the Aeldari city, which is in a terrible (for them) location up against the coast. Despite the bad start, the city will pump out two or three units per turn, so you need to kill that many just to keep up. In my game, the AI focused on infantry, which are powerful but fragile, *except the Wraithblades* which are highly damage resistant and have a lot of health. At this point, the game devolved into World War I style grinding warfare; I gained ground excruciatingly slowly while cycling units back to be healed by my Manipulus and my second Datasmith. As my electro-priests joined the battle, I now had a much tougher unit to help support the Kastelans, and eventually I ground down the enemy and pushed into the city. The Dominus showed up late in the conflict, but still made quite a difference in occupying the northern front of the AI troops. Note that cities can only build units on open hexes near the headquarters, so you can stem the tide by surrounding the headquarters with a sheer volume of units.

I thought I might have lost the game when the first Aeldar Wave Serpent showed up, but fortunately they are quite vulnerable to my units, and it didn’t make much of a difference. Sweet victory, at last!

Other strategies:
Most of the other comments I’ve seen on this achievement recommend using the Necrons as your opponent, for the same reason as the Aeldari (i.e., you can limit the number of Necron tombs). I first tried Necrons on seed 696748974 (credit to Czarcasm2323 for the world), but I quickly realized that I was outclassed for two reasons…Necrons heal constantly, and all of their early units can hit at range two, allowing them to focus fire.

On the Necron map I tried, I was stonewalled by constantly healing Necrons in a narrow area, and couldn’t push through. It might have worked if I’d been a little faster and gotten to more open ground, but as it was, I couldn’t hold on. Also, there were no available Kastelans to assist me, which was pivotal in the second victorious game.

The world seed listed, however, provides an excellent starting location and could be an alternative to the one I used for the Aeldari.

I need to thank Ash again for excellent insights. He experimented and found out that you can get this one with two (and presumably any number) of opponents on different teams, which opens up new strategies that he outlines in the Comments.

Win a solo game without killing any units that are not headquarters.


Choice of factions is key to this achievement. No downloadable content, shortcuts, or mods are required. [One "semi-cheat" which could help is to surrender, then continue playing to view the map, then reload. This isn't needed with Space Marines...it took me about five scans to find the city.]

My settings: AI: Space Marines; Me: Space Marines; Difficulty: Very Easy; Neutrals: Low; Game Speed: Slow; World Size: Large; Land Mass: Very High.

You and your opponent have to be Space Marines for this to work, as far as I can tell. The fact that you only have to find and destroy one city makes it infinitely easier, and you need to be able to scan for their city and then get to it quickly without killing anything along the way. I’m not sure how that would work for another faction (except maybe a very long game involving a huge, expendable air force.)

At first, I explored a strategy I had seen in a forum…find the other Space Marines with Orbital Scan, then bombard with Orbital Strikes until the fortress was dead. This didn’t work for me because the Headquarters was able to heal the damage between turns.

So, rather than restart, I switched to a strategy of researching to orbital deployment and Terminators. I built one Chaplain and one Captain, and kitted them both out in armor, weapons, and the indispensable Zoat Hide. With two Terminators, I teleported all four units to their Headquarters (after refreshing the scan). Fortunately, the city hadn’t expanded much and I was able to land just outside the city, and partially surround the building. The Chaplain is possibly the most durable unit in the game, and managed to survive five turns of concentrated fire before dying. In the meantime, a unit of Space Marines with Melta Bombs, the two Terminators, and a summoned Fortress of Redemption wore down the Headquarters until…victory!

Things I might do differently:
- Increase game speed. I picked “Slow” to maximize my advantage over the Very Easy AI. While it eventually worked, it took 150 turns (very quick without fighting, but still…) and let the AI build a decent sized defense force. The Slow speed increases prices on everything, and this is especially noticeable with influence costs for items and actions. I would probably choose Standard if I did it again.
- Waited until my chaplain would have been created at level 6. At that level, he could heal himself and surrounding units, rendering them nearly immortal. The starting level of heroes depends on a formula which combines the number of turns and game speed, so a faster setting would have helped here as well.
- More units. More targets would have created more “damage soaks” for my key Terminators, who were very effective at city killing.

Key points for victory:

- You can damage enemy units, just not kill them. Partial destruction of unit groups can reduce enemy morale and effectiveness.
- Don’t shoot Webway Gates; they are units too.
- Turn off overwatch. This avoid ticking off neutrals or accidentally killing enemies.
- Build Fortresses of Redemption near your base, but don’t expand too far. Generally, neutral units will swoop in, take a shot, and then leave. Don’t shoot the neutrals and they are more likely to leave you alone. If you build a Fortress that is clearly going to be destroyed, just delete it or let the neutrals kill it.
- Don’t progress the story past the first two steps. You don’t need a librarian anyway, so this shouldn’t be a problem, but an influx of campaign-born neutrals could end your game. You can turn off the story, but that means giving up some useful early resources.

Kill 40,000 units.

I finally got it! When I wrote this guide, I wasn't sure I'd have the stamina or interest to kill a medium-sized town's worth of units (I left the text in the intro for nostalgia's sake). I speculated at the time it could take 2,000 hours, and it very nearly did.

For me, killing an anonymous group of Kroot Hounds with some Ork Boyz was the culmination of 1850 hours of Gladius. If you're on my schedule, that means you should be killing about 2,100 for every 100 hours invested in the game.

I'm impressed that 0.8% of Gladius players have this achievement. This leads me to suspect that there's some shortcut or more efficient way of doing it, but I never found it. A couple of tips to consider:

• Maximize neutral units on all games. These can be hard to kill in the early game, but make easy fodder as your units improve. By the end, you can often kill three or four neutral units in every turn.
  
  
• Single player is much faster than co-op for kills, so if you mostly play single player, you'll probably get it more quickly than I did. I only managed about a third the rate of kills when I was in multiplayer.

Near the end of this achievement I was using a set of mods which increased the numbers and strength of neutral units. Even though the difficulty was slightly higher, I think it helped somewhat in racking up scores.

Note: It seems strange to require so much time for a relatively straightforward badge. I speculate that the developers made an error with this achievement. The "Kill 40K" achievement (or some variant like "do 40K damage") is common in Warhammer games. However, those tend to take tens of hours, not thousands. I think that here they meant it to include sub-unit numbers (like the ten Guardsmen in each unit), which would have brought this down into some sort of manageable number of hours, like 400 or so.

Destroy a loaded transport with a Retributor unit.


Retributors are a mid-tier infantry unit with melta weapons, which are excellent against vehicles.

There are several ways to get this achievement:

1) You can start a hotseat game, play both sides, and load up a transport. Simply destroy it with Retributors for the achievement.
2) Play online multiplayer and get very, very lucky.
3) Play with a friend who wants to help.
4) Finally, it can be done in single player (see below)!

For the single-player version, I once again turned to my old buddies the Enslavers. I sent a loaded Immolater (the earliest Sororitas mechanized unit) near an enslaver, let it sit nearby until the morale was low enough, and then let the Enslavers catch it. I had two units of Retributors ready to kill the vehicle that turn, and the achievement was mine!

This was more difficult than it sounds. I loaded the tank with Sisters of Battle; fortunately the transport can only hold two before it's "fully loaded." Then, I cleared all other neutrals in the area, as they were prone to attacking the relatively weak Immolator. The Enslaver was remarkably shy, and kept running away even though I sent the Immolator in alone. I realized that I had damaged it slightly with a earlier overwatch shot, and so I left it alone to heal. Finally, it came back out and attacked the transport until it had a morale of 8, then enslaved it.

Thanks to Yinx for figuring out this hidden achievement, and sharing it with us (see comments).

As Adepta Sororitas, win a solo game on impossible difficulty against Necrons, Craftworld Aeldari, T'au, Tyranids, Chaos Space Marines and Orks.

This achievement sounds impossible, but with the right map and a bit of strategy, it's not bad. I won with the story victory, as I felt that the Adepta Sororitas would struggle to beat all of these impossible opponents in a straight fight. Note that the enemies do not need to be on the same team!

The most important step on the path to victory is to set the map settings properly. I chose a huge map, with highest settings on water, game speed, compounds (like Promethium Relay Pipes, etc.) and neutral units. I turned down settings such as Orkoid Fungus and Necron tombs to hinder the AI somewhat. [Here's the seed I used: 3812993784]

I've attached the minimap of the world I settled on after about five restarts (this is the final turn). I'm the teal units in the lower right. I knew the map was good when I started, but it turned out to be absolutely ideal! Because I started with a lot of land, I knew all that water would be crowding the AI. So why is this so ideal?

• A corner spot. I won't be surrounded immediately.
  
• A focus on production. Research is much less important on "very fast" gamepace...I never ended up with more than about 60.
  
• Space for two more cities, with choke points between me and the AI.
  
• Open areas to spawn the quest neutral armies.

My first builds focused on infrastructure and expansion. I built up to an army of six Battle Sisters, which are tough and can wear down almost any neutral eventually. I then built a series of Hospitallers to bolster my infantry and settle two new cities. I eventually added Retributors and Celestian Sacresants, which can provide robust fire support even against late game units.

I expanded north until I bumped into the green Chaos city. Other than the occasional isolated unit, I never saw them...they were caught in a mutual deathgrip with the Aeldari (appropriately enough). Then, I pushed west until I saw the edge of the Ork city, which was totally uninterested in me as it was under siege from the Tyranids.

After meeting the neighbors on about turn 50, I pulled back so I wouldn't antagonize them, and fortified heavily. I built a mix of aircraft, heroes, Knight-Lancers, Paragons, and Exorcists. I skipped the other units, which just aren't strong enough to withstand a concentrated attack.

The first few steps of story occur naturally just by playing the game. I recommend you do not build the Canoness until you are ready to fight huge numbers of neutrals. For me, this was about the time I build my first high-tier units. Starting the story earlier doesn't speed it up, because you'll be weaker when you face the end-game challenges.

Once you get started on the story, use your unit groups to smash the story units. Keep wargroups in your capital, in your cities, at the choke points, and on that central peninsula (if you use my map). This will let you break the invaders quickly. Yes, this is a LOT of units.

Ultimately, I beat the story at around turn 90. Other than minor skirmishes, I hadn't fought the AI. Both the Necrons and the T'au had been extinguished, and the Tyranids were beating the Orks.

If you're willing to put in the time, this method can clear at least four challenging achievements for you. Good luck!

As Adepta Sororitas, win a solo game on impossible difficulty without breaking the morale of any of your units.

I got this achievement in the same victory as The Purge, so please see that guide for map seeds, tips, etc. This is an ideal map for the achievement because you barely fight the AI enemies, which are experts at sweeping in and destroying multiple units, breaking your morale.

Remember that morale has three levels: Green (no penalty), Yellow (Shaken), and Red (Broken). For the achievement your units can be Shaken, but never Broken. Fortunately, the Sororitas excel at morale.

To help, research any technology which helps morale, and keep your fragile units away from the front line! They can be used to clear minor neutrals, but avoid sending infantry groups into battle against tougher enemies, as you will lose morale whenever any member of the group dies.

Kill an enemy unit with an Avenger Strike Fighter that has the trait Avenging Zeal or Bloody Resolution

This achievement took me a while to comprehend, and then a while longer to set up. First, a few things to understand, because it's a really complicated interplay of several traits and technologies (skip this section if you don't care about this rules minutiae):

Avenging Zeal is granted by any unit with Martyr Spirit to a unit with Shield of Faith. Initially this includes only infantry. Avenging Zeal is triggered by the death of unit with Martyr Spirit and then a one-turn buff called "Avenging Zeal" is granted to all adjacent (i.e. in a hex directly next to) units which have Shield of Faith.

Initially, Avenger Strike fighters have neither Shield of Faith or Martyr Spirit.

Ministorum Indoctrination (a Tier 8 technology) grants Avenger Strike Fighters the Martyr Spirit trait, which then allows them to give the Avenging Zeal trait upon death.

Universal Indoctrination (a Tier 9 technology) grants Avenger Strike Fighters the Shield of Faith, which now allows them to receive the Avenging Zeal trait on death of another unit with Martyr Spirit.

Bloody Resolution is a trait unique to Saint Celestine, which grants all allied Sororitas units complete protection against morale loss if the Saint dies. This sounds great in theory (for the achievement) but she is very hard to kill.

So, to summarize, in order to trigger Avenging Zeal from one Strike Fighter to another, you need have Ministorum Indoctrination to grant Martyr Spirit, which can then grant Avenging Zeal to the other Fighter, which can receive it due to having researched Universal Indoctrination and acquiring Shield of Faith, and can now use Avenging Zeal to complete the achievement.

Please not that while you don't technically need Ministorum Indoctrination, I did for my strategy, which was a lot easier than using an infantry unit.


First, research Ministorum Indoctrination and Universal Indoctrination. Then, build two Avenger Strike Fighters. You'll need to use enemy overwatch to make this work.

Because the buff is short-lived, I sent Avenger #1 three spaces away from an enemy Kataphron Destroyer (they have very powerful range 2 weapons). I then fed Avenger #2 into the Kataphron's overwatch, which destroyed Avenger #2 and triggered Avenging Zeal on Avenger #1. Fortunately, I was positioned two hexes from a wounded enemy Skitarii unit, which I destroyed with the now-buffed Avenger #1 (my unit had moved, but hadn't yet used an action). Achievement complete!

Other methods (which don't require Ministorum Indoctrination) might include:

• Sending Saint Celestine to her doom in the middle of a huge number of powerful enemies (nothing less will do), which would trigger Bloody Resolution for all your troops, and any Avengers could then move and kill a weak unit.
  
• Sending a low armor unit (e.g. Sisters Repentia) to be killed by something like Stingwings with an Avenger already parked nearby, which would then shoot the Stingwings which are weak and only have range 1 overwatch, and get the prize. As suggested in the forums, you could weaken the Sisters first using wireweed.

Ultimately I used the Avengers because they are so much easier to move around the map to get the placement exactly right. Good luck!

Note: Ash confirms that you can get this achievement in hotseat mode, which could simplify the setup quite a bit.

Win 10 multiplayer games.

For this achievement, you must meet one of these criteria: You must beat a human opponent, or you must team up with a human player in multiplayer and beat the AI. Despite the name, you do not have to win in a "series," e.g. you can win, then lose, and win again to get credit for two victories.

Importantly, hotseat games do not count towards a multiplayer victory. (This is probably because hotseat games are started from the single player menu.)

This one can also be cheesed really quickly. You'll need a friend, which is the hard part for some folks! If you start a multiplayer match and one of you surrenders, the other will advance his or her "win counter." Do this ten times for the achievement. I ultimately did it with a mix of real games with a side helping of cheese, because it didn't count all the multiplayer games I'd won prior to the release of the DLC. I felt I was owed! :)

As Drukhari, win a solo game by producing only units with poisoned weapons (Haemonculus, Hellions, Kabalite Warriors, Razorwing Jetfighter, Succubus, Venom, Wracks.)

Fortunately the Drukhari have an excellent set of of units for completing this achievement. The key is combining Wracks, the Succubus, and the Haemonculus. The Wracks provide the basic damage output for the neutral creeps and the few units you'll have to kill; the Haemonculus provides healing and damage reduction which allows the Wracks to sit safely next to the enemy fortress; and the Succubus boosts the Wracks' damage to reduce the time it takes to destroy the fortress.

I suggest not researching units you won't use. This prevents reflexively building something which will break the achievement by accident. I also didn't bother with the Venom or Hellions, as they seemed unnecessary.


I've uploaded a screenshot showing all the units I created in getting this achievement.























I did this achievement at the same time as I completed the Battle Royale achievement (requiring a player to defeat 10 opponents on a tiny map), so it can certainly be completed more quickly and with less units. This was obviously done on the easiest setting. The other settings don't really matter for this achievement as you will stomp your Easy opponent (in my game, some were even destroyed by creeps!), although I'd suggest Fast or Very Fast game speed to help your research.

As Drukhari, control all outposts.

This one seems straightforward, but has a twist or two worth considering. Let's start with a screenshot of my final map:



My cities are in the right lower corner.

The map looks like it does because I completed it at the same time as the Battle Royale and Poison Supporters achievements. In this case, that meant a lot of compounds so I could get my cities producing enough to compete with the AIs and defeat them.

However, you don't need to do this if you're only going for this achievement. I'd suggest a tiny map, a single Easy AI opponent, high water, minimum neutral units, and making as few compounds as possible. (It is likely possible to complete it with no opponent as well.)

Build fast infantry units like Kabalite Warriors and Succubi, and a group of Wracks with a supporting Haemonculus. The faster units can sweep the handful of compounds you need while the Wracks take on the enemy fortress (and the few units it produces).

The twist is that you won't be able to take over any compounds which are absorbed into the enemy city already. To get the achievement, you'll need to do one of two things:

• Take over all compounds on the map outside the final enemy city. Station a unit over each compound within that last enemy city. You won't capture them yet, but when the city falls, you will instantly take over all compounds and get the achievement as you win the game (this was my method).
  
• Or, finish the game at any point, and then select "Just One More Turn" at the bottom of the victory screen to keep playing and finish up capturing the remaining compounds. Don't worry if you accidentally click through this screen...just reload your last Autosave and replay the turn.

As Drukhari, deal 20 damage in one attack with a unit with Raider Assault.



This requires a technology, an infantry unit, and a transport.



First, build an infantry and an assault transport unit such as Tantalus. Then, research the Raider Assault technology. Load the infantry into the vehicle and transport it to an enemy with at least 20 hit points.

You know you've done it right when you disembark the unit on the following turn and the icon shows up (I've highlighted it in the yellow box). If you attack with it in the same turn it disembarked, and the unit does 20 damage, you get the achievement. Combat drugs, high level units, and hero boosts such as from an adjacent Succubus will all make this easier. Note that a kill is not necessary.

Note that while I showed the icon with a Kabalite Warrior, I recommend using a Wrack or other high-damage melee infantry unit. Pick a target with low armor, a lot of hit points, and no damage reduction. I'm looking at you, Enslavers!

Win a solo game against 10 AIs on a tiny map.

I got this achievement along with the Poison Supporters Gathering and Secured Merchandise, so my approach should be tweaked if you want to just do this achievement (it doesn't require any DLC like the others) .

Here are the units I built to gain this achievement:

• Set a tiny map with low water and wire weed for the best experience. Because you're the aggressor, all the choke points from lakes and biowire will slow you down. If you set neutrals to Very High, they will impede you but also badly suppress the AI, so either path works.
  
  
• The AI difficulty should be set to Very Weak. Make sure they are set to "No Team" so they can fight each other.
  
  
• Your difficulty must be set to Average (the third one from the top). If you pick an easier one, you will not get the achievement. I don't know what happens if you pick a harder one!
  
  
• Obviously you can do it with the Drukhari, but I'd suggest Space Marines as they don't require a DLC, have only have one city, can easily launch around the map, and have strong basic infantry. Even if you take your time, Terminators should be enough to wipe the map clean.

• About three of the ten AIs died in the first 10-20 turns from neutral creeps and each other.
  
  
• Two more eliminated each other in the later game.
  
  
• Because of limitations from the other achievements, my game took over 100 turns, but they were very fast.
  
  
• In that time, the AI never built any units above about Tier 4.

Reference: The origin of this term is a Japanese book from 1999 and a movie from 2000. The disturbing story depicts a despotic Japanese government which decides to curb youth violence by stranding a group of middle-schoolers on an island and making them fight to the death.

More recently, a Battle Royale is a genre of online gaming where a large number of players face off in a confined area, eliminating each other until one remains.

Kill a Kataphron Destroyers unit with a Kataphron Breachers unit.
(Requires the Firepower Pack and Adeptus Mechanicus DLC).

This is mostly self-explanatory, but some tips:

• Kataphron Destroyers are Tier 7 infantry, so low-difficulty AI opponents may never build them. Play on Hard to ensure that they eventually show up.
  
• Destroyers have a devastating overwatch, so make sure to absorb it with another unit before moving in your Breachers.
  
• Kataphron Breachers are pretty good at killing structures, but lousy at killing infantry. You'll need to weaken the Destroyers substantially before attacking with the Breachers.
  
• You don't need the Firepower Pack if you're playing co-op with someone who has it. You'll still need the Adeptus Mechanicus DLC.

In this example, the Breachers (left) barely scratch the Destroyers. I had to use a creative combination of the other surrounding units to sliver the Destroyers so the Breachers could get the kill.

Click to enlarge the image.

Fill a Tantalus with allied non-Drukhari units.

The achievement is self-explanatory, but there's a few things which can make it easier for those who are having trouble recruiting a pal to play with. The AI does not use transports, so you won't be able to do it with just the computer as a partner.

After I helped one of my co-op mates get this one, I wanted to see how quickly I could do it for myself with no help. I got in 13 turns by using the following settings:

• Hotseat multiplayer (a single player game mode).
  
  
• Human players (both me): Drukari and Aeldari.
  
  
• AI players: Doesn't matter, you'll never interact with them.
  
  
• Game speed: Very fast.
  
  
• Researched tech level: 10 (maximum).
  
  
• Resource costs: Minimum

The Drukari build a Dark Foundry and a Barter-Port (to speed up ore collection enough to build the Tantalus).

The Aeldari build an Asuryan's Crucible, then an Isha's Garden (probably not necessary), then another Crucible. As soon as the first Crucible is built, I built another Guardian and a Wraithblade.

Once the Tantalus was complete, I moved it through the Webway gate to the Aeldari city (they can use each others' gates!) and loaded it on the Aeldari turn.

On the Drukhari turn, the achievement triggered.

• This can easily be done by one person in single-player hotseat.
  
  
• You don't need to build five units to fill the five berths on the Tantalus. In this case, the Wraithblade is bulky and counted for two, so I only needed four total units.
  
  
• The achievement triggers on the Drukhari turn, so be patient! :)

As Drukhari, win a game with an allied Craftworld Aeldari on medium difficulty against a team of Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Astra Militarum and Space Marines on impossible difficulty. This can also be completed in multiplayer.

My final achievement! Well, until they release more... :)

This one is tricky for a number of reasons:

• If you play solo, your ally, set at Ranger difficulty, is incredibly weak compared to your Impossible opponents.
  
  
• You have four aggressive AI players to beat, and they complement each other well.
  
  
• It's Impossible difficulty, which is hard enough even in a one-on-one fight.
  
  
• It requires the base game plus four(!) DLCs...Adeptus Mechanicus, Adepta Sororitas, Craftworld Aeldari, and Drukhari. That's a big investment.

How did I do it?

• Multiplayer with a human ally.

• Size: Huge
  
• Gameplay: Fast
  
• Neutrals: Maximum
  
• Outposts: Maximum
  
• Region Size: Smallest (increases the density of Outposts still further)
  
• Webway Gates: Maximum
  
• All DLCs switched on

This is the setup for a story victory, not a conquest win. Follow the pattern I've laid out in my Impossible Guide (start with research, don't over-expand, and keep production in balance).

Fortunately, the Aeldari and Drukhari work very well together because they can use each other's Webway gates. The Drukhari should send at least one or two units to assist their allies very early, because that unit can augment the relatively weak Guardians and get the last hit on creeps, earning influence for the Drukhari.

Play conservatively, gathering influence and not spending it so that you can improve your economy. Move up the technology tree, trying to keep your Research production the same as the turn counter, at a minimum (I was generally about 20% better, made much easier with the research-from-kills technology).

Don't pursue the story! There's absolutely no rush to try to climb the ladder, because those Chapter 4 through 6 units will do serious damage to your economy in the middle game. The rewards are minor compared to the costs.

Eventually, by around turn 70, you'll both be building high tier units (this is less important for the Drukhari, as the story quest involves nearly zero air units). In particularly, Wraithknights and Scorpions will be critical in sweeping the board near the end.

Now's the time time to start the story quests. You'll roll through them quickly. I started in earnest at around turn 75, and completed it around turn 95. The AI didn't even show up until around turn 90, and had no effect on my game except one...

At the very end, we couldn't find the final Daemon Prince, but then he was gunned down by the AI Astra Militarum units and...victory!

I'm not sure if hotseat works for this achievement, but I suspect it does because the win conditions specify both single and multiplayer. Note that you can't play all factions and surrender the Imperials...this invalidates achievements!

Update: Confirmed that hotseat does indeed qualify for the win. Thanks, Distemper!

If in true single player, then continue to pursue the story, but expect it to be harder and take a little longer. In similar achievements I've been able to do it solo, and it usually plays out very much like noted above.

Some players have reported being able to win quickly by playing on a tiny map and beating opponents early. I tried this with a partner about ten times (I can't imagine it on single player). While we were able to kill one of the enemy factions early on some occasions, the AI production is incredible. You'll be completing your third or fourth basic infantry unit, and you'll see the AI build two heroes , four infantry and some vehicles. Sheesh.

Best of luck! This is a very difficult achievement, so don't expect to do it until you've played a while and really understand the game.