Warcradle Studios returns to Firestorm Armada — this time, with Robin Cruddace and Richard Morgan

Warcradle Studios made a couple of high profile announcements recently. First, the studio has recruited Robin Cruddace, a designer known for his long tenure at Games Workshop, and his work as the lead designer for the eighth, ninth and tenth edition of Warhammer 40,0000. Turns out Cruddace will be leading the development for Warcradle Studio’s sci-fi wargame Firestorm Armada. 

Firestorm Armada has laid dormant for a while. With the abrupt demise of Spartan Games back in 2017 — a decision that was apparently due to the studio spreading its resources way, way too thin — Warcradle Studios had snapped up a number of their licenses. They revived the popular Dystopian Wars, and combined it with their other game, Wild West Exodus, within the same universe. Firestorm Armada was one of the other numerous Spartan Games licenses that the studio purchased. While the Firestorm Armada beta was announced in September 2020, disruptions around the pandemic slowed down Warcradle Studios’ production, with the license seeing few updates since then. That is, until October, when the studio announced that the game is back in active development. Fans will not only see a new setting but also a new range of miniatures, including destroyers, cruisers and battleships.

But the second announcement is more disappointing. The new setting will be written by sci-fi author — and well-known transphobe — Richard Morgan. Warcradle Studios brought Morgan into the fold as Firestorm Armada’s key narrative writer. Morgan is best known for his cyberpunk novel-turned-Netflix series Altered Carbon, a story rife with transhumanist themes, in which people can transfer their consciousness from one body to another, across genders. Unfortunately, he also wrote a screed about women’s rights being under attack as a result of “hardline trans activism”. It’s a flawed, dehumanizing perspective that is simply a repetition of same, tired talking points that the likes of JK Rowling and Graham Linehan are wont to spew. 

Rascal reached out to Warcradle Studios for comment about its stance of Morgan’s transphobia but did not receive a response by time of publication.