Worms Armageddon is an artillery strategy game developed by Team17 and part of the Worms series. The player controls a team of up to eight worms in combat against opposing teams.

Gameplay is turn-based, with each team moving in sequence (which is determined randomly) across two-dimensional terrain. During a single turn, a team can only move one of its worms (unless the Select Worm item is used). Worms can walk and jump, as well as (when the proper items are available) swing by rope, parachute, teleport, and bungee. The objective of a traditional match is to defeat all opposing teams by killing their worms, although in the campaign some missions have other objectives (such as collecting a specific crate).

Each worm begins the round with a specific amount of health (which is predefined by the chosen game options or by scripting in campaign levels). When hit with a weapon, the worm will lose health depending on the power of the weapon and the directness of the hit. A worm can be killed either by having its health reduced to zero or being knocked into the water around and below the level.

Weapons

The game includes a wide variety of weapons, including melee, projectile, and explosive weapons, as well as airstrike-based attacks. Some are based on real-life arms, such as the shotgun, bazooka, and hand grenade. Others are more fanciful and cartoonish, such as the sheep, which serves as a mobile explosive, or the skunk, which releases poisonous gas.

In a normal match, all teams begin with the same weapons, based on the chosen weapon set. Some weapons may not become available until a certain number of turns pass. Depending on game options, additional weapons may randomly fall onto the terrain in airdropped and teleported crates.

In addition to normal weapons, each team (during team creation) chooses a special weapon which becomes available to them after a certain number of turns. The special weapons are more powerful than regular weapons and often offer special abilities. Also, super weapons will rarely fall in weapon crates. These weapons are often based on cartoonish themes (such as the French Sheep Strike) and usually devastating in power.

In homage to the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of the game weapons is a Holy Hand Grenade, with a sound-effect reminiscent of the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah.

Gameplay modes

Worms Armageddon includes a series of training missions, a single player campaign with premade missions, a deathmatch mode in which the player fights increasingly difficult and outnumbered battles against the computer, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer.

Local multiplayer allows the player to select which teams participate in the battle (including number of worms and handicaps), which options and weapons are used, and the level to be played upon. The matches can use any combination of human and computer teams, provided at least one team is human. Additionally, multiple worm teams can form an alliance for the match by selecting the same team color - they will still operate separately in movement rotation but share weapons and score. If multiple human players are using the same computer, the game functions in a hotseat mode.

Online multiplayer is set up similarly to local multiplayer but allows the players to be at separate computers. Additionally, hotseat can be combined with online play, so multiple human players can use each computer.

Gameplay customization

Worms Armageddon includes a very high level of customizability - in multiplayer games or skirmishes, the player can create custom game modes with preferred gameplay options and weapon sets. Regular options include starting health, whether the worms can move, how long a turn lasts, and sudden death options. Weapons settings include what weapons the teams start with, which weapons will fall in crates and how often, and how powerful individual weapons are.