Total War Series, Shogun, Medieval, Rome, Empire, Napoleon, etc... Options

[hazmick]

Started playing Total War again, this time with Total War: WARHAMMER. Figured I'd go through the campaign here, though I'm not sure how familiar anyone will be with Warhammer Fantasy. I'll do my best to explain what each unit is in familiar terms as we go through.

As for the game itself, it plays more-or-less like any other TW game. There's less focus on city management and politics though, with more focus on battles and units. One major difference is the way generals work. In previous TW games, the general would be part of a unit, but in Warhammer your lords and heroes (generals and agents) stand alone, and are pretty powerful. Each faction has a couple of unique generals known as Legendary Lords, who are incredibly powerful faction leaders. Legendary Lords can be defeated in battle, but never killed, meaning that they remain a threat throughout the entire campaign. Each lord and hero has a branching skill tree, which allows you to customise their skills and abilities however you please, so no two lords have to fit the same role.


There's probably a ton of other stuff that I'm forgetting, but lets just jump right into it. In this campaign I shall be playing as the Dwarfs of Karaz-a-Karak, and my faction leader is High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer. The Dwarfs' main strength is their technology - artillery, rifles, tough armour. Dwarf units are also fairly tough in combat, with high morale. Dwarfs are also very slow, however, and have no cavalry units - this makes them ill suited to offense when compared with humans or greenskins. Dwarfs can also only build settlements in mountain regions or badlands, so I'm pretty limited in that regard.


I start in the stronghold of Karaz-a-Karak, which is in a really strong position. Impassable mountains to the north and south, allied dwarfs and humans to the west, and only a minor Greenskin threat to my east. The first order of business is clearing out the greenskins from the immediate area, and capturing the other two settlements in the region. I chose to start with Thorgrim because he gives me a Grudgethrower (catapult) which is incredibly effective against the Greenskins, and my first few battles go pretty smoothly.

My immediate plans are to head through the mountains to the north and link up with two other Dwarf factions there, hopefully get some trade routes going. One of those factions will soon be under attack from the armies of the Vampire Counts, and will need my assistance. The Greenskins to the south are also a major threat, so I'll need to build up my defenses as soon as possible.

World map in turn 1 The light blue area with the yellow castle is me. Red castles are enemies, white are friendly and/or neutral.

Campaign map Karaz-Karak on the left, a minor settlement at The Pillars of Grungni on the right, Dwarf and Greenskin armies in between.

High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer leads his army to battle

Greenskin horde

Advancing under fire

Melee

Standing firm

[SubRosa]

It is very cool to see Warhammer TW in action. I have never played Warhammer, so I resisted the urge to guy Warhammer TW. But I have been curious. Given that The Creative Assembly has pretty much done every major historical era twice, I suspect they will be branching out more and more into fantasy worlds. Maybe we will see a Middle Earth TW some day?

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Wow, this game looks fun! Do you have to know a lot about the WarHammer universe to enjoy the game? Love that self propelled litter your Dwarf hero was riding around on!

It is very cool to see Warhammer TW in action. I have never played Warhammer, so I resisted the urge to guy Warhammer TW. But I have been curious. Given that The Creative Assembly has pretty much done every major historical era twice, I suspect they will be branching out more and more into fantasy worlds. Maybe we will see a Middle Earth TW some day?

Did they ever do any games based on Ancient China? Khajiit agrees a Middle Earth Total War could be awesome!

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Aug 19 2017, 03:44 AM

[SubRosa]

Wow, this game looks fun! Do you have to know a lot about the WarHammer universe to enjoy the game? Love that self propelled litter your Dwarf hero was riding around on!

It is very cool to see Warhammer TW in action. I have never played Warhammer, so I resisted the urge to guy Warhammer TW. But I have been curious. Given that The Creative Assembly has pretty much done every major historical era twice, I suspect they will be branching out more and more into fantasy worlds. Maybe we will see a Middle Earth TW some day?

Did they ever do any games based on Ancient China? Khajiit agrees a Middle Earth Total War could be awesome!

They never did China. But I don't think they ever will. I doubt there is a lot of interest in the US and Europe for a China-based war game.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

They never did China. But I don't think they ever will. I doubt there is a lot of interest in the US and Europe for a China-based war game.

Probably true. A shame really. The Chinese "unification" under Emperor Qin would make for an interesting war game. Or maybe Ghengis Khan's conquest.

[SubRosa]

They never did China. But I don't think they ever will. I doubt there is a lot of interest in the US and Europe for a China-based war game.

Probably true. A shame really. The Chinese "unification" under Emperor Qin would make for an interesting war game. Or maybe Ghengis Khan's conquest.

I agree. The Seven Warring States period would be perfect for a TW game.

[hazmick]

I think Warhammer works so well because the tabletop already has all of the units with their stats and abilities - CA just needs to transfer that over to the game. A Middle Earth TW would be amazing!

Do you have to know a lot about the WarHammer universe to enjoy the game?

You could certainly enjoy the game without much knowledge (It's still a TW game, after all), though brushing up on some of the basic lore might be useful(and fun!). The game does a good job of not getting too heavily into the story, and explaining the parts where it does.

[hazmick]

Forgot to mention some other systems that are new to Warhammer:

Magic: There are many units in the game that can cast a variety of spells. Spells (and those that cast them) are split up into different types - Lore of Life, Lore of Beasts, Lore of Fire etc. with different schools of magic having access to different spells. Some factions only have access to certain schools, while others can have all sorts of different wizards (The Empire of Man has a huge roster of wizards to choose from). Some factions (like the Dwarfs) have no wizards, but may have something similar(Dwarfs have runelords and runesmiths, who have magic-like abilities).

Agents: As I mentioned before, lords and heroes fight alone on the battlefield, but agents do to! In the campaign map they act as they always have in TW - assassinating people, sabotaging armies, disrupting settlements. If an agent is assigned to a friendly army, they join it as a hero. It's often useful to have a hero with skills that differ from your lord - for example if your lord's skills focus on buffing your army, your agent might want to focus on personal buffs to make him/her a better fighter.

Corruption: There are two types of corruption in the game, Chaos and Vampiric. Chaos corruption infests the world gradually throughout the campaign, and accelerates with the presence of Chaos units (Beastmen, Norscans, Warriors of Chaos). If the Chaos corruption in a region reaches a certain level, non-chaos units will suffer attrition. Vampiric corruption only spreads with the presence of vampires and undead, but otherwise works the same way. Vampire units suffer attrition on non-corrupted land. Factions can reduce corruption in their lands by building certain buildings or having certain unit and faction upgrades.

Faction mechanics: Some factions in the game have unique mechanics, though they're only really relevant if you're playing as them. Dwarfs have a mechanic called Grudges - any time they are attacked, that creates a grudge which must be settled. For example, if Grimgor Ironhide of the Greenskins attacks one of my settlements, I might get a grudge that asks me to defeat Grimgor in battle, or defeat several Greenskin armies. If you have lots of grudges unsettled then you can suffer public order and diplomacy drops, while settling long-held grudges might give you a temporary boost.
Dwarfs and Greenskins also have access to a movement system called 'the underway'. This allows them to access the Dwarven road system underground, and bypass obstacles on the campaign map such as mountains, rivers, and corrupted areas. Armies can be intercepted in the underway and you can fight battles in the tunnels.

[hazmick]

Started off well today, helped my Dwarven allies to the north clear out all of the Greenskins in the mountains. This means my allies can focus all of their attention on the armies of the Vampire counts pressing their western borders. We now also share a border, and got a trade route going. The extra income allowed me to develop better artillery - namely cannons and rifles.

Unfortunately the good mood was temporary. Grimgor Ironhide, warboss of 'Da Immortulz' succeeded in unifying the southern greenskin tribes and turned his attention to my allies at Barak Varr to the west. The Dwarfs were utterly outmatched, and pushed back to a single outpost settlement just over the border from my capital. They were keen to join my faction, so I confederated them and sent a force to hold the Orcs back. Not only did we survive, but we managed to defeat Grimgor himself! He'll respawn sooner or later, but I have some breathing room now to shore up defenses and recruit some better units.

Not only that, but I now share a border with a human faction to the west. They were keen to begin trading, so I now have a pretty steady flow of goods in and out of my realm. With no immediate threats to the north or west, I plan to send forces south, into the Greenskin-held Badlands. There's a Dwarf faction down there that may or may not still be alive, and I need to clear out these Orcs once and for all.

Hilltop

A smaller force of Greenskins tries its luck

The main force closes in

My general faces Grimgor Ironhide...

...and survives!

Current world map

[SubRosa]

Wow, Grimgor is big!

You general is quite the horny fella!

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

You know what your great victories require? Swigs of strong, Dwarven ale!

[hazmick]

SubRosa - fun lore bit: Orcs grow larger every time they win a fight, and Grimgor has never been defeated. iirc he's the biggest Orc in the world.

Khajiit - Dwarfs have a building chain that gives you public order bonuses - ale storehouses.



The 'death' of Grimgor hasn't given me as much breathing room as I'd hoped. A force of Greenskins led by Azhag the Slaughterer (Grimgor's second in command) managed to push deep into my territory and destroy my only barracks. They were destroyed shortly after, but rebuilding is taking time and resources I would rather use elsewhere.

I also lost a general today. I spotted an unoccupied settlement and sent a lone general to capture it, but some Greenskins had the same idea. Forced to fight an army of Orcs, the general was killed. He managed to take 75 Orcs with him, and I'm hoping that my nearby human allies (this took place on their land) will finish the job.

Over on the Eastern front, High King Thorgrim pushed into the Badlands and captured two Greenskin settlements. A nearby fortress is our next target, but will require a lengthy siege. We discovered that Grimgor's dominion over the Greenskins is not absolute, and his absence has allowed other tribes to start taking some of his weaker settlements. I also discovered that the faction of Dwarfs that begins the game in the Badlands is still alive and fighting! I immediately made an alliance with them so I can see all of their lands, and I'm going to push Thorgrim further south to link up our lands properly. I reckon we have another couple of turns before Grimgor returns, so I need to be ready for him.

My lone general

Meeting the Orcs head on

They should've brought more Orcs...

Map

This post has been edited by hazmick: Aug 20 2017, 07:35 PM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

A heroic death indeed for your Lone General. May he find rewards in whatever the Dwarven ideal of afterlife is, or peace in nothingness otherwise.

[Acadian]

Hazmick, those are some pretty large scale battles! Neat how you keep updating what your world map looks like as you progress.

[SubRosa]

Wow, your lone general looks like a super-hero in the middle of all those greenies.

[hazmick]

Today I claimed vengeance for the lone general, destroying the Orcs that killed him and taking their Stronghold - One of the few outposts available to Dwarfs that has access to water (and therefore to more trade routes.) I also defeated Grimgor again, attacking him immediately after he respawned and before he could gather any troops. Finally, after a lengthy siege, Thorgrim captured the Orc stronghold of Black Crag - this robs the Greenskins of a significant source of income, and gives me a solid foothold in the region. With this boost to my treasury I upgraded my barracks and began replacing my warriors with Longbeards (elite warriors).

My Dwarven allies in the south continue to push against the Orcs, and even took Karak Eight Peaks, one of the most important strongholds in the region. This joined our lands with a border, so I sent a force to assist my ally with some minor mopping-up of Greenskin warbands. Grimgor's absence continues to embolden the other Greenskin tribes, so it's quite chaotic down there.

To the north, the Dwarfs of Zhufbar continue to hold strong against the Vampire Counts, but they're pretty much stuck on the defensive. I'm planning to send an army to give them some assistance and rid the world of Undead.

To the west, the Border Princes (my human allies) have lost a settlement to a roving band of Beastmen, which effectively cut the Border Princes' lands in half. I destroyed the Beastmen shortly after, so hopefully my allies will reclaim and rebuild what was lost. They're an important buffer for me against eastern greenskins, and our trade deal is worth a fortune.


Map

[SubRosa]

It sounds like you are the policeman of Warhammer! Where would these people be without you?

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Khajiit may have to look this game up on the next Steam sale. It looks fun!

[hazmick]

Did a little bit more this evening. My ally to the south seems to have expanded too quickly and overstretched himself, allowing Greenskins and Beastmen to destroy several settlements. The low public order in the area has also spawned groups of Chaos rebels, which I have been putting down as quickly as possible. SubRosa was right when she said I'm like a policeman - my Dwarfs have been rushing around trying to stop all the unrest and it's not even my territory!

Meanwhile, Thorgrim continued pushing south and captured two major Greenskin settlements. This meant that when Grimgor returned again, he had nowhere to recruit troops except a siege works - resulting in an army consisting of himself and 19 catapult units. I've been able to keep Grimgor down while the other Orcs tear his territories apart.

To the north, I sent an army to help Zhufbar fight the Vampire Lords. We intercepted several major forces of undead and dealt them some pretty heavy defeats - one battle saw my army of 1600 wipe out over 5000 undead. Zhufbar had lost one small settlement, so I moved in and claimed it which should help me with army replenishment and cleanse some of the vampiric corruption in the area.

I'm currently building another army to send west, as I've found another Dwarf faction there which is engaged in a war with a major Greenskin faction. The Wood Elves also live over there, so I need to try and get them on my side. Far to the north, the armies of Chaos are on the move. I have a mod that stops that apocalyptic invasion of Archaon the Everchosen, but the standard Warrior of Chaos armies are still tough to deal with and will require my attention.

Some screenies from a battle against the undead forces of Mannfred von Carstein:

Skeletons advance under fire

Firing line

My Runelord holds off some zombies

Victorious

An enemy Banshee holds their left flank steady

My Slayers get to work

Quick look at the campaign screen - my army sets up camp between Vampire and Dwarf lands.

One thing I haven't mentioned about vampires is the way their leadership works: rather than retreating when their morale drops, their units start dying (re-dying?) as the necromantic energy that brings them to unlife begins to fail. This makes their lords and heroes (vampires, necromancers, banshees) hugely important, since they give leadership boosts to nearby troops. Undead will usually fight to the last, but killing all of their lords and heroes on the field usually results in the immediate and complete annihilation of the entire army. This is both a strength and weakness, depending on the power of their heroes.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Did a little bit more this evening. My ally to the south seems to have expanded too quickly and overstretched himself, allowing Greenskins and Beastmen to destroy several settlements. The low public order in the area has also spawned groups of Chaos rebels, which I have been putting down as quickly as possible. SubRosa was right when she said I'm like a policeman - my Dwarfs have been rushing around trying to stop all the unrest and it's not even my territory!

Meanwhile, Thorgrim continued pushing south and captured two major Greenskin settlements. This meant that when Grimgor returned again, he had nowhere to recruit troops except a siege works - resulting in an army consisting of himself and 19 catapult units. I've been able to keep Grimgor down while the other Orcs tear his territories apart.

To the north, I sent an army to help Zhufbar fight the Vampire Lords. We intercepted several major forces of undead and dealt them some pretty heavy defeats - one battle saw my army of 1600 wipe out over 5000 undead. Zhufbar had lost one small settlement, so I moved in and claimed it which should help me with army replenishment and cleanse some of the vampiric corruption in the area.

I'm currently building another army to send west, as I've found another Dwarf faction there which is engaged in a war with a major Greenskin faction. The Wood Elves also live over there, so I need to try and get them on my side. Far to the north, the armies of Chaos are on the move. I have a mod that stops that apocalyptic invasion of Archaon the Everchosen, but the standard Warrior of Chaos armies are still tough to deal with and will require my attention.

Some screenies from a battle against the undead forces of Mannfred von Carstein:

Skeletons advance under fire

Firing line

My Runelord holds off some zombies

Victorious

An enemy Banshee holds their left flank steady

My Slayers get to work

Quick look at the campaign screen - my army sets up camp between Vampire and Dwarf lands.

One thing I haven't mentioned about vampires is the way their leadership works: rather than retreating when their morale drops, their units start dying (re-dying?) as the necromantic energy that brings them to unlife begins to fail. This makes their lords and heroes (vampires, necromancers, banshees) hugely important, since they give leadership boosts to nearby troops. Undead will usually fight to the last, but killing all of their lords and heroes on the field usually results in the immediate and complete annihilation of the entire army. This is both a strength and weakness, depending on the power of their heroes.

Can you be the skeleton army?!