Total War: Warhammer hands-on – for Sigmar!

Creative Assembly Studios are rather tight-lipped when it comes to the latest installment in their flagship series – the Total War: Warhammer. We’ve known about this project nearly as early as a year ago, but the best thing we’ve got to see, two weeks ago, was a 10 minute long footage of a scripted battle. That’s hardly a miserable condition, given that the game is scheduled for release next year (its second half most likely), but to restrain our raging imagination a bit, we’d sure like to see something more! Luckily, Creative Assembly and SEGA decided to make our lives better in that matter. The developers invited us to their HQ – the lovely town of Horsham, located some 50 kilometers South-West of London – to show us their latest game in action. Not only did I see the “total fantasy war” on screen – I was able to spend a while visiting the Old World on my own. And let me tell you, the journey was more than worth it, even knowing that what I’ve seen was only a small fraction of what we’d like to know about Total War: Warhammer.

Hammer away, lads

To those of you who’ve already seen their share of battlefields and would like to take a look at the strategic map – we’re sorry. We do have some new information about it and we’ll share it in the following paragraphs, but for now you won’t be seeing the Old World in a wider perspective, as neither we have had seen it. At Horsham, Creative Assembly have let us play the Ambush at Thundering Falls – a battle fought between the Dwarves and the Greenskins in a vast underground tunnel, carved in rock somewhere in between the Dwarven holds (or karaks) under the World’s Edge Mountains. This battle is included in a series of missions we do for King Thorgrim Grudgebearer in the same manner as the previously presented Emperor Franz Karl and the Battle of Black Fire Pass – this means the only playable faction during the trial were the Dwarves.

After entering the Creative Assembly HQ, I was greeted by the sight of a large rack packed full of Warhammer Fantasy Battle figurines. According to the developer team, it was a gift from Games Workshop and the first step in the game’s “pre-development” – as a part of preparations, the team members have spent some time “designing” the battles using real-life 3D models. Sometimes, this continued even after office hours. Must have been fun, I think. What’s interesting, among the numerous boxes, I’ve spotted the GW’s newest product – the controversial Age of Sigmar. Would it also be somehow connected to video game designing…?

The battle began in the usual manner – with two armies facing each other. However, before I could properly face the enemy’s main force that occupied positions on the opposite side of the cavern, I was reminded of the “Ambush” part in scenario’s title. My loyal beards had to withstand three smaller assaults of Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls trying to flank me (and a Giant to boot, if you’ve chosen a higher difficulty level). Luckily, defense is the strongest point of the Dwarves. During the introduction, as the developers briefed us on the battlefield and the difficult position of King Thorgrim’s army, they also gave us a tip: „Hold your positions, don’t rush forward and everything should be just fine.”

A good many of bearded warriors are heavily armored troops wielding axes and hammers, supported from behind with ranks of crossbows, arquebuses, or even flamethrowers. Additionally, the Dwarven army provides a wide array of artillery units (including four-barreled volley guns) and gyrocopters for air support. The only strictly “assault” unit to take part in the battle were the distinctive Slayers – half-naked warriors armed in a pair of axes. There was also the previously announced novelty: powerful, independent heroes with special abilities (like the Valar Mineward’s ability that can break the enemy’s will to fight and cripple his attack power).

I have to admit that the first impression was overwhelming – the developers’ declarations about how they expanded the diversity of armies in comparison to previous Total Wars were definitely not exaggerated. After I familiarized myself with the units’ stats and placed my battle ranks as I saw fit, I clicked the “Start Battle” button – and the spectacle began. I guess you won’t be surprised when I tell you that things that transpired on the battlefield made my jaw drop; that was to be expected, as it’s a point common to all the installments of the Creative Assembly’s flagship strategy series. The question is, how far down my jaw had dropped.

Action figures

It begins with the deafening roar of artillery, followed by a volley of crossbow bolts and bullets reducing enemy ranks, so they can be soaked in lit flamethrower fuel. The wolf- and boar-mounted Orcs that somehow survive that ordeal eventually clash against my warriors and engage in fierce melee combat. Sounds like Total War all right, but let’s not forget it’s the Warhammer no less. What needs to be added to that description are giant monsters (including the flying ones) that leave destruction in their wake, powerful spells and special powers, fantastic – in both quality and fashion – landscapes, and… You see what I mean? Oh, and then there’s the music – if the power and ambience we hear in the music playing in the background of Ambush at Thundering Falls is consistent with the rest of the soundtrack, then Creative Assembly will bring delight to our ears. If you happen to be in possession of some original Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniatures and you’ve wished to see them alive and moving at least once, the latest work from Creative Assembly should make your dreams come true.

Let’s put the audiovisuals aside for a moment and take a closer look at the mechanics. If we forget about the expanded diversity of units and the innovations, like heroes or magic, anybody, who has had any experience with the Total War series, will feel at home in Warhammer – the battles once again employ the same verified rule set. This doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The AI still poses some problems. I admit, I haven’t had much time to take a closer look at the combat algorithms, and the lack of refined tactics may well be a part of the Orcs’ nature, but what hit me, was the unconcern of the Dwarves under my command. The units needed a considerable catalyst (like being directly attacked) to take some action of their own accord. Without my direct orders they would’ve stood and watched, as few meters aside their brethren fight for their lives.

The heroes can cause some problems as well. If you’re not among the people who choose to command their army using unit cards and prefer to select them directly on the battlefield, you may have a hard time tracking and finding commanders and other single units. Additionally, my duty as a reporter compels me to note some minor visual issues. The battles are beautiful in overall view, I’ll be the first one to admit it, and the individual 3D objects are very detailed, but if you’ve hoped for the “attack of the clones” to be over by now, I regret to say that the 3D models once again lack significant variety. We have to remember that the game is still in early development, and some of these issues may be more or less ironed out before the game’s next year release.

The fog of war still covers the Old World

If I were to limit my coverage to the materials I was allowed to try for myself, this text would be finished with the previous section. There’s nothing more I can tell you about the battles themselves and any significant details concerning the strategic map gameplay remain nowhere to be seen. Luckily, since our last preview, the web has seen some new information, and because I managed to get a hold of some additional facts during a chat with the developers themselves, let’s take a closer look and review the things we currently know about the Total War’s second mainstay gameplay feature.

What we’ve heard in previous weeks could spark some concerns that Total War: Warhammer will strip the trade and diplomacy mechanics of a significant part of their depth in comparison to the past installments, given how the relations between the factions in the Old World are imposed on us. Fortunately, it would seem that the game will leave us with a certain degree of freedom in that matter. For example, Dwarves and Orcs traditionally and historically share a bond based on deep hatred. The developers have promised that there will be possible for the player to reforge that hate into reconciliation – if he is determined enough, that is. The answer to my question whether we’re going to see ships and naval battles was the somewhat enigmatic sentence: “naval content will be present”. It’s hard to say something about particular game mechanics from this sentence, but at least this declaration answers the concerns of people worried that the game’s playable area will be limited to a small region between the Black Mountains and World’s Edge Mountains – covering the south-eastern border of the Empire, the Border Princes and the northern part of Badlands.

The majority of novelties on the strategic map is directly related to how you play as the Dwarves. It was revealed that their primary objective will be to regain their long lost glory – understood as reclaiming and rebuilding their mountain holds. Additionally, the developers presented something called the grudge system. The Dwarves are a very sensitive race and tend to take each and every kind of insult personally – repaying in kind is included in the victory conditions of this race. It may not be easy, because we begin the game with some entries already in The Great Book of Grudges, and as the campaign progresses, further entries will follow – when losing a hold or having a truce agreement broken on us by another faction.

Well then, we know how to play as the Empire, the Greenskins, and the Dwarves (the first two factions were covered in our previous preview), but the fourth playable faction – led by the undead vampire princes from Sylvania – remains a mystery. All we know now is that their gameplay will focus on building an army of undead, requiring a considerable number of dead bodies. Originally, their main specialty (other than raiding imperial cities from time to time) was basically scheming and plotting. When asked, the developers said only that the gameplay mechanics will take that into account. Finally, there remains the Chaos – unfortunately, the creators remain silent in that matter. Everything we know about the demonic forces is limited to the previously disclosed fact that they will be present in the game in some form and will become an important gameplay element.

Make it three

Surprisingly, the developers turned out to be somewhat more vocal about the strategic map, when the discussion touched the theme of what will happen after the release of Total War: Warhammer. Here’s the big news: this game will be the first part of a trilogy set in the Old World. Each subsequent game will be a stand-alone, featuring different factions (possibly four of them) and focusing on other regions of the universe. Buying more than one part of the series will come with benefits, as it will be possible to combine the games in the trilogy into a single entity. According to the developer, such unified version will offer a single, significantly bigger strategic map and include all of the playable factions at the same time. Looks wonderful in theory, but we’ll have to wait until 2017 to see the practical application.

Nevertheless, your excitement may falter, when you’ll hear that beside the main trilogy installments, the franchise will see a bunch of traditional DLCs, most likely introducing new sides to the conflict. However, since designing a new faction in the world of Warhammer requires more financial effort and is, in general, more demanding of a task than mass producing nations in historical Total Wars (the Old World has some real diversity you know…), the number of expansions is bound to be limited.

Other than that, Creative Assembly made it clear that the three parts of Total War: Warhammer are intended as a (triple?) digression rather than a new company master plan for the franchise. The producer was eager to inform me on the spot, that the next installment in their flagship franchise will once again feature a historical setting. Apparently the creators already have a specific age in mind, but, obviously, I wasn’t informed what age would that be. We can only wait for an announcement… and, in the light of the planned Warhammer trilogy, hope for it to happen before the end of this decade.

The best digital Warhammer ever?

Right now, as I summarize everything I’ve seen and tested until today, my inborn skepticism is a having a vicious struggle with a feeling of rapture. On the one hand, we have delightful battles – as far as both the visuals and the mechanics go – and a developer team with more than a dozen years worth of experience in the field of designing strategy games and one that has managed to avoid any significant flops throughout their history. On the other hand, there are many things left unknown, and then there’s the fact that that experienced developer is threading on a territory they have yet to master. The widely advertised diversity of playable factions may turn this into something significantly different than a typical Total War setting. Nevertheless, there is more to hope for in this game than to be afraid of, and I think we can remain optimistic. Will it become the best installment in the Creative Assembly’s roster? Who knows? Will it become the best digital adaptation of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle? Most likely. Now, we have to be patient and wait for the developer team to show their cards…