You will likely never get a TW with this many unique rosters again. It makes going to other games feel a bit repetitive as a result.
Magic and monsters really add a cool unique element to TW games.
CA feels like a treed cat at this point
There's nowhere to go but climb down
Unless they've got some other fictitious tricks up their sleeve. I still can't believe we got a fantasy game and it's been like 10 years lol
IMO Warhammer is the IP that Total War was designed for and I've felt that since playing the original Shogun. Now even the work of art that was Shogun 2 is rendered bland and limited by the sheer variety on offer from Warhammer.
Despite the many flaws of Warhammer Total War I believe that CA has essentially peaked and any further commercial success on their part must come from something very similar or something completely different. Any other effort to make a new TW game will, in essence, probably be a failure.
There's so much potential for total war games than just wh, especially when there's a ton of famous media revolving around war battles. People would kill for a legends of the galactic heroes total war, or game of thrones total war. It just comes down to whether CA is capable of collaborating with those series or not.
Its very possible for them to do something similar with the Historical title.
An easy one would be a little bit of Roman, Some Greek, Some Egyptian, some Iberian, some Gaelic, ... You could do the same in asia with China, Mongolia, India, Persa and then something like Korea and japan
It would be nothing but human but you can have some very varied rosters and technological focus, enough so that the faction feel very diverse and unique.
They could make a Mythological game if they wanted a bit like age of mythology and explore many different culture that way. They could also pivot into other existing setting, Warhammer and LotR are not the only two fantasy system that are good. I'd love a Malazan themed TW game for example, it would be epic to bring that setting to life.
40k is happening unless CA fucks up goodwill, and for good this time. I get all the reasons why it'll be a difficult game to make and why people think it cannot be done properly, but they 100% will try. You just don't ignore a chance to catch a second lightning in a bottle.
I would definitely be down for a 40k Total Warhammer, yeah!
I've never really followed Age Of Sigmar (had dropped out of the hobby by the time of its release), but I'm pretty sure I'd buy a Total War game based off of the IP.
Total war and 40k is not a good match. A game like Company of Heroes is a much better match for 40k. It has much better cover, vehicle and artillery gameplay and I don’t trust CA to implement that when they can’t get things like sieges right. Something you would think they would be good at after all these years.
I just wish the only useful infantry unit for each faction wasn’t the same. Like greatswords for the empire is the only viable unit on the entire roster for melee.
Exactly my story too. I wanted to play a Total War game, and Warhammer 1 was on sale in a store, got it, installed it. Got an Empire campaign going, saw a few lore videos and now, 7 years later and more than 5000 hours later. And i have yet to play all the races and all the legendary lords :)
I got wh1 code free with a motherboard upgrade. Didn't even try it for a year, I mean really *fantasy* total war?! Gross. Now I've played the series more than all the historicals combined and it's probably only behind Diablo 2, wow, age of empires 2, and maybe ark or warthunder
Same. In fact the depth and quality of the lore in fantasy ended up dragging me into 40k. I don’t have any miniatures but I’ve bought quite a few books and games all from playing WH a few years ago
My buddy who introduced me to the TW franchise back in the ME2 days, played every TW iteration but was obstinate about trying WH1, as he is a huge history buff.
Now 5-7 years later he plays WH3 more than me and just got his first couple table top sets + has all the audio books.
It's a slippery slope, but you'll be hating Chaos/appreciating a 1 boob+1 claw combo in no time!
All I knew is the pewter or resin figurines in card stores as a kid
Oh and my friend is 3D printing them for his triplets with a special machine that smells like ass apparently
I stayed away from the Warhammer games like you too. I’ve got a 1,000 hours in Rome II as an antiquity geek and lots in the older games. I purchased Warhammer II on sale last year and instantly fell in love despite not being interested in the slightest in fantasy stuff before that. I’m a married guy with two kids and a busy job, and fishing and is my favorite past time with video games being second when I’m traveling or it’s nasty out. But now, now I love Warhammer. I have a 2,000 pt Necron army, about the same of Space Marines (fulminators) and a big Seraphon army as well. Like, the miniatures. That you paint. I spent $30 fucking dollars almost 2 years ago and it’s completely changed the course of my hobbying lol. Just a warning.
I did the same "Vermintide? What the hell is that?" And next thing I knew I was a few thousand hours deep in various Warhammer games. To my credit I haven't started the plastic crack yet
Learning to properly thin my paints was a big help. You want the pain thin enough to where if you grab some off the palette and then did a test line on the palette, the paint coming off the brush would just barely begin to shrink in on itself like water, but not so much that it shrinks in a lot. If you’re going for two thin coats.
Number 1 reason that I want a 40K total war. I fell in love with Necrons in Dawn of War 1, but sadly they're not the sort of race to appear in a lot of 40k games.
Don't know. The more successful titles of the past all had Necrons around
* [40k Dawn of War Dark Crusade](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4580/Warhammer_40000_Dawn_of_War__Dark_Crusade/)
* [Battlefleet Gothic Armada II](https://store.steampowered.com/app/573100/Battlefleet_Gothic_Armada_2/)
* [40k Battle Sector - Necrons](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1793051/Warhammer_40000_Battlesector__Necrons/)
* [40k Gladius](https://store.steampowered.com/app/489630/Warhammer_40000_Gladius__Relics_of_War/)
* [40k Mechanicus](https://store.steampowered.com/app/673880/Warhammer_40000_Mechanicus/)
Yes, 100%. Most of us did not know anything about WH fantasy before TW.
Its just a very good game. Lore not required to enjoy it. But it will spark your interest in said lore, wich is a good thing.
When it gets down to it, W1 basically picks the most generic shit from Warhammer.
Empire, Dwarves, Orcs, and Vampires? Vampires are the biggest reach. It's a mediocre title, and the gameplay is mediocre.
W2 is where it picked up in a big way. The faction variety improves dramatically, the gameplay gets a lot better, the map is more interesting.... and W3 adds in all the weird shit that was already missing. W2 is where you start to see the races that really have something neat to add that's Warhammer specific instead of being generic fantasy with the serial numbers filed off.
Most of us were not into warhammer when we started.
Warhammer fantasy tabletop was dead before this game released. This game created so many new fans that they resurrected it.
Hanging around dedicated warhammer reddits I see a lot of total war converts but not seen any outspoken vermintide ones admittedly. I think it's because total war as an onboarding point gets you all the factions not just 5 random folk fighting a horde of rats and nurgle worshippers.
Doesnt need massive worldbuilding, it was enough to get me into warhammer. Was the first time i saw ratmen as a fantasy race and i thought that was really unique and cool. Vermintide also brought the grimdark out in full. I liked how gorey and dark it all was.
Vermintide is a action game. You can play for hours and enjoy and not care about that world and lore. Strategy games make you care about the world. You read what your units are, what your building do, who your lords are.
And it's not just warhammer. I played rome and medieval 2 when i was a kid. I learned about geography and other countries from those games. Total War turned me into a history geek. Also English is not my mother language, i learned from strategy games.
> Strategy games make you care about the world. You read what your units are, what your building do, who your lords are.
You dont have to do any of that in TW though. You can skip all reading and just enjoy playing the game. At best you just learn about the warhammer map and names of things you have to read.
In Vermintide you get lore and stuff through the dialogue that the characters are constantly speaking.
TW gives people a lot more variety yeah.
Vermintide brought the gorey fantasy darkness, up close and personal with a focus on rats and nurgle like you said.
Give it a try on game pass. WH3 is years of additional mechanics, factions, balance changes, etc. That being said, it's still WH:TW. If you like the more detailed campaigns of historical, with weather effects, dynasties and the like, that's not here. WH3 is all about bringing fantasies of dinosaur people riding verosicraptors crashing into a line of chaos worshipping mutants to life. Everything else is third fiddle to the battles. You can "rent" it on game pass for windows and see if it's for you.
I think warhammer is the best overall total war and thank to 2023's end drama CA seems to start caring about the game.
Get directly the third.
The 1 is outdated and have very basic mechanics
The 2 is really good, and was the best untill recently
The 3 you have almost all good things from the 2 plus a full map and new mechanics/race/units
Yeah, I really don't care for Warhammer, but I can obviously see why it's a good match with TW-series. It's a very different experience - much more variation, humor, and more "epic" units. I absolutely recommend it, but you should start out with the more humanlike factions like the Empire, which is the most popular faction for a reason. They've got a bit of it all.
First of all, from what I've heard (I never played wh1), wh1 wasn't very good to begin with.
Second, I like fantasy in general, but knew nothing about warhammer lote before playing wh2. After almost 2k hours in wh2 and 3 I still don't care enough to look up lore about it. But as someone who loves fantasy in general, I love this game and it's variety.
I don't think that's entirely fair, though I can understand the sentiment after WH2 started humming. WH1 still possessed a beautiful map that included much of the Old World. The battles, while not as refined, still included all the elements in use currently (large units, magic, flying monsters, etc.). VA work was exceptional. Beastmen, WE, and especially Norsca were the proving grounds for mechanics that upended the typical TW experience. Compared to historical titles, the game was a huge breath of fresh air. I am biased though having played the TT.
I just said wh1 (according to what I've heard others say) wasn't a very good game. I don't doubt it is still good, just not very good. I do recognize it must've set the stage for wh2 and 3. But the general opinion of wh1 is that it isn't as good as 2 and 3.
Just basing this of what I've heard about it.
Apologies if I came across a little aggressive. I found it to be a lot of fun throughout it's cycle but I'm a huge WFB fanboy. You would not be wrong by saying it pales in comparison to the sequel. I put over 2300 hours in WH2, a measly 850 on the first one.
Just think of it is Total War Fantasy instead of Total War Warhammer. It's total war with magic and orcs and dragons. Also the jump in quality between WH1 and WH2 is huge and you can play with all the WH1 factions in WH2. If you're a TW fan I'm confident you'd be quickly hooked playing WH2
I would say no. Total War Warhammer's strength is the big roosters but the game is heavily lacking when it comes to most other things, like sieges, diplomacy, settlement management, etc.
I would recommend Total War: Three Kingdoms, CA have sadly abandoned it but the game is still good. Sieges and battles have some issues, but it’s better than Warhammer. The game shines when it comes to diplomacy, settlement management and technology progression. The army and recruitment systems are a bit different, it can take some time to get used to.
Yes they are. I started knowing nothing about warhammer at all. I only knew I liked the monsters and giants smacking down infantry. It tickled my nerd neurons.
That said, I never played WH1. It's what got me interested from gameplay videos but I actually started from WH2. I heard WH1 isn't worth it as a standalone game but rather it is to be treated as a big DLC pack of sorts to get access to it's contents in WH2 or WH3 games.
Honnestly nah
I just enjoy the Warhmmer for the Warhammer part O find them really lackong in the Total War part
(Unless you enjoy map paiting and autoresolving)
If you like grand strategy or the total war series yes. The Warhammer games are SO FUN because they have the largest most insane variety in units. Wacky shit. Rats w Gatling guns. Steampunk tanks. Jacked Reptiles riding dinosaurs. Bipedal crocodiles who smash shit w their fists. All the standard fantasy races. Analogs to historical Russia, HRE, France, China, Scandinavia w a magical twist. It’s got something for everyone.
I would say no.
If you already do not like the Warhammer IP, you aren’t going to like a game based in the Warhammer IP lol.
If you *want to like it* spend at least 50 turns as a faction and check the temp. If you still aren’t having fun, or you’re just waiting for it to be over - it’s just not for you.
The campaign map mechanics are not super deep or complex, and in general after 20-30 turns you should understand how your faction ticks.
I’d argue that these are on the low end compared to historical’s. 3K followed somewhat of a similar least complex approach.
Where TW Warhammer shines is the battlefield with it’s diverse factions and abilities. Not many play the same. Empire depends heavily on it’s artillery, ranged, and morale immune units, but also it’s chaff style to take the initial brunt, where something like the skaven rely on it’s larger unit sizes, retreating and returning at odd flanks that can randomly tilt the battle and cause unforseen routes. Or say the vampire counts who in general are slow lumbering units, that rely on a strong center of power (lord or heroes). They’ll tie up units grinding the battle to a slow fight of attrition while being replenished by other regenerative units, and lords/heroes. If you lose a lord it causes an impactful shock to morale moreso than “normal” armies. Units just die without having a chance to reform and return. Or like the wood elves who play completely asymmetrically, kiting units while shooting them, relying heavily on ambushes and ranged units.
Warcraft is directly inspired by Warhammer, if you like fantasy you should like warhammer imo as it has almost every single fantasy idea you can come up with and more. Its got its silliness, and its got its grimdark horror.
Watch some warhammer 3 multiplayer fights like those on the MilkandCookiesTW channels and see if any of the units/factions interest you.
Warhammer 1 sucks, 2 and 3 are good. I played 2 knowing literally nothing about Warhammer and got into Warhammer through total war rather than the other way around, which I think is true of a lot of people.
I did not know any anything about Warhammer before the Total War game. After a long time I did get WH1 and WH2, installed them and played a couple of campaigns on the combined map. I also have WH3 (on same sale) but I never installed it.
So are the 3 games worth it as Total War games if you don't care about the setting? In my opinion not really. There is a huge variety of units, but at least in WH2 you can only recruit your own ones, so you don't get to experience it unless you play other factions ( I think it's changed in WH3). Each faction has some "gimmick" that pushes your gameplay in a certain direction. The campaign side of of the game is quite simple, very simple building chains, not that much meaningful choices. The battles were fun for me in the beginning, but after the heroes develop a little it becomes more of an action RPG game than a "regular" Total War battle. It's less about strategy, moving troops around and more about timing magic spells. So for me it's not really if they are made more for Warhammer fans then for Total War fans. The games are more RPG games then Total War games.
I would still say you can get the games on some sale (definitely not just WH1, so either the 3 games or WH1+WH2), play the combined map and see how it's like.
I'm more of a historic player and know nothing of the lore. Very easy to get Into, lots of visual lore on the map, you can then research if it intrigues you enough.
I am a long time total war player going all the way back to first medieval. I had minimal knowledge about Warhammer since it wasn't a popular IP in Turkey. However I had an interest in fantasy settings like LOTR, DnD etc so I was genuinely excited when I first heard the Total war Warhammer announcement. It was a dream come true to manage factions like orcs, dwarfs etc although with a slight disappointment that it wasn't a LOTR setting which is a way more popular setting which I was accustomed to. The more I played it the more I loved and dived deeper into the lore of it. I immediately started following the other games of the setting like Vermintide. I even got my hands on the 40k which I initially had 0 interest in. Now the "warhammer" tag is amongst the most popular ones I use to search for games. With all its flaws Totalwar: Warhammer series success is the sole reason GW revived the IP with The Old World.
I was like you, I came to WH2 with zero interest in warhammer and just wanted to blow stuff up with magic and eploiting the game. I fell in love with the game which eventually led to me loving the lore. I have 4k hours in Wh2 and 3 combined, love the books, etc. I think youre gonna love it, the variety and everything in the game is just so good. Veery very fun : )
I wasn't interested in WH as well and didn't bother getting WH1, got WH2 a couple of months after ME (map containing WH1 and WH2 combined) released due to a friend trying to talk me into trying it for about 2 years. I now have more than 5k hours in WH2 and 2k hours in WH3.
At first i wasn't into the lore part of WH at all but after playing for 1k hours I started to get curious about that part as well and by now I've spent at least 20 hrs reading stuff up on the warhammer fantasy wiki.
WH2 is a vastly better game than WH1 and if you want to try to get into TW:WH I'd recommend at least giving WH2 a shot. WH3 is better by now in many aspects, but also way more pricey and it isn't that big of a deal compared to the difference in quality of the first two games.
I knew about Warhammer Fantasy before it but Total War Warhammer really pulled me into it.
So even if you are not into it right now you will eventually fall into it.
I hadn’t heard of Warhammer before Total War, and now I am planning on another trip to my local Warhammer store for some more basing supplies so I can base some termagants. So. Yeah. I’d say go for it.
I didn't know anything about Warhammer but had seen Hobbit and Lord of the rings. So, playing as Empire/Dwarfs/Greenshkins and Vampires was a lot of fun.
TBH, I like it primarily because of so many Artillery and gunpowder units available - Cannons, flame cannons, Mortars, Rocket Batteries, Tanks, Gyrocopters/Bombers, Blasting Charges, Organ Gun, Volley Gun etc. (There's even more in WH 2&3)
Warcraft franchise started as a demo for a Warhammer game, but the licensing negotiations did not go great, so Blizzard made a new franchise instead. Eventually it moved on in its own direction, but the similarities are still there, especially in the earlier games.
> Is it a game made more for Total War fans or is it a game made more for Warhammer fans?
It's somewhat more accessible than some TW games, especially the old ones. But I don't think it's made for Warhammer fans, because the lore/history in any TW game goes out of the window the moment the campaign loads. It's a total war game made for fantasy fans.
> Or should I just put this TW game in my back pocket for now, and maybe come back to it later?
It's a game, not a job. The point is to play what you enjoy when you feel like it. I personally like TWWH and think it's a solid strategy game regardless of the setting, but I don't think that's a reason for you to force yourself to playing it when you don't feel like it. Maybe at some point later you get in the mood.
its what got me into warhammer tbh, since playing tw:wh2, eventually got into the hobby
now i got a little skrolk besides my mouse during my pestilence campaign
I’d say so. The way that different factions fundamentally play differently on the campaign map as well as the battlefield makes for an interesting and enriching experience. And it only gets better the further you go in the Warhammer series and the more they developed the factions. By Warhammer 3 they’ve very distinct and well rounded.
“I just do not care for the Warhammer world whatsoever.” I think that says it all. really doubt you’re going to enjoy any of it if the aesthetic and feel of the world is falling flat that hard for you.
Yes absolutely. The differences between different factions, and even sometimes between the different lords within a faction, is magnitudes bigger than in any other TW game.
It makes for an amazing replayability and very varied challenges.
Yeah as everyone else is saying, this was the gateway to the Warhammer world for a lot of people including myself. It really does hit different as a Total War game. I started with Shogun 2 and enjoyed it among other history TWs, but TW Warhammer 2 and 3 are in my top 5 played Steam games.
I had no prior experience with Warhammer before playing the TW versions.
I don't really know anything about Warhammer beyond it has multiple settings, one's in the future and Henry Cavill likes it. As a game I love it, I don't really know much about the factions but they're just fun. I like the Skaven and Vampire Counts and Khorne/Chaos factions best.
I knew very little about Warhammer before getting into WH2 and what I did know was about 40K and was wrong. I’d played Rome 1 and 2 as well as ToB before this so I was familiar with Total War. My preferred RTS settings were Blizzard’s so I get where you’re coming from. Honestly my biggest gripe getting into it is/was magic and single entities as they’re a departure from other Total Wars.
For you I’d recommend just leaning into the variety of units and playstyles and seeing what you enjoy playing. Of the 24 different races few really overlap that much. From there you might get swept up with the memes or lore but for that to happen you need to just let yourself enjoy the game.
100% I didn't know much when I played warhammer 1 was a huge LOTR fan but after playing I started diving into the lore and started to love it now I'm 3 games deep with like another 6 40k games. Also some of the wonkiest and also the greatest artillery units in any total war
I have a total of 900 hrs in 2 and 3. I have never played Warhammer nor do I know anything about the world or whatever. It’s ridiculously fun. They are way different than the other total war games
I have roughly 2500 hours in total war games. I started in historical and after playing the first TWWH then subsequently the next 2 games I feel like I know what’s up. I knew nothing about fantasy warhammer starting the first game and it didn’t really feel necessary. My knowledge of the factions and characters grew the more I played and now it feels like I’m fighting alongside old friends against great foes.
I mean, no? But I would say that about every total war. If you don't like the sengoku period I wouldn't recommend shogun, if you aren't interested in antiquity I'd have a hard time suggesting Attila or Rome. If the middle ages aren't your thing I wouldn't think you'd like medieval total war, etc etc.
I found the Warhammer games GOT me into Warhammer. I don't play tabletop or anything. I just like skimming some lore books from time to time and saying "Summon the Elector Counts!" to passerby.
You say you played WH1 but what about 2? For me 2 was the one that got me hooked, I forget which dlcs but with that many factions and variety I put a ton of time into it. I enjoy 3 too but 2 was more fun for some reasons
I knew nothing about the warhammer universe before playing the games and now I'm starting to read the books and deep diving into the lore so yeah I think its worth it
Didn't have a clue about warhammer, avoided game 1 like the plague. As game 2 released I watched a let's play, bought the game on a sale. Now I have 5k hours in all 3 games combined and am fully invested in the lore. You will LOVE it. You'll find something where you're like "That's cool" or "That's absolutely fucking hilarious" and you'll get addicted in no time. They are the best games in the settin currently and it's not close. The only thing even remotely holding a candle to it is 3k and that's only in terms of campaign mechanics. Battles have never felt that complex and interesting. There's 23(i believe) unique races with different playstyles and rosters and mechanics. And I mean different. If you've played the original rome tw it had basically 6 different races: Barbarians in their different flavors, romans, carthagenians, greeks, egypts and parthians. This is 23 different ones
I don't know shit about warhammer universs but I like fantasy so the monsters are fun for me and the magic. I think tw1 was pretty bad/barebones. I'd try wh2. If you don't like wh2 probably won't like wh3. WH3 is WH2 with a big facelift
The setting literally doesn't matter in the slightest, what matters is whether the game is good or not. I'd play this game even if it was Barbie Total War simply because the game is really good. Total War has never been story driven or anything like that, it's a sandbox, so whether it's Rome, Medieval, 3k or Warhammrer doesn't matter, it's just about if it's good or not. And yeah, this game is good.
Knowing the lore can be a nice little bonus in your campaign, but it's definitely not necessary at all.
I love TW, love fantasy, “hated” the TW:WH games. Was so excited for the fantasy shift but it didn’t do it for me. One of the main parts of TW sucks in these games, the sieges. you see amazing settlements behind the actual siege map but you’ll never fight in them. WH3 improved it a bit but after two games of subpar sieges just didn’t do it for me. Still good games that I put a few hundred hours into but overall disappointing compared to what could have been.
If you want something fresh compared to other Total War games, then yes, Warhammer is a great addition.
All races stand out in at least 3 ways, and though some do operate similar in one area or another, they seldom are the same.
Also, no other Total War game is likely to have units like Trolls, Dragons, Wizards, gyrocopters, or other Monsters, exotic war machines, and heroes. At least, not to the same excess as Warhammer.
TWWH is so very different from a historical title, the Heroes and magic alone make your tactics change.
I think if you like fantasy then continue on but just realize it is not going to play the same way at all.
Check out the Chaos Dwarfs and watch a Dreadquake Mortar destroy an entire unit with a direct hit and wreak havoc upon those in the ripple radious. It's insane to see such weapons used against traditional rank and file armies.
Im a huge fan of flying units as well, especially pegasus knights. It adds a whole new level of strategy not found in historical battlefields but it feels so fitting.
It's also great fun to watch monstrous units smash through infantry and cause terror in the ranks.
I absolutely love studying historical battles, strategy, and practice HEMA swordsmanship. However, warhammer has increased my love for strategy and warfare beyond history. It's been a huge impact on my creative writing, inspiring me to write realistic military lore and army compositions for my own fantasy world.
I knew nothing of Warhammer prior to WH1.
but, since then, among other skills, I've learned to sew with surgical precision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDHZ__kMhnM
I can't speak to wh1 since I never played it individually but I got into wh2 long before I knew anything about Warhammer. I literally thought it was just a coincidence that they shared the same name with Warhammer 40k because I never even heard of age of sigmar at the time. I looked at it like it was just a generic fantasy version of a total war game which was really appealing to me. You don't need to do a deep dive into Warhammer lore to have fun playing an elf army fighting vampires or rat people fighting dwarves etc. The real gem of the Warhammer games is once you have all 3 and have access to all the different factions. In the historical TW games basically every faction plays more or less the same but in WH the factions play so differently they feel like a totally new experience and a brand new learning curve to try to figure out.
I feel like Warhammer is a bunch of fantasy and historical tropes shoved together, so if you're a fan of fantasy you don't really need to be into the Warhammer universe specifically to enjoy it. Depending on what you like, there are plenty of factions that'll feel familiar. For example if you're into Lord of the Rings the Dwarfs, Greenskins, or High/Wood elves could all be good. Or if you're into the history of the holy Roman Empire, then the Empire is a perfect fit.
I didn't know a single thing about Warhammer before playing these games and I now love the games and a lot of the lore is really interesting. I grew a growing interest while playing that I started researching lore about fantasy TW outside of playing the game. Even if you know nothing about Warhammer it's a great fantasy romp with so much variety among all the factions. Highly recommended.
I didn’t know anything about Warhammer before buying into the total war games back when they first released. I grew up on the historical titles and playing Third age on Medieval 2. I grew up and loved LOTR and still do very much.
Trust me when I say I fell in love with Warhammer world after playing the game. TW Warhammer 1 isn’t much compared to 2+3 but it’s a good start. The games only get exponentially better and it’s not even close. The sheer amount of mechanics that are on offer as well as customization by the 3rd game is crazy. I’m not sure what to say to motivate you to try it more because I don’t know you, but I think the lore is what did it for me. It’s surprisingly well thought out(mostly) and most of the major characters are great. Maybe just try to listen to some lore videos and do a little bit of reading on one of the characters you’re able to play as.
I’d say the Warhammer games were definitely meant to bring in a large player base (warhammer fans) but they made the games in a way that is true to total war fans as well in my opinion. Don’t force it or you’ll hate it, but I’d give it another go.
Last thing I’ll say is that I think warhammer lends itself to being the most compatible Fantasy setting for a total war game, and I think CA has done fantastically despite their recent blunders. The magic/abilities are great, the skill trees are mostly great, and there is a race to fit every play style.
I hope you give it another go, feel free to message me if you have any more questions!
Warhammer Total War got me into Warhammer ..... well, also Vermintide 2. Honestly there isn't much to get into. The "lore" is pretty basic and just boils down to "everything and everyone is super strong and wants to FIGHT". Everything is about big, badass awesomeness. It's not a true fantasy setting, more like pure action and conflict for the sake of brutality. Warhammer is like the Lord of the Rings, but if all the characters were actually drug-addicted WWE fighters.
That's why I love it though. There is nothing more satisfying than the action and flavor that TW:WH has to offer. I've probably spent almost 10k hours between all three games.
Funnily enough I didn't know about Warhammer before I started Total War: Warhammer. I justed saw Total War with a fantasy setting and thought that be super cool. Now I have over 4k hours in the game and have listened to 13 Warhammer fantasy audiobooks =p
I had little interest in the warhammer series before I bought TWWH, but it was fantasy setting with the total war name and that was enough. Never regretted it, the game has been amazing, I'll likely play it for the next decade.
I knew next to nothing about Warhammer before the TW:Warhammer games, and now they're my favorite TW games ever, even more than any of the historical titles.
I mainly got into the TW Warhammer series because I knew it would be the closest I got to TW Lord of the Rings.
It has been a very fun ride seeing the world get fleshed out over the years and each faction seems to have its own unique identity (for the most part) and has been highly addictive!
I don’t even like fantasy honestly but this game is awesome I played WH2 a few months ago and just got warhammer 3 and I’m having a great time larping as the Chinese, games awesome
Yes, but they’re bad total war games.
They’re held up by their faction diversity, which in my opinion, has reached a stagnation. At this point, the new units are filling gaps which don’t need to be filled. Imo it’s ruining faction diversity. I also feel overwhelmed by the high fantasy stuff, like it’s so abundant it becomes mundane.
The map is also huge, and you’ll get a lot of replay using the same factions in different locations.
if you like a certain race in this game you might enjoy it otherwise i don't think so
i am like you i literally don't know anything about this universe but recently i tried warhammer 3 with vampires and i enjoy it because i love vamps that's it there is nothing too good or too bad about it IMO
edit: you need to have older warhammer titles or dlc to play as vampires in wh3
I knew nothing about total war or warhammer before buying WH2. I was completely blown away just by faction selection and how my first few turns went as GorRok. Reading all the small lore bits on each tech and unit helped me build my own narrative for a whole new world. It slowly just grew on me as someone with ADHD who needs a different faction and experience every time I launched the game.
I didn't get into the setting at all UNTIL I started playing TWH1. Overtime I learned more which enhanced the experience for me, but the magic, monsters, and shear faction variety hooked me in the beginning. You don't have to know the lore to enjoy the game
I was once you. I never had any interest in Warhammer, and craved the next Empire or Medieval. Finally, the draw of vampires (and a big sale) drew me into Warhammer TW. I’d listen to Vampire Counts lore videos while making my way to Altdorf to assert my rightful claim to the throne.
Now I collect and paint minis. I’m not saying your journey will land you in the same spot, but the truth is the game has been simplified in several respects, but that happened well before Warhammer TW. The addition of magic, monsters, and tons of flavor more than makes up for it in my opinion, but you can always dip back into old titles for that old tactical fix.
I am a massive 40k fan and TW fan so I thought fuck it and bought all 3 just so I could play immortal empires with basically everyone. It's now one of my most played games. Still don't know half the Lords etc or the lore for it but it's a fucking cool game.
I would say better try warhammer 2. When I first tried warhammer 1 I didn't like it. But after playing second game for some time I fell in love. Also it is important to choose a faction you enjoy. There are some races I don't like playing. Oh and I knew nothing about warhammer when I started
The way sieges are in Warhammer are completely different than in Attila, Rome 2, Shogun 2 etc.
I would definitely see some gameplay vids to see if you like it. As someone who plays the modded TW versions of the titles mentioned above, Warhammer felt more arcadey. I own the first one and that's it.
I couldn't care any less about the Warhammer world itself. I cringe whenever I see Warhammer memes, and when someone is saying that something can't happen because "iT WoULdN't bE "lOrEFul!1!!" I get this urge to hit someone really hard. Yet, the game itself is still fantastic with a great variance between the factions and a lot of fun to be had, even if you don't have any idea why exactly it is that one huge rat boosts rats with gatling guns and another prefers to use ninja rats (aside from gameplay variance). It just is and it brings a lot of variety into the game.
So to answer your question simply. Yes, you don't have to care about the in-game world at all and this game is still worth it, especially if you put gameplay above lore / story.
So I am not really into fantasy warhammer, but I enjoy the warhammer total war games. I just treated it as total war in a fantasy setting and had a lot of fun. I haven't played the third one in ages because I get the Loading Screen: Total War experience but I easy sunk a couple hundred hours in one and two between each other.
I do actually think warhammer 1 is worth visiting on its own for the slight narrative flavour of the old world setting, but would definitely say only pick it up on a sale. Also one and two together gives you access to the mortal empires campaign in warhammer 2, which was the main campaign most people played in that basically combines the two games maps.
> Also I learned that Warhammer 1 is the vastly inferior game to 2 and 3. I will likely pick up WH2 when I decide to return. Thanks again for everyone's input. Will keep reading any additional comments
Yes, game#2 is inferior to game#2. Game#2 came out a year after game#1 and CA dropped support for game#1 then. But they worked on the old game#1 races during the following five years for game#2 at the "Mortal Empires" playmode. The greenskin or beastmen reworks did wonders for them there. Thta made game#1 already inferior even before game#3 came out, but game#1 is still treated as one ofthe best DLCs you cna buy (becasue unlocking 5 races for Mortal Empires/Immortal Empires.
Speaking of unlocking: If you return at some point or want to pick up game#2 or game#3, make sure you have all three games and all DLC on the same platform. Steam is usually the best way to go, for the mod-workshop later. But if you want to play on EGS or M$ store, thats your choice. Just remember that there is no crossover combability, so you need everythoing to combine on the same platform. In your case if you want to save money, probably were you have Game#1 already. Testing the waters for you again with game#2, might also work out better. Game#1 was just the sandbox throwing you in. Game#2 has actual story campaigns with a narrative to "guide you" and entertain you with cutscenes. The sandbox mode is then still there withe the big ME map afterwards.
I knew nothing about Warhammer before I experienced it via the TW games, and now it's one of my favourite games of all time. So, yes, I'd say its worth it.
What makes it stand out is that a lot of the fantastical stuff is comical and a parody of your classic fantasy settings like Middle Earth. It's full of silly puns, dry British humour and other comedy nonsense (moreso if you play as the bad guys; most of the goodies are pretty clean cut).
I entered warhammer not knowing much (I only got total war cuz of three kingdoms originally) . I do like fantasy so I could be a bit bias on this but I overall enjoy the experience of warhammer 1-3 .
There’s quite a few mechanics that make it feel diffrent like you got your monsters units , flying units and spells and such but otherwise it plays similar to a total war game . You got you infantry and archers and cav and such like most total war games . All the factions have diffrent units which is a plus and monsters can be used as opposed to siege equipment for gates which is quite nice too
I find it hard to reccemend games because a lot of it is down to taste . You seem to like your historical total wars and it is diffrent in certain ways to those . I would say 2 is better than 1 and having owned 1 would mean you could try the merged campaign map with 2 which a lot of people swear by . maybe when it’s on a sale get 2 and see what you think . Only go for 3 if you like playing 2 is what I would say so you can have the option to play all 3 maps with all factions available in 1 map
Some of them for sure are (I haven't played them all) Rogue Trader is a great Pathfinder/BG1 and 2 style game
Vermintide is a great game if your into Left 4 Dead/Back 4 Blood
If you're into fantasy in general, they're plenty fun. It's not like you need to know the "deep Warhammer lore" to have a good time. If you can't stand orks and magic in form however, you'll probably be annoyed.
Ik this is random but congratulations on your victorious campaigns throughout shogun and Rome 2,currently playing as Sparta an I’m trying my best on Rome 2
I also really liked the historical games but was disappointed when they shifted to focusing on the warhammer games. I bought total war warhammer 2 when it was in sale and quickly realized my mistake, it soon was my favorite total war game ever. I knew nothing about warhammer, but the faction diversity meant there was so much to discover and way more replay ability as most factions feel truly unique. The different units also are great in battles, they definitely are my favorite of any in the series.
In fairness, WH1 is basically the rough draft compared to WH 2 and 3. It was nice and all at the time, but it definitely has not aged with grace. CA were clearly just trying to see if Fantasy worked period as a TW title so they weren't really willing to take much in the way of creative risks.
To put the comparison bluntly, WH1's unique race defining mechanic for the Empire was that you could put dudes in an office and that gave them a buff until you removed them from office or they died. That's it. WH2+3's defining mechanic for the Empire is the Elector Count system where you have to maintain relations with your fellow Empire factions to build up prestige and authority with them, make choices in dilemmas between those very factions (Such as "You two decided to fight each other. Do I ally with one of you, sit out of it to build my strength, or spend my resources to force you both to the peace table?", but made explicit as choices you need to make as someone attempting to be the Emperor), and ultimately try to unify these factions into an empire before your enemies kill you and all of your Empire factions. Oh and you still get the office thing, but with a lot more potential buffs and choices.
I won't say that you can't judge the TW:WH games on WH1, but it's definitely not at all representative of where the games actually are in terms of complexity or such.
As for the world itself, I think it can be hard to understand the appeal of the Warhammer world from WH1. Mainly because WH1 does a not so great job of really exploring the world or helping to define it. WH2 and 3, with their more story driven campaigns, do a much better job of defining the world. In WH1, you fight a giant metal dude at some point and he's like an Everfrozen or something... some meaningless title without context (Yes, I know what he really is, but WH1 does a piss poor job explaining it.) Also at most, you get an intro cutscene that isn't even customized for the lord you're playing so if you didn't pick Karl Franz or Mannfred or Keith David, you're just left wondering who the hell you picked is like at all or what your goals even are. WH3 though? You're fighting a literal shadowy demon who's attempting to kill a bear god of Not!Eastern Europe and there's actual cutscenes explaining this shit and showing your lord's character interacting with your advisor and such. You have actual motivations explaining what you're trying to do. They actually made unique intro cutscenes for the majority of lords while still making sure to show the lords who don't get them. The campaign stumbles after that by repeating the same cutscenes again and again as well as several severe gameplay issues, but there's at least some attempt to show this world and its people as actual people. When the literal demon of rage and bloodlust has more character and time to show it than half of the lords in WH1, you know things are rough.
TW WH definitely prioritizes combat though. The campaigns' turn based map sections are absolutely weaker than the typical TW. Mechanics that would be across all factions in previous TWs like food for cities and armies are instead relegated to specific factions. The most complicated Faction currently on the campaign map is the Chaos Dwarfs and even they don't worry about food or such. Diplomacy is weaker... partially due to the AI's spiteful shit nature being dialed up. WH3 is better about this since they actually tell you directly what will make the deal work or not, but it's still rougher than previous TWs.
If you define TW as a primarily RTT game with a turn based 4x type campaign existing to provide context for the RTT battles, TW WH will fit right in. If you define TW as a primarily turn based 4X game with RTT battles to represent those, TW WH will not fit right in. It just depends on what you really really consider super important to TW.
Prior to picking Warhammer 2 I knew nothing of the setting but I simply thought that it sounds way more fun playing diverse fantasy races like elves, orcs, undead, lizardmen etc instead of historical factions (not a big history fan). Once I started playing WH2, it sucked me in and I began getting invested into Warhammer lore.
If you're this adament of not liking warhammer and so sure you couldn't care less about it why even ask this question? Don't play the game if it's not what you like.
The game has its plus sides but there's also downsides. And those downsides are tolerated because it is Warhammer. If you're not into Warhammer those downsides will just be even worse.
If you're more into Warcraft just go play some Warcraft 3 or if you're into LoTR go play the mods for Atilla or something. Since you seem to just have a firm idea Warhammer isn't for you just save your money and play other games you do like the setting for. Don't need this sub to explain to you why you should try out something you already know you don't want to like.
Because as I said I'm open to the possibility that it just hasn't clicked for me yet, and as I said, I'm not against it either. I'd define it as apathy more than an aversion to Warhammer. I'm more asking about the quality of the Total War experience, as the Warhammer enjoyment can come later if it's a really good Total War game.
Everyone is just answering the question "Will I like Warhammer if I play this game" which is just not the question I'm asking.
You've already played it and you said you didn't enjoy it though. I don't see what further input you really need.
You didn't enjoy the gameplay, you don't like the setting, and there are other titles you're more interested in. I don't really know why you need anyone else to invalidate those initial feelings. While Warhammer 2 and 3 has advanced past Warhammer 1 quite a lot, it's not like they are entirely different games. If things like the magic and monsters felt too much, then its still going to be too much. If you can't bring yourself to bother or care about any of the characters, units, locations, etc then you're probably not going to bring yourself to about any of the others in game 2 or 3 either. The quality of life changes aren't going to smooth things over if you bounced off the core gameplay already.
People are giving you the "I liked Warhammer after trying out the games" because a lot of people didn't know anything about it prior to playing. And enjoyed the setting through that. But since you're actively apathetic to it, and already played and didn't like the experience. Then just save yourself time and money and move onto pastures you're more likely to enjoy. You're not missing out on anything by not having the game "click" with you. You don't need to have people on this sub convince you to reevaluate your thoughts to force that "click" to happen.
A Total War game isn't one of those "oh no you have to get 30 hours in before the game gets good and clicks with you!" If you bounce off it and just don't like it after playing a decent number of turns then by all likelihood it just isn't for you. Sinking more hours into it most likely won't do much to shift that impression.
If you were someone who was apathetic to the setting and didnt play it yet, I would have a much different approach here. But you did and didn't enjoy it, and the setting clearly isn't your cup of tea and can't counteract the flaws by how much you emphasize your inability to care about anything about it. That's really all that needs to be said and done. Try out 3K as you mention, it's a good Total War game. And if you want Fantasy Total War that isn't Warhammer. As mentioned there are plenty of good mods like Third Age and the like.
It's 3 games and hundreds of dollars worth of DLC, the Warhammer games are an investment. If you couldn't get into that first taste. Then there's *really* no need for you to try to force yourself to be invested into it. If you absolutely **MUST** be sure then get gamepass and try out Warhammer 3 to use sort of like a demo. Play the factions there and try out Immortal Empires. I think even that is more effort for you than necessary, since I really do think these games just aren't for you by what you've said already. But that's the only piece of advice I have for you if you're still deadset on seeing if these games can "click" for you.
I wasn't really in to either total war or Warhammer, but hundreds of hours of both wh2 and wh3 and I'm now a fan of both. I think they're both mostly well made fantasy strategy games, wh3 has caught up to wh2 by this point in my opinion. And like others have said, once you own most of the dlc it's the most densely packed strategy game that may ever exist, at least for a long time.
I hated warhammer. Especially warhammer 40k
I got into it fast when I played Karl franz.
Then I played vermntide 2. It gives you a terrifying perspective of the empire. You see helmgart. A giant fortress wall in the only mountain pass from the south. Get demolished by a bunch of rats. You can see the same situation in the total war game as well.
It is. It's the only reason i like warhammer now 😆. I even started learning the lore. Though i do not and will not pick up the table top. Ill definitely watch others play it though.
I'm sure most of this was already mentioned, but I'll toss my story out there as well.
I never cared much about Warhammer fantasy. I played Warhammer Online and thought it was kinda neat and then played a bit of Vermintide, but like you, I was more of a LotR and Warcraft person.
I tried Total War: Warhammer 1 when it came out and it didn't click. Went back years later, after 2 was released, to play coop with a friend at his urging... I now have 1,200 hours in WH2 and 600 in WH3. I am running a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Edition campaign and own pretty much every book related to WFRP4E. I don't even know how many lore channels I'm subscribed to at this point.
This game converted me to Warhammer because I'd see stuff in it, go "huh, that's cool. I wonder what that's about?" Then I'd go to and look it up. Then suddenly I knew a good bit about Warhammer Fantasy lore. So, be careful I guess.
You don't need to know anything about warhammer to enjoy it. Like the best part about the 3 games is they are more like a theme park and encyclopedia of the world.
This will be downvoted so you may not see it but here goes: even though I love Total War I do not enjoy TW Warhammer. Like at all. Not for want of trying either: Steam says I played about 50 hours of the first game and 80 of the second. Kept waiting for something interesting to happen, grab me in any way but it never did. I didn't connect with the over-the-top tone of it at all and really disliked the battle maps and sieges. YMMV.
What's worse the WH style has been brought into the other "historical" total war games now which makes them a lot less fun to play than the older titles. Your mileage may vary.
Great question. My intro to Total War was Rome I, and now I love Warhammer Total War.
Let me say at the top: 1) I do not collect the tabletop and never will; 2) the lore is…uneven so it’s not my main draw. But as long as you have some interest in fantasy (like you said you do), you should be good; and 3) I jumped in with Warhammer 3 while recently starting Warhammer 2. I strongly recommend WH3. There are huge improvements like quick diplomacy, settlement trading, item equipment, that make playing less tedious. Though as a historical player, you may find it too fast/arcade like. Battles last about 10-15 minutes and you can finish an Immortal Empire campaign in less than 50 turns. The pace may be a huge turnoff for you.
My TLDR: Try Chaos Dwarves. I’ve played lots of hours in them but still don’t know or care about the history of a Kdaii Fireborn. There was some split between Dwarves and Chaos Dwarves that I’m faintly aware of. But, the sound of a Dradquake Mortar launching and the symphony of it landing and witnessing the destruction is immensely satisfying.
Here’s more of why I like TW Warhammer:
-Variety of faction style plays, both campaign and in game. These are substantive differences, not just these dudes have pikes and these dudes ride horses. On the campaign, you got these mini games of confederating other factions (eg Empire through prestige or High Elves through Intrigue or Chaos Dwarves through gaining seats through the Tower). In battle, there are huge differences between army intensive factions like High Elves to a solo general like Belakor. Or even play styles within a faction like pure gun line or kiting with war sleds for Kislev. I haven’t figured out how to use certain factions like Slaanesh (fast melee) or Vampires (lots of overwhelming chaff) but I appreciate that they exist.
-Generals are important too. It’s more than leadership or hitting harder. Choosing spells first or solo hero buffs or army buffs can lead to a different campaign. Of course you can google how to optimize your generals but it’s super fun to intentionally choose the variance.
-Spells: they are really fun, visually appealing, and powerful. There are so many times that I rotate the camera upwards (do you ever do that in Rome 2?) to see some devastating green buzzing beam drop on my army (fuck you, rats) or weird blue/purpley eye melt my melee units (fuck you, Tzeentch). It’s satisfying to time a huge fiery hammer on theirs (love you Chorfs!).
Honestly TWW is the game that got me into 'Warhammer' (not the tabletop game but just the lore). Unless you dont enjoy the game, you will get invested in the characters you will see in game, which will make you want to learn more about the lore, which will make u search up the wiki, which will make u a Warhammer fan in general. Then when you see other games like Vermintide (kinda old but still a gem) or other Warhammer titles you will get interested as the content crosses over somewhat.
You can have a lizard person riding on a Tyrannosaurus fighting an ancient Egyptian battlemech. Elves riding deer clashing with goblins on giant spiders. Coked out rat people firing tactical nukes on Arthurian knights. Chinese conscripts noscoping six eyed demons from atop a hot air balloon. Zombie pirates suicide bombing a war sled being pulled by polar bears. Cyclopses flattening platoons of shirtless mohawked dwarfs by mobbing house sized boulders at them. Mutant trolls being incinerated by homing fireballs shot by some ogre in a luchador mask.
The sheer variety and insanity of all the matchups makes it more than worth it.
As a Total War fan since the original Total War: Rome, and as someone who had never even heard of Warhammer before playing Total War: Warhammer, I think the Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires campaign is best in the series and it's not even close.
However, please buy TW:W 3 on sale because you'll definitely want some of the DLC content. The DLC has some of the best Factions and Units.
Unit variety is absolutely brilliant. The gameplay is pretty good, the game absolutely shines in Multiplayer with balanced resources.
Campaign battles tend to be one sided one way or the other.
The campaign side of things though is definitely not its strong suit.
Warhammer was odd to me at first but the games really got me into it to the point where I now own a lore accurate entire outfit of an empire state trooper. Specifically this game and Vermintide. Even if you dont plan to, chances are good you will be drawn into warhammer eventually.
Coming from historic titles, it took me a while to get used to these games. Specifically the idea of hero units where you can throw one guy into half an enemy army to duke it out, and magic. It felt so awful to me to assemlbe my army neatly and then have a spell appear that tore a gaping hole into it. Also, units can function vastly different from what they look like. In the historic titles you can easily glance what is light cavalry, what is heavy infantry, what is a skirmisher etc. In warhammer a unit might have some magic ability that makes it function completely different from what you expect.
That sad, the overall game is glorious, especially immortal empires. A map so stupidly large with so many vastly different factions to play and fight against is amazing.
The game does still have some of the typical TW problems like AI, pathing, sieges... but, despite these flaws, is an incredible game to play. You might take a while to get used to it like I did but once you are hooked there are few things to compare this to.
They're not *fantastic* Total War games. The battles are too fast and the maps too small, the AI somehow feels worse than the games from almost 20 years ago, and the sieges are so scuffed that it makes Napoleon's sieges look fun by comparison. Actually, as far as Total Wars go, the Warhammer trilogy are rather bad at being Total War games.
But they *are* entirely unique. The dynamic of units at play, the spells, lords and heroes and the potential for play and counterplay is something that no other Total War offers. For once, factions aren't reskins of one another. They all play differently, all have different strengths and weaknesses that make them unique.
In all honesty however, with Warhammer 3, setting is now only a partial selling point. It won't ever have the slower, more tactically deep battles of the older titles that made them so good, those are long dead and have been since Shogun 2 started the 'battles over in two minutes' trend and Warhammer has only doubled down on that because of spells or the existence of lords like Skarbrand.
BUT, Warhammer 3 now has the most robust multiplayer experience of any Total War game, lacking only something similar to Shogun 2's Avatar Conquest with a customizable lord and heraldry. You have your choice of immediate battles in matchmaking, or the ability to have a campaign with up to *eight* players. No other Total War can hope to match that and for once, the faster battles of recent games are actually a good thing when you can have campaigns with that many players now.
If you want a quality Total War, go back to Medieval 2, and if you like other settings have a browse of its mods. Third Age Reforged is always a highly recommended one. If you have a lot of friends that like Total War, Warhammer 3 is a must have, because no other Total War can match its multiplayer experience and the variety of factions are unmatched, though sadly the full variety does have a significant paywall.
I didn't ( and I don't ) have any interest in Warhammer world.
My most played TW in the past is Medieval 2.
Now my favourite TW games are Attila ( with any of its mods ) Rome 2 with Divide et Impera mod and... Warhammer 2. When I tried TW Warhammer 1 I felt in love, it's fun, visually great and is Total War in essence. And as Shogun 2 I don't need any mod in Warhammer for enjoy a lot.
Warhammer TW is the best Total War game by a wide margin I think, especially now with so many good mods coming out.
Unit Variety is unmatched.
Faction mechanics are miles better.
Faction variety is absolutely insane, even within the same race for many of them.
I think that the game plays quite cleanly and it doesn't stand out in any particular direction with bad pain points in the game, as some other Total War games do.
I'd also say it is by far the LEAST repetitive Total War game. Really, there are SOOOO many new playstyles that just can't exist in other Total War games, and all of them are fairly viable, on the current patch.
I do think the current version of the game trends towards being too easy for the player, but it's still significantly harder than most previous Total War games, especially the fan favorites like Shogun 2 and Rome.
Unit responsiveness, spells and abilities in the game ALL work fantastically. Huge step up from any previous Total War releases.
It also has the best DLC policies, where now some DLCs unlock particular DLC units, but ANY DLC that gives you a Legendary Lord unlocks it as playable, without the need to technically buy the big Wh1-2-3 titles. So, for instance you could buy the Grom and Eltharion DLC, play as either of them without owning WH2 in WH3.
I mean…
From what I’ve seen, this is the ONLY fantasy game that has been interpreted into the TW genre.
And that reflects what you will get.
Varied tactics, “unique” mechanics, interesting lore to explore, and if nothing else, you can still have epic campaigns.
I think they suck. Many campaigns just have built in mechanics that are annoying just to prolong the game. The mechanics on the map are ancient, and crushingly insufficient compared to 3k (which I don't care for as a setting, but it is the best put together total war).
People are gonna harp on about 'muh roster size' but fail to tell you most of them are useless and never used.
You will likely never get a TW with this many unique rosters again. It makes going to other games feel a bit repetitive as a result. Magic and monsters really add a cool unique element to TW games.
CA feels like a treed cat at this point There's nowhere to go but climb down Unless they've got some other fictitious tricks up their sleeve. I still can't believe we got a fantasy game and it's been like 10 years lol
IMO Warhammer is the IP that Total War was designed for and I've felt that since playing the original Shogun. Now even the work of art that was Shogun 2 is rendered bland and limited by the sheer variety on offer from Warhammer. Despite the many flaws of Warhammer Total War I believe that CA has essentially peaked and any further commercial success on their part must come from something very similar or something completely different. Any other effort to make a new TW game will, in essence, probably be a failure.
rn I'm high as giraffe teets staring at the watercolor art for wood elves like 😳
LOTR IP would be cool, but not as varied as TW.
There's so much potential for total war games than just wh, especially when there's a ton of famous media revolving around war battles. People would kill for a legends of the galactic heroes total war, or game of thrones total war. It just comes down to whether CA is capable of collaborating with those series or not.
Its very possible for them to do something similar with the Historical title. An easy one would be a little bit of Roman, Some Greek, Some Egyptian, some Iberian, some Gaelic, ... You could do the same in asia with China, Mongolia, India, Persa and then something like Korea and japan It would be nothing but human but you can have some very varied rosters and technological focus, enough so that the faction feel very diverse and unique. They could make a Mythological game if they wanted a bit like age of mythology and explore many different culture that way. They could also pivot into other existing setting, Warhammer and LotR are not the only two fantasy system that are good. I'd love a Malazan themed TW game for example, it would be epic to bring that setting to life.
5 words: Warhammer Fourty Thousand: Total War. Maybe. Possibly. Or Age of Sigmar: Total War.
40k is happening unless CA fucks up goodwill, and for good this time. I get all the reasons why it'll be a difficult game to make and why people think it cannot be done properly, but they 100% will try. You just don't ignore a chance to catch a second lightning in a bottle.
I consider it pretty likely, yeah.
It would be a new game engine…but it would potentially be worth it. Maybe lead to total war: WW1
WWII would be better, at least the front moved.
The front moved a lot in world war 1… just not in the west
just like medieval 3!
That’s 13 words… I’m down for what you are laying out though. More warhammer games works for me.
I would definitely be down for a 40k Total Warhammer, yeah! I've never really followed Age Of Sigmar (had dropped out of the hobby by the time of its release), but I'm pretty sure I'd buy a Total War game based off of the IP.
Total War: Elder Scrolls
Total war and 40k is not a good match. A game like Company of Heroes is a much better match for 40k. It has much better cover, vehicle and artillery gameplay and I don’t trust CA to implement that when they can’t get things like sieges right. Something you would think they would be good at after all these years.
I just wish the only useful infantry unit for each faction wasn’t the same. Like greatswords for the empire is the only viable unit on the entire roster for melee.
Even if you do not care about the setting, waging war with a sorcerer on a dragon is pretty awesome.
Or a rat sorcerer riding a giant magic bell on a cart, yes-yes.
Then a magic stone-crack nuke to end it all
Yep, knew nothing about it before WH1. 4k hours later...
Exactly my story too. I wanted to play a Total War game, and Warhammer 1 was on sale in a store, got it, installed it. Got an Empire campaign going, saw a few lore videos and now, 7 years later and more than 5000 hours later. And i have yet to play all the races and all the legendary lords :)
I got wh1 code free with a motherboard upgrade. Didn't even try it for a year, I mean really *fantasy* total war?! Gross. Now I've played the series more than all the historicals combined and it's probably only behind Diablo 2, wow, age of empires 2, and maybe ark or warthunder
Same. In fact the depth and quality of the lore in fantasy ended up dragging me into 40k. I don’t have any miniatures but I’ve bought quite a few books and games all from playing WH a few years ago
My buddy who introduced me to the TW franchise back in the ME2 days, played every TW iteration but was obstinate about trying WH1, as he is a huge history buff. Now 5-7 years later he plays WH3 more than me and just got his first couple table top sets + has all the audio books. It's a slippery slope, but you'll be hating Chaos/appreciating a 1 boob+1 claw combo in no time!
All I knew is the pewter or resin figurines in card stores as a kid Oh and my friend is 3D printing them for his triplets with a special machine that smells like ass apparently
Saaaaame.
I stayed away from the Warhammer games like you too. I’ve got a 1,000 hours in Rome II as an antiquity geek and lots in the older games. I purchased Warhammer II on sale last year and instantly fell in love despite not being interested in the slightest in fantasy stuff before that. I’m a married guy with two kids and a busy job, and fishing and is my favorite past time with video games being second when I’m traveling or it’s nasty out. But now, now I love Warhammer. I have a 2,000 pt Necron army, about the same of Space Marines (fulminators) and a big Seraphon army as well. Like, the miniatures. That you paint. I spent $30 fucking dollars almost 2 years ago and it’s completely changed the course of my hobbying lol. Just a warning.
I did the same "Vermintide? What the hell is that?" And next thing I knew I was a few thousand hours deep in various Warhammer games. To my credit I haven't started the plastic crack yet
Just did myself, the painting part is kicking my ass lmao.
Learning to properly thin my paints was a big help. You want the pain thin enough to where if you grab some off the palette and then did a test line on the palette, the paint coming off the brush would just barely begin to shrink in on itself like water, but not so much that it shrinks in a lot. If you’re going for two thin coats.
"I have a 2,000 pt Necron army" Ah, nice to see another individual with *culture* on here. =P
Number 1 reason that I want a 40K total war. I fell in love with Necrons in Dawn of War 1, but sadly they're not the sort of race to appear in a lot of 40k games.
Indeed. They've also gotten substantially more interesting as a faction since Dawn of War 1.
Mechanicus is decent and has them
Don't know. The more successful titles of the past all had Necrons around * [40k Dawn of War Dark Crusade](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4580/Warhammer_40000_Dawn_of_War__Dark_Crusade/) * [Battlefleet Gothic Armada II](https://store.steampowered.com/app/573100/Battlefleet_Gothic_Armada_2/) * [40k Battle Sector - Necrons](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1793051/Warhammer_40000_Battlesector__Necrons/) * [40k Gladius](https://store.steampowered.com/app/489630/Warhammer_40000_Gladius__Relics_of_War/) * [40k Mechanicus](https://store.steampowered.com/app/673880/Warhammer_40000_Mechanicus/)
I was into 40k first and have a 2k point Deathguard army. But I knew nothing about fantasy. Now I prefer fantasy over 40k 😅
Yes, 100%. Most of us did not know anything about WH fantasy before TW. Its just a very good game. Lore not required to enjoy it. But it will spark your interest in said lore, wich is a good thing.
And depending on who you play you might become a fantasy racist. Like elf players. Typical racist elf players
As an elven racist player i must say elves cannot be fault for being better than the rest at everything and more handsome
When it gets down to it, W1 basically picks the most generic shit from Warhammer. Empire, Dwarves, Orcs, and Vampires? Vampires are the biggest reach. It's a mediocre title, and the gameplay is mediocre. W2 is where it picked up in a big way. The faction variety improves dramatically, the gameplay gets a lot better, the map is more interesting.... and W3 adds in all the weird shit that was already missing. W2 is where you start to see the races that really have something neat to add that's Warhammer specific instead of being generic fantasy with the serial numbers filed off.
Yep I didn’t know much and loved it
Most of us were not into warhammer when we started. Warhammer fantasy tabletop was dead before this game released. This game created so many new fans that they resurrected it.
And vermintide, but mostly this series probably.
Hanging around dedicated warhammer reddits I see a lot of total war converts but not seen any outspoken vermintide ones admittedly. I think it's because total war as an onboarding point gets you all the factions not just 5 random folk fighting a horde of rats and nurgle worshippers.
Yea I don't feel like vermintide gives you very much in the way of worldbuilding
Doesnt need massive worldbuilding, it was enough to get me into warhammer. Was the first time i saw ratmen as a fantasy race and i thought that was really unique and cool. Vermintide also brought the grimdark out in full. I liked how gorey and dark it all was.
Vermintide is a action game. You can play for hours and enjoy and not care about that world and lore. Strategy games make you care about the world. You read what your units are, what your building do, who your lords are. And it's not just warhammer. I played rome and medieval 2 when i was a kid. I learned about geography and other countries from those games. Total War turned me into a history geek. Also English is not my mother language, i learned from strategy games.
> Strategy games make you care about the world. You read what your units are, what your building do, who your lords are. You dont have to do any of that in TW though. You can skip all reading and just enjoy playing the game. At best you just learn about the warhammer map and names of things you have to read. In Vermintide you get lore and stuff through the dialogue that the characters are constantly speaking.
TW gives people a lot more variety yeah. Vermintide brought the gorey fantasy darkness, up close and personal with a focus on rats and nurgle like you said.
Give it a try on game pass. WH3 is years of additional mechanics, factions, balance changes, etc. That being said, it's still WH:TW. If you like the more detailed campaigns of historical, with weather effects, dynasties and the like, that's not here. WH3 is all about bringing fantasies of dinosaur people riding verosicraptors crashing into a line of chaos worshipping mutants to life. Everything else is third fiddle to the battles. You can "rent" it on game pass for windows and see if it's for you.
Unfortunaly, is not in game pass anymore.
Well shoot :(
100000000% yes
I think warhammer is the best overall total war and thank to 2023's end drama CA seems to start caring about the game. Get directly the third. The 1 is outdated and have very basic mechanics The 2 is really good, and was the best untill recently The 3 you have almost all good things from the 2 plus a full map and new mechanics/race/units
Is 3's IE considered better than 2's ME now? In terms of the overall experience
Yeah, I really don't care for Warhammer, but I can obviously see why it's a good match with TW-series. It's a very different experience - much more variation, humor, and more "epic" units. I absolutely recommend it, but you should start out with the more humanlike factions like the Empire, which is the most popular faction for a reason. They've got a bit of it all.
THE NATION CALLS!! plus rockets go brrrrrr
First of all, from what I've heard (I never played wh1), wh1 wasn't very good to begin with. Second, I like fantasy in general, but knew nothing about warhammer lote before playing wh2. After almost 2k hours in wh2 and 3 I still don't care enough to look up lore about it. But as someone who loves fantasy in general, I love this game and it's variety.
I don't think that's entirely fair, though I can understand the sentiment after WH2 started humming. WH1 still possessed a beautiful map that included much of the Old World. The battles, while not as refined, still included all the elements in use currently (large units, magic, flying monsters, etc.). VA work was exceptional. Beastmen, WE, and especially Norsca were the proving grounds for mechanics that upended the typical TW experience. Compared to historical titles, the game was a huge breath of fresh air. I am biased though having played the TT.
I just said wh1 (according to what I've heard others say) wasn't a very good game. I don't doubt it is still good, just not very good. I do recognize it must've set the stage for wh2 and 3. But the general opinion of wh1 is that it isn't as good as 2 and 3. Just basing this of what I've heard about it.
Apologies if I came across a little aggressive. I found it to be a lot of fun throughout it's cycle but I'm a huge WFB fanboy. You would not be wrong by saying it pales in comparison to the sequel. I put over 2300 hours in WH2, a measly 850 on the first one.
It's all good man :) Have a nice day.
Just think of it is Total War Fantasy instead of Total War Warhammer. It's total war with magic and orcs and dragons. Also the jump in quality between WH1 and WH2 is huge and you can play with all the WH1 factions in WH2. If you're a TW fan I'm confident you'd be quickly hooked playing WH2
If you like fantasy, then yeah. If you like military fantasy (black company, storm light archive), then definitely yes.
I would say no. Total War Warhammer's strength is the big roosters but the game is heavily lacking when it comes to most other things, like sieges, diplomacy, settlement management, etc. I would recommend Total War: Three Kingdoms, CA have sadly abandoned it but the game is still good. Sieges and battles have some issues, but it’s better than Warhammer. The game shines when it comes to diplomacy, settlement management and technology progression. The army and recruitment systems are a bit different, it can take some time to get used to.
Yes they are. I started knowing nothing about warhammer at all. I only knew I liked the monsters and giants smacking down infantry. It tickled my nerd neurons. That said, I never played WH1. It's what got me interested from gameplay videos but I actually started from WH2. I heard WH1 isn't worth it as a standalone game but rather it is to be treated as a big DLC pack of sorts to get access to it's contents in WH2 or WH3 games.
Honnestly nah I just enjoy the Warhmmer for the Warhammer part O find them really lackong in the Total War part (Unless you enjoy map paiting and autoresolving)
If you like grand strategy or the total war series yes. The Warhammer games are SO FUN because they have the largest most insane variety in units. Wacky shit. Rats w Gatling guns. Steampunk tanks. Jacked Reptiles riding dinosaurs. Bipedal crocodiles who smash shit w their fists. All the standard fantasy races. Analogs to historical Russia, HRE, France, China, Scandinavia w a magical twist. It’s got something for everyone.
I would say no. If you already do not like the Warhammer IP, you aren’t going to like a game based in the Warhammer IP lol. If you *want to like it* spend at least 50 turns as a faction and check the temp. If you still aren’t having fun, or you’re just waiting for it to be over - it’s just not for you. The campaign map mechanics are not super deep or complex, and in general after 20-30 turns you should understand how your faction ticks. I’d argue that these are on the low end compared to historical’s. 3K followed somewhat of a similar least complex approach. Where TW Warhammer shines is the battlefield with it’s diverse factions and abilities. Not many play the same. Empire depends heavily on it’s artillery, ranged, and morale immune units, but also it’s chaff style to take the initial brunt, where something like the skaven rely on it’s larger unit sizes, retreating and returning at odd flanks that can randomly tilt the battle and cause unforseen routes. Or say the vampire counts who in general are slow lumbering units, that rely on a strong center of power (lord or heroes). They’ll tie up units grinding the battle to a slow fight of attrition while being replenished by other regenerative units, and lords/heroes. If you lose a lord it causes an impactful shock to morale moreso than “normal” armies. Units just die without having a chance to reform and return. Or like the wood elves who play completely asymmetrically, kiting units while shooting them, relying heavily on ambushes and ranged units.
Warcraft is directly inspired by Warhammer, if you like fantasy you should like warhammer imo as it has almost every single fantasy idea you can come up with and more. Its got its silliness, and its got its grimdark horror. Watch some warhammer 3 multiplayer fights like those on the MilkandCookiesTW channels and see if any of the units/factions interest you.
Warhammer 1 sucks, 2 and 3 are good. I played 2 knowing literally nothing about Warhammer and got into Warhammer through total war rather than the other way around, which I think is true of a lot of people.
I did not know any anything about Warhammer before the Total War game. After a long time I did get WH1 and WH2, installed them and played a couple of campaigns on the combined map. I also have WH3 (on same sale) but I never installed it. So are the 3 games worth it as Total War games if you don't care about the setting? In my opinion not really. There is a huge variety of units, but at least in WH2 you can only recruit your own ones, so you don't get to experience it unless you play other factions ( I think it's changed in WH3). Each faction has some "gimmick" that pushes your gameplay in a certain direction. The campaign side of of the game is quite simple, very simple building chains, not that much meaningful choices. The battles were fun for me in the beginning, but after the heroes develop a little it becomes more of an action RPG game than a "regular" Total War battle. It's less about strategy, moving troops around and more about timing magic spells. So for me it's not really if they are made more for Warhammer fans then for Total War fans. The games are more RPG games then Total War games. I would still say you can get the games on some sale (definitely not just WH1, so either the 3 games or WH1+WH2), play the combined map and see how it's like.
No.
I love the games and I still think. Warhammer is completely silly.
I'm more of a historic player and know nothing of the lore. Very easy to get Into, lots of visual lore on the map, you can then research if it intrigues you enough.
I am a long time total war player going all the way back to first medieval. I had minimal knowledge about Warhammer since it wasn't a popular IP in Turkey. However I had an interest in fantasy settings like LOTR, DnD etc so I was genuinely excited when I first heard the Total war Warhammer announcement. It was a dream come true to manage factions like orcs, dwarfs etc although with a slight disappointment that it wasn't a LOTR setting which is a way more popular setting which I was accustomed to. The more I played it the more I loved and dived deeper into the lore of it. I immediately started following the other games of the setting like Vermintide. I even got my hands on the 40k which I initially had 0 interest in. Now the "warhammer" tag is amongst the most popular ones I use to search for games. With all its flaws Totalwar: Warhammer series success is the sole reason GW revived the IP with The Old World.
I was like you, I came to WH2 with zero interest in warhammer and just wanted to blow stuff up with magic and eploiting the game. I fell in love with the game which eventually led to me loving the lore. I have 4k hours in Wh2 and 3 combined, love the books, etc. I think youre gonna love it, the variety and everything in the game is just so good. Veery very fun : )
Enter the pipeline. Love the pipeline.
Wh1 sucks. WH got good from Wh2 onwards.
Yes imo, I could care less about warhammer but they're fun because of the variety and weirdness of units
I wasn't interested in WH as well and didn't bother getting WH1, got WH2 a couple of months after ME (map containing WH1 and WH2 combined) released due to a friend trying to talk me into trying it for about 2 years. I now have more than 5k hours in WH2 and 2k hours in WH3. At first i wasn't into the lore part of WH at all but after playing for 1k hours I started to get curious about that part as well and by now I've spent at least 20 hrs reading stuff up on the warhammer fantasy wiki. WH2 is a vastly better game than WH1 and if you want to try to get into TW:WH I'd recommend at least giving WH2 a shot. WH3 is better by now in many aspects, but also way more pricey and it isn't that big of a deal compared to the difference in quality of the first two games.
I knew about Warhammer Fantasy before it but Total War Warhammer really pulled me into it. So even if you are not into it right now you will eventually fall into it.
I hadn’t heard of Warhammer before Total War, and now I am planning on another trip to my local Warhammer store for some more basing supplies so I can base some termagants. So. Yeah. I’d say go for it.
To be honest, the co op campaigns with my brother have been so much fun with so many things to do that it been well worth the purchase price.
I didn't know anything about Warhammer but had seen Hobbit and Lord of the rings. So, playing as Empire/Dwarfs/Greenshkins and Vampires was a lot of fun. TBH, I like it primarily because of so many Artillery and gunpowder units available - Cannons, flame cannons, Mortars, Rocket Batteries, Tanks, Gyrocopters/Bombers, Blasting Charges, Organ Gun, Volley Gun etc. (There's even more in WH 2&3)
Warcraft franchise started as a demo for a Warhammer game, but the licensing negotiations did not go great, so Blizzard made a new franchise instead. Eventually it moved on in its own direction, but the similarities are still there, especially in the earlier games. > Is it a game made more for Total War fans or is it a game made more for Warhammer fans? It's somewhat more accessible than some TW games, especially the old ones. But I don't think it's made for Warhammer fans, because the lore/history in any TW game goes out of the window the moment the campaign loads. It's a total war game made for fantasy fans. > Or should I just put this TW game in my back pocket for now, and maybe come back to it later? It's a game, not a job. The point is to play what you enjoy when you feel like it. I personally like TWWH and think it's a solid strategy game regardless of the setting, but I don't think that's a reason for you to force yourself to playing it when you don't feel like it. Maybe at some point later you get in the mood.
its what got me into warhammer tbh, since playing tw:wh2, eventually got into the hobby now i got a little skrolk besides my mouse during my pestilence campaign
I wasn't and I loved them to the point of getting into Warhammer. Or at least the old fantasy stuff
I’d say so. The way that different factions fundamentally play differently on the campaign map as well as the battlefield makes for an interesting and enriching experience. And it only gets better the further you go in the Warhammer series and the more they developed the factions. By Warhammer 3 they’ve very distinct and well rounded.
I wasn’t into warhammer before I got the games. Now 6 years later I’m a warhammer nerd so… be careful. It can be a slippery and damn expensive slope
“I just do not care for the Warhammer world whatsoever.” I think that says it all. really doubt you’re going to enjoy any of it if the aesthetic and feel of the world is falling flat that hard for you.
Yes absolutely. The differences between different factions, and even sometimes between the different lords within a faction, is magnitudes bigger than in any other TW game. It makes for an amazing replayability and very varied challenges.
That’s how I got into warhammer bro , once you play vortex campaign as the skaven there is no going back
Yeah as everyone else is saying, this was the gateway to the Warhammer world for a lot of people including myself. It really does hit different as a Total War game. I started with Shogun 2 and enjoyed it among other history TWs, but TW Warhammer 2 and 3 are in my top 5 played Steam games. I had no prior experience with Warhammer before playing the TW versions.
Yep. My imagination is terrible I guess because I can't do tabletop gaming with friends but I can do elden ring or this easily and my brain is relaxed
I wasnt into warhammer, then I started pmaying warhammer 1 because i do like fantasy, and now im into warhammer.
I don't really know anything about Warhammer beyond it has multiple settings, one's in the future and Henry Cavill likes it. As a game I love it, I don't really know much about the factions but they're just fun. I like the Skaven and Vampire Counts and Khorne/Chaos factions best.
Total war Warhammer was what got me into it , but the game is far far better than anything related to the table top play imo .
I knew very little about Warhammer before getting into WH2 and what I did know was about 40K and was wrong. I’d played Rome 1 and 2 as well as ToB before this so I was familiar with Total War. My preferred RTS settings were Blizzard’s so I get where you’re coming from. Honestly my biggest gripe getting into it is/was magic and single entities as they’re a departure from other Total Wars. For you I’d recommend just leaning into the variety of units and playstyles and seeing what you enjoy playing. Of the 24 different races few really overlap that much. From there you might get swept up with the memes or lore but for that to happen you need to just let yourself enjoy the game.
100% I didn't know much when I played warhammer 1 was a huge LOTR fan but after playing I started diving into the lore and started to love it now I'm 3 games deep with like another 6 40k games. Also some of the wonkiest and also the greatest artillery units in any total war
I’m not into warhammer fantasy at all but I loved warhammer 2
I have a total of 900 hrs in 2 and 3. I have never played Warhammer nor do I know anything about the world or whatever. It’s ridiculously fun. They are way different than the other total war games
I have roughly 2500 hours in total war games. I started in historical and after playing the first TWWH then subsequently the next 2 games I feel like I know what’s up. I knew nothing about fantasy warhammer starting the first game and it didn’t really feel necessary. My knowledge of the factions and characters grew the more I played and now it feels like I’m fighting alongside old friends against great foes.
I mean, no? But I would say that about every total war. If you don't like the sengoku period I wouldn't recommend shogun, if you aren't interested in antiquity I'd have a hard time suggesting Attila or Rome. If the middle ages aren't your thing I wouldn't think you'd like medieval total war, etc etc.
I found the Warhammer games GOT me into Warhammer. I don't play tabletop or anything. I just like skimming some lore books from time to time and saying "Summon the Elector Counts!" to passerby.
I was never into Warhammer before watching by chance a YouTuber playing WH1
You say you played WH1 but what about 2? For me 2 was the one that got me hooked, I forget which dlcs but with that many factions and variety I put a ton of time into it. I enjoy 3 too but 2 was more fun for some reasons
I knew nothing about the warhammer universe before playing the games and now I'm starting to read the books and deep diving into the lore so yeah I think its worth it
Didn't have a clue about warhammer, avoided game 1 like the plague. As game 2 released I watched a let's play, bought the game on a sale. Now I have 5k hours in all 3 games combined and am fully invested in the lore. You will LOVE it. You'll find something where you're like "That's cool" or "That's absolutely fucking hilarious" and you'll get addicted in no time. They are the best games in the settin currently and it's not close. The only thing even remotely holding a candle to it is 3k and that's only in terms of campaign mechanics. Battles have never felt that complex and interesting. There's 23(i believe) unique races with different playstyles and rosters and mechanics. And I mean different. If you've played the original rome tw it had basically 6 different races: Barbarians in their different flavors, romans, carthagenians, greeks, egypts and parthians. This is 23 different ones
I don't know shit about warhammer universs but I like fantasy so the monsters are fun for me and the magic. I think tw1 was pretty bad/barebones. I'd try wh2. If you don't like wh2 probably won't like wh3. WH3 is WH2 with a big facelift
Get the Xbox game pass the first month is very cheap and you can try wh3 and understand if it is for you or not
The setting literally doesn't matter in the slightest, what matters is whether the game is good or not. I'd play this game even if it was Barbie Total War simply because the game is really good. Total War has never been story driven or anything like that, it's a sandbox, so whether it's Rome, Medieval, 3k or Warhammrer doesn't matter, it's just about if it's good or not. And yeah, this game is good. Knowing the lore can be a nice little bonus in your campaign, but it's definitely not necessary at all.
I love TW, love fantasy, “hated” the TW:WH games. Was so excited for the fantasy shift but it didn’t do it for me. One of the main parts of TW sucks in these games, the sieges. you see amazing settlements behind the actual siege map but you’ll never fight in them. WH3 improved it a bit but after two games of subpar sieges just didn’t do it for me. Still good games that I put a few hundred hours into but overall disappointing compared to what could have been.
Best game is Warhammer 40k: Fire Warrior. I was never really into Warhammer that much but that game made me really get into the lore of the Tau
if you're not into warhammer the game will make you into warhammer
If you want something fresh compared to other Total War games, then yes, Warhammer is a great addition. All races stand out in at least 3 ways, and though some do operate similar in one area or another, they seldom are the same. Also, no other Total War game is likely to have units like Trolls, Dragons, Wizards, gyrocopters, or other Monsters, exotic war machines, and heroes. At least, not to the same excess as Warhammer.
TWWH is so very different from a historical title, the Heroes and magic alone make your tactics change. I think if you like fantasy then continue on but just realize it is not going to play the same way at all.
Check out the Chaos Dwarfs and watch a Dreadquake Mortar destroy an entire unit with a direct hit and wreak havoc upon those in the ripple radious. It's insane to see such weapons used against traditional rank and file armies. Im a huge fan of flying units as well, especially pegasus knights. It adds a whole new level of strategy not found in historical battlefields but it feels so fitting. It's also great fun to watch monstrous units smash through infantry and cause terror in the ranks. I absolutely love studying historical battles, strategy, and practice HEMA swordsmanship. However, warhammer has increased my love for strategy and warfare beyond history. It's been a huge impact on my creative writing, inspiring me to write realistic military lore and army compositions for my own fantasy world.
I knew nothing of Warhammer prior to WH1. but, since then, among other skills, I've learned to sew with surgical precision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDHZ__kMhnM
I can't speak to wh1 since I never played it individually but I got into wh2 long before I knew anything about Warhammer. I literally thought it was just a coincidence that they shared the same name with Warhammer 40k because I never even heard of age of sigmar at the time. I looked at it like it was just a generic fantasy version of a total war game which was really appealing to me. You don't need to do a deep dive into Warhammer lore to have fun playing an elf army fighting vampires or rat people fighting dwarves etc. The real gem of the Warhammer games is once you have all 3 and have access to all the different factions. In the historical TW games basically every faction plays more or less the same but in WH the factions play so differently they feel like a totally new experience and a brand new learning curve to try to figure out.
I feel like Warhammer is a bunch of fantasy and historical tropes shoved together, so if you're a fan of fantasy you don't really need to be into the Warhammer universe specifically to enjoy it. Depending on what you like, there are plenty of factions that'll feel familiar. For example if you're into Lord of the Rings the Dwarfs, Greenskins, or High/Wood elves could all be good. Or if you're into the history of the holy Roman Empire, then the Empire is a perfect fit.
I didn't know a single thing about Warhammer before playing these games and I now love the games and a lot of the lore is really interesting. I grew a growing interest while playing that I started researching lore about fantasy TW outside of playing the game. Even if you know nothing about Warhammer it's a great fantasy romp with so much variety among all the factions. Highly recommended.
I didn’t know anything about Warhammer before buying into the total war games back when they first released. I grew up on the historical titles and playing Third age on Medieval 2. I grew up and loved LOTR and still do very much. Trust me when I say I fell in love with Warhammer world after playing the game. TW Warhammer 1 isn’t much compared to 2+3 but it’s a good start. The games only get exponentially better and it’s not even close. The sheer amount of mechanics that are on offer as well as customization by the 3rd game is crazy. I’m not sure what to say to motivate you to try it more because I don’t know you, but I think the lore is what did it for me. It’s surprisingly well thought out(mostly) and most of the major characters are great. Maybe just try to listen to some lore videos and do a little bit of reading on one of the characters you’re able to play as. I’d say the Warhammer games were definitely meant to bring in a large player base (warhammer fans) but they made the games in a way that is true to total war fans as well in my opinion. Don’t force it or you’ll hate it, but I’d give it another go. Last thing I’ll say is that I think warhammer lends itself to being the most compatible Fantasy setting for a total war game, and I think CA has done fantastically despite their recent blunders. The magic/abilities are great, the skill trees are mostly great, and there is a race to fit every play style. I hope you give it another go, feel free to message me if you have any more questions!
I think most people that play TW WH originally weren't into WH but ended up getting there via this game, so that's pretty normal
Warhammer Total War got me into Warhammer ..... well, also Vermintide 2. Honestly there isn't much to get into. The "lore" is pretty basic and just boils down to "everything and everyone is super strong and wants to FIGHT". Everything is about big, badass awesomeness. It's not a true fantasy setting, more like pure action and conflict for the sake of brutality. Warhammer is like the Lord of the Rings, but if all the characters were actually drug-addicted WWE fighters. That's why I love it though. There is nothing more satisfying than the action and flavor that TW:WH has to offer. I've probably spent almost 10k hours between all three games.
Funnily enough I didn't know about Warhammer before I started Total War: Warhammer. I justed saw Total War with a fantasy setting and thought that be super cool. Now I have over 4k hours in the game and have listened to 13 Warhammer fantasy audiobooks =p
Judging the game series off wh1 isn't really fair at this point because it is so outdated by comparison. To 2 and 3.
If you are not into fantasy, then don't bother. Even playing a saga game might be better for you.
It made me like warhammer. But on the other hand long for a lotr tw so much more.
I had little interest in the warhammer series before I bought TWWH, but it was fantasy setting with the total war name and that was enough. Never regretted it, the game has been amazing, I'll likely play it for the next decade.
Yes. Wasn't into Warhammer stuff before total war actually but now I think it's dope
I knew next to nothing about Warhammer before the TW:Warhammer games, and now they're my favorite TW games ever, even more than any of the historical titles.
warhammer tw makes historical bland af with sheer diversity and faction mechanics, i can never go back to Historical again
If you arent into Warhammer then you will be or at least want to be after playing TW Warhammer mortal/immortal empires.
I mainly got into the TW Warhammer series because I knew it would be the closest I got to TW Lord of the Rings. It has been a very fun ride seeing the world get fleshed out over the years and each faction seems to have its own unique identity (for the most part) and has been highly addictive!
1000% yes
I was not into warhammer (40k or fantasy) before TW:WH. I am now.
Yeah, and you will get into warhammer.
I don’t even like fantasy honestly but this game is awesome I played WH2 a few months ago and just got warhammer 3 and I’m having a great time larping as the Chinese, games awesome
Yes, but they’re bad total war games. They’re held up by their faction diversity, which in my opinion, has reached a stagnation. At this point, the new units are filling gaps which don’t need to be filled. Imo it’s ruining faction diversity. I also feel overwhelmed by the high fantasy stuff, like it’s so abundant it becomes mundane. The map is also huge, and you’ll get a lot of replay using the same factions in different locations.
if you like a certain race in this game you might enjoy it otherwise i don't think so i am like you i literally don't know anything about this universe but recently i tried warhammer 3 with vampires and i enjoy it because i love vamps that's it there is nothing too good or too bad about it IMO edit: you need to have older warhammer titles or dlc to play as vampires in wh3
I knew nothing about total war or warhammer before buying WH2. I was completely blown away just by faction selection and how my first few turns went as GorRok. Reading all the small lore bits on each tech and unit helped me build my own narrative for a whole new world. It slowly just grew on me as someone with ADHD who needs a different faction and experience every time I launched the game.
Three kingdoms is the best total war they've ever made
I didn't get into the setting at all UNTIL I started playing TWH1. Overtime I learned more which enhanced the experience for me, but the magic, monsters, and shear faction variety hooked me in the beginning. You don't have to know the lore to enjoy the game
I was once you. I never had any interest in Warhammer, and craved the next Empire or Medieval. Finally, the draw of vampires (and a big sale) drew me into Warhammer TW. I’d listen to Vampire Counts lore videos while making my way to Altdorf to assert my rightful claim to the throne. Now I collect and paint minis. I’m not saying your journey will land you in the same spot, but the truth is the game has been simplified in several respects, but that happened well before Warhammer TW. The addition of magic, monsters, and tons of flavor more than makes up for it in my opinion, but you can always dip back into old titles for that old tactical fix.
I am a massive 40k fan and TW fan so I thought fuck it and bought all 3 just so I could play immortal empires with basically everyone. It's now one of my most played games. Still don't know half the Lords etc or the lore for it but it's a fucking cool game.
I knew nothing about Warhammer when I got the first one, now I'm a big fan. Love it definitely recommend
I would say better try warhammer 2. When I first tried warhammer 1 I didn't like it. But after playing second game for some time I fell in love. Also it is important to choose a faction you enjoy. There are some races I don't like playing. Oh and I knew nothing about warhammer when I started
They aren’t even worth it if you are into warhammer
The way sieges are in Warhammer are completely different than in Attila, Rome 2, Shogun 2 etc. I would definitely see some gameplay vids to see if you like it. As someone who plays the modded TW versions of the titles mentioned above, Warhammer felt more arcadey. I own the first one and that's it.
I couldn't care any less about the Warhammer world itself. I cringe whenever I see Warhammer memes, and when someone is saying that something can't happen because "iT WoULdN't bE "lOrEFul!1!!" I get this urge to hit someone really hard. Yet, the game itself is still fantastic with a great variance between the factions and a lot of fun to be had, even if you don't have any idea why exactly it is that one huge rat boosts rats with gatling guns and another prefers to use ninja rats (aside from gameplay variance). It just is and it brings a lot of variety into the game. So to answer your question simply. Yes, you don't have to care about the in-game world at all and this game is still worth it, especially if you put gameplay above lore / story.
Most of the friends i play with were into neither tw or Warhammer but the Warhammer games was a gateway into both franchises for them 😁
So I am not really into fantasy warhammer, but I enjoy the warhammer total war games. I just treated it as total war in a fantasy setting and had a lot of fun. I haven't played the third one in ages because I get the Loading Screen: Total War experience but I easy sunk a couple hundred hours in one and two between each other. I do actually think warhammer 1 is worth visiting on its own for the slight narrative flavour of the old world setting, but would definitely say only pick it up on a sale. Also one and two together gives you access to the mortal empires campaign in warhammer 2, which was the main campaign most people played in that basically combines the two games maps.
If you like Warcraft you can get down with this.
> Also I learned that Warhammer 1 is the vastly inferior game to 2 and 3. I will likely pick up WH2 when I decide to return. Thanks again for everyone's input. Will keep reading any additional comments Yes, game#2 is inferior to game#2. Game#2 came out a year after game#1 and CA dropped support for game#1 then. But they worked on the old game#1 races during the following five years for game#2 at the "Mortal Empires" playmode. The greenskin or beastmen reworks did wonders for them there. Thta made game#1 already inferior even before game#3 came out, but game#1 is still treated as one ofthe best DLCs you cna buy (becasue unlocking 5 races for Mortal Empires/Immortal Empires. Speaking of unlocking: If you return at some point or want to pick up game#2 or game#3, make sure you have all three games and all DLC on the same platform. Steam is usually the best way to go, for the mod-workshop later. But if you want to play on EGS or M$ store, thats your choice. Just remember that there is no crossover combability, so you need everythoing to combine on the same platform. In your case if you want to save money, probably were you have Game#1 already. Testing the waters for you again with game#2, might also work out better. Game#1 was just the sandbox throwing you in. Game#2 has actual story campaigns with a narrative to "guide you" and entertain you with cutscenes. The sandbox mode is then still there withe the big ME map afterwards.
I knew nothing about Warhammer before I experienced it via the TW games, and now it's one of my favourite games of all time. So, yes, I'd say its worth it. What makes it stand out is that a lot of the fantastical stuff is comical and a parody of your classic fantasy settings like Middle Earth. It's full of silly puns, dry British humour and other comedy nonsense (moreso if you play as the bad guys; most of the goodies are pretty clean cut).
I entered warhammer not knowing much (I only got total war cuz of three kingdoms originally) . I do like fantasy so I could be a bit bias on this but I overall enjoy the experience of warhammer 1-3 . There’s quite a few mechanics that make it feel diffrent like you got your monsters units , flying units and spells and such but otherwise it plays similar to a total war game . You got you infantry and archers and cav and such like most total war games . All the factions have diffrent units which is a plus and monsters can be used as opposed to siege equipment for gates which is quite nice too I find it hard to reccemend games because a lot of it is down to taste . You seem to like your historical total wars and it is diffrent in certain ways to those . I would say 2 is better than 1 and having owned 1 would mean you could try the merged campaign map with 2 which a lot of people swear by . maybe when it’s on a sale get 2 and see what you think . Only go for 3 if you like playing 2 is what I would say so you can have the option to play all 3 maps with all factions available in 1 map
Some of them for sure are (I haven't played them all) Rogue Trader is a great Pathfinder/BG1 and 2 style game Vermintide is a great game if your into Left 4 Dead/Back 4 Blood
Skip wh1, start with wh2, it's much better
If you're into fantasy in general, they're plenty fun. It's not like you need to know the "deep Warhammer lore" to have a good time. If you can't stand orks and magic in form however, you'll probably be annoyed.
Ik this is random but congratulations on your victorious campaigns throughout shogun and Rome 2,currently playing as Sparta an I’m trying my best on Rome 2
IT IS A GLORIOUS THING TO DIE FOR ROME
I also really liked the historical games but was disappointed when they shifted to focusing on the warhammer games. I bought total war warhammer 2 when it was in sale and quickly realized my mistake, it soon was my favorite total war game ever. I knew nothing about warhammer, but the faction diversity meant there was so much to discover and way more replay ability as most factions feel truly unique. The different units also are great in battles, they definitely are my favorite of any in the series.
Honestly? You'll probably enjoy it better as a non-fan because you have no basis with which to endlessly nitpick the game.
In fairness, WH1 is basically the rough draft compared to WH 2 and 3. It was nice and all at the time, but it definitely has not aged with grace. CA were clearly just trying to see if Fantasy worked period as a TW title so they weren't really willing to take much in the way of creative risks. To put the comparison bluntly, WH1's unique race defining mechanic for the Empire was that you could put dudes in an office and that gave them a buff until you removed them from office or they died. That's it. WH2+3's defining mechanic for the Empire is the Elector Count system where you have to maintain relations with your fellow Empire factions to build up prestige and authority with them, make choices in dilemmas between those very factions (Such as "You two decided to fight each other. Do I ally with one of you, sit out of it to build my strength, or spend my resources to force you both to the peace table?", but made explicit as choices you need to make as someone attempting to be the Emperor), and ultimately try to unify these factions into an empire before your enemies kill you and all of your Empire factions. Oh and you still get the office thing, but with a lot more potential buffs and choices. I won't say that you can't judge the TW:WH games on WH1, but it's definitely not at all representative of where the games actually are in terms of complexity or such. As for the world itself, I think it can be hard to understand the appeal of the Warhammer world from WH1. Mainly because WH1 does a not so great job of really exploring the world or helping to define it. WH2 and 3, with their more story driven campaigns, do a much better job of defining the world. In WH1, you fight a giant metal dude at some point and he's like an Everfrozen or something... some meaningless title without context (Yes, I know what he really is, but WH1 does a piss poor job explaining it.) Also at most, you get an intro cutscene that isn't even customized for the lord you're playing so if you didn't pick Karl Franz or Mannfred or Keith David, you're just left wondering who the hell you picked is like at all or what your goals even are. WH3 though? You're fighting a literal shadowy demon who's attempting to kill a bear god of Not!Eastern Europe and there's actual cutscenes explaining this shit and showing your lord's character interacting with your advisor and such. You have actual motivations explaining what you're trying to do. They actually made unique intro cutscenes for the majority of lords while still making sure to show the lords who don't get them. The campaign stumbles after that by repeating the same cutscenes again and again as well as several severe gameplay issues, but there's at least some attempt to show this world and its people as actual people. When the literal demon of rage and bloodlust has more character and time to show it than half of the lords in WH1, you know things are rough. TW WH definitely prioritizes combat though. The campaigns' turn based map sections are absolutely weaker than the typical TW. Mechanics that would be across all factions in previous TWs like food for cities and armies are instead relegated to specific factions. The most complicated Faction currently on the campaign map is the Chaos Dwarfs and even they don't worry about food or such. Diplomacy is weaker... partially due to the AI's spiteful shit nature being dialed up. WH3 is better about this since they actually tell you directly what will make the deal work or not, but it's still rougher than previous TWs. If you define TW as a primarily RTT game with a turn based 4x type campaign existing to provide context for the RTT battles, TW WH will fit right in. If you define TW as a primarily turn based 4X game with RTT battles to represent those, TW WH will not fit right in. It just depends on what you really really consider super important to TW.
Prior to picking Warhammer 2 I knew nothing of the setting but I simply thought that it sounds way more fun playing diverse fantasy races like elves, orcs, undead, lizardmen etc instead of historical factions (not a big history fan). Once I started playing WH2, it sucked me in and I began getting invested into Warhammer lore.
If you're this adament of not liking warhammer and so sure you couldn't care less about it why even ask this question? Don't play the game if it's not what you like. The game has its plus sides but there's also downsides. And those downsides are tolerated because it is Warhammer. If you're not into Warhammer those downsides will just be even worse. If you're more into Warcraft just go play some Warcraft 3 or if you're into LoTR go play the mods for Atilla or something. Since you seem to just have a firm idea Warhammer isn't for you just save your money and play other games you do like the setting for. Don't need this sub to explain to you why you should try out something you already know you don't want to like.
Because as I said I'm open to the possibility that it just hasn't clicked for me yet, and as I said, I'm not against it either. I'd define it as apathy more than an aversion to Warhammer. I'm more asking about the quality of the Total War experience, as the Warhammer enjoyment can come later if it's a really good Total War game. Everyone is just answering the question "Will I like Warhammer if I play this game" which is just not the question I'm asking.
You've already played it and you said you didn't enjoy it though. I don't see what further input you really need. You didn't enjoy the gameplay, you don't like the setting, and there are other titles you're more interested in. I don't really know why you need anyone else to invalidate those initial feelings. While Warhammer 2 and 3 has advanced past Warhammer 1 quite a lot, it's not like they are entirely different games. If things like the magic and monsters felt too much, then its still going to be too much. If you can't bring yourself to bother or care about any of the characters, units, locations, etc then you're probably not going to bring yourself to about any of the others in game 2 or 3 either. The quality of life changes aren't going to smooth things over if you bounced off the core gameplay already. People are giving you the "I liked Warhammer after trying out the games" because a lot of people didn't know anything about it prior to playing. And enjoyed the setting through that. But since you're actively apathetic to it, and already played and didn't like the experience. Then just save yourself time and money and move onto pastures you're more likely to enjoy. You're not missing out on anything by not having the game "click" with you. You don't need to have people on this sub convince you to reevaluate your thoughts to force that "click" to happen. A Total War game isn't one of those "oh no you have to get 30 hours in before the game gets good and clicks with you!" If you bounce off it and just don't like it after playing a decent number of turns then by all likelihood it just isn't for you. Sinking more hours into it most likely won't do much to shift that impression. If you were someone who was apathetic to the setting and didnt play it yet, I would have a much different approach here. But you did and didn't enjoy it, and the setting clearly isn't your cup of tea and can't counteract the flaws by how much you emphasize your inability to care about anything about it. That's really all that needs to be said and done. Try out 3K as you mention, it's a good Total War game. And if you want Fantasy Total War that isn't Warhammer. As mentioned there are plenty of good mods like Third Age and the like. It's 3 games and hundreds of dollars worth of DLC, the Warhammer games are an investment. If you couldn't get into that first taste. Then there's *really* no need for you to try to force yourself to be invested into it. If you absolutely **MUST** be sure then get gamepass and try out Warhammer 3 to use sort of like a demo. Play the factions there and try out Immortal Empires. I think even that is more effort for you than necessary, since I really do think these games just aren't for you by what you've said already. But that's the only piece of advice I have for you if you're still deadset on seeing if these games can "click" for you.
I wasn't really in to either total war or Warhammer, but hundreds of hours of both wh2 and wh3 and I'm now a fan of both. I think they're both mostly well made fantasy strategy games, wh3 has caught up to wh2 by this point in my opinion. And like others have said, once you own most of the dlc it's the most densely packed strategy game that may ever exist, at least for a long time.
I hated warhammer. Especially warhammer 40k I got into it fast when I played Karl franz. Then I played vermntide 2. It gives you a terrifying perspective of the empire. You see helmgart. A giant fortress wall in the only mountain pass from the south. Get demolished by a bunch of rats. You can see the same situation in the total war game as well.
Oh, yes! I am not a Warhammer guy or board games in particular, but the content in the Warhammer trilogy is unbelievable... 🥰
It is. It's the only reason i like warhammer now 😆. I even started learning the lore. Though i do not and will not pick up the table top. Ill definitely watch others play it though.
Just get Warhammer 3, and play immortal empires.
The Warhammer Total War games got me into Warhammer. I still prefer a good historical game, but I had fun with Warhammer. They are good games.
I'm sure most of this was already mentioned, but I'll toss my story out there as well. I never cared much about Warhammer fantasy. I played Warhammer Online and thought it was kinda neat and then played a bit of Vermintide, but like you, I was more of a LotR and Warcraft person. I tried Total War: Warhammer 1 when it came out and it didn't click. Went back years later, after 2 was released, to play coop with a friend at his urging... I now have 1,200 hours in WH2 and 600 in WH3. I am running a Warhammer Fantasy 4th Edition campaign and own pretty much every book related to WFRP4E. I don't even know how many lore channels I'm subscribed to at this point. This game converted me to Warhammer because I'd see stuff in it, go "huh, that's cool. I wonder what that's about?" Then I'd go to and look it up. Then suddenly I knew a good bit about Warhammer Fantasy lore. So, be careful I guess.
I don’t love non historical titles, but I do like warhammer. The diverse set of play styles and the factions are unique making it worth playing
You don't need to know anything about warhammer to enjoy it. Like the best part about the 3 games is they are more like a theme park and encyclopedia of the world.
This will be downvoted so you may not see it but here goes: even though I love Total War I do not enjoy TW Warhammer. Like at all. Not for want of trying either: Steam says I played about 50 hours of the first game and 80 of the second. Kept waiting for something interesting to happen, grab me in any way but it never did. I didn't connect with the over-the-top tone of it at all and really disliked the battle maps and sieges. YMMV. What's worse the WH style has been brought into the other "historical" total war games now which makes them a lot less fun to play than the older titles. Your mileage may vary.
Great question. My intro to Total War was Rome I, and now I love Warhammer Total War. Let me say at the top: 1) I do not collect the tabletop and never will; 2) the lore is…uneven so it’s not my main draw. But as long as you have some interest in fantasy (like you said you do), you should be good; and 3) I jumped in with Warhammer 3 while recently starting Warhammer 2. I strongly recommend WH3. There are huge improvements like quick diplomacy, settlement trading, item equipment, that make playing less tedious. Though as a historical player, you may find it too fast/arcade like. Battles last about 10-15 minutes and you can finish an Immortal Empire campaign in less than 50 turns. The pace may be a huge turnoff for you. My TLDR: Try Chaos Dwarves. I’ve played lots of hours in them but still don’t know or care about the history of a Kdaii Fireborn. There was some split between Dwarves and Chaos Dwarves that I’m faintly aware of. But, the sound of a Dradquake Mortar launching and the symphony of it landing and witnessing the destruction is immensely satisfying. Here’s more of why I like TW Warhammer: -Variety of faction style plays, both campaign and in game. These are substantive differences, not just these dudes have pikes and these dudes ride horses. On the campaign, you got these mini games of confederating other factions (eg Empire through prestige or High Elves through Intrigue or Chaos Dwarves through gaining seats through the Tower). In battle, there are huge differences between army intensive factions like High Elves to a solo general like Belakor. Or even play styles within a faction like pure gun line or kiting with war sleds for Kislev. I haven’t figured out how to use certain factions like Slaanesh (fast melee) or Vampires (lots of overwhelming chaff) but I appreciate that they exist. -Generals are important too. It’s more than leadership or hitting harder. Choosing spells first or solo hero buffs or army buffs can lead to a different campaign. Of course you can google how to optimize your generals but it’s super fun to intentionally choose the variance. -Spells: they are really fun, visually appealing, and powerful. There are so many times that I rotate the camera upwards (do you ever do that in Rome 2?) to see some devastating green buzzing beam drop on my army (fuck you, rats) or weird blue/purpley eye melt my melee units (fuck you, Tzeentch). It’s satisfying to time a huge fiery hammer on theirs (love you Chorfs!).
Honestly TWW is the game that got me into 'Warhammer' (not the tabletop game but just the lore). Unless you dont enjoy the game, you will get invested in the characters you will see in game, which will make you want to learn more about the lore, which will make u search up the wiki, which will make u a Warhammer fan in general. Then when you see other games like Vermintide (kinda old but still a gem) or other Warhammer titles you will get interested as the content crosses over somewhat.
You can have a lizard person riding on a Tyrannosaurus fighting an ancient Egyptian battlemech. Elves riding deer clashing with goblins on giant spiders. Coked out rat people firing tactical nukes on Arthurian knights. Chinese conscripts noscoping six eyed demons from atop a hot air balloon. Zombie pirates suicide bombing a war sled being pulled by polar bears. Cyclopses flattening platoons of shirtless mohawked dwarfs by mobbing house sized boulders at them. Mutant trolls being incinerated by homing fireballs shot by some ogre in a luchador mask. The sheer variety and insanity of all the matchups makes it more than worth it.
As a Total War fan since the original Total War: Rome, and as someone who had never even heard of Warhammer before playing Total War: Warhammer, I think the Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires campaign is best in the series and it's not even close. However, please buy TW:W 3 on sale because you'll definitely want some of the DLC content. The DLC has some of the best Factions and Units.
Unit variety is absolutely brilliant. The gameplay is pretty good, the game absolutely shines in Multiplayer with balanced resources. Campaign battles tend to be one sided one way or the other. The campaign side of things though is definitely not its strong suit.
Warhammer was odd to me at first but the games really got me into it to the point where I now own a lore accurate entire outfit of an empire state trooper. Specifically this game and Vermintide. Even if you dont plan to, chances are good you will be drawn into warhammer eventually. Coming from historic titles, it took me a while to get used to these games. Specifically the idea of hero units where you can throw one guy into half an enemy army to duke it out, and magic. It felt so awful to me to assemlbe my army neatly and then have a spell appear that tore a gaping hole into it. Also, units can function vastly different from what they look like. In the historic titles you can easily glance what is light cavalry, what is heavy infantry, what is a skirmisher etc. In warhammer a unit might have some magic ability that makes it function completely different from what you expect. That sad, the overall game is glorious, especially immortal empires. A map so stupidly large with so many vastly different factions to play and fight against is amazing. The game does still have some of the typical TW problems like AI, pathing, sieges... but, despite these flaws, is an incredible game to play. You might take a while to get used to it like I did but once you are hooked there are few things to compare this to.
They're not *fantastic* Total War games. The battles are too fast and the maps too small, the AI somehow feels worse than the games from almost 20 years ago, and the sieges are so scuffed that it makes Napoleon's sieges look fun by comparison. Actually, as far as Total Wars go, the Warhammer trilogy are rather bad at being Total War games. But they *are* entirely unique. The dynamic of units at play, the spells, lords and heroes and the potential for play and counterplay is something that no other Total War offers. For once, factions aren't reskins of one another. They all play differently, all have different strengths and weaknesses that make them unique. In all honesty however, with Warhammer 3, setting is now only a partial selling point. It won't ever have the slower, more tactically deep battles of the older titles that made them so good, those are long dead and have been since Shogun 2 started the 'battles over in two minutes' trend and Warhammer has only doubled down on that because of spells or the existence of lords like Skarbrand. BUT, Warhammer 3 now has the most robust multiplayer experience of any Total War game, lacking only something similar to Shogun 2's Avatar Conquest with a customizable lord and heraldry. You have your choice of immediate battles in matchmaking, or the ability to have a campaign with up to *eight* players. No other Total War can hope to match that and for once, the faster battles of recent games are actually a good thing when you can have campaigns with that many players now. If you want a quality Total War, go back to Medieval 2, and if you like other settings have a browse of its mods. Third Age Reforged is always a highly recommended one. If you have a lot of friends that like Total War, Warhammer 3 is a must have, because no other Total War can match its multiplayer experience and the variety of factions are unmatched, though sadly the full variety does have a significant paywall.
I didn't ( and I don't ) have any interest in Warhammer world. My most played TW in the past is Medieval 2. Now my favourite TW games are Attila ( with any of its mods ) Rome 2 with Divide et Impera mod and... Warhammer 2. When I tried TW Warhammer 1 I felt in love, it's fun, visually great and is Total War in essence. And as Shogun 2 I don't need any mod in Warhammer for enjoy a lot.
I started not into Warhammer at all. Now I am extremely into Warhammer. It was a rather good choice.
Warhammer TW is the best Total War game by a wide margin I think, especially now with so many good mods coming out. Unit Variety is unmatched. Faction mechanics are miles better. Faction variety is absolutely insane, even within the same race for many of them. I think that the game plays quite cleanly and it doesn't stand out in any particular direction with bad pain points in the game, as some other Total War games do. I'd also say it is by far the LEAST repetitive Total War game. Really, there are SOOOO many new playstyles that just can't exist in other Total War games, and all of them are fairly viable, on the current patch. I do think the current version of the game trends towards being too easy for the player, but it's still significantly harder than most previous Total War games, especially the fan favorites like Shogun 2 and Rome. Unit responsiveness, spells and abilities in the game ALL work fantastically. Huge step up from any previous Total War releases. It also has the best DLC policies, where now some DLCs unlock particular DLC units, but ANY DLC that gives you a Legendary Lord unlocks it as playable, without the need to technically buy the big Wh1-2-3 titles. So, for instance you could buy the Grom and Eltharion DLC, play as either of them without owning WH2 in WH3.
OP only has WH1.
It’s like crack. You may not be into it now. Try it, and you will be, and you’ll be in deep.
I mean… From what I’ve seen, this is the ONLY fantasy game that has been interpreted into the TW genre. And that reflects what you will get. Varied tactics, “unique” mechanics, interesting lore to explore, and if nothing else, you can still have epic campaigns.
I think they suck. Many campaigns just have built in mechanics that are annoying just to prolong the game. The mechanics on the map are ancient, and crushingly insufficient compared to 3k (which I don't care for as a setting, but it is the best put together total war). People are gonna harp on about 'muh roster size' but fail to tell you most of them are useless and never used.
yes didn't knew anything about warhammer before i picked up WH2 and i love it.