Each race is an individual game in its own right in Total War: Warhammer

As familiar as I am with Warhammer 40 000, I’ve got close to buggerall knowledge of its more ancient sister, regular Warhammer. That’s the tabletop game stripped of any future tech from what I’ve gathered, where the WAAAAAAARGGHHH between mankind and anything else that has a pulse happens to be waged on land and at sea, not in space. It also sounds freakin’ awesome, which is why I’m curious to see how that universe plays out when given the Total War treatment. And it’s looking…dynamic.

Because that’s what developer Creative Assembly is going for as they merge the more historical side of their franchise with the fantastical smashing of entire human meat armies against the Boyz of the Ork offensive. “There’s a lot of work we’ve done on the animations, to make the combat seem more dynamic and responsive.” project lead Ian Roxburgh said to PC Gamer.

The sheer amount of animations is huge—even down to the amount of different skeletons, 30 types as opposed to 5 or 6 in previous total war games.

It also sounds like more traditional elements from the usual Total War template, will need to be sacrificed for the Warhammer version of the game. While city and unit-building will still exist alongside diplomacy, other campaign elements will be unique to this game. Such as the Greenskins, who fight harder during times of war but find themselves hit with penalties during times of peace.  “You’ve got this balance between building up this momentum, keeping the battles going, keeping the Boyz excited, or suffering animosity.” Roxburgh explained. “We’re playing with each of the races like it’s an individual Total War game in its own right.” said battle designer Simon Mann.

They are so diverse, we want to revel in that.

Sounds massive then. Here’s a  bunch of new screenshots then, to help you ponder what WAAARRRGH is good for.

Last Updated: June 4, 2015