Total War: Warhammer

and for the late game complaints, isn't that any TW game?

medieval 2, outlive the Mongolians and Timrids
Empire, once you controlled any one of the three maps it was also over.
Shogun, the same thing with factions aligning.
Rome 2 depending on where you played but once you made it out of the eastern tarpit the world was yours.
Atilla, survive/avoid hordes and the game depopulates itself for you.

chaos should be more end game than mid game, and a lot bigger of a horde. the problem there is if you play as them.

the problem imo is ALL the small factions, which has been an issue since Shogun. there are no major factions starting off so its just a game of watching who else comes out on top.

I agree. It's why I've never stuck to a TW game for more than a couple of months.
 
thankfully some of the mods can actually fix the problems. but of course it is an imperfect system with the randomness factor. and the mods are free.
 
:warning tl;dr and nerd alert:

back to the lore, I am going back to the start of the warhammer world.

A race of space faring demi-god-like creatures known only as the Old Ones finds the current world a frozen ball of ice. generally believed it was ruled at this point by really big creatures, giants being on the small side for the time. the ancestors of the dwarves, elves, humans and lizards all exist but none can even read and write at this point. The Old Ones make their home Lustria (south America) one of the few places at the time that is actually warm and they begin changing the world. they move its orbit, move mountains create seas and so forth. they also begin civilizing the aforementioned races. The lizardmen become their servants, elves learn magic, dwarfs how to work steel and the humans learn the fine art of fart jokes (they aren't really civilized too much). over the next couple millenia the lizardmen wage war in their millions destroying some species and fighting others back to where they are now. The old masters such as dragons, dragon shaggoths and Sky Titans find their realms severely reduced for various reasons, if they aren't exterminated outright.

now the Old Ones used magic and so could their servants and various other individuals, but it was very controlled and generally considered safe. to facilate easy travel and access to magic the Old Ones create Warp Gates at either pole. Think a magical Stargate. the lore isn't clear on what happens next or why. but as things start settling down, the Old Ones hurriedly create some new races, Ogres and Halflings, who are supposed to be resistant to mutation because that is the draw back of humans. Suddenly the warp gates are destroyed and Chaos is introduced to the world. it is unclear if chaos was always an enemy of the Old Ones or what is happening off of this planet but suddenly the four chaos gods are here. just as suddenly the Old Ones are gone, not sure if they are killed by the blast, they gtfo, or if they are mutated or sucked into the warp or what. they are just gone and Chaos and chaos rule. with the warp gate destroyed Warpstone is produced (it is generally assumed the warp gates were made of this but some suggest warpstone came from the warp and caused the explosion), basically warpstone is pure refined chaos in a glowing green stone. Warpstone chunks fall all over the globe and can still be found today all over, all the warpstone was created in this instance. not only did some fall back to earth but enough was kicked up so that a second, evil, moon was formed that lingers to this day and it will occasionally rain warpstone down on the world.

when the warp gates collapse infinite numbers of daemons, raw chaos/magic personified in the forms of one of the various gods of chaos, Khorne the berserker, Nurgle the disease spreader, Tzeentch the Great Changer and Slaanesh the defiler. at this time Humans have a very few scattered civilizations but nothing like today. the elves and dwarves while strong don't really have a clue about what is going on. and the chaos daemons rush the world, but specially Lustria gets the worst of it. The Lizardmen were the only real power at the time but with their direct connection to the Old Ones they are a little lost, and many of their leaders, called Slann (most powerful mages in the body of a toad) are killed by the blast so even the great Lizardmen empire is shaken. Huge battles take place all over the world, dwarves are pushed into the moutains, elves to their island the humans are scattered. The Lizardmen and Daemons fight climatic battles all over the world, battles in the millions some lasting for decades. even though the Lizards had the most power and could almost literally repopulate in endless numbers the Daemons are litterally endless and with some much magic/chaos running rampant all over the world the Daemons are unstoppable in their numbers and using smaller warp portals they can show up almost anywhere. the fighting goes on long that the non-lizardmen races forget the old ones even existed. to give a sense of scale it is implied that the whole continet that Naggarond sits on (North America) is fought for litterally inch by inch with the daemons constantly pushing the south. (an aside I forget, before the explosion of the warp gates the southern pole was connected by land to the rest of the world, but afterwards the water levels rise cutting it off. here be monsters and daemons)Several times the Lizardmen fight to the gates but can find no way to close them; and while the Lizardmen can spawn almost infinitely their leaders the Slann can not, they are a fixed number so every loss of one is huge blow in this war of attrition.

So the daemons have pretty much one, everyone is pushed back into their last strong holds when the elves start a magical ritual to create a drain for all the raw magic floating around sustaining the daemons. Through their magical senses the Slann figure out what they are doing and aid them from another continent with the elves not knowing it, basically problems with the drain fix themselves in the eyes of the elves). The daemons start freaking out and go ape**** on everything but just as defeat looks certain the drain is complete and 99.999999% of the extra raw magic in the world is drained away. (there is always some level that is natural, what was drained was the extra spilling out through the warp gates). making the drain sinks a good chunk of Ulthuan (the middle portion) and kills most involved, including the most powerful Slann.

peace reigns for a bit while the various races crawl out from whatever rock they were hiding over. but the world is changed forever with the introduction of chaos. and some species emerge and grow strong before they can be checked in this time, mostly the various breeds of Orks, goblins and their monster pets while beastmen are introduced from the warping effects of warpstone and the chaos magic that saturated the world for so long.

the lizardmen are devastated by the war. They completely changed their home rain forests into death traps to fight the daemons, living rivers to eat armies and bunches of crazy stuff. most of the Slann go into a long slumber after this for a couple reasons. the constant fighting for centuries not being the least. during this time they commune and try to figure out the Old Ones plans for the world, thinking if they can right the world and get rid of chaos the Old Ones can or will return.

with very little Slann leadership most of the Lizardmen take some steps back from what they were. and while Lustria was the main home the Lizardmen have several other places in the world that survived, the Southlands (africa) and some at various other points on the globe. but with so few Slann left, and most sleeping/coma/communing the Lizardmen lose even more from degradation as most places have no Slann. At one point in the Lore the Southlands still have Slann but in the last two Lizardmen rule books there aren't any, so those Lizardmen that survive become savages simply living in the ruins with no connection to what they were.

The Slann eventually figure out they can't remotely fix the problem so at the time of the game they are starting to mobilize their armies for direct intervention seeing how some species are in direct conflict with the will of the Old Ones, Chaos, Beastmen and Skaven. The Lizards are down to 5 cities I think so they can't muster the full armies that they used to could (sorry the good ole boy in me got out). Some of the Slann are still wicked strong (one of them thinks the Edge of the World Mountains are in the wrong place so he moves them around a bit creating the disaster for the dwarves) and the oldest one still alive gets the oldest Lizard alive to start whooping some but.

The Lizardmen aren't generally at war with any of the "good guys" but they all keep bugging them and stealing their stuff, think the conquistadors to the Inca and Maya, so conflict is common for the men who have settled in Lustria. they are however actively trying to kick out the bad guys and recover some of their lost lands and relics from the old ones from all over the world.

the lizardmen go through some other major downfalls, specifically because of the skaven so there is some major hate there as well. for the men of the empire it is not uncommon for them to travel over find what they think is an abandoned temple loot it, return home and find the Lizardmen after them. who often/usually don't want or take most of it back but generally just want a few very important relics.

The Lizards should play a lot like chaos warriors. very good heavy foot soldiers with some very interesting monsters and various allies.
 
on to the Tomb Kings. This is generally happening after the end of Coming of Chaos (above) and before the first steps of Sigmar (founder of the Empire)

They are basically the Egyptians, except everybody gets buried or mummified to some extent, the lower class just as slaves and often buried alive, while some of the armies actually volunteer to join their lord in death when he goes. They are fixated on the idea of eternal life and have their mages dedicate themselves to find out how to keep the rulers alive forever, and when they can't how to bring them back as golden figured immortals. They find plenty of way to elongate life for others but ultimately can't make them immortal, but the mages, known as Liche Priests, eventually become immortal themselves (cant die of age) because of what they learn. The society is based on a bunch of massive city states each with its own king and noble houses. Only very strong rulers can unite but most of the time the city states do what they want independently of each other. Well eventually comes along a Liche Priest who wants even more. he kills his brother, takes the throne (a no no as a Liche Priest) and dedicates himself to becoming a god not just immortal. His name is Nagash. most of the research the liche priests do is harmless, but Nagash takes on the evil side and starts killing his own people and stuff. the other lords of the land, Nehraka or something, join together to kick him out of the most powerful city. They do and he leaves defeated, but he has gained some followers.

the world keeps on ticking for a little while with no Nagash, and the rulers continue to build massive pryamids to themselves and their armies are massive and they rule much of the land which are grassy plains and healthy at this point. eventually Nagash returns at the head of an undead army and some of his followers from Nehreka, at this point Nagash has made himself immortal but not a god. The living can't stop the dead and Nagash takes back over much to everyone's fear and he starts working on a major spell. He figures he can't make the living serve him but he can make the dead, and the Chaos gods cant control the dead either a problem he has with living servants. I forget at what point but sometime during all of this the first Vampires are created, the Lahamians from Nehreka. They mimic the powers Nagash has but it isn't quite the same leading to the blood drinking and decay and eventual insanity and transformations. Well as Nagash is about to unleash a spell which would kill all life and bring them back as undead and enslave them all to him, he is killed. The spell starts at the city and travels outwards with the healthy lands of Nehreka becoming desert, the river there (Nile) becomes poisonous and pretty much all of the cities' inhabitants are killed by this blast of aborted magic, supposedly the same effects also occur in some places all over the world that are still evil to this day.

Well Nagash is dead, and his army of undead he used to conquer turn to dust. And while no life can return to Nehraka, undeath can. All those buried nobles and kings and their armies are awoken by the after effects of the spell. while they are saved from slavery and servitude they arise as the dedicated mummies (or skeletons) they are, instead of golden god like figures the liche priests promised them. the liche priests too survive because they are already this kind of undead thing as it is. The magic also effects some of their statue guardians and whatnot who can also be controlled. only the nobles and kings retained their sense of self while all the soldiers are now generally unthinking husks that serve whatever power leads them.

The undead wake up and start fighting amongst themselves. But then the most powerful of them all emerges, Settra, and knocks some heads together and restores order, ordering most of the undead back to sleep. He spends the next couple decades pissed off hunting down any trace of Nagash and his followers, Lahamia is destroyed and many Vampires killed and the rest flee north.

Now the Tomb Kings are generally trying to restore their realms, and some even work with the living. In their heyday the Tomb Kings ruled from basically Nuln (before there was Nuln) south, past the edge of the map in the game today, down into the Southlands and east and west into the facsimiles of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. I don't think they fought the dwarves even though they did have some mountain strongholds. There is a story of Settra going up north to hunt down a Chaos tribe that robbed from him and he spends like a decade wondering the chaos wastes looking for this last guy smashing armies all over the place. If the Tomb Kings have a rival it is probably the Orcs and Vampires. Vampires for what they did to the Tomb Kings and Orcs because that is what most of the lords fought during their time.

They will have basic skeleton units (archers, swords and spearmen and light cav) they have a few elite skeleton units (think grave guard, and some chariots). most of their punch will come from the constructs, everything from Troll sized guardians all they way up to Giants. they have giant sphinxes and giant rocky cobra riders and giant scorpions. They have a navy as well and access to some pretty strong and cool characters.
 
That was beautiful. I really enjoyed your explanation, I appreciate it!

So the Dark Elves used to live in Ulthuan as well, but they left and colonized the western continent (US)?

What exactly is the empire badlands? I noticed that the empire land in general looks gloomy and rugged, where bretonnia was much more green and pleasant. So the dark elves travel all the way from their continent all the way to the old world to pillage and find slaves? That's a bit of a distance. How do you think they will implement this into the campaign map. Will they not conquer territory?

So you say the high elves have colonies all over the world, but if they don't colonize the old world or the other continent where the dark elves are, where exactly do they colonize?

Hmm interesting. So why exactly did the lizardmen wage war? So there are halflings in the world? So were talking hobbits? So there is an evil moon that rains down warpstone. Hot damn. What exactly does this warpstone do? So we actually see Tzeentch in the game. I remember fighting him in my Chaos Campaign.

Okay the beastmen are humans that encountered warpstone right? So where exactly did the orcs and goblins come from? Same for Skaven. As well as vampire counts.

So the Lizardmen seem like a very important faction. So they are basically the good guys but the other factions don't appreciate what they did? So i'm starting to think that the empire and the human races really don't mean **** to the world?

So I am trying to get an idea of most evil to least evil. This might sound weird but could you give me some type of ranking giving me a scale? Could you also give me a scale on what faction should be the stronges to weakest based on the lore?
 
That was beautiful. I really enjoyed your explanation, I appreciate it!

So the Dark Elves used to live in Ulthuan as well, but they left and colonized the western continent (US)?

What exactly is the empire badlands? I noticed that the empire land in general looks gloomy and rugged, where bretonnia was much more green and pleasant. So the dark elves travel all the way from their continent all the way to the old world to pillage and find slaves? That's a bit of a distance. How do you think they will implement this into the campaign map. Will they not conquer territory?

So you say the high elves have colonies all over the world, but if they don't colonize the old world or the other continent where the dark elves are, where exactly do they colonize?

Hmm interesting. So why exactly did the lizardmen wage war? So there are halflings in the world? So were talking hobbits? So there is an evil moon that rains down warpstone. Hot damn. What exactly does this warpstone do? So we actually see Tzeentch in the game. I remember fighting him in my Chaos Campaign.

Okay the beastmen are humans that encountered warpstone right? So where exactly did the orcs and goblins come from? Same for Skaven. As well as vampire counts.

So the Lizardmen seem like a very important faction. So they are basically the good guys but the other factions don't appreciate what they did? So i'm starting to think that the empire and the human races really don't mean **** to the world?

So I am trying to get an idea of most evil to least evil. This might sound weird but could you give me some type of ranking giving me a scale? Could you also give me a scale on what faction should be the stronges to weakest based on the lore?

oh man you are pulling on my strings here.

playable tabletop factions from Evilest to best, even that isn't quite fair, good vs bad doesn't quite paint it correctly either.


Chaos Daemons
Chaos Warriors
Skaven
Beastmen
Dark Elves
Vamps
Orks & Goblins
Tomb Kings
Ogres
Wood Elves
Empire
Lizardmen
High Elves
Dwarves
Bretonians

its a sliding scale and not perfect by any stretch and it depends on what you call evil or good. Wood Elves are pretty low just because they don't give a darn about anyone else but themselves, but within their own society you could consider them one of the most good.

pretty much any faction would burn a city of thousands from another faction if it somehow kept a threat away that wasn't from that city.

most powerful is also a vague question and pretty much any army book says "If this, this faction would be the strongest" and unfortunately for the good guys the list looks pretty similar with strongest at the top, weakest at the bottom. and this is also for a conventional fight. again most are hard to place. the Vamps are generally pretty weak but in the last lore of the Fantasy world I read they are the one faction that can somewhat hold back Chaos while the Empire and Bretonians combined cant.

Chaos Warriors
Chaos Daemons
Orks & Goblins
Empire
Skaven
Lizardmen
Vamps
High Elves
Dark Elves
Dwarves
Tomb Kings
Beastmen
Wood Elves
Bretonians
Ogres
 
I'm surprised you considered the tomb kings more evil than ogres. Are ogres neutral?

Are chaos demons something we're gonna see in the game? How are they different than the chaos warriors?

I'm surprised the orks and goblins are considered that powerful.
 
I'm surprised you considered the tomb kings more evil than ogres. Are ogres neutral?

Are chaos demons something we're gonna see in the game? How are they different than the chaos warriors?

I'm surprised the orks and goblins are considered that powerful.

it all kinda depends. I took the Tomb Kings over the Ogres because they actively want to kill people and conquer the world. the Ogres are just hungry, they can never be full, so they are constantly looking for something to eat. Ogres are also mercenaries which makes them slightly "better" than the tomb kings who want to rule the world.

Daemons are demons that reflect the four Chaos gods. they could honestly fall really far down the power rankings, and I probably have them too high because they are completely dependent on the winds of magic to even exist in the world. but if that elven drain were to break or clog...... I would say you could go to games workshops website and look at the models but the ****ers killed the game of fantasy. yes I am bitter as **** about it. I think they will be one of the last factions we see in the third game. Chaos used to be one big book consisting of Chaos Warriors, Beastmen and Daemons. but they got separated out. and since daemons have no worldly home I doubt we see them.

Orks and Goblins are one of those races that "if they get unified" they would conquer the world. again it is very hard to rank them. I was talking with a friend who introduced me and he came up with a completely different list and most of it I couldn't argue with. Honestly outside of Chaos Daemons and Warriors everyone else is a step below. Kinda like the SEC, you had Bama on top, a whole bunch of good teams in the middle with almost no separation, and then a few on the bottom.

taking into consideration what I said above about the daemons not having a physical presence on the world without the winds of magic I am going to redo my list a little. and the warriors includes all of the tribes of Marauders.

Chaos Warriors





Orks & Goblins
Empire
Skaven
Lizardmen
Vamps
High Elves
Dark Elves
Dwarves
Tomb Kings
Chaos Daemons


Beastmen
Wood Elves
Bretonians
Ogres
 
To explain the Elf separation I will tell what lead up to the Sundering (their Civil War)

after the Destruction of the Warp Gates and the creation of the drain the elves were unified under one banner. They quickly colonize a lot of the world with a coastline. Most of Bretonia and the Wood Elf realms included, and on up and around in the Old World. At one point the Phoenix King dies, ruler of all elves. He has a son but not a legitimate one, Malekith. and while the Kingship had been heriditeary in the past that wasn't a given. some sons had been passed over before. There are a couple steps to becoming king. Their is council of voters who choose amongst the candidates, then you need nominal support from whoever is the Eternal Queen (King and Queen aren't married and aren't really tied to each other), lastly and most importantly you have to pass through the Flame of Assuryan, their high god. Malekith as the son and a successful leader on his own has enough backing to be considered, but the bloodline of the king is tainted. The old king made a deal with the devil basically and sold his soul and brought a curse down on the family which continues today. The curse didn't seem to be bad in Malekith so most are willing to overlook that but there are whispers that he isn't normal, and his mom is a witch (negative conontations in a society filled with wizards and wizardesses) and the leader of a shady cult. its enough where another candidate gets the nomination. Malekith freaks the heck out and orders the assassination of the other guy, but it gets caught and Malekith is ousted. Instead of just fleeing he heads towards the Temple of Asuryan to walk through the flame, self sure he will be anointed. Well it burns him and now all the elves who were indifferent about Malekith are pissed because he broke procedure and got burned, clear sign of disapproval from the god. Malekith and his mom flee with the support they have and they pick up more support from other unsatisfied members of society. they also spread a bunch of lies, saying that the council wouldnt let him take the walk in the fire, that the king who was chosen never took the walk themselves, a whole bunch of stuff like that. It never gives solid numbers but probably a third leave with Malekith. I forget a what point exactly, either before he leaves Ulthuan or shortly after he attacks Ulthuan.

Before he does this the elves just consider him a traitor and his followers foolish, but not dangerous. so the attack is devastating but eventually turned aside and Malekith his mom and many others slink off to Naggarond in what would be Hudson Bay.

Malekith is still alive, as is his mom and they still lead campaigns against the High Elves. The even manage to sink more of Ulthuan and what used to be one of the strongest regions and pretty anti Phoenix King got the worst of it and now the people who were from there hate Malekith even more than normal even if they still don't totally get along with the High Elves.

After Malekith is kicked out the Elves go through another demi-golden age. but many of the colonies consider themselves independent of the Phoenix King and don't like some of the orders and demands and the costly wars they get into. The next biggest war is with the Dwarven empire. who similar to the High Elves had gone through a huge expansion of power and population after the drain was made as the only advanced culture in the old World, minus the colonial elves. at this point the dwarves rule all the mountains in the old world, even up north. they expand out west to another mountain range Mountains of Mourne (Himalyas) and done deep into the southlands.

At first the Elves and Dwarves are friends and trade with each other and recognize the good in each other vs the remembered bad of the chaos invasion. but suddenly dwarven trading caravans get attacked by elves, the Dwarves don't know about the dark elves, may not have cared if they had known but they didn't know. The Dwarves kinda ignore until the High Kings son gets killed in one of these raids. The Dwarves send an envoy to the Phoenix King in Ulthuan demanding recompense and complete removal of themselves. When the angry dwarf, also a family member of the King, might be a son might be an uncle or cousin I can't remember, gets to the King and demands this stuff the Phoenix King literally laughs them out of the courts. If that wasn't enough, they shave the dwarf envoy, and the beard is a dwarfs most prized possession. For the High Elves they were charged with crimes they hadn't committed and were too prideful to work with the Dwarfs to a common ground. The Dwarves were too stubborn and angry at this point to accept anything less. and when the envoy gets back shaven and with news the dwarfs go to war.

So a big war breaks out that lasts for a while. but the dwarves are clearly winning and pushing the Elves out. The Elves at this point have figured out the Dark Elf involvement and have been bloodied so the Phoenix King gets involved and for a while the Elves gain the upper hand until the Phoenix King kills another of the High King's sons in a duel in a somehow offensive manner. This stokes the dwarves way way up. and they start crushing the elves and push them back to one of their major settlements. The Elves at this point sue for peace but the Dwarves are having none of it. In the siege the High King and Phoenix King fight and still trying to make peace and knowing he is now in the wrong the Phoenix King lowers his guard to again try to talk some sense into the dwarf. but the High King kills him and takes his crown and to this day the Dwarves still possess it. This signals the remaining elves to gtfo and the new Phoenix King orders everyone back. Most of the Elves in the Old World comply, except who would become the known as the Wood Elves as they have become tied to their their trees.

The wood elves and high elves have never really fought, and have even fought together but they don't like each other. and the wood elves definitely don't like the Dark Elves and have even attacked Naggarond at various points while the Dark Elves have raided Athel Loren a time or two.

The Dwarves the victors only get to enjoy their power for a little while. less than a century after the war with the Elves is when the Slann disrupts the World Edges Mountains, damaging every hold and opening up a way for Orks and Goblins to get past the Dwarves defenses.
 
The Orks and Goblins are much more prolific than the game implies, same with the Beastmen. That mountain in the middle of Bretonia is deep ork territory, the woods in the empire are home to many many tribes of orks and even up in troll country and beyond the orks wonder. the black orks also have a realm way out east in the Mountains of Mourne where they fight the Ogres.

it is never explained where Orks and Goblins come from. it is thought that the old ones brought them inadvertently along with them as spores in their spaceships. but the lore never officially says that or how the orks breed. it even goes on to say you might purge an area of woods, surround it with walls never all another ork near and then randomly years down the road there could be more orks there.

Orks are also relatively immune to the warping effects of Chaos.
 
Great explanations. I'm really enjoying this. So what is the deal with skaven and where did the vampire counts originate from exactly?

Edit: I haven't gotten a chance to read your recent post. It just popped up
 
Vampires came about from the followers of Nagash who tried to recreate his way to immortality. Basically their version wasn't quite right and lead to Vampirism.

after that happened and they were kicked out of the Nehekra the Vampires more or less scattered but started sharing the typical vampire bite. they infiltrate pretty much every human society. at one point some try to create their own realm in the Ork Badlands (i think basically where that swamp is) but it is eventually over run by orks. so instead while some look for Nagash or sneak off and create their own small pocket empires of dead servants most end up in the Empire as it is the biggest human nation.

Vlad is the founder of the Vampire Counts. Sylvannia was a relatively normal part of the Empire before the vamps took over but it had its problems with warpstone leaching into the swamps and generally being a miserable place. the dying Count of Castle Drakenhof only had a daughter but she denied all suitors that came to her and the count refused to give the castle over to one of his brothers of nephews. Literally at the Counts death bed Vlad shows up looking mighty swanky and charming and Isabella (the daughter) falls for him and the father has them married and he dies. Vlad takes over and starts turning the nobles. eventually people figure out he is a Vamp and there are a number of costly wars as various von Carsteins take turns trying to conquer the Empire. Vlad, Konrad and Manfred.
 
the skaven have always been tied to Warpstone but they are a relatively young race. Their creation story is just a rumor.

There was a rich and vain city between Estalia and Tilea, where that swamp is, right up on the mountain edge, that had both dwarves and men living in it. they get so wealthy and vain they decide they are going to build a tower to heaven. with the dwarven engineering it is going well and eventually it gets tall enough where they have problems building any higher and they can't finish it. along comes a cloaked stranger who promises he can finish it for them. all he asks in return is to add something to the tower, a great big bell. The townspeople eventually agree and the stranger is never seen again. the townspeople are confused but look up at the tower and see it is even taller and they can just make out a metallic glint at the top. For twelve days the bell rings 12 times for midnight and throughout the day. on the thirteenth day it rings 13 times at midnight. suddenly a rain starts and doesn't stop and disease and normal rats begin to show up. To cut themselves off the dwarves lock themselves away but eventually starve and the survivors open up their underground keep and it is still raining and everything is flooded. The town is deserted and the dwarves are pissed the humans left them in such a terrible place but they notice the human stronghold is boarded up. the dwarves walk up and demand food but get no answer. still thinking the humans are ignoring them and not wanting to share their rations the dwarves eventually break down the gate. inside they find only death, human skeletons everywhere, with bite and claw marks all over them. suddenly from deep in the keep the dwarves hear the scurring of thousands of feet. a horde of giant rats, the size of dogs chase them. the dwarves run back to their keep and lock themselves in. the rats gnaw their way in. but at first the dwarves are able to resit and fight them off and close the whole. but the rats come again and again and again. until the dwarves are too few and too weak to resist. in the last waves of rats can be seen rats the size of small men who walk on two feet.

thus is the story of how skaven came to be. Skavenblight is their home, that same city in the swamp near estalia and tilea. They worship the Horned Rat to whom the number 13 is holy. they are ruled by the council of thirteen. which includes Grey Seers, wizard prophets of the horned rat, and horned themselves, and then various warlord leaders. there are four Major clans who have permanent seats on the council but otherwise it is constantly changing.

There is Skyre, the engineers of the rats who use warpstone for everything, big warp lightning cannons, and ammo for their rifles and pistols and even add it to their black powder. Then there is Moulder, who spawns the skaven war beasts, including Rat Ogres, Abominations and Giant Rats amonst untold numbers of other things that defy classification. they use warpstone as a breeding agent. both to allow breeding of unholy pairs and even surgeries that should be impossible, stitching on new limbs, replacing heads, etc. Pestilence worships the plague side of the Horned Rat and has fought several civil wars trying to take over skaven society. the rats of Pestilence are afflicted of terrible diseases but it does not kill them. instead it makes them incredibly tough and through their faith they are also fanatical attackers. often wielding big plague sensers which spew forth warpstone powered diseases which even the plague priests themselves can die. The last great clan is Eshin, who are the assassins for the council. they train individual assassins who have killed Emperors, High Kings and even helped bring down Nagash, and units of stealth troops.

in the tabletop game the skaven are the only faction who can shoot or use magic into combat. for everyone else it is assumed the danger to their own side is unacceptable, but for the skaven they don't care. they are not individually brave but rely on the horde and the strange additions mentioned above for their punch. The Grey seers are good mages and they can even call down their god to fight for them at times. but the skaven number in their millions, if not billions. there is a lot of infighting and loyalty means nothing to them. the only way to climb higher is to kill whoever is ahead of you. and when you do it the guy above you doesn't mind that you killed his underling as long as you can do the job. The skaven are generally described as slightly smaller than humans, about the same size as dwarves but skinnier. their armies are mostly made of Clanrats but they have some "elite" units of Stormvermin who tend to be considerablly larger than their peers with black fur, heavy armor and halbreds. probably similar in stature to an above average tall man. the armies tend to be hard hitting but they can fade real fast.

it should be noted that most realms of men don't believe the skaven exist, or believe they are just mutants and there is no empire. The skaven empire is almost entirely underground and goes all over the world. it goes all the way out to the Mountains of Mourne and beyond, it makes it way to the Southlands and Lustria and Naggarond, but not Ulthuan and up into the chaos wastes. under most major cities and settlements there is a skaven nest. could belong to a single clan or it could hosts hundreds of thousands of rats. The skaven have tried conquering the Empire twice but have failed even when using diseases. despite this the Empire doesn't believe that skaven exist because the assassins have killed historians and removed physical evidence, leaving those who even know about the time to think it was just a different breed of beastmen.
 
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Well I learned a lot. I read everything you wrote and it was pretty fascinating. Just some last questions....

I was always wondering what that green swamp near tilea is, and so it is actually the skaven home? I suppose that makes sense. So could you point out major geographic locations in warhammer total war that are shown or not shown? I am aware of Athel Loren and the chaos waste and that swamp, but are there any other regions or spots that are unique and interesting? Same for cities, as there are so many cities and I can't tell which ones are the super duper important ones in the game.

Also, when do you think we will see or if we will see these factions, and how will they be like in the game do you think?
 
Also, you don't have to go into detail (unless you really want to), but in theory who should be the strongest of the lords in the game?
 
Well I learned a lot. I read everything you wrote and it was pretty fascinating. Just some last questions....

I was always wondering what that green swamp near tilea is, and so it is actually the skaven home? I suppose that makes sense. So could you point out major geographic locations in warhammer total war that are shown or not shown? I am aware of Athel Loren and the chaos waste and that swamp, but are there any other regions or spots that are unique and interesting? Same for cities, as there are so many cities and I can't tell which ones are the super duper important ones in the game.

Also, when do you think we will see or if we will see these factions, and how will they be like in the game do you think?

The capitals are all really important. For Kiev this is Erengrad or Kiev, they go back and forth based on the their frost queen wishes. Altdorf, Nuln and Middenheim are the three biggest for the empire. Nuln is the manufacturing center. Middenheim is actually located way up on a mountain top with only one bridge up to it, usually making it one of the last places to fall. In Bretonia all of the big cities are real important and home to dukes. for the Dwarves Karaz a Karak is the most important with Eight Peaks being number two even though they don't fully control it. The major dwarven holds in the world edge mountains are all supposed to be bigger than most Empire cities, and a lot of them have split control with the Dwarves holding the top but the bottom infested by orks and goblins or skaven.

as far as the missing pieces a couple I would like to see is of course Skavenblight, an empire city named Mordheim and then there are a couple missing Dwarf Holds.

Mordheim was a big time city and though not a home to an Elector Count it was one of the richest and most decadent cities in the Empire. Think Sodom and Gomorrah here. Sigmar sends down a big twin tailed comet, that is actually warpstone, to smash the city killing most people. but because of the wealth and the warpstone it becomes a huge draw for all factions. it should be located north west of Fort Oberyon (sp) in western Slyvannia, on that river that divides a couple of the provinces. It should be where the river turns back on itself from travelling north to mostly traveling south. I could see this in the game at some point because some of those provinces north of their are huge and relatively empty. may not be its own province, but its a big enough part of the lore they made a spin off for it. both tabletop and video game called Mordheim which focuses on small unit action instead of armies.

oh on the Halflings, yes you can think Hobbits, their home is the Moot that you see in game.

there should also be a lot of scattered ork strongholds. as I mentioned before in Bretonia that lonely mountain near Athel Loren should be Mosaf Orcal which is notoriously orcy. I don't think we see this in the game unless they do some major remapping. and in the Empire the Badlands (whatever the province that Marienburg is in, not sure if I am getting that right) and the mountains around the Brass Keep are also major ork and beastmen strongholds.

The Dwarves have a couple missing Karaks. there should be another up in the Norsca territory although it is a smaller than Kraka Drak. There is also another Karak north of Ungor (again hopefully I have the right name, the one in the north of the worlds edge mountains that has gold). again the map has a big blank spot here so I could see this happening. Another is actually right around Oakenhammer in Zhufbar, that big lake just north of Karaz a Karak there is a major hold that the dwarves lost there. I doubt this one shows up unless they do some major map reshuffling. I could see them populating some of the mountains more in the world edge when the skaven come. a lot of that area is blank but belongs to different provinces with all the game entourage hanging out. and Karak Eight Peaks should honestly be large enough to be its own province as in the lore it is currently divided by three or four factions. Belegar actually holds the interior valleys and some of the upper underground levels, orks control the surrounding peaks which are also massive settlements. Skarsnik infests a lot of the underground realm and does battle with the richest non-power 4 skaven clan named Morrs who also owns a good chunk of it. there are also some more Dwarf holds down south beyond the map, and also to the west if they expand into those wastelands. but pretty much all of those are held by orks and goblins.

there is also an island off the coasts named Albion that is a pretty big mystery held by some savage tribes. the tabletop game had a mini campaign over that at some point. so it wouldnt surprise me if you could conquer this whenever they add fleets.
 
as far as when, I don't really know. they have three new world factions they could do and three old world factions they can do. with Daemons probably being in the last game.

and for what it is worth every faction should be able to conquer everywhere. there is nothing in the lore saying the humans can't take dwarf holds and that orks can't hold human territories.
 
Warhammer 40k was another tabletop game that plays very similar to Warhammer fantasy but it is set in the future, the year 40,000. and it is not directly related to the Warhammer Fantasy world even though you see some golden threads going through both. Dying off elves, chaos coming from the Warp as the biggest threat to the Human Imperium, orks and goblins.

so the sci-fi version of Warhammer Fantasy. there are a few good 40k video games out there, but there is a lot of crap too. Dawn of War 1 is a good strategy one. if you want a shooter Space Marine is decent.

also there are MMOs for both Fantasy and 40k that never really took off if that is your thing. I have never dipped into them so I can't talk about them.

Blood Bowl is Warhammer Fantasy meets football. I have never played either the tabletop game or any of the video games but I have never seen them as being popular or worth it.

another interesting note is Games Workshop has rights to use Lord of the Rings names and characters and they have a table top game for it. I have never played it but heard good things about it.
 
Also, you don't have to go into detail (unless you really want to), but in theory who should be the strongest of the lords in the game?

as far as lords go that show up in the tabletop game Lord Kroak of the Lizardmen should probably be the strongest. He was the strongest of the Slann and even though he was killed in the first coming of Chaos he was strong enough to keep his spirit trapped in his mummified remains.

Lord Mazumundi, another slann, is the strongest one left, and is actually the guy who moved the World Edge Moutains around, and he also rides a stegadon (triceratops.)

Archaon and Kholek are up there. The Dark Elf king Malekith is a really strong wizard and warrior who rides a dragon. then there are a set of High Elf twins, Teclis is supposed to be the strongest non Slann mage and his brother Tyrrion (spelling) is supposed to be the best Elven swordsmen. they are related to that Orignial Phoenix King I mentioned in the elf break down.

Orion and Ariel are demi gods. Morghulur, that new beastmen character is also tied to Ariel and even if he is killed he comes back and he has some straight up nasty mutating powers.

The Bretonians have the Green Knight who is supposed to be their Founder come back to fight as an avenging spirit.

The Dwarves have a Slayer hero named Gotrek who won't show up in the game, but he is basically immortal because he wields one of the weapons from their god.

If you are looking for a good book series Gotrek and Felix covers a lot of the Warhammer Fantasy world and is entertaining. the Black Library is actually a publishing company for Games Workshop and is one of the largest in the world. most of their good books cover Warhammer 40k, but the fantasy ones are still worth reading if you are into the lore.

The Empire, vamps, skaven, Ogres don't really have anyone that can challenge. Tomb Kings have Settra but he falls pretty far down the list.
 
I really appreciate it. I think I've gotten a basic understanding of the lore. I'm sure the game will make a lot more sense now. There were a lot of things I was unsure about in regards to interesting spots in the map. So right now I basically just want to talk about what's on the game right now.

So what is the deal with the chaos wastes. It looks pretty bad ass, but it's a shame we don't see much action there other than Archeon's quest. (By the way I assumed Archeon was the most powerful person in the game but I heard he was defeated nun grimgor ironhide? Seems odd to me).

What's the deal with Norsca as well. It's shaped like Norway in a way and it obviously has that whole Viking feel, but I sense that it is beyond savage up there. Are they basically just humans that are seriously savage or something? And it's also covered in mountains. Anything significant about that area?

Most of the empire land seems pretty generic and just seems a bit gloomy. Brass keep looks interesting. Anything significant there?

Okay so the halflings live basically right next to the vampires. Interesting. Will we ever see them in the game?

I've also noticed a few volcanoes around the map, are they of great significance or are they just there for effect?

I've also noticed when you occupy Kislev and Kara's A Karak it gives extra bonuses for those cities, do you have any idea what the other relevant big cities that do these as well are?

Why is the Marienburg province called the wasteland?
So what's the deal with the skulls all over the mountain? Significance or just added effect?

Oh here's a big one. What is the deal with that spiky pass that looks chaos infested all the time?

Where exactly is Karak 8 peaks?

Ekrund has a pretty unique setup around it. What's the history there? There also appears to be a giant swamp in the middle of the badlands. What happened there? Also, east of that swamp is a giant white pole looking thing, what is that? And what is the story behind that giant rock next to iron rock.

Athel Loren and the Oak tree, whats the story there? Any reason why bretonnia looks a lot more green as lively than the empire territory?

The Vaults seem like a pretty interesting name for a province, anything of interest there?

The silver road also sound a unique. Is there a special road?

Another unique name is Death Pass just south of that, as well as the desolation of nagash to the east of that.

So I'm a bit of a geography nerd so that's why I'm also interested in the map so much. So south of the badlands are the tomb kings I believe?
West are the high elves island and farther west is where the dark elves are correct. Is there anything north of th chaos wastes? Also what is east to the mountains on the right of the map? I'm curious to how the new games will look.
 

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