Title: Total War: Warhammer 2
Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: SEGA
Platform: Steam
Release Date: Thursday, 28th of September, 2017
Price: 59.99€ / 59.99$ /39.99£
System Requirements
Reviews: Opencritic 86
Oficial Social Media: Twitter
The second game of the total war warhammer trilogy improves on every facet of total war warhammer while adding new content. You can enjoy warhammer 2 without needing to play warhammer 1 because warhammer 2 features its own campaign which is called vortex campaign. This campaign has a small story for each of the 4 playable races to justify their need to control the vortex.
If you already own warhammer 1 you will unlock a special campaign in warhammer 2 called mortal empires which features all races from each game. Both warhammer 1 and warhammer 2 will eventually interact with warhammer 3 making an even bigger campaign sandbox to fully embrace the universe of the warhammer fantasy tabletop game.
For those unfamiliar with the series, Total War combines a Civilization-like turn based aspect with real-time battles. On the campaign map you build and manage your empire. Construction, unit creation, trade, diplomacy, taxes, and subterfuge are all done on the campaign map. When armies meet on the campaign map The game becomes a real-time battle where you can directly control your forces.
WH2 has 3 singleplayer modes:
- Campaign
- Quick /quest/ custom battle
- The laboratory (FLC)
WH2 has 2 multiplayer modes:
- Co-op/head to head campaign (2 players only)
- Quick/custom battle
- 4 Rites for each faction which buff or recruit special new units (like the black ark or a slann);
- Synced animations between monster units;
- Rogue armies. These armies don't use the roster of a faction instead they use a "theme" - think a monster only army which is made from lizardmen, wood elves and greenskins units.
- Treasure adventures - your armies can now go on adventures when they explore ruins. This works like a small text point and click adventure, a few text boxes with decisions.
- 3 way battles (multiplayer only).
- "New" types of battles such as chokepoint battles, gate battles and island battles;
- No regional occupation limits, instead a new climate system has been added. Each race has preferred climates, if you settle on other non preferred climates you will take penalties.
- A new trait system similar to the bretonian race from the previous game.
- New army abilities. For example, allows you to summon cold ones as lizardmen or clan rats as skaven.
- Lots of quality of life improvements such as: Being able to control what the game shows you during the "end turn time" per faction; Having a warning when you click end turn if you haven't done everything possible; UI is better and prettier; Legendary Lords capped level increased to 40, showing the percentage of your movement points, etc..
The vortex campaign
New map with 4 continents, 4 new races! Each race has their own storyline to take control of the vortex. In this campaign the AI will be able to win against the player by fulfilling their objectives.The DLC races (like the tomb kings) don't compete for the vortex, having their own objective.
The following map shows the locations of every non skaven faction and playable races:
Mortal Empires is the new a playable campaign that mixes both warhammer 1 and warhammer 2 maps. CA will be taking the entirety of the Old World campaign map from the first game and expanding to the West, taking in key territories from the map of the vortex campaign. Alongside the expansion the old world map has been reworked with new settlements and factions creating totally new challenges for the factions from wwarhammer 1.
This new campaign is pure conquest, no vortex story-line, with all the playable races and factions from both games released so far vying for dominance across the continents. This map will have 296 settlements and 122 starting factions. You will be able to choose between 45* legendary lords and 35* starting positions.
Because of the cheer size the end turn time will increase and there is no way around it.
To play this campaign you need to own both warhammer 2 and warhammer 1.
Bellow is the map of the campaign with the playable factions.
Playable races
How to understand the following section?
Each race has 1 paragraph for a flavor text to explain the spirit of the faction, followed by campaign mechanics and ending with a paragraph talking about their unique mechanics in battle. Each race has a picture of their leaders called legendary lords (LL), in that picture there is the title of the game. If the picture has a subtitle then that Leader is payed content. To see their starting positions look at the maps above.
Colorwise
Blue = latest DLC (payed content)
Pink = latest FLC (free content)
If you are a returning player from game 1, I wrote below each race from game 1 the major changes that have happened.
High Elves (Requires: WH2) (latest DLC and FLC)
The High Elves are an insular race. Long ago, the Elves were the favourite (but not the first) creations of the Old Ones, the original gods of the Warhammer World, who also built them an idyllic island called Ulthuan. Thousands of years later, this has given their descendants a certain sense of entitlement; they look out only for themselves, and yet, because they also consider themselves the rightful rulers of the world, they stick their noses into everyone else's business anyway.
On the campaign map they have line of sight on their trade partners. They have an unique resource called influence, this resource gives the high elves their greatest strength - being able to manipulate other factions opinions. This manipulation can be used for example to either boost factions into alliances or divide alliances.
In battle the high elves have a boost on their melee defense as long as the unit has at least 50% of health. The high elves are an elite army with plenty of unit choices, it has heavy infantry, great cavalry, chariots and magic supported by dragons and phoenixes.
The high elves have 4 starting positions and 4 LL:
New features:
- Sword of Khaine -> any elf faction that controls the altar of Khaine can take control of the sword of Khaine. This sword gives powerful bonuses to the lord that uses it however it causes penalties to your faction. As the power of the sword grows the higher the penalties your faction will take.
Dark Elves (Requires: WH2)
The Dark Elves are the High Elves' twisted kin, separated from their brethren in a violent civil war known as the Sundering. The fire was built by the corrupting forces of Chaos taking root in Ulthuan, then ignited - literally - when a prince named Malekith was rejected and burned by the flames that he had assumed would confirm him as the Elves' new king.
He rejected the verdict of the holy flames and went to war with those who defended their integrity. He lost, was kicked out of Ulthuan.
On the campaign map dark elves have an unique resource called slaves. You earn slaves by, well, enslaving enemies. Slaves boost your income but hurt your public order.
In battle the dark elves show their sadistic nature. When a certain amount of units on the battlefield die the dark elf army gets a massive boost on their stats.
The Dark elves have 5 starting positions and 5 LL:
New features:
- Sword of Khaine -> any elf faction that controls the altar of Khaine can take control of the sword of Khaine. This sword gives powerful bonuses to the lord that uses it however it causes penalties to your faction. As the power of the sword grows the higher the penalties your faction will take.
- Kharabdyss (requires Queen&Crone DLC) -> a giant monster that specializes in taking down other monsters
Lizardmen (Requires: WH2)
The lizardmen seek to enact the Great Plan and will go to any length to complete it!
On the campaign map they have geomatic web which connects several cities around, by powering this web you gain powerful bonuses. Lizardmen will get a unique army stance: the Astromancy stance which increase your campaign view range and your defense against ambushes and against factions using the Underway.
In battle the lizardmen are a mainly infantry army supported by huge dinosaurs. Some units of the lizardmen can go on rampage, when it happens the player loses control of the unit and that unit charges the closest enemy unit. Lizardmen lords can also trade melee defense for regeneration for a few seconds, allowing these formidable units to have a second wind in battle.
The Lizardmen have 6 starting positions and 6 LL:
New features:
- Lord Kroak, a quest chain is available for all lizardmen factions to recruit this powerful legendary hero.
Skaven (Requires: WH2)
As rats, the Skaven like to burrow. In the lore, almost all of their empire is underground, with only occasional cities popping up on the surface.
The Skaven are divided into many other clans, whose habit of infighting is the only reason they haven't taken over the world.
On the campaign skaven cities appear as ruins to other races. They also spread a corruption that hurts both skaven and their enemies. Skaven have an unique resource called food, skaven can use it to boost conquered settlements to the next tier, summon clan rats to battle but it is also essential to keep the public order.
In battle skaven use large numbers to overwhelm their opponents, because the skaven are mostly cowards your units will be faster when routing allowing them to more easily survive to fight another day. The skaven army has huge numbers of (brittle) infantry supported by powerful war machines and monstrous units.
The Skaven have 5 starting positions and 5 LL:
New Features:
Under-empire -> This mechanic allows the skaven to build "under cities" in settlements controlled by other factions. This mechanic allow skaven to "expand" their empire without directly territory. This allows for more food sources, new income sources and even prepare an army to take the city above!
Tomb Kings (Requires: WH2 and DLC)
Across the arid deserts of Nehekhara, vast legions of skeletal warriors rise from beneath the baking sands to slaughter those who trespass into their domain. This is the Land of the Dead, where mummified kings are cursed to rule in perpetual unlife. But it was not always thus.There was a time when the ancient kingdom of Nehekhara stood as a crown of human civilisation; a golden age when its cities shone with majestic splendour, its armies conquered entire nations and its kings ruled as gods among men. But this realm was razed millennia ago by the treacherous sorcery of the reviled Nagash: in a stroke, the living perished and the dead rose from their tombs.Settra the imperishable said:
Death is no barrier to glory for the Tomb Kings however.
In unlife, they will see the empire of Nehekhara restored to greatness!
Campaign wise the tomb kings don't have upkeep, instead their army is limited by their buildings and how fast they can unearth new tombs. They have an unique resource called canopic jars which allows them to awaken lords, make special units or items.
In battle the tomb kings rely on their unroutable infantry to hold the enemy in place so that their chariots and their monstrous units can have a free reign of destruction.
They have access to an unique lore - lore of nehekhara.
The tomb kings have 4 starting positions and 4 LL:
New features added:
- Bone giant ->new unit; a magical structure in the form of a giant that uses a bow with magical arrows.
Vampire Coast (requires WH2 and DLC)
In campaign vampire coast behaves like an hybrid faction, not only can you control land provinces but your pirate LL has a special boat that works like a horde. Alongside this when you conquer a settlement with a port you can choose to create a pirate coven, this allows the defendant to keep the settlement but you receive bonuses from your pirate coven. This feature combined with the hybrid mechanic allows the vampire coast faction to plunder the world without the need for a safe haven.In battle vampire coast armies lack good flanking units, relying on their zombies and monsters to slow down the enemy army long enough for their gunpowder units to gun down their enemies.
They have access to an unique lore of magic - lore of the deep.
Every vampire coast lord seeks to become infamous; Can you become the pirate king?
The vampire Coast race has 4 different starting positions with 4 LL.
No new features have been added since release.
Empire (Requires WH1)
The Empire is the human-faction based on the historical Holy Roman Empire. This faction offers the most traditional Total War experience. The Empire consists of robust infantry, supplemented by powerful magic,artillery and cavalry. The Empire is the jack-of-all trades faction with a good mix of units in each category and thus relying on combined arms to take down the enemy.
The empire has 3 starting position and has 4 LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
The red skill tree has been updated
New elector count mechanic where prestige and fealty will unite or divide the empire of men
Elector offices were removed
New units tied to the elector counts
Balthaser Gelt has been moved to Solland
Can use Gotrek and Felix
Vampire Counts (Requires WH1)
The Vampire Counts are an undead faction, this makes their armies imune to psycology attacks and they never rout. The Vampire Counts slowly corrupt enemy regions through agents and buildings. These foster undead rebellions and lower public order, weakening your rivals before you absorb them into your empire.
In battle the Vampire Counts lack ranged units but field rapid moving cavalry, terrifying monsters and powerful magic. The Vampire Counts have the ability to recruit certain units anywhere in the world and turn the enemy dead against their former brethren.
The Vampire counts have 2 starting positions in Sylvania and 1 starting position in blackstone post. VC have 5LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
The building structure was changed to make the mid-game more interesting.
New campaign mechanic: bloodlines
New faction: Heinrich Kemmler moved to blackstone post;
Tech tree reworked: new techs added.
The red skill tree has been updated
Greenskins (Requires WH1) (Latest DLC)
The Greenskins faction is composed by 2 races: the frail but witty goblins and the strong but reckless orcs. Subscribing to a "might makes right" philosophy, the Greenskins vie for control of warbands led by a Warboss. Frequent infighting lessens the threat of Greenskins but should they be united an unstoppable WAAAGH! begins. Their army relies on high numbers supported by powerful monsters.
The Greenskins have 5 starting positions and have 5 LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
The red skill tree has been updated
Azhag has been moved to red eye mountains
Completely reworked their Waagghh! mechanic -> now waagh armies are inside your army. You can declare the capital of a fation the waagh target. you have 20 turns to destroy it or conquer it. Depending on their strenght rank and their race you get different bonuses until the next waggh!
new units -> black ork boss, aranarok lava , feral hydra, armored squigs, soopa squig and goblin lava spider riders
new mount for goblin shaman lord-> araknarok (requires free totalwar access account)
Dwarfs (Requires WH1)
The Dwarfs are a defensive minded race with strong infantry to defend their ranged and artillery units. On the flip-side, they lack cavalry. They use the range of their artillery and technology to destroy their opponents without chasing them. The Dwarfs have the ability to tunnel through mountains and surprise their enemies, or be surprised by forces lurking below. The Dwarf playstyle will favor slow-and-steady players. Their loyalty ensures that no rebellions occur and high public order means you can send your armies out to fulfill entries in the Book of Grudges.
The dwarfs have 3 starting positions and 4 LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
New faction: karak kadrim led by Ungrim the slayer king.
New unit: giant slayers.
New mechanic: Blacksmith - >Allows dwarfs to build items
Can use Gotrek and Felix
Brettonia (Requires FLC)
Bretonnia is the second largest nation of men after the Empire. It is a feudal society protected by hosts of knights, considered by many to be the most powerful heavy cavalry in the Old World. In theory, the Knights of Bretonnia - the flower of its military - have a code of chivalry that forms an unbreakable duty to protect its citizens. In practice, Knights are often selfish, greedy, political creatures, more interested in procuring the shiniest armour and attending tournaments than safeguarding the basic needs of the smallfolk.
In the campaign bretonnia is limited by their peasant economy, soft cap on how many peasants you can recruit of your cities without creating income penalties. This forces the bretonnian player to play slowly and make full use of their knights.
In battle bretonnia fields an army of cavalry, some of the best cavalry in the game, supported by a line of frail infantry that will hopefully buy enough time for the cavalry hit the enemy rearguard in full force.
Bretonnia has 4 starting positions and 4 LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
Tech tree reworked: it now provides more interactions with the new factions, add more buffs to the units and the economy.
Alberic now has his weapon modeled as trident
New confederation dilemas
Vows are now awarded by completing a quest.
Can use Gotrek and Felix
New Free LL - Repanse de Lyonesse
Warrior of Chaos (Requires WH1 + DLC)
The Warriors of Chaos are a horde, which means this faction doesn't have any settlements; instead their armies are their cities . This faction survives on winning battles and sacking settlements while seeking out the Artefacts of Chaos. Armies of Chaos set up encampments to recruit units and build buildings but require constant battle and pillaging to sustain their armies. Their very presence in a region foments disorder and cultist uprisings making them an insidious force of evil. They have a strong core of infantry and cavalry as well as monstrous beasts and Hellcannon artillery. Most of their army is heavily armored, making them very proficient in any prolonged engagement.
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
The red skill tree has been updated
Beastmen (Requires WH1 + DLC)
The Beastmen are a horde faction which means they can't have settlements. They are made up of extremely powerful yet unarmored melee units coupled with limited ranged capabilities and new Lore of the Wild magic. Like Chaos they thrive on destruction to continue their engine of war and also spread Chaos Corruption. Similar to the WAAAGH! mechanic, the Beastmen armies can accumulate Bestial Rage which will summon Brayherds to form an unstoppable, bestial force. Beastmen armies are immune to attrition and united in their destructive cause so they do not take infighting damage from having multiple hordes in proximity to each other.
The Beastmen DLC also includes a new mini campaign called "An Eye for an Eye". Note that this mini-campaign is only playable in warhammer 1.
Beastmen have 3 starting positions and 3LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
The red skill tree has been updated
Wood Elves (Requires WH1 + DLC)
Tall, slender humanoids who live within the ancient forest of Athel Loren, the Wood Elves are a mysterious race who rarely emerge unless coming to its defence. Although sometimes appearing cruel, in reality they are a neutral power who act only to maintain the balance of their environment.
The wood elves receive their power form the Oak of Ages and as such they need to protect it and feed it with amber, an unique resource to this faction. Amber can be obtained by conquering settlements but also gaining allies. This unique resource is used to buy elite units, upgrade the WE cities and their tree. The wood elves can only build inside athel loren; outside of their forest they build small outposts.
In battle the WE roster is divided in 2 subfactions: the elves which are lightly armored but have a high damage output and the forest spirits which are heavily armored and highly resilient but have low damage output.
The WE DLC has also a playable mini campaign - The Season of Revelation.
This faction has 2 starting positions in athel loren and 2 LL:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
- Sword of Khaine -> any elf faction that controls the altar of Khaine can take control of the sword of Khaine. This sword gives powerful bonuses to the lord that uses it however it causes penalties to your faction. As the power of the sword grows the higher the penalties your faction will take.
- The red skill tree has been updated
Norsca (Requires WH1 + DLC)
wulfrik said:
In the campaign norsca behaves as an hybrid faction between traditional empire and a horde. It can hold settlements but they lack powerful economic buildings and walls. Norsca relies instead on raiding and sacking their opponents. With special techs unlocked if you manage to conquer the capital of the major warhammer races. Alongside this offensive style of gameplay you can pledge yourself to a chaos god, getting more powerful benefits the more of the world you destroy in their name. You also have access to hunts, where you try to take down powerful monsters and prove you are the scariests monster around.
In battle norsca is all about fighting. Marauders get more powerful buffs the longer they stay in combat. Alongside this frenzied infantry norsca commands all types of monsters from small wolves to giant mammoths going through werewolves and the fimir.
Norsca has 2 starting positions and 2 LLs:
Does this race have new mechanics in warhammer 2?
The red skill tree has been updated
Tech tree: new techs
New hunts
DLC/patches released
- Blood for the blood god 2 / patch 1 (26th of October 2017)
- No DLC released / patch 2 (14th of december 2017)
- Tomb Kings / patch 3 (23rd of January 2018)
- The Queen & The Crone / patch 4 (31st of May 2018)
- No DLC released / patch 5 (21st of June 2018)
- The curse of the vampire coast / patch 6 (8th of November 2018)
- No DLC released / festag update (28/01/2019)
- The prophet and the warlock / patch 7 (17/04/2019)
- No DLC released / THE AMETHYST UPDATE (16/05/2019)
- The Hunter & The Beast / Empire undivided (11/09/2019)
- The Shadow and the Blade / patch ( 12/12/2019)
- The Warden and the Paunch/ patch
- TBA (lord pack) /patch (2020)
- TBA (wh3 pre-order DLC) / Patch (2020?)
FLC plan
CA has released
- Mortal empires - The sandbox campaign that merges both games. Read above for more detail;
- The laboratory;
- Tretch Craventrail (skaven LL);
- Multiplayer map pack
- Alith Anar (high elf LL);
- The Widowmaker (new mechanic) - this special sword can be claimed by any elfic race. It gives powerful battle bonuses and some campaign penalties. Non elf races can steel the widowmaker from the elf race that is using it.
- Lokhir (dark elf LL);
- Island battles (new mechanic)- When navies meet you now can battle manually in new island battle maps. No longer will autoresolve harm your campaign.
- Tiqtaq'to (lizardmen LL)
- Amethyst wizard (empire hero, requires wh1)
- Gor Rok (lizardmen LL)
- Gotrek and Felix (LL and LH for most order factions)
- Repanse de Lyonesse (bretonnian LL)
- Imrik (HE LL)
- Black ork big boss (greenskin hero, requires wh2 + wh1 or wh2 + warden vs the paunch DLC)
- Aranarok mount for goblin shaman lord ( greenskin Lord, requires wh2 + wh1 or wh2 + warden vs the paunch DLC)
FAQ
Q: Should I buy warhammer 1 or warhammer 2?It depends. Wh2 generally speaking is a better version than Wh1. It has a lot of QoL, bigger map, better UI, etc. Wh1 still has 2 factors that you should consider:
1) it has 5 base game races (empire, Greenskins, bretonnia, vampire counts and Dwarfs) and 4 DLC (wood elves, beastmen, norsca, warriors of chaos). You will need wh1 if you want to play those races.
2) Wh2 has bigger battles and its campaign pushes for them to be much more common than in wh1. This means if your PC is low spec you might want to start in wh1 versus wh2
Q: Which DLC are essential?
I'd go as far as saying none of the DLC are "essential". Before buying any DLC you should know that the AI has access to every DLC so you will fight against all of the DLC content. (exception being some units of WoC are locked on the DLC). You only need to buy the DLC IF you are going to play as that race/faction. In multiplayer you can play against or alongside any faction you don't own.
Q: I'm a big warhammer fan and i want everything! is there a complete pack?
No. The warhammer 1 has a "special" edition called dark gods which brings game 1 + norsca DLC + Warriors of chaos DLC.
Q: Do I need to have warhammer 1 installed to play warhammer 2 mortal empires campaign?
No. You just need to own warhammer 1.
It is time for TOTAL WAR!
Thank you to danicard (helped in some images), Pesky Toaster (re-used some ideas/text from his OT), Hella (great OT title suggestion) and all of resetera community. If i didn't feel at home here i'd never be comfortable doing this OT. thank you!
I promise i'll keep updating the OT as the DLC /patches are released!
[edit] i can't find images for the latests LL as CA hasn't been doing the posters and i don't ahve the time to photoshop them.
Feel free to write suggestions, errors, what you like, what you don't like, etc. I'll read every comment and hopefully improve the OT.
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