The Magnificent Munchkin of Martial Mayhem Meanders Mischievously ~

Lloyd Sabin, 2 July 2018

In this Tomb Kings campaign, the majority of the lore is brand new to me and strikes me as quite dark and bizarre.

Damn it’s hot outside. As I write this it’s almost 100 degrees just beyond my window. I can’t bear the real heat out there anymore today so what better faction to play in Total War: Warhammer 2 than the one set in the brutal wastelands of Warhammer’s Great Desert and the Land of the Dead? None…absolutely none!

In this Tomb Kings campaign, the majority of the lore is brand new to me and strikes me as quite dark and bizarre. For a few turns I think that maybe I made a mistake and should just go and play something else until the campaign sinks its sharp, bony fingers in to the soft gaming part of my brain and I become hooked.

Tasked with finding five Books of Nagash to make my Tomb King faction unbeatable, I find myself getting drawn in to the game, which plays equal parts strategy game and adventure + exploration game. It is similar to the original Total War: Warhammer (which I played and came close to not losing as Norsca) but with more options and more varied story paths. There’s a lot about the Tomb Kings that is quite bizarre to my n00b gaming eyes, but I have grown to appreciate their undead, desert combing ways instead of being freaked out by them…mostly.

The tech tree is divided in to dynastic components and much like the rest of their faction traits, they are very heavily influenced by ancient Egyptian history, from their names to their architecture to their weapons. Imagine the undead Ptolemies and you have a good idea of what the Tomb Kings are all about. The Undead Ptolemies will also be my band name once I learn to play the drums. Tomb Kings can also raise armies without the need for cash, since there soldiers are mostly dead.

This is the first few hours of my campaign so I have not fought any battles in tactical mode yet, but I expect them to be bizarre spectacles to say the least. There are dozens of smaller elven, dwarfish, vampiric, human and other influenced factions and more major ones like the Dark Elves, High Elves, Skaven and Beastment roaming the map, looking to control a vast, powerful magic vortex. But Tomb Kings appear to be a different breed, so the Books of Nagash are our goals.

Enjoy the below shots…the looks to be quite the bizarre campaign.

I choose High Queen Khalida as my faction leader. There were other perhaps more interesting ones to choose from but they were rated at higher difficulties.

The opening cinematics are lengthy and well done. It’s frickin’ hot out there.

A shot of your local map area at the start of the Tomb Kings campaign.

Queen Khalida herself. She’s got not time for fools, so behave.

Tutorial tips are plenty at the very beginning of the game. There is a warning that the Tomb Kings may be difficult to play for total n00bs, but I just ignored it.

Tomb King tech tree, broken down in to multiple dynastic disciplines.

Diplomatic overview. As in my Norsca campaign, everyone starts out despising me. But I eventually sign a few non-aggression pacts and trade agreements, freeing up movement on the campaign map and making some money…very different from my Norsca campaign.

The Dust Gate is the first enemy city I need to conquer to get the campaign moving.

Ew. But I have to change my traditionally human mind set. I am already dead (or undead) so what’s a little fungus going to do?

There be dwarfs, and I am sure they won’t like me until I charm their little socks off. Trying to minimize the amount of factions I am fighting at any one time in this Tomb Kings campaign, as I like to do in other Total War campaigns. I have a perennial fear of spreading myself too thin.

Factions actually want to trade with me in this campaign, even the snooty High Elves. Don’t tell them, but in a few turns I will have to besiege and destroy their fortress city to take a Book of Nagash.

Rogue armies are the same as rebels in past TW campaigns. This particular one I was able to sign on to my cause but they only allied with me for 1-2 turns, the bastards.

Once they stabbed me in the back they went on to further attack our mutual enemy and were then destroyed…that’s what you get.

They also managed to weaken our mutual adversary to the point where I was able to then destroy them on the next turn with two armies.

Things are going well as long as I keep up the skullduggery. With the capture of this city I will have consolidated my first territory, and can then move on to capture my first Book of Nagash. Undead and loving it!

More dark fantasy bloodletting next week. Thanks for reading!

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