Tag: Ancient

07/23/18
Gus TW WH2 4 SPLASH

What’s Gus Playing: Total War: Warhammer 2 Tomb Kings – Part 3

Danger dwarf’s doldrums drag diffidently  ~

Lloyd Sabin, 16 July 2018

We have now entered the summer doldrums. How do I know this? Because I have become bored and restless with my current gaming. Roughly about 150 turns in to my Total War: Warhammer 2 campaign, and I began to lose interest. Why? Perhaps the units and setting are just a bit too fantastical to me. Or maybe it’s because I suck at the tactical battles. Or there is the chance that I have been playing fantasy games for the last 3-4 weeks and I just need something new. Most likely it is a combination of all these factors and more that have turned my Tomb Kings campaign in to a long slog, with an end in sight, but far away.

Well after a short siege of their fortress city called The Awakening, their garrison and one full stack of bloodsuckers came at me, and totally bitch-slapped me

The Tomb Kings are not recommended for new players, by the game itself, in the faction selection screen. I am not a new Total War player but I am new to Warhammer, so I suppose there are a lot of intricacies to the Tomb Kings that I need to brush up on. I liked what I saw during this campaign – but there was a ton of lore…a little overwhelming and a bit unforgiving. So this carried over in to the tactical battles. I never felt 100% confident in what I was doing and always felt I did not know the full capabilities of my lords or my troops. Not the fault of the game, but my own fault for not studying up enough.

At this point I had two of the five Books of Nagash I needed. I gathered three full-stack Tomb King armies and declared war on the Vampire Counts, and went straight for the jugular in an attempt to grab the third book. Well after a short siege of their fortress city called The Awakening, their garrison and one full stack of bloodsuckers came at me, and totally bitch-slapped me. I lost every thing and was reeling back to my own dark, sandy domains. It was that embarrassingly complete loss that had me put aside the game for now, because it probably set me back another 150 turns until I could gather strength again and attempt to snatch another three Books of Nagash. So for now I put aside the fantasy war grind. Continue reading →

07/17/18
Gus TW WH2 3 SPLASH

What’s Gus Playing: Total War: Warhammer 2 Tomb Kings – Part 2

Take a toiling tour of the terrible tombs ~

Lloyd Sabin, 16 July 2018

Still trying to get to those four other Books of Nagash as the Tomb Kings. This campaign has bogged down a bit – partially because I am a Tomb Kings noob and partially because the game play has become somewhat repetitive. They’re both linked, though, and feed off each other.

The campaign is still fun enough, with enough things to do, to keep me going.

This Vortex campaign map is not as massive as the Mortal Empires map is…but it’s still pretty gigantic. After close to 150 turns I have revealed probably around 80 percent of it. There is some wacky fruity stuff out there in the Warhammer universe…knights riding spiders, talking giant toads, vampire pirates…the mind boggles. There are even some ordinary human factions, like the New World Colonies, which I had never heard of until stumbling across them in this play through. All intriguing, but perhaps a bit overwhelming.

It also doesn’t help matters that my armies, made up mostly of skeleton spearmen and swordsmen, are like tissue paper when facing elf (both light and dark) armies, which are my most common enemy. The dark elf armies are especially tough and tear through my units like they are undead toilet paper. I need to learn how to upgrade my troops quicker. Until then I need two armies to take on every one enemy army…not a recipe for victory.

The campaign is still fun enough, with enough things to do, to keep me going. Check out the below screen shots and let’s see if I can not only keep this campaign moving, but maybe even push forward to victory. I didn’t win my Norsca campaign earlier this year but I was one of the last five factions left standing in that Warhammer I campaign. I just barely snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (and Chaos). Continue reading →

07/2/18
Gus TW WH2 2 SPLASH

What’s Gus Playing: Total War: Warhammer 2 – Tomb Kings Campaign

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. Continue reading →

06/25/18
Gus SPLASH ACreedO

What’s Gus Playing? Assassin’s Creed – Origins, part 2

Today, a different kind of “Origins” as Gus takes us back to the desert ~

Lloyd Sabin, 25 June 2018

Still smarting from a harsh and quick defeat as Nabatea in Rome 2 Total War, I returned to the warm bosom of Alexandria in Assassin’s Creed: Origins. I am currently at Level 13, and have just cracked open the game world by killing the first in a series of other assassin’s who tried to kill my wife, Aya.

Progression in this game is effortless, almost to fault…mind you that the difficulty level is adjustable. Players get experience points for just discovering locations, in addition to more difficult tasks like completing side quests and advancing the main plot line and completing quests. The controls can occasionally be slightly wonky but this is offset by the beautiful set pieces and visuals, all accessible to the player.

If you have any interest in the ancient world of Rome, Greece or Egypt you will love Origins. And if you don’t, Origins may kindle that interest. My continuing advance through the game world of is below.

Gus ACreedOrigins 2 1
After a few hours of introductions, the player can gain access to ancient Alexandria, where the game really begins to shine.

Continue reading →

06/11/18

What’s Gus Playing – The Shortest Rome 2 Total War Campaign – Nabatea

The Dwarf of the Desert delivers dangerous deeds and derring-do  ~

Lloyd Sabin, 11 June 2018

Sometimes you got it, sometimes you just don’t.

I chose to play as Nabatea because the idea of armored camel cataphracts charging through the desert really tickled my pickle

The Total War series is one of my favorites and has been since Shogun was released all those years ago. Fast forward to 2018 and I could not wait to play a faction from the Rome 2 Emperor’s Edition DLC – the Desert Kingdoms. There are four to choose from, including the Kush and Nabatea (think modern Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia).

In doing some basic research on each, I chose to play as Nabatea because the idea of armored camel cataphracts charging through the desert really tickled my pickle. The campaign was rated as ‘Hard’ however, and even though that typically scares me off, I took my chances. Taking the plunge, I charged in to Nabatea circa 272 BC, and was psyched to get my first camel cataphract unit. It would be glorious.

Or it would be one of the more ignominious defeats in my TW history. I have had some lightning fast victories, mind you…I won as the Egyptians in the Medieval 2 TW Crusades campaign in under 25 turns! But this Nabatea playthrough was going to be the opposite of that.

All that said, I feel compelled to tell you that Rome 2, some 17 patches and many years after release, plays, runs and looks fantastic now. It really is a totally new game from the earlier versions. If you were frightened away by the nightmarish launch, it is worth it’s price now and goes on sale every so often.

Beware though that ‘hard’ means what it says here…there’s no messing around. So, let my ignominy be a lesson for you.

‘I am Nabatea.’ And I can’t wait for my first unit of shiny camel cataphracts. It’s going to be great.

 

Continue reading →