Tag Archives: Total War
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.
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).
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.
What’s Gus Playing? Total War: Warhammer, Part 3
Danger Dwarf™ deals dastardly damage ~
Lloyd Sabin, 26 February 2018
…the next moment I have really angered some ancient gods who I did not side with and they are slicing me up like some kind of Norse turkey
Well it did not turn out very well. How did this happen? One moment I am on top of the Old World, slashing and burning like a great Nordic-based monster should be, the next moment I have really angered some ancient gods who I did not side with and they are slicing me up like some kind of Norse turkey, Chaos style.
I really gave it my all and once I had some foggy idea of what I was doing, Total War: Warhammer became a quite the digital fantasy party…everything I could have ever asked in a fantasy strategy game. The images below show my descent in to defeat and disaster from the heights of warmongering.
Enjoy them. I will be back to this game and soon…I’ll probably play as the more conventional Empire of Karl Franz next. Honestly almost every faction is looking good now that I have learned the basics…of this one faction.
What’s Gus Playing? Total War: Warhammer, Part 2
Our fun-size fantasy foreman fights further forward ~
Lloyd Sabin, 19 February 2018
This series is not really intended to be an After Action Report (AAR) but for right now, I suppose it is. Continuing through my first Total War: Warhammer I campaign as the Norsca, I’ve continued to explore the Old World, kill my enemies, level up and generally have a grand old time. I introduced then ins and outs of a Warhammer campaign last week for anyone unfamiliar. This week’s entry will continue to track my progress. After an embarrassing and very short false start, my campaign kicked in to high gear in earnest. You can check it out in the below screen shots.
When I developed this massive mammoth unit, I was psyched. Just one of them are capable of turning the tide of most battles. At some points, I was able to possess more than one, which led to great fun on the battlefield (for me).
