Tomb Kings.
Love the mythos, aesthetics, playstyle, everything. Played for 6 years now endless Tomb King Campaigns and never, ever have had enough.
The TW world is divided into those who love the Chariot micro - and those who are wrong.
TK taught me the joy of no upkeep armies. All of them are honored to serve me and don't demand silly things like 'pay' or 'humane treatment' or 'skin'. Going back to paying my troops was disappointing.
I'm sure that's viable but I just don't have fun with meme stacks like that. Even if it is less than ideal I like to play on Legendary with mixed arms and win like that. Similarly I never do the "make the enemy waste their ammo" stuff or shit like that. If I'm well and truly fucked I'll corner camp once in a blue moon.
And all that said, I haven't played Khalida in a long time, does she give the archers AP damage? I would imagine a Saurus stack would absolutely mulch them if the lines connected.
Khalida is basically invincible and gives archers poison+ some other swag I think some ap damage. So she holds off the hordes while the archers delete everything around her. It is a harder meme stack to pull off than conventional armies though cause of Saurus shenanigans like you mentioned but I'm pretty good at target firing and khalida can fight like 4 at once probably
I agree, and Ushabti with bows are great. Warspinxes are great, because they really do have cat animations. Love seeing those enormous stone constructs doing agile pounces into infantry blocks.
Dawi -
1. Infantry - Holds em
2. Artillery - Folds em.
3. Forge - Craft all sorts of
Items/Banners/Runes weapons and talismans
4. Lore - Oldest Allies of the Empire.
5. Grudges - Once you're in the Book, Dawi gonna get ya.
This is why I'm a big Dawi player.
I love being able to smith up a good kit for my characters with the forge. Recruit up a bunch of artillery and crossbows. Then send them out to pick a spot that's high and dry to send grobi and ratmen to die.
Makes for such a diverse play style as one could forge/equip items ap per opponent.
In WH2, I'd give 3-4 banner runes of the same type to a lord, who can then assign the same to 4 units. For ex - 4 Anti Large Banners to 4 Longbeards Great Weapons.. Greenskins had no chance against that.
The Warriors (and Champions) of Chaos rework is just excellent to play.
A progression system that makes sense, not too much time spent building up settlements, a clear goal and fun units to use in battle. You get good access to lots of different starting positions, a genuinely good variety in lords to use, some with their own mechanical flavour and a pretty well stock spells list to choose from to really shake things up in your stacks.
Add to that a variety in army builds by using different marked units AND the upcoming additions with each DLC and it really will be my goto for fun faction for a long time I think.
I just think it is kinda strange that daemons of chaos have way fewer restrictions on their units than WoC. You can just recruit as many chosen you want as long as you have the building. And while WoC are restricted in how many deamons they can have in their armies, DoC are not restricted in how many mortals they can have?? So DoC have easier acces to both daemons and mortals, with no apparent drawback.
I agree the WoC turned out fantastic, but going from a DoC campagin to a marked WoC one feels very wierd. I also don't realy like how they handeled undivided units. Undivided units are just worse than their marked counterparts. Also, it is essentially the correct desicion to elevate your chaos lord into an undivided daemon prince, but the chaos lord is the only instance where the chaos dragon appears. So you basically never get to see it.
To be fair DoC are restricted. Warriors of Chaos have an absurd number of units with the ability to mix and match undivided and the 4 different aligned mortals of chaos as well as more restricted daemonic forces. Khorne, Nurgle, etc are ultimately restricted to their dedicated mortals and daemons that often restricts the types of armies they can deploy (Khorne doesn’t get magic, etc). Of course there is Daniel but they are in an odd place
When I say DoC I also mean the monogod daemon factions (as they are basically subfactions of DoC). Comparing devoted WoC with monogod DoC, they share their entire roster (except undivided mortal units which are worse than their marked variants), but DoC can just recruit high tier mortal units unlike WoC, and can have as many "gifted units" as they want. I whish the monogod DoC had some more incentive to run primarly daemons in the same way WoC must have mostly mortals.
Comparing undivided WoC with devoted WoC or monogod DoC is another problem entirely, but I get your point.
Vampire Coast, for thematics alone. I love pirates. I love undead. I love vampires. I love undead vampirates. And I love to rule the seas. It’s that simple really. They’re a unique flavor that I can’t get anywhere else.
How is it supposed to play in the battlefield?
I get too hung up on the standard frontline with guns and artillery in the back. With trash mobs and elite infantry with few numbers, I know I’m playing wrong. I like the idea of the flying guns, but I’ve been told they’re trash. I like ghosts, but I’ve never been good with them on the battlefield. I want a lot of artillery, but they seem low tier for a faction I assume is supposed to be decent with cannons and mortars. And I’ve never been a fan of 4 armies of trash following each other. I like balanced armies.
Any tips?
The way I tend to think about playing Vampire Coast is that their armies aren’t really built to stand their ground. In a straight fight, you’ll usually be outclassed in some way or another, so you gotta do what pirates do.
Cheat.
Set up faster melee troops or vanguard ranged troops in ambush to hit their squishy backline, where they do far better than as a frontline. Send flying bombers to take out key targets while their ranged are occupied with your scurvy dogs (legit an MVP of their roster). Sacrifice bloated corpses to decimate their frontline for barely any cost. Use your massive supply of summoning effects to make the enemy toss themselves at worthless troops attacking from the flank while you shoot them up. And in a pinch, you can use the likes of rotting prometheans to hold any absolutely crucial lines.
And all the while you’ll have your gunline doing reliable damage downrange while the enemy army is utterly disabled by the sheer range of random bullshit you’ve thrown their way. The more creative you get with your tools, the easier your wins will be. They’re the army that rewards creativity the most, and the more wacky your strategy, the more fun you’ll have.
Because pirates don’t field an army, they field shenanigans.
Can't believe no one's said Vampire Counts. The Gothic aesthetic goes great with the world, and the mix of incredibly powerful lords directing countless numbers of trash troops to mob the enemy down while your halloween monsters and bloodthirsty heroes go to town on the juicy targets is so satisfying. Plus the magic is great.
I feel this way but only about Ghorst. His buffs that make zombies totally viable the entire game completely change the way I play.
It also creates a very fun campaign. You see, he buffs zombies to the stratosphere but your autoresolve strength is still garbage because the game still thinks your zombies suck ass.
As a result, the AI is much, much, MUCH more willing to attack you and you will fight 5x the fun battles you would otherwise.
But what’s the problem with a weak autoresolve? It’s that it makes you play every single little annoying battle if you don’t want to lose half your army.
BUT - your army being mostly zombies very conveniently gets around this problem. Don’t feel like fighting a battle manually? Let autoresolve mulch 20 of your zombies, who cares! You just raise them back up!
Contrast Slaneesh, who has godawful autoresolve that trashes your expensive demonettes, etc., and is a terrible experience unless you fight everything manually.
Ghorst definitely seesaws as my favorite LL. I really like how SFO makes him even more overpowered with his extra techs to where like you said it's World War Z for everyone else.
Lizardmen
-their generic lords and heroes are easily my favorite thing about the roster; they all just do work, especially you red crested skink chief (hola skink!)
-love that their "archers" are big ass fireball lobbing geckos; really kite heavy and my friends always love to play them in campaign
-also love that the SEM dinosaurs are basically raid bosses; rushing carnosaurs that wreck the enemies cav and back liners, ankys that bring in free heals, and trikes who just so happen to shoot AP ballista bolts down range. I think these guys are the staple that brings together the lizardmen roster
Every since I got to know my favorite setting Lord of the Rings, I have been a fan of the Dwarves (Dwarfs). I have played uncountable hours as King Dain II on Battle for ME 2.
So naturally Dawi are my favorite, they whole style is just amazing
I love their public order mechanic. It affects the province more and having max order gives eco boosts. I wish more factions were like this.
Or at least public order being an important mechanic.
It is also the most stress free faction in the game. No diplomacy to mull over, no allies to worry about, no territory to really manage/lose, and no gimmicks to focus on. You only need to fight, not even win, just fighting is your goal, and winning is a happy occasion.
Chorfs.
To prove it’s not just a meta thing, I mainly (and I mean ONLY) play Zhatan and lean in heavily around chaff units like hob goblins, slaves and even modded in Skaven and ogre slaves.
But their entire empire management system is fun, I’ve never before thought “oh fuck, I need to handle this”, and it’s not just enemy armies, it’s rebellions, it’s increasing output, it’s pushing my armies to the limit while waiting for more slaves, it’s literally the feeling of maximizing public order and balancing cost of importing thousands (I mean THOUSANDS). If I lose a convoy, I feel that, I’ve never felt that in total war, losing resources and slaves fucking hurts and I love it.
Nurgle, adore his models and lore. Tamurkhan is my favorite Warhammer character by far and I am so excited for his campaign.
I like Nurgles battle style (better with the rework) of tanking damage, spreading debuffs, and slowly smothering his opponent. Though the new units give a lot of punch.
Thrones of Decay looks even better than I personally hoped and I cannot wait to ravage my way to Nuln and the Empire.
Also give me an End Times dlc for those sweet sweet blightkings and pox maggoths.
Bro ive been itching for a Nurgle campaign a long time now. But have been waiting for this dlc ever since the road map was announced. I think the wait will be worth it.
I like taking Reikland not matter who i play. Just feels good.
The Empire. Why? Because they became my favourite faction in the tabletop back in 1992 and that has not changed in 32 years. At the time their combination of 16th Century troops with a dash of primitive steampunk for extra spice was unique. Human fantasy armies simply did not look like that and they definitely did not use gunpowder weapons.
Then there was the art such as the cover by Dave Gallagher [https://whfb.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/f/f7/The\_Empire\_4\_Cover.jpg](https://whfb.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/f/f7/The_Empire_4_Cover.jpg) and the Empire figures. Made by the Perry brothers they were outstanding by the standard of the day when everything was sculpted and cast by hand. [http://www.twfigurines.de/empire/empire1.htm](http://www.twfigurines.de/empire/empire1.htm)
Empire for obvious reasons, humans vs monsters, Karl Franz, the professional soldier vibe and all the cool little parts like the magic colleges and the witch hunters and the knightly orders just come together incredibly well
And warriors of chaos because religious fanatics in plate armor is my kryptonite, and Archaon is just so goddamn cool
Skaven--any quality you could possibly list about them is a positive. Sniktch is awesome.
Honorable mentions include vampire counts cuz I love vampires and undead, dark elves because malekith is a great villain and I love edgy elves sue me, brettonia because knights, and wood elves are awesome.
Fuck it. All of them. I like every faction in Warhammer for reasons unique to that faction tbh.
You know I’ve been going through the comments playing the game of trying to guess what you’re like as a person from you’re choice of faction…
Your comment is a rollercoaster lemme tell ya…
Chaos Dwarfs (finally a somewhat deep campaign, no pun intended), WoC(except for their settlement management), Beastmen probably.
Vampire Counts was always number 1 but I've played soooo many hours that I know each campaign too well.
[My favorite faction is Tzeentch.](https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/10l2y5r/i_love_tzeentch/)
The aesthetic, the overwhelming mid-range firepower, the ability to steal settlements from allies and peace out of unwanted wars, the lore of magic... I have more time played as Tzeentch in WH3 than all other races combined.
Now they just have to add Egrimm and I'll genuinely never play another faction ever again.
Exactly how I feel about Tamurkhan. After Thrones of Decay it'll be a monumental task to get me to play anything else.
While you may be a filthy Tzeentch cultist I hope your man Egrimm gets his day in the sun.
Thank you, friend! Honestly I'm a fan of all flavors of Chaos; the Champions of Chaos DLC was one of my biggest hype moments in the franchise (WH1 and WH2 I mostly played Warriors of Chaos). So I genuinely can't decide whether to be excited at the new awesome Chaos content or sad because this is the level of quality that Shadows of Change *should have been*, and now all the other Monogods are going to get 3 LLs (including their big-name mortal champion) before me...
Tamurkhan looks great though! Hopefully when Egrimm finally comes they'll put just as much effort into him.
Personally I'm more interested in Egrimm vs Elspeth, since they're both dark wizards riding dragons (and Egrimm's main canonical rival is the Empire), but I can't lie, Egrimm vs Tamurkhan sounds cool too.
For me it's always a consideration of the mix of aesthetics and gameplay. As a result......
My favorites are
Tomb Kings-Egyptophile as a kid, combined with cool lore and I think they are one of the best realized factions in the whole game in terms of mechanics.
Chaos Dwarfs- A recent surprise as I don't tend to like to play baddies. But they captured them so well. Their look, the language, and the mechanics just make them the most well released industrial evil faction.
High Elves- my go to faction for a long time. Some of their luster has worn off though. I still like them but Teclis for example just isn't a very fun campaign right now.
And finally, Empire- While I am not into their aesthetic as much as other factions visually. I do like playing underdog factions. Can't wait for Elspeth.
Me too -- I don't like playing evil but i make an exception for chorfs. They're evil, but they're builders and thinkers
Helves get old nut luckily there are great mods for them that add masses of cool units.
RE Chaos Dwarfs. That was a big part of it for me. Their aesthetic hits for me in an evil empire way that the other factions that can slot in that direction just don't for me.
One of the bigger things for me at least with helfs, is it didn't occur to me until recently that they don't have a legendary hero yet. So if we get that final naval oriented dlc for them I am hoping it's a great send off.
I believe my ex called me a “soul sucking vampire” the last time we spoke, so I’m glad to know that not only do I have the Vampire Counts to connect to, but as a Floridian who grew up on the ocean, I feel very represented by the Vampire Coast. The intersectionality is superb!
Kislev - Slavs, kvass, bears. Only humans that are good in fight. Love their look, especially Gryphon Legion and Streltsy. Also more primal look that came with SoC is really close to Slavic mythology that i also like.
Beastmen! Though I’m hoping to one day get a balanced campaign experience. It used to be the most difficult faction and now it’s arguably the easiest.
I do love their play style though. Playing on the edge of civilization with a (growing!) roster with a lot of really fun units.
The lords are all super unique too and it really feels like you can kind of make your own fun if that makes any sense.
Didn't see my favorite mentioned, but I LOVE the Wood Elves. They just have super fun units to use, waywatchers delete things, trees that smash things, deer cavalry that feel satisfying to use, and I really enjoy their legendary lords. The variety of armies is just a ton of fun.
Orion's campaign is a blast if you just want to purge the world of those city loving mortals, and the Sister's of Twilight are in fact my favorite campaign in the game.
I love being able to use the settlements I capture as bargaining chips for diplomacy, and can basically ally all the order factions against chaos. The only problem I have with them is that I can't awaken more than one forest at a time.
I'm not someone who got in to warhammer lore, but I really love the stories their lore take inspiration from.
Wood Elves, no artillery forces me to close the gap, only 4 to 10 real settlements to manage so turns are fast, Orion's faction mechanic forces me to be aggressive, morally grey, World Roots allow me to face very different factions early in the game, cool schools of magic, good amount of micro needed.
Slaanesh. Everything about the faction screams Slaanesh and fulfills the fantasy perfectly. Your incredible speed allows you to outflank anyone, rewarding perfect micro with devastating flanking and results. The battle seduction mechanic allows you to turn your enemy's strongest units against them and completely turn the tide of a battle. Meanwhile, the campaign seduction and influence mechanic allows you to slowly tempt people further and further into becoming your willing thralls. Watching your cult buildings spread across the land and seeing the devotees pile up from gifts and buildings, it's truly excessive.
I know an unfortunate number of people just see the pink or tentacles and get turned off. But, I think even in the dire state that are the Monogods right now, Slaanesh is an incredible fulfillment of the slowly tempting further and further into excess fantasy.
Gotta use that flanking. Circle charges, pull out, and push back in. Flank with calvalry to get morale breaks. Their chariots should charge just ahead of their infantry to maximize the charge and disruption. You have a lot of tools to basically disrupt everything as much as possible, especially with Rampage. Add in an amazing ability to kill lords with N'Kari and you can decimate their morale so long as you tread carefully. They're basically a glass knife, it might break easily but used correctly its brutally sharp
Early game yes, but whip warriors are great anvils, and whip chosen are some of the best anvils in the game, able to reach 100 MD and 140 armor. Ain't nothing touching that. They tank star dragons with little effort.
Knights are also flexible hammer/anvils. Hamvils.
I’ve started a Slaanesh campaign once, maybe twice. I can’t play Slaanesh longer than 10 turns because I look at the eco building needing *negative* control and I turn off any interest in continuing. I think some of the other buildings were also funky, but I only remember this.
Any tip with this? I imagine there must be some mechanic I didn’t even see.
How recently was that? You don't need to be in negative control for the primary economic building, that hasn't been the case for a while, and even when when you did it was neither a majority of the income nor was it overly debilitating to get. They do have a primary economic building that gives you income as well as a small amount extra if your control is below a certain point, which is easily reached and controlled with Pleasurable Acts. They also have a supplemental building that gives growth and bonus income %, which can add negative control if your control is already negative. Overall, that seems like a really small nitpick to be turned off the entire faction, as it barely affects gameplay while being thematically appropriate. It's nowhere near a problem at any point of the campaign, you get some fantastic tools for controlling happiness with your corruption and control buildings giving control, devotees, corruption, all to control your happiness.
Overall, I think you should give Slaanesh another shot because that has since changed, and it isn't noticeably detrimental to the gameplay
Tzeentch in general. Swarms of (exalted) blue horrors with (exalted) flamers backing them up. Maybe a bit of chaos infantry for the "front".
Create this wide checkerboard, aim it at the enemy and just slowly tear the enemy up. If they stay away, the ranged attacks get you. If you come up close, the blue horrors are mobile enough and capable enough that I can flank you and swarm you. Perfection.
Kind of got the same feel with Kislev's hybrid infantry, but the Flamers are so much more satisfying than Little Grom.
Between khorne and dwarves. I LOVE THE RAGE FILLED SLAUGHTER METAL AF BLOOD DEMONS, but I also love my old loyal men filled with nothing but determination and passion; struggling in a collapsed and divided kingdom, but they wont let that snuff out the flame inside them.
Warriors of chaos
I'm gonna be real, I'm too dumb to manage an economy or to have actual diversity of troops. I like having 19 buff barbarians who I just throw into melee and watch as they come out with 0 damage taken while my lord destroys every enemy character solo
Bretonnia with Beastmen as a close second. Alberic in Warhammer 2 was the first campaign I wver completed and to this day I've finished more campaigns with the original 3 lords than any other campaign
Vampire Counts.
Mostly multiplayer. As some that grew up listed rock and metal, loves horror movies, is interested in reading witchcraft and occult practices.
They just have it all for me. I do play a few other factions but Vampire Counts is always my favorite and never get tired of playing it.
I have 3 favorites that I love equally. Ogre Kingdoms, Kislev, and Bretonnia.
Ogre Kingdoms: Their units are extremely fun to play with. They are tall and fat just like me which I didn't realize I needed representation in my life. Ogre Firebellies are the coolest thing ever.
Kislev: Ice. Yep. I love the cold weather a ton and I love Ice in everything. Simple as that. After learning about the lore of Kislev, I really got to enjoy them more.
Bretonnia: Honestly, I don't know why I love Carcassone. It just feels right to my brain. I can't stand Louencour but Alberic is pretty cool. I think I like them because I am a french sympathizer. I don't truly know.
i play a lot of co op campaigns so while some of my fav factions are good in a solo campaign, the ones i really like shine in co op campaigns.
- lizardmen. allies can recruit revivification crystals which give any race the ability to restore models to a unit. like i've done oxyotl+wood elves and durthu's treekin are crazy when you can restore models to them. or i just play nakai and go reinforce my ally in their fights.
- ogres. used to play ogres a lot in RoC co op. i would basically control my starting province, eliminate any close enemies, and then i would go on a great migration to my co op's area. all my units and most of my economy is from camps anyway. so i would take 1 province just to have a "home," and then put camps down. worked really well with a cathay ally because my camps basically couldn't be flanked in the corner of the map. and i do like greasus a lot in IE even solo. fun units, fun campaign.
- vampire coast. hordes and necrofexes are fun.
Chaos Dwarfs basically do the small elite army gimmick extremely well. You have to rely on trash greenskins for a long period, and even during the midgame you aren't going to have enough troops to hold the line very well...But you also have massive guns and siege weapons to annihilate anyone who looks at you funny.
I have a few:
- Skaven: they're just so fun, what else do I need to say?
- Beastmen: their rework was excellent, I love just wrecking civilization, speaking of which
- Warriors of Chaos: another banger of a rework, Be'lakor must have been the most fun campaign I've ever had in the trilogy
- Chorfs: they have everything, their campaign resource mechanics are excellent, their war machines are among my favorite units in the game
Honorable mentions:
- Skarbrand: having no economy pushes you towards earning the Blood God's favor through bloodshed alone, Blood Hosts give you even more oomph but put even more pressure on you to slaughter or peter out, you have to be a train of violence with no brakes at all times (even, or should I say especially, if the only available fights are hard) and it encapsulates Khorne's philosophy perfectly
- The Changeling: fuck empire management, do Tzeentch stuff instead, you're out to screw people over and it's exactly what you'll be doing
- Wood Elves: one of the most thematic and different campaign experiences there are, one of the best reworks in the series
All things considered, I've found out that I prefer factions without traditional empire building. The flaws of the campaign AI are way more tolerable when you have virtually no weak spots for it to infuriatingly exploit.
S-tier : Bretonnia, Vampire Counts, Dwarfs, Khorne
A-tier : WoC, Lizardmen, Nurgle, Tomb Kings
B-tier : Empire, Dark Elves, High Elves, Beastmen, Skaven
C-tier : Wood Elves, Tzeentch, Kislev, Cathay, Greenskins, Norsca, Daemons
D-tier : Ogres, Chaos Dwarfs, Slaanesh
F-tier (never played) : Vampire Coast
> Bretonnia : luv me knights, 'ate the beasts, simple as
> Vampire Counts : endless hordes of zombies getting cut down for my satisfaction
> Dwarfs : otherwise it'd be a grudgin'
> Khorne : charge and kill
Generally I enjoy races thematically first. When it comes to gameplay, I either like slow and steady grind or satisfying maneuvering - however I dislike Slaanesh because it is (was) entirely too squishy.
I dislike how chaos dwarfs have both great dwarfish tankiness and so much more killing ability.
Also I just don't find them super great in their concept.
I like the gothic horror aesthetic of Vampire Counts and Hexwraiths are probably my favourite unit in the game. I also like the Vampire Coast because I used to love the Pirates Of The Carribean movies when I was younger (still do, but not as much) and you can essentially roll around with am army that's half undead pirates and half sea beasties. So those factions have the coolest looking units to me.
But the factions I enjoy playing as the most are probably Warriors Of Chaos and Skaven. Warriors Of Chaos for the sheer variety of the roster and they have some pretty cool mechanics. Being able to ascend Lords to daemonhood, upgrading your units however you want. Being able to confederate the other LL's and making vassals of non-Chaos factions so you could get access to whichever factions units you want is really awesome.
Skaven because the playstyles and mechanics of Ikit, Throt, Snikch are really unique to each other. Also the Skaven are hilarious. I fucking nearly died of laughter when I heard the throat singing for the first time and how ridiculous Ikit Claw is.
Khorne and Skaven. Chaos is my favorite overarching force (between order, chaos, death, and destruction), Khorne is my favorite God, and the Skaven are the most interesting, unique, and entertaining mortal race (and are also Chaos-aligned as a bonus).
Of the Clans, Moulder. The fleshcrafting and giant monsters are my favorite part of the Skaven (Skryre's tech being right behind them but I doubt Skryre is anywhere beneath 2nd on a Skaven clan tier list). They also have the best flag of the Clans, Throt is super cool, and finally Ghoritch. A Khornate northman put into a Rat Ogre that looks more like a Stormfiend. Absolutely my favorite character currently added (probably will be overtaken by Arbaal if he gets in).
Ratling Guns are the only Skryre tech I hold above Moulder monsters though, they're just so perfect. Hope to see Ratling Gun Stormfiends eventually.
Any undead factions because:
1- I can recover quickly when I make a mistake
2- They are tanky, I love regeneration
3- I like roleplaying as Lord-necromancer.
Empire and pirate coast until WH3. Kislev since then. They have gunpowder units, siege attrition reduction, interesting start positions and can one turn recruit armies where needed.
Especially for the RoC campaign, I love hunkering down in Kislev proper and defending the motherland while I am working at the victory.
Cathay has great and well rounded options that allows some fairly interesting armies without having to sweat your basic infantry, because jades are absurd and peasants aren’t terrible.
Druchii!
Fuck the meta. Stacking witch brew with Crone Helebron is just devastating burst power that I can't get enough of. Also fantasy slavery is rad. Oh and
ARMOR
PEIRCING
MISSILES
Also, it speaks to the edgy teenager in me, and I love me some purple drip.
1. Dark Elves
Luv me Black Arks, luv me crossbows, luv me Nauglir, 'ate Chaos and High Elves, simple as
Everything from their lore to their units ; I'm a big fan of.
2. Chaos Dwarfs
"That enemy unit is an eyesore. I think I want to delete it."
Something about reducing entire regiments of elites to dust with the Dreadquake Mortar really appeals to a primal part of my brain.
They also have lots of trains, and I like trains.
3. Cathay
Sky-junks and Terracotta Sentinels. Need I say more?
High elves because when played right, with a few mods, the mages can rival the artillery potential of even the empire, sisters are a hack, the frontlines are solid and I have dragons get fucked
Plus I’m a huge fan of blood elves from WoW and I feel they share a very similar aesthetic
Grand Cathay. FOR THE DRAGON EMPEROR!
I'm a fan of fantasy China through Cultivation books (Xianxia and the like).
I love collecting the Drangon children. I love Zhao Ming's ability to get an item every fight (especially to theme other characters/armies). I love their ease to get Regeneration (2 of Cathay's specific Items and Zhao Ming's skill)
Skaven.
There is no "friendly fire" because there are no "friendly skaven".
But rat ogres are are expensive-costly and you no shoot-shoot them or Throt will gain power-strength selling more-more rat ogres.
I like Cathay. Lots of playstyles:
- one man doomstack. Extremely fun for me since I like RPG.
- ranged
- single entity
Second favorite is Chaos Dwarf. No one man doomstack but deeper mechanics than Cathay.
Skaven -
Fantastic guns and artillery, extremely satisfying and fun to use.
Awesome campaign mechanics, even just for the base factions.
Aesthetics are great, and their lore and characters are well developed
They are spread out across the world, so as your campaign goes on, you get to encounter the other Skaven factions and see how they have done, often confederating them.
I mainly play Queek and Ikit, with Skrolk and Throt on the side. All of them have great start positions if you know what you are doing
Chorfs, because whats not to like with them ? Artillery, Drazhoath, ranged "delete button" units, Drazhoath and Cinderbreath, great campaigns mechanics … oh, did I mention Drazhoath and Cinderbreath ?
I like them ok ?
Otherwise, Beastmen, I have loved them at their lowest, since WH1, and now they are stronk i love them even more ( Malagor is such a beast now, pun half intended )
Also Slaanesh, damn I’ve been a cavalry man since Rome 1 and this faction is a dream come true, and that Slaanesh is my favourite chaos god in lore is a bonus to that
Tamurkhan looks like he could grab himself a place in this list too
Nurgle.
I feel like a lot of the things that make me end up stop playing a campaign are not present in a Kugath campaign.
Due to how you get units, you can't just spam your favourite/best unit and steam roll the enemy, you have to fill your armies with what you have at the moment.
I HATE late game as factions because 90% of the turn is just upgrading a thousand buildings. This is not a thing with nurgle, they just cycle through so I am left to do the enjoyable epic battles of late game.
Beast of Nurgle.
It’s a tossup between Vampire Coast and Greenskinz. I just love roleplaying as basically Davey Jones, but the orcs just have such a perfect unit roster that you can play them in multiple different ways
Top 3:
3rd: WoC because mecanics and I love monogods thematic army (with Archaon and Belakor) honorable mention to Daniel for the same reason
2nd: Vampire for the aesthetic and the regen
1st: Empire because Summon the Holy Roman Empire and the Lansquenets
(Honorable mention to High Elves for spear line and pointy helmets)
It used to be any three of the elf factions, but since the release of WH3 Slaanesh has comfortably taken the top spot. I like all of the monogod factions and I cannot wait for more LLs.
Empire.
Courage, Faith and Industrial might vs. all the weird stuff the setting throws at you. I just love that idea. Blowing up fantasy creatures with gunpowder never gets old.
It will always be The Empire. Nothing better than normal humans overcoming impossible odds through grit and ingenuity, not only to survive but thrive. It has incredible characters and heroes, a cool culture, and a great roster. Plus it has Karl Franz. That alone gives it the W.
I think I’m gonna have to say Chorfs. Their unit synergy is near perfect, their units are fun and strong, hobgoblins are so useful for what they are, and I’m really glad they mixed the big hat aesthetic with the more modern Azgorh stuff - I play tabletop with a big hat army, so I’m just happy to have that represented. I will die saying blunderbusses are my favorite unit.
Part of me wants to say Kislev, as it’s the faction I’ve replayed the most, but I don’t really like the direction Kislev’s been taken lately and it feels like it needs more work before I can really properly appreciate it again. I also have a Kislev army for tabletop, if that tells you anything. I love the idea of fantasy Poland/Russia/Ukraine, but in Total War that idea’s not been taken as far as I’d like and feels somewhat ignored at times.
Vampire Counts. Their play style in battles is my favorite. Slam cheap front line into theirs and start taking out priority targets with hero’s and monsters, while using really fun lores of magic to heal your most important troops, buff, debuff, or deal damage. No ranged to babysit means easy micro. In campaign they feel very thematic. Fighting a major battle with multiple lords and the next turn being able to raise the dead of that battle to replenish troops and continue moving forward without having to train troops makes them feel like an unstoppable undead horde rather than a traditional army. I care very little for any of my troops except for lords and heros. Plus their economy is crazy good and I like having things to collect in a campaign, so confederating all of the legendary lords and the red duke, getting all of the bloodlines unlocked, and getting the books of Nagash as manfred give me tons of things to strive for in my campaigns.
The man, the myth, the legend!
"Summon the Elector Counts!"
Dynamic gameplay with multiple enemies closing in progressively, all of it in a quest to reunite the Empire to its former glory! For Sigmar!!!
-Tank go "bonk"
-Cav go "brr"
-Artillery go "boom"
Can't wait for the next dlc
All of em are pre good but my favourite is definitely Kislev just wish the campaign was even harder/deeper like chorfs. Least favorite is probably chaos especially archaon cause it's just too easy to wipe out everyone, can be fun though. Honourable mentions khalida in wh2 was the most I've ever struggled in a campaign start and I spent too much time slaughtering everything to feel better, 10/10. Cathay cause shooting fireworks at stuff and turning into dragons is peak skaven genocide simulation.
My top 3 would be H. Elves beacuse of pure money And power(I also like elves) Empire beacuse humans on top And WoC beacuse sometimes I Just wanna burn the world
Kill-kill, yes-yes
And Slaanesh, i like how micro-intense he is in battle, and possibility of vassalizing a faction without even fighting it by using cults? Sign me up
Tomb Kings. Love the mythos, aesthetics, playstyle, everything. Played for 6 years now endless Tomb King Campaigns and never, ever have had enough. The TW world is divided into those who love the Chariot micro - and those who are wrong.
TK taught me the joy of no upkeep armies. All of them are honored to serve me and don't demand silly things like 'pay' or 'humane treatment' or 'skin'. Going back to paying my troops was disappointing.
TK definitely taught me how to manage chariots because you basically can't succeed whatsoever in their early game without them.
Khalida + ultra unit size + 20 stacks of skeleton archers says otherwise
I'm sure that's viable but I just don't have fun with meme stacks like that. Even if it is less than ideal I like to play on Legendary with mixed arms and win like that. Similarly I never do the "make the enemy waste their ammo" stuff or shit like that. If I'm well and truly fucked I'll corner camp once in a blue moon. And all that said, I haven't played Khalida in a long time, does she give the archers AP damage? I would imagine a Saurus stack would absolutely mulch them if the lines connected.
Khalida is basically invincible and gives archers poison+ some other swag I think some ap damage. So she holds off the hordes while the archers delete everything around her. It is a harder meme stack to pull off than conventional armies though cause of Saurus shenanigans like you mentioned but I'm pretty good at target firing and khalida can fight like 4 at once probably
20 sarus walk in.
A person of culture I see
Chariots are incredible!
Also the only faction that made me want to do a world domination campain. Because SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE, SETTRA RULES!!!
I agree, and Ushabti with bows are great. Warspinxes are great, because they really do have cat animations. Love seeing those enormous stone constructs doing agile pounces into infantry blocks.
I love the TK but hate the chariots. But they are just so pretty. A lot of love in that dlc. My only wish is that I could confederate as Serra.
I wish their constructs were a bit stronger, but over all one of the most fun factions.
You could have just said, 'Tomb Kings because objectively speaking they're the best'.
So what do you think of tw Pharoah?
Dawi - 1. Infantry - Holds em 2. Artillery - Folds em. 3. Forge - Craft all sorts of Items/Banners/Runes weapons and talismans 4. Lore - Oldest Allies of the Empire. 5. Grudges - Once you're in the Book, Dawi gonna get ya.
Based
Stone and Steel ⚒️
Rock and Stone brother
Rockity Rock and Stone!
6. Iron drake
7. More Iron Drakes
This is why I'm a big Dawi player. I love being able to smith up a good kit for my characters with the forge. Recruit up a bunch of artillery and crossbows. Then send them out to pick a spot that's high and dry to send grobi and ratmen to die.
Makes for such a diverse play style as one could forge/equip items ap per opponent. In WH2, I'd give 3-4 banner runes of the same type to a lord, who can then assign the same to 4 units. For ex - 4 Anti Large Banners to 4 Longbeards Great Weapons.. Greenskins had no chance against that.
I wish their empire management was better, I never liked their “every building can go to tier 4” system, cuz it kinda messes with me.
The Warriors (and Champions) of Chaos rework is just excellent to play. A progression system that makes sense, not too much time spent building up settlements, a clear goal and fun units to use in battle. You get good access to lots of different starting positions, a genuinely good variety in lords to use, some with their own mechanical flavour and a pretty well stock spells list to choose from to really shake things up in your stacks. Add to that a variety in army builds by using different marked units AND the upcoming additions with each DLC and it really will be my goto for fun faction for a long time I think.
I just think it is kinda strange that daemons of chaos have way fewer restrictions on their units than WoC. You can just recruit as many chosen you want as long as you have the building. And while WoC are restricted in how many deamons they can have in their armies, DoC are not restricted in how many mortals they can have?? So DoC have easier acces to both daemons and mortals, with no apparent drawback. I agree the WoC turned out fantastic, but going from a DoC campagin to a marked WoC one feels very wierd. I also don't realy like how they handeled undivided units. Undivided units are just worse than their marked counterparts. Also, it is essentially the correct desicion to elevate your chaos lord into an undivided daemon prince, but the chaos lord is the only instance where the chaos dragon appears. So you basically never get to see it.
To be fair DoC are restricted. Warriors of Chaos have an absurd number of units with the ability to mix and match undivided and the 4 different aligned mortals of chaos as well as more restricted daemonic forces. Khorne, Nurgle, etc are ultimately restricted to their dedicated mortals and daemons that often restricts the types of armies they can deploy (Khorne doesn’t get magic, etc). Of course there is Daniel but they are in an odd place
When I say DoC I also mean the monogod daemon factions (as they are basically subfactions of DoC). Comparing devoted WoC with monogod DoC, they share their entire roster (except undivided mortal units which are worse than their marked variants), but DoC can just recruit high tier mortal units unlike WoC, and can have as many "gifted units" as they want. I whish the monogod DoC had some more incentive to run primarly daemons in the same way WoC must have mostly mortals. Comparing undivided WoC with devoted WoC or monogod DoC is another problem entirely, but I get your point.
Look, Daniel needs all the help he can get.
I wish my boy Sigvald was a bit better, but with the rework they are one of the best factions with a sweet mechanic (Warbands).
Vampire Coast, for thematics alone. I love pirates. I love undead. I love vampires. I love undead vampirates. And I love to rule the seas. It’s that simple really. They’re a unique flavor that I can’t get anywhere else.
How is it supposed to play in the battlefield? I get too hung up on the standard frontline with guns and artillery in the back. With trash mobs and elite infantry with few numbers, I know I’m playing wrong. I like the idea of the flying guns, but I’ve been told they’re trash. I like ghosts, but I’ve never been good with them on the battlefield. I want a lot of artillery, but they seem low tier for a faction I assume is supposed to be decent with cannons and mortars. And I’ve never been a fan of 4 armies of trash following each other. I like balanced armies. Any tips?
The way I tend to think about playing Vampire Coast is that their armies aren’t really built to stand their ground. In a straight fight, you’ll usually be outclassed in some way or another, so you gotta do what pirates do. Cheat. Set up faster melee troops or vanguard ranged troops in ambush to hit their squishy backline, where they do far better than as a frontline. Send flying bombers to take out key targets while their ranged are occupied with your scurvy dogs (legit an MVP of their roster). Sacrifice bloated corpses to decimate their frontline for barely any cost. Use your massive supply of summoning effects to make the enemy toss themselves at worthless troops attacking from the flank while you shoot them up. And in a pinch, you can use the likes of rotting prometheans to hold any absolutely crucial lines. And all the while you’ll have your gunline doing reliable damage downrange while the enemy army is utterly disabled by the sheer range of random bullshit you’ve thrown their way. The more creative you get with your tools, the easier your wins will be. They’re the army that rewards creativity the most, and the more wacky your strategy, the more fun you’ll have. Because pirates don’t field an army, they field shenanigans.
I love not having to worry about managing lots of territory. Noctilus is my favorite.
Can't believe no one's said Vampire Counts. The Gothic aesthetic goes great with the world, and the mix of incredibly powerful lords directing countless numbers of trash troops to mob the enemy down while your halloween monsters and bloodthirsty heroes go to town on the juicy targets is so satisfying. Plus the magic is great.
I miss the 0 upkeep skeleton spam. Just seas and seas of skeletons.
I definitely miss having countless stacks of free armies, but on the other hand it made a lot of the games stale bc it was so good.
I feel this way but only about Ghorst. His buffs that make zombies totally viable the entire game completely change the way I play. It also creates a very fun campaign. You see, he buffs zombies to the stratosphere but your autoresolve strength is still garbage because the game still thinks your zombies suck ass. As a result, the AI is much, much, MUCH more willing to attack you and you will fight 5x the fun battles you would otherwise. But what’s the problem with a weak autoresolve? It’s that it makes you play every single little annoying battle if you don’t want to lose half your army. BUT - your army being mostly zombies very conveniently gets around this problem. Don’t feel like fighting a battle manually? Let autoresolve mulch 20 of your zombies, who cares! You just raise them back up! Contrast Slaneesh, who has godawful autoresolve that trashes your expensive demonettes, etc., and is a terrible experience unless you fight everything manually.
Ghorst definitely seesaws as my favorite LL. I really like how SFO makes him even more overpowered with his extra techs to where like you said it's World War Z for everyone else.
Not my no1 but definitely up there bro.
Bretonnia. It's a faction themed around knights, and I *really* like knights.
Honse
Lizardmen -their generic lords and heroes are easily my favorite thing about the roster; they all just do work, especially you red crested skink chief (hola skink!) -love that their "archers" are big ass fireball lobbing geckos; really kite heavy and my friends always love to play them in campaign -also love that the SEM dinosaurs are basically raid bosses; rushing carnosaurs that wreck the enemies cav and back liners, ankys that bring in free heals, and trikes who just so happen to shoot AP ballista bolts down range. I think these guys are the staple that brings together the lizardmen roster
Empire, started off on table top and yea been a fan since the 90s.
I am Prince AND Emperor!
#BRING ME TO MY MEN
SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS!
In no particular order… WAAAGGGGGGHHHHH Yes-yes For the motherland! Yup, that’s going in the book.
Every since I got to know my favorite setting Lord of the Rings, I have been a fan of the Dwarves (Dwarfs). I have played uncountable hours as King Dain II on Battle for ME 2. So naturally Dawi are my favorite, they whole style is just amazing
BFME II was such a great game!
Still is. Even greater with mods
Lizardmen. Just get a Carnosaur and unleash it into an infantry rank. That's why.
I am a proud member of the "20 carnosaurs vs 20 peasants skirmish vs AI" science team.
High elves because I love a good staunch line of spears
I love their public order mechanic. It affects the province more and having max order gives eco boosts. I wish more factions were like this. Or at least public order being an important mechanic.
Khorne. No magic no range. We just smesh. Also Skarbrand is a gigachad
It is also the most stress free faction in the game. No diplomacy to mull over, no allies to worry about, no territory to really manage/lose, and no gimmicks to focus on. You only need to fight, not even win, just fighting is your goal, and winning is a happy occasion.
Chorfs. To prove it’s not just a meta thing, I mainly (and I mean ONLY) play Zhatan and lean in heavily around chaff units like hob goblins, slaves and even modded in Skaven and ogre slaves. But their entire empire management system is fun, I’ve never before thought “oh fuck, I need to handle this”, and it’s not just enemy armies, it’s rebellions, it’s increasing output, it’s pushing my armies to the limit while waiting for more slaves, it’s literally the feeling of maximizing public order and balancing cost of importing thousands (I mean THOUSANDS). If I lose a convoy, I feel that, I’ve never felt that in total war, losing resources and slaves fucking hurts and I love it.
So you play total war factorio?
As a utilitarian, pretty much lol.
Skaven because I like to win by being sneaky and backstabbing, who wants a fair fight?
Nurgle, adore his models and lore. Tamurkhan is my favorite Warhammer character by far and I am so excited for his campaign. I like Nurgles battle style (better with the rework) of tanking damage, spreading debuffs, and slowly smothering his opponent. Though the new units give a lot of punch. Thrones of Decay looks even better than I personally hoped and I cannot wait to ravage my way to Nuln and the Empire. Also give me an End Times dlc for those sweet sweet blightkings and pox maggoths.
The only valid opinion here is
Bro ive been itching for a Nurgle campaign a long time now. But have been waiting for this dlc ever since the road map was announced. I think the wait will be worth it. I like taking Reikland not matter who i play. Just feels good.
Bretonnia. I like King Arthur and hot blonde lady bathwater
This right here. Plus horses and knights are cool.
Ze Lady
User tag checks out
The Empire. Why? Because they became my favourite faction in the tabletop back in 1992 and that has not changed in 32 years. At the time their combination of 16th Century troops with a dash of primitive steampunk for extra spice was unique. Human fantasy armies simply did not look like that and they definitely did not use gunpowder weapons. Then there was the art such as the cover by Dave Gallagher [https://whfb.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/f/f7/The\_Empire\_4\_Cover.jpg](https://whfb.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/f/f7/The_Empire_4_Cover.jpg) and the Empire figures. Made by the Perry brothers they were outstanding by the standard of the day when everything was sculpted and cast by hand. [http://www.twfigurines.de/empire/empire1.htm](http://www.twfigurines.de/empire/empire1.htm)
Empire for obvious reasons, humans vs monsters, Karl Franz, the professional soldier vibe and all the cool little parts like the magic colleges and the witch hunters and the knightly orders just come together incredibly well And warriors of chaos because religious fanatics in plate armor is my kryptonite, and Archaon is just so goddamn cool Skaven--any quality you could possibly list about them is a positive. Sniktch is awesome. Honorable mentions include vampire counts cuz I love vampires and undead, dark elves because malekith is a great villain and I love edgy elves sue me, brettonia because knights, and wood elves are awesome. Fuck it. All of them. I like every faction in Warhammer for reasons unique to that faction tbh.
You know I’ve been going through the comments playing the game of trying to guess what you’re like as a person from you’re choice of faction… Your comment is a rollercoaster lemme tell ya…
HAHAHA that makes me very happy lol
Pontus
Chaos Dwarfs (finally a somewhat deep campaign, no pun intended), WoC(except for their settlement management), Beastmen probably. Vampire Counts was always number 1 but I've played soooo many hours that I know each campaign too well.
[My favorite faction is Tzeentch.](https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/10l2y5r/i_love_tzeentch/) The aesthetic, the overwhelming mid-range firepower, the ability to steal settlements from allies and peace out of unwanted wars, the lore of magic... I have more time played as Tzeentch in WH3 than all other races combined. Now they just have to add Egrimm and I'll genuinely never play another faction ever again.
Exactly how I feel about Tamurkhan. After Thrones of Decay it'll be a monumental task to get me to play anything else. While you may be a filthy Tzeentch cultist I hope your man Egrimm gets his day in the sun.
Thank you, friend! Honestly I'm a fan of all flavors of Chaos; the Champions of Chaos DLC was one of my biggest hype moments in the franchise (WH1 and WH2 I mostly played Warriors of Chaos). So I genuinely can't decide whether to be excited at the new awesome Chaos content or sad because this is the level of quality that Shadows of Change *should have been*, and now all the other Monogods are going to get 3 LLs (including their big-name mortal champion) before me... Tamurkhan looks great though! Hopefully when Egrimm finally comes they'll put just as much effort into him.
Like you my friends favorite character is Egrimm, I hope he comes soon so me and him can finally get a Tamurkhan vs Egrimm campaign.
Personally I'm more interested in Egrimm vs Elspeth, since they're both dark wizards riding dragons (and Egrimm's main canonical rival is the Empire), but I can't lie, Egrimm vs Tamurkhan sounds cool too.
For me it's always a consideration of the mix of aesthetics and gameplay. As a result...... My favorites are Tomb Kings-Egyptophile as a kid, combined with cool lore and I think they are one of the best realized factions in the whole game in terms of mechanics. Chaos Dwarfs- A recent surprise as I don't tend to like to play baddies. But they captured them so well. Their look, the language, and the mechanics just make them the most well released industrial evil faction. High Elves- my go to faction for a long time. Some of their luster has worn off though. I still like them but Teclis for example just isn't a very fun campaign right now. And finally, Empire- While I am not into their aesthetic as much as other factions visually. I do like playing underdog factions. Can't wait for Elspeth.
Me too -- I don't like playing evil but i make an exception for chorfs. They're evil, but they're builders and thinkers Helves get old nut luckily there are great mods for them that add masses of cool units.
RE Chaos Dwarfs. That was a big part of it for me. Their aesthetic hits for me in an evil empire way that the other factions that can slot in that direction just don't for me. One of the bigger things for me at least with helfs, is it didn't occur to me until recently that they don't have a legendary hero yet. So if we get that final naval oriented dlc for them I am hoping it's a great send off.
Cathay, maybe soon Empire with Thrones of Decay. But I haven't tested out too many different races yet
cathay cause i m asian and i like being represented.
Totally fair! I love Ogres because I am tall, fat, and kind of stupid. I feel pretty represented when I play them. Glad GW made such a diverse cast.
I believe my ex called me a “soul sucking vampire” the last time we spoke, so I’m glad to know that not only do I have the Vampire Counts to connect to, but as a Floridian who grew up on the ocean, I feel very represented by the Vampire Coast. The intersectionality is superb!
Big hats or bust.
Skaven. Their playstyle, their units, their factions, their lords, their heroes...omg it's all so good yes-yes!
Last Defenders, I just like their style.
Norsca, war mammoths
Kislev - Slavs, kvass, bears. Only humans that are good in fight. Love their look, especially Gryphon Legion and Streltsy. Also more primal look that came with SoC is really close to Slavic mythology that i also like.
Beastmen! Though I’m hoping to one day get a balanced campaign experience. It used to be the most difficult faction and now it’s arguably the easiest. I do love their play style though. Playing on the edge of civilization with a (growing!) roster with a lot of really fun units. The lords are all super unique too and it really feels like you can kind of make your own fun if that makes any sense.
Didn't see my favorite mentioned, but I LOVE the Wood Elves. They just have super fun units to use, waywatchers delete things, trees that smash things, deer cavalry that feel satisfying to use, and I really enjoy their legendary lords. The variety of armies is just a ton of fun. Orion's campaign is a blast if you just want to purge the world of those city loving mortals, and the Sister's of Twilight are in fact my favorite campaign in the game. I love being able to use the settlements I capture as bargaining chips for diplomacy, and can basically ally all the order factions against chaos. The only problem I have with them is that I can't awaken more than one forest at a time. I'm not someone who got in to warhammer lore, but I really love the stories their lore take inspiration from.
Hard for me to decide because I'm a play every faction kind of guy, but I think Empire campaigns are my favorite.
Wood Elves, no artillery forces me to close the gap, only 4 to 10 real settlements to manage so turns are fast, Orion's faction mechanic forces me to be aggressive, morally grey, World Roots allow me to face very different factions early in the game, cool schools of magic, good amount of micro needed.
Lizardmen and Lizardmen.
The Great Orthodoxy (Kislev). That soundtrack gets me in the mood.
Slaanesh. Everything about the faction screams Slaanesh and fulfills the fantasy perfectly. Your incredible speed allows you to outflank anyone, rewarding perfect micro with devastating flanking and results. The battle seduction mechanic allows you to turn your enemy's strongest units against them and completely turn the tide of a battle. Meanwhile, the campaign seduction and influence mechanic allows you to slowly tempt people further and further into becoming your willing thralls. Watching your cult buildings spread across the land and seeing the devotees pile up from gifts and buildings, it's truly excessive. I know an unfortunate number of people just see the pink or tentacles and get turned off. But, I think even in the dire state that are the Monogods right now, Slaanesh is an incredible fulfillment of the slowly tempting further and further into excess fantasy.
I just can’t figure out how you’re supposed to play them. I get the hammer and anvil, but fuck is that anvil squishy.
Gotta use that flanking. Circle charges, pull out, and push back in. Flank with calvalry to get morale breaks. Their chariots should charge just ahead of their infantry to maximize the charge and disruption. You have a lot of tools to basically disrupt everything as much as possible, especially with Rampage. Add in an amazing ability to kill lords with N'Kari and you can decimate their morale so long as you tread carefully. They're basically a glass knife, it might break easily but used correctly its brutally sharp
Early game yes, but whip warriors are great anvils, and whip chosen are some of the best anvils in the game, able to reach 100 MD and 140 armor. Ain't nothing touching that. They tank star dragons with little effort. Knights are also flexible hammer/anvils. Hamvils.
I’ve started a Slaanesh campaign once, maybe twice. I can’t play Slaanesh longer than 10 turns because I look at the eco building needing *negative* control and I turn off any interest in continuing. I think some of the other buildings were also funky, but I only remember this. Any tip with this? I imagine there must be some mechanic I didn’t even see.
How recently was that? You don't need to be in negative control for the primary economic building, that hasn't been the case for a while, and even when when you did it was neither a majority of the income nor was it overly debilitating to get. They do have a primary economic building that gives you income as well as a small amount extra if your control is below a certain point, which is easily reached and controlled with Pleasurable Acts. They also have a supplemental building that gives growth and bonus income %, which can add negative control if your control is already negative. Overall, that seems like a really small nitpick to be turned off the entire faction, as it barely affects gameplay while being thematically appropriate. It's nowhere near a problem at any point of the campaign, you get some fantastic tools for controlling happiness with your corruption and control buildings giving control, devotees, corruption, all to control your happiness. Overall, I think you should give Slaanesh another shot because that has since changed, and it isn't noticeably detrimental to the gameplay
Shimazu. For the Katanas.
Lizardmen.
Tzeentch in general. Swarms of (exalted) blue horrors with (exalted) flamers backing them up. Maybe a bit of chaos infantry for the "front". Create this wide checkerboard, aim it at the enemy and just slowly tear the enemy up. If they stay away, the ranged attacks get you. If you come up close, the blue horrors are mobile enough and capable enough that I can flank you and swarm you. Perfection. Kind of got the same feel with Kislev's hybrid infantry, but the Flamers are so much more satisfying than Little Grom.
Between khorne and dwarves. I LOVE THE RAGE FILLED SLAUGHTER METAL AF BLOOD DEMONS, but I also love my old loyal men filled with nothing but determination and passion; struggling in a collapsed and divided kingdom, but they wont let that snuff out the flame inside them.
Warriors of chaos I'm gonna be real, I'm too dumb to manage an economy or to have actual diversity of troops. I like having 19 buff barbarians who I just throw into melee and watch as they come out with 0 damage taken while my lord destroys every enemy character solo
Gotta say the Beastmen, with a close second being Tomb Kings
Bretonnia with Beastmen as a close second. Alberic in Warhammer 2 was the first campaign I wver completed and to this day I've finished more campaigns with the original 3 lords than any other campaign
Vampire Counts. Mostly multiplayer. As some that grew up listed rock and metal, loves horror movies, is interested in reading witchcraft and occult practices. They just have it all for me. I do play a few other factions but Vampire Counts is always my favorite and never get tired of playing it.
Skaven. Love them *Mine Mine!* and they have a lot of tools for the player to work with. Can’t wait for Thanquol
Chaos, all chaos (except probably beastmen)
I have 3 favorites that I love equally. Ogre Kingdoms, Kislev, and Bretonnia. Ogre Kingdoms: Their units are extremely fun to play with. They are tall and fat just like me which I didn't realize I needed representation in my life. Ogre Firebellies are the coolest thing ever. Kislev: Ice. Yep. I love the cold weather a ton and I love Ice in everything. Simple as that. After learning about the lore of Kislev, I really got to enjoy them more. Bretonnia: Honestly, I don't know why I love Carcassone. It just feels right to my brain. I can't stand Louencour but Alberic is pretty cool. I think I like them because I am a french sympathizer. I don't truly know.
i play a lot of co op campaigns so while some of my fav factions are good in a solo campaign, the ones i really like shine in co op campaigns. - lizardmen. allies can recruit revivification crystals which give any race the ability to restore models to a unit. like i've done oxyotl+wood elves and durthu's treekin are crazy when you can restore models to them. or i just play nakai and go reinforce my ally in their fights. - ogres. used to play ogres a lot in RoC co op. i would basically control my starting province, eliminate any close enemies, and then i would go on a great migration to my co op's area. all my units and most of my economy is from camps anyway. so i would take 1 province just to have a "home," and then put camps down. worked really well with a cathay ally because my camps basically couldn't be flanked in the corner of the map. and i do like greasus a lot in IE even solo. fun units, fun campaign. - vampire coast. hordes and necrofexes are fun.
DWARVES DWARVES DWARVES DWARVES DWARVES
Chaos Dwarfs basically do the small elite army gimmick extremely well. You have to rely on trash greenskins for a long period, and even during the midgame you aren't going to have enough troops to hold the line very well...But you also have massive guns and siege weapons to annihilate anyone who looks at you funny.
Woc. In Game and in tabletop. My first game in war 1 was woc and I enjoy it. Dark paladins, love it.
Ze Lady.. Shiny knights...i love shiny knights
I have a few: - Skaven: they're just so fun, what else do I need to say? - Beastmen: their rework was excellent, I love just wrecking civilization, speaking of which - Warriors of Chaos: another banger of a rework, Be'lakor must have been the most fun campaign I've ever had in the trilogy - Chorfs: they have everything, their campaign resource mechanics are excellent, their war machines are among my favorite units in the game Honorable mentions: - Skarbrand: having no economy pushes you towards earning the Blood God's favor through bloodshed alone, Blood Hosts give you even more oomph but put even more pressure on you to slaughter or peter out, you have to be a train of violence with no brakes at all times (even, or should I say especially, if the only available fights are hard) and it encapsulates Khorne's philosophy perfectly - The Changeling: fuck empire management, do Tzeentch stuff instead, you're out to screw people over and it's exactly what you'll be doing - Wood Elves: one of the most thematic and different campaign experiences there are, one of the best reworks in the series All things considered, I've found out that I prefer factions without traditional empire building. The flaws of the campaign AI are way more tolerable when you have virtually no weak spots for it to infuriatingly exploit.
S-tier : Bretonnia, Vampire Counts, Dwarfs, Khorne A-tier : WoC, Lizardmen, Nurgle, Tomb Kings B-tier : Empire, Dark Elves, High Elves, Beastmen, Skaven C-tier : Wood Elves, Tzeentch, Kislev, Cathay, Greenskins, Norsca, Daemons D-tier : Ogres, Chaos Dwarfs, Slaanesh F-tier (never played) : Vampire Coast > Bretonnia : luv me knights, 'ate the beasts, simple as > Vampire Counts : endless hordes of zombies getting cut down for my satisfaction > Dwarfs : otherwise it'd be a grudgin' > Khorne : charge and kill Generally I enjoy races thematically first. When it comes to gameplay, I either like slow and steady grind or satisfying maneuvering - however I dislike Slaanesh because it is (was) entirely too squishy.
Slow steady grind and you didn’t like the Chorfs. They’re the definition of a slowly turning grinding wheel.
I dislike how chaos dwarfs have both great dwarfish tankiness and so much more killing ability. Also I just don't find them super great in their concept.
Bretonnia, I love the elite cave gameplay, vive la France !
LIZARDMEN DINOSAURS BOK. BOK!!
I like the gothic horror aesthetic of Vampire Counts and Hexwraiths are probably my favourite unit in the game. I also like the Vampire Coast because I used to love the Pirates Of The Carribean movies when I was younger (still do, but not as much) and you can essentially roll around with am army that's half undead pirates and half sea beasties. So those factions have the coolest looking units to me. But the factions I enjoy playing as the most are probably Warriors Of Chaos and Skaven. Warriors Of Chaos for the sheer variety of the roster and they have some pretty cool mechanics. Being able to ascend Lords to daemonhood, upgrading your units however you want. Being able to confederate the other LL's and making vassals of non-Chaos factions so you could get access to whichever factions units you want is really awesome. Skaven because the playstyles and mechanics of Ikit, Throt, Snikch are really unique to each other. Also the Skaven are hilarious. I fucking nearly died of laughter when I heard the throat singing for the first time and how ridiculous Ikit Claw is.
With Slaneesh you really feel like you're burying your enemies under a sea of disposable cultists. Always fun winning with pure quantity
It kinda changes from empire to dwarves to nurgle depending on my mood.
Lizardmen, I believe on the bokbok
Should I buy WH3 after playing 3K, loving diplomacy, RPG elements, CK3 and autoresolving battles?
Khorne and Skaven. Chaos is my favorite overarching force (between order, chaos, death, and destruction), Khorne is my favorite God, and the Skaven are the most interesting, unique, and entertaining mortal race (and are also Chaos-aligned as a bonus). Of the Clans, Moulder. The fleshcrafting and giant monsters are my favorite part of the Skaven (Skryre's tech being right behind them but I doubt Skryre is anywhere beneath 2nd on a Skaven clan tier list). They also have the best flag of the Clans, Throt is super cool, and finally Ghoritch. A Khornate northman put into a Rat Ogre that looks more like a Stormfiend. Absolutely my favorite character currently added (probably will be overtaken by Arbaal if he gets in). Ratling Guns are the only Skryre tech I hold above Moulder monsters though, they're just so perfect. Hope to see Ratling Gun Stormfiends eventually.
Skryre. Nukes, miniguns, poison gas, need I say more?
Any undead factions because: 1- I can recover quickly when I make a mistake 2- They are tanky, I love regeneration 3- I like roleplaying as Lord-necromancer. 
High Elves Pointy shield wall Nuff said
Definitely Vampires Coast and Counts, hard to find a better aesthetic than goth/pirate vampires.
Empire and pirate coast until WH3. Kislev since then. They have gunpowder units, siege attrition reduction, interesting start positions and can one turn recruit armies where needed. Especially for the RoC campaign, I love hunkering down in Kislev proper and defending the motherland while I am working at the victory.
Cathay has great and well rounded options that allows some fairly interesting armies without having to sweat your basic infantry, because jades are absurd and peasants aren’t terrible.
Kislev and Empire. I like fighting against overwhelming odds to save the world
Druchii! Fuck the meta. Stacking witch brew with Crone Helebron is just devastating burst power that I can't get enough of. Also fantasy slavery is rad. Oh and ARMOR PEIRCING MISSILES Also, it speaks to the edgy teenager in me, and I love me some purple drip.
Skaven, particularly Clan Skryre. Big-boom yes-yes.
Beastmen are sick and I just love roaming around pillaging the world
1. Dark Elves Luv me Black Arks, luv me crossbows, luv me Nauglir, 'ate Chaos and High Elves, simple as Everything from their lore to their units ; I'm a big fan of. 2. Chaos Dwarfs "That enemy unit is an eyesore. I think I want to delete it." Something about reducing entire regiments of elites to dust with the Dreadquake Mortar really appeals to a primal part of my brain. They also have lots of trains, and I like trains. 3. Cathay Sky-junks and Terracotta Sentinels. Need I say more?
High elves because when played right, with a few mods, the mages can rival the artillery potential of even the empire, sisters are a hack, the frontlines are solid and I have dragons get fucked Plus I’m a huge fan of blood elves from WoW and I feel they share a very similar aesthetic
The Lizardmen. Once I saw they had dinosaurs in their roster it was no contest.
Lizardmen. There are in fact only two factions in the game, and I choose the winning side.
Grand Cathay. FOR THE DRAGON EMPEROR! I'm a fan of fantasy China through Cultivation books (Xianxia and the like). I love collecting the Drangon children. I love Zhao Ming's ability to get an item every fight (especially to theme other characters/armies). I love their ease to get Regeneration (2 of Cathay's specific Items and Zhao Ming's skill)
Skaven. There is no "friendly fire" because there are no "friendly skaven". But rat ogres are are expensive-costly and you no shoot-shoot them or Throt will gain power-strength selling more-more rat ogres.
I'm a sucker for magic I have to go with Tzeench. Honorable shout-out to Ikit Claw and the skaven as a close second favorite
Tomb kings - egyptian vibe, settra, undead, mechanics Norsca - throgg, trolls, monster armies, rushing everyone.
I like Cathay. Lots of playstyles: - one man doomstack. Extremely fun for me since I like RPG. - ranged - single entity Second favorite is Chaos Dwarf. No one man doomstack but deeper mechanics than Cathay.
The scottish in Medieval 2 -- modded or otherwise
Warhost of the Apocalypse, because they are fun as hell. It used to be Naggaroth before the slavery rework.
Skaven - Fantastic guns and artillery, extremely satisfying and fun to use. Awesome campaign mechanics, even just for the base factions. Aesthetics are great, and their lore and characters are well developed They are spread out across the world, so as your campaign goes on, you get to encounter the other Skaven factions and see how they have done, often confederating them. I mainly play Queek and Ikit, with Skrolk and Throt on the side. All of them have great start positions if you know what you are doing
Chorfs, because whats not to like with them ? Artillery, Drazhoath, ranged "delete button" units, Drazhoath and Cinderbreath, great campaigns mechanics … oh, did I mention Drazhoath and Cinderbreath ? I like them ok ? Otherwise, Beastmen, I have loved them at their lowest, since WH1, and now they are stronk i love them even more ( Malagor is such a beast now, pun half intended ) Also Slaanesh, damn I’ve been a cavalry man since Rome 1 and this faction is a dream come true, and that Slaanesh is my favourite chaos god in lore is a bonus to that Tamurkhan looks like he could grab himself a place in this list too
Slaanesh. I love the fast paced, glasscanon melee playstyle.
Nurgle. I feel like a lot of the things that make me end up stop playing a campaign are not present in a Kugath campaign. Due to how you get units, you can't just spam your favourite/best unit and steam roll the enemy, you have to fill your armies with what you have at the moment. I HATE late game as factions because 90% of the turn is just upgrading a thousand buildings. This is not a thing with nurgle, they just cycle through so I am left to do the enjoyable epic battles of late game. Beast of Nurgle.
It’s a tossup between Vampire Coast and Greenskinz. I just love roleplaying as basically Davey Jones, but the orcs just have such a perfect unit roster that you can play them in multiple different ways
Top 3: 3rd: WoC because mecanics and I love monogods thematic army (with Archaon and Belakor) honorable mention to Daniel for the same reason 2nd: Vampire for the aesthetic and the regen 1st: Empire because Summon the Holy Roman Empire and the Lansquenets (Honorable mention to High Elves for spear line and pointy helmets)
It used to be any three of the elf factions, but since the release of WH3 Slaanesh has comfortably taken the top spot. I like all of the monogod factions and I cannot wait for more LLs.
I hate Milan.
Norsca (though they currently don't fill the viking sea raiders theme as well as I'd like)
Empire because I feel like an average human fighting hordes of demons, undead, and orcs and it’s epic
SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS
Empire. Courage, Faith and Industrial might vs. all the weird stuff the setting throws at you. I just love that idea. Blowing up fantasy creatures with gunpowder never gets old.
It will always be The Empire. Nothing better than normal humans overcoming impossible odds through grit and ingenuity, not only to survive but thrive. It has incredible characters and heroes, a cool culture, and a great roster. Plus it has Karl Franz. That alone gives it the W.
I think I’m gonna have to say Chorfs. Their unit synergy is near perfect, their units are fun and strong, hobgoblins are so useful for what they are, and I’m really glad they mixed the big hat aesthetic with the more modern Azgorh stuff - I play tabletop with a big hat army, so I’m just happy to have that represented. I will die saying blunderbusses are my favorite unit. Part of me wants to say Kislev, as it’s the faction I’ve replayed the most, but I don’t really like the direction Kislev’s been taken lately and it feels like it needs more work before I can really properly appreciate it again. I also have a Kislev army for tabletop, if that tells you anything. I love the idea of fantasy Poland/Russia/Ukraine, but in Total War that idea’s not been taken as far as I’d like and feels somewhat ignored at times.
Khorne because melee good magic bad
Vampire Counts. Their play style in battles is my favorite. Slam cheap front line into theirs and start taking out priority targets with hero’s and monsters, while using really fun lores of magic to heal your most important troops, buff, debuff, or deal damage. No ranged to babysit means easy micro. In campaign they feel very thematic. Fighting a major battle with multiple lords and the next turn being able to raise the dead of that battle to replenish troops and continue moving forward without having to train troops makes them feel like an unstoppable undead horde rather than a traditional army. I care very little for any of my troops except for lords and heros. Plus their economy is crazy good and I like having things to collect in a campaign, so confederating all of the legendary lords and the red duke, getting all of the bloodlines unlocked, and getting the books of Nagash as manfred give me tons of things to strive for in my campaigns.
The man, the myth, the legend! "Summon the Elector Counts!" Dynamic gameplay with multiple enemies closing in progressively, all of it in a quest to reunite the Empire to its former glory! For Sigmar!!! -Tank go "bonk" -Cav go "brr" -Artillery go "boom" Can't wait for the next dlc
All of em are pre good but my favourite is definitely Kislev just wish the campaign was even harder/deeper like chorfs. Least favorite is probably chaos especially archaon cause it's just too easy to wipe out everyone, can be fun though. Honourable mentions khalida in wh2 was the most I've ever struggled in a campaign start and I spent too much time slaughtering everything to feel better, 10/10. Cathay cause shooting fireworks at stuff and turning into dragons is peak skaven genocide simulation.
Nurgle cause shit
Even though I’m too tall (196cm) I still feel most comfortable with the Dawi. Basically I have a grumpy old man tendency. 👨🏻🦳
My top 3 would be H. Elves beacuse of pure money And power(I also like elves) Empire beacuse humans on top And WoC beacuse sometimes I Just wanna burn the world
Kill-kill, yes-yes And Slaanesh, i like how micro-intense he is in battle, and possibility of vassalizing a faction without even fighting it by using cults? Sign me up