Total War: Warhammer said to capture chaotic tabletop feel

Even though Games workshop has released a number of games based around its Warhamer and Warhammer 40,000 universes over the years, very few of them really captured the anarchic battles that can feature everything from trolls, to steampunk cannons, to demi-gods and demons. Fortunately then, early reports of the upcoming Total War: Warhammer game suggest that it feels very like the tabletop experience, but with a smooth transition to real time PC action.

One great example is that in the PCG talk with Creative Assembly (CA), was the break down of how the different campaigns will play out. Playing as the Empire, you'll need to be strong and defend your fortifications, using your country's technological might to smite your enemies. But if you're playing as the much more warlike Orcs, you'll need to unite the scattered clans under one banner, but most importantly keep moving, as if you don't give the boys something to fight, they'll fight amongst themselves.

To get the feel for the game, CA played a lot of the tabletop game and were given hundreds of models from GW's lineup for them to select the most important and charismatic creatures and units to put in the game. Trolls made it, so did giants and pikemen, hippogriff riders and Orc boar riders too.

And they'll all look stunning thanks to a new animation system that CA built for the game. Now, instead of having units flail away at one another, units engaged in combat take part in a two-person animation, so there will be back and forth blows, feints and killing blows struck, all whilst in the maelstrom of melee combat.

“The biggest effect is in the charges. I think they are much more satisfying. The units now animate all the way until the end of the charge. Whereas previously they get a bit more static as they leap in, now they’ll immediately block or attack. It’s a much more snappy system, you get a lot more action,” said the game's battle designer, Simon Mann.

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KitGuru Says: Well they did it. They made me excited about another GW property game. If they can manage to do well with this and Bloodbowl 2 this year, I doubt I'll need anything else to play for a while. 

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