“A gentler ramp into the series”
Leadership training in TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III
I’ve always been dreadful at the Total War games. Neither the real-time battles nor the wider strategy of conquering the map have ever felt quite under my control, and
I’ve always ended up burning out from sheer incompetence.
That was fine back when they were all historical—I just avoided them, because Romans and Napoloeans are boring. But ever since Creative Assembly started making some of the best Warhammer games on PC, it’s been painful to my brand to not be able to embrace the series.
Dutifully I booted up Total War: Warhammer III, expecting to once again revel in the attention to detail of its grim fantasy world, but barely scratch the surface of its tactical depth. But lo! CA may have finally found a way to bring even a fool like myself into the fold.
Before you get started with the game’s campaign, you’re invited to play a prologue. This mini-campaign leads you through the events that kicked off the main story—namely a Kislevite prince’s journey to find a missing bear god.
GRIN AND BEAR IT
Narratively, it provides a lovely bit of context before you start empirebuilding in earnest. But, more importantly, it serves as a gentler mechanical ramp into the game than the series has ever had before.
Rather than a full map, the prologue takes place along a linear chasm of frozen mountains. The series’ usual complexities are stripped right down to bare bones, and gradually reintroduced as you progress. Battles start simple, and as they add more unit types and grow in scale, the game explains the logic of each piece of the strategy jigsaw.
‘Yep, that’s what a tutorial is,’ you might say, snarkily, but this feels far cleverer than just that. Together the tightened scope, carefully constructed scenarios, and even the story being told provide a brilliantly accessible window into an intimidating series.
Jumping from there into the main campaign, I discover that I’m still rubbish. But I now feel like I know how to get better. The ideas the prologue taught me are the foundation I needed to start learning as I go, playing with mechanics I now understand the context of. I might conquer the Old World yet.