LP for the LP God - Let's Play The Total War: Warhammer Series (Restarted)

War, War never changes. Unless you throw in a bunch of Orcs, Vampires, Dwarves, and a bunch of humans fighting over land while demons and wild Norse men invade. Welcome to the Total War: Warhammer series!

The Game

Total War: Warhammer 1 is the first foray for the Total War team into complete fantasy. Using the world of Warhammer Fantasy, they’ve crafted a great campaign with a lot of variety, bringing together creatures and figures from the many Warhammer stories into one place where they can do what they do best. Wage war. The grim warriors of this dark world are painstakingly rendered fighting one another for dominance and over the fate of the world of the Warhammer universe.

This is a strategy game if you didn’t know already. The Total War Series is a long running video game series focusing on strategy simulation, campaigns, managing a map of conquest, and singular battles both small and large scale. Previously they were games that exclusively were based in real history, with this game venturing forth into a fantasy world.

The LP

This is a second go at this LP. I have restarted it after originally having a lot of issues with space on my laptop. Rather than doing long videos I will focus more on making it a screenshot LP with videos of cinematics and some battles. This way it won’t hog up a ton of space and it won’t be impossible for me to record.

This LP will be a tricky one to manage. I have just gotten the ability to record this game so be understanding of some growing pains with my recording methods and editing. I will be using a mixture of screenshots and video for this LP. I won’t be showing literally every battle, but instead ones that are interesting or plot relevant. Much of the game is managing provinces so I’ll leave a lot of that to screenshots.

We will be playing mainly Total War: Warhammer 2. The reason for this is that TWW2 contains basically the entire first game in the Mortal Empires campaign but updated with the second’s systems and overall is a more enjoyable experience to me. I do have all the DLC for the game except for the one that shows blood.

I am not a Total War expert. I enjoy strategy games but won’t be playing at the highest level. I may play on normal or hard depending on what faction is chosen. I’ll try to show off every faction when I can and keep each one’s story understandable. A goal of this LP is to introduce people who may not be that into strategy games into the series in a digestible way.

Lore is something I’m again not an expert on but I know a bit. I’ll talk about it when I can and when it is relevant, such as who characters are or what’s going on, what story relates, etc. I would ask for NO SPOILERS unless you put them in spoiler tags or blur them. This game doesn’t exactly follow the story but it does come close. Also I will be putting a lot of Content Warnings for when they are needed, this is Warhammer after all.

How You Can Get Involved


As this is an LP, I’d love for some audience interaction and participation. We can rename cities, towns, characters, and follow the stories of characters who are generated and named after perhaps some of ya’ll or your own OC’s for the thread. I will also be holding votes and polls every now and then on what factions to play, perhaps who to conquer next, where to go, who to ally with. There’s a lot of fun we can have with this.

Intro Cinematics

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Updates

Vortex Updates

Vortex Update 1

Vortex Update 2

Vortex Update 3

Mortal Empires Updates

Mortal Empires Update 1

World Information

Factions

The Empire of Man

Bretonnia

Dwarven Kingdoms

Greenskin Tribes

Vampire Counts

High Elves

Dark Elves

Lizardmen

Under-Empire

Tomb Kings

Norsca

Warriors of Chaos

Daemons of Chaos

Races/Species

Humanity

Dwarves

Orcs

Goblins

Vampires

Beastmen

Elves

Skinks

Saurus

Slann

Skaven

Daemons

Gods

Characters

Characters

Emperor Karl Franz

The current and considered to be one of the greatest Emperors to ever live. Karl Franz was voted to become the Emperor by the Elector Counts of the Empire. Much to his rivals’ chagrin. He took up the hammer Ghal-Maraz, as heir to Sigmar Heldenhammer and as a prince of Altdorf, of the Reikland. Karl Franz is steadfast, a proud warrior, and likes to lead from the front fighting beside his fellows.

Sigmar Heldenhammer

The first Emperor of Man. Over 2500 years ago humanity was split into multiple tribes that were constantly at war with one another, they were preyed upon by the Greenskin Tribes and servants of Chaos. Sigmar united the tribes of mankind under one single banner. He rescued the then Dwarven High King, Kurgan Ironbeard. In the battle to rescue him he was gifted the mighty Warhammer Ghal-Maraz.

Tyrion

The twin brother of Teclis, Tyrion is the heir of Aenerion. He is one of the greatest warriors the High Elves of Ulthuon have ever known. Fighting back Chaos, Skaven, Dark Elves, whatever comes to destroy his people he puts to a crashing halt. He wields the mighty blade Sunfang in battle. He is headstrong, and more of a fighter than a thinker. There is a darkness to Tyrion, contrasting his goodness and desire to defend the Everqueen of the High Elves.

Teclis

Known as the greatest living mage and one of the most powerful mages to ever live, Teclis is the twin brother of Tyrion. He is also of the line of Aenerion. While Trion is a great warrior Teclis is instead the steadfast High Loremaster of Hoeth. His place in history has been cemented by his defeat of the Witch King Malekith in a magical battle, showing he is truly the greatest living mage.

Lord Mazdamundi

The oldest living Slann Mage-Priest and Lord of the Solar City, Mazdamundi is the successor to Lord Kroak, his predecessor. He is able to crush cities with but a thought and move mountains. It is his goal to exterminate the lesser races of the world as he believes it is the will of his gods, the Old Ones.

Witch King Malekith

The leader of the Dark Elves, Malekith was the heir to the Phoenix King Aenerion. During very dark times he became one of the greatest heroes of his people, serving as a ward against Chaos both within and outside. He even stood against his own mother, Morathi, as she led the Cult of Pleasure against the High Elves. Yet, in their time of greatest need Malekith betrayed his people and had the Phoenix King poisoned. Leaving his old life behind, he stepped into the Flame of Asuryan to become the new Phoenix King, only he could not take the heat and was burned across his entire body. Forged for him was the Armor of Midnight, which covered his entire body and protected him from all physical, but not magical, harm. This would result in an endless struggle between the Dark Elves and High Elves.

Morathi

The First Hag Queen and mother of Malekith. She was once the consort of Aenerion and gave birth to his heir, Malekith. After being spurned by Aenerion she instead sought to watch her son rule the world. She made many demonic pacts and is considered to be one of the most powerful magic users in the world.

Lord Skrolk

An ancient Plaguelord and servant of the Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch, he is one of 9. Lord Skrolk clawed his eyes out after seeing his lord, wishing to remember only the sight of him. Since he has gained magical sight. Despite his age he is nimble and still a fierce warrior. Surrounding him is a cloud of death that kills almost anything that nears him. His goal is to see the ruin and decay of all life.

Nagash

The Great Betrayer, the Great Necromancer, Nagash is one of the most evil creatures to ever walk the world in Warhammer. He was once a human, a son of King Khatep and member of the Mortuary Cult of Nehekhara. His dark powers came to him when he learned from shipwrecked Dark Elves how to use shadow magic. He came to one day rule Khemri and did so with a brutal fist, as he oversaw the construction of the mighty Black Pyramid. Some rose up against him, and Nagash finally used his darkest of powers and raised the dead to fight for him. Arkhan the Black, his closest servant was resurrected by Nagash. His black books were used by others who in turn became the first Vampires. Unknowingly they had become servants of Nagash as well. Nagash betrayed all of his people and served the Dark Gods of Chaos, and would have destroyed the world eons ago if not for the servants of goodness, and if not for Sigmar himself and Alcadizaar the Conqueror.

Settra the Imperishable

The greatest of the kings of Nehekhara, Settra ruled over Khemri, his homeland. From there he conquered much of the world in the time before Sigmar was even born. Settra sought to extend his life and had his priests form the Mortuary Cult to this end. Before they could discover immortality he died, and was entombed.

High Queen Khalida

The High Queen of Lybaras, Khalida Neferher was beloved in life by her people and was renowned for her beauty and grace. In combat she was brutal, lightning fast, and terrifying. She discovered a plot cousin before the concept of Vampires had become known to turn others into abominations like herself. In a duel she was slain by Neferata, the Queen of Lahmia. But in doing so Neferata was exposed as a Vampire. After arising from death, Khalida entered a never ending hunt and battle against her cousin and all Vampires.

Azhag the Slaughterer

Riding atop his wyvern, Skullmuncha, Azhag is one of the most dangerous Orcs to ever live. He was once but a simple Orc Chieftain in Troll Country. There he was chased underground by monsters and servants of Chaos, where he found a strange crown. After putting it on, he gained the thoughts of Nagash, as it was once his crown. This vile darkness entered Azhag’s already bloodthirsty thoughts, giving him the cunning he needed to rule the world. Azhag went on to fight and murder and slaughter while leading his warbands around the world. He led a mighty Waaagh! and waged a great war against humanity.

Vlad von Carstein

Once known as Vashanesh, he was a relative of Nagash and warlord of Nehekhara. He warned Neferata of a coming attack from Khemri and was gifted the last Elixir of Life. She took him as her husband, as King of Lahmia, After the ruin of Lahmia Nagash chose Vashanesh over Neferata to lead the Vampires which he was now one of. He was gifted a ring that return the wearer from death. This ring bound him to Nagash and he served him at every beck and call. By allowing himself to be cut down he broke the Vampires of Nagash’s will and they abandoned him in his time of need. After he came back to his unlife and settled in in Sylvania under the name of Prince Vladimir, then Vlad von Carstein. He came to marry Isabella von Drak, the last of her line. Eventually he would come to desire the seat of the Emperor of Man and began a long war against the Empire seeking to rule it.

Morghur the Shadowgave

An ancient Beastman known as the Master of Skulls, Morghur is a great corrupter who knows no end. He is one of the greatest servants of Chaos among the Beastmen, and is seemingly immortal, as he is reincarnated upon death or perhaps never truly dies. Those in his presence mutate due to the power of Chaos, becoming unrecognizable creatures. His goal is to change the world and remake it in the image of Chaos.

Alpha Update 0

Before the LP can begin, we’ll have to decide on our first faction to see! There are a ton of factions in Total War Warhammer 1, originally it launched with just 4 but we’ve seen DLC and FreeLC add more and more. I’ll give a brief overview of the factions to help you decide on who to vote for.

The Empire

Known as the main characters of Warhammer really, the Empire represents much of humanity in the Old World. As a faction they are very versatile with units of great variety, they can adapt to almost any situation and feature strong cavalry, infantry, and missile units, as well as siege engines. As well they have nearly every type of magic in the game. They feature a few Lords, Karl Franz, Balthasar Gelt, and Volkmar the Grim.

Dwarfs

Stout and hardy, they’re your typical Dwarfs. These short warriors are known for holding grudges and need to have their grudges managed. Heavily armored, this is a slow moving faction with powerful infantry and siege engines though they lack true cavalry and anti-cav. Their lords are Thorgrim Grudgebearer, Ungrim Ironfist, and Grombrindal the White Dwarf.

Clan Angrund

A variant of the Dwarfs, Clan Angrund starts strangely, with the ghostly ancestors of the past. Led by Belegar Ironhammer, they’ve lost their ancestral home to the Crooked Moon tribe of Greenskins. They seek to travel, at a dear cost, to return to their home and take it once again. Featuring Dwarven Rangers and a few extra goodies, it is the Dwarfs but with some added difficulty.

Bretonnia

Fashioned after a mixture of Medieval France and England, based upon stories of King Arthur, Bretonnia has a peasant economy that is influenced by how many peasant units you have. They have a code of chivalry and gain or lose chivalry points which are very important depending on their actions taken. King Louen Leoncoeur leads this faction. Their infantry are meager but their cavalry are some of the best available.

Bordeleaux

Similar to Bretonnia, but led by Duke Alberic de Bordeleaux.

Carcassone

Another variant of Bretonnia, led by the Fay Enchantress, this faction is a bit more magically powerful with the Fay Enchantress herself leading the armies.

Wood Ekves

Led by the King of the Wild Hunt, Orion, the Wood Elves are able to expand to anywhere though they make small outposts rather than cities. They are defenders of the ancient fay woods. Wood Elves focus a lot on skirmishing and are not as well suited for up front battles. They have excellent ranged units and access to powerful monsters, though doing so is costly. A unique currency to them is amber which is used for purchasing units that are elite.

Argwylon

Led by the mighty Tree Spirit Durthu, Argwylon is more oriented on the fay creatures of the wild and has extra costs when using Elven units. They have a fury unknown to the world and seek vengeance on all interlopers who dare trespass in their domain.

Greenskins

It’s ya boys. Da Orc boys that is. These greenskinned and wiled warriors love to pillage and raid. War is love and war is life for them. There’s little else. Coming from the Badlands they love to start wars and can whip up into a war frenzy known as a Waagh! A Waagh is a large group of Orcs that will fight for their leaders as an additional army, but be warned should the Orcs not be sated with warfare they will turn upon one another. They are led by Grimgor Ironhide and Azhag the Slaughterer. The Greenskins lack in morale and leadership but make up for it with very powerful infantry.

Crooked Moon

Under the rule of Skarsnik, the Crooked Moon are a majorly Goblin filled tribe. They have special buffs and advantages for Goblins but struggle to field larger more intimidating Orcs.

The Bloody Hands

Wurrzag Da Great Green Prophet leads this faction. This faction focuses on heavy use of Savage Orcs in battle. Nobody loves to dance more than Wurrzag, he loves to dance into battle while giving into bloodfuries as him and his kind rip through any that stand between them and his great vision.

Vampire Counts

The undead do not stay in the ground for long. Vampire Counts are a faction of undead vampires(Go figure) who raise the dead to fight for them. Rather than use gold they use dark magic as a currency. They completely lack any ranged units but boast powerful infantry, cavalry, and unique monsters as well as deadly magic. This group is led by Mannfred von Carstein, Heinrich Kemmler, and Helman Ghorst.

Von Carstein

A variant of the Vampire Counts with more of a focus on monsters than infantry, it is led by the two lovers Vlad von Carstein and Isabella von Carstein.

Warriors of Chaos

Evil and Chaos incarnate. These warriors of the northern wastes have gathered under the banners of the gods of chaos and seek to bring destruction to the world. While they’re ranged units aren’t very powerful or accurate they are able to field elite infantry, cavalry, and monsters. Warriors of Chaos are a horde army that do not have bases and instead the army itself functions as a mobile war camp. They do not have income and instead rely upon the raiding and pillaging of others to survive. Warriors of Chaos suffer from attrition when they are close, making it difficult to stack armies together and support each other. Led by Archaon the Everchosen, Kholek Suneater, and Prince Sigvald the Magnificent.

Beastmen

Another horde faction, the Beastmen are wild creatures of chaos that hate civilization and wish to see it crumble and burn. Armor is not a big concern for them, instead they like to field fast skirmishing units and monsters that can wreak havoc upon their foes. Beastmen suffer when they perform diplomacy but they do not get attrition for their armies being near one another. They are led by Khazrak the One-Eye, Malagor the Dark Omen, and Morghur the Shadowgave.

Norsca

In the cold north there gathers many tribes and clans who seek blood, bones, glory, and gold. They wish to prove their might and live as true warriors, often of Chaos. Norsca are cold, stark, and hot blooded with the ability to weather harsh temperatures and barren environments. Their infantry are somewhat lacking but they have decent missile units and are capable of fielding large monsters such as the Great War Mammoth. Led by Wulfrik the Wanderer, they make a dark scar across the north leading south into Empire lands.

Wintertooth

Led by the Ice Troll King himself, Throgg. This group of northerners is comprised of a mixture of monsters and warriors who fight side by side. Throgg leads trolls especially and seeks to rule the world through his might.

  • The Empire
  • Dwarfs
  • Clan Angrund
  • Bretonnia
  • Bordeleaux
  • Carcassone
  • Wood Elves
  • Argwylon
  • Greenskins
  • Crooked Moon
  • The Blood Hands
  • Vampire Counts
  • Von Carstein
  • Warriors of Chaos
  • Beastmen
  • Norsca
  • Wintertooth

0 voters

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It looks like the Greenskins are winning for the time being. So for another vote, which Lord should I play as? Grimgor Ironhide.


Or Azhag the Salughterer?

Grimgor is a brute and one of the most powerful melee lords in the game. Azhag can fight in melee but is more powerful as a hybrid caster warrior. Who would ya’ll like to see?

  • Grimgore Ironhide
  • Azhag the Slaughterer

0 voters

;;

I find it hard to argue against the dude with the title of “the slaughterer.”

1 Like

Alright it looks like we’re going with Azhag the Slaughterer! That is all the original polls for the first episode. Btw would anyone want to name any units, heroes, lords, as they come along? We can rename most things in the game, even cities and towns.

For some reason the voter bit isn’t work for me, but i’d like to toss my vote in for the von carsteins and Azhag. I need to ask will there be squigs?

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The polls are now closed, and the first part gameplay is recorded, just gotta record my voiceover for it. And there will definitely be Squigs!

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Alpha Update 1 - Greenskins Introduction - Ep 1

Hello everyone welcome to the world of Total War: Warhammer! In today’s update we are introduced to the Greenskins, the Orcs and the Goblins. They are widely known for their ways of never-ending warfare and raids upon all who would share borders with them. For a Legendary Lord we have decided upon Azhag the Slaughterer. He’s competent in melee but later on will be more of a caster. Let’s take a closer look at Azhag.

Azhag the Slaughterer


While not as powerful as the other Greenskins leader, Azhag is still a potent leader. Early on his melee stats are pretty good but they’ll drop off in time to favor his magical abilities. To unlock those we need to find his crown. This Orc will wear a crown containing a spirit that will speak to him, helping him lead and make decisions. Azhag is likely where Warcraft got the idea for the Lich King, though in that case it was the reverse. A human with the spirit of an Orc leading them.

Azhag is sturdy and is good as far as his aura of leadership goes which is mightily important for the Greenskins.

We cover a lot in today’s episode as many things are introduced. Let’s go over a few of them here.

Building

Building

In the campaign you are able to construct buildings in your settlements. Buildings cost your faction’s currency, the most common one being gold. It takes an allotted amount of time for buildings to construct, with more important ones taking longer and simpler ones taking less time. Some buildings unlock technologies, generate money, allow you to recruit units, have military, social, or economic influences, etc.

Recruitment

Recruitment

Each army can recruit up to twenty units if you include the Lord leading it. Heroes may not command armies and specifically Lords are required to do so. With one Lord per army that leaves nineteen slots for units and Heroes. You are able to recruit locally and globally. Local recruitment uses the buildings of the province you are in to determine what you can recruit. The default amount of units you can recruit per turn is three, but research, upgrades, skills, and buildings, can all increase that number.

Global recruitment can draw from any of your provinces for units, but costs extra money and extra time. This also starts with three slots, and you can recruit both locally and globally at the same time, they do not share slots. When recruiting a unit has a base cost to recruit and then an upkeep. The upkeep is their cost per turn and is a major factor in determining the kind of army you can field.

Movement and Stances

Movement and Stances

On the campaign map you can move about a certain distance per turn. Heroes and armies(Led by a Lord) can move a determined amount. These distances can be influenced by stances. Stances are what your army’s movement mainly, and whether they can move or not. Most stances reduce movement distance except for March. But March leaves your troops tired if you enter battle and you cannot attack while in March stance. None stance is the basic one that you can do most things in. Encamp stance negates attrition but takes up fifty percent of your movement to enter, it also allows global recruitment. Raiding stance makes you move shorter distances but you raid the province you are in, lowering order and stealing money. Route Marcher is a basic skill most Lords can have that is highly useful which improves campaign movement by ten percent. You almost always want to take it to move further.

Skills

Skills

Since I brought them up, Heroes and Lords have skills that you can choose as they level up. These skills can increase stats, give them new abilities, mounts, etc. Route Marcher is one of the most important upgrades to get, it follows the campaign path of upgrades. It is nearly always a must take. Other things skills can do is influence an army, yours or the enemy’s, influence units, increase combat abilities, gain spells or abilities. Lords have different skill paths and typically follow four main paths, Campaign, Leadership, Combat, and Spells. Azhag I will be leveling mainly to be a leader for his troops then when available I’ll take him down the magic path to gain powerful and terrifying spells.

Map

Map

That’s pretty empty. Isn’t it? This game has a Fog of War, essentially we can only see what our armies and settlements can see. For the time being we are small, but as we grow more and more of the map will be revealed. It is a very large map containing over forty factions that have their own territories, armies, and diplomatic borders and goals.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is very complicated in Total War: Warhammer. Nearly everything you do influences how others see you. Your military might, attitudes towards other factions, and events highly influence diplomacy. As well when powerful factions arise you may find smaller ones more willing to work with you to deal with them, and vice versa if you are said powerful faction. Who you ally with, trade with, and treaty with will influence things as well. If the Bloody Hands hate the Crooked Moons, and you befriend the Crooked Moons, then the Bloody Hands will like you less.

As for what you can do with diplomacy, you can work out deals with other factions. Starting trade routes with other factions increases the money per turn of both, so it is generally mutually beneficial. Non-Aggression pacts are the lowest form of diplomacy and allow factions to not be too worried about the one they sign a pact with suddenly attacking. It should be noted if you go against your word every faction in the game will distrust or even hate you, and consider you untrustworthy.

2 Likes

By chance are you going to try and get the other Legendary Lords for Orcs to recruit or just murderize everything?

Also for giggles. Your average WAAAAGH can be thought of as a mass migration, holy war, and pub crawl all mixed into one horrifying problem for everything non-orc. Its usually an issue for a lot of other orcs as well, but their used to it.

I am going to try and get the other Legendary Lords, though Skar might be a bit tricky if I can manage it I will. Whurzag and Grimgore though shouldn’t be too much trouble to pick up.

True, though Confederation is always kinda tricky to pull off at times.

I’m grateful for the tutorial nature of the LP, and the fact that you’re not playing on the highest difficulty since that makes it easier to digest the information you’re providing. When people play on Very Hard, or whatever, it tends to require really specific tactics that are hard to grasp for the uninitiated.

2 Likes

Yeah I’ll have to be careful when I confederate so I don’t end up screwing over my provinces with rebellions.

And I’m glad you’re enjoying it @White_Coke ^_^. That was very much my intention was to make it very friendly for newcomers, beginners, or those who just wanna watch and not play.

2 Likes

I love me some Warhammer, but my previous experience with a Total War game wasn’t that fun, but hopefully a nice tutorial will make me able to enjoy the game.

which total war game did you play out of curiosity?

Shogun II.

I kinda find Total War Warhammer to be one of the stronger Total Wars. But it is the 2nd most recent, it’s very polished, and I think the variety of all the different factions having such different units really helps with it.