Radious Total War Mod - Warhammer III Blog Entry #1

Hello Everyone, Team Radious here!

As promised, welcome to the first of the planned posts concerning our plans for the  upcoming Warhammer III Overhaul! Today we are going to start the whole process off with the red and blue flavours of Chaos, i.e., Khorne and Tzeench. Over the last couple of weeks CA has shown us their complete rosters which are, in our opinion, sorely lacking in unit variety; with  many options that existed in the Warhammer game since the early days  missing. It´s likely some of them will be added in future DLCs but, as  of now, it´s obvious that many types of Chaos worshippers and monsters will simply not be available. As such, remedying this situation is going  to be the first of our guiding principles! Here is what we are envisioning for now:

- Before we move onto our actual plans, an important has to be made  first. Whereas we are fairly certain that a sufficient visual difference  between the chaos factions can be ensured for the human units, we are  unable to assess the situation regarding monsters/monstrous models until  the game is released. As such, all suggestions we have included below  must be treated with a healthy dose of caution. Their implementation  might still take place, and they will be differentiated through the  defining features of each faction, but the availability of different  appearances will be decided by the variety of assets available inside of  the game.

- All Chaos Gods shall receive their own missing  variants of Knights, Warriors, Chosen and Chariots when they are  fitting, and other types of monsters such as Chaos Giants or Dragons if  properly looking models are available,

- Marauders will be made  available to all Chaos Gods as well - not only because they are missing,  but also because the rosters have no apparent tier 1 and 2 units. The  weakest Khorne infantry unit on the list are the Chaos Warriors of  Khorne which should be at least a powerful Tier 3 unit. Otherwise, their  armies will be completely unbalanced,

- Another implication is  that daemons, even Khorne daemons, could have potentially been designed  as the cannon fodder of each Chaos God, which is something we don’t  consider fitting at all in most cases. With that in mind, the weakest  daemons will be at least tier 2 units and Chaos Warriors will be tier 3  or higher while Chaos Marauders shall fulfill the role of cannon fodder  and die in the name of the Chaos Gods,

- Regarding monsters, some  will be added to all rosters but each of them will be as different as  their masters are. Bile Trolls and Blood Trolls will have different  traits and skills, while Chaos Ogres, if they can be added, will not be  available to Slaanesh or Tzeentch as ogres are not interested in the  slightest in what those gods offer.

- Moreover, all Gods have  their preferences, and their units will have skills or traits reflecting  that, such as all Khorne unit having Frenzy or Rage, all Nurgle units  having clouds of flies and diseases around them, while Tzeentch´s  followers will wield the magic flames of their god,

- If  possible, that will be reflected too in the different corruptions they  spread. A land twisted and mutated by the Lord of Change should not  affect their denizens or trespassers in the same way the rotten and  infected Garden of Nurgle would.

- Beastmen, for now, will not be  added to any god roster as we wait to see what will happen to that  faction in the future and whether it will continue being separate or be  incorporated.

CHAOS GODS PREVIEW – KHORNE AND TZEENTCH

Provisional Khorne Roster Expansion Plans

- Our plans for the Khorne are rather simple. His roster should contain  the heaviest melee hitters, but also units for whom extraordinary  strength might come at the cost of lessened control in the thick of  battle, and those whose strength grows alongside their skull  collections. The design rule here is going to be a simple trade off –  the more your units engage in a wholesale slaughter of your  enemies, the more they should be rewarded, but it will always be a  struggle to ensure that they do not get carried away.

Proposed Generic Khorne Lord

Blood Priest (Melee / Buff)

Khorne  is not a god that listens to prayers or devotional hymns chanted in a  solemn temple as he only pays attention to the sound of battles and the  screams of those whose blood is shed in his name, so it´s just natural  that any individual who manages to please him is a blood handed  murderer, but those who proclaim themselves as his priests are  different. These warriors consider their sacred duty to kill all the  other, weaker, gods by slaughtering their followers and collecting the  skulls of his servants to pile them over their ruined shrines.

Chaos Marauders (T1) (T2) (Different Variants)

Even  though the members of the various human tribes found around the Chaos  Wastes cannot be described as peaceful by any stretch of the  imagination, those of them dedicated to Khorne often give in to an  unquenchable thirst for blood and battle that terrifies even their  erstwhile brethren. They will serve as the main engine of your conquest  and fill the ranks of your armies.

Khorne Aspirants (T2) (Different Variants)

Amongst  the servants of the Blood God, there is a simple hierarchy. The more  you kill, the more powerful and influential you become. These aspirants  are beggining to grasp this concept, and their enemies are the ones  paying the price of this lesson.

Khorne Berserkers (T2)

Foregoing  defence and rational thought, Khorne Berserkers are like malevolent  forces of nature on the battlefield, cutting through their enemies  without any concerns for their own survival, and spilling rivers of  blood in the process. These will serve as your main anti-infantry units  and focus on delivering pure damage, at the cost of lower survivability.

Forsaken of Khorne (T3/T4)

Those of the warriors  chosen by the Gods that are too strong to succumb to becoming a Chaos  Spawn but too weak to truly control the mutations gifted to them by the  warp, are forced to live the rest of their lives in a twisted bestial  form. The remnants of their humanity are long gone, with only a primal  desire for combat and slaughter driving them on.

Chosen of Khorne (T5) (Different Variants)

Those  mortals strong and brutal enough to attract the attention of Khorne are  often gifted with unnatural strength and other boons that render them  capable of committing acts of slaughter at an unimaginable scale. As  such, the Chosen of Khorne shall serve as your elite mortal infantry,  capable of holding their own against anything that the other factions  can throw at them.

Blood God Knights (T4)

Veterans  of uncounted battles, these warriors care only for violence and  bloodshed, charging directly into the most brutal combats to please  their murderous master and attract his gaze, competing with each  other to create the highest pile of skulls so one day they can, only  after reddening seas with blood and covering the steppe with beheaded  corpses, join the ranks of the most favoured servants of Khorne.

Khorne Chariot (T2/3)

Unlike the comparatively flimsy wooden  chariots used by Elves and the Undead legions of distant Nehekhara, the  carriages of Chaos war machines are wrought of iron and drenched in  blood. Chaos Chariots weigh so much that, when they have gathered pace,  nothing short of a castle wall can halt their charge. Khorne warriors  relish the chance of riding one to battle and trample the weak under its  spiked wheels before beheading and gathering the skulls of the few  terrified survivors.

Dragon Ogres (T4/T5)

Dragon  Ogres are old creatures, used to walking the world before the humans  were even capable of starting their first pitiful fires in cold and  mouldy caves. Their wisdom and brutality are unmatched by the mortals  they fight alongside, and they are always a formidable sight striking  fear into the hearts of their enemies wherever they appear.

Ogre Berserkers (T3/4)

Ogres  like just two things: killing something and eating it, not necessarily  in that order. Thus, most of them don’t pay attention to any deity but  the Maw, which encourages them to do both. But many ogres that travel  far north and contact with the savage tribes of the Chaos Wastes find  that there is another god that revels in wanton violence as much as them  and, after years fighting alongside his followers, it´s no wonder that  some of them start to worship Khorne too, even if, for the most part,  their actual behaviour barely changes.

Khorne Aspirants Cavalry (T2) (Shock / Skirmish Variants)

Some  of the warriors who aspire to be Khorne’s chosen fight their foes on  horseback, spilling blood in their patron’s name with reckless abandon.  However, it is often unclear who is really driving the relentless charge  forward, and who is the more bloodthirsty of the pair; the mount, or  the driver? These fearless riders will be the primary force in your army  capable of running down fleeing enemies or acting as a disruptive force  against your enemy’s ranks.

Khorne Mounted Knights (T3) (Shock)

The  few men who are capable of truly taming the wildness of their mounts,  and embrace the rage within their own spirit, become fully fledged  Knights of Khorne. As a result, they are gifted with incredible power  and great prowess, and are given the first pick of the best equipment  available to the teeming hordes of Chaos. Whenever one is spotted, the  enemies of the Blood God tremble, because they know that there is no  point in running.

Chaos Giant (T4)

Giants are  simple creatures, and their preferred lifestyle is not that far from one  favoured by the servants of the Blood God. Thus, it is only natural  that some of them gravitate towards serving him and are often rewarded  for embracing their inner brutality. On the battlefield, they  effectively act as one-monster battering rams, ploughing through the  forces of those opposed to the will of their master.

Hellcanons (T4)

Part  Daemon, part war machine, a Hellcannon is a massive construct of metal  that growls and shakes with daemonic sentience. The Chaos Dwarfs load  their charge by brutally shovelling the bodies of their enemies  into the Hellcannon’s dire-furnace. Flesh runs like wax as the  Daemon-machine’s hearth feasts on body and bone. Soon, only the souls of  its victims are left, harnessed in the Hellcannon’s gullet as crackling bolts of energy that are fired towards the enemy in powerful spasms of malice.

Provisional Tzeentch Roster Expansion Plans

- Suitably for the Master of Change, our plans for Tzeentch’s roster  are a little bit more refined. Rather than focusing on one aspect of the  army, a lot of the new additions will be made with the theme of warp  sorcery in mind, manifested in different forms. It could be different  temporary effects, magic attacks, or perhaps some other modifiers that  would fit the fickle entity.

Proposed Generic Tzeentch Lord

Renegade Sorcerer (Death, Shadows, Dark Magic)

Knowledge  and power are the boons that the Changer of Ways has to offer, and  there is no lack of foolish and arrogant practitioners of magic who are  willing to lie, deceive and backstab anyone for both. From all the human  lands they come to him, breaking ancient laws and betraying their own  masters in search of the forbidden spells and dark rituals they want to  use to reach their goals, not knowing that all they will do is binding  their souls, bodies and minds in eternal slavery to the god that has  guided them there, laughing at their folly.

Chaos Marauders (T1) (T2) (Different Variants)

Although  witches are frowned upon in the more civilised lands, the gift of magic  is often perceived differently amongst the human tribes found near the  Chaos wastes. Those that display even the barest flicker of power often  become dedicated to Tzeentch and subjugate others to also serve their  new master. These warriors, willingly or not, then fight in the name of  the Changer of Ways. Serving as the main human component of your armies,  that is the story of many a Marauder warrior.

Aspirants of Tzeentch (T2) (Different Variants)

The  Changer of Ways knows the path that your life is going to take even  before you are ever born. He tirelessly weaves the strands of fate,  making sure that his plans for you are always in motion and that your  future will unravel as foretold. Those that aspire to be his chosen must  embrace this simple truth and welcome change wherever it may appear.

Aspirant Cavalry of Tzeentch (T2/T3)

The  freedom granted to these warriors to wreak havoc and twist the strands  of fate in the favour of their Master makes them very capable of  influencing the outcomes of battle in the favour of any warrior who  chooses to utilise them in their plans. Driven forward by the  irrepressible power of change and infused with the evil sorceries of the  warp, these men are ready to do anything to prove themselves worthy of  their dark patron’s attention.

Chosen of Tzeentch (T5) (Different Variants)

Those blessed  with the attention and favour of Tzeentch can be certain that the events  will unfold in their favour and that everything is a ultimately a part  of the plan. Moreover, the Changer of Ways has bequeathed his  Chosen powerful magic which bleeds out of them and their equipment,  morphing and changing the reality around them to better suit their  needs.

Dragon Ogres (T4/T5)

Dragon Ogres, in  their eternal bondage, align themselves with the Lord of Change in the  hopes that he will be able to usher in the End Times and eventually  bring about an end to the Old Ones creations.

Hellcanons (T4)

Part  Daemon, part war machine, a Hellcannon is a massive construct of metal  that growls and shakes with daemonic sentience. The Chaos Dwarfs load  their charge by brutally shovelling the bodies of their enemies  into the Hellcannon’s dire-furnace. Flesh runs like wax as the  Daemon-machine’s hearth feasts on body and bone. Soon, only the souls of  its victims are left, harnessed in the Hellcannon’s gullet as crackling bolts of energy that are fired towards the enemy in powerful spasms of malice.