Total War: Warhammer is out, and it’s pretty great. We gave it an 8.5 in our own review, and it seems that wider reaction has been almost universally positive, both from critics and fans. Creative Assembly has faithfully recreated the Warhammer setting in the Total War format, giving something new and exciting to both types of fans. The question now is “What’s next?”
We know that Total Warhammer is past of a “trilogy,” but we don’t know if that means three standalone releases or simply two fully-featured expansions. We do know that before the next big release, however, we’re getting a full suite of DLC for the current game. Some of that will be free and some will be paid, but while Creative Assembly has detailed the kinds of content they’ll be releasing, we don’t still don’t know what that will consist of.
That means the only answer right now is speculation! There are a lot of races in the Warhammer Fantasy setting that would be tons of fun to see in-game, but down below we’ve focused on just a few of the most likely candidates for upcoming DLC.
Bretonnia
Among Total Warhammer’s DLC plan is a free playable race, and it seems that Bretonnia is a safe bet to fill that slot. The cavalry-focused army is already a part of the base game, but with limited unit selections they’re just an NPC faction in the campaign, and a minor curiosity in skirmishes. Nonetheless, their existing presence means that they’ll likely be expanded on soon.
Bretonnia is led by Louen Leoncoeur, who would certainly be the faction’s default legendary lord. We could likely expect the legendary Gilles le Breton, founder of Bretonnia, as an alternate choice. While Gilles would be a figure of history in the timeline of the Total War campaign, he was granted immortality and the guise of the Green Knight by the divine Lady of the Lake, which would make him a unique and powerful unit on the field.
The armies of Bretonnia are known for relatively weak infantry drawn from peasant forces, which would put them at a severe disadvantage in the early game, but their powerful cavalry units would give them a strong resource shortly thereafter. They also have very solid artillery, and the powerful blessings of the Lady of the Lake could easily turn the tide of battles.
Wood Elves
If you’ve cast a curious eye toward the eastern border of Bretonnia, you may have noticed a giant stretch of forest that’s currently inaccessible to any faction. This area is home to the Wood Elves, whose alliance with Bretonnia has ensure their independence. Given the faction’s location on the existing map, they would be an obvious addition to the Total Warhammer campaign.
Even if you’re not familiar with Warhammer Fantasy lore, based on ages of fantasy fiction it should come as no surprise that the Wood Elves are skilled archers, and the strength of this missile fire would give them a strong early game advantage. We could also assume that they’d be well-suited to stealth, and ambushes from forested areas would be a constant threat for their enemies. The Wood Elves also have strong connections to natural magic, and their Spellsingers could provide both healing and buffs to their own armies, as well as cast illusions to distract and disrupt the enemies. The spirits of the forest itself would also provide strong backup, with Dryads, Sprites, and Treemen providing powerful additions to the elven army.
The main legendary lord of the Wood Elves would likely be Orion, immortal king and the living avatar of the elven god of the hunt. Standing at over 10 feet tall, his mystical and foreboding presence would certainly prove intimidating to enemy armies. The one question for how Wood Elves would be implemented in the campaign is how they would expand across the map. Each faction in the game has limited rules for what types of cities and settlements they can take, and it doesn’t seem fitting of the Wood Elves to simply settle themselves in human cities.
Beastmen
Opposing the Wood Elves, we might have their ancient foes, the Beastmen. Beastmen are the products of Chaos, mutations of humans and animals into chimeric new creatures. They’re nomadic, which means they could be slotted into the existing campaign map almost anywhere, and their Secret War with the Wood Elves would make the two factions natural foils and obvious additions to the current game.
The basic units of the Beastmen faction would be Gors, horned creatures resembling goats, bulls, and oxen. Their size and strength would likely make them powerful but expensive infantry on the field. The more lowly Brays might provide a cheaper, expendable infantry option, and the Bray-Shamans can wield magic including the unique Lore of the Wild, which would allow them to summon monsters and swarms of insects.
Beastmen would be a horde faction, similar to the existing Chaos Warriors, meaning that they have no need for settlements and can recruit new armies on the field. It’s tough to speculate on legendary lords, as the faction is full of warherds each led by a powerful Wargor. Gorthor is the Beastlord is the most iconic of these leaders, but he’s known as an ancient threat who’s now a part of legend.
Other Races
Naturally, these are just a few of the factions that Warhammer could provide. Lesser human factions like Kislev and the Border Princes are already present in the game and could be expanded into full playable races, but their relative similarity to the existing options mean that they’d be a less exciting choice for future content among the varied races of Warhammer.
Of course, there are still lots more races to discuss. What about the rat-like Skaven, the ancient Lizardmen, the Ogre Kingdoms, the undead Tomb Kings, or the long standing enemies, the High Elves and Dark Elves? These races are all a bit more distant from the Old World, and while Creative Assembly could certainly come up with a justification for any of them to end up in the current campaign, it seems far more likely that these factions would provide the starting points for the two full-sized additions to the Total War: Warhammer trilogy.
