I still get chills when I think about King Theoden's rousing speech at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. A mash-up of his various motivational calls to arms across the books (with some of Eomer's lines thrown in for good measure), it shows a fearless leader doing everything in his p
I still get chills when I think about King Theoden's rousing speech at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. A mash-up of his various motivational calls to arms across the books (with some of Eomer's lines thrown in for good measure), it shows a fearless leader doing everything in his power to fight for what's good in this world. I've recreated the scene on the tabletop and as best I can in videogames, but the new Dawnless Days mod for Total War Atilla might be my best chance of embodying the Rohirrim leader.
If you're in the mood for more TWar following the recent reveals of Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Total War: Medieval 3 , one of Total War: Attila's most ambitious mods has finally made it to 1.0 release. It's taken a decade for Lord of the Rings conversion The Dawnless Days to
If you're in the mood for more TWar following the recent reveals of Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Total War: Medieval 3, one of Total War: Attila's most ambitious mods has finally made it to 1.0 release. It's taken a decade for Lord of the Rings conversion The Dawnless Days to deliver its full ring-warring campaign, but that day's arrived at long last.
With Total War Pharaoh on the horizon, what better way to get ready for the next installment in Creative Assembly's masterful historical series - featuring some of the best strategy games of all time - than a massive Total War sale? With everything from the series' earliest games
With Total War Pharaoh on the horizon, what better way to get ready for the next installment in Creative Assembly's masterful historical series - featuring some of the best strategy games of all time - than a massive Total War sale? With everything from the series' earliest games, all the way up to the most recent historical entries prior to Total War Pharaoh, you won't want to miss out. So, move fast to grab these bargains.
We've released a game update for Total War: ATTILA which includes: ↗️ Compiler upgrade - This is an update for the game to better use modern architecture and improve performance. 🖥️ Fixed game crashing when running on CPUs with more than 32 logical processors. This update also r
We've released a game update for Total War: ATTILA which includes:
↗️ Compiler upgrade - This is an update for the game to better use modern architecture and improve performance. 🖥️ Fixed game crashing when running on CPUs with more than 32 logical processors.
This update also removes integrated chat from the game. Please read below for more information.
Message regarding the removal of integrated chat
We appreciate the frustrations expressed by our community regarding the recent removal of integrated chat from our titles. Keeping our players safe when engaging with our games is extremely important to us.
To reduce the risk of players abusing the system and partaking in concerning and harmful behaviour, we have disabled the in-game chat functionality and instead recommend using dedicated third-party platforms like Discord, which offer enhanced moderation and safety measures. The official Total War Discord server is also a great place to meet other Total War players - both for multiplayer sessions and general chat - and to utilise our dedicated voice channels.
Additionally, we'd like to make you aware that we'll be closing several opt-in Steam beta builds for Total War: ROME II, Total War: ATTILA, A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, Total War: WARHAMMER, Total War: WARHAMMER II and Total War: THREE KINGDOMS on Wednesday, 19th July 2023. Most players will be unaffected by this change, but for anyone currently using these builds, your game will automatically sync to the live build of the game allowing you to begin a new save-game and play as normal.
Do you have recommendations or suggestions that could help support the communication you need in our older titles? Is there a reason why alternative solutions don't quite hit the mark for you? Share them with us, and we'll make sure the feedback is passed on to the right people.
Following the news this week on the lawsuit over what looked like pretty clear plagiarism on Capcom's part , it's back to business as usual in video game copyright land. Following a DMCA takedown request from Warner Bros lawyers, Mod DB has removed the Total War: Attila total con
A game's mod scene is like a fine wine: it becomes ever more refined with age. As such, it makes sense to step back from the hustle-and-bustle of Creative Assembly's newest release and take a look instead at what's available for the studio's other mainline historical strategy gam
A game's mod scene is like a fine wine: it becomes ever more refined with age. As such, it makes sense to step back from the hustle-and-bustle of Creative Assembly's newest release and take a look instead at what's available for the studio's other mainline historical strategy games. One of my personal favourites in the series is Total War: Attila, and it's great to see how its mod scene has fermented in the years since release.
When I was younger, I used to believe that a game was complete when it came out of the box. Then one day I stumbled onto the mod scene for Total War: Medieval II and ever since then what was once sacred has become profane. Now, I shout the praises of great mods from a megaphone and expect that mods will undoubtedly extend the life of many of my favourite strategy titles well past that of the vanilla version.
Total War: Attila may not be the best loved out of all the historical Total War games, but it did set the stage for things to come in the Total Warhammer fantasy line. Let's take a look at some of our favourite user modifications.
In the great Eastern steppe, the mighty Attila gathers his horde against the last remnants of the Roman Empire… Take a look at this video from Havoc about why Total War: ATTILA is his favourite game in the series:
In the great Eastern steppe, the mighty Attila gathers his horde against the last remnants of the Roman Empire…
Take a look at this video from Havoc about why Total War: ATTILA is his favourite game in the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgVfJG0nihE
With spin-off A Total War Saga: Troy a matter of months away you may want to practice settling back into your role as armchair general with some cheap Total War games from Games Planet. The PC digital retailer is currently running a Total War Promo across a range of games and DLC
With spin-off A Total War Saga: Troy a matter of months away you may want to practice settling back into your role as armchair general with some cheap Total War games from Games Planet.
The PC digital retailer is currently running a Total War Promo across a range of games and DLC from across the entire series. There are some massive discounts of up to 78 per cent up for grabs, whether you're looking for something new or old.
Let's start with the two entries from the Total War: Warhammer series. These adaptations of the long-running tabletop sensation mix classic turn-based strategy sections with tactical real-time battles. Various races are also present, each with their own campaign and play style. Other Lords and campaigns are also available as DLC at up to 56 per cent off, too!
The new Total War Launcher is now live for the following games: Total War: ATTILA, Total War: ROME II, Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA, Total War: WARHAMMER, and Total War: WARHAMMER II. To find out more about exactly what’s included in the new launcher, click here: PLEASE N
The new Total War Launcher is now live for the following games: Total War: ATTILA, Total War: ROME II, Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA, Total War: WARHAMMER, and Total War: WARHAMMER II.
To find out more about exactly what’s included in the new launcher, click here: https://www.totalwar.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-total-war-launcher
PLEASE NOTE: We recommend that all modders back up their mod descriptions from Steam before updating their mods. Once done, you can update any mod descriptions that may have been deleted.
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS is Now Available for Pre-Purchase on Steam! Three heroes, sworn to brotherhood in the face of tyranny, rally support for the trials ahead. Scenting opportunity, warlords from China’s great families follow suit, forming a fragile coalition in a bid to cha
Total War: THREE KINGDOMS is Now Available for Pre-Purchase on Steam!
Three heroes, sworn to brotherhood in the face of tyranny, rally support for the trials ahead. Scenting opportunity, warlords from China’s great families follow suit, forming a fragile coalition in a bid to challenge Dong Zhuo’s remorseless rule. Will they triumph against the tyrant, or will personal ambition shatter their already crumbling alliance and drive them to supremacy?
Today's Deal: Save up to 80% on Total War: ATTILA and DLCs !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time
Today's Deal: Save up to 80% on Total War: ATTILA and DLCs!*
Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!
Total War: Rise of Mordor is a conversion mod for Total War: Attila that, in its final form, will let you play through a newly-crafted campaign featuring 19 factions from Middle Earth. You can take your first peek at it now thanks to a public alpha released this week that will ha
Total War: Rise of Mordor is a conversion mod for Total War: Attila that, in its final form, will let you play through a newly-crafted campaign featuring 19 factions from Middle Earth. You can take your first peek at it now thanks to a public alpha released this week that will hand you control over some of the factions and let you play around with custom units that are based on the ones you'll have seen in the films.
The background story of the campaign will be "accurate to the books", but could still be a while off yet. First, the team will finish off the factions and add custom settlements into the mod.
The grand strategy and large-scale battles of the Total War series make it ripe for Lord of the Rings conversions, and Rise of Mordor isn't the first to attempt it. Third Age does something similar for Medieval 2: Total War, and it does it very well (making it onto Tom's list of essential Total War mods a while back). But that game is more than 10 years old now, so I'm curious to see if working on a newer title like Attila will help create something better.
You can download the alpha of Rise of Mordor from its ModDB page.
With Mortal Empires released last week, there’s a hotfix on the way for that Chaos Invasion issue some people are having, plus the Foundation and Norsca update too. We want to make sure that’s sorted out before we add more Total War: WARHAMMER content. However, in this week’s blo
With Mortal Empires released last week, there’s a hotfix on the way for that Chaos Invasion issue some people are having, plus the Foundation and Norsca update too. We want to make sure that’s sorted out before we add more Total War: WARHAMMER content.
However, in this week’s blog we wanted to take a moment to look at our Historical projects; because you’re about to hear a lot more about them.
The next year is packed with new stuff and, as we ramp up for some big announcements, I took a moment to chat with our history project directors; Maya, Jack and Janos..
Read the whole interview here: https://www.totalwar.com/blog/update-on-historical-releases
With Mortal Empires released last week, there’s a hotfix on the way for that Chaos Invasion issue some people are having, plus the Foundation and Norsca update too. We want to make sure that’s sorted out before we add more Total War: WARHAMMER content. However, in this week’s blo
With Mortal Empires released last week, there’s a hotfix on the way for that Chaos Invasion issue some people are having, plus the Foundation and Norsca update too. We want to make sure that’s sorted out before we add more Total War: WARHAMMER content.
However, in this week’s blog we wanted to take a moment to look at our Historical projects; because you’re about to hear a lot more about them.
The next year is packed with new stuff and, as we ramp up for some big announcements, I took a moment to chat with our history project directors; Maya, Jack and Janos..
Read the whole interview here: https://www.totalwar.com/blog/update-on-historical-releases
PC games are full of arcane artifacts spurring on ancient civilizations, Nazis riding dinosaurs, and Ghandi nuking the entire planet. Historical accuracy isn’t always a priority, and even the ones that try to get it right have to take some liberties with the facts modern scholars
PC games are full of arcane artifacts spurring on ancient civilizations, Nazis riding dinosaurs, and Ghandi nuking the entire planet. Historical accuracy isn’t always a priority, and even the ones that try to get it right have to take some liberties with the facts modern scholarship hands down to us to be, you know, a fun game. But there is a definite divide between games that offer a mere nod to history (or use some vague, pop culture-informed stereotype of it as a jumping-off point) and those that actually put in enough research time to get at least some of the important facts straight.
It’s hard to measure a variable like “historicity” when it comes to games—and yes, that is a real word. Games that put history first tend to wind up overly complicated rather than fun, so I've highlighted genuinely great PC games that go out of their way to include some historical accuracy. In particular, I chose games that accurately and ably depict a facet of history that is often misrepresented or ignored in other, ostensibly historical games.
In chronological order based on their setting, here are the most historical PC games.
Screenshot via Steam user OriginalNickname
Total War: Attila - Most historical game about the collapse of the Western Roman Empire
Attila pulled Total War’s tired campaign formula out of its slump and gave us a living map that portrayed the cultural, political, and environmental challenges facing Rome in her twilight years. Rather than playing into the stereotype of angry, marauding barbarians showing up out of nowhere to sew chaos, the map really put you in the middle of why these invasions were happening—the oncoming of climate change making northern regions progressively less supportive of large populations, and the migration of the Huns into Eastern Europe.
It was also the first Total War game to model the fact that not all societies have permanent cities, and how tributary relationships could form between cultures as a pressure valve against open war.
Assassin’s Creed series - Most historical depiction of ancient cities
There is very little about the plot of any Assassin’s Creed game that could be regarded as staunchly historical (though we do get some cool nods here and there—the Siege of Masyaf in AC1 is a thing that really happened). However, they’ve gone to great lengths to depict, in full scale, what it would be like to walk the streets of Renaissance Florence or medieval Jerusalem. From the crowds, to the architecture, to the small details, there is a lot of history to experience just by wandering the environments. My personal favorite is Revelations’ post-Ottoman-conquest Constantinople, perhaps one of the most interesting cities in world history snapshotted at one of its most interesting ages.
Screenshot via Steam user Mr.Nekator
Crusader Kings 2 - Most historical modeling of medieval Western European politics
With expansions highlighting Satanic cults and fanciful, “What if?” Aztec invasions, there is plenty of ahistorical nonsense kicking around CK2 these days. But at its core is a system that does an excellent job of modeling how politics worked in Western Europe from about 1000 to 1400 AD. We take for granted the concept of a nation state in our modern world, but if you lived in Auvergne, France in 1150, you were probably loyal to a person, not a flag or a constitution. All of CK2’s titles have holders, and it is they who interact and play the grand game against one another.
A strong realm can crumble under a weak king just as a poor realm can rise to glory under a great king. And while the hierarchical depiction of feudalism it presents is highly disputed in modern scholarship, excellent expansions like Conclave have added more weight to the lateral bonds that many historians argue were the greater driving force among the nobility of the age.
Expeditions: Viking - Most historical Viking game
I was impressed immediately by how apparent it was that the designers of Expeditions: Viking put stereotypes out of their mind and hit the books. As my primary historical interest area, I have a high standard for games about the Viking Age, and this one really has you doing a lot of the things a viking ruler would have actually found him or herself doing.
There are kinship-based blood feuds to manage. There is the emphasis on the necessity of presenting yourself as both a strong and a just ruler, not taking for granted that people will follow you based on your name. It even models the effects those notorious raids had on Scandinavia—bringing back captives and wealth that would help build infrastructure and birth three of the most influential kingdoms in European history.
Banished - Most historical game about frontier settlement
Banished is a fairly simple game. I might even argue that it’s too simple, but the mechanics it chooses to focus on are very much the sorts of things that say, an English settler in the 17th Century Virginia Colony would have been concerned with. Keeping your people warm, fed, and healthy are your main goals. You have to use the resources in your environment and trade with distant lands to provide for a growing population. A harsh winter or a disease outbreak can be utterly disastrous and end your whole settlement—as they often did for early European settlements in the New World.
Sid Meier’s Pirates! - Most historical pirate game
While Pirates! does allow itself to indulge in some buccaneer stereotypes, it also models a lot of the genuine realities a privateer captain during the Golden Age of Piracy would have to be concerned with. A crew is a ragtag collection of malcontents picked up from all across the Caribbean who will only stay with you as long as they feel like there’s a monetary reward in it. The political interplay between the Spanish, English, French, and Dutch is an ongoing conundrum, and you’ll usually be working for at least one of them. And of course, its modeling of naval combat with wind direction, hull size, decks, guns, and even shot type really gives you a glimpse of all the skills necessary to be a naval officer in that era.
Screenshot via Steam user [HWK] Turenne
Victoria 2 - Most historical game about the Industrial Revolution
Vicky 2 is probably the most intimidating and inaccessible game on this list, but it deserves its spot for hanging its top hat on aspects of history that often get ignored. The level of literacy among your population matters. More literate societies will become more productive… but they also gain Consciousness, which can lead them towards social movements like communism and demanding an end to slavery, universal suffrage, and labor rights. You know, pesky commoner stuff. It also models industrialization, war profiteering, and the advantages and disadvantages of free markets versus command economies. If you have the patience to learn it, it's well worth the investment.
The Oregon Trail - Most historical game about the Oregon Trail
An oldie but a goodie. The various iterations of The Oregon Trail that have been released since 1971's HP 2100 version (how’s that for some history!) have all been lauded for their educational value. And with good reason. If a modern person tries to imagine the struggles faced by an American pioneer making the journey from Independence to the Willamette Valley in the mid-1800s, they probably wouldn’t give much thought to how many spare wagon tongues you’d need to bring. But that was the reality, and The Oregon Trail put us in the middle of it. It probably also made us a little more afraid of dysentery than we have cause to be in an era of modern medicine and sanitation, but no game is perfect.
Ultimate General: Civil War - Most historical game about the Civil War
I know I’ll take my share of hard tac for failing to call out some hex-based, in-depth wargame that features the weight and height of every soldier who fought at Gettysburg compiled from census records, but Ultimate General is the perfect midpoint between attention to historical detail, accessibility, and fun. Its combat engine realistically models terrain, movement, casualties, and morale in real time. The recently released campaign mode even gets into how generals in this era had to prove themselves to the political leadership if they wanted to be well-supplied and have weight given to their strategic advice.
Screenshot via Steam user Stuart
Steel Division: Normandy 44 - Most historical game about tactical combat in World War 2
A truly impressive feat to a military history nerd, Steel Division’s maps are built from actual aerial reconnaissance photographs taken during the Normandy invasion, down to the village layouts and placement of hedgerows. It also features realistic ranges and damage modeling for all of its vehicles and weapons, and even the relative speed and maneuverability of its air units. It limits heavier units to spawning later in a battle to simulate the simple fact that they would have taken longer to get there after first contact with the enemy.
Possibly most notable of all, though, is that it does an uncommonly good job stressing the importance of ground-based reconnaissance on the battlefields of World War 2, and the idea that engagements could be won or lost based on which side had better information.
Screenshot via Steam user 65y Afrika
IL-2 Sturmovik series - Most historical combat flight simulator
I think most flight sim enthusiasts remember the first time they tried to do a backflip in IL-2 and saw the screen start to fade out, wondering if there was something wrong with their monitor. Not only are the controls and handling in this classic historically accurate, but it simulates the effects G-forces have on a fighter pilot maneuvering at high speeds. Force too much blood into your head and you’ll experience redout. Force too much into your feet and you’ll experience blackout. In addition, the titular IL-2 was depicted in meticulous, 3D detail and the combat missions presented plausible scenarios.
Screenshot via Steam user XaRoS
Verdun - Most historical World War I shooter
Move over, Battlefield 1. Verdun sets out to accurately depict trench warfare on the Western Front, and does a pretty good job of it for a multiplayer shooter. Its inaccuracies are forgivable sacrifices to scale, rather than in the details. it would be very difficult to get enough players on a single server to really depict some of the bigger battles of The Great War, and a lot more time was spent waiting around hoping not to get blown up by a shell than was spent taking aim and firing at the enemy—which isn’t really fun if you just have an hour a night to jump in the mud with your buds. Particularly impressive is the detail that goes into the uniforms, with items as small as buttons being painstakingly reproduced from period photographs.
Kerbal Space Program - Most historical game about the space program
With its science-based modeling of orbital mechanics, propulsion, and aerodynamics, Kerbal Space Program is a great platform to teach about the history of spaceflight. In fact, the developers at Squad agree, and are working on an official Making History expansion. But if you don’t want to wait, the community has already beaten them to the punch. A number of mods, including the Historical Missions Pack, allow you to experience launches spanning from the first German V2 rocket tests all the way up to SpaceX and beyond.
Deus Ex series - Most historical game about… the future?
So this one is mostly my own speculation based on observation of current trends, rather than anything backed up by in-depth scholarship. But I’ve always been impressed with how well Deus Ex depicts what I see as humanity’s likely next steps. Huge strides are being made in brain-computer interfaces, prosthetics, and artificial intelligence, while advancements in fields like spaceflight and laser swords are becoming increasingly hard to come by. Were I a betting man, I’d put my money on the assumption that we’ll see the world of Adam Jensen come to pass long before the world of Captain Picard.
Art by Peter Dennis Creative Assembly recently announced Total War Sagas , a spin-off series meant to “focus on a specific point in history, as opposed to an era as seen in the tentpole Total War games,” but with the same level of detail as the bigger releases. Like Fall of the S
Art by Peter Dennis
Creative Assembly recently announced Total War Sagas, a spin-off series meant to “focus on a specific point in history, as opposed to an era as seen in the tentpole Total War games,” but with the same level of detail as the bigger releases. Like Fall of the Samurai or Napoleon, these aim to cover eras already touched on by Total War, but putting a particular facet of the age under a microscope or detouring from the existing timeline. It's a fantastic idea, seeing as some of the smaller and more focused campaigns for Rome II (Imperator Augustus and Caesar in Gaul, particularly) were actually much better executed than the Grand Campaign.
Here are some smaller-scale conflicts that deserve their very own campaigns.
The Defeat of the Cimbri, via Wikipedia
The Cimbrian War
Place: The Outskirts of the Late Roman Republic
Time: c. 115 - 100 BCE
Base game: Rome 2
The first large-scale clash between the Latin and Germanic civilizations, the two main components whose melding would eventually bring about Medieval Western Europe, took place just a generation or so before Julius Caesar set events into motion to transform the Roman Republic into an Empire. A group of tribes from the unexplored northern frontier (which the Romans would refer to eventually as Germania) appeared seemingly out of nowhere and initially struck a number of stunning blows against Rome, handing them their worst defeats since they faced Hannibal in the Second Punic War. It was only through the actions of the legendary Gaius Marius that this invasion was repelled and Rome itself was saved from sacking or possibly even conquest.
If that had happened, the name Caesar would probably never have made it into the modern consciousness. The invasion also helped to inspire the Marian Reforms—Marius reorganized the army, creating the legions that would conquer much of the known world.
The Roman component of this roughly 15-year campaign, which could fit well with a month-to-month turn timer, would likely focus on the character of Marius, just as some past DLC campaigns have put the lens on Caesar, Augustus, Marc Antony, or Belisarius. The Marian Reforms could be adapted into a specialized tech tree-type system, representing possibly the turning point in Roman military history. Like most great men of ancient Rome, Marius had more than just the invaders to worry about. There was plenty going on at home, and rival generals with different ideas of how to achieve victory seeking to usurp recognition as being Rome’s savior. Having allied armies that aren’t necessarily on the same page as you while fighting a common enemy could be very interesting if the AI is done well.
On the barbarian side, we see a similar opportunity. While allied, the two main tribes involved in the invasion, the Cimbri and the Teutones (the latter is where the word "Teutonic" and the modern German-language name of Germany, "Deutschland," comes from) were not a united nation. Marius was able to triumph thanks in part to the lack of coordination between them. Tribal politics could be a large focus as you try to hold a large, powerful, but unwieldy coalition together. There were also some smaller tribes involved in the invasion that could present unique challenges, either as player-led factions or diplomatic considerations, such as the Ambrones and the Celtic Helvetii.
Battle of Stamford Bridge, via Wikipedia
The year 1066
Place: The North Sea Region (Particularly England)
Time: Guess
Base game: Attila (or Medieval 3 if that comes out any time soon)
The year that changed English history forever, 1066 saw three claimants (leading three potentially diverse and unique factions) to the crown of England engage in a three-way struggle that was as dramatic as it was unpredictable. William, Duke of Normandy, had a Papally-sanctioned host invading from the south with continental heavy cavalry. Harald Hardrada of Norway sailed from the Northeast with a host of viking-descended warriors who still fought much like their pillaging ancestors. Caught in the middle was Harold Godwinson, the Anglo-Saxon nobleman who had been chosen by his own people to defend the status quo.
With a campaign map modeling the British Isles in serious detail, it would be possible to plan army maneuvers through the hills and woodlands of England in a way the series has never allowed before. And since the entire war took place in the space of one year, turns could potentially represent mere days rather than years or seasons, giving new weight to the weather system and the passage of time in general.
Minor factions would also be plentiful. Though he didn’t go to war historically, Svend II of Denmark was another potential claimant when Edward the Confessor died in 1066, by his descent from Knut the Great—a viking who did in fact take over and rule England for a time. There’s also the matter of the independent Scots to the North, some unconquered Welsh realms to the West, and a large number of Irish tribes that dwelt on the disunited Emerald Isle at the time. And this is all not even mentioning the King of France and his contentious relationship with William back on the mainland.
Inca-Spanish confrontation in Cajamarca, via Wikipedia
The Inca Civil War and Spanish Conquest
Place: Andean Region of South America
Time: c. 1527 - 1580 CE
Base game: Empire/Napoleon
When the 11th Sapa Inca, Huayna Capac, died in 1527, the large and complex Inca Empire was sent into chaos. A succession conflict sometimes called the War of Two Brothers kicked off between his sons, Huáscar and Atahualpa. They chose a terrible time for it, too, since conquistadors from Spain were about to show up bearing guns and smallpox. Choosing to play either of the two claimants would mean having to defeat your brother and unite the empire in common cause to withstand the greatest threat it had ever faced. The Spanish would find themselves vastly, almost comically outnumbered, but with a technological edge (and an uncontrollable secret weapon in the form of European disease) that they would have to make the most of to achieve victory.
Very few games model the epidemiological impact of the Columbian exchange on American natives properly, and this era would be a perfect place to do so. Much as the changing climate gradually makes the map less arable in Attila, an Incan player would have to contend with catastrophic population and economic collapse from the introduction of smallpox, typhus, and other diseases as the campaign progressed. Internal politics would also be a rich source of new mechanics, as the Inca (who were completely excluded by the original Empire: Total War) are today considered to have been the largest and most sophisticated empire in the Americas at the time of European contact.
The Spanish side would likely focus more on agents and clever maneuvers to topple the already wobbly Incas indirectly. Playing both sides of the civil war to weaken your enemies overall could be one path to victory. Gaining native allies (hey, look: minor factions!) was another key tactic the Spanish used to further their conquests in this period. Perhaps the most decisive historical moment of the conflict was the Spanish's capture of Atahualpa (who was victorious in the civil war), which could also be a campaign milestone. With roughly 50 years to play, a season-based turn timer would give us a meaty and exciting campaign.
The Attack on the Malakoff, via Wikipedia
The Crimean War
Place: The Black Sea region
Time: c. 1850 - 1860 CE
Base game: Shogun 2
Around roughly the same time that the events of Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai were kicking off in Japan, one of the largest European wars since the days of Napoleon broke out in Europe. The causes are disputed, but much of the fighting revolved around the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and who had the right to claim what from its carcass. On one side was the Russian Empire under Nicholas I (and later Alexander II after the former’s death from natural causes). On the other was the Ottoman sultan Abdulmejid I, Napoleon III of France, and none other than Queen Victoria herself leading England. There was also involvement from the Kingdom of Sardinia (a predecessor to modern Italy), and various minor powers in the region comprising ethnic minorities that either had, or were in the process of, breaking from centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule—notably the Greek Legion that fought on the Russian side.
The tech level would be similar to Fall of the Samurai, with the main difference being that we’re talking about large, industrialized European armies on both sides. You’re not going to be mowing down a lot of sword infantry using gatling guns, because your enemies have gatling guns as well. Weaponry had come a long way since Napoleon, but was still recognizable in those terms. Smoothbore field guns, cavalry charges, and disciplined line infantry were still the main tools of warfare. The maritime theater also lends itself well to exciting naval battles, and the Crimean War saw the first use of ironclad warships.
Spanning a roughly 10-year timeframe, a month-to-month turn cycle would make the most sense. As this was a relatively contained conflict fought by multiple, world-spanning empires, interesting campaign mechanics could be introduced to model bringing in imperial resources at the cost of political capital or popularity at home. The Ottomans, in particular, would have the added challenge of managing minority populations emboldened by successful revolts of decades past and yearning for their own liberty.
With Game of Thrones' seventh season fast-approaching, it's getting harder to avoid casting and story spoilers by the day. I've already re-watched season six in preparation (and will almost certainly do so again nearer the time), which is why I'm looking for other GoT-themed ente
With Game of Thrones' seventh season fast-approaching, it's getting harder to avoid casting and story spoilers by the day. I've already re-watched season six in preparation (and will almost certainly do so again nearer the time), which is why I'm looking for other GoT-themed entertainment to quench my make-believe medieval murder fest desires.
If that's you too, you may fancy a trip to Westeros by way of Total: War Attila, as the Seven Kingdoms Development Team has updated its Thrones-inspired Seven Kingdoms mod to include the Free Folk, the Night's Watch, House Hornwood, and 15 new characters.
All of which means you can recreate that infamous Jon Snow scene in Battle of the Bastards, which is shown below around the 1.38 mark.
Here's the full list of 15 generals that the mod's Beyond the Wall update introduces:
Ned Stark
Rickard Karstark
Euron Greyjoy
Greatjon Umber
Kevan Lannister
Loras Tyrell
Roose Bolton
Theon Greyjoy
Davos Seaworth
Larence Snow
Styr Magnar of Thenn
Mance Rayder
Tormund Giantsbane
Alliser Thorne
Jeor Mormont
More information on Total War: Attila's Seven Kingdoms mod can be found this way—including download and installation instructions.
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*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
Product Release
New DLC Available - Total War: ATTILA Slavic Nations Culture Pack
Total War: ATTILA – Slavic Nations Culture Pack , all new content for Total War: ATTILA is Now Available on Steam! The Slavic Nations Culture Pack brings three new playable factions to Total War™: ATTILA. The Anteans, Sclavenians and Venedians may be used in Single or Multiplayer
Total War: ATTILA – Slavic Nations Culture Pack, all new content for Total War: ATTILA is Now Available on Steam!
The Slavic Nations Culture Pack brings three new playable factions to Total War™: ATTILA. The Anteans, Sclavenians and Venedians may be used in Single or Multiplayer Campaign modes and Custom and Multiplayer battles.
