Image: Creative Assembly
Total War Warhammer III's latest DLC makes it that much more enjoyable to wreak havoc on the world as the Ogre Kingdoms, Greenskins, and Khornate factions.
Total War Warhammer III's latest DLC, Omens of Destruction, follows up on the success of Thrones of Decay by giving three of the game's races a much-needed update; namely, the Ogre Kingdoms, Greenskins, and Khorne.
This comes in the form of new Legendary Lords Golgfag Maneater for the Ogres, Gorbad Ironclaw for the Greenskins, as well as Skulltaker and Arbaal the Undefeated (as free DLC) for Khorne – bringing the total number of Legendary Lords in the game to 100. There are also the unique mechanics that come with those Legendary Lords, a bunch of new units to fill gaps in the unit roster for the aforementioned races, and updates to existing mechanics to help them keep up in Warhammer III's world of never-ending war.
If you're looking to spice up your Warhammer III campaigns as a real Ogre mercenary, a Warboss who knows da' plan, or a champion of Khorne in pursuit of skulls and epic battles, then Omens of Destruction has plenty of blood (for the blood god) to keep you hooked. And as someone who mostly plays as the Empire or the Dwarfs to keep the tides of darkness at bay, I have to admit this DLC made it really enjoyable to bring WAAAGH and chaos unto the world.
Gold, blood, and WAAAAAAAAGH
The Ogre Kingdoms, Greenskins, and Khorne are all every straightforward races. You muster an army of beefy boys, find the nearest humies or knife-ears to bash into oblivion, then go on an unending march of conquest and bathe the world in blood – none of that defending civilization or grand strategy nonsense.
Omens of Destruction will still have you destroy stuff – it's in the name of the DLC, after all – but it offers some nice twists to the usual gameplay formula for the three highlight races.
The Ogre Kingdoms of Warhammer Fantasy are well-known for their insatiable hunger for meat and gold, which caused most of them to pursue careers as mercenaries all across the world. At Warhammer III's release, this aspect of the race wasn't really captured that well, as Greasus Goldtooth and Skrag the Slaughterer's campaigns had them build up sedentary domains in the Mountains of Mourn or the Border Princes.
But with the arrival of Golgfag Maneater – the most successful and well-traveled Ogre mercenary of them all – players will finally get to live out the fantasy of waging war as a mercenary and getting paid your weight in meat and gold. Golgfag does this with his unique Mercenary Contracts mechanic that lets him join the wars of other factions and make acts of aggression within a certain number of turns on a target faction's armies and settlements to earn rewards in the form of meat, gold, and other culture-unique items.
Because of this, Golgfag isn't incentivised to conquer territory. Instead, you will sack, raze, or hand over target settlements to clients to fulfill your contracts before moving on to the next. His ability to teleport to his client's territory also pushes you to travel all across the world and incite more wars to fight. When playing as Golgfag, your greatness won't be measured by how large your territory is, but by the mountains of meat and gold you've earned as well as all the armies and settlements you've laid to waste as a globetrotting mercenary. Now that's the best life for an Ogre in Warhammer Fantasy.
As for the new Khornate factions in Omens of Destruction, you will still be harvesting blood (for the Blood God!) and skulls (for the Skull Throne!) just like your warmongering peers. But Skulltaker and Arbaal also let players pursuit glory for themselves, not just Khorne.
Skulltaker – as you can probably guess from his name – will hunt down worthy Lords from other factions to claim their skulls and power for his own. Arbaal, on the other hand, will continually seek bigger and harder battles to fight and win – he's not called the Undefeated for nothing, and you will have to maintain that title.
Khorne cares little from whence the blood flows, and you shouldn't either. Your only concern is to fight, and fight, and fight again for the Blood God. There's no room for schemes and grand strategies like Tzeentch or the mortal races. It's a simple motivation that requires you to turn your brain off for a while, but sometimes you just have to unleash your inner berserker. Skulltaker and Arbaal offer great options if you want to play as an unga-bunga faction.
However, the most fun I've had by far with Omens of Destruction is with Gorbad Ironclaw, da Great Leader tha' lez ya krump all da gitz and go on da biggest WAAAAAGHs by bein' brutal AND kunnin' – jus' as Gork and Mork wants. See, unlike most other Greenskins who only know to charge forward and beat enemies up in melee, Gorbad can do da' big finkin' to come up with da' plan – ranging from tactics like going for the enemy's flanks while pinning them down with archers or strategies like having varied army compositions to counter different enemies.
Gorbad Ironclaw will still have you go on big WAAAAAGHs like other Greenskin factions, of course. But instead of doing so with just the cookie-cutter army of Ork Boyz, Big ‘Uns, and Squigs, you are encouraged to use other units like Goblins, Wolf and Spider Riders, Boar Boyz, and so on to gain a variety of army buffs with Golgfag’s Da' Plan mechanic. You actually have to experiment with different army compositions as you win battles to help give Gorbad a Yooreka! moment and unlock new taktiks, lending to his faction's replayability.
You can have an army of mostly Goblin Wolf and Spider Archers fighting like the Mongols, a deathball of unbreakable Squigs, a horde of Trolls and Giants, or a good ol' doomstack of Black Orcs and Big ‘Uns – Gorbad can buff them all to really sell the Greenskins as an unending tide of marauders that uses anything and everything to gib all da' gitz a propa’ krumpin'. And don't let Gorbad being a big finka' fool you into believing he's not that good in a fight either. While he's no Grimgor Ironhide, Gorbad can still easily smash through units and single entities alike to prove his plans are the best – after all, the enemy commander's plans will be no match to Gorbad's once he's buried his axe in their face.
New tools for the slaughter
While new Legendary Lords are all well and good, players will always be on the lookout for more new units to play with in every DLC. Omens of Destruction delivers nicely in this regard with new generic Lords and Heroes, five new units, and three new Regiments of Renown each for the three featured races. There's also a bunch of new Legendary Heroes in Scyla Anfingrimm and Skarr Bloodwrath for Khorne, Bragg the Gutsman for the Ogres, and Snagla Grobspit for the Greenskins.
The new units don't really deviate from each race's signature fighting style, but they do fill up gaps in the roster and reinforce niches where they're already strong. For example, Khorne gets more powerful anti-infantry units like the Wrathmongers and monstrous infantry like the Bloodbeasts to further boost the faction's strength in melee engagements. The Greenskins get new artillery options in the Bolt Throwa and Arachnarok Spider (Flinger). Meanwhile, the Ogres get a flying unit in Blood Vultures and an early game anti-large unit in the Pigback Riders.
The new units are also a sight to behold on the battlefield. The likes of Khornate Wrathmongers and Slaughterbrutes are rightfully menacing while Mangler Squigs (basically two Squigs chained to each other that, uh, frolick across the battlefield) and Pigback Riders (basically a Gnoblar piggy-backing on another while wielding a spear and shield) look hilarious and give off a fun whimsical vibe before joining in the carnage.
Beyond just these new additions, Warhammer III DLCs also introduce reworks to existing game mechanics that help to bring the featured races up to snuff.
Ogre Kingdom campaigns now more prominently feature the Meat and Camp mechanics. Meat will be easier to get than before and have greater effects on an Ogre army, with more Meat giving its units more abilities and mass. Meat will now also be used to upgrade structures in Ogre Camps, which can now move around the map and serve as mobile Major Settlements for Ogres. They can still conquer and utilise settlements as before, but they will have less of an impact on an Ogre faction's strength than Camps.
Khornate factions now make better use of the Skull Throne mechanic, which can grant battle and campaign buffs as well as unique actions that help the servants of the Blood God spill more crimson in his name. Their economy has also been improved, now with more incentives for raiding, sacking, and looting settlements. Resource buildings have also been made more desirable by granting a variety of bonuses as well as thematic recruitment options, with some Tier 5 units even becoming available at Tier 3.
And while not exclusive to Khornate factions, the new Daemon Reforging mechanic encourages all Chaos factions to build more Daemonic units by giving them a chance to replenish after dying in battle. It's a lore-friendly mechanic too, as Daemons can never be truly killed outside of the Realms of Chaos.
Meanwhile, the Greenskins can make use of an updated Scrap system that lets units have multiple Scrap upgrades with a scaling cost for additional upgrades. This lets players utilise the system better than before, whether it's to spread Scrap upgrades across multiple armies or buff one elite army with as many Scrap upgrades as possible.
Screenshot courtesy of Creative Assembly
The introduction of four new factions in Omens of Destruction also shakes up how the campaigns play out in Immortal Empires. Skulltaker starts in Lustria surrounded by many formidable enemies, though he does have the option of teleporting to worthy targets all around the world in his hunt for more skulls. Golgfag is in a similar situation, starting in the Empire province of Nordland but having the ability to quickly traverse the world as he pursues more mercenary contracts.
Gorbad starts in the Death Pass province with plenty of options for expansion, with Karak Eight Peaks to the South, the greater Badlands to the West, and Thorgim Grudgebearer being his biggest threat directly North. With the lands of the Empire just a couple of provinces away, Gorbad is not short of WAAAAAGH targets as well.
Gorbad's Death Pass start also moves Wurrzag Da Great Green Prophet to a new start in the Southland Jungles, where he'll have plenty of Dwarf, Skaven, Chaos, and Lizardmen factions to tangle with.
But while there's a ton of good things coming with Omens of Destruction, there are some things I feel like the DLC should have come with. For one, Golgfag's Mercenary Contracts are only accessible if the player uses his faction. You can't hire Golgfag if he is controlled by the AI, which is a damn shame. Playing the mercenary is fun, but being the one to hire them to dispose of your enemies for you is nice too.
With that said, I'm still holding out hope that this is a mechanic that will be added in the future as part of a Dogs of War DLC. Golgfag might just be Creative Assembly testing out how a pure mercenary faction can be implemented, though it would have been great if it already came with Golgfag.
Improvements to the Campaign AI don't seem to be included in Omens of Destruction either, something that would be a welcome update as the DLC introduces more tools for the player. AI factions remain as passive as before when not at war, often electing to park their armies in just one settlement instead of spreading them out to protect their borders. With Omens of Destruction featuring three very aggressive races, current AI factions often end up becoming easy pickings. A more robust Campaign AI that can actually present a challenge for the player without having to rely on bonuses would have made this DLC even more exciting.
But all in all, Omens of Destruction is a worthy follow-up to Thrones of Decay. It's clear that Creative Assembly have taken the lessons they learned from Shadows of Change to heart, especially with the continued option for players to purchase the Legendary Lord packs separately if they wanted.
Prior to this latest DLC's release, it was clear that the Ogre Kingdoms, Greenskins, and Khornate factions really needed more love, and they got the attention they deserved in Omens of Destruction. Here's to hoping that other races like Bretonnia and Norsca get the same treatment in future updates and DLCs.
Total War: Warhammer III's Omens of Destruction DLC is set to release on December 12, 2024 on PC. We received a copy of the DLC for this review.
