Still sitting at 3, though the rogue army carrying the 4th book is in the neighborhood of this nice Skaven city I've had my eye on. While I'm in the neighborhood, I figure I'll nab it.
I gotta get out of this Skaven war though. I've taken all the cities I want, now I have to get them off my back and out of this constant ambush thing. I'm not going to wipe them off the map (at least that's not the current plan), so it's time to move on. They're holding a grudge, though, and won't peace out.

Diplomacy in TW games sucks. In some titles it sucks not as much as it sucks in other titles. But overall? It sucks

Skaven have no friends. So they probably figure what's the point in striking a deal.

Imagine that Total War had diplomacy like EU IV. That would be cool.

You'd think they would want to cut their losses at some point though. Oh well, more exp for my lords, more conquest for me I guess.

I was thinking that adding the TW tactical layer into EUIV would be incredible.

True dat^

Combat is EU IV's biggest weakness I reckon. That would be fun to play them out, but we would have problems with scale, as some battles are 100k per side or whatever.

Can you pay Queek enough to get him to agree to a truce? Maybe you've not that sort of dosh on hand.

Imagine how long it would take to finish a game in EUIV with that?

I've tried bribing him, but not with an obscene amount of cash. Maybe I'll skip building for a turn or two and try sweetening the pot a bit more.

I had a little break from this game. Yestarday started a new campaign as Empire and I'am a bit surprised... I think the game became more difficult. It's turn 11 and Vampires already wiped two elector counts and there are more greenskins north of Altdorf... i think there was an update recently and made these changes... I find WHTW2 quite difficult even on normal. I think there are balancing issues, some factions are OP (skaven IMHO which I despise... (sorry DBond;)). Well, i think i'am going to have a hard time now...

Yeah, we're used to it

Empire runs are interesting because of their location. Sometimes VC snowball, sometimes Dwarfs and humans crush them. While I don't disagree that WH has balance issues (that's been true all along), the balance fluctuates between factions from patch to patch, and factions that were weaker before are stronger now. New factions are added and it changes the dynamic depending on where on the map they are placed. Beyond that, there is still a variance factor that means in some runs a faction is a steamroller and in others it never gets going at all. Some factions have inherent advantages that give them an edge, but I've seen the strongest factions get wiped from time to time.


You should be able to get alliances with Dwarf factions and use the war coordination thing to hit the VC from both directions. Grombrindal makes a good ally, usually. The key when fighting VC is to snipe their lords so that the army crumbles. Untainted bonuses and encampment stance are also vital when fighting the VC.

Ahh the Skaven. I've had better luck against them by changing my army comp to use more fast monstrous units to attack their missile/artillery. I've also been trying to end my lord movement by either being garrisoned or Entombed (Tomb Kings version of Encamped). I've still gotten ambushed while entombed, which surprised me a bit.

Well, I'm almost there. Grabbed the last book, and initiated the final battle. Unfortunately, I was running out of time so I quick saved it. When I get back, I'll be fighting that last big battle. I've re-tooled Settra's army to be much more monster heavy - I only have 4 or so infantry and about the same number of archers. I'm running 2 titans, the Legion of Legend Necrosphinx, the Regiment of Renown Necro Nights, a Casket of Souls, a couple of regular Ushabti and a couple of bow Ushabti (one is either the Legend or Regiment, not sure which), a Warsphinx, Settra, and a rank 40 Necrotect for some added magic and construct support.

Either later tonight or tomorrow I'll actually sit down and try fighting this battle. Any tips before I engage?

Good luck. I'd only advise you not to overextend and to maintain cohesiveness through the early part of the battle so you are ready for what comes later.

Good job getting so far.

Settra does not serve, Settra RULES.

The final battle wasn't as bad as I had expected. Starting off at 3v3 (though neither of my allies were full stacks), I chose to attack the right flank and use that army as support, leaving the army to my left to fend for themselves. They did a decent job, and only minimal mop-up was needed on the first wave. The second wave (3 more armies), I consolidated my forces around the right flank ally and and fought off the initial surge, again leaving the left flank to handle things for themselves. I needed to clean up a little bit more this time, but again they did an admirable job of holding their own.

During the battle, I began manueving to the center of the map for the final push. The last army I faced waited for me to come to them. They tried to bait me with a titan, but I sent a couple Knights after it and wound up dispatching it with little difficulty. As I marched my formation forward, they began to engage. I used my more mobile monstrous units to hit their flanks, while my front line held their infantry at bay. I had refrained from using my spells in the earlier battles, but now I started firing everything I had at them. Arkhan fell to Settra after he just abused every spell he knew - buffing his weapon, explosive damage, regen - Arkhan had no chance with the onslaught of physical and magical tools I had available. Couple that with a whip infantry hero I had spent the game building into a melee monster. Once the enemy lord fell, his army began to crumble, and it was simply a matter of letting it play out.

So thanks for the tip - I knew a second wave was coming so I leaned heavily on my allies to minimize my losses in the first wave. I also made sure I kept my main forces (ie infantry and archers) in a fairly tight formation so Settra could buff them and they could hold the line. I used my bigger monstrous units to wreak havoc on their backline, eventually hammer/anvil-ing their front lines when their rear units broke.

Fun campaign, I enjoyed the Tomb Kings. Now I'll take a little break and jump into a new faction. I'm leaning heavily toward Skaven, esp after tangling with them so much in this campaign. For the record, the Skaven war never ended. I stopped pursuing them after evicting them from my continent, and though they sent the odd army there to harass me, I never really did any serious engagements with them after that.

Congrats! Yeah, I didn't know the reinforcements were coming (and it was hard/hard) and I had a hell of a time winning that one! I was not in position to deal with the reinforcements who came from all directions and it was a very close thing in the end. I'm impressed you saw it through to the end. That's quite rare. Whichever achievement you got for winning the campaign I'm sure has a fairly low percentage.

The same sort of thoughts attracted me to the Skaven. I wasn't interested in playing the ratmen at all, but while playing other factions I took note of how they played, their units, their awesome ranged options, the trouble they gave me, and thought why not, let's give 'em a go. And they ended up being the faction I enjoy the most. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts, and if you need any tips let me know.

I'd suggest Queek or Ikit Claw, but whatever floats your boat. And besides that, things change a bit from Vortex to ME, although I would still recommend those two. Clan Pestilens is good too, and starts in Lustria (South America) and that means more lizards Queek has early war with Lizards too. Ikit claw does not. His campaign is cool, with the Forbidden Workshop mechanic and all the tech and toys.

Thanks! The achievement is "Walk Like A Nehekaran" at 7.4% of players.

I'll check out Queek and Ikit Claw, though I like the idea of Forbidden Workshop with tech and toys, so maybe Clan Skryre will be the one.

We are heading out of town for the week in a couple of days, I probably won't start a new campaign until I get back . No point in starting it and having to come back a week later and trying to figure out where I left off.

Walk Like A Nehekaran, lol. I got it too

Ikit Claw has tactical nukes. 'Nuff said

Sold.

Haha, yes indeed.

You'll also have the undercities which are cool, and very Skaven.

The key for me is to rush Plagueclaw Catapults and get Stormvermin as soon as possible as well. Queek gets Stormvermin bonuses.

Ikit Claw has some great ranged units, which can be upgraded by the Workshop. He gets bonuses for these units, called Jezzails and Ratling Guns. I think CA moved his start in Vortex to the Star Tower on the coast of Lustria. If so, more lizards straight away. In Mortal Empires, he starts at Skavenblight, one of the best settlements on the map due to how many building slots it has. But it's not the best position geographically, with Dwarfs and Wood Elves blocking northern expansion. Not too hard to beat the Vampire Pirates close by, but after that I find it more difficult to expand. I have not played Ikit Claw in Vortex I don't think.

You also have the Menace Below thing I talked about before. Raise a unit of slaves, allow the lizards to converge to beat the sh!t out of them, and then drop a tactical nuke on the mob

I've run into some of those units - I must say one of the attractions to Skaven is that their missile/artillery trails are very colorful!

I'm looking forward to it - I even picked up the Skaven DLC just so I'll have all the toys. I scoped out Ikit Claw's starting position - it's marked as "Hard" in the game, and he's on Volcanic Island in Vortex (that's what I'll play for now). Should be interesting.

Yes, that's the name of the province that Star Tower is part of. It's a very interesting part of the map. In close proximity you have a number of LLs. Luthor Harkon (Vampire Coast), Lokhir Felheart (Dark Elves) are nearby, and Skrolk is also close, which should help with an alliance and confederation. The Lizard faction Itza will DoW pretty quick I think, but you can handle them before they get too big. There's a minor Skaven faction too, but I reckon you'll want to go to war with them, despite your brotherhood.

Star Tower is a good settlement, and you have sea access right off the bat, and the coastal location means no direct threats to the east. Close by is the Altar of the Horned Rat which is a ritual currency location. Before Skryre was added, this was where Teclis started, and I know from playing him that it's a cool place to start a campaign. I have yet to run in to Felheart, but he's a dark elves pirate sort added in a free DLC, with a naval vibe.

Maybe I'll give this campaign a shot next time I fire up WH2. I think I would like this start better than Skavenblight.

While I was on vacation I spent a little of the down time checking out some of the other factions in this game. I played about 3-4 turns of a few, just to get a taste.
My initial impressions of a few of them are:
Vampire Coast - emo adolescents. Interesting units and art, the Lord "ship" that you can improve like a city is kinda cool.
Lizardmen - tanky units with a superiority complex, the geomantic web sounds like a cool concept, though I didn't play them enough to get more than a brief introduction to the concept.
Dwarfs - mad at the world - seems like they'd kick you in the shins if you brushed against them in the supermarket line. The Book of Grudges is a fun sounding mechanic too, I liked the flavor of these guys.
Greenskins - drunken Scottish soccer fans. Only interested in eating, drinking, and ruling the world. Didn't care much for them from the brief time I played them. I'll give them a longer go to be fair, but they were a little annoying and kinda meh.
Skaven - the scrawny kids who can't fight but are scheming to kill everyone with their brains. It's them against the world, and the world is in trouble. They seemed fun enough to keep playing a little longer. I'll keep this campaign going for bit longer I think. I LOVE the weapons lab, it's really fun, and the whole Skaven feel is interesting.

Haha excellent! Good assessment.

That's a grudgin'!