Total War: Warhammer 2’s new Beastmen campaign mechanics have been revealed

It’s the opinion of this news writer that the Beastmen in Total War: Warhammer have always been good, despite what everyone says – and granted, that’s primarily down to their having a unit called the ‘gorebull.’ However, developer Creative Assembly seems to agree with the broader Total Warhammer community that the cow-bois have been languishing without attention, and have made them the focal point of the final bit of DLC before the launch of Total War: Warhammer III in the fall.

Creative Assembly has now provided a bit of a deep dive into the changes coming to the Beastmen in The Silence and The Fury, and it’s an extensive list. The faction is getting a total overhaul, with brand new campaign and recruitment mechanics that will guide your play as a Beastmen commander.

It may come as a bit of a shock to learn that the biggest change will be the addition of unit caps to Beastmen armies. As with regiments of renown, you’ll only be able to field a certain number of each type of Beastmen unit at a time. That sounds a bit limiting, but additional new mechanics help balance it out.

First of all, you’ll be able to raise the unit caps by earning and spending Dread, which you’ll gain by doing what Beastmen do best: breaking things. Destroying settlements, killing enemies, and generally going about like a bull in a china shop are all great ways to earn more of this. You’ll also be able to spend it on new legendary lords, buffs, items, and upgrades to Herdstones.

The rage-filled Doombull, Taurox, is nigh-on invincible. Meanwhile Oxyotl, the revered Chameleon Skink, scents the machinations of Chaos and rallies his cohorts. Taurox must be stopped at all costs…

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Herdstones are the Beastmen’s version of settlements. Since they operate as a horde, they don’t use settlements the way other factions do, but they can set up herdstones in locations they capture. This acts to focus the Beastmen’s attention on that area for a while, turning it into a ‘Bloodground’ or hunting area. Winning battles and capturing more settlements in a Bloodground will cause ‘devastation,’ and that in turn can be used to make Marks of Ruination – the Beastmen’s core campaign progression.

Another nice balance to the unit cap mechanic is the fact that Beastmen do not need to pay upkeep on their units – so there’s no disincentive to recruiting as many of the braying monstrosities as you can field.

The latest blog post details a few new monstrosities, as it turns out. Legendary lord Taurox is a blood-mad minotaur chieftain with a body made of pure brass, and he builds up ‘Rampage’ tiers as he wins battles in the campaign. The higher the tier, the more bonuses Taurox and his army receive. He’ll start his campaign in the Shadow Wood near the Dark Elves of Clar Karond.

Gorebulls will get some friends in the form of Doombulls, which are armoured, armour-piercing, and can 1v1 just about anything on the battlefield (except Taurox). The new Great Bray Shamans can use the Lore of Beasts, the Lore of Death, the Lore of Shadows, and the Lore of Wild, and will be useful in casting debuffs on nearby enemy formations. The Great Bray Shaman will be available through Total War Access.

We’ve already seen the new flying Jabberslythe, but the latest post also provides new details on the four-armed Ghorgon, which is a towering giant creature that will not hesitate to start eating friendly troops if you run out of enemies to send it smashing into.

The Silence and the Fury launches next week, but there are plenty of great strategy games to play while you wait.

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