Total War: Warhammer – The Grim and the Grave (Video Game DLC)
Ted Hentschke
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Developed by Creative Assembly
Published by SEGA
Available on PC
Rated T for Teen
Well, that was fast! Barely a month later we have another chunk of paid content for Total War: Warhammer. Praise Sigmar, I love new stuff! The price this time has been brought more in check, matching the $8 tag of the Warriors of Chaos faction. As I said in my Call of the Beastmen review, $19 was just too much. While The Grim and the Grave isn’t as much content as Call of the Beastmen, it’s much closer to what I expect dollar for dollar.
Before we get any deeper into this, I must make clear that this is a review exclusively for people already familiar with the title. I feel like I shouldn’t have to clarify that you should know about a game before learning about the DLC, but whatever. Major expansions like Call of the Beastmen can be understood well enough on their own. Beastmen new, they eat manflesh, much Chaos, such horde. With The Grim and the Grave, you will not understand what I’m talking about unless you understand the matchup of the Vampire Counts roster versus late game Ironbreaker lines or Handgunners with Helstorm support. You have been warned.
With The Grim and the Grave, we see new units, unit types, Lords, and Legendary Lords for The Empire and Vampire Counts roster. Yes, this is just a update for those two teams. It feels a bit weird paying $8 for an update to just two of the now six playable factions, but the changes are much more significant than they might initially seem. Face value, it’s only two new Legendary Lords (three if you count the one added for free when the DLC launches), two new lord types, five new units, and 18 new “Regiments of Renown.” Since the regiments are just modified versions of base units, it doesn’t seem to be that much stuff.
Top to bottom, each of these changes significantly alters how the two teams play. The three new Legendary lords are Volkmar the Grim, Helman Ghorst, and Vlad von Carstein (free with patch). Volkmar is one of the new Arch Lector hero types, but with the added benefit of being a savage killing machine. He’s not quite as strong as Karl Franz in a melee, but easily makes up for it with numerous incredibly powerful area of effect buffs. Once you reach level 16 and unlock his War Altar of Sigmar, he becomes an incandescent pillar of unfailing righteous destruction. It offers a compelling third alternative to Franz’s unstoppable warhammer and Gelt’s devastating magic.
When your holy wrath is so incandescent, it can be seen from space #JustVolkmarThings
The two new Vampire Counts options are a bit more nuanced. The first is Necromancer Helman Ghorst. On the battlefield, he’s underwhelming when compared to similar Necromancer Heinrich Kemmler. His specialized version of Necromancy gives him access to more powerful summoning and regenerative powers, but he is overall quite weak. His real strength comes from his two campaign bonuses, granting his entire army poison damage and 20% bonus refreshment rate. Yeah, you read that right. 20%. That’s a bonus 1/5 of your army base, every turn. Combined with the Raise Dead recruitment option and the new Corpse Carts, he can very quickly and easily levy an unstoppable tide of conquering undead. Devastating losses mean nothing to him, as he can recoup in just a few turns.
The new Vlad von Carstein also changes things up, with the insane ability to deploy any unit as a vanguard. The previously established battle lines mean absolutely nothing to him. For the entirely melee Vampire Counts army, this advantage is staggering. Closing the distance with your lumbering zombies has never been easier, and savage blood knight charges can come quickly and unexpectedly. For more tactically minded players, Vlad is a fast favorite.
Just like the new Legendary Lords offer new play options, so do the the new units. For The Empire, their roster is expanded by the versatile Free Company Militia, the fanatical Flagellants, and ass-smashing Knights of The Blazing Sun. Armed with both pistols and swords, the Free Company Militia brings some diversity to the relatively stale early Empire roster. Similar to the javelin units of previous Total War games, they are quintessential skirmishers. Pepper your enemies, keep your distance if you can, and engage when the odds are in your favor.
Flagellants are a new Tier 2 unit, and can be easily described as shitty Slayers you don’t have to go out of your way to build. They have no armor and weak defenses, but deal decent damage. Most importantly, they never retreat. Even vastly outmatched, they will still hold the line no matter what. It leads to some pretty heavy losses, but is necessary for certain engagements. The biggest strength of the Vampire Counts army is that none of their units retreat, allowing them to overcome much mightier foes through sheer persistence. Now, The Empire has something to even the odds.
The Knights of The Blazing Sun are a new shock cavalry for a team that was not lacking in that department. However, their lances are, A) on fire, and B) launch dudes farther than Team Rocket. I’m pretty sure these are an attempt to balance the absolute carnage that is Minotaurs. Their only nuance comes from their fire damage, which deals 20% more against foes with regeneration (i.e., the majority of the undead now). They aren’t otherwise complex, but hey, sometimes you just want to shove a giant flaming lance into someone’s skull.
Tally ho, lads! Those anuses won’t impale themselves!
For the Vampire Counts, the newly added Corpse Cart is a support chariot specialized to the needs of the undead hordes. Unlike other chariots that focus on disruptive charges and strafing runs, the lumbering carts have little use in combat. Instead, they sit behind the line, giving persistent bonuses to the undead within their aura. Giving more damage, defense, and constant healing, they will easily tip the scales of a prolonged melee in your favor. They come in three flavors—standard, magic buffing, and enemy magic hindering—but all do basically the same thing.
The Mortis Engine is the other new Vampire Counts unit, and is easily mistaken for a souped up Corpse Cart. It isn’t a bad way to look at it, as you still don’t want your Mortis Engine to charge headfirst into battle. The main differences come from mobility and offensive power. First off, the Mortis Engine is much faster, able to keep up with the charges of even some cavalry. It’s also not offensively incapable, doing constant damage to enemies in its aura. Lastly, if destroyed, it goes magically nuclear, giving you a last ditch option to put a dent in your enemy.
The Mortis Engine fixed that whole “chariots suck in melee” problem by enslaving the souls of a bunch of units that don’t suck at melee and stapling them to its sides.
It might seem underwhelming, but the Vampire Counts completely lack ranged damage and artillery support. Previously, they relied entirely on necromantic magic to keep their units up and running to push the line in their favor. Now, they have back line unit that doesn’t undermine their “no ranged” flavor. It’s a high value target, shaping the area of engagement similar to how a piece of defendable artillery would. It’s a unique way to add variety without compromising identity.
The two new Lords—the Arch Lector for The Empire and the Strigoi Ghoul King for the Vampire Counts—also mix things up a bit by offering unique command play styles for your non-Legendary Lord armies. The Arch Lector is very similar to Volkmar the Grim, buffing nearby units with battle prayers while doing decent melee damage. The real action comes from the new Strigoi Ghoul King, a monstrous beast that at later levels can mount a Terrorgheist. In typical Vampire Counts fashion, they are a caster lord with access to a mixed Lore of Death and Lore of Vampires tree. However, their real strength comes from their powerful front line presence. They aren’t as powerful as an Orc Warboss, and their large size makes them a bigger target than their Vampire Lord brethren, but they offer an offensive edge previously unavailable to the Vampire Count Lords.
Hideous mutated flesh beasts riding even more hideous mutated flesh beasts. That’s what Warhammer is all about.
All that other stuff aside, the real reason I was excited for the DLC were the new Regiments of Renown. These 18 specialized units (9 for The Empire and 9 for the Vampire Counts), are special elite versions of units. These upgrades most importantly aren’t just a percentage upgrade in stats, with units like like the Silver Bullets being a special variant of the Handgunner that both stalks and deals magic damage. These alterations are sometimes minor, such as a larger unit size, but in most cases significantly change how the unit performs. My favorite was The Sternsmen, a unit of Grave Guard with regeneration and a defensive bonus vs all. It might sound boring, but having an unchargeable wall is a critical tool for guarding your high value targets.
Rather than unlocking when a prerequisite building is constructed, Regiments of Renown unlock at a certain level of Lord experience. Similar to mercenaries from Total War: Attila, they can also be purchased anywhere on the map. This gives more aggressive players a unique advantage, allowing them to stock their armies with powerful units far outside their current level of technology. However, each unit can only be recruited once. Fielding these powerful units is always a risk, since once wiped out they are gone for good. You might be tempted to restart even the most crucial of battles just because you want to save you super special Zombies.
Plus, just look at how shiny my cannons are!
As cool as they are, I actually found the Regiments of Renown to be the least impacting part of the DLC. They didn’t fundamentally change how either of the teams could function. Sure, having a squad of super badass Black Knights early on can be a big advantage, but not one that isn’t solved by a few spearmen and a ranged line that pays attention. I found the new Legendary Lords to be much more meaningful, and the roster additions to actually reshape a bit of how I play.
For such a small pack of DLC, it certainly changed a lot. This all comes of course with the caveat that it only affects The Empire and Vampire Counts. My only real problem is that it asymmetrically affects the game’s balance. I expect to see these additions for the other teams as well, but that doesn’t change how weird it feels to pay $8 to adversely impact my non-Empire/Vampire Count playthroughs. I get that this is all a work in progress, but one that at the moment feels a bit clunky.
Overall, The Grim and the Grave is a well designed little chunk of DLC that is well worth the asking price. Hardcore fans will love the grander changes, while more casual players will certainly like the heroic quality of the Regiments of Renown. There’s a bit of something for every type of player here, with the roster additions spawning from tier 1 to ultra-late game. It manages to feel just as important and memorable as Call of the Beastmen at under half the price. Definitely a must buy for fans.
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DLC
Categorized:Reviews
