History VideoGame / TotalWarWarhammerII

The second of the trilogy is set in '''the New World''' and focuses on the factions of the New World warring against each other for control over the Vortex, as well as to further their own various goals. Playable Factions include ''The High Elves'', ''The Dark Elves'', ''The Lizardmen'', and ''The Skaven''. Two paid expansions added ''The Tomb Kings'' and ''The Vampire Coast'' to the setting, while other two expansions and a free add-on re-introduced special subfactions of ''The Empire of Man'', ''The Kingdom of Bretonnia'' and ''The Greenskins'' to the setting.

* MassiveRaceSelection: Mortal Empires and Custom Battles have fourteen races available (Empire of Man, Dwarfs, Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Bretonnia, Wood Elves, Beastmen, Warriors of Chaos, Skaven, High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen, Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast) each with at least two subfactions, some of which play radically differently from the main faction. While all the races are featured in some capacity in the Vortex Campaign, only those introduced in the second game are playable in it (which still means six different options to pick from), with the exception of Markus Wulfhart's Empire faction, Repanse de Lyonesse's Bretonnian faction and Grom the Paunch's Greenskin faction.

** The Khepra Guard, a Regiment of Renown for the Tomb Kings who dual-wield swords. Wile it is true that they deal quite a lot of damage and are more durable than Nehekaran warriors, they do not have any shields, which is a great part as to what makes the Tomb Guards so durable during long fights, making them very vulnerable compared to many other late-game units available for the Tomb Kings.

** The Bloated Corpses of The Vampire Coast, the first [[SuicideAttack suicide bomber]] of the series. Wile it is true that they are cheap and can be taken down very easily by getting them stuck on a single unit, casting a spell on them or firing less than volley of projectiles at them, it doesn't remove the fact that they can singlehandedly wipe out even the toughest of EliteMook squads if allowed to get in close enough for the detonation.

* DecapitatedArmy: If an armies Lord is killed, all units, bar a few special ones, loose an increasing amount of morale, until they eventually route. Noticeably, High Elves get a debuff as they loose numbers and their leaders which further decreases their ''leadership'' and stats, furthering the process along.

** The Tomb Kings are the most altered faction so far. Creative Assembly created two homebrew units: the Nehekhara Warriors (Skilled soldiers duel-wielding two Khopeshes that serve as aggressive medium infantry), and the Nehekhara Horsemen (Riders who are more well-armored than the fragile Skeleton Horsemen) who fulfill the role of medium-tier infantry and cavalry, respectively. The monstrous Hierotitans, and the Legendary Lord Khatep, had rules but never had models, which Creative Assembly fixed.

*** ''Master Moulder'' (Lord)

*** Packmaster (Hero)

** The Skaven field horrible, twisted abominations that have been strewn together through a mixture of science and magic, and turned into living weapons, like the Rat Ogres, and the Hell Pit Abomination. The Twisted and the Twilight adds even more monsters from the pits of Clan Moulder, such as Brood Horrors and and Mutant Rat Ogres.

** After the Empire overhaul Reikland and The Golden Order can no longer confederate Marienburg, but they forgot to remove the AI's ability to do this.

** The Skaven field horrible, twisted abominations that have been strewn together through a mixture of science and magic, and turned into living weapons, like the Rat Ogres, and the Hell Pit Abomination.

* TheBeastmaster - The Dark Elves have access to literal Beastmasters as Lord options.

* RandomNumberGod: There are two types of weather in the campaign: Magic and Oceanic. Both are subject to change with every turn.

** Destroying Louen's faction as a Bretonnia one gives you, the [[https://imgur.com/av7VVAX Kingslayer]] trait, whose description references "Hurt" by Music/NineInchNails or Music/JohnnyCash.

** Destroying Louen's faction as a Bretonnia one gives you, the [[https://imgur.com/av7VVAX Kingslayer]] trait, whose description referenes "Hurt" by Music/NineInchNails or Music/JohnnyCash.

** Destroying Louen's faction as a Bretonnia one gives you, the [[https://imgur.com/av7VVAX Kingslayer]] trait, whose description referenes "hurt" by Music/NinrInchNails or Music/JohnnyCash.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: When it comes to casting magic in battle the AI has an uncanny ability to dodge and avoid offensive spells. Moving the target unit out of harms way the instant a spell is cast. Its own spells meanwhile always strike with impossible accuracy to devastating affect. The same problem exists for artillery; when a players artillery fires on the enemy, they have a ''very'' annoying ability to reform, and skirt away from most of the splash damage. Thankfully, both these AI quirks have been fixed.
** When performing a Vortex Ritual, players must guard specific cities from the forces of Chaos, which spawn armies to attack those cities...only for the armies to automatically spawn in areas away from your armies and in the weakest parts of your civilization, where they will raze as much as they can while ignoring their objective.

* CurbStompBattle: Very possible for a skilled player. If one lays a one sided beat down upon their foe, they're usually rewarded with a "Decisive" or "Heroic" victory.

[[TheHero Prince Tyrion]], Defender of Ulthuan, guides the [[OurElvesAreBetter High Elves]] in their desperate efforts to stabilise the vortex as it roils above their home continent.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Game two introduces the remaining elven factions of the Warhammer world, the haughty but noble High Elves and the bloothirsty, sadistic Dark Elves.

* {{Nerf}}: A few items from the first game have been tweaked to be less useful or powerful than they were. For example, The Red Ruby Ring of Ruin, which gave its wielder the ability to launch a fireball every 45 seconds for the entire battle in the first game, now allows its owner to fire only four fireballs per battle.

* {{Nerf}}: A few items from the first game have been tweaked to be less useful or powerful than they were. For example, The Red Ruby Ring of Ruin, which gave its wielder the ability to launch a fireball every 445 seconds for the entire battle in the first game, now allows its owner to fire only four fireballs per battle.

* ArtificialStupidity: Skaven controlled by the AI have a nasty tendency of using Menace Below nowhere near the enemy troops during battles.

* {{Nerf}}: A few items from the first game have been tweaked to be less useful or powerful than they were. For example, The Ruby Ring of Ruin, which gave its wielder the ability to launch an unlimited amount of fireballs in the first game, now allows its owner to fire only four fireballs per battle.

** Skaven Slaves. Just like Zombies, there's nothing better for soaking up fire and charge damage, but they won't be winning any battles soon.

** Nagarythe is the hardest of the High Elf factions to get started with due to their terrible starting position. They're surrounded by aggressive, expansionist enemies, one of whom spreads huge amounts of Chaos corruption, and they start in a tax-poor region, which is a problem because High Elf units are ''expensive.'' They also consider Ulthuan's climate [[NoPlaceForMeThere 'Unpleasant']] which means they don't get as much of an economic boost from confederating other High Elf factions. Survive their rough early start and get the economy stable, however, and you get to combine the High Elves' extremely powerful unit roster with the Underway movement mechanic ''and'' the chance to ambush on attack normally reserved for Skaven and Beastmen, creating armies that can ambush and kill almost everything and run away from almost everything else.

* Kaiju: The Dread Saurian, a monstrous dinosaurian reptile that is described as the largest unit in any Total War game to date.