History VideoGame / TotalWarWarhammerII

*** Should Louen fall to another Bretonnian lord, then that lord will instead gain the negative trait "Traitor". While this trait does increase the weapon strength of all units in that lord's army, it also increases their upkeep. More severely, it provides a -50 reduction in Chivalry, which makes progressing through a Bretonnian campaign much more harder.

** Nowhere is it more evident than with trade deals. You might offer a faction a trade deal that would bring both you and them hundreds of gold per turn, mutually benefitting each other, but unless they like you to begin with (and they need to ''like'' you, not just to tolerate you) they will stubbornly refuse to trade with you.

** The High Elves themselves are this, having an option for everything, alongside a large selection of elites. You need powerful cavalry? Dragon Princes. Offensively powerful infantry? Swordmasters. ''Defensively strong infantry''? There's not much better then Phoenix Guard. Archers? Seaguard. Monsters? Dragons. The High Elves can counter anyone, with their only main weakness being how expensive it is to field an army.

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 expansions and a free add-on re-introduced special subfactions of ''The Empire of Man'', ''The Kingdom of Bretonnia'', ''The Greenskins'' and ''The Wood Elves'' to the setting.

A sequel titled ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' is set to be released in 2021, which features ''The Daemons of Chaos'' (split into ''Khorne'', ''Nurgle'', ''Tzeentch'', and ''Slaanesh''), ''The Tzardom of Kislev'', and ''The Empire of Grand Cathay''.

A sequel titled [[VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII Total War: Warhammer III]] is set to be released in 2021, which features ''The Daemons of Chaos'' (split into ''Khorne'', ''Nurgle'', ''Tzeentch'', and ''Slaanesh''), ''The Tzardom of Kislev'', and ''The Empire of Grand Cathay''.

A sequel titled [[VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII Total War: Warhammer III]] is set to be released in 2021, which features ''The Daemons of Chaos'' (split into ''Khorne'', ''Nurgle'', ''Tzeentch'', and ''Slaanesh''), ''The Tsardom of Kislev'', and ''The Empire of Grand Cathay''.

A sequel titled [[VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII Total War: Warhammer III]] is set to be released in 2021, which features ''The Daemons of Chaos'' (split into ''Khorne'', ''Nurgle'', ''Tzeentch'', and ''Slaanesh''), ''The Tsardom of Kislev, and ''The Empire of Grand Cathay''.

A sequel titled [[VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII Total War: Warhammer III]] is set to be released in 2021, which features the Daemons of Chaos (split into Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh), Kislev, and Cathay.

A sequel titled ''Total War: Warhammer III'' is set to be released in 2021, which features the Daemons of Chaos (split into Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh), Kislev, and Cathay.

A sequel titled Total War: Warhammer III is set to be released in 2021, which features the Daemons of Chaos and Kislev.

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'', ''The Greenskins'' and ''The Wood Elves'' to the setting.

The game was released on PC on September 28 2017, and is the tenth overall title in the ''Total War'' series.

* CosmeticAward: After all the effort the player goes through to win the Vortex Campaign such as taking Ritual Resource Sites, Enacting the Rituals, and having to fight off hostile neighbors and interventionists when the rituals are underway and when victory is imminent from having directly tapped into the vortex itself from completing all the rituals, it's only natural for them to expect getting some powerful and permanent factionwide bonuses in the postgame after winning the final battle. Sadly, the only reward in this case is having unlocked all of the cinematic cutsecenes for the selected race as taking control of the Vortex confers no benefits whatsoever to the victor.

** There are some unique Landmarks that are very valuable as they provide significant bonuses for the local region and to your faction. The catch is that these building will also spread corruption at a high rate.

** Moonslayer(Mannfred Von Carstein) makes the lord's army take less attrition in vampire corruption.

** Siren Extinguished (Cylostra Direfin) grants the lord's army additional winds of magic while deducting from the enemy army's winds of magic at the start of battles. However, it also increases the lord's base miscast chance by a slight amount.

** Deep Cleaning (Throt the Unclean) give a 10% increase to the lord's health.

** Stormvermin may not have the insane power and coolness of the other factions' elites, but what they lack in quality, they very much make up for it in quantity. Not only are they much more numerous than other elite units, they cost a good deal less, meaning they're easier to field in large numbers. For the price, you get very sturdy anti-larg, and line units that, with proper support, can kill anything you throw them against.

* EasyLogistics: A little bit better then the first game, but still rather simplistic compared to other Grand Strategy titles. Food has been regulated to Skaven only, General loyalty has returned, but only for Dark Elves, Skaven and Vampire Coast, and the Imperium rating only exists as an invisible resource that defines how big the negative diplomacy rating you get with other factions. Taxes have been significantly simplified as well. All you really have to manage is your income, public order, and corruption.

* EnemyMine:
** If a faction overtakes all the others, and completes the final ritual, a final, desperate quest battle is given to the player [[spoiler: which involves giving the player a final chance to avoid losing the entire campaign. ''Everyone'' left will ''reinforce'' you, culminating in the losing factions teaming up to stop the winning one from gaining the power of the vortex. This includes [[ArchEnemy Arch Enemies]] like Tyrion and Malekith ''working together''.]]

* EnemyChatter: Zooming into units reveals a staggering amount of context sensitive chatter from your, and the enemies soldiers, discussing the foe their facing, the dialogue in question being unique depending on which army you're facing, such as the High Elves making fun of the Dark Elves.

* GiantEnemyCrab: The Vampire Coast's Prometheans, monstrous crabs come in two variants: the blue Rotting Prometheans that bear zombies on their backs and the massive red Rotting Leviathans that bear shipwrecks as makeshift howdahs. The former act as monstrous cavalry, while the latter are the size of Arachnarok Spiders. Aranessa Saltspite and Cylostra Direfin can take the former and latter as mounts respectively.
* GoodVersusGood: Well for a given value of "good" anyway. The High Elves and Lizardmen both have more of less the same goal - to restore the vortex and protect the world - but will inevitably come into conflict anyway due to differing views on how to accomplish this. [[spoiler: By the end of the Vortex campaign, however this is subverted. As arrogant as they are, it's clear the High Elves are trying to control the Vortex for the right reasons, including protecting the younger races. On the other hand, The Lizardmen want to use it's power to ''purge'' and kill everything not in the Great Plan, casting them as a darker shade of grey.]]

* HumanSacrifice: The unique mechanic of the Cult of Sotek. Tehenauin believes that with enough sacrifices, Sotek will return. On the campaign, his faction will have a series of unique missions that unlock new forms of sacrifice. As Tehenauin and his followers win battles against non-Lizardmen armies, they can choose to mark their captives as Sacrificial Offerings. Completing the highest level of sacrifice allows Tehenauin to evoke Sotek himself on the battlefield.

* KnightlyLance: The primary weapon of High Elf Knights, though the Dark Elves wield some, which is more of a BlackKnight version of this trope. The Damned Bretonnian Knights available to Cylostra Direfin also fit this trope.

* LargeAndInCharge: The Lords and Heroes are somewhat larger than the normal units, who usually only reach to their chests, making them look like mini giants in comparison. This was done for gameplay reasons, to allow players to be able to pick their general easily from a crowd. Some mods resize the Lords and Heroes to a more believable level.

* LizardFolk: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lizardmen]], who are a {{Mayincatec}} civilization created by the setting's {{Precursors}} at the dawn of history. They're also divided into several different types of lizard folk as part of a FantasticCasteSystem.

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Dogs of War finally appear in some capacity, after being absent in the first game. Mostly as Rogue Armies (Such as Mengil's Manflayers, a famous Dark Elf Dog of War crossbow regiment) but the "Intervention Armies" are also described as "mercenaries".

* OvershadowedByAwesome: The Giant Eagles of the High Elves are rarely used once they get the Phoenixes, who in turn are rarely used once they get their dragons.

* RainOfArrows: A common result of facing the High Elves, who have very powerful archers.
* TheReveal: Once again there's a plot twist in the late game. [[spoiler:The twin-tailed comet is fake, and it's actually a Skaven rocket intended to make the other races freak out and pump more magic into the Vortex, destabilizing it while allowing the Skaven to gather the ritual energy in order to bring the Great Horned Rat into the world.]]
** Another occurs late in the Dark Elf campaign. [[spoiler: It turns out that the assassin who had been aiding Felicion with the ritual the whole game was actually ''[[CanonCharacterAllAlong Shadowblade]]'', the greatest of all Khainite Assassins, and who it turns out is actually the brother of the sorceress. Felicion plans to use his blood to complete the final ritual, but [[OutGambitted Shadowblade has other plans]]...]]

* SecondaryFire: A handful of artillery pieces, like the Reaper Bolt Thrower, can switch to different modes of fire that give anti-infantry and anti-large bonuses, respectively.

* TechTree: Each faction has access to a technology tree, but in a twist, every faction unlocks its technology in different ways. The trees themselves have also been ''massively'' expanded.
* TeleportingKeycardSquad: exaggerated to a country-wide level In the vortex campaign, starting a ritual summons entire armies of chaos marauders and warriors to ruin your day!

* ATasteOfPower: Like the first game, you're given a small number of upper tier units as soon as you start. Like before, you won't be able to recruit them for a good amount of time, so it's best to use them sparingly.
* ThatsNoMoon: [[spoiler: The Skaven successfully pull this off in a ''[[BeyondTheImpossible fantasy setting]]''; the twin tailed comet which has galvanized all the other races into war is actually a steampunk Skaven spacecraft built for just that purpose.]]

* TheUsualAdversaries: Anytime any faction begins one of the Vortex-influencing rituals, its magical protection will slip, allowing a brief surge of the energies of Chaos to leak into the world. This will cause armies of Chaos Warriors to spontaneously rise up and march toward whoever is channeling toward the Vortex, drawn as they are to the magical power. Alongside the Chaos warbands, stacks belonging to a mysterious Skaven clan (Referred to as the "Unknown Skaven Clan"), will begin to drop en masse. Anyone seeking to control the Vortex will need to prepare to defend against them, a feat which is complicated by the potential intervention of their rival factions during this time.

* WarIsHell: This is ''Warhammer'' we're talking about, though like it's source material, crosses over with WarIsGlorious. The average High Elf soldier, whom is a conscripted ''levy'', is expected to fight all sorts of horrors, and will likely end up being devoured by one of them.

* WonTheWarLostThePeace: After capturing a city, the local population is almost always displeased with the development, and hefty public order bonuses are levied against the player for a handful of turns (which is dependent, in terms how big the penalty is, on the method you used to capture the city. Occupying and Looting will make them ''despise'' you). Like all previous ''Total War'' games, but in this one especially, it makes even more sense since the occupiers are usually members of a completely different ''species'', leading to revolts and uprisings galore. The second game's climate system adds more to this: some areas are just not worth holding, because they don't match your species' habitat.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: There are several traits that confer the character hating an entire species (such as "Hates Greenskins", for example), that usually give army-wide bonuses in combat against them. An Inversion is also in the game, (like "Likes Greenskins", for example), which instead gives negative traits when fighting the faction.

* ACommanderIsYou: As in the first game the factions are ''far different'' from each other, compared to most strategy games, both on the campaign map and the battlefield.
** '''High Elves''': An ''Elitist/Generalist/Espionage'' faction. High Elf units are all at least reasonably well-armored, well-trained, quick on their feet and they have a variety of units to provide hard-counters, plus they gain buffs to damage when nearer their maximum hitpoints. But they are expensive and their numbers generally small, so they make up for this by using their Intrigue system to help secure alliances for themselves and divide their enemies against each other.
** '''Dark Elves''':An Elitist/Generalist/Brute faction. Like their counterparts they have a versatile roster of high quality troops, though their soldiers, especially the high-tier ones, tend to be less numerous than average. However, unlike the High Elves, they emphasize sheer force and aggression over espionage and defense. In addition their "Murderous Prowess" mechanic gives them a significant boost to their combat abilities once a certain number of units have been slain, encouraging offense over defense. Their campaign mechanics also encourage aggressive strategies, with the slavery system and numerous boosts to raiding and sacking allowing them to enhance their economy through sacking and raiding.
** '''Skaven''': A Spammer/Technical faction. Probably the most prominent example of a Spammer in the franchise, the Skaven have the largest unit sizes in the game, and their tactics encourage sending waves of Slaves and Clanrats to bog down and distract the enemy, while using much more powerful elite infantry, monsters and war-machines to deal serious damage. They even have an in-battle mechanic that lets them periodically spawn entirely new units of clanrats, which can be placed literally anywhere on the battle map.
*** The Clan Skyre subfaction arguably qualifies as a GameBreaker faction in the campaign. Their collection of weapon teams completely outmatch anything their neighbors can throw at them, and they receive reduced upkeeps for them to boot. With the economy up and running from the easy headstart, Skyre players can then build multiple armies comprised of multiple weapon teams protected by a solid frontline of Stormvermins. Such a combination is pretty much unbeatable by most A.I-controlled armies. Since the A.I is programmed to charge when they are being attacked by something out of range, which the Skavens have plenty of, it's laughably easy to lure the entire enemy army into your ranged firing field. If the Skaven army isn't strong enough for you, their ability to spawn Clanrats everywhere gives them an easy counter to enemy ranged and artillery units. If even that's not enough, Skavens also have access to literal nukes that can obliterate several units with a well-placed shot. Fortunately, an A.I-controlled Skyre faction don't know how to make use of these cheesy tactics, so they are still manageable by human players.
** '''The Lizardmen''': A Brute/Guerrilla faction. Lizardmen have a wide array of ''very'' heavy hitters, including their supremely powerful Saurus Warriors (who are often described as being high-tier infantry with the cost of mid-tier infantry), lumbering Kroxigors, and vicious primal dinosaurs, which will ''rip'' through any army that can't match their strength. Alongside this, they have very powerful skirmishers in the form of their many Skink Cohorts, including the powerful [[StealthExpert Chameleon Skinks]] and Terradon Riders, which are excellent at harassment. Add these two aspects alongside their powerful support magic, and you have a truly formidable force.
** '''The Tomb Kings''': A Spammer/Technical/Gimmick faction. The Tomb Kings are one of the most powerful defensive factions in the game, alongside the Dwarves. They have access to hordes and hordes of hardy, if offensively weak, skeleton infantry which can hold enemies in place for long periods of time, whilst their more powerful and fast units, such as horsemen and their various constructs, move in for the kill. They make heavy use of their lores to further support their skeletons and make them last longer (whose sustainability is enhanced even ''further'' with their battlefield mechanic: ''Realm of Souls''). Unlike the Vampire Counts, they ''do'' have archers and powerful artillery, which let them turtle even more. Tomb Kings also notably have no upkeep on any of their armies, only being allowed to field a limited amount of most units until you construct buildings or research technology to allow them to field more. This makes Tomb Kings armies almost completely expendable as they can simply raise it back up for free a few turns later, making Tomb Kings threat being directly proportional to how much territory they have.
** '''The Vampire Coast''': A ''Spammer/Ranger'' faction. The Vampire Coast are very reliant on being able to quickly summon hordes of cheap infantry and a few monsters to support their waves upon waves of cost-efficient and plentiful gunners on the field with most of their melee units being mainly used in order to keep their the foe bogged down and open for bullets and cannonballs. They may not be as accurate as Dwarfs, Humans and Elves, but they make up for this weakness by drowning their foes in [[MoreDakka a far bigger hail of projectiles]] than anyone else can muster.
** The Rogue Armies are non-playable Gimmick factions that are totally focused on one particular tactic or theme. For instance: only cavalry, only units that fit a pirate theme, only monsters, hilariously impractical amounts of artillery, and so on.

* ActionGirl: Many. High Elves field gallant Princesses, Archmages and Mages, as well as an entire faction led by Everqueen Alarielle with an aid of her Handmaidens. Dark Elves field a lot of badass ladies as well, from Female Dreadlords, Supreme Sorceresses, Sorceresses and Death Hags to faction leaders Morathi, First of the Hag Queens, and Crone Hellebron, High Priestess of Khaine. The Tomb Kings faction in Lustria is led by the badass, yet level-headed, High Queen Khalida. The other undead faction, Vampire Coast, features Female Vampire Fleet Admirals, who are proficient in dark magics, as well as faction leaders Aranessa Saltspire, a very much alive pirate lady from the island of Sartosa, and Cylostra Direfin, a ghost of a Bretonnian opera singer who is also unique for being the first character in the series wholly invented for the game.
* AdaptationalVillainy: While the Lizardmen have always had an undertone of genocidal tendencies, in the tabletop they usually restricted their massacres for the [[AssHoleVictim many]] AlwaysChaoticEvil races of the setting. The Vortex epilogue makes it ''very clear'', yes [[spoiler: they intend to ''slaughter'' [[KillEmAll everyone]] in a giant purge of both the New World, and the Old World, now that they have the power of the Vortex behind them. ]] Furthermore, the game plays up their bestial traits far more, appearing more savage and monstrous then they did in the original game.

* AllianceMeter: A fairly standard one for the genre, unchanged from the first game, though several new types of AI personalities have been added.

* AllOrNothing: Getting caught on a special map (Like a Beastpath) will automatically purge the entire stack (even if a large amount of soldiers survived the initial battle) if the player or AI loses the battle (Explained InUniverse as the surviving soldiers dying from being lost to the extreme wilderness). Losing a battle in March stance, after retreating once already, or while garrissoning a settlement similarly destroys the entire army.

* AlreadyDoneForYou: A common recurrence, as the game is quite random when it comes to AI expansion. Don't expect your rivals across the sea to still be alive after a hundred or so turns. This is especially true in the Mortal Empires campaign, which has rather horrible auto-resolve rolls for the Greenskins and Skaven, who get dominated and snuffed out early on, mainly by the Dwarfs. After a patch, this was ''reversed'' with the Dwarfs barely able to hold on by a thread whilst the Greenskins dominate the badlands.

* TheAgeless: Heroes and Lords do not age, and as such, can't die from old age or sickness. This is especially true for some of the factions (with the average High and Dark elf being able to live for a millennia) Legendary Lords, who are ''ancient''. Lord Mazdamundi for example is ''tens of thousands'' of [[TimeAbyss years old]].

* AntiCavalry: As is the norm for a Total War game most units equipped with spears, halberds, and pikes will be fairly efficient at killing mounted units, though to shake things up any unit with the "Anti-Large" trait will do well against cavalry as well as monsters. Units that brace will also be able to withstand frontal cavalry charges much better. However Monstrous Cavalry, such as the Tomb King Necropolis Knights, will be significantly harder to take down even by dedicated anti-large units.

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Sword of Khaine (otherwise known as the Widowmaker and the Slayer of Gods), doubling as an EvilWeapon. The cursed blade was wielded by the AxCrazy Elven God of War Khaine, which he used to fell immeasurably amounts of people . To drive back the first incursion of Chaos, the first Elven king, Anerion, picked up the sword, which granted him power unimaginable...at the cost of turning him into an AxCrazy beserker. The May Patch added this in as an in-game mechanic, as it lets Dark Elf, Wood Elf or High Elf players construct the Shrine of Khaine. After which, if ones ''very desperate'' (or incredibly stupid), gives the player an option to have one of their generals draw the infamous blade from the shrine, turning them into unimaginably powerful OneManArmy...[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity at the cost of turning them insane, with truly horrible effects mounting on the campaign map the longer the wielder holds the weapon.]]

* AscendedFanon: The May Mortal Empires patch incorporates ''many'' features that modders implemented into the game first. Including, but not limited too;
** Ungrim Ironfist, after essentially two years, is finally receiving his own sub faction, and being moved from Karaz a Karak to his home city Karak Kadrin. This was originally done by [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1158985864 Crynsos' Faction Unlocker+]].
** The Dawi are getting their own crafting system based on the Tomb Kings one, showing off their skills as the UltimateBlacksmith of the setting. This had been done prior (albeit with immense technical difficulties) by [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1333020820 Runeforging]].
** After popular demand, the unforgiving and strict Skaven food system is being overhauled and made easier with the addition of many other ways to get food for your horde, which [[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1167206768 Adjusted Skaven Food]] did before it.
** The Vampire Coast update introduced Island and Black Ark Battles, which were implemented prior by the [[https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1524091553 GCCM: Naval Battles]] mod.

** The Gunnery Mob with Handcannons. What's cooler than zombie pirates with rifles? Zombie pirates with shotguns! Sadly, even though these shotguns do infact deal more damage than the rifles, they also have a far shorter range, meaning they will be far too close to danger once the enemy is in their sights. At most, they will be able to fire off one or two salvos before being forced into melee and they truly have next to no way of defending themselves then. It's simply just better to have them with rifles due to the far better range provided.

* BadassArmy: [[WorldOfBadass Hell yes]].
** The High Elves are well equipped and even their levied citizen-soldiers are very well trained. To reflect their intense discipline and mutual support in formation, High Elf units get a damage bonus when their hitpoint totals are closer to their maximum. Every single High Elf is a decent fighter by necessity and the specialist warriors they field are some of the bravest and most skilled around. They even field powerful ''Dragons'' as allies to further enhance the strength of the High Elven Empire.
** The Druchii are no less skilled in battle than their High Elven foes, and they combine this prowess with a BloodLust to rival that of the Greenskins and Norscans, being a highly militarised society similar to ancient Sparta. They are the opposite of the High Elves, and get stronger the longer in combat. Attached to their army, they make use of corrupted creatures to increase their armies killing ability.
** Despite their cowardice, The Skaven get by with single minded zeal to overwhelm the enemy until they lay broken before the Children of the Horned Rat. They make use of their extremely advanced technology when sheer numbers aren't enough, and can deploy Weapon Teams that fire green, warp-lightning that turn anything they touch to ash, or unleash monstrous abominations created with science to wreck enemy formations.
** Despite having lost most of their temple cities over the long years, the Lizardmen warmachine is still truly a sight to behold. The Saurus are literally bred to be warriors, and it shows: the entire race of them are badass soldiers that can fight off any who oppose the Great Plan. Saurus Warriors are in fact so strong they can trade blows with enemy elites with little effort and exterminate any of the other factions' infantry. They are supported by small, but loyal and nimble, Skink Cohorts who make great use of throwing weapons, and monstrous, primeval beasts that can rip apart lines of warriors.

* TheBerserker: Total War Warhammer II introduces a new mechanic called "Rampage", which essentially causes certain units to lose control and attack the enemy closest to them without regards to their own safety! The Lizardmen are the primary holders of this mechanic. As a plus side, units under this effect will rarely route, and fight to the death. There even exists a spell that allows you to give this debuff to enemy units. Quite a few Game 1 units were given this effect with the Mortal Empires patch, such as Feral Manticores, and Squig Herds.
* TheBadGuyWins: The Dark Elves or Skaven being victorious in the single player Vortex campaign spells absolute disaster for the rest of the ''Warhammer'' world. If the Skaven win, [[spoiler:[[GodOfEvil the Horned Rat]] himself is brought into the world, eager to consume mortal souls by the millions]]. If the Dark Elves win, [[spoiler:Malekith will absorb the incredible power of the Vortex and [[GodhoodSeeker make himself a god]] of the Druchii, and go on to subjugate the entire world with his power. Given the sheer sadistic cruelty of the Dark Elves, [[FateWorseThanDeath a few years under their rule]] might see the other races ''begging'' for the End Times.]]

* BloodierAndGorier: The "Blood for the Blood God" DLC turns this practically Up to 11. Previously bloodless battlefields become filled with torn up corpses, gallons and gallons of blood, and ripped up limbs. It also adds a dismemberment system to the game, and makes the monster kill moves a thousand times more disgusting.
* BottomlessMagazines: Fully Averted, unlike the previous game; all ranged units now have reload animations, though units who lacked reloading animations in the first game still lack them in Mortal Empires.

* BodyguardingABadass:
** The Lizardmen Temple Guard are the strongest and most disciplined Saurus Warriors in any temple city. They're warriors who are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old who have stood guard against foes since time immemorial. The [[TheArchMage Slaan mage priests]] they "guard" can rip open tectonic plates and immolate entire armies by themselves. Downplayed, since whilst the Slann are immensely powerful they spend a lot of their time ''asleep'', rendering them extremely vulnerable and in need constant supervision. As well as being almost [[SquishyWizard physically defenseless]] on the off-chance an enemy actually got into melee range of one.
** The White Lions of Chrace are one of the most elite units in the entire High Elf military, being High Elf Woodsmen clad in heavy armor, wielding ''two-handed battle axes'' and acting primarily as the Phoneix King's personal cohort of bodyguards. It is slightly subverted in their case though, as while many Phoenix Kings have been great warriors, many have been essentially [[NonActionGuy non action guys]] as well, including the current incumbent, Finubar the Seafarer.
** The Black Guard of Naggarond are [[EvilOverlord Malekith's]] [[PraetorianGuard personal guard]] and the most elite warriors in the Dark Elf army. Each one is trained from the time they're old enough to hold a weapon and indoctrinated to be fanatically loyal to the Witch King. [[MagicKnight Male]][[DragonRider kith]] of course is one of the ''last'' people in need of protection.

* DarkFantasy: Just like the first game, though Creative Assembly made its color power palette so bright it resembles High Fantasy in art direction more.
* DamageSpongeBoss: The combination of heavy armor and insanely huge health pools on enemy lords often requires one to go to absurd lengths in order to kill them. Killing them sometimes requires you to spend several minutes hacking away at them with your entire army after theirs has routed. This is also the case for many of the Lizardmen's monsters, who have thick, armored plating, which gives them the durability of ''tanks''.

* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: At the climax of the Skaven campaign the scribe turns on Vulscreek for attempting to sacrifice his clan to the Horned Rat, ripping his throat out... and completing the ritual ''himself'' by sacrificing the Grey Seer Clan instead.]]

** Special mention goes to the recently added city of Skavenblight in Mortal Empires, the racial capital of the foul rodent species. Located near Tilea, the area we're it's located is a large, blight filled ''wasteland'' of pure foulness.

** If you want to build up diplomatic standing with a faction by attacking its enemies, don't - Attacking a faction's enemy is one of the ''least'' efficient ways to gain diplomatic relations. Killing their armies and capturing their settlements are only worth small one-time diplomatic gains. Instead, don't declare war on the enemy at all, just go into their territory and raid them. This gives you twice the bonus because you get one for raiding them ''and'' one for trespassing on their land (you can only trespass on a faction you're not at war with) and you will get an increase to that bonus every turn you stay there multiplied by the number of raiding armies you have. If you're much stronger than the faction you're raiding they will almost never declare war on you, so you can do this forever. This can very quickly build up enormous amounts of diplomatic goodwill with anyone who hates or is at war with the person you're raiding as long as they don't capture the territories you're occupying. You can also perform hero actions against them, again without going to war, to add a third diplomatic boost.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: Continuing a trend from Total War games from at least as far back as VideoGame/RomeTotalWar, the best place you can be when two armies are attacking you is between them. In normal military tactics this would be a disaster, but here it means you can simply deploy your entire force within inches of where the enemy reinforcements are coming in and hit them before they have time to form up, causing a very easy rout. This gives the main army a large leadership penalty and makes it even easier to rout ''them'' when they finally reach you.

* AnimateDead: The Tomb Kings raise armies by resurrecting fallen legions of skeletons, though only on the Campaign Map, as unlike the Vampire Counts from the first game, they have no ability to summon skeleton warriors on the battlefield.
* AmazonBrigade: Witch Elves are all-female units of fanatical Dark Elf warrior-cultists, who try to honor Khaine by spilling the blood of ''everything'' they come across. ''The Queen and the Crone'' DLC gave the High Elves the Sisters of Avelorn, a unit of all-female archers with magic longbows that fire arrows of magical energy.