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1For tropes specific to the other games, see YMMV/TotalWarWarhammerII and YMMV/TotalWarWarhammerIII.
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3* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: Though not ''nearly'' as disliked as the other [[TheScrappy advisors]] in the series, the one here can be pretty grating, constantly repeating information you already know. Though he is saved scorn from most players for having an interesting backstory (a former Imperial Light Sorcerer who crossed the DespairEventHorizon from the existence of the Empire's many enemies), story relevance (coming to each faction to give their leaders advice), [[spoiler: and, unlike all the other Helpers, ''betraying'' you to Chaos in a cinematic cut scene.]]
4* AntiClimaxBoss:
5** [[spoiler:While very formidable, Sarthorael still goes down rather easily (especially when confronted by a powerful Lord), and his army of EliteMooks is considerably tougher than him.]]
6** Archaon and the Chaos Invasion, which is usually killed within 15 turns of appearing on the map. There are many reasons for this: them just not having that many armies,[[note]]The first game adjusts their numbers based on difficulty. The Doom Tide preliminary wave will be 3/4/4/5/6 half-stacks, and the main wave will be 5/5/6/7/8 full stacks followed by 0/1/2/3/4 more waves of the same size as the latter (so on Hard for instance, the main wave would be 6 stacks, followed by two more waves of same size, for a total of 18). They will be supplemented by a few Beastmen stacks and 5/5/6/7/8 full Bjornling stacks, plus whatever the Skaeling and Varg vassal factions can muster if they're still on the map. Already this isn't ''that'' much by the time they show up (considering they'll have to split up to attack multiple factions), but what really cripples them is that the Warriors of Chaos can never have more than 5/5/6/7/8 stacks on the map at any one time, thus even with the Beastmen and Norscan back-up multiple factions will likely have numerical superiority over them individually - much less ''together.''[[/note]] being a horde, meaning losing a army is the same as a settlement, the Warriors of Chaos being on the wrong side of the game's meta, their weak mechanics, weak economy and the fact the AI doesn't know how to handle horde factions, which are already regarded as weak. The second game buffed the invasion by having it both be larger and all show up at once, but it was to little avail.
7* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: A major draw of the game is to see the Old World in its glory, along with its scenery, and all the classic ''Warhammer'' unit designs. And by Sigmar [[http://img08.deviantart.net/29a9/i/2016/151/4/6/total_war_warhammer_empire_by_diegogisbertllorens-da4ijod.jpg are]] [[http://d1vnh8mbrp67em.cloudfront.net/image/file/3/b5/83813/vamp.png they]] [[https://us.v-cdn.net/5022456/uploads/editor/29/jof5xiaveq2h.jpg breathtaking]].
8* AwesomeEgo:
9** Some fans love Balthasar Gelt for how much of an UnscrupulousHero his quest battle speeches show him to be.
10** Grimgor is da best!
11** Sigvald the Magnificent is this, as despite being a selfish, narcissistic pretty boy who had a ''massive'' ego, has a legion of fangirls, and, admittedly, some of the best quest speeches in the game.
12** Wulfrik the Wanderer is convinced that he's the WorldsBestWarrior and he can easily back it up with a massive amount of [[BadassBoast Badass Boasts]].
13* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: While the entire score is exceptional, the music that plays in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60WQUG3XW3M Bretonnia trailer]], is the standout.
14* BaseBreakingCharacter:
15** Mannfred Von Carstein in a nutshell. On one hand, to a portion of the fanbase, he's beloved for being one of the strongest Legendary Lords gameplay wise, his [[EvilSoundsDeep intimidating voice acting]] and general EvilIsCool vibes, but to many others, he's a laughable [[FanNickName "Manlet"]] that's ''hated'' for destroying the setting during ''The End Times'', and deserves to be beaten up by "Vlad the Dad". It should be noted that his status as this is pretty much an improvement, because Mannfred was originally a full on [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] for the entire Warhammer fandom. Expect threads to be filled with Vlad and Mannfred fans bashing each other on various subjects.
16*** A later patch broke the Vampire faction in two for this exact reason. Mannfred is still the default, but you can play as Vlad and kick Manfred's ass if you so desire.
17** Archaon as well, with half of the fandom thinking he's a complete badass, the other seeing him a whiny edgelord, who is overshadowed by the other Chaos Lords and various non Chaos villains as well.
18* BrokenBase:
19** Whilst a large amount of people were happy for a Total War set in the Warhammer Fantasy Universe, there were those who became upset that Creative Assembly was making a game that is not based in a historical setting (even though it's been stated that a separate team was indeed working on a separate historical-themed Total War). This did die down periodically, but kept simmering throughout the ''Warhammer'' era.
20*** Though the flames re-ignited to an extent with the announcement trailer for the first expansion, as fans of the historical titles were once again displeased that a new historical title had not yet been announced.
21*** The preview and arrival of ''Total War: Warhammer'' led up to a infamous black mark in the history of the ''Total War Center'' community. Simply put, a deep schism occurred between die-hard traditional ''Total War'' players on one side and casual players and Warhammer Fantasy fans on the other over the new game's setting, either-streamlined-and-or-dumbed-down gameplay mechanics and greatly restricted moddability. The conflict got so severe that several members (including - according to certain reports - some Creative Assembly staff) left the main Total War fan hub, ''Total War Center'', for other sites like Reddit and more insular communities of their respective choices.
22** The reveal of the Chaos faction being a pre-order DLC made a lot of fans unhappy that a particularly iconic faction of the setting wasn't playable in the base game.
23*** Similarly, the surprise reveal of [[BloodierAndGorier optional blood and gore]] effects as paid DLC rather than a free patch hasn't impressed some people. Some are happy to have the gore, while others are insulted that Creative Assembly would dare to put a price tag on such a simple graphical feature while giving us free Blood Knights at the exact same time. This [[VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2 isn't the]] [[VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII first time]] this has happened, of course.
24** The inability for players to conquer the entire map due to lore reasons did not go over well, either.
25** The news that the Dwarfs will be able to ally with the Vampire Counts was met with mixed reception. On the one hand, there are some who believe this goes against the lore too heavily. Others think that this opens up great gameplay opportunities. This was based off an off-hand mention in one of the demo videos. In the final game, this was shown to be less problematic then originally expected, as both factions have to destroy the other to win in the long campaign; the most they can do is a non-aggression pact. In fact, both factions have their diplomacy mechanically weighted such that any agreement between the two is likely to be superficial and short-lived. They are quite common in the early game, simply because both factions have more pressing enemies to deal with and aren't competing for the same regions.
26** A large divide has sprung up, between fans of the multiplayer and fans of the campaign. The former wanting the unit balance to be competitive and fair, while the later group of people wants the lore and fun factor to take precedence over gameplay balance.
27* CatharsisFactor: On the tabletop end of this franchise, the decision to end [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} the Old World]] to [[ContinuityReboot replace it]] with the ''[[TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar Age of Sigmar]]'' was met with no [[BrokenBase small amount of disappointment from much of the fanbase]]. Being able to play in the Old World again in this game is the next best thing to actually [[GoodOldWays playing the old game]] on the tabletop, and being able to push back the forces of Chaos and avert ''[[TabletopGame/WarhammerTheEndTimes the End Times]]'' is a huge bonus.
28* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Due to the fact that generic Lords and Heroes can be KilledOffForReal, most players will ''always'' choose the Immortality trait to elimate that possibility -- partially due to the fact that a high-level character has probably gotten the bulk of the skills the player wanted from them, and partially due to the fact that a well-levelled character can be essential to an army or campaign's strategy and raising a new one to replace them if they fall is costly, time-inefficient and not at all a sure thing given how vulnerable they are without it, which of course [[HereWeGoAgain might lead to them being killed and having to be replaced as well]].
29* ContinuityLockout: Many newcomers to the ''Warhammer'' series can be overwhelmed by the vast background of the setting, which amounts to ''thirty'' years of gradually evolving lore, and be confused about who the heck everyone is. Especially now that ''Warhammer Fantasy'' has been discontinued.
30** This has led to more than a few people innocently asking for units or mount options without realising that what they're asking for was introduced in, and exclusive to the ''Age of Sigmar'' game. Such as the monstrous, chimera-like form Archaon's "horse" took on.
31* CrazyIsCool: The Orcs are just as batshit insane, and awesome as ever.
32* CreatorsPet: Some fans have accused Creative Assembly of favouring the Vampire Counts over the other factions. The reasons why being:
33** Not only was their roster more complete then the others at launch, but two of three of the [=FreeLC=] Legendary Lords have been Vampire Counts (Vlad and Isabella von Carstein), Vlad and Manfred are considered {{Game Breaker}}s in single player, and the Vampire Counts as a whole are considered top tier in multiplayer matches.
34** In spite of what it looks like, the Vampire Counts actually have one of the best start positions in the game. They're really only vulnerable from the north and west, as the Dwarfs are usually going to be distracted by the Greenskin threat and even if they do attack, a few well placed garrison buildings can easily deal with their forces. This means that you can instead focus on expanding into a divided Empire that is often at war with itself without having to worry too much about your home province. Assisting matters is that you can build a gold mine in Castle Drakenhof, giving a massive boost to your economy.
35* CreepyAwesome: The fandom's opinion of Durthu. An insane tree spirit in the form of a burnt-out husk, wearing a half-destroyed face with a perpetual SlasherSmile, speaking in a deep, demonic voice, wielding a massive sword, wanting to commit genocide against any who dare harm nature. Needless to say, he's a lot more popular than Orion.
36* DemonicSpiders: Marauder Horsemen. Chaos and Norscan factions like spamming them. Very fast, numerous, and damaging, they'll be the bane of your existence, not because they're strong, but because they're so annoying, as their insane speed make them difficult to catch. All the while they'll be chucking spears and throwing axes at your precious cavalry.
37** On a similar note, Chaos Chariots, another effective hit-and-run unit that has players tearing their hair out to go up against. While much harder to use for actual players since the Chariots must avoid being bogged down and thus carefully managed in light of this, the computer has a lot less trouble micromanaging them and your infantry will probably catch one of them in the back if there's ''that'' many of them. Later game Norscan factions are infamous for having [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/835826964417113164/72E0FE136E99ECA7629F291A380FAD2E06DE2B26/ armies consisting of them]]. This is believed to be caused by resident ArtificialStupidity being unable to change building lines that have already been constructed so they'll just constantly build the highest "value" units available to them heedless of having part of their unit roster been cut off in some way. [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/90476295963263917/AE8E27A865B51624969FE11D47978A15395C2E28/ Other factions are by no means immune to this phenomenon as well]], but the Norsca (particularly the Varg's Surtha Ek, joked to be the true threat to the world instead of Archaeon the Everchosen) being an inevitable opponent for factions aside from Chaos in the late-game has them be especially known to do this.
38** Fighting the Wood Elves tends to be an exercise in frustration and a Pyrrhic Victory at best unless you're fighting them with an army specialized to take them out. Their ranged infantry outpaces most other melee infantry to ensure they'll probably get to laboriously hit-and-run against your melee infantry until they run out of ammunition, and fighting them will also probably mean you're fighting in a forest (which is annoying enough for the fact they'll get speed and accuracy bonuses while inside them) so you can look forward to constantly having order your troops to move or attack toward a different target over and over because you lost sight of the Wood Elves' units from the forest hiding them.
39* EnsembleDarkhorse:
40** Helman Ghorst is very well liked by the fanbase for being a previously only being [[AscendedExtra flavor text]] character from the original tabletop that was brought up and turned into a full Legendary Lord with a unique model, as well as being actually useful in the campaign.
41** [[KnightInShiningArmor Alberic d'Bordeleaux]] is popular as well, for similar reasons.
42** Despite only being a PaletteSwap with some unique abilities and a modified skill tree, Boris Todbringer (and his faction, Middenland) is a highly requested character for getting proper Legendary Lord treatment for the reasons that he's already partially in the game and the potential for Ulrican elements. An example of his popularity is [[https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/205503/what-is-mortal-empires an official forum]] that was planned to discuss the Mortal Empires campaign map, and was accompanied by a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqSnK4rv7nU Youtube video]] explaining what it is, and among the Legendary Lords present when the video said how many there would be, Boris was among them, which community manager Matt Whelan clarified was only because he's available in multiplayer. This caused the forum to derail completely to the point where Boris was the only thing people talked about.
43** Dmitry Tsaryov, the leader of Kislev, is extremely loved due to his memetic "Kislev" line. It gets to the point where everyone is disappointed to learn that he will be back in ''Warhammer 3'' as a rebel lord against Katarin.
44* EvenBetterSequel: When it was released, it was critically acclaimed by critics for perfectly blending ''Warhammer Fantasy'' and ''Total War'' together. Fan opinion has been very positive, to the extent it's being heralded as one of the best games in the series, along with ''Medieval 2'' and ''Shogun 2''.
45* EvilIsCool: All the evil factions are this, as afforded by their impressive pedigree, which include the batshit Greenskins, the savage Beastmen, the black armored Chaos Warriors, the hardened, viking-esque Norscans, and the sinister Vampire Counts with their legions of undead. Special mention goes to the evil Legendary Lords, which are equally as badass as their order counterparts.
46* FanNickname:
47** Many fans prefer to call the game ''Total Warhammer'' rather than ''Total War: Warhammer'', and even ask why it isn't the former. Another popular one is ''Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Official Ninth Edition''. The developers themselves jokingly asked why it wasn't called ''Total Warhammer'' instead.
48** The fandom has taken a liking to referring Manfred von Carstein as "Mannlet von Carstein".
49** Another popular one, this time for Vlad von Carstein is "Vlad the Dad" or "Vladdy dad"
50** [[spoiler: Sarthorael the Ever-Watcher]] is fondly known as "Big Bird" or "Warp Chicken".
51** Orion, the King in the Woods, is often jokingly referred to as [[Creator/MelGibson "Mel Gibson"]] due to [[CelebrityResemblance his perceived resemblance]] to the actor.
52** Volkmar's War Altar is often referred to as [[BlingOfWar "The Pimp Wagon"]] due to how outrageously luxurious it looks for something that is supposed to be brought into war.
53** The four legendary hunters Wulfhart can recruit are referred to as the Wulfhart Four after the [[VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide The Ubersreik Five]].
54* FanPreferredCouple: Gobbla and Skarsnik. [[https://i.redditmedia.com/wVsadHga44RHQtZW0Unk0ESVhQRyEgl-yJgZA04qQIM.jpg?w=320&s=6eefcb157cf55bfff233bf93bc70f727 We ain't kidding...]]
55* GameBreaker:
56** Single-player: Auto-resolved battles are decided largely by pure numbers, ignoring other factors like army composition, and preferentially assigns damage to large creatures and heroes. This makes large stacks of otherwise cannon fodder units ludicrously powerful. Except for zombies, which count ''against'' the army using them for some reason. This was fixed in a later patch that made auto resolve a lot fairer to the AI.
57*** Ranged units are also given a disproportionate amount of power in the system, with it being common for a single missile unit to get more kills than several melee ones. Because of this the AI favours them more when building armies, stacking numerous ranged units and(in the Empire's case) siege weapons into armies.
58** The Doom Diver Catapult is ludicrously powerful. It has an enormous range, and self guided missiles that do a lot of damage. Against the AI its pretty much impossible to avoid, and will cut a swathe through the heaviest units. It's not unusual for it to get over a hundred kills in auto-resolves, and be much higher rank than other units in the same army, making it even more deadly in played battles.
59** Vlad Von Carstein grants his entire army Vanguard Deployment, letting you place units almost anywhere you want. This removes the primary weakness of the Vampire Counts (having nothing but melee units) and allows them to near instantly reach the enemy army. In addition Vlad also possesses a skill which grants units free experience every turn, along with being an extremely powerful lord in his own right.
60** Multiplayer: Demigryph knights (incredibly powerful for their price and counter several high-tier units that cost almost twice as much, while lacking counters themselves) and Shem's Burning Gaze/Soul Leech, both of whom quickly kill the enemy general with three-four castings and cost very little mana for how much damage they do against single characters.
61** Before the obvious nerf, Flock of Doom could wipe out many squads, even late game ones, with a single cast, which made Beastmen magicians overpowered. CA recently restored its power, so while it aint quite as bad, it's back to being ''very'' dangerous.
62** [[spoiler:The True Everchosen buff you get for defeating Archaon as Norsca grants huge bonuses faction wide. Increasing chaos corruption from characters, +3 experience ranks to all recruited units, and -75% to upkeep costs.]]
63* GatewaySeries: As mentioned below, the game sparked new interest in the Fantasy version of Warhammer, introducing plenty of people to the (sadly discontinued) franchise.
64* GoddamnedBats:
65** When playing as the Greenskins or Dwarfs, the Top Knotz Savage Orcs. Less diverse than the other Greenskin factions, but their units are tougher than the mainline Orc equivalents and they use massive numbers of Arrer Boys. While mid-to-late game armies can stomp on them, they rapidly rebuild forces and their bases are deep in the Badlands and difficult to root out. They got significantly nerfed in the first patch, so they aren't anywhere near as big of a problem; however, it also added a random event that makes them come back if you ever do manage to get rid of them.
66** Related to the above is the random event of a Savage Orc tribe showing up. While they don't spawn immediately hostile, it's still an Orc warband potentially spawning far from the Badlands in your territory (as it always spawns somewhere near your borders), which can reinforce on its own, can suddenly decide to attack you while you're busy with other threats, and they are entirely composed of the aforementioned Savage units. There's no permanent way to stop them from spawning, and killing them as soon as the tribe shows up may just make them appear again a few turns later.
67** The Norscan tribes can easily become this as well. Despite their armies consisting almost entirely of low tier marauder units, and are thus not particularly difficult to defeat, they seem to have an almost inexhaustible supply of troops and the fact that their homeland causes constant attrition to all non Chaos armies makes them extremely irritating to deal with. They have an uncanny knack of knowing which of your [[TheAllSeeingAI settlements don't have walls]], and are smart enough to sail around the continent to flank an enemy. Most of the factions can't establish a foothold in Norsca, as there's only some Human/Vampire towns across the sea, or a few Dwarfish holds on the far eastern side of their land. If the player doesn't devote enough forces to purge the north completely, the Norscans will keep resettling their destroyed settlements once the player's army has moved on.
68* GoodBadBugs: Kholek Suneater can sometimes appear ''much'' larger than his already huge size on the campaign map, making him look both hilarious and intimidating.
69* HarsherInHindsight: A random event that can appear for Bretonnia is an outbreak of a deadly, contagious disease. You have to choose between quarantine, crippling your economy to save your population, or downplaying the situation, crippling your population to save your economy. This hits way too close to home after the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.
70* HilariousInHindsight: The game ''VideoGame/WarhammerMarkOfChaos'' was likened to a ''Total War'' game set in the ''Warhammer'' universe on its release, if a much more linear one. Cut to years later and an actual Total War game set in the Warhammer universe has been made.
71** ''Shadow Of The Horned Rat'' is a real-time strategy game that has an astoundingly similar feel to the ''Total War'' franchise BUT predates ''Total War: Warhammer'' by ''21 years''. Even more astounding is that it also predates the very first ''Shogun: Total War'' by ''5 years''.
72* IKnewIt: Many fans had been guessing for years about the possibility of a ''Total War: Warhammer'' game and the speculation ramped up even more when Creative Assembly announced a partnership with Games Workshop to produce a title from one of their IP's. To no one's surprise (as it was ''leaked'' in an artbook ''months'' before.) this IP turned out to be ''Warhammer Fantasy''.
73* ItWasHisSled: The Chaos invasion, [[spoiler: Sarthorael, and the adviser betraying you are pretty well known twists.]]
74* LowTierLetdown:
75** In terms of PVP, many consider Gelt and Kemmler to be the worst possible choices for a legendary lord due to how they cost far more than they bring to a fight compared to a much cheaper regular wizard or master necromancer. And making matters worse for Gelt, it is very rare to see experienced players use his lore, The Lore of Metal, unless one plays as [[spoiler: The Everwatcher]]. A patch later made the Lore of Metal fully viable, and gave Gelt a powerful campaign bonus. While he isn't as widely used as the other Empire Lords, he's considered a vast improvement over Kemmler...
76** Though powerful in single-player, Dwarfs are generally considered the least competitive PVP army. Their entire shtick is based on heavily armored but undercosted infantry in a game where countering enemy army lists (and being unpredictable so the enemy can't easily counter your own list) is a premium asset, and this makes Dwarf rosters easily [[PoorPredictableRock predictable]]. Every faction has an Armour-piercing anti-infantry unit that will go through Dwarfs like a knife through hot butter, and to make matters worse the only AntiCavalry unit available to Dwarfs are the GlassCannon Slayers, who are both outrun by cavalry and usually killed by them ''en masse'' if the cavalry charge first.
77** On higher difficulty levels Dwarfs also lose out on the 'powerful in single-player' element due to EarlyGameHell. The dwarfs start at war with no less than ''three'' neighbouring Greenskins factions (and two more within diplomacy range which will quickly add to the dog-pile the moment they contact you), all of whom will usually ignore each other to attack the Silver Road starting province from both north and south. Due to the ludicrous map bonuses given to AI factions on Very Hard and Legendary, you will often be under constant attack and have no way to viably expand until you've walled in every garrison, at which point you will be hopelessly behind your rivals.
78** Bretonnia is also considered one of the weaker multiplayer armies for much the same reason, except as an army with great cavalry and mediocre everything else. Opponents just take more anti-cavalry units than normal as a precaution, and Bretonnian armies trying to be unpredictable and bring less cavalry are stuck with the aforementioned mediocre units instead. In single player they have more ways of being strong, but they also begin to suffer from being unable to really adapt well as the turns roll on thanks to having only a small amount of strong units to field, meaning if the enemy starts employing their heavy hitters, Bretonnia can seriously hit a wall late-game and be quickly taken out.
79** Empire Pistoliers are about as infamously poor as Slayers. While Marauder Horsemen are well-known DemonicSpiders, Pistoliers usually cause players to breath easy should they see the AI have them in their armies, due to their poor range and damage-output for the Pistoliers' near point-blank range (not helped by said range making the Pistoliers' AI having trouble with actually shooting at all if they are being chased by infantry that are just even a little faster than the average while set to skirmish), making it simplistic for players to just shoot them to death with their ranged infantry.
80** Giants of all varieties are massive, poorly-armored targets with no real special abilities to speak of. No-one is willing to field them, as they die easily under massed missile fire, and in every roster that features them giants are usually overshadowed by other, more useful gigantic monsters (war mammoths, arachnorok spiders, cygors). The steady PowerCreep of the sequels and DLC leaves giants further in the dust, with the addition of even more powerful centerpiece units such as the Greenskins' rogue idol.
81** With the sole exception being the Norscan factions, the DLC factions in the campaign are all considered among the worst factions to play as:
82*** The Warriors of Chaos as a faction suffer from being out of date, with a Horde army mechanic with no way of stopping enemies from simply retaking land they lost. This is because Chaos Corruption is supposed to dissuade people from attempting to do so, but its very easy to load up on Lords and Heroes who can lower attrition costs, and can reduce Chaos Corruption, allowing them to quickly reclaim tainted land, and in a relatively short time return it to normal. Furthermore, as a Horde faction, Chaos suffers from having highly expensive units, but without a reliable way of gaining income. Their units are powerful, but when you start off with weak units, while being close to enemies who can quickly make strong armies, its very likely Chaos will die within a few turns. Even if they survive for a while, once the End Times come, ''everyone'' teams up to stop Chaos, and since Chaos likely has almost no allies or extra armies to field, they quickly get overwhelmed and defeated.
83*** The Beastmen faction suffers all the same issues as the Warriors of Chaos, but while the Warriors of Chaos at least have strong units with unique looks to them, the Beastmen lack any real unique mechanics, only have a small amount of unique to them units, and are even worse as a Horde faction since their Chaos Corruption is not as powerful as the Warriors of Chaos. They tend to be easy to hunt down and kill as well, and because many of their units are Large units, if a faction focuses around that, they go down incredibly easily. Not helping is that their DLC is one of the more expensive ones, being twice as much as other DLC.
84*** The Wood Elves are better than the previous two, but suffer from a ScrappyMechanic that makes them disliked and hard to play as; Amber. Wood Elves need Amber to create some buildings and units, and since they are split between the Wood Elves and the Tree Spirits, you need Amber to recruit whichever units you aren't the faction of. Amber though can only be gained by taking cities, meaning you have a faction that wants to use the woods and forests to ambush enemies, having to go out and raid or take cities just to be able to do well. Its also possible to go into an Amber deficiency if you lose cities, resulting in them potentially outright being unable to catch-up if they lose a city. Their units are good but because the Amber system, their campaign power is far below other factions unless they act quickly.
85* MemeticBadass:
86** Surtha Ek, the head of the Varg tribe (and to a lesser degree Felman Ingersson, his counterpart in the Skaeling tribe). He's especially associated with copious amount of [[DemonicSpiders chariot and marauder horseman spam]], and is more [[LoveToHate Loved-To-Hated]] than the actual BigBad of the first game in the community. This has included calls to make him an actual Norscan Legendary Lord with bonuses to Chariots.
87** Balthasar Gelt's hammy dialogue and blatantly self-interested motives have earned him a reputation as a literal ColonelKilgore {{expy}} who obliterates the enemies of the Empire with Hellstorm rocket spam to the tune of Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival and Music/BlackSabbath.
88* MemeticLoser:
89** Kemmler is universally ridiculed for his ''atrocious'' stats and useless campaign bonuses, making him absolutely ''worthless'' to many players, in the campaign and multiplayer. His only saving grace is being able to summon Krell, but Krell gets more love from the fans than Kemmler does (and Krell wasn't added until months after release). The developers became aware of this and planned to update him to buff his campaign performance with new bonuses and a fresh skill tree.
90** In nearly every video where Sigvald the Magnificent is brought up, there will be plenty of people reminding him of his humiliating fate during ''The End Times''; [[spoiler: getting his head crushed into paste by Throgg and then having his bloody corpse pissed on by the troll out of spite.]] Definitely NOT helped by his terrible stats which have been getting progressively worse in the multiplayer scene with power creep.
91** Giants, often seen as the worst of the large monsters in the entire game series due to their slow speed, low morale and large hitbox, not helped by the fact that every faction that has access to them has something better as well, such as Dragon Ogres, Mammoths, Dragons and more. Granted, they were the biggest thing that the Greenskins could field for the longest time, but even then most players refused to pick them and opted for some Black Orcs instead. And they became obsolete for the Greenskins the moment the Rogue Idols were introduced in the second game. It is heavily believed that the only reason to include them in the game is for lore reasons and that they are at least somewhat useful against lower-tier infantry.
92* MemeticMutation:
93** People have started to call the Chaos Hell Cannons the "Penis Cannons" due to their phallic design (most notably, the two fleshy orbs between the cannon).
94*** The fact that Sigvald (the champion of [[SexGoddess Slaanesh]]) starts with one certainly helps the meme.
95** Karl Franz in general has actually become a veritable FountainOfMemes. His hammy dialogue is very easily exploited and made to fit virtually any situation. There are even mini stories in which Karl Franz only speaks in his clicked responses, and it is hilarious.
96---> The Empress: Why do I feel as though you have no interest in me anymore?
97--->Karl: BRING ME TO MY MEN!
98*** "SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS!"
99*** "This action does not have my consent!" is also popular for being easily parroted into any situation you disagree with.
100** "Kislev." Because, well, that's literally the only voice line that is ever spoke by the Kislev faction in reply to diplomatic actions, regardless of what the text for it says.
101** Kill Them. Raise Them.
102** "BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION!", usually accompanied by a picture of one of Surtha Ek's more... ''unorthodox'' army compositions.
103** "{{Say my name}}! '''SAY MY NAME!'''"
104** "Skaven? That's just a myth spread by Tilean traders to raise the cost of wheat" and variants were already a thing in the fantasy fandom, but it has been increased by the widespread demand for the Skaven to be included in the game in the future, and the reality that in the game at release there were no Skaven.
105*** A variant of this is the poster denying Skaven exist [[ImplausibleDeniability while invoking the Skaven verbal tics in their denial.]]
106** WHERE IS KRELL!?
107*** HERE IS KRELL!
108** [[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing "THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!"]] is often quoted when talking about killing mammoths from Norsca.
109** "Durthu = [[GodwinsLaw Tree Hitler]]". To clarify, this is due to an early AI bug where Durthu's faction of Wood Elves would become aggressively expansionist, steamroll all the other local groups, conquer a large portion of the Old World, and then ally with ''Chaos'', of all people. The next patch made both Wood Elf factions incredibly isolationist, removing this tendency.
110** [[GoYeHeroesGoAndDie "Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen!"]], the speech from Balthasar Gelt's second quest battle for the Amulet of Gold, was rendered memetic thanks to Gelt's status as a FountainOfMemes, that and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoK20MzDtTg a particular video]].
111* MorePopularSpinOff: On both counts, towards the ''Total War'' series, and the ''Warhammer Fantasy'' franchise. Not only is it the bestselling Total War game to date, it reinvigorated interest in ''Warhammer Fantasy'', bringing thousands of new fans to the setting, arguably surpassing Warhammer Fantasy's ''real'' successor, ''Age of Sigmar'' in terms of popularity.
112* PlayerPreferredPattern: The likelihood of Empire or Bretonnia players to gun for the capital Marienburg and its uniquely high-income port is practically [[MemeticMutation memetic]].
113* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: During the last years of the tabletop, Grimgor was considered a CreatorsPet who kept getting built up at the expense of more interesting Orcs & Goblins characters and because he was the one to end ''Storm of Chaos'' by sucker punching Archaon at the last moment. Here he is still very powerful, but is just one member of the BigBadEnsemble, and his great melee prowess is balanced by being permanently stuck footslogging in a game where mounts are very useful for Lords, earning him a far greater fandom than he used to have. His many [[LaughablyEvil hilarious]] and [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] quotes certainly help matters.
114* ScrappyMechanic: Stance-dancing. Armies can enter multiple stances that allow for different bonuses and the AI is adept at cycling quickly between stances to troll the player in unbelievably frustrating ways that a logical person would assume are impossible.
115** The March stance was the most frustrating of these after release and was so widely-hated that there are multiple popular mods that flat-out remove it, prompting changes to how it fundamentally worked to fix these issues. Initially designed as a tool to allow armies to move through friendly territory quickly and reduce campaign downtime by giving a movement speed bonus, but causing decreased vigour and locking out the ability to initiate battles, the AI quickly learned that March stance was instead the most powerful tool for an attacking army in enemy territory. The movement speed bonus meant that they can outrun any hostile army, as an army has to use March stance to match their speed and thus can't engage them because armies in March stance can't initiate battles. But even then the AI can work around this because you can switch to March stance from Standard stance at any time - This lets the enemy move to an easy target in Standard stance, attack it, destroy it, then enter March stance and run away, gaining the full movement bonus while negating the entire drawback and also violating a fundamental rule of the game (being in a battle is supposed to use all of your Movement so you can't hit and run like this, but changing to March stance adds movement after this check, letting the army move regardless). Even if you do successfully attack the army they still have the option to retreat once, moving them further away from the army that attacked them and often out of range of a re-engagement, so they just run away next turn. This cycle of hitting, running, and retreating all combines to mean that it can take multiple armies moving in concert upwards of a dozen turns, or multiple successful and expensive Block Army actions from an agent combined with a strong army in Ambush stance, in order to finally get rid of a single raiding army. The player can do this too, but it's more difficult and less beneficial to them than it is to TheAllSeeingAI.
116** The Underway Passages, Beastpaths, and Worldroots are equally annoying. All of them allow armies to instantly teleport a short distance across the map, through terrain and barriers like mountains and rivers. This makes trying to hold off Dwarfs, Greenskins, Beastmen, and Wood Elves at choke points or natural barriers impossible. Unless an army is in range to intercept them during said move (even then, catching them is based on random chance) they can go wherever they want. Combine it with March stance and those factions will run circles around you.
117** Attrition is a lesser Scrappy than stance-dancing but is still often grumbled about due to how prevalent it is. You can take attrition from a lot of sources - Barren wastelands, mountain passes, the North where the GoddamnedBats of Chaos live, Athel Loren, or being in an opposing type of Corruption, with Greenskins also suffering attrition if their Fightiness gets low - and it can devour large portions of your army's health in just a few turns unless you use army-slowing stances to become immune to it, which combined with stance-dancing means you'll probably never fight anything. Towards the final battles with Chaos it's not unusual for half the map to cause Attrition damage. Interestingly, this is also hated by more serious players because the AI doesn't know how to handle attrition very well and will often stand in army-sapping territories for long periods of time, rendering formidable fights into jokes or paralyzing armies for long periods of time.
118** AI-controlled Beastmen are Scrappy Mechanic: The Faction. Not only are they the main abusers of 'stance-dancing' as mentioned above, but they have access to the Beastpaths also mentioned above and have no cities to attack so you can't threaten their assets like they do yours. The cherry on top is the fact their default encampment stance is also an ambush stance, meaning that you often can't see their armies unless they're moving. So in the event you ever manage to bring one to battle, they can simply run away in a random direction and enter a stance that makes them invisible while they recruit new units and heal their casualties. In addition they spread Chaos corruption wherever they go, which can cause public order problems and eventually lead to rebellions and attrition if not kept in check. To top this off they're a faction you can never completely get rid of (like the aforementioned Top Knotz) as they periodically respawn in random places even if completely destroyed.
119* {{Squick}}: Greenskins leave behind ''shit'' in sacked towns. Giant, stinking mounds of shit that are crudely shaped into religious idols. [[ToiletHumor Pity the anonymous fellows that have to clean those]] out for you to put something useful in that building slot...
120* ThatOneAttack:
121** The Net of Amyntok from the Lore of Light can be a complete nightmare for people using either fast-moving units, undead or giant creatures as it pins them down and leaves them defenseless. This only becomes worse if there is a Tempelhof Luminark around.
122** Poison attacks apply a debuff which nerfs an entire unit for a few seconds.
123* ThatOneLevel:
124** Both Mannfred and Heinrich's legendary quests send them across the world to begin their missions; Mannfred going to the Badlands while Heinrich heads to Estalia. Both require an extremely long march through typically unfriendly territory, taking attrition from the lack of Vampiric corruption. In either case, it's better to just pay the gold and instantly do the battles. Mannfred's quests are especially frustrating, requiring you to send a Banshee and later a Necromancer deep into the Badlands. Which is not only time-consuming but wastes valuable heroes who could be gaining experience doing useful stuff, and there's nothing stopping the AI factions from randomly deciding to wound/kill your hero as they pass by, starting the whole trip anew.
125** The final Bretonnia Errantry War mission if you choose to attempt the Chaos story-line. The battle location is deep in the Chaos Wastes, and unlike every other quest you can't simply teleport to it. It means either spending multiple turns fighting through hostile factions, likely suffering high attrition rates along the way, or a long sailing detour that will take even longer. The final battle itself isn't too bad but is also a long war of attrition as you face off against four different armies in quick succession.
126** Azhag the Slaughterer's very first personal quest, needed to unlock both of his special talent trees, requires you to move a character to the border of the Chaos Wastes. Since the Greenskins start in the far southeast and the Wastes are in the far northeast, this effectively requires you to cross the entire world. The quest itself isn't easy either, pitting your one army against a Chaos warband and ''four'' (admittedly small) undead reinforcing armies.
127** Batlhazar Gelt's final personal quest, a duel versus Gottfried Orr for the title of Supreme Patriarch. It takes place right in Altdorf, but more than makes up for it with sheer, ludicrous difficulty that has led otherwise straitlaced players to employ cheats and ask themselves what the hell the developers were smoking in equal measures. To wit: with one army, sans reinforcements, the player must face down two ''full'' 20 unit armies. And not spammy armies filled with trash units, oh, no: anything from cannons and handgunners to multiple units of demigryph knights and high level heroes. Did we mention that one of the two armies starts within spitting distance of the player's deployment zone, hidden in the woods and set to ambush them the moment the battle starts?
128** Trying to take Castle Templehof as the Vampire Counts. Not only is it level 2, it has access to a garrison building adding mid tier units like Grave Guard and Crypt Ghouls. Trying to deal with these in the opening turns can be nightmarish, as it makes Templehof incredibly difficult to wipe out while they can build up to counter-attack between attempts. This requires the player to either fortify their lands and try to get mid-tier units of their own, or raise an entire second army just to get the forces necessary to take out their StarterVillain.
129* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
130** Inverted by the return of Guard Mode, which was well-received by the community.
131** The Siege Battles due to the smaller sizes of the settlements and the oversimplifications of the battles themselves. Where in previous games players can attack through multiple sides and requires strategy and timing, players in this game can attack in only 1 or 2 directions and the strategy when besieging settlements majorly consists of an AttackAttackAttack mentality. Defense towers can now fire well into the attacker's deployment zone outranging most siege weapons, rendering more patient strategies suicidal. It's gotten to the point where players rarely play Siege Battles at all, and call it the real flaw in one of the most popular Total War games of all time.
132* UnexpectedCharacter:
133** Helman Ghorst's announcement as a Legendary Lord alongside Volkmar the Grim led a great deal of people, including those well versed in Warhammer lore, to scratch their heads in response to his name, being an AscendedExtra from a single lore entry. However his appearance makes sense considering the theme of the DLC was heavily based around the Sigmar's Blood Campaign.
134** Another AscendedExtra, Alberic of Bordeleaux was not exactly the first lord that would come to mind for most fans of his faction.
135** More like unexpected race, but before the announcement of the Norsca faction few people expected the Fimir, an obscure and oft forgotten aspect of Warhammer lore, to make any appearance ever again. Norsca itself being a playable faction was also rather unexpected, as it didn't even have a full army list in the tabletop game.
136* UnfortunateCharacterDesign: Hard to tell since the player has to really zoom in, but the players that do upon Empire artillery crews will think each and every one of them [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/847093461251378506/F1B396B6A3EC2FDD08C0FE25FAEB6816FE91BFF1/ has a right-leaning erection]]. It's definitely ''supposed'' to look like the codpieces that were the fashion in 16th century Europe that the Empire is heavily based on (especially the [[http://www.veritablehokum.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Landsknechts2.jpg Landsknecht mercenaries]]), but the actual placement and facing of the crew's really makes theirs look more... natural.
137** Flagellants help prove their name by frequently wearing trappings such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scold%27s_bridle scold's bridle]]-like masks or spiked collars. ''Unfortunately'', such devices inspired modern UsefulNotes/{{BDSM}} fashion and equipment, and so players are likely feel more like they're looking at a unit of weird perverts instead of utterly insane zealots (granted, religious flagellants inherently have some common ground with sexual masochists).
138* WinBackTheCrowd:
139** After ''Total War: Rome 2'' and ''Total War: Attila'', Creative Assembly had a noted reputation for exaggerated promises, poor performance on launch, and buggy releases. Cue Total War: Warhammer's release, and not only were the promises of the advertising upheld, its launch was hailed as notably polished and bug-free.

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