Total War Warhammer 3 DLC Chaos Dwarfs – Evil Incorporated Review

It is often said that there are no “good guys” in the world of Warhammer. That’s as true as it gets, but among the many villains this fantasy world has to offer, there are some bad guys and some really bad guys. Our Total War Warhammer 3 Chaos Dwarfs DLC review is for a new entry in this latest category of Creative Assembly’s epic strategy game, and it might be the most frustrating of all.

While the Chaos Dwarfs act like Babylonian cherubs, all sporting braided beards and top hats, their unique mechanics make them something much more modern: a race born out of Upton Sinclair’s worst nightmares of the industrial age. Seeking to power the massive drill that will awaken their bull god Hashut, the Chaos Dwarfs lead an economy of mines and factories designed for a dual purpose: to supply Chaos Dwarf troops with the strangest and most murderous, and to crush the force of forced labor. spin its relentless wheels.

The implications of this economic system quickly become clear as I begin my first campaign as Drajoat the Ash, the sorcerer-prophet who rules the dark fortress on the brink of the Gnoblars. There is not much of a lifestyle here: the coast of the Sea of ​​Terror immediately melts into a scorched desert, and to the northeast of me are mountains full of ogres, and I am in a hostile and sparsely populated land. I am considering a trip from Las Vegas to Phoenix.

I meet my first neighbors when I try to settle in a ruined settlement at the southern end of my inhospitable territory. Naturally, this is a clan of Skaven who are not fussy about their property, as they plan to live there. In any case, I must quickly choose a direction of expansion, because every economic improvement I make is accompanied by an increase in the demand for prison labor. While there are several ways to increase manpower, the two most reliable sources are slave caravans and warfare.

After sending out my first caravan, I was reminded of an important fact about Chaos Dwarfs: they are cursed by almost everyone, and for good reason. Heading west toward one of the border cities of Great Cathay, my caravan passes through greenskin country, where it incites various orc tribes to declare war on me. Fair enough, during the first third of the campaign, while my forces are still assembling and we’re still working to place the Great Platform, the chained orcs and goblins eagerly await to be the meat shields of my army.

The next level is my squads of hobgoblins (cowardly monsters, thugs, archers, wolf riders) who are reviled by other greenskinned races for their willingness to work with (check grades) …volume. The Hobgoblin units are decently lethal and offer enough variety to build a cheap first army, but they’re just a warm-up for the main attraction: the Chaos Dwarf units themselves.

All of the industrial infrastructure I build in my colonies is devoted to producing the weapons I need to equip my Chaos Dwarf warbands. Slave labor produces raw materials that can then be weaponized in my factories. In the new Infernal Forge panel, I can spend weapons to increase the number of Chaos Dwarf units I can deploy, and it’s quite a menu: there’s bloodthirsty HellfireSworn infantry, winged bulls, ferocious chained daemons called K’daai, devastating combat vehicles and heavy vehicles. artillery.

Every time I spend a weapon to increase the limit of a certain type of high-level unit, I get points to unlock new skills that I can activate in the Factory. For example, Soundproof Armor gives ranged troops a cutting-edge display, and infantry can be reinforced with a tethered demon that terrifies enemies.

Activating any of these additional abilities costs one weapon per turn, which places additional demands on my economy in order to produce more, and to do that I need to keep ravaging the land and capturing more slaves. . If I’m in a hurry, I can “spend” labor to complete any building instantly, but anything I build will increase the demand on my existing labor.

As I mentioned, everyone hates the Chaos Dwarfs, which means that the diplomacy of this campaign is more introspective. The Chaos Dwarf clans engage in a race of malevolent cooperation, working together to resurrect Hashut while vying for influence in the Tower of Zharre. Completing campaign actions grants me influence in the conclave, which I can spend to secure tower slots that grant unique bonuses, and when all slots in a “district” are filled, each Chaos Dwarf faction receives a special bonus. This creates an interesting two-stage dynamic when playing Chaos Dwarf politics: yes, sure I’d like the Dreadquake bombardment ability to have a second-tier slot in a military district, but what’s going on? get a bonus for global recruiting?

It’s hard for me to imagine a published faction for any Total War game that better embodies the grim realities of the term “total war” than the Chaos Dwarfs. For them, war is both a means and an end: war must be waged in order to wage war, and everything and everyone is suitable as fuel for the home that drives this incessant machine. When Dwight Eisenhower warned of the dangers of creating a “military-industrial complex” in his farewell speech, the Chaos Dwarfs took notes.

Fiendish as they are, the Chaos Dwarfs tick all the boxes for me when it comes to being part of the Total War: Warhammer DLC. They have an interesting new set of rules to play, a campaign that is a huge step up from the Realms of Chaos game that came with Total Warhammer 3, and a roster of incredibly fun new units to walk around on the battlefield. . The new mechanics have a welcome depth, but they’re not so abstract that it’s hard to see how they actually affect the flow of the campaign. Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs is a parody of industrial age capitalism using the best traditions of the Warhammer universe and I think it will be a welcome addition to any Total Warhammer fan’s DLC library.