Upcoming reviews: Diplomacy and Resurrection, Slower Vanilla Combat, AI Buildings and Armies, Random Personalities, A More Aggressive AI, Revised Diplomatic Affinity, Skip Intro Logos, Beastmen: Regular Ambush Battle Maps, Improved Weather Colours

Strikethrough means an outdated mod, but I keep it for the record – most should work.

Total War: Warhammer is Creative Assembly’s first try at combining their Total War game genre with a fictional setting. They chose Warhammer, the High-Medieval-Europe-Meets-Fantasy-And-Boy-It’s-Dark.

In this guide I’m going to present the best modifications (mods) for TW: WH with download links and a short description. I don’t recommend unit packs, especially Radious’ once because in my opinion they water down the singular experience every faction provides. Plus, many gameplay mods are incompatible with unit packs which means you’ll get stuck with fancy units working according to vanilla mechanics.

I play the game on Very Hard (Campaign difficulty) and Normal (Battle difficulty). I think it’s the best compromise between strategic gameplay of the overworld and tactical intricacies of the battles.

Why mod at all?

TW: WH is good as it is in vanilla (unmodded) state. The game is not broken, is playable, enjoyable and challenging. Several features of other games have been removed (e.g. sanitation, fire and siege escalation from Attila, tax sliders from most of the game series, aging of characters), while some new have been introduced (e.g. flying units, magic, monstrous units – though we had elephants before – quest battles etc.). Play the game first, get a grip on it, decide what you want and then come back and immerse in the lovely world of Steam workshop!

But… you’re wondering which mod to choose? This is the purpose of this guide exactly. Yet before we start…

Glossary

I assume that you know what Total War: Warhammer and the Total War series in general are. I won’t assume, though, that you’re verse in the terms used in the Total War community in general. Here’s a concise glossary of the terms the community uses and which will might be used in this guide:

TW: WH – Total War: Warhammer

TW – Total War

TT – tabletop, meaning the original tabletop Warhammer miniature wargame

CA – Creative Assembly

BAI – Battle AI (Artificial Intelligence), the part of the AI responsible for the tactical decisions, i.e. commanding the individual units on the battlefield when playing a single player game.

CAI – Campaign AI, the part of the AI responsible for strategic decisions, i.e. commanding the armies on the campaign map, managing towns, diplomacy, politics etc.

RNG – Random Number Generator AKA Random Number Gods, a rare term that is used to describe the random element of, for example, every fight – a spear man may kill a monstrous unit because of a good random roll.

Vanilla – the original, unmodded game.

Hardcoded – This refers to things, like aspects of the CAI and BAI, that modder’s can’t change because they were locked (…) by the developers. These hardcoded behaviors can be Somewhat nullified or changed by scripting and careful balance (…). Don’t let that scare you—many of these mods are absolutely fantastic at mitigating them. (borrowed from matbitesdog’s RTW mod guide).

CoB – Call of Beastmen, first campaign pack for TW:WH

TWC – Total War Center, the virtual TW modding centre, somewhat in decline lately because of the prevalence of mod workshop and toxic community.

Stack/Full Stack – A stack means an army on the campaign map. A full stack means a 20-unit army.

VC – Vampire Counts

WoC – Warriors of Chaos

Dawi/Dorfs/Dwarves/Dwarfs – Dwarfs

KF – Karl Franz

Mino – Minotaur

LL – Legendary Lord, e.g. Karl Franz. Such lord is better than a generic one (e.g. Karl Franz vs Empire Lord), cannot definitively die on the campaign map and has special quest battles to get better items.

OP – overpowered. Think Spirit Leech or Fate of Bjuna spells before patches, Devolve currently, etc.. Completely subjective. Warhammer’s power lies in everything being OP and thus balancing itself.

Nerf – verb: to weaken. Nerfing Demigryph Knights means their stats are lowered or they are more expensive, or both. In short: nerf is a way of balancing the game by weakening some things in it. If you nerf an OP unit, it’s no longer OP.

Buff – verb: to strengthen. Opposite of nerf, buff means a thing in-game is more useful. Also: spells/abilities that improve stats, e.g. Waaagh’s!+58 Melee Attack.

Paid expansions/DLC for TW:WH

Warrior of Chaos race pack – used to be a preorder bonus, after much vitriol made free for people who bought TW:WH within the first week after launch. Cheap and nice.

Blood For The Blood God – blood & gore pack, adds new animations, dismemberment, several new map-wide events (e.g. +20 charge bonus for 5 turns), cheaper than your cup of Joe, get it.

Call of The Beastmen – Campaign Pack with goat-like, chaos-worshipping Beastmen. A bit pricey, but worth it. Adds a new race, 2 new Legendary Lords, new mini-campaign (heard it’s a bit meh) and a few other thingies. Beastmen are a cool horde faction, like a combination of Chaos and Greenskins. Get it.

How to install the mods?

Unless otherwise stated, find the particular mod on the Steam Workshop and click the green SUBSCRIBE button.

Off we go!

OVERHAUL

Steel & Faith Overhaul Mod

Great changelog. Hardly noticeable changes really.

Links: Steel Faith Overhaul

I’m conflicted on this one. Tried it, saw the changes, but the game stayed essentially the same. That’s an issue I’ve noticed with most of the mods – they just slightly change the game, we don’t see anything close to Divide et Impera’s battles. Check it out anyway, it’s a good way to change your game once and for all instead of juggling with a load of mods.

CAMPAIGN

Better AI

AI’s the bully now.

Links: Better AI

Note: This is CAI mod. No BAI mods yet, not even sure if they’re possible at all.

Ever wondered why the AI is sitting on its hands, while you rampage their countryside? Worry no more, MINOS crafted this nice mod that makes the CAI more active on the campaign map. Plus, it changes a few things to assist the AI even more (siege engines and basic income).

If you want to try it out, get it and play as Empire on VH or Legendary.

My take: My VH early game is challenging. Mid-game is even more challenging. I actually lose campaigns 50-100 turns in. Better AI is great once you stop feeling challenged by the CAI. I hated the fact that the AI rarely declared war on me and even if they did, they didn’t attack me. I didn’t want that.

I wanted to be afraid. I wanted to lure my enemies into ambushes. I wanted to break factions in one decisive, hard battle. I wanted to need to use all items and abilities effectively. This mod finally made me do it.

Better Autoresolve

Somewhat alleviated by patches, mod helps still

Links: Better Autoresolve

This mode makes autoresolve less dependable, hit low-count units less (e.g. monsters and heroes) and changes things here and there.

My take: This mod was essential in TW:WH’s early days. I’m still using it now, but haven’t heard lots of people complaining about bugged autoresolve lately. Won’t hurt using it, though!

Auto Resolve AI Buff 100%

Actually fight most of the battles.



Links: Auto Resolve AI Buff 100%

In short, this makes you fight most of the battles that aren’t you vs lvl 1 garrison. A quality of life improvement, though it’s actually a stopgap solution until CA adjusts the autoresolve numbers.

My take: Take it! I’d recommend switching to Normal battle difficulty, if possible, though. Never again autoresolve the Ultimate Chaos Showdown.

Better Recruitment And Army Composition

I have never seen a full-rock lobber army

Links: Better Recruitment And Army Composition

CAI has a problem in all TW games. It never disbands its units AND it’s terrible at building. So what might happens is that you’ll meet a huge AI empire based on Goblins and Ork Boyz, just because it snowballed quickly and its armies weren’t defeated thus no high-tier units were introduced into AI’s stacks.

And even IF their armies were at some point defeated, AI counted autoresolve numbers like mad (because that’s the only way it fights battles, actually), so it focused on missile units (Grimgor and 19 rock lobbas anyone?).

This mod fixes AI recruitment priorities. It doesn’t fix the building and no unit disbandment problems – that’s hardcoded.

My take: Use this mod and never go back.

Build More Siege Engines

Stop starving your enemies. Hit them hard & fast with insta-towers!

Links: Build More Siege Engines

AI in TW:WH likes to starve you out. One of the supposed reasons is that they need to wait for siege engines to be built. This mode speeds up that process for you and the AI, bringing you more siege assaults/defences.

My take: I’m using it together with Better AI mod even though those two might overlap, enemy sieges me with lots of siege engines. Works then, right?

Home Region Movement Bonus

Total War: Benny Hill be gone

Links: Home Region Movement Bonus

Essential mod by Dresden helps alleviate the problem of AI armies Benny-Hilling through your war-torn lands.

My take: This mod + certain LL’s and Lord campaign movement skills mean you can finally catch those pesky suckers who keep on sacking your turf. Take it!

More Skill Points

More RPG, less OP

Links: More Skill Points

More skill points for your lords and heroes as they level up. You start with 1 per level and at some point you get 2. Works for both you and the AI.

My take: Not overpowered, can get your lords a bit more buffed – essentially made me use heroes more.

Tier 4 Minor Settlements

Now that’s a biggun.

Links: Tier 4 Minor Settlements

Let’s you build minor settlements up to Tier 4 instead of just to Tier 3. Helps the AI field more varied armies due to many units locked by Tier 4 buildings.

My take: Now this is something that should change your game. I think it’d be better if we got rid of the Tier 5 building requirement for any unit altogether (I would LOVE to face AI steam tanks!), but hey, that’s something. Obviously helps AI more than the player, but not in an unfair way.

BATTLE

Better Camera Mod

Doomdiver’s-eye view

Links: Better Camera Mod

See more, easier. Zoom in, zoom out. Useful with large battles.

My take: I’m using this instead of the tactical overview. Should have been in the base game from the get-go anyway.

Cataph’s Molay’s Magic

Magic is fun again. Items are fun again.

Links: Cataph’s Molay’s Magic

Cataph took Molay’s Magic & Items mod and hit it with a nerf bat. Magic and items are more useful and closer to tabletop now. Spellcasters are a must now (as they should’ve been from the very beginning), while items are more useful now, but not OP.

My take: While Molay’s Magic gave you a huge edge over the AI, Cataph’s nerf-batted version means you’ll most likely use more magic. Plus, I think he got rid of some puny “+2 melee attack bonus” items.

Proper Combat Mod

Battles last longer than 5 minutes. Or do they?

Links: Proper Combat Mod

Made by Divide Et Empera’s kam2150, this mod means you’ll have some time to do tacticsy stuff with yer gobboz. And your noble knights. And your roaring goatmen. In short, a huge rebalance of existing units and mechanics. Battles last longer, are more back-and-forth, essentially game is less arcadey.

EDIT: I’ve actually tried vanilla combat and it’s virtually the same. I don’t think this mod is essential anymore.

My take: Try it out, but don’t take the promise for granted.

GRAPHICAL

This is going to be a shorter section, for those mods are subjective, don’t change the game that much and are pretty self-explanatory.

I will keep on updating this blog post as long as I’m interested in playing TW:WH. And since I’m playing TW games since 2008, I can bet it’ll be up to date.

Questions? Ideas? Add me on steam: wozmir or email me at wozmir (at) gmail.com.