What am I getting for Free on Thursday?

Even if you aren’t purchasing the Call of the Beastmen DLC on Thursday, there’s plenty of new content arriving for free in the main game with Update 2, including:

- A new hero and mount

- An entirely new AI-controlled Race as opposition

- New multiplayer features

- New multiplayer and custom maps

- Unlockable Lord for MP/Custom battles



Full patch notes detailing tweaks and balances are inbound soon, but check out the below for details on the forth-coming Free-LC.



Amber Wizard



The Amber Wizard is a new unit for the Empire, adding further to their mastery of battle magic. The Amber Wizard is the only unit outside of the Beastmen who can use the Lore of Beasts, giving him a rare set of battlefield skills.

The wizards of the Amber Order use the symbol of the Arrow and are devotees of the Lore of Beasts, which is heard as an eagle’s cry upon the Wind of Ghur. Amber Wizards are renowned for their savage appearance; their hair is wild and unkempt and they dress in furs adorned with bones, feathers, amber beads and primitive talismans.

Few wizards can withstand the touch of Amber Magic, for it is the magic of bestial minds and untamed places and it cares little for the ways of civilised cultures. The power of the Wind of Ghur resides most strongly in the thoughts of savage creatures and Amber Wizards can commune with animals of all kinds. They also have the ability to assume the strength of the greatest beasts and can induce primal states of terror in others.

The college’s territory in Altdorf is but a totemic centre and an occasional gathering place used only in rare and unusual circumstances. Amber Wizards are reclusive hermits who prefer the company of beasts to their fellow man, and make their refuges in deep forests and high mountaintops.

Harness the power of the Amber Wizard to summon a manticore with the Transformation of Kadon, making the Empire the only race other than the Beastmen who can summon a monstrous unit in battle.

The Amber Wizard also has the power to reduce the accuracy of enemy missile units, with The Flock of Doom, invoking Corvus the Crow Lord’s servants to peck at his foe’s eyes.



Amber Wizard - Griffon Mount

The Amber Wizard also has an exclusive mount at his disposal – a beautiful jade green griffon, with unique Amber College armour.

Griffons have the reputation of being noble beasts. They are not frenetic killers, but instead strike with a swift, precise grace. A Griffon’s every motion is poised and controlled, yet this elegance in no way undermines its deadliness – each is a mighty creature, terrible to behold in battle.

Brave Empire adventurers seek out Griffon nests and steal their chicks to raise in captivity, singling out the strongest, cleverest and most ferocious for their lords. Once trained to carry a man in battle, Imperial Griffons are incredibly dedicated to their riders, and many Elector Counts prize these ferocious creatures as loyal mounts.



Lore of Beasts

Manticore

The Lore of Beasts includes Amber magic, Totemcalling and Shapeshifting. It is dominated by augment spells that grant your warriors extra abilities on the battlefield. Currently available to the Beastmen and the Empire, it’s a Lore for generals who favour close combat, as a few timely spells can transform mediocre troops into fearsome victors.

- Wyssan’s Wildform: This relatively low-cost spell buffs your allies for 14 seconds with 22% Weapon Damage and +15 Armour.

- Flock of Doom: This brings forth a swarm of crows to pick at the foe’s eyes. This painful experience causes direct damage to all targets in the area for 7 seonds, with a 30m range. It is great against groups of combatants.

- Pann’s Impenetrable Pelt: This offers a 22% Damage Resistance buff along with a 24% increase to speed for the allies you cast it on. It lasts for a decent 50 seconds, so is good for multiple charges or a sustained fight.

- The Amber Spear: This sounds a gnarled horn and releases a magic missile at the enemy, which causes armour piercing damage, is effective at all ranges and offers excellent penetration.



Beastmen Opponents

Even if you don’t own the Call of the Beastmen DLC, they’re still coming for you and will appear in your campaign as AI-controlled factions.

Quash them early, and you may be able to take care of the threat, but left unchecked, brayherds could form, and you could find yourself being ambushed on all sides. Be wary of their ability to conceal their forces in forests, as your unaware army moves out to seek conquest, they can move in to loot and raze your cities. And unlike the Savage Orc tribes, the Beastmen will spread Chaos corruption once they’ve defiled your cities.

The worst case of all, however, would be if you’ve left the Beastmen unchecked and able join with the Chaos Warrior forces as they rise from the north – supporting the invasion and supplementing the savagery of the Norscan tribes.

The Call of the Beastmen will be heard…



Multiplayer Features

Check out the update notes coming soon for MP rebalancing details, but the most significant new addition is that players can now customise their Lords and Heroes. Please bear in mind that this is our first iteration of this feature - we’re looking forward to seeing how you all get on with it, and please do continue to offer us feedback.

Unit abilities, spells and items can now be added/subtracted for lords and heroes in custom and multiplayer battles. This allows the player to field more expansive key characters for high micro-management, skew their role in battle by selecting certain complimentary actives/passives or create more lean characters with low micro-management for alternative army-wide tactics.

- Each character has a base cost, which includes inherent attributes, but not abilities, spell and items.

- When an ability, spell or item is added, the cost of the character increases.

- There is a slight decay in cost of abilities when added, taking into account that the player can only cast/interact with one ability at a time.

- Legendary lords are given relevant quest battle reward items, allowing the player to experience a taste of what can be won in their campaign play-through.

- Magical characters are given a selection of single-use scrolls and non-magical characters a selection of single-use potions.



Four new maps in custom and multiplayer battles

In addition to the below maps which everyone will gain access to, if you’re playing against an opponent with the Call of the Beastmen DLC and you don’t have it, you could be in for a surprise if you’re pulled into a Beastpath battle! Owners of the Call of the Beastmen DLC have the chance to play a Beastpath battle against anyone, regardless of whether or not their opponent owns it.





Stir River

Stir River: This classic land battle takes place by the River Stir, which has a sinister reputation amongst the people of the Empire. Foul magic leeches into the Stir and, when the Chaos moon shines bright, the river turns black and many who gaze into its depths are said to glimpse their own grisly death reflected on the surface. For virtually its entire length, the Stir flows through the Great Forest and its few fordable crossings mean that the river forms both a defensive barrier and a political border between Stirland and Talabecland.

Grimminhagen

Grimminhagen: A classic land battle and ambush battle. Teams spawn on either side of a canyon, with cliffs on each side and only a handful lanes of approach. There’s dense forest on either side, but the low ground in the centre of the map remains relatively open. If played as an ambush battle, the defender spawns in the canyon itself, with the attacker given free rein to spawn on the cliffs on either side.

Fall of Man

Fall of Man: A land battle, nestled in the Grey Mountains on the border between two great nations, with the defender situated at the top of a hill. There are plenty of rocky outcroppings to be used by the defender and, while the roads on the low ground offer little shelter, the attacker’s side is densely forested.

Kelp & Koldust

Kelp & Koldust: This land battle is set outside the smouldering ruins of a sacked Empire village. It’s mostly open ground save for a few small patches of forest in the hills to the south. Two small cliff formations (one for either team) in the centre of the map provide excellent defensive opportunities.



Sarthorael the Everwatcher in Custom and Multiplayer

Want to play as Sarthorael the Everwatcher, Lord of Change and Greater Daemon of Tzeentch? Now you can, once you’ve unlocked an achievement in the Grand Campaign that allows Sarthorael to become a named Lord, playable in custom and multiplayer battles.

A Lord of Change is hideously unpredictable and manipulative. Behind its gaze lies a curious and wreckful mind, deeply intelligent, yet as uncaring of consequence as it is fascinated by it. The Lord of Change is like a child playing upon some gigantic anthill, poking with a stick at its inhabitants and laughing at the hopeless antics of their defence.

Nothing pleases him more than to see the world broken and made anew, to redirect the course of a life or even history itself, spilling hope upon the ground while raising the ambition of others up to an unexpected pinnacle of power.