Lorehammer: Intercontinental

With the release of the Mortal Empires expansion for the Warhammer: Total War series, it’s a good time to examine some famous intercontinental warfare from Warhammer’s past.

For those who aren’t aware, the Mortal Empires expansion provides a new campaign map to unit the factions of the two Warhammer Total War games into one mighty new challenge. You can now move your troops across the waves to spread your empire to new lands, assuming the natives don’t get you first!

Here’s the map:

It compares quite well to the actual Warhammer world map, with the homelands of most armies from the tabletop game represented. The Ogres and Chaos Dwarfs miss out.

The campaign map isn’t quite as expansive as the one above, but it’s pretty good.

On to the lore then – here are three tales of armies clashing in distant lands.

Grom the Paunch – goblin invasion of Ulthuan

This happened in Warhammer’s distant past, so don’t hold your breath to be able to re-fight this battle with Grom himself.

Grom was the greatest goblin warlord the Old World has seen, even Skarsnik does not compare… yet. Grom assembled a vast host of greenskins, and even the orcs followed him willingly as he ravaged the Empire, looting and burning as he went. Grom’s eyes were always fixed on further shores, though.

The High Elves have some of the most gifted seers, but no one saw this coming. With the human Empire powerless to attack his host, Grom commanded a huge fleet built from the felled trees of the Empire’s forests. Guided by who knows what, Waaagh Grom made landfall on Ulthuan.

Grom and his goblins ransacked many sites in Ulthuan, even the sacred forests of Avelorn. Eventually Grom was slain and his hosts destroyed, but the elves learned to be more watchful of threats coming from the Old World.

The rise of Clan Pestilens – Skaven invasion of Lustria

The tropical realm of Lustria lay dormant for many centuries before the Skaven came, gnawing their way beneath the skin or the world, beneath the very ocean, to arrive undetected. There they stayed, biding their time, building their strength.

When the ratmen emerged, it was a new kind of Skaven who threatened the Lizardmen. Clan Pestilens took viral warfare to new heights, releasing terrible toxins that incapacitated even the Slaan.

After suffering terrible losses that have not healed to this day, the Lizardmen were able to drive the Skaven from Lustria, though not forever. Clan Pesliens lived on, fighting for its place among the other Skaven clans. Though their arrival in Lustria was via underground ways, Clan Pestilens built ships and sailed back across the ocean, building secret forts and strongholds. When the Lizardmen chased them from Lustria, their story was just beginning.

This war was significant for the Lizardmen too. With the Slaan incapacitated it was the Skinks who led the battles, rather than the larger Saurus. Skinks laid traps and ambushes, Skinks led the armies that drove the Skaven away from sacred places. This series of wars saw the Skinks pray to a new god, Sotek. Instead of the mysterious Old Ones, Sotek was a new god, a Skink god, and it is to him that the Skinks still pray.

The Skaven soon scuttled their way back to Lustria, where they remain a constant menace.

“Crusades” – Bretonnia’s expansionism

Over the centuries, Bretonnian knights have become accustomed to visiting the arid lands to their south for some recreational pillaging. Since this is done by honourable men with titles and everything, they call it crusading instead. Bretonnian crusades end in one of two ways; either the victorious knights return home, laden with treasures they have looted from found in distant lands, or the knights vanish, never to be seen again. The wrath of Khemri is not roused lightly.

Mighty mortal empires

The new expansion gives owners of both the Warhammer: Total War games the chance to embark on similar adventures, or else write a new chapter of intercontinental conquest for their favourite faction.