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Long considered one of the premier series in the historical turn-based strategy genre, Total War has prided itself on immersing gamers in various time periods and allowing them to engage in tactical, cerebral warfare. While some of the entries have taken liberties with history, the series has ultimately always been grounded in reality. That’s all set to change with the recently announced Total War: Warhammer.

Gone are the days of Roman centurions and Japanese shoguns. In their place are hulking orcs, diminutive dwarves, crafty mages, terrifying beasts, and all manner of high fantasy creatures ready to do epic battle. The recently unveiled announcement trailer showed earth-shaking beasts roaming the battlefield while mages opened up the sky and cast mighty thunderbolts onto the enemy forces. For fans of Warhammer, this seems to be perfect translation of the beloved tabletop RPG game. For Total War fans, this seems to be as great a departure from the series formula that developer Creative Assembly has ever attempted.

But that’s not to say the Total War series is going to go through a complete overhaul. The real-time turn-based gameplay that the series is known for is going to return, but the introduction of Games Workshop’s rich Warhammer world is going to change battle significantly. While magic will more than likely play a crucial part in turning the tides of battle, the announcement trailer also highlighted the various rideable creatures that will enter the fray. Dragons and giant spiders both popped up, and were shown to be absolutely devastating on the battlefield.

Creative Assembly clearly has big plans for the Warhammer series, already announcing that Total War: Warhammer is but the first entry in a planned trilogy, with two additional standalone installments slated for release down the line. Creative Assembly has also hinted that DLC may be made available, which has lead many to question if some of the races left out of the announcement trailer, such as the Elves and rat-men Skaven, will make later appearances in the form of downloadable content.

With a typical Warhammer army starting north of $200, the series has never been easy for newcomers to break into. But with the release of Total War: Warhammer, gamers interested in Warhammer’s fleshed out world can finally get a chance to see what all the fuss is about.