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Total War Warhammer 3 – Hands on with the Grand Cathay Campaign

Wrapping up the Total War Warhammer trilogy, Creative Assembly has turned their eyes to the eastern reaches to the Warhammer Fantasy world. The four gods of Chaos have emerged in full force, but arrayed against them are two factions that have been largely on the fringes of the tabletop game’s lore. Both Kislev and Grand Cathay have been expanded upon for Total War Warhammer 3 and we had the opportunity to play the first 50 turns of the campaign with the Chinese-inspired Grand Cathay.

One of the curious things about the Games Workshop worlds is how they allow for such dramatically different groundings for each race to have, different perspectives and thoroughly different methodologies. It’s like how the Marvel universe can have tech-based super heroes alongside those with natural or alien gifts, mutants and then just a wizard in the corner. All fighting for their own causes and using completely different powers. That’s how the Grand Cathay fit into proceedings in Total War Warhammer 3, the race based on Imperial China with a Great Bastion wall keeping Chaos’ influence out, but led by magical dragons taken human form that predate those more modern gods.

They have some fun gameplay ideas, all ripped from their real world inspirations. Again, there’s the Great Bastion that has just been breached by the forces of Tzeentch and must be restored as you cleanse the land of their presence. Not only that, but there’s rebellions that are rising up and need to be quashed, and Chaos armies will regularly wander through the busted open gate to wreak even more havoc.

Total War Warhammer 3 – Grand Cathay Campaign Preview Header

As you muster your forces and recapture your lost territory, one thing you’ll need to keep a keen eye on is your empire’s Harmony. Every hero character, every building, every technological advance has an associated impact on the Yin or Yang through your lands, giving you significant buffs to the happiness of your settlements, but more when perfectly balanced. It’s brutal, but even a single point of imbalance can throw all of that out, forcing you to dive into your settlements to queue up new buildings, or research new technologies to pull the needle slightly back. Inevitably the balance will swing back and forth giving you fleeting Harmony unless you perfectly micromanage everything.

Harmony also has an impact on the battlefield. At a base level, Grand Cathay has a good balance between ranged units (both longer-ranged archers and shot-ranged rifles) that can create a good defensive front, backed up by solid melee units when needed. There’s also flying ships and, of course, their heroes, some of whom can transform into Chinese-styled dragons that weave through the sky. Arrange your forces in a particular way so that there’s a good blend of units and they’ll receive a buff that will strengthen your army as a whole.

Total War Warhammer 3 – Grand Cathay Campaign Preview Battle

Back on the campaign map, there’s a few other things that you will need to consider. The Wu Xing Compass is your way of focussing your empire, harnessing the Rings of Magic to benefit you. Every five turns you can shift the compass to point in a particular direction, which could focus on the Great Bastion to strengthen it, tap the Celestial Lake to boost growth and income, the Dragon Emperor’s Wrath to temporarily lessen the ever-growing danger of Chaos forces building on the other side of the wall, or to reduce the winds of magic for a time.

There’s also the Silk Road… I mean the Ivory Road, where you can directly harness trade to boost your coffers. You’ll send master traders across the grand campaign map to destinations where they can sell their wares for profits. Once they’re out of your territory and those of your allies, they’ll be running a gauntlet of bandit armies and the Ogre Kingdoms, each turn potentially throwing a conundrum at you. Do you take on an isolated unit of soldiers that promises to fight for you? Do you pick over the remains of a failed caravan or keep on moving? Do you fight the Ogres or feed a regiment of your soldiers to them in exchange for safe passage? Yeah, that last one’s pretty grim!

Total War Warhammer 3 – Grand Cathay Campaign Preview Ivory Road

While their perspective on the game’s driving narrative is different, the end result is ultimately the same. A dying god is being held in captivity and you’ll need to take advantage of it, in Grand Cathay’s case to restore balance and harmony to the world. Each roar from the god rips open portals to the Chaos realms that are siloed off toward the top of the world, giving all the races the chance to dive in and fight to defeat one of the champions in the pitched Stronghold battles that were revealed last year. You’ll need to be quick, because everyone will be racing to strike first and snatch the progress through the overarching campaign’s goal.

Grand Cathay’s an interesting faction, though it feels like it’s literally just Imperial Chinese history, mythology and stereotypes that have been hastily name-swapped to be legally distinct. Having recently worked on Total War: Three Kingdoms will have helped Creative Assembly. In fairness, such influences are the grounding of a lot of fantasy tropes that we see throughout pop culture, but here it’s a little on the nose at times. Even so, there’s an interesting blend of gameplay and another layer of mythology added to the Warhammer Fantasy world.

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