Total War: Warhammer 2 – The Shadow and The Blade

Few people expected the combination of characters in this Lord Total War WARHAMMER 2 Steam Key package. Malus Darkblade, the Druchii tormented by the devil, is very popular for his series of Black Library novels, but his opponent is a strange choice. The Master of Death Snikch is a less known figure and, as a murderer, he should not be a leader.

It is known that the main assassin of the Eshin clan tends to appear at random: the great mocking fire that bombards the imperial army and kills almost everyone, from wizards to tall dwarf princes, before entering the darkness returns. He is responsible only to the Lord of the night. Then, when asked to go to the Southern Lands to find a mysterious source of energy, Snikch decided to find them.

This power is the demon Slaaneshi Tz'arkan, drinker of the world, who is caught in a constant struggle for control of the body of his host Malus Darkblade. Malus was sent to the southerners by the sorcerer king Malekith to find scrolls of Hekarti, who in return offers the recipe of an elixir that can finally defeat the demon.

This conflict between Malus and Tz'arkan is represented by possession, a mechanism that reflects the duality in the heart of his character. If the possession is low, Malus will be a better lord and will grant benefits in the campaign letter. But if the possessions are high, they can transform into Tz'arkan on the battlefield and get a powerful statistical line, explosive magic and an intelligent pink aura.

The problem is that your armies will not be filled to the maximum of possession, which means that you cannot run Tz'arkan too long without serious ramifications. Like the night of Crone Hellebron's death, with its rising slave costs, the Elixir de Malus reduces possession, but costs more each time it is used. To make matters worse, Hag Graef and Southlands point to a double starting position and the Skavens will do their best to kill you with each installment of scrolls.

It is a decent campaign that gives Malus his own turn when it comes to collecting ritual money, a unique mechanism and the whisper of Tz'arkan: special secondary goals that grant rewards. But it is not perfect. It would be nice if Possession had another idea of ​​the night of death that capturing Quintex or Gaean Vale would slow down Hellebron's degradation and give him long-term control. In Malus, parades do not make possession easier to bear, and you don't get a free elixir until the end of the campaign. From there, you still won.

As always, it is good to see that the digital army has been updated with its list of table players, especially when it comes to adding Medusa to the Dark Elves players who knew their existence since they waited more than two years. Warhammer's interpretation of the fearsome monster of myth is superbly implemented and he is not mistaken: his mortal aspect does not transform enemy troops into stones, but into Gore explosions. Other newcomers are Scourgerunner tanks that are absurdly fast and specialized in monsters, High Beastmaster Lord and Masters, which are essentially the equivalent of the Dark Elves of the noble elves.

Thematically, the new units have a monster hunting environment that would have felt more comfortable in a Clar Karond Lord package, but it is not that CA has many options, since these are the last remaining omissions of the elven army book dark However, Malus as a character is fantastic. Although he will never be my home friend, he embodies the vanity and cruelty of the dark elves in a way that no other lord does, and his garbage from side to side talking to Tz'arkan on the map.