Total War: Warhammer III’s Gorbad Ironclaw feels like the perfect final expansion for the Greenskins

Gorbad Ironclaw, the new orc warboss in Total War: Warhammer III Omens Of Destruction, has three unique skill tree buffs, which are named as follows: ’boyz to da front, ‘shootaz to da back’, and ‘riderz on da flanks’.

I love this, because it suggests this most renowned of Orcish tacticians is at tip two of a Ten Total War Tips For Beginners video, and he’s already a legend among his kind for it.

I support his fame. Game director Rich Aldridge told me that designing for roleplaying potential had been a priority recently, and it’s something I’ve definitely noticed in the past few expansions. There’s been an uptick in hero and lord traits that reward themed army composition rather than just stacking the biggest monster you can get your hands on. It’s an approach to game design in general that I can get behind, similar to the aging wisdom about reframing punishments as rewards - World Of Warcraft’s rested bonus being the primo example. Twarhammer hasn’t nerfed Doomstacks, it’s just focused on offering lots of more exciting options.