Total War: Warhammer III Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs Review

A little more than a year ago, Total War: Warhammer III was released to the acclaim of many an awards show, videogame critic, and grognard. I’m not here to review the whole thing all over again, as many others have already said it better than I ever could. It is that damn good.

What I am here for, is to convince you that now more than ever is the best time to get into this utterly massive grand strategy game that’s gonna tide you over your RTS itch (and more) until maybe either another Dawn of War, Starcraft, or Total War gets made.

The games I just mentioned are classics in their own right, and this DLC just further cements the greatness that is Total War: Warhammer III.

If you’re a Warhammer fantasy fan, and if you’re not already playing TW3, you should. Simple as that. I’m actually operating on the assumption that you wouldn’t be reading this piece anyway if you weren’t already at the very least peripherally interested in moving around big armies made of a million little pieces and watching them blow each other up.

If you’re just a browsing passerby, just looking around, content to watch a few Let’s Plays and, to be completely honest this is me, have been avoiding Total War: Warhammer III at first because of the insane complexity of its intimidating scope… well, you still should be playing this game. Why?

My 2 cents to add on the gargantuan pile of praise for the game is that it is both the penultimate culmination of Warhammer love and devotion, crafted over three games that span half a decade, and it provides a ginormous amount of gameplay. With its fun blend of turn-based campaigning and real-time pitched battles, and the recently released (free DLC!) entitled Immortal Empires, there is never an opportunity to feel like there is nothing more to do in this game. 

So why now, a year later? Well, one of its, if not THE, most anticipated (paid) DLC additions is going to release tomorrow. That, and the aforementioned free DLC Immortal Empires is already available, and it is a joy to try out new toys with.

Lastly, Total War: Warhammer III is as faithful to its implementation of every big hat on the head of a Chorf lord, as it is to its every digital representation of the famous tabletop minis. This could well be considered a drug for fans.

Total War: Warhammer III Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs finally adds its fiery namesake to the game as a playable race (affectionately nicknamed Chorfs) and opens up new factions (and therefore campaign options) set in the Darklands, part of the Known World. They’re the chaos version of the Dwarfs, abandoned by their gods and upland brethren, then stewed for millennia under the influence of Hashut.

They are here, and they are hungry for more materials to mine and manpower to enslave. And they got loads of boomsticks.

The Chaos Dwarfs are quite a unique race to play in Total War: Warhammer III, in that they do not rely on Growth, and instead require Labor as a resource to expand their settlements. Where do you get Labor? Some come from the lamentations of your defeated enemies, of course, through the act of enslaving them post-battle.

Other than Labor, there are also Armaments and Raw Materials resources, which together turn out to be a rather complex but fun economic balancing act that can fuel terrific power spikes during a campaign (you can rush constructions with Labor!).

Chorfs also have a unique faction-wide buff tree (not race-wide) called the Tower of Zharr, wherein you and other Chorf factions have to jockey for position (and choice of buff) using Conclave Influence, a diplomatic resource that is gained via some of your actions during the campaign. This congress-like element can enable game-changing buffs for you – provided you manage it well. This is on top of the 3-part tech tree.

All-in-all, the Chorfs are looking like the best addition yet to an already-huge roster in Warhammer III, not in the sense of meta playability, but more on the continuation and improvement of the level of detail and mechanical quality Creative Assembly has put into their game. 

There’s Gorduz Backstabber. There’s Zhatan the Black. Drazhoath the Ashen. Stone-legged Astragoth Ironhand with his multitude of explosive spells. The dwarf-faced Lammasu. They’ve enslaved even daemons into K’daai Destroyers and Fireborn. They’re just east of the Old World, seething in the Darklands, waiting to be unleashed.

I suggest you lace up your strategy boots, hop on your Skullcracker, and get boomin’.

What we liked:

• The Chaos Dwarfs are a fun and strategic addition to the game.
• Chaos Dwarf economy doesn’t rely on Growth
• Chaos Dwarves have access to at-will power spikes in both campaign and battles

What we didn’t like:

• Chaos Dwarves require a lot of complex economic and diplomacy micromanagement

Verdict: Buy it!

Total War: Warhammer III Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs DLC is a fantastic addition to the game, offering another strategic layer that’s equally as fun and engaging.

Total War: Warhammer III just gets better with the Chaos Dwarfs, which brings a twist to resource gathering and aims to change up ways of approaching the game. There’s a lot of management needed, both on the economic and diplomacy front, but fans of the game will appreciate the added diversity.

*Total War: Warhammer III Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs DLC was reviewed on a PC with a review code provided by the publisher.