A few turns into my Total War: Three Kingdoms - Mandate of Heaven campaign and everything is already falling apart. As the Emperor and ruler of the Han dynasty, I might be a big shot, but I've got looters at my gates, traitors in my court and a huge rebellion kicking off up north. I'm in heaven. 

For the second of Three Kingdoms' campaign expansions, Creative Assembly is doing things a bit differently. Instead of a separate miniature campaign, Mandate of Heaven has been integrated in the main campaign as a sort of prelude, expanding things by around a decade. That's not very long in the context of Total War, but it has ramifications that extend well beyond those early years. 

Several returning leaders are once again available with the new start date, though their situations are all different from what you might be used to from the base game. The real focus, however, is on the newly playable Han Empire and the originators of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, both of which are fighting for control over the burning empire.

Both factions have multiple leaders for you to play as, some with easier starts than others, but in all cases it's a bit of an uphill struggle. As the Emperor, possibly the person in the worst position, it's a bit of a nightmare. Despite being top dog, the Emperor only has direct control over the capital, with the rest of the empire being split up between other warlords. To use all that power you have, then, you have to keep lots of people happy. That ain't easy.

The real threat to the empire are the eunuchs. Playing as the Han, you have to contend with a new system where three groups are vying for control over the court, each with their own supporters. The eunuchs run the bureaucracy, and their influence costs China greatly, but managing the empire sometimes necessitates giving them even more power, like giving members of your court new jobs that confer lots of bonuses. Then there are the warlords who swear fealty to you but who are just waiting for you to screw up. And finally there's the dynasty itself, representing your powerbase. Juggling these three factions is at the heart of playing the Han, and brings Three Kingdoms closer to Paradox-style grand strategy, something that makes me extremely happy.

With Three Kingdoms, Creative Assembly finally built a game with compelling diplomacy and economic systems, but no other faction has to engage with them quite like the Han. Usually the campaign eases you in, but here there are a lot of immediate problems that can't be solved with a big army. Instead you'll need to butter up your mates, beg for cash and try desperately to stop everyone from starving, all while an increasingly large horde of rebels amasses just across the river. 

The rebels don't have nearly as many problems to worry about at the start, but don't mistake them for the simple option. Like the Han, they also come with new complexities and obstacles. Initially, the three brothers—you pick one but will be allied to the others—who lead the rebellion start off with no territory at all, but they benefit from lots of cash injections and missions that take the pressure off. 

Off the bat, they'd be wiped out by the empire pretty quickly, but thankfully there are a few turns before the Mandate of Heaven war kicks off, giving them time to gobble up some land without having to fight off all of China straight away. The fragmented and competitive nature of the empire also gives them some breathing room. Before long, however, the imperial army and warlords will start coming for you.

The most important things in the rebels' bag of tricks are zeal and fervour. Zeal represents how up for a rebellion people are, shared among all three brothers. Zeal is increased by various actions, like getting into fights, but it will inevitably dwindle, inspiring counties to put their faith back in the Han and rise up against you. Fervour, meanwhile, makes things tougher for the Han. Yellow Turban buildings and troops can spread fervour, making it more likely that AI rebels will sprout in imperial counties.  

These resources and effects make the rebellion feel like this organic force that you can take advantage of but can't always control. In my game, some of the AI rebellions were nearly as successful as my own, while other times they were quickly snuffed out and there was nothing I could do to help them, half-way across the country. 

Like the Han, leading the rebellion also forces you to be a people person. Over the course of the campaign, more characters will start to appear, depending on certain prerequisites, and can join your cause, and you'll absolutely need their help. Sometimes, though, they have other ideas. He Yi, for instance, is a royal pain in the arse. He was introduced in last year's Yellow Turban DLC and now appears once you've secured the north. You can either ask him to join you as one of your generals or support him as a leader in his own right. Pick the latter and you'll be in for an interesting ride. He's suicidally brave, you see, which means he loves getting into whatever fights he can find, and he'll absolutely keep dragging you into wars. I love him, but he has no chill. 

I'll still take He Yi over my useless brothers, however, because at least he can hold onto territory. Playing as Zhang Jue, I had to do a lot of babysitting for Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao. They might need some tweaks, as they're pretty timid at the moment.  At first they were fine, but once the war started properly they spent far too much time in their settlements and gave up counties that would have been easy to defend. I know this, because I was the one that ended up doing it most of the time. Sometimes they can be handy, especially if they decide to attack your war targets, and often I used them as a buffer between me and my enemies, but a lot of the time I had to pause my own plans to trudge all the way back to their territory to save them once again. 

The war over the Mandate of Heaven can extend well into the main campaign, and probably will, so while it doesn't feel much longer than a regular campaign, it doesn't suddenly stop when you hit 190CE. It can also have a dramatic impact on what China looks like once you reach the original start date, with different factions becoming more prominent, while others could be wiped out entirely. My biggest rival in my very first game at launch, for instance, was dead and buried by 189CE in Mandate of Heaven. RIP Sun Jian. 

It's a smart move by Creative Assembly, making the campaign richer and more dynamic without drawing things out. It's already a vast, time-consuming game, and I don't think 100 more turns would do anyone any good, especially if, like me, they've finally put to rest a mammoth-sized Total War: Warhammer Mortal Empires campaign. 

Mandate of Heaven is unlikely to be the last of this kind of expansion. When you start up a new game, there's now a timeline where you can pick when you begin—again, evocative of Paradox grand strategy games—suggesting more additions to it will appear. Right now there are only three historical bookmarks, however, and only two of them are connected. There's plenty of room for more. 

Creative Assembly's Total War: Three Kingdoms captures out Best Strategy award for 2019. We'll be updating our GOTY 2019 hub with new awards and personal picks throughout December.

Wes: I'm 30 hours into a Three Kingdoms co-op campaign where I'm conquering all of southern China as Sun Jian. Meanwhile, my friend and neighbor Yuan Shu has had to become a vassal, then join an alliance, just to stop Cao Cao from trampling him. I keep giving him food out of pity. It's been illuminating to see how dramatically differently Three Kingdoms can play out depending on your starting faction. That's not completely new to Total War, but Three Kingdoms is by far the most character-focused game in the series, and the personality it injects into each faction is its greatest strength.

I won a nearly impossible battle against an army double my size by sending Sun Jian himself onto the field to duel another faction leader, Yuan Shao, and killing him at the very beginning of the fight. His army never recovered from the morale hit. I also infiltrated a spy into Yuan Shao's army, but was so determined to win that battle I inadvertently killed my spy in combat, too. So, that's a thing that can happen.

Like all Total War games, Three Kingdoms can be a bit messy. There's so much UI to keep track of when you're outside of the stellar combat. Managing the economy or sussing out how to properly arrange my faction's government or bargain with other leaders is never as intuitive or focused as it is in some other 4X games. But Three Kingdoms has made some big strides, and it's refreshing to experience the little narratives that come out of these personality clashes, without the crud of old Total War (spies were the worst) slowing things down. Every faction that asks to marry my warrior daughter, making her a member of their house, in exchange for a lousy pile of gold: she'll see you on the battlefield.

Fraser: Shogun 2, formerly the best historical Total War game, has been deposed. I put the 'historical' caveat there because my heart still belongs to Warhammer, but so much of that is down to setting and character. Three Kingdoms has everything else, and it’s still blessed with a great setting and an abundance of personality. The campaign, battles, diplomacy—they’re all the best they’ve ever been. The last one in particular seemed like a lost cause, but no, Three Kingdoms finally made interacting with other factions outside of combat engaging. It’s a miracle. 

When diplomacy fails and fights kick off, they straddle the line between historical and fantasy Total War brawls. You’ve got grounded, historical units with swords and spears and not a magical weapon among them, but then you’ve got heroes, who do get special weapons, along with flashy abilities and superhuman strength. They can change the course of a battle just on their lonesome, as long as they don’t get defeated by another hero in a duel. They’re even more powerful, arguably, than their Warhammer counterparts, and make battles more dynamic and even more entertaining to watch.

Tom: The heroes are a big new addition to CA's historical Total War series, especially on the battlefield. I'm glad that the rest of the combat has remained quite straightforward. The interplay of swordsmen, spearmen, and cavalry is such an integral part of Total War combat for me, it's satisfying to slip back into old Total War habits without having to learn a bunch of new unit types. The RTS element of Total War has always excelled at delivering the spectacle of a vast, important battle, but that doesn't mean that combat has to be especially complicated. Spears beat horses; swords beat spears; flaming arrows are great; heavy cavalry beats almost everything. That's the law of Total War, and that forms the core of Three Kingdoms' magnificent real time scraps. I don't even need campaign mode, I'll happily boot up the game for a massive skirmish to enjoy the splendid unit design and animation work.

Creative Assembly is trying something a bit different in its Mandate of Heaven DLC for Total War: Three Kingdoms. In previous historical Total Wars, new campaigns have been kept apart from the grand campaign, but this time you'll be able to start with the prequel DLC and keep playing. 

This means its six new playable factions, which includes the crumbling Han Dynasty, will be able to seamlessly continue their bid for power in the main campaign. Five of the original factions will also be present in the earlier campaign, as well as nine new characters and 40 new units. 

Mandate of Heaven kicks off in 182CE, with the old Han Empire struggling to contain the Yellow Turban rebels. The new factions are split between the Han and the rebels, but as one of the other warlords you'll also be able to slide in and claim the titular Mandate of Heaven for yourself.  

It seems like the campaign will only continue to grow, as future DLC will add more start dates, not unlike Crusader Kings 2. Normally I'd be worried about what that would mean for turn times, but Three Kingdoms has the best performance and quickest turns of any modern Total War, and even the notoriously slow Mortal Empires has been given a boost.  

Along with the DLC, a free update will introduce fixes, balance tweaks and a new warlord. They'll both be available on Steam on January 16.

Earlier in the year, Creative Assembly said that China was the biggest market for Total War: Three Kingdoms, and the studio has followed up that surge in popularity  by teaming up with Chinese publisher NetEase. The partnership means NetEase will be bringing all of the historical Total Wars to China, along with a brand new game. 

Creative Assembly will be working with NetEase to comply with China's very strict requirements, but in the FAQ the studio says it won't affect players outside of China. This became an issue for Ubisoft last year when Rainbow Six Siege's maps and art were changed before it launched in China, affecting all players. It didn't go down well and the decision was quickly walked back. 

The new game will also be exclusive to China, at least for now. Total War: Elysium is a CCG featuring, judging by the art above, historical generals duking it out on the table. Though it's launching in China first, Creative Assembly says it hopes to "bring it to players worldwide before too long".  

Elysium is Creative Assembly's first CCG and the studio reckons releasing in a huge market like China with a publisher experienced in the genre gives it the best chance for success. Hopefully by the time we get it, some of the kinks will have been worked out. 

Also teased was the surprise resurrection of Total War: Arena, against exclusive to China. Creative Assembly and Wargaming canned the multiplayer RTS last year, following a long testing period and diminishing interest. It was a neat concept, with players each commanding part of an army rather than the whole, but didn't find its audience. At least not in the west. That doesn't mean it won't make a return one of these days. 

As one empire falls and another begins to take form from the ashes, warlords across ancient China do battle on the field and at the negotiating table. Choosing which one of them to take control of in Total War: Three Kingdoms isn’t a throwaway decision and shouldn’t be made based on which colour you prefer, although yes, Kong Rong’s particular shade of blue is very tasteful. 

Every warlord comes with their own faction benefits, unique units and buildings, perks and penalties, and starting positions which will affect not just your playstyle but your overall objectives and how to go about them. Here’s the cliff notes on each of the base game’s warlords.

Cao Cao—Strategic Mastermind 

Cao Cao is a great pick for your first Three Kingdoms campaign. He’s endowed with great diplomatic perks, a couple of strong unique units, and starts the game in a strong territorial position. If you haven’t got stuck into a campaign yet, treat yourself to his advantages. 

Starting position: Cao Cao begins with three regions already under his control, and a bit of breathing room in the first few rounds before the likes of He Yi to the south and that bloody, /bloody/ Yuan Shao in the north start to close in and start to make his life more difficult. The territory to his east is especially easy pickings unless the aforementioned warlords move in and take them over.

Hero class and playstyle: Cao Cao is one of five Commander class heroes and is thus pretty great at inspiring his troops, at the cost of being a bit useless at melee. It’s therefore best to keep him surrounded by melee units. Cao Cao also enjoys -10% unit upkeep and +15 military supplies, and has access to two cavalry units from the start of the game that are otherwise unlocked at level 3 and level 6. Coupled with that reduced unit upkeep cost, that brings a huge advantage to early game combat, meaning it’s easy to gain quite a bit of territory in the first couple of years while everyone else is still yawning and stretching. 

It’s not all about fighting with Cao Cao, though. His faction specialisation is Credibility, which means he gains more over time as a passive bonus, has an influence over diplomatic relations other than his own, and he can kick off proxy wars to weaken opponents without getting his hands dirty.

Unique features: Cao Cao has two unique building types. Farming Garrisons are really handy because they allow soldiers to work the land and increase food yield in the region of the garrison while also being on hand to defend it. Tungtian Conscription, in the military building branch, increases recruitment rate at the cost of population growth, but also boosts seasonal retinue and food production. Those two buildings work brilliantly together to keep Cao Cao’s aggressive expansion rolling without compromising the basics of land and population management.

Liu Bei—Virtuous Idealist

After Cao Cao, lovely Liu Bei is probably Three Kingdom’s second-most favourable warlord for beginners and those looking for an easier ride in the early game. His unique resource, Unity, becomes increasingly powerful as the game progresses, and his unique ranged units give him an early game edge on the battlefield.

Starting position: Beginning over in the northeast of the map, Liu Bei starts nice and far away from that big bully Dong Zhuo, but he’s likely to face conflict with ultra-aggressive Yuan Shao and his many vassals before too long. With that said, he, er, doesn’t actually control any territory at the beginning of round one, so his first job is to wrestle control from the local militia - luckily he begins with the most powerful army of all the leaders. With that done, Liu Bei must decide whether to side with Cao Cao or Tao Qian in the next few turns.

Hero class and playstyle: Like Cao Cao, Liu bei is a Commander and thus receives a bonus to inspiration in his troops and gets -50% militia infantry upkeep and +4 public order just for being such a swell guy. After taking his initial territory, it’s best to keep the region of his overall control quite low in the early game and focus primarily on generating his unique resource, Unity. It’s accrued by keeping generals satisfied, which in turn is achieved by completing unique assignments. Unity grants bonuses to just about every other kind of income, and can also be used to take control of Han Empire territories without actually invading them.

Unique features: Liu Bei begins with two archer unit types which don’t unlock for the others until levels 3 and 6, which is especially handy for him given that archers have increased range in Three Kingdoms versus prior TW games. His unique building, Shu Han Tax Collection, increases peasant tax income at the expense of public order, and he has two unique diplomatic/settlement options, Confederate and Integrate, which allow him to gain new territories outside of battle by flexing his diplomatic muscle and spending Unity.

Sun Jian - The Tiger of Jiangdong 

Sun Jian is a super-aggressive warlord with plenty of perks for going after territories early and maintaining a large army. Inevitably, it’s a risk-reward tradeoff that’s perhaps better suited to players with either a lot of Total War experience or a few prior Three Kingdoms campaigns under their belts. 

Starting position: Down in Jianling, Sun Jian begins in enemy territory and must make his way south to reach his family. Tough start, then. After that his initial dilemma is to side with either Yuan Shu or slightly closer neighbour Liu Bao. These two are at loggerheads from turn one, so your decision isn’t just about buddying up to a friend but also about who you make enemies with from the outset.

Hero class and playstyle: Sun Jian is a Sentinel class, which gives himself and his troops great staying power on chokepoints. He’s all about Heroism, a unique faction resource that reduces unit upkeep cost, improves recruitment and boosts public order. It’s achieved by sustaining fewer losses than the enemy in battle, so Sun Jian should be played super aggressively to keep those bonuses rolling in. 

Unique features: Mercenary Captain Retinues are recruitable immediately for Sun Jian and don’t need any mustering time, while his unique archer, infantry, and cavalry units give him the chance to create a well-rounded army right at the beginning of the game using better units than his opponents have access to until later levels. His Mercenary Outpost building boosts income from commerce and mercenary replenishment. It really is all about keeping a big army rolling into enemy territory with Sun Jian, then.

Gongsun Zan—The Ironfist General

Here’s a military-minded warlord for players who like to focus on their armies and let generals take care of civic governance too. He’s particularly strong in defense, so if you’re sick of being routed by the Yellow Turban Rebellion or some particularly nasty neighbours he’s a good pick. 

Starting position: Gongsun Zan’s start position in Youbeiping Commandery in the northeast corner of the map is relatively safe in the early game, but expansion’s going to be tricky. Liu Yu is just to the west, and he’s not going to go easy on the territories separating you. At the beginning of the game you’re not in an amazing position to invade enemy ground either, so a long-game approach is best. 

Hero class and playstyle: As a Vanguard, Gongsun Zan’s fantastic at breaking through enemy troops but is weak to other generals, so a bit of micromanagement is required on the battlefield. He doesn’t have his own unique faction resource, but is able to use generals in administration posts and gains 50% to his reinforcement range. This is really handy when defending, since you don’t need to move armies as close to your battling units in order for them to become effective.

Unique features: The Military Government unique building is a real highlight of Gongsun Zan’s perks, increasing income from all sources and public order. Meanwhile, his two mounted archer units offer great mobility and range in the early game before other factions unlock them.

Yuan Shao—The Dragon of the Yuan

A real early and mid-game threat who can grow into an almost insurmountable force if left unchecked thanks to his knack for forging alliances, Yuan Shao is also handy on the battlefield as one of the game’s five Commander class warlords. 

Starting position: Yuan Shao starts in a really favourable position which plays to his strengths. All around him in the north of the map are agricultural provinces which can be easily taken over, and weaker factions he can steamroll into vassals thanks to his diplomatic silver tongue. Before long the whole Wei Commandary should be in his control, and also early on he’ll have to choose to side with either Gongsun Zan and Han Fu. 

Hero class and playstyle: Another of Three Kingdoms’ Commanders, Yuan Shao can inspire his troops better than most, and can use his two unique polearm infantry units to keep him safe in battle. He’s also able to recruit captains who bestow bonuses to specific unit types, and that offsets his relative weakness to other Commander warlords in battle. Since he enjoys a morale bonus and a 50% reduction to hiring and maintaining captains’ units, it’s a wise idea to keep a medium-to-large army around him at all times. Doing this as early as possible lets you capture a fairly large territory, and brandish that power to vassalise other states. 

Unique features: Yuan Shao’s captains replace the traditional heroes and buff combat units when enstated. His two unique units, both polearm infantry, have great melee range, while the Yuan Administration Office available to him boosts income, public order, and pedigree growth. 

Yuan Shu—The Ambitious Powermonger

Not to be confused with Yuan Shao the other ambitious powermonger, Yuan Shu has great bonuses to prestige, income and public order but, bless him, he’s not so hot at the negotiating table. 

Starting position: Yuan Shu starts the game right in the thick of it. With Dong Zhuo bordering his lands to the north, Liu Biao to the south, and He Yi surrounding him across the east, his expansion potential is extremely limited. His Guanxi trait makes him particularly prone to falling out with those around him, so overall he’s one of the most challenging warlords to take control of. In the early game, it’s about carving a route out of that hostile circle then holding onto your territory in the following fallout.

Hero class and playstyle: Yet another commander, Yuan Shu has a few battlefield bonuses but he’s really more about increasing legitimacy as quickly as possible and convincing other factions of his claim to the throne. He goes about this by his unique faction resource, Legitimacy. Building it up increases prestige and income, but boy do other factions hate you for it. 

Unique features: Two unique assault infantry units are available to Yuan Shu from turn one, and these are a nice fit with his decreased melee ability as a Commander - keep them close to him on the battlefield. They’re especially hard to rout since their morale’s so high. The unique Zhong Administration building increases income but—curses!—decreases that all-important Legitimacy, so it’s only to be used when you’re in an economic bind.

Kong Rong—The Master Scholar 

Kong Rong’s an interesting warlord whose strengths lie primarily outside the battlefield, making him a great pick for those looking to win a campaign without stomping everyone into submission on the battlefield.

Starting position: On the northeast coast, Kong Rong begins hemmed in by other factions and fighting the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Not an easy ride in the early game, then. There’s some easily attainable land on that eastern outcrop, but except for that it’s hard work expanding Kong Rong’s borders the traditional way. Another warlord for experienced players, although things do get easier once the Yellow Turban Rebellion are sent packing.

Hero class and playstyle: Kong Rong’s class is Strategist, and that allows him to strengthen his own troops and actively weaken enemies, but he’s no great shakes in direct combat so it’s best to keep him placed behind his entire army. His real strength is in brokering trades, however. His unique resource, Trade Monopoly, can be deployed during diplomatic talks to greatly increase the income from trades - legend has it he’s a descendent of Confucius himself, so that figures. Using that trade power, Kong Rong can easily become one of the richest warlords on the map, but he can’t directly declare himself Emperor however much he has in the coffers. Instead, he has to take the capitals of the existing Emperor. That’s the interesting wrinkle with Kong Rong - he’s suited to a /mostly/ non-violent playstyle.  

Unique features: Two crossbow units comprise Kong Rong’s uniques, both offering great range and great attack stats against armoured units. He can also create a unique Academy of Culture, buffing growth of population, income and public order, access to a unique Educational Program task which increases income from trade. Loves a trade, that Kong Rong.

Liu Biao—Gentleman of the Han

Frankly, Liu Biao isn’t the most interesting warlord. Like a handful of others, he doesn’t gain access to a unique faction resource. Like a handful of others, he’s a Commander class. And like Kong Rong, he can’t declare himself Emperor. Not the most bristling with individual personality then, but Liu Biao’s academic focus offers a different approach to victory. 

Starting position: Starting in the middle of the map, surrounded by major players Sun Jian and Yuan Shu, and weeping as the Han Empire lies dismantled, Liu Biao is another warlord with an uphill struggle from turn one. He also has rebels in his Commandery to deal with, so that’s item one on the agenda. After that, Liu Biao’s best bet for expansion is to head east or west before his neighbours gobble up those territories for themselves. 

Hero class and playstyle: Another Commander, Liu Biao is one to keep away from direct combat on the battlefield and instead employ to support melee units. Instead of a faction resource, Liu Biao has additional positions in his court for academics, who in turn provide bonuses to Harmony, knowledge, and abilities. Since he also enjoys a +10 satisfaction bonus and +2 public order, Liu Biao’s in good shape to extract the most from the territory he holds and run an efficient empire. Since he can’t declare himself Emperor though, he’ll have to get his hands dirty at some point and take the Emperor’s capital by force in order to win.

Unique features: His two unique units are both heavy infantry with wooden weapons, who are particularly adept at dealing with cavalry. His Lodging building increases character experience and income from commerce.

Ma Teng—Protector of the West 

Based in the northwest, Ma Teng has some hostile neighbours and favours a nomadic playstyle based on keeping large armies outside his settlements - something he’s able to do more easily than most thanks to his faction perks. 

Starting position: Beginning right next to Dong Zhuo just before the tyrant’s downfall, Ma Teng starts turn one wrestling for control of the Wudu Commandery with rebels. Shortly afterwards he must decide whether to engage in a war with the splinter factions on his doorstep, or leave them to it and pursue territorial gain in slightly easier territory to the west. The risk in doing that is that one of those splinter factions might become insurmountably powerful if left unchecked.  

Hero class and playstyle: Like the two other Vanguard class warlords, Ma Teng’s very effective when fighting enemy troops on the battlefield, but weak to other generals. No matter, though - he’s suited to keeping several large armies at once, and filling them with powerful cavalry units. Instead of a unique faction resource, Ma Teng’s armies forage for food when encamped and he gets a bonus to military resources, meaning it’s easier to keep armies at a high headcount when marching far from friendly territory. Due to his three unique cavalry units and +10% shock cavalry bonus, you should stack those armies with horsemen.

Unique features: Ma Teng’s three unique units - horse archers, shock cavalry and melee cavalry, all enjoy -10% upkeep cost and bring great range and mobility to battle. And since they’re available well before other factions will have access to similar troops, Ma Teng holds a military advantage in the early game that can be exploited to mop up some of Dong Zhuo’s old territories. His Xiliang Supply Lines provide food and military supplies to his armies—but also provide the latter to enemy armies.

Zhang Yan—King Of Black Mountain

If you’re looking for a playthrough full of careful settlement micromanagement, devilish negotiation and lots of trading, Zhang Yan probably isn’t going to do it for you. Perched up on the Black mountains in the very north of the map, he’s all about ambushing opponents.

Starting position: This is as far north as any warlord gets, and as such the Black Mountains aren’t a terrible starting location in terms of imminent threats. Zhang Yan’s expansion options are limited by having nowhere to go further up north, though, so he will need to take on at least one powerful warlord to make progress on the map. Further south is Yuan Shao too, who’ll likely pose a significant problem to him after the first few turns - particularly if he seals a few alliances with your neighbours. 

Hero class and playstyle: Along with fellow bandit warlord Zheng Jiang, Zhang Yan is a Champion class and thus excels at taking on enemy generals at the expense of being weak to other units. He’s best defended by the rangy spear and glaive infantry retinues. His big strength is in the ability to ambush enemy armies, attacking them from both sides and thus starting each battle with a big advantage. In lieu of any unique faction resource, this little perk must be fully embraced to make any headway with Zhang Yan, so it’s worth building up a well-balanced army as early as possible and picking off marching enemy units to weaken your neighbours. His armies don’t receive any penalties for fighting or travelling in forests, and he gets +25% post-battle income. Battling, then, is the bread and butter of this warlord’s campaign.

Outside of combat, Zhang Yan has the unique ability to negotiate with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and can even form an alliance with them, which strengthens his position considerably. 

Unique features: Black Mountain Marauders, Outlaws, and Hunters comprise Zhang Yan’s unique units, and these all reduce enemy troop morale by scaring them. Couple this with that ambush ability and you have a formidable military force. 

His unique Black Mountain Hideout building offers three different paths, and three sets of perks: either better diplomatic relations with the Yellow Turban Rebellion and an increased spy limit, higher army limit and loot income, or increased public order, administrator slots, and better relations with Han Empire factions.

Zheng Jiang—The Bandit Queen

Zheng Jiang’s campaign is rated as the game’s absolute hardest, so it’s probably not a brilliant idea to select her if you’re embarking on your first campaign or still learning the mechanics. Like Zhang Yan she begins up in the Black Mountains, and she’s all about increasing her unique faction resource, Infamy. 

Starting position: This is as tough as it gets. Up in the mountains, and already at war not just with Dong Zhuo and the Han Empire. There’s a glimmer of light in Zheng Jiang’s early dilemma with the possibility of joining forces with fellow bandit Zhang Yan, although particularly bold players can reject that alliance and take over his territory for their own. No territory nearby is particularly easy to come by, but heading east probably offers the easier path. 

Hero class and playstyle: Another Champion class, Zheng Jiang can be used to wipe out enemy generals if you micromanage her on the battlefield and keep her away from direct combat with other troops. Again, it’s best to protect her with infantry units who have a decent range. 

To prevail with Zheng Jiang you should focus on generating her unique faction resource, Infamy. This will grant you a lot ofof bonuses for prestige, satisfaction or tribute in diplomacy, but it does negatively affects relations with other factions. Don’t sweat that too much though - you’ve probably already pissed off all your neighbours. Infamy’s gained by winning battles and occupying settlements, so it doesn’t pay to be a pacifist with this warlord. 

Unique features: Zheng Jiang's unique units are Hidden Axes and the Fists of the Bandit Queen, and can be used very effectively to charge enemy troops. Her Bandit Lair speeds up replenishment, at the expense of income.

Total War: Three Kingdom's heroes are super-charged warriors capable of dispatching whole units without breaking a sweat. They're pretty awesome. Next week, they'll properly get to show off their skills in the free Dynasty mode. It's a horde mode where three heroes somehow have to survive a battle against an infinite army. 

The horde might have the numbers, but the heroes have their legendary special abilities, which may have saved your skin a few times in the campaign, as well as their superhuman strength. It's very reassuring to see a hero wading into battle, knowing that soon all those pesky soldiers will be tossed up into the air by a whirlwind of destruction. 

As you kill enemies, stronger reinforcements will appear, and you'll need to deal with enemy generals every third wave. Your heroes will get stronger, too, earning points that can be spent on new skills. 

If the endless waves aren't challenging enough for you, you can always bump up the unit size slider and fight mega-units comprised of 960 warriors. Normal units have 80. While Three Kingdoms is the best optimised of all the Total Wars, you'll probably need a beefy PC to push that slider all the way. 

Essentially, it's Total War: Dynasty Warriors, but it also sounds a lot like Dawn of War 2's Last Stand mode, which was released as a standalone game and also featured a trio of heroes fighting an endless horde of enemies. Relic and Creative Assembly are both Sega studios, so maybe there's some cross-pollination going on. 

Dynasty mode is due out on August 8. 

This interview was conducted in April earlier this year and originally published in PC Gamer UK issue 331. For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in the UK and the US.

Leif Walter is in a relaxed state as I speak to him ahead of his appearance on stage to talk Total War: Three Kingdoms at EGX Rezzed in London. A fan of Total War since before he joined Creative Assembly, he now talks enthusiastically about the series and his work on it. During our conversation, he answers questions about how Creative Assembly decided on ancient China as a setting, how the era manifests in Three Kingdoms’ design, and what the future might hold for the Total War series.

PC Gamer: This is probably the first Total War to explore a new era or timeline since Attila, with the exception of Warhammer. What is it about exploring new eras, new timelines, in the series that excites the development team? 

Leif Walter: Well, for a Total War game, you always look for turbulent and interesting periods of history where there’s conflict and drama, maybe an interesting development at a cultural level. And when we first got in touch with the Three Kingdoms period, we realised very quickly that, basically, it was the perfect Total War setting. A lot of charismatic characters and leaders with relationships between each other and backstabbing and this kind of drama. Massive armies marching against each other. It’s basically the perfect Total War setting. You know, there’s the massive Han dynasty, the Han empire, which is basically the equivalent of the Roman Empire. And this big empire, crumbling, suffering from internal corruption, engulfed in this big civil war. It was the perfect setting.

For the most part, it’s Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones actually happened? 

Yeah, basically! I mean, like I said, there’s sort of fake gods and fake armies marching against each other. But mostly there’s cool, personal stories between characters and personal feuds, maybe sometimes irrational friendships or irrational rivalries. That would inform gameplay decisions and the directions for the gameplay design. It’s pretty clear we need these personal relationships to have an impact on your campaign.

How do you decide on the balance between the story and the game systems? How do you bring those two things together? 

It’s an interesting balance to strike. We always have the three big pillars between historical accuracy, authenticity, fun, and then of course some interesting gameplay that we want to bring in. And yeah, sometimes we have to make those sacrifices to increase the fun of both. I would say with Three Kingdoms, there’s the benefit of having two big sources that allow different factors to that problem. There’s Records of the Three Kingdoms for the pure historical period, and then the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel which delivered all this personal drama. So we have these two big sources we could draw from.

You mentioned it in part in the first question, but what’s the creative process like in determining what is the right era or timeline to bring to a Total War game? Describe that for me.

I mean obviously we all have sort of an idea of certain historical periods. There’s loads of cultural knowledge of certain things like the medieval era, there’s knights, and in ancient Japan, samurai. And so the story of the Three Kingdoms is a bit of an almost surprise find because it’s not very well known in the west. It has a huge cultural legacy in the east, in China and Japan.

But in the West, it’s not very well known, so it was almost like getting sudden inspirations from, say, movies and then you learn more about that period, and then you try to match the historical context with possible gameplay mechanics and how they tie together.

And then sometimes you’ll be running through a situation where you feel like certain settings might be cool, but then you learn more about it, and you realise maybe there’s not enough cultural richness, not really enough battles, these kinds of things. The Three Kingdoms has both. Like I said, the perfect match.

You mentioned how in the West, it’s not as well-known as, say, in China and Japan. So how do you go making that sort of story easy for players to understand, who don’t really know that background? Or who just aren’t as historically savvy and so don’t know the story?

There are two big things about this. First of all, I think from my personal experience, Total War games—or any historical game for that matter—are a great vehicle to get players more interested in that kind of time period, so you deliver nice appetisers and then they start to learn a bit more about that period, then they go away from the game and get a history book out. I think this process, that’s where Total War games can be really cool. A piece of entertainment that’s educational.

Secondly, Total War is a sandbox game, so for us it’s always important to not necessarily tell the story in a narrative, it doesn’t have to play out exactly like the Three Kingdoms novel for example.

But what we wanted was to create an environment where players almost create their own Three Kingdoms story. And that’s so important. I know Ma Chao ended up being in Liu Bei’s army—being one of his generals—but it’s more about creating gameplay systems that allow players to forge their own story and so focus not so much on delivering that detail, but more about enabling players to tell their own stories.

So how accessible have you made the game for newcomers, or for maybe those like me, who have had very light experience with the series? I think I’ve played only an hour or an hour and a half of Shogun 2. So how do you make that accessible for newer players or old players with little experience with the series?

That’s one big pillar for us was the concept of gating, so that... Total War is a complex tactics game—there’s no way around it—there’s always going to be that complexity and that’s what players are interested in. But what we wanted to achieve was that the game starts off with less systems involved, less things to be aware of, less things to run towards.

So to start off, it’s very straightforward, you build armies and take territories. But as you go and you learn more about the game, the game gets increasingly harder, more challenging and more complex.

You just don’t want to overburden the player from the start?

Exactly, because what’s most important for our fans, we wanted to create a rich Total War experience that has a lot of deep mechanics in it. So we didn’t want to make it, you know, over-accessible and streamline it too much, but have this journey through the game where you start off not overburdened with thousands of things to manage and then you learn more about the game as you go.

Can you talk about the inclusion of the Romance Mode, because it changes the dynamics of the game and has a different tempo to Records mode. With Records, it’s more strategic, but with Romance, everything feels more fast-paced, with a higher tempo, etc. Was that daunting at all to explore, settling on the difference in style and pace between the two modes?

First of all, like I said, we have these two big sources for the game, so it was pretty obvious from the beginning that we want these two perspectives. And like I said, especially in battle, we tell you the difference between [Records], where it’s all about how you position your troops and the manoeuvres you perform, and Romance, where you almost have an additional tactical layer on top.

[In Romance], you have your army interactions, and then your heroes and how they interact with the enemy heroes. So it’s a cool interesting additional layer and sort of fits the over-arching mechanics of battles to keep the tempo a bit up because you want a fast pace to move the heroes to another area, trigger an ability, leave an impact there, then move somewhere else. So you have a faster interaction with the game.

The Total War series has visited so many eras and timelines, from Shogun to Rome and even Warhammer. And it feels like each setting brings a different size and scope, especially with the launch of the Total War Saga series. What is it about the series that makes it so consistent, even as the setting changes? What is it that keeps it fresh for players?

Like I said, Total War games are a very evocative sandbox for a historical environment. Especially for me, I was a Total War player before I joined Creative Assembly.

And for me, it was always to play the same pattern where I had this narrative in my head. I started with Rome: Total War and there you have your generals with their trades, and you tie everything together with a backstory about your generals, and it’s all embedded in this historical context. So it’s almost like watching, like you said earlier, Game of Thrones, or a historical series like the Rome HBO series, and I think it’s just a very nice journey for players. That’s what they appreciate, and then the different settings deliver a different flavour.

Quality wise, of course, CA are passionate developers who want to deliver high quality content, and we always try to be better next project, learn from our mistakes and try to make the best historical game possible.

What can CA do in the future to keep that consistency going for the series for the next five, ten, twenty years? Assuming we can all look forward to that sort of vision in the future...

I mean, Total War, that’s large battles, and historical settings and environments, and trying to achieve it in this game. That’s the formula... Now there are many more exciting historical periods to explore, we also listen to what our fans are asking for in some of the titles. So yeah, there’s a lot of amazing content to explore, and mechanic wise, I think we’ll always push the Total War formula and make it more engaging and tell even grander stories to players, enable them to tell their own stories. There’s exciting stuff to look forward to.

This week, Total War community manager Michael "Wheels" Whelan ended his final stream and last day at Creative Assembly with a message for a YouTuber. "Arch Warhammer is a dickhead," he said. "Goodbye."

Creative Assembly released a statement on Twitter today apologising for Whelan's comment, saying it was not up the developer's professional or personal standards. "We apologise for any hurt or harm caused," it concluded.   

Arch Warhammer is a strategy YouTuber who also appears to go off on tangents about 'SJWs' ruining games and censorship in Total War. In his own video—which inaccurately portrays Whelan's insult as an official Creative Assembly statement—Arch Warhammer claims that he "triggered" Creative Assembly by criticising their curation of Total War mods. 

Creative Assembly removes mods that are designed to "provoke, intimidate, or antagonise other groups, reference other IP, or create content of a sexual nature." The last one has upset modders wanting to sex-up Three Kingdoms and turn female warlords into waifus. Some players, like Arch Warhammer, reckon that's censorship. 

While lamenting Whelan's lack of professionalism, Arch Warhammer's video partner calls him a "shill" trying to impress girls by "virtue signalling". Ah yes, the language of professionals.

I reached out to Sega and Creative Assembly but they had nothing to add to the statement.

We're still playing Total War: Three Kingdoms, the first huge historical Total War game since 2013's Rome 2. Between 220–280 AD modern-day China was split into—yep—a tripartite division of territories, and the era produced many legendary battles, generals and, indirectly, videogames about killing 500 warriors in one go. 

Total War: Three Kingdoms is no Dynasty Warriors game, despite its Romance mode blending history with Chinese mythology. But what if you want Three Kingdoms to be more like a Dynasty Warriors game? Or more like the traditional Total War games of the past? How about harder, because you've already conquered China a dozen times, or easier, because your generals keep dying of old age?

A few months in, we've now seen a wealth of massive rebalance mods for Three Kingdoms, nice cosmetic overhauls for armies, and more specific mods that target specific aspects of the game. We've tested a ton of them, and these are the ones we recommend. 

All Factions Playable, New Major Factions

Download link

This mod very simply makes every faction on the map playable in both the main campaign and the Eight Princes DLC campaign, more than tripling the number of playable warlords. The author didn’t stop there, though. They’ve also released a submod that seeks to make every faction more like the major factions, with unique features and noteworthy characters.

The factions that have been upgraded to “Majors” in the submod include Zhang Lu, Tao Qian, Liu Yu, Gao Gan, Shi Xie, Liu Yan, Han Sui, Huang Zu, the Han Empire, Liu Yao, Zhang Yang, Gongsun Du, Lu Bu, Gan Ning, and Yan Baihu.

Respec Character Skills when they join you

Download link

Have you ever eagerly recruited a legendary warrior like Xiahou Dun, only to find that his previous lord put his stat points in all the wrong places? This mod gives all generals a free respec when you recruit them to undo the errors of the past.

It’s a very lightweight mod and can even be used on a campaign in progress that started without it. No more lamenting that your best frontline vanguard has a bunch of wasted points in governing.

Division of Empire

Download link

In vanilla Three Kingdoms, the Han Empire sticks around as a punching bag for everyone else and can eventually be vassalized by a claimant to the throne. This can lead to some really weird borders and politics, though. With this mod activated, all of the remaining Han governors will become independent minor factions on Turn 8, creating a much more fragmented playing field.

This will bring new diplomatic opportunities, but also challenges. It also makes some tweaks to the AI, such as encouraging them to become aggressive earlier in the game. Overall, things feel more hectic, dangerous, and unpredictable than vanilla. It’s a nice breath of fresh air if you’ve gotten used to the same old song and dance.

New Faction: Goguryeo (Korea) 

Most of the action of the Three Kingdoms period takes place in China. But what if their Korean neighbors had seen the chaos as an opportunity to take the throne for themselves? This mod adds the contemporary Korean kingdom of Goguryeo as a playable faction under Gonammu "The Earth Lord" and his loyal generals, Goyeon-u "The Fire Lord" and Eulpaso "The Water Lord."

The Koreans get reduced infantry upkeep as well as lots of bonuses related to cavalry, eight unique generals, and five new unique units including powerful Gaemamusa Horse Archers. The mod does not add the Korean Peninsula to the map, but rather has Gonammu spawn on its extreme northern edge, near Gongsun San. The faction is rated "Very Hard."

10 Turns Per Year 

Download link

Really, you couldn’t devise a more fitting title for this mod. By default it takes five turns to progress through a year in Total War: Three Kingdoms, and this mod doubles it. Slowing the game down to this degree means you can max out more of your upgrade tree, while seasons now last two turns each.

No Death By Old Age

Download link

The best Total War: Three Kingdoms mods have the power to grant infinite life. While it may sound like a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, No Death By Old Age is a pretty self-explanatory mod which still allows characters to be killed but ensures they have a zero percent chance to die of old age. The exception is Tao Qian, for important narrative reasons.

If you use a mod that alters the passing of time like 10 Turns Per Year (above) this is one way to circumvent any weird aging issues you might run into.

Captains for All Units

Download link

One thing Three Kingdoms is missing that previous Total War games have had: Some representation of the lower-level officers in your army. There’s always that one guy at the front of a unit with a different hat or something to show he’s important, right? While heroes are the focus of Three Kingdoms, the modding scene hasn’t forgotten about Special Hat Guy.

Captains for All Units adds a Special Hat Guy (or some equivalent stand-out soldier) to every unit. His name may be lost to the pages of history, but we will never forget his courage, his fashion sense, and his minor increase to hitpoints. Note that while this is a mostly cosmetic mod, you will have to start a new campaign to see it take effect.

Better Faces 

Download link

Three Kingdoms is already a pretty good looking game, but if you zoom in on some of your generals in battle, you may have been a little bit let down. The Better Faces mod aims to make characters’ 3D models better match their hand-painted portraits on the campaign map and loading screens so they don’t seem like they just rolled out of bed and headed to battle without even checking their makeup.

Among other things, the overhaul removes eye bags and wrinkles, reduces the yellowness of certain skin tones, and cleans up wild stubble so your favorite Late Han rock stars can charge the enemy center looking as beautiful as they deserve. This will affect all generals, but special attention has been given to some of the major players like Lu Bu, Zhang Fe, and Yuan Shao.

Make Them Unique 

Download link

If you’re a big Three Kingdoms/Dynasty Warriors fan, you might have been disappointed to find that some of your favorite characters were represented with generic models, portraits, and items in Total War. Make Them Unique seeks to correct this by adding new art and unique gear for some of the better-known second-tier generals.

Among the characters currently receiving a flavor upgrade are Dong Peishan, Dong Min, Diaochan, Li Ru, Hua Lanli, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Xun Yu, Lady Bian, Lady Wu, Lu Zheng, and Yijian Liting. This especially gives some needed love to Dong Zhuo’s faction and several of the important women of the period. And it’s compatible with Better Faces (above).

Vanilla Units Overhaul

Download link

The previous mods will help you get your generals looking their best, but what about the rank-and-file? Lots of Three Kingdoms’ regiments can look like dozens of clones of the same guy, which can be easy to overlook when your heroes are making sparks fly. But especially in the more historical Records mode, it can start feeling a bit bland.

Vanilla Units Overhaul seeks to improve this by adding more variations to every unit, including over 25 new faces. Militias will carry a wider range of armor and weapons since they’re, well, militia. The author looked to the movie Red Cliff, famously depicting one of the most dramatic battles of the period, for a lot of the visual look while still trying to maintain their “original feel and historical authenticity.”

SFO: Three Dragons

Download link

SFO stands for Steel Faith Overhaul, which you may know as one of the best mods for Total War: Warhammer. “Reworked Battles” is the tagline for this huge total overhaul, but that barely scratches the surface. One of the biggest changes is that it will take longer for normal units to become fatigued, but the penalties for being fatigued are harsher. This leads to battles that take longer to reach a tipping point, but are more decisive once they do.

In addition, winning a character battle will no longer have such a severe impact on unit morale. It will hurt the losing side, but it’s less likely to send them fleeing for the hills, so it doesn’t feel as much like duels are the only part of the battle that matters. These are just two out of hundreds of changes to combat, art, animations, enemy AI, and more that seeks to make Three Kingdoms a whole new game.

Radious Total War Mod

Download link

Radious is another full overhaul mod whose name should ring a bell with players of past Total Wars. This massive mod makes changes to just about every part of the campaign and battle system, while trying to respect the history and literature sources in Records and Romance modes, respectively. It’s so big, you’ll have to download the Steam version in two parts!

Every unit has rebalanced stats, the campaign AI has been completely reworked, and efforts have been made to make each major faction even more interesting and unique than they are in vanilla. They’ve also added over 70 new unique units and reworked the economy, family, and political systems. Similar to SFO, this is basically giving you a whole new game to play with.

Heroes Join Your Faction

Download link

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is full of auspicious meetings between famous warriors, often with one pledging loyalty to another. While Total War models some of these events, other times it just drops their subjects into the recruitable character pool without fanfare. This mod seeks to bring more famous encounters from the novel into your campaign.

Currently, they’ve added Huang Zhong joining Liu Bei, Yue Jin joining Cao Cao, Xu Huan joining Cao Cao, Zhang Liao joining Cao Cao, and Taishi Ci joining Sun Ce. It also increases the proc rate for existing vanilla events that involve Dian Wei, Gan Ning, Pang Tong, Xu Chu, Zhou Yu, Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, and Zhao Yun so that they should occur every playthrough instead of having a small chance of not firing at all.

Beneath a Red Sky: A Battle Overhaul

Download link

Beneath A Red Sky is a collection of mods from the creators the Total War: Attila overhaul mod, Ancient Empires, and this battle overhaul mod is the gem of the bunch. Focusing on rebalancing units and emphasising realism, it greatly increases fatigue and the chances of units routing, which means fewer outright casualties on the battlefield. It also reworks missile weapons (read: bows) and enhances terrain effects.

Recruited Unique Character Can Use Their Special Units 

Download link

Is it even a mod if neither the words ‘immersive’ or ‘overhaul’ appear somewhere in the title? Modder Alex Zhao breaks convention with this simple fix, which allows most unique characters to recruit special units that would otherwise be locked to only their faction. You do need to unlock each character’s unique skill when you level them up to be able to access them, though. It’s proving a popular addition, with over 30k subscribers already.

Hooveric Reskin 

Download link

So far our best Total War: Three Kingdoms mods list has included some deep, game-changing add-ons, but this one’s a purely visual mod that increases variety between individual soldiers within a unit. Flags and banners enjoy a bit more variation, along with unit clothing. There’s also a bit of light colour regrading going on in here. As modder hooveric succinctly puts it: More varieties for many units, improved textures, adjusted colors.

Dynasty Warriors Officers

Download link

With some degree of inevitability, this mod available on the Total War Nexus brings Total War: Three Kingdoms a bit closer to Dynasty Warriors series, despite Creative Assembly stating just after the release of the modding tools that they’ll be moderating DW content. Nevertheless, this mod enhances the roster with famous heroes in Dynasty Warriors, marriages, relationships based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and more.

The Eight Princes are on their way to Total War: Three Kingdoms, and they're not coming to play Parcheesi. The upcoming chapter pack will touch off a new campaign set 100 years after the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period, with a new generation of eager youngbloods fighting for the future of the Jin dynasty.

Each of the new princes "adheres to the five core character classes of the base game," but have their own unique campaign mechanics and playstyles. Sima Yong, for instance, focuses on defense and infrastructure, and has an increased chance for Man Of The Hour events triggering after battles thanks to his talent for identifying capable underlings, while Sima Wei is an aggressive expansionist whose unique Fury resource enhances his military capabilities, but can only be generated through military victories.

Princes will advance through different faction ranks than those of Three Kingdoms warlords, from minor prince to Imperial prince, while the alignment system, built around Wealth, Spirit, Might, and Mind, will grant different bonuses and also confront players with "events and dilemmas" based on the paths they pursue. It will also "inform" your options when it comes time to choose your grandest path: To preserve the emperor and rule as his regent, or seize the throne for yourself.

And instead of the support of the people, the eight princes must win the favor of the nobility in order to achieve their goals. Because of that, "public order" will be known as "noble support" in the Eight Princes chapter pack, and just like in the real world, the needs of the rich and powerful are a little different from the rest of us.

"The sources of positive and negative noble support throughout your infrastructure are thematically very different to public order, as the aristocracy’s needs and desires are different to those of the people. Maintaining stability through noble support will depend on different building choices to the Three Kingdoms period," Creative Assembly explained. "Likewise, unlike public order in the base game, growing commandery populations do not have a negative impact on noble support."

Total War: Three Kingdoms – Eight Princes is set to come out on August 8 and can be pre-purchased on Steam for 10 percent off its regular price of $9/£7/€9.