Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Kislev

This is the general tactics page on how to play Kislev in Total War: WARHAMMER. As the game isn't out yet and we know very little about how the faction will work, this page won't be filled out for a long time. However, we can make some early guesses based on the table top and the trailer.

Why Play Kislev

• Kislev.
• Because you like Humans, but don't want to debase yourself by playing as one of the feeble westerners (or southerners in this case)
• You will likely be playing a more generalist playstyle that leans more into mobile skirmishing and Cavalry.
• You want an excuse to blast Sabaton while playing in fantasy.
• FUCKING BEARS!!!!! *BLAM* In the name of Tzarina Katarin Bokha, this man has been been sentenced to death for degeneracy, move along citizen.

Pros

(Again, we know jack shit other than the factions so this is all subject to change)

• Cavalry: Kislev has always leaned more towards the cavalry side, so expect that to be the case in the game. With Winged Hussars, Bear Riders and presumably good skirmisher cav you should have a very wide selection of horsemen to choose from, without the same crippling infantry Bretonnia has
• Flexible Skirmishers: Many of your ranged units, such as the Ice Guard, will have weapons that will allow them to fight in melee, similar to Shades and Lothern Sea Guard. This means them getting stuck in melee won't be too much of an issue as they can actually defend themselves.
• Built for Total War: While they have more of a pedigree then Carthy does as far as canon goes, they have mostly been ignored in the table top game, which means CA has broad latitude in making units for there army in a way other factions didn't not. See Bretonnia's limited unit roster for example. As such they have potential to be more balanced then the other factions with no glaring unit type holes.

Cons

• Lack of Heavy Infantry: You will likely be lighter in the infantry department, as is generally the trend with human factions. Your ranged and cavalry will have to do most of the work in the battle.
• Lack of Monsters: I mean no one is complaining about the Bears but that's probably about as big and scary you can get when it comes to monsters. You likely won't have many Single Entity Monsters or Monstrous Infantry
• DLC: Yeah, this will be safe to assume. Get ready to join the very large "We need to fork over extra dough to be relevant in multiplayer." club.

Roster

Disclaimer: much of the bellow is taken as speculation from three souces, the old limited Kislev army listed printed in White Dwarf in 2003, the warmaster army list, and the ream of the Ice queen splatbook. Therefore take many of these options with a grain of salt. Anything with a WD (White dwarf) or WM (warmaster), or RoIQ (Realm of the Ice Queen) in the name will be from that source but not confirmed via an official source, the way the Winged Lancers showed up in the trailer for example.

Lords

Legendary Lords

• Tzarina Katarin: The only confirmed Legendary Lord for game 3 so far. She will likely be Kislev's Mage Lord level character with the Lore of Ice and access to a horse and a sled mount. Not much else to go on to be honest. She will probably be strong in the magic department but suck hard in melee

• Tzar Boris Ursus-WD: Although dead in the current timeline, that has not stopped Azhag the Slaughterer or Vlad von Carstein from making total war appearances. In fact he already, technically, has a voice actor: the voice narrating the letter Katarin is reading. Additionally in the limited white Dwarf Kislev codex he was one of the only two lord options, not even any generic choices, along side his daughter Katarin. With only two canon named lords to pick from, it's very likely Tzar Boris will show up atop his bear to act as the melee beat stick to his daughter's magical might, but this is pure speculation and has not been confirmed as of yet. However, judging by his trailer words...

• Tordimir Lubovasyn: The current commander of the Gryphon legion, which are an elite mercenary force that, while loyal to the Tzar take contacts across the old world, mostly with the Empire it must be said. If Tordimir shows up expect him to have a start very far from the other Kislev factions. If intrduced he could serve as a faster horse mounted lord to compare to the sled of Katarin and Bear of Boris. Another possibility could be Ivan Radinov, in earlier fluff he was was the commander of the Gryphon legion and was Katarin's brother. On this list the two of them are perhaps the least likely Options on this list but if Helman Ghorst can get into total war, they have a chance. More of a chance really given the lack of other options. Would make decent FLC lords.

• Yuri Kovalenko: the most likely second Legendary Lord (after Boris Ursus, but his speech in the trailer heavily implies that "the sacrifice he made was not enough"), considering the fact that we can see a letter from Tzarina to someone named Yuri in the end of the trailer, where she calls for help, and Kovalenko is the only known Kislevite with this name in the setting. He will probably represent Ungol army in contrast to Tzarina's Gospodars, with even more focus on cavalry, but that's pretty much everything we know.

Heros

• Boyar-WD:A likely generic hero level character that will be simplified much the way the Empire captain was into a melee character. Given the Russian root of the word Boyar, although unconfirmed it's very likely a hero/lord with this name will show up

• Ice Witch-RoIQ :A generic ice magic user, will likely have a lord/hero variant but may take a DLC to show up. We bet money that on launch Tzarina will be the only ice magic user, as per how it was in the table top list.

• Hag Witch-RoIQ :Think a non evil version of baba yaga and more then one of them and you have a hag witch. Another thing we bet will take a DLC to show up.

• Chekist-RoIQ :Because what would a fantasy version of Russia be without it's Fantasy Russian KGB? Expect something a little like a witch hunter, likely boost public order on the map and in battle. . . fuck if I know. Don't be surprised if they turn into a meme depending on how there voiced.

Units

Infantry

• Kossars-WD: another very Russian name likely to show up in total war warhamemr albeit perhaps not in this exact form. Due to the limited nature of the White Dwarf army book the Kossars were the only unit on foot and so were forced to play the role of both Infantry and Missile unit, armed with both a bow and a great axe. Although some kind of unit like this is not unheard of for warhammer, Lothern Sea Guard come to mind, it is very unlikely they will be the only option for infantry again and will likely be some kind of elite/mid-teir hybrid unit.

• Streltsi-RoIQ:Another hybrid unit, only instead of a bow and axe, it's an axe and a gun. Historically accurate in fact. Could be regiment of renown version a normal Kossar .

• Kreml Guard-?:The source for these guys is a Citadel Journal, I think sourcing is a bit rough for them. Still these guys are heavy halberd infantry who guard the Tzar's palace in war or peace.

• Axemen-WM: generic axe troops. Likely have shielded and unshielded variants. Stat's probably like an empire swordsmen, but with slightly more AP

Beasts

• Bears-WM-RoIQ:Warmaster let Kislev openly deploy packs of bears and a bear teamer exists in Realm of the Ice Queen as a career option so it's not unheard of. Expect it to be slower but with more AP and strength then most other beast units if implemented.

Missiles

• Bowmen-WM:Just Generic cheap archers, warmaster states that "Crossbows are less popular but not unknown".

• Ice Guard: Judging by the trailers, these ladies are going to be what happens when a Sister of Avelorn and a Lothern Sea Guard have a baby, only it came out human somehow. With a magical bow presumably with AP and a spear they will be pretty hard to crack, though they will likely be super expensive to make up for it.

Cavalry

• Ungol Horse archers-WD: Fast skirmishing Cavalary that will likely crumple in melee.

• Winged Lancers: The Winged Hussars have arrived and they will likely be a light to mid tier cavalry unit. They might come with Anti Large given their long lances and that they were seen in the trailer 'jousting' with Skullcrusher implying that's how your suppose to use them, but we'll have to wait and see to be sure. In the white dwarf codex they forced a panic check if they charge enemy's in the flank, so maybe they will have Fear? but that seems unlikely.
  • Gryphon Legion RoR-WD: An elite group of winged Lancers who act mostly as mercenarys but are sworn to show up when the Tzar/ina calls for there aid. In the White Dwarf codex while Winged Lancers were core and so you could have as many as you wanted, the Gryphon legion were 0-1, although with only one extra initiative and the ability to take a pistol on the champion? So while there a possibility, no idea how exactly they would be different other then the obvious 'better stat's'. It's unknown whether these guys will be an ROR or just "The same unit but better" in the same vein as Reiksguard are to Empire Knights.

• Sons of Ursun: These guys showed up in the trailer so get ready for them. They will likely be similar to Demigryphs only slower and with way beefier defensive stats. Also expect a hefty amount of AP and at least fear because it's a FUCKING MAN RIDING A POLAR BEAR!!!

• War Wagon-WM:Weirdly the War Wagon was originally a Kislev option in warmaster before the Empire stolen it for total war. Consider this a 'not likely at all' but listed for completion sake.

• Knights-WM: Warmaster also gives Kislev a generic 'knight' unit. Unlikely to be implemented if you think the Winged Lancers are going to be the middle teir cavalry unit, but knightly orders are some times stated as operating separate from Winged lancers so who knows? maybe they act as the heavy cavalry to the Lancers Shock cavalry?

Artillery

• Kislev great cannon: The difference between this cannon and the empire gun is that the Kislev cannon is made out of Brass from old church bells. A common historical event. Supposedly this grants them some slight blessing, but who knows. Perhaps they'll do less damage than Empire cannons but have Magic Damage to compensate.

Total War: Warhammer Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Magic Banner Immortal Empires
Total War: Warhammer	The Empire Dwarfs Greenskins Vampire Counts Bretonnia Warriors of Chaos Beastmen Wood Elves Norsca
Total War: Warhammer 2	High Elves Dark Elves Lizardmen Skaven Tomb Kings Vampire Coast
Total War: Warhammer 3	Kislev Khorne Tzeentch Nurgle Slaanesh Grand Cathay Ogre Kingdoms Daemons of Chaos Chaos Dwarfs