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.
• Chaos's punching bag: Hope you enjoy fighting off 12+ Full army of chaos warriors by your self! because that's exactly what you'll have to each and every time you start up a Kislev game. Have Fun
• 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.

Faction traits

• By our blood: A trait all Kislev units have, when there health drops bellow 50% health they get a 16 leaderships for 35 seconds, meaning they can better hold out when they take a lot of damage all at once.

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 mainline canon, the developers have only gone as far to say that he's vanished into the Chaos Wastes here. 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

• Patriarch: A primarily buffing hero with a beat mount. This chad contains a charge and leadership buffing ability along with a healing ability to help keep other units topped off. While his bear mount will likely make him at least ok in melee, he seems to be primarily a support character and as such may lose to most dedicated melee characters.

• 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/Ice Maiden : Confirmed in the game during the Developer Vision video. They are both casters of the Winds of Ice and Winds of Tempest. Odds are one of them is going to be a Lord level and the other is going to be a Hero level character.

• 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 Cheka? 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

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

• Tzar Guard: The elite infantry line for Kislev, and likely their strongest pure melee infantry since they appear to be the bodyguards of the Tzar. Have a sword and board and great weapon variant.

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.
• Snow Leopard: Showed up in the trailer, so presumably a powerful war beast for Kislev.

Hybrid missile units

• Kossars: Bow and axe troops, early game troops which with there decent melee stats can fend for it self in melee to some degree unlike most other early game, or indeed, any archer. Running light cavalry into these guys may cost you some more horsemen than you may have initially bargained for, especially if there the Kossar with Spears variant which actively have anti-large.

• Streltsi: Their weapon is a gun that is also an axe. A more elite missile unit with armor piercing in melee and at range. Again, like a handgunner that can fend for it self a bit in melee.

• Ice Guard: These ladies are 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 with AP and frostbite and a glaive for up close work they will be pretty hard to crack, though they will likely be super expensive to make up for it.

Cavalry

• Horse archers: Fast skirmishing Cavalry, though fragile they have decent melee offense so as long as you don't get hit they can charge on occasion.

• Winged Lancers: The Winged Hussars have arrived and they are a mid tier cavalry unit. With anti large and a big charge bonus they are typical cycle charges. Charge in, get back repeated. There big difference is that they are very fast and that they DO have fear representing how they caused a panic check on the table top during a flank charge.

• Gryphon Legion: An elite group of winged Lancers who act mostly as mercenaries but are sworn to show up when the Tzar/ina calls for there aid. There not an ROR are but are instead a ""The same unit but better" in the same vein as Reiksguard are to Empire Knights. With fear and high speed they threat to be dangerous units

• War bear riders: with a less cool then expected name, the war bear riders are still here to kick and then eat some ass. good stats, good armor, anti large, and armor pierceing they are anti-large cavalry experts.

• 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.

Monsters

• Elemental Bear: You can see one in the background of the gameplay reveal teaser throwing hands (paws?) with a Bloodthirster. Will likely be a big, scary bruiser monster, It has a breath attack to accent it's melee power.

Artillery

• Little Grom: No, they didn't kidnap Grom and put him on a diet. It's a giant ass ice mortar pulled by polar bears. Does it get any more Russian than that? Since it's a single model artillery piece it will likely do heavy damage, though it will likely sacrifice the pure damage of other huge artillery like Queen Bess and The Hellcannon in exchange for mobility and maybe better melee stats. I mean it's pulled by polar bears, it should be able to defend itself. Appears to be channeling Grom's spirit however, as it has 'collision attacks' dealing additional attacks when colliding with enemies. Better get out of the way of the bear train coming for your ass

• 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.

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