HIGH KING OF THE KARAZ ANKOR | THORGRIM #1 | Total War: WARHAMMER III

Hey guys. Today we're kicking off a Dwarf campaign with Thorgrim Grudgebearer on the latest patch that grants as access to The Deeps! There's a bunch of other cool additions, but mostly we'll be digging a hole. Maybe we'll settle a grudge here or there, too. Enjoy!
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#JanetOnOccasion

[@mattwoor4610]

Dwarfs aren’t in a rush to do anything - the whole clock thing annoys me. They hold grudges forever - and it doesn’t matter how long it takes, justice will be done, honour will be restored.

[@jessewilliams1422]

Very good point. Excellent in fact. It seems totally against the Dawi race to have a time limit on a grudge

[@TheNillaman]

@@jessewilliams1422 I like it for leaders like Grombrindal or Ungrim Ironfist, who are meant to be wandering around and righting wrongs. IE, kicking lots of ass. For a guy who's meant to 'retake the realm' it feels odd to encourage rushed/slipshod work.

[@glumination7705]

The Idea of spending the High King's Decree on either the Deep's or an Age of Reckoning sounds really brilliant - allowing a player to choose is an awesome way to interprete the dilema lorewise (risk vs glory) while also giving the player a choice between different playstyles. Maybe the penalties of failing an age of reckoning should be harsher then since it's not a forced mechanic on the player, but the idea sounds really brilliant. Maybe Thorgirm should still start with an active on since he delcared one when he became Highking. Belegar as well, perhaps. On a different note, I really like that you don't just criticize the new mechanic, but offer an alternative immediately. Your Grombrindal Campaign back in WH2 during the Proving Grounds Beta is still my favourite Campaign of yours to this date, so I really look forward to another dwarf campaign with my all time favourite character, 'Highking Thorgrim Grudgebreaker'. One just gotta love the dwarfs. Slay some filthy vermin on your journey. Thanks - also thanks for all your campaigns, always great fun to watch, I do enjoy your focus on storytelling and roleplaying.

[@JanetOnOccasion]

I actually mention that Proving Grounds campaign at some point but I can't remember if it was this episode or the next, is that why you brought it up? I misremembered it as a Thorgrim campaign since Grombrindal used to start in the same location! That campaign felt much more like Dwarf LP than the recent Malakai campaign did. Much more slow and considered... I miss that beta :P

[@glumination7705]

@@JanetOnOccasion Don't think you mentioned it in this episode, but I could be wrong. I loved the slow paced, double recruitment cost, less growth, higher builduing costs etc. campaign. As the player you couldn't have it all and had to decide between units, economy, income or growth. Basic units kept being revelant for much longer and high tier units, especially the ones in the starting armies felt very special. Also, and I can play without it now, when you conquered a settlement, all builduings build by the AI before were destroyed. It really punished you for losing terrain and it wasn't a race to see who conquers which homeland first and then has to retake all lost cities after. I can still recall a particular nasty rant about confederation in that Grombrindal campaign after Wurzag conferderated some Greenskins around Barak Var. Convinced me then and there that AI confederation is evil, pure, malevolent evil ;). It would be a great addition to the game if AI conferderation could be a toggleable option in the campaign settings. There was a mod that brought the proving grounds back after the beta ended, but sadly, yet understandably, it was abandoned during the later phases of WH2. The Malakai Campaign is weird, I dont like the start in exactly Kraka Drak (Norsca in general would be fine), and the thunderbage summon is just to strong to make it engaging. The missions just hurry you from one place to another and it doesen't really feel like you're building an empire, because all you ever do is fight an certain amount of times against one race, and then you ran away to the next one. But in fairness, he is a slayer, so maybe it fits? For me personally, I enjoy Thorgrims or Belegars or Ungrims campaign more because they don't run from one enemy to another so much, they play (at least for me) more methodically (slow and steady wins the race). What do you think of the new Dwarf Tech Tree? I can pinpoint exactly, why I prefer the old one, I don't even know if the overall number of available techs is the same or not and still I dislike the new one for some reasons. Kind regards, I hope you're having a great day!

[@cyphrox8555]

@@JanetOnOccasion Honestly it could be a bit like how you call a Waaagh just maybe by expending the high king decrees or just being on a timer to call one

[@Adolrak]

1000% yes, just like a waagh. Little button that says hey it's time to go a grudging lads. Even better if you chose your like grudge difficulty. Low grudges required low risk low benefit low penalty. Or if you choose you want a massive 15000+ grudge mission bigger rewards bigger penalties

[@Stea1thkill0117]

I'm hugely emotionally invested is this idea

[@serzaltor]

Your idea is fantastic, I hope CA listens to it. Like another commenter said, having Belegar and Thorgrim start in an age of reckoning would also be thematic.

[@timnewman7591]

"Tall." "Feels more dwarf-y." . .. ... Hmmm.

[@splattbinat1542]

You explained really well what feels off about the AoR. Generally I am not a huge fan of timers, especially in sandbox games and it feels especially weird for the dwarfs. Hope someone at CA sees your feedback, since that idea is a great fix.

[@willvanauger3273]

I will correct one thing, So for warhammer fantasy, every army book was written from the perspective that "this race has been in decline for a long time but now X has happened they can start their reemergence as a dominant power" And for the dwarves that was Thorgrims coronation. So for him to have this grudge settler countdown would make a lot of sense because the great book of grudges remains full. But Malackai or Ungrim doesnt really care about that stuff quite as much. Malakai cares much more about his crazy invention and frankly Ungrim was never in a hurry to do anything. he mostly sat sulking he was still alive.

[@JanetOnOccasion]

For starters, not every race is framed in that way, and no book has ever said that Dwarfs are on a deadline. Thorgrim himself has been High King for couple hundred years at this point already and little has changed. It makes no sense for Dwarfs to be the only faction that's forced to be in a rush when the concept of Thorgrim being this huge force of progress is basically a joke at the other Dwarfs expense. Every book simply frames them as having the *potential* to become powerful once more as this is the motivation for playing the faction on Tabletop and why it works in Total War, too. Whoever you play as will invariable rise to dominance, but the choice as to *how* should be yours.

[@willvanauger3273]

@@JanetOnOccasion With regards to the timeframes of the books that has always been a grey area. Half the characters in at least two army books have been dead for centuries. At one time when bretonians were alloud to have named characters almost all of them were. Dwarves arent on a deadline as such but I do seem to remember there being a mention in one source that Thorgrims appointment as high king was controversial and he used the fact he was striking names from the Damaz Kron as proof he was the right choice. And one of the things he does in the Throgrim novel is send out Reckoners to make sure other clans are striking names from their own books because some dwarfs want to sit on the grudges forever and complain. I dont really like the changes to the grudge system over all i think the old system was much better at repesenting it, i just think IF one dwarf faction was going to be under pressure to satisfy as many grudges as possible it would be Thorgim, with Belegar as a possible second choice for his own lore reasons.

[@DeltaPepper]

@@willvanauger3273 be mighty careful lad. The last beardling to dwarf lore challenge the honorable Janet on occasion is still doing slayer penance as a Walmart greeter in Wyoming.

[@IceyAqua1695]

Another fix for the Age of Reckoning could be to just flip the timers from a countdown to a time limit; you make it so you can purchase the effects of the Age of Reckoning with settled grudges and they last for 15 turns (or shorter for balancing).

[@IceyAqua1695]

maybe the tiers of the Age of Reckoning's bonuses are scaled in cost from weakest to strongest, I don't know what to do about the debuff aspect other than weakening their effects and attaching them to each tier but even that sucks, I'd just get rid of them altogether, but I also understand that would make them too strong. The grudge settler units could also only benefit from their bonuses during the time limit of the Age of Reckoning buff. Literally just any method of balancing to get rid of the countdown to a debuff to get the player to play in a specific way.

[@walterverlaan1286]

Classic Janet, say's he probably will forget to put it back to growth and build cost reduction and... he did. LOL!

[@cameronmanchester7794]

In all fairness to the Age of reckoning vs the deep, i think that opening the deep is something to later on, plus you're rarely going to not be fighting so even a tall playstyle should be able to get the second rank every time, thats just my opinion though

[@sethwright2096]

Hey welcome back janet, love your playthroughs. Greetings from texas

[@Coeurebene1]

It's rather easy to get to stage 2 of the Age of Reckoning, which disables all penalties, you'll get it just by defending yourself even if you play tall. It's really a feeling/perception issue, we get these bars to fill and can't fill them all, so it might be a feel bad moment for some people. I think the idea of using the same "currency" to trigger ages of reckoning and digging deeps is very interesting.

[@sebc8938]

The Hammers have guardians so in theory you should keep them at the center of the line next to your heroes and lord to have the ward save. Not that the lord is really in danger ...

[@jessewilliams1422]

Thank you for this update video. Just now able to sit and enjoy your hosting. Appreciate the time. I also really enjoyed the green skin series. Hope your well, cheers...good vibes, all that.

[@thelordofdice3932]

Show them that we do not fall short before our ancestors FOR THE KARAZ ANKOR.

[@DeltaPepper]

Short?! (Couldn’t resist sorry I’ll go take the slayer oath now)

[@thelordofdice3932]

@@DeltaPepper Ill let you in on a little secret it was purposely included.

[@darthplagueis13]

You know, I think once you consider that Skavenslaves with spears get anti-large, you just gotta come to terms with Goblin spears having it to. Because like, Goblins are still a tier up in size and gear quality compared to a malnourished, ill Skaven runt.

[@corneliuscrispus2763]

Fully agree with your criticism of the Age of Reckoning Rush: doesn't feel very dwarfy. It in fact makes you play a lot like the Greenskins, except those ironically have more control over how agressive they are because it's a bar they can make go up and down, not a timer they're racing against. I think the Age of Reckoning system probably should have been implemented alongside the old grudge system, which modders did fix imho. There was an excellent mod which buried you under a dozen starting grudges and put you in serious economic distress (for a dwarf campaign, which means average economy still). But then fixing the grudges methodically would slowly unchain the dwarf potential with massive bonuses if you cleared out the book. Right now grudges are too abstract imho, since you can't even go back and read whose ass you've kicked for what purpose, like you could before. Think your suggestion making the high king's decree a resource that you can use to trigger the age of reckoning mechanic a great idea, since it at least makes it more of an active decision, that could be coupled with gambling if you can clear enough grudges in time.

[@liamcullen3035]

That’s a brilliant suggestion. Using the high king decrees to trigger an Age of Reckoning would make it opt-in, which is what it really needs to be. That would be superb!

[@liamcullen3035]

You could even tie it to an upkeep-reduction while the Age of Reckoning is afoot, encouraging you to use it when you want to expand or field extra armies. Like it would help Belegar combat his upkeep penalty when he is campaigning to retake the 8-peaks

[@davidshaw123451001]

I think the 2 mechanics in a sense, working against each other truly tells the story of the Dwarfs. It's also nice to have mechanics that you must think about in the way they interact with each other. I don't think it's an issue at all.

[@102728]

I fully agree on the age of reckoning/deeps rant, and my first thought was exactly what you said jsut a bit later - why not just use the high king decrees to trigger an age of reckoning.

[@RobinJohnstonphotography]

Glad to see the Dwarfs get some love

[@MatthewSmith-qd6du]

good to have you back, been missing your campaigns

[@DeltaPepper]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure no ork player goes “ oh darn it I have another waagh”. Seems weird to make a game mechanic feel bad. Should be “okay beardling you’re ready to do a reckoning , go get em tiger” instead of count down of punishment. If they wanted ratcheting pressure should have a “are we there yet” type step up instead of “reckoning now! You don’t have time to drink an ale! Get moving!”

[@GentlemenFox541]

You and Monsters Abound would have the best moan and CAs decisions together

[@michaelschneider5703]

In response you do realize the reason why Thorgrim is so popular among the dwarves is he went and settled far more grudgesthan any high king before or at least in recent dawi memory. he brought the reckoning to Dawi’s enemies so literally he is the one if if not the worst dwarf to complain about the whole reckoning thing

[@JanetOnOccasion]

Except now he’s king and has a responsibility to keep the Karaz Ankor together. He can no longer be so reckless as to be on an infinite crusade and that’s actually a key component of his story. Also it’s his bloody choice to do it, not the demands of an omnipresent ticking clock. Your logic demands that every campaign where you play a character who has previously accomplished something should have a ticking clock. It’s meaningless.

[@jamesslack7332]

The main thing with the dwarfs that I wish was implemented was making it feel a lot more special to reclaim a hold. I think the ability to call on he clans to retake a particular hold would be kind of cool and I wish each of the big holds felt better like when belegar gets eight peaks

[@washedupazir2873]

6:00 Unless you are deliberately not fighting, its really hard to NOT get at least 25% in AoR and why would you even wanna do that, its total war. No faction can truly turtle and not have to fight any battles without it being *poorly optimized* but then why do you bring up the AoR units costs going up if the only people that would ever experience that are the same ones that don't care about optimizing their campaign?

[@JanetOnOccasion]

You’re on the wrong channel, mate.

[@andrewnewell1142]

Excited to see the new Depths mechanic

[@r31n0ut]

I agree on the whole ticking clock thing. It annoys the hell out of me, I don't want to feel like I'm being punished for not playing fast enough.

[@choonoomoonoo8256]

I think the ideal way to deal with the age of reckoning mechanic is simply make it a button to push when you want to START it tp pursue grudges or once you've completed a few then you DECLARE it with a decree or something

[@choonoomoonoo8256]

Kinda like a waaagh! With a goal once u declare your goals of settling grudges

[@halgrimhelgrimson]

yay! you are back ...i was worried..you prolly said somewhere why you were away, but bad memory here and prolly didnt see it anyway so Welcome back you have been missed

[@FurtherReadingTV]

I agree wholeheartedly with your feedback that the age of reckoning would be better if it was triggered by the decree. I also wonder about how hard it is to get a decree. Like it's so expensive to start the deeps it feels like you might need to play wide before you play tall, but then I guess you sell your extra dwarfholds so you can focus on your big one?

[@Lord-km2gw]

looking forward to the next one !

[@monk4315]

the easiest fix would be to make building the deeps a boost to the age of reckoning

[@HorusHeresy1982]

They keep trying to make grudges an active thing with the Dawi and they don't need to be. It would be far better to replace oath gold with grudges or link getting oath gold only with settling grudges. As you settle grudges you earn the gold used to craft items. It just needs to be a lore thing, not an active part.

[@JanetOnOccasion]

I love that idea. It gives the player a good way to more actively accrue Oathgold, too!

[@DubiousByName]

Alt and left click! Thank you! I was curious about how that was being done.

[@AF-mw8gy]

Ok Slim Shady on Occasion, you're back

[@aaronfrazier7159]

Sorry to hear you were not feeling well but I am glad you're better :)

[@mikfri74]

Neh, you haven't yet goin on enough about it. If I want to bild tall then yeyyyy I can do it now. But I'm still very much puniched for not going wide. Boooh. Just give the timer a "don't want to do this now puse button" or whatever.

[@billhaskill6597]

The campaign looks like it will be fun.

[@zacen12]

28:50 fairly Short-ranged engineer... that's a grudge!

[@ckhawk00]

You should be able to start the reconning manually to start the timer and all the units and buffs it comes with and then it makes since to get a penalty if you fail

[@bryant7201]

Sorry about the migraine. chronic pain is very debilitating.

[@darthplagueis13]

They add Orc Spear Boyz to the game and then don't give any to the Bloody Spears starting army, smh...

[@benjaminhoak9884]

More cannons!!!

[@lawolf6068]

Dwarf powaaaa

[@lawolf6068]

I think they made High king Decrees like a separate thing cause they wanted to limit it, like whatever the Empire Lady has. It would prbly be too powerful if u could use those infinitely, but if u can't use it infinit Well then there's no point on wasting it on the Grudges cause it's like a thing with a timer.

[@JanetOnOccasion]

Developing the Deeps enough gives you a decree back. It represents how many projects you can have going at the same time, therefore I would assume using one to trigger the Age of Reckoning would simply reimburse you the Decree once it was over. So you're either dedicating the vast resources of the Clans towards reclaiming lost undercities or lost territory abroad. Right now you're sort of told to do both at the same time and that's logistically nightmarish, though you're still punished for it anyway.

[@lawolf6068]

@@JanetOnOccasion Oh, I thought u had a limited amount. Eitherway, they should just make the Age of reckoning smth u enable when u think you are ready...

[@Hippie629]

At this point I might as well mod AoR out or play TWW2

[@Wolfhamm3r312]

whats the key combination you press at 11:44 to let the units attack in a line (meaning on the full broadside) without clicking on every enemy unit? i hope its understandable what i mean since im not a native english speaker xD

[@yotuacc1]

A new patch for dwarfs? Patch me in!...i see myself out

[@jerelly9469]

To be fair the age of Reckoning, you can still play tall and do it, this is total war you always gonna be fighting someone so you always gonna be collecting grudges, sure you army gonna be the #1 grudge collector but you should have enough to where you won’t be punished

[@ItJustDexNow]

I have always felt that the age of reckoning mechanic was a step in the wrong direction for the dwarves. The dwarves are a defense oriented faction. Why would one of their main campaign mechanics force them to be constantly conquering or else be punished over and over again. It legitimately makes NO sense.

[@Defsnot_Momskowerkor]

Great video, glad you got it early.

[@Turican76]

janet sounds ...manly

[@SilasTheLunark]

DWARFS UNITE

[@willbbwluvr]

DORF DORF DORF DORF DORF DORF!

[@animemonsterx]

honestly i disagree, because you don't need to get the full age of reckoning, and there are other ways to get points for it other than getting settlements, but i do think that the high king's decree should have something to do with the age of reckoning

[@anteep4900]

wot the fk i thought it wasnt out yet

[@JanetOnOccasion]

It's out tomorrow.

[@be-noble3393]

If you don’t grumble, are you really a Dwarf?

[@LordCrowstaff]

Comes in, moans 10 minutes about how the new thing isn't well thought out. Yep, that's Dwarfen role play right here😁

[@sholahverassa8582]

Honestly, for dwarfs unbreakable doesn't mean all that much. Most of the time they are effectively unbreakable as long as you aren't losing across the board.

[@JanetOnOccasion]

It matters quite a lot for the units with no armour who die in half the time the rest of the army does.

[@sholahverassa8582]

@@JanetOnOccasion, I suppose I just don't use them an awful lot, so I may be off on this one. If we are talking slayers, I've never quite understood the appeal of having someone kitted for dealing damage up close in an army with artillery, thunderers and, occasionally, aviation. Not saying that all of those are armoured like hell, but you generally don't want them to be in melee anyways... But I agree that there should be a way to send an unbreakable unit off on its merry way. It's not fleeing if you are commanded to do so, right?..