Warhammer: Mark of Chaos Designer Diary #4 - Introducing the Siege Mode

The tabletop battles of the decades-old Warhammer fantasy miniatures game will come to life in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, the upcoming real-time strategy game from Namco Bandai Games and developer Black Hole Entertainment. Like the popular Total War games, Mark of Chaos will feature huge, 3D battles populated with hundreds of tiny warriors fighting and dying for your cause, except that in this game, rather than commanding armies of Roman legions or European knights, you'll control elves, demons, giants, and much, much more. In this designer diary, lead designer Tibor Dimity will introduce us to the game's new siege mode. Mark of Chaos is due to ship later this year.

Siege Design and Challenges

By Tibor Dimity
Lead Designer, Black Hole Entertainment

Fulfilling our promise made in a previous Warhammer: Mark of Chaos developer diary, today's discussion focuses on the game's siege mode. There has been a great deal of interest in siege mode over the past few months, so we felt that the time has come to disclose some exciting details on how we've been designing the mode and what challenges you will come to face.

Initially, we planned to concentrate purely on the battlefields of the Warhammer world by transplanting the classic gameplay of the tabletop Warhammer game to a real-time strategy game. Deep in development, we created the battle elements for the "defend" game mode, such as roadblocks, barricades, and towers. The major role of defenses is to force the enemy to destroy them first--only after destroying defenses can the enemy engage the defending army. Meanwhile, defenders can use these defenses for protection and to unleash powerful ranged attacks on attackers.

Players have a great chance to shield small settlements against superior numbers if they are surrounded by protective barricades. The exciting and entertaining experiences that we had in defend mode made us realize that we could take it further. This meant creating the new siege mode, an idea that was justified by the compelling campaign story written by Games Workshop's Gav Thorpe. The story features a great many battles against a backdrop of strongholds and castles.

Regardless of whether you are the defender or the attacker in siege mode, there are plenty of different ways to beat your foe. All four playable races in Mark of Chaos will be capable of assaulting or defending a castle. You can follow several strategies while fighting for key points in the castle. The castle is generally divided into several blocks, and as a defender you'll have to make sure the blocks are organized in a way that lets the castle be well protected and prepared for the arrival of the aggressors. Also vital to the outcome of the battle is the consideration of certain strategic points within and around the walls of the castle, which represent unique regions within the area. The player who owns or captures the flags symbolizing those regions will be one step closer to achieving victory.

Mark of Chaos empowers each race with its own defense strategies for siege mode. When you lead the glorious empire armies, you can send your handgunners up to the battlements. From this vantage point their devastating gunfire will, even from a long distance, clear the sky of demonic chaos furies. However, if you go to war with the noble high elf army, you can secure your high elf archers by having them sheltered behind the rampart from where they can easily draw their deadly bows. Every castle has its specific artillery, so if you have chaos warriors defending a fortress on the Northern wasteland, you will be able to order hellcannons (living creatures bound by chaos magic to fire exploding corpses) to fire upon the units marching by the walls of the castle. Your cannon fire can disorder and weaken even the most fearsome opponents, break the morale of the greatest Hoeth swordsmen, set ablaze the best horsemen, or challenge the power of high elf mages.

Siege mode is just as challenging when you are playing the role of attacker. As the attacker, your goal is to take the strategic portions of the castle, one at a time. Since the army defending the castle is in a somewhat favorable position, we designed ways to supply the attackers with additional tools to effectively dislodge a stoutly resistant enemy. To this end, ladders can be used to climb up to the battlements. There are belfries to help you approach the castle in secret to surprise the dumbfounded defenders, if you manage to sneak in quietly! Furthermore, you can move battering rams to beat in the gate of the hostile fortress and secure passage for your cavalry to charge the remaining defenders within the castle walls. Of course, this is entirely decided by you, as you may decide to fire on the walls from a convenient distance until they crumble to the ground. Whichever you choose to do, there is very little room for hesitation, as not only your foes but also time will be working against you. If you fail to achieve victory within a given time frame, you will lose the battle. To counter this, when competing against time, you can extend your time barrier by seizing strategic points and gradually pushing back the enemy from one defensive line to another until their remaining units collapse.

Needless to say, there is a huge emphasis put on the special features and special creatures the Warhammer universe has to offer for this game mode. While we have aerial furies on the chaos side, the high elves can send giant eagles to weaken the defenders. Supporting the skaven army, the slinking "gutter runner" units deserve special attention, since they are capable of getting into the castle unnoticed through underground tunnels. In the most furious siege battles, the strongest grey seers will be accompanied by the horrible screaming bell and its demonic rings booming across the battlefield. The screaming bell can also be used to destroy walls or raise the fear in the hearts of hostile warriors. It all depends on how you put it to use!

We feel that one of the most enjoyable features in Mark of Chaos is the sophisticated magic system, and this is true in siege mode too. You can cast numerous spells, and heroes can apply them in the most delicate situations, which will help determine the outcome of the battle. A hero unit generally has devastating powers that every warlord has to reckon with. For example, you can place your mage hero up high on the castle walls where he can cast spells to weaken the attackers, or you can teleport him outside the castle walls where he can destroy hostile artillery with devastating magical attacks. Heroes can also be mounted on a beast, which will have a special importance in siege mode. The "elector count" units will be able to assault the opponent while on horseback, or he can mount a griffon to fly around the battlefield. Individuals will be able to route whole regiments with special tactics.

Legendary relics from the Warhammer universe can also help you to strengthen both your heroes and units. You can equip heroes with powerful swords, armor, or other artifacts when getting ready for battle. Your units can be upgraded with magic banners, musicians, and champions that will empower them to follow you into the darkest of situations and to fight the most dreadful enemies.

But it's time for me to return to my faithful warriors and demonic legions that are waiting for me in the chaos wastelands. We are preparing to punish the invading elf armies. You all carry the Mark of Chaos, so beware: The devastating chaos army will unleash its fury this October.