Warhammer: Mark of Chaos Multiplayer Hands-On - Army Customization, Tactics, and Duels

If you've played one of the popular Total War games, which put you in control of vast armies, you might have wondered what it would be like to have those armies consist of high-fantasy creatures, like elves, dwarves, and demons. If you have, you're in luck, because Namco Bandai Games America and developer Black Hole Games are currently putting the finishing touches on just such a game--namely, Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. This real-time strategy game based on the popular Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play tabletop game will give you control of fantasy armies that you can design and customize to make your own, and then you can take them into battle in the single-player campaign or in multiplayer against other players' armies. And fortunately for us, we were able to play some multiplayer matches with a nearly finished version of the game. Mark of Chaos has the tactical combat of the Total War strategy games, where you command realistic armies, but it also captures the awesome nature of fantasy combat. The scenes in a multiplayer match seem like they were taken from the epic battles of the Lord the Rings movies. Giants and trolls send warriors flying with a sweep of their clubs, eagles swoop down and snatch enemy soldiers up into the air and drop them to the ground, and much more.

It turns out that the most important decisions you'll make in a multiplayer battle are before the game even starts, since you can select which army you'll take into the fight. There's an impressive amount of depth when it comes to how you configure your army. For instance, each unit will cost a certain number of points, and the more powerful the unit, the more expensive it is. Usually, each player gets the same amount of points, and how you end up spending those points becomes crucial. If you know your opponent's tendencies, you can create a custom army that's designed to exploit those tendencies (for example, if your enemy likes to specialize in flying units, you can get lots of ranged units that can shoot them down). Or, if you don't know your opponent's strategy, you can create a balanced force that can deal with most situations.

There may only be four factions that ship with the game, but don't take that to mean there isn't a lot of depth here. On the contrary, there's an incredible amount of variety. Each faction has three different variants that have unique units and special abilities. For instance, the hordes of chaos have three different sects based on which god they follow, and each sect has unique heroes and units at its disposal. So the game essentially has 12 different factions. In addition, each faction can be equipped with mercenaries that belong to a different race. So the hordes of chaos can hire orc mercenaries and heroes, while the human empire can hire dwarves, and so on.

It's good that multiplayer games have an optional time limit when it comes to army customization, because you could easily spend hours tweaking your armies. Not only can you adjust the appearance and color of your regular units, but you can also purchase weapons and equipment to outfit each of your hero units. Plus, you can distribute skill points to specialize your hero--the game has branching skill trees for each type. If you want a battle commander that can bolster troops' morale in battle, then you can spend points in the command section of the skill tree. If you want a hero that can kill other heroes in duels, you can spend points in the duel skill tree. There are so many options that thankfully you can do all your army customization anytime and then save those custom setups for multiplayer later on. In fact, a good idea will be to create a lot of different armies ahead of time. That way, you can select a prebuilt army when joining a multiplayer game.

Depending on the map, you might have different objectives. In a siege battle, one player has to defend a fortress while another attempts to storm it. The traditional way involves using canons to knock down the walls, ladders to climb over them, or a battering ram to bash down the gate. Then again, you might rely more on magic, or if you're playing as the ratlike skaven faction, some of your units can simply climb over the walls. In a more straightforward battle, you'll probably want to ditch all the heavy and slow siege equipment and go for a faster, lighter force. That's because you'll need to seize and hold various strategic points on the map that not only generate gold, but also let you call in reinforcements that can be purchased. This can make for very lengthy battles, since each side can summon fresh units to the battlefield to turn the tide--and you can bring in certain units to counter whatever strategy the enemy is currently using. For instance, in one match, we were doing well with our ground forces until the enemy brought in eagles to tear up our formations. Since we forgot to bring along ranged units, we had no easy way of taking the eagles out. That changed quickly once we summoned some axe-throwing units into the fight. On the other hand, if you're more of a Warhammer purist, you can disable this function so players have only the units that they begin with.

You can play with up to five other players in three-on-three battles, and if you don't have five other people, you can have the artificial intelligence fill in any empty slots. If you want to test your skills, you can try setting up a one-on-two or even a one-on-three battle, where one player challenges the rest. This isn't as one sided as it would seem, thanks to the points-based nature of army customization. When you play in a one-on-one game, each player will typically have the same number of points. For instance, you can pit a 30-point army against another 30-point army. If you have a one-versus-two match, the solo player might have a 30-point army, while his two opponents will be limited to 15-point armies each. In a one-versus-three match, you might have one 30-point army against three 10-point armies. This means that the odds will generally be even, since both sides end up having the same number of points at the beginning.

Mark of Chaos does have a much smaller scale than Total War battles--even with a 30-point army, you'll command about four heroes, 10 regular units, and up to four siege units. That's a far cry from the thousands and thousands of warriors you can command in Total War, but it's easier to keep track of and control forces of this size. More importantly, this is more in line with the scale of the Warhammer tabletop game. And, in many ways, Mark of Chaos is basically a real-time version of the popular turn-based miniatures game, though it's not a straight translation--many rules had to be rewritten to work in real time. Meanwhile, many of the concepts found in realistic tactical games can also be found in Mark of Chaos. Troops have morale, which means that they may begin a battle willing to fight, but if things start going badly, they might suddenly lose their nerve and run away. This puts extra emphasis on using good tactics, because if you carelessly get your units killed, you're only increasing the chances your units will be routed. Different troops have different weaknesses that can be exploited if you have the proper countermeasures.

But perhaps the most epic fights we've seen are the duels, in which two heroes engage in a one-on-one battle. When enemy heroes approach each other, one can initiate a duel, which means no one else can interfere in the fight. While you can let your hero fight without any guidance on your part, you will most likely want to micromanage your hero by choosing which abilities and powers to call into play. If you can vanquish an enemy hero, you not only deal a huge blow to the enemy army's morale, but you also have a good chance of gaining an experience level for your hero, which means you can unlock new abilities or enhance existing ones.

Namco Bandai plans to support the game extensively after launch with new maps and new modes, as well as any balancing fixes that might be needed. Still, after our time with multiplayer, it's clear why the company has high hopes for Mark of Chaos. The presentation is excellent and offers a fantastic amount of detail on the units that make them seem like Warhammer miniatures come to life. The game's powerful customization options are sure to be a hit with Warhammer fans, while strategy fans will most likely enjoy the deep strategy that goes into waging war with these fantasy armies. Mark of Chaos is scheduled to ship next month.