Total War: Warhammer II’s next piece of DLC will be the Hunter and the Beast. It’ll add new Legendary Lords for the Empire and the Lizardmen, but more importantly, it’ll add the Dread Saurian – a massive unit for the Lizardmen that didn’t get official rules in their eighth edition army book, but got a model on Forge World, Games Workshop’s specialist site for enthusiast modelers. Larger even than a Carnosaur, Total War developer Creative Assembly confirms it will be “the largest ever playable Total War: Warhammer unit.”
The Dread Saurian will be joined by Kroxigor Ancients and the Razordon Hunting Pack on the Lizardmen side, while the Empire gets Huntsmen and the War Wagon – essentially a mobile guard tower and a classic unit from way back in the tabletop game’s fourth edition.
Leading these new arrivals are Nakai the Wanderer, an especially nasty Kroxigor, and Huntsmarshal Markus Wulfhart, who has decided to “expand the borders of the Empire, desecrating and sacking temples dedicated to the Lizardmen gods” in the New World.
Creative Assembly says The Hunter and The Beast is “playable in both the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns”, and we reached out to confirm what this implies: the Empire will indeed be a playable race in Eye of the Vortex for the first time, which is pretty cool.
As usual in a Lord pack DLC, both Legendary Lords will add unique faction and campaign mechanics. Also as usual, The Hunter and The Beast will coincide with a free patch, adding “a ferocious yet-to-be-revealed Legendary Lord” and “a highly anticipated update for the Old World” – Creative Assembly’s use of the phrase “praise Sigmar!” on this point is a pretty clear hint that it’s the Empire’s turn to get a rework, leaving only the Greenskins untouched from Total Warhammer 1.
The Hunter and The Beast is due for release on Steam on September 11, with an SRP of $8.99 (£6.99). Check out the Steam page for more info.