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Total War: Warhammer shows off its Longbeards, Ironbreakers and Hammerers – alright, Dwarfs

Total War: Warhammer Dwarfs

The latest in a series of Total War: Warhammer development videos from Creative Assembly has landed, and it focuses on those fiercest of melee weapon-wielding facial hair artisans, the Dwarfs.

It’s further indication that Creative Assembly are really nailing the hand-painted aesthetic in their first foray into tabletop strategy. Rather than bringing the world of Warhammer to life in the way countless games have tried before, the UK studio’s celebrating the miniature figure aesthetic to create a distinct look from all its previous strategy titles. The fine detail on those axes, the authentic scratches on their shields… I can almost smell the Humbrol.

The Demigryphs looked pretty ravishing in an earlier video in the series, too.

The three classes on display – Longbeards, Ironbreakers and Hammerers – “exemplify the Dwarfen combat style,” according to Creative Assembly. Which presumably is as straightforward as stubbornly hammering people to death and/or cleaving them asunder, mindful of the dainty braids in their beards.

Read about Tim’s Orcs vs Empire encounter in our Total War: Warhammer preview. At one point, Orcs start tearing themselves apart because they’ve been static for too long – it’s considerably more anarchic than prior Total Wars, then.