Total War: Warhammer is a 2016 turn-based strategy game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. Like most titles in the franchise, the game was released exclusively for PC. The complex gameplay simply necessitated the use of a mouse and keyboard compared to the limited options on a controller.
As the Total War franchise’s first foray into high fantasy, there’s no doubt that this was a risky endeavor. However, Creative Assembly’s risk paid off in the eyes of critics, with the game currently holding a score of 86 on Metacritic. It even became the fastest-selling Total War game of all time upon its release, selling over half a million copies within its first few days on sale.
Total War: Warhammer Premise
Total War: Warhammer is an amazing blend of the strategy gameplay mastered by the Total War franchise, and the iconic fantasy setting of Warhammer. The game is played in two main gameplay states – the turn based strategy, and the real-time combat during the battles.
The main objective throughout is to build up your army, readying it for the battles ahead. This is done through the management of entire cities, making decisions on their economy and engaging in diplomacy with other leaders in the game. When battle does come, you become the commander in charge of their success. You decide their positioning, their attack styles, and ultimately decide whether they win or lose by your choices. Considering how many units you’re in charge of, it can prove to be quite the task to ensure everyone is operating at maximum efficiency.
In terms of game modes, Total War: Warhammer offers up a single-player campaign, where you choose from one of several factions to conquer the world of Warhammer. These factions (which we’ll explore soon enough) all have their own unique gameplay features, giving the game a ton of replayability. Alternatively, you can try your hand at the game’s multiplayer offerings, where you can raise your armies against friends or random players online. If you’re new to the series, we’d recommend you stick to the single-player for a while – the online servers are filled with experienced players who will likely crush you in battle until you have a little bit more experience.
Total War: Warhammer Main Characters
As a strategy game, the focus of Total War: Warhammer is more on huge factions, rather than individual characters. Even though the campaign is the main mode, it’s still difficult to really point to a few main characters. That’s just not Total War: Warhammer‘s style – instead, we’re going to introduce you to some of the main playable factions in the game.
- The Empire: The Empire is the main human faction in Total War: Warhammer. Ruled by Emperor Karl Franz, the Empire uses its military might to secure its borders from forces far and wide.
- Dwarves: Dwarves are the masters of technology in Total War: Warhammer. While they themselves may not be the strongest opponents, their advanced weaponry and technological advances makes them a fearsome foe for any army.
- Greenskins: The Greenskins are known as the orcs and goblins of Total War: Warhammer. Grimgor Ironhide leads this faction into battle, using their individual brute strength on the battlefield to find an advantage.
It should be noted that the differences between these factions are not just in the game’s lore. The gameplay reflects these differences, offering a unique experience regardless of the faction you choose. There are several other playable factions in Total War: Warhammer too, although they’re not quite as important as the previously mentioned. These are:
- Vampire Counts
- Warriors of Chaos
- Beastmen
- Wood Elf
- Brettonia
- Norsca
All of these have their own sub-factions too, providing even more depth to your gameplay choices.
Total War: Warhammer Titles in the Series
The Total War series is one of the most popular strategy franchises of all time. Ever since it debuted at the turn of the century, it has specialized in depicting ancient civilizations, and how they went to war. Total War: Warhammer was the exception in this regard, as it was the first time Creative Assembly had tackled a fictional society.
Nowadays, Total War: Warhammer has become almost a sub-series of its own, with two sequels to the original. Creative Assembly is still producing Total War games based on real societies, too, but arguably, it’s the Warhammer games that are the real money makers.
- Shogun: Total War (2000)
- Medieval: Total War (2002)
- Rome: Total War (2004)
- Medieval II: Total War (2006)
- Empire: Total War (2009)
- Napoleon: Total War (2010)
- Total War: Shogun 2 (2011)
- Total War: Rome II (2013)
- Total War: Attila (2015)
- Total War: Warhammer (2016)
- Total War: Warhammer II (2017)
- Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia (2018)
- Total War: Three Kingdoms (2019)
- Total War Saga: Troy (2020)
- Total War: Warhammer III (2022)
- Total War: Pharoah (2023)
Total War: Warhammer Cheat Codes
Out of the box, Total War: Warhammer doesn’t come with any cheat codes that you can use. This is actually quite unusual for strategy games, which usually have some form of code you can use to influence proceedings.
But remember – this is PC gaming we’re talking about. If there’s a will, there’s a way, and players really want cheat codes. A few years back, a user on the Steam Workshop posted the Console Commands Mod for Total War: Warhammer, which added in a ton of console commands for you to use. This is generally seen as the definitive way to cheat in the game, although it can only be used in single-player. To open the console, you’ll be able to find a new console command button at the top-left corner of your screen after you install the mod. This is where you’ll enter all of the following commands.
Here are the console commands added by the mod, and what they do in-game:
- abandon: Abandons the selected region.
- add axp: Adds 1 rank to all units of selected army.
- add axp <number>: Adds entered number of ranks to all units of selected army.
- add mov: Restores the selected character’s movement points.
- add trait <trait_key>: Adds a trait to the selected character.
- add trait <trait_key><points>: Adds a trait with multiple levels to the selected character.
- add unit <unit_key>: Adds unit with unit_key to selected army.
- add unit <unit_key><number>: Adds entered number of units with unit_key to selected army.
- add xp <number>: Adds entered number of xp points to the selected character. Unembed heroes to give them xp.
- alliance: Makes a military alliance with the owner of the currently selected settlement or character.
- confederate: Confederates the owner of the currently selected settlement or character.
- fow on: Turns on the Fog of War.
- fow off: Turns off the Fog of War.
- give gold: Gives you 50,000 gold. If you select a settlement, it will provide gold to its owning faction.
- give gold <number>: Gives you the entered number of gold (can also be a negative number). If you select a settlement, it will provide gold to its owning faction.
- give region: Gives you ownership of the selected region.
- give region <faction_key>: Gives entered faction ownership of the selected region.
- give slaves: Gives you 10,000 slaves. If you select a settlement, it will provide the slaves to their owning faction.
- give slaves <number>: Gives you the entered number of slaves. If you select a settlement, it will provide the slaves to their owning faction.
- global rec <number>: Changes the player’s global recruitment time by entered number of turns.
- global rec off: Removes the global recruitment time bonuses.
- heal <number>: Sets health of each unit in the selected army to entered number between 0 to 100.
- hef_inf <number>: Gives you a faction buff that gives the entered number of High Elf influence per turn (can also be a negative number).
- hef_inf off: Removes the High Elf influence bonuses.
- item <ancillary_key>: Gives the player an ancillary (items characters can equip).
- kill: Kills (or wounds if immortal) the selected character and his army.
- mov: Gives the selected character a buff with bonus movement points.
- mov off: Removes the buff with bonus movement points from the selected character.
- peace: Makes peace with the owner of the currently selected settlement or character.
- primary <number>: Sets primary slot level of selected region to entered number.
- primary: Sets primary slot level of selected region to maximum.
- region: Gives 1,000 growth, 1,000 horde growth and 1 turn build speed to all player regions.
- region off: Turns off the selected region.
- remove trait <trait_key>: Removes a trait from the selected character.
- spawn <subtype><faction_key><units>: Spawns an army next to selected character or settlement.
- technology: Gives you 2,000% research speed.
- technology <number>: Gives you entered number % research speed (can also be negative).
- technology off: Removes the technology bonuses.
- tele: First select a character to teleport, then select another character or a settlement as a teleport target. Afterward, entering this command will teleport the first character to the second location / character.
- to_pool <agent_key><agent_subtype_key>: Adds a Lord to the player faction recruit pool.
- trade: Makes a trade agreement between you and the owner of the currently selected settlement or character.
- war: Starts a war between you and the owner of the currently selected settlement or character.
Total War: Warhammer Cheat Code FAQs
Can You Use Total War: Warhammer Cheats Online?
No. Total War: Warhammer is a game about strategy, so using the above cheats / console commands in an online lobby would go against that idea. Luckily, it seems the author of the mod is in agreement with this, as they don’t seem to work.
You can have the mod installed while playing online – the console commands just won’t do anything if you try to use them.
How Do You Get More Money in Total War: Warhammer?
There are two ways to go about this. You can either do it legitimately, or you can use Total War: Warhammer cheats. To use the cheats, just download the mod we mentioned earlier, and enter “give gold” into the console. This will give you 50,000 gold in an instant.
If you want to get more money in Total War: Warhammer through gameplay, you have to do so by raising taxes, trading with other factions, and taking part in military activities like raiding and looting. In our eyes, it’s certainly much more efficient to enter the cheat code.
Are There More Mods For Total War: Warhammer?
Sure! If the console commands aren’t quite what you were looking for, the Total War: Warhammer Steam Workshop has plenty of other mods that change the way the game plays overall. They won’t all give you an advantage, though. For example, the most popular of all time on there is a Better Camera Mod, which simply improves how the in-game camera works.
For the best results here, we’d recommend that you sort the Steam Workshop mods by the most popular of all time. This ensures that you’ll find all of the best mods for Total War: Warhammer in one place, giving you the best chance of finding mods that compliment your cheat codes from eariler.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©SEGA.