Total War: Warhammer 3's Grand Cathay revealed with explosive new trailer
Dragons!
Fresh from announcing a delay to early 2022 for Total War: Warhammer 3, developer Creative Assembly has revealed brand new faction Grand Cathay in a spectacular new trailer.
The trailer, below, shows off Grand Cathay's various units. The Imperial China influence is clear: there's a "Dragon Emperor", giant Terracotta Sentinels and "the mysterious lores of magic known as Yin and Yang".
In terms of playstyle, Creative Assembly said Cathay are "defensive in nature and built to stand their ground and grind the enemy down through determined defense and firepower".
Some Warhammer fans were surprised by the inclusion of the relatively-unknown Grand Cathay as a playable race in Total War: Warhammer 3, but Creative Assembly pointed out Grand Cathay was first mentioned in the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and has made sporadic background appearances throughout its history since.
Warhammer 3, then, provides fans with their first opportunity to see a fully-realised Grand Cathay as a starting faction in the game.
"Games Workshop have created and reimagined all of those fleeting references into a full army, and we've put that army along with their empire into Total War: Warhammer 3," Creative Assembly explained.
Cathay's playable legendary lords are Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon, ruler of the Western Provinces and Lord of Shang-Yang, and Miao Ying, the Storm Dragon, ruler of the Northern Provinces and Commander of the Great Bastion. Miao Ying is featured in the trailer above. Expect to see Zhao Ming next week.
Cathay join the human civilisations of Kislev (based on medieval Russia) and the armies of the four Chaos Gods (Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh) on the Total War: Warhammer 3 playable factions list.
Our Chris Tapsell went hands-on with Total War: Warhammer 3's fiery new survival battles in May.