Warhammer: Mark of Chaos is a real-time tactics game set in the Warhammer universe. It was developed by Black Hole Entertainment and co-published by Namco Bandai Games in North America and Deep Silver in PAL territories in November 2006.
An expansion, Battle March, was released in September 2008. It contains one new campaign and the addition of Dark Elves and Orcs & Goblins as playable races. An Xbox 360 version was released and titled as Warhammer: Battle March, dropping the Mark of Chaos moniker.
Gameplay
The game, according to the developers, is a game "focusing on the armies and battles while de-emphasizing the tedious aspects of base and resource management". Set in the Warhammer Old World, the player can command one of four armies from the tabletop game.
The gameplay is primarily focused on battlefield tactics, thus not featuring RTS gameplay aspects like base-building, resource harvesting or in-battle unit production. Instead, the gameplay is intended to be focused on high fantasy/late medieval battles. Its gameplay is superficially similar to its predecessors and the Total War games; however, the basic game play model is significantly more simplified, and battles are more similar to real-time strategy games like Warcraft III than other real-time tactics titles.
The objective for each battle is defeat of the enemy army by either completely destroying it or causing the remaining units to flee off the battlefield. Battles are fought on a variety of landscapes and settings, with specific terrain types granting bonuses or penalties to units. Units also have morale, and will break and flee if they suffer enough damage or get hit by specific types of weaponry, and stamina, which will cause them to lose defense and speed when sufficiently drained.
The troops present in the game are presented as "units", which is anything from 1 to 96 individual "models", with the specific number depending on the type of unit. The control system is similar to the Total War and Dawn of War in that orders are issued to units in their entirety, as opposed to being issued to individuals. As well as standard orders you are also able to arrange your units into a number of formations, with each formation conferring advantages against specific kinds of attacks. Units will also gain experience over the course of a battle or campaign and will gain improved statistics and more models.
In addition to standard units there are special "Hero" units; unique individuals considerably more powerful than the average combatant. In addition to being able to use and learn new abilities, they can also be equipped with additional weapons, armour or potions that grant the hero with both offensive and defensive skills and bonuses. Heroes also gain experience from fighting, and by gaining levels the player is able to unlock various skills that supplement its combat abilities. Unlike units which consist of multiple models, Heroes are controlled individually. However they can be attached to standard units, fighting alongside the unit's models, giving the unit a morale boost and increasing its fighting capability through the use of skills. Hero units can also initiate or be challenged to duels, where they fight the opposing army's hero uninterrupted until one slays the other, resulting in a morale penalty for the losing side. The duel is for the most part out of the player's control, however the player is also free to activate any duel-specific skills the hero has during the course of the duel, to affect its outcome.
Single Player There are two single player campaigns, each separated into four chapters, one following the Empire and Elven Forces and the other the Hordes of Chaos and Skaven forces.
The majority of the single campaign is a number of different battle scenarios, in which your pre-selected force will combat a number of enemy forces. Winning the scenario will award the player gold. Between battles the game switches to a map of the area, with the location of their army denoted by a figure of their champion. The player is then able to select their army and move to another location. This will bring up a force selection screen, and the player will then have to select a limited number of troops and heroes to play the next scenario with. Although the campaign is for the most part linear, there are also optional side quests, which although mostly unrelated to the main story will usually result in the heroes acquiring additional gold, troops or equipment that can be used in the campaign. As well as traditional large scale battles there are also Duel scenarios in which a hero character of your choice will enter straight into a duel with an enemy champion, with victory of either champion immediately ending the scenario.
On the map the player can also access towns and encampments, which serve as the replacement for bases found in other strategy and tactic games. The player can use the gold acquired in previous battles to purchase replacements, new or improved units, upgrades such as better armour or attack power for their existing units and also wargear and items for their hero units. Conversations between characters will also occur at certain points on the map, advancing the story.
In addition to the campaign, the multiplayer modes can also be played as single player skirmish battles.
Multiplayer
The game allows for up to four players to battle using either a LAN or over the internet. Multiplayer battles are played in much the same way as the single player. The game includes four different game modes, including normal battles, siege battles where one team has to defend a stronghold from the opposing army, and a reinforcements mode, where capturing strategic points on the map awards points that enable players to buy new units during the battle.
Prior to the battle, each player has a certain number of points with which to select an army, which is chosen by the host of the game prior to army selection. The points can be used in a variety of different ways, either buying new units, upgrading units or buying additional equipment or skills for your hero units. This enables a player to outfit an army in a variety of styles suitable for their playing style. Although the player is free to choose any configuration, there are also examples of army configurations for each of the 12 factions featured in game. In a tribute to the tabletop game, players are also able to customise their army's colours and banners. In addition, there is also a comprehensive model editor where players can change the look of individual models using a variety of heads, limbs, armour and weaponry sets. These army configurations can then be saved for use later.
Setting
The setting of Mark of Chaos is the Old World of the Warhammer Fantasy universe, one year after the Great War against Chaos. In the aftermath of the war, the chaos warbands scattered, some returning to their homelands in the north, some staying and raiding the farms and villages in the northern fringes of the Empire. The Empire, already pushed to the brink of collapse as a result of the war, is undermanned and struggles to protect the isolated farms and villages. If the tribes of chaos were once again to reunite, the Empire would most likely fall. The game has 2 campaigns that follow the story from both the Empire and Chaos perspectives, with each campaign having a different progression of events.
Races The game features four different playable races from the Warhammer game, and the units available to each race are taken straight from the tabletop wargame. All the races are visually distinctive, and have their own unique units, although there is a lot of crossover between factions and each type of unit will usually have an equivalent unit in another race. Within each race there are also three different factions, which are available to be used in multiplayer games. However beyond cosmetic differences, and the selection of troops there is minimal difference between the 3 factions.
The Empire is a vast human empire which resembles early modern (16th century) Germany in its looks and organisation. Their forces are primarily human soldiers of various specialties. In addition they are, along with the Dwarves, one of the few races who have developed black powder weaponry, and have access to handguns, cannons, and other gunpowder based siege weapons. The 3 playable factions are the Ostermark, Nuln and Talabecland armies.
The High Elves are an ancient and elegant race. In addition to their normal ranks of elven spearmen and archers, they have a considerable number of elite troops, and an above average number of magical specialists. The 3 playable factions are the Ellyrian, Shadowlands and Saphery kingdoms.
The Hordes of Chaos are Humans from the Northlands, corrupted by the gods of Chaos by their ambition, lust or the other base instincts and emotions of humanity. In addition to human warriors and Marauders they also have access to supernatural creatures such as Daemons and Spawns of Chaos. The 3 playable factions are the cults of the chaos gods Nurgle, Khorne and the pantheon Chaos Undivided.
The Skaven are a race of subterranean man sized rats. Though as individuals they are weaker than members of the other races, they compensate through vastly superior numbers. In addition they utilise a mineral called warpstone to mutate members of their race to create giant rats and rat ogres. The 3 playable factions are the Eshin, Skryre and Warlord clans.
In addition to the four playable races there are also additional races that serve as both additional enemies in the single player campaigns and also as mercenary "Dogs of War" units available at certain points in the single player campaign, and also as additional choices in multiplayer games. The available mercenary races are Greenskins and Dwarves. The Vampire Counts are also present in the single player campaign, but are not available to be used by the player.
The Hordes of Chaos Campaign The Chaos campaign follows the progress of Thorgar the Blooded One, a Chaos champion who fought alongside the warlord Asavar Kul in the Great War. Now he is looking to build his forces to launch another attack on The Empire. During this time he is guided by a sorcerer by the name of Sudobaal, who instructs Thorgar to lead his men to a Chaos shrine. After enduring a series of trials Thorgar obtains the favour and patronage of one of the chaos pantheon; either Nurgle or Khorne, depending on the player's choice. Sudobaal then instructs Thorgar to locate an elven mage who knows the location of the body of the defeated Chaos warlord Asavar Kul. During this time he allies with Kasquit, a skaven warlock engineer of clan Skryre. Having angered the skaven council, Kasquit quickly accepts the alliance in order to receive Thorgar's protection, and agrees to help Thorgar locate the mage. The campaign concludes with Thorgar killing Sudobaal for turning on him and his elevation to daemonhood, and the subsequent destruction of the city of Talabheim. Roaring his victory to the gods and claiming he can't be defeated. In the distance a huge greenskin army is preparing to launch its own attack against the Old World, this possibly heralding the game's expansion: Battle March.
The Empire Campaign