Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses

Despite being the poster faction for Total War: Warhammer 3, actually playing the Russian-inspired Kislevites in Creative Assembly’s ever-expansive strategy sandbox has always been a bit contentious. The pain-points went beyond mere frostbite, with the fiddly political back-and-forth between the Ice Court and the Great Orthodoxy putting a chilling effect on those wanting to play as any of Kislev’s fractious factions.

It has been a long time coming, but update 6.1 yesterday included a major mechanical overhaul for Kislev that extends through all its core mechanics and even as far as changing how you play its DLC. You can check out the full (and very, VERY extensive patch notes here), but the main thing is the replacement of the political race between the Court and Orthodoxy. Instead, every Kislev faction can choose which side to align with and unlock faction-specific boons and upgrades.

The Control mechanic has also been switched out for Devotion, allowing armies to channel powerful Invocation buffs on especially devout home turf, ideally just before crossing the border and bearing down on neighbors that don’t believe in Ursun. The mechanics for Atamans have almost entirely changed, removing their dilemmas and letting them level up normally, and the Ice Court has been improved and sped up so you can train up new ice sorceresses in half the time with twice as many options for character building, albeit at an increased cost.

Creative Assembly have also rolled back the story quest requirements to unlock Boris Ursus, the third playable Kislev leader. Always a bit of a pain point, Boris has just decided to crack himself out of that ice by himself and is now available to play straight out of the gate in both story and Immortal Empires modes.

And lastly for the Kislev overhaul, those with the Shadows of Change DLC will also find that Mother Ostankya (Warhammer’s answer to Baba Yaga) has a big new choice to make if you play her in Immortal Empires mode. While normally she begins this mode very far from home, bothering the dark elves over in Naggaroth, now she’ll soon feel a pang of homesickness a little ways into her campaign and be presented with a big choice.

Players can opt to either stay where they are (and immediately unlock her witch’s hut), or teleport back home to Kislev, albeit in a more difficult position in the Eastern Oblast, effectively giving her two starting points. Only a player-controlled Ostyanka can make this call—when AI-controlled, she’ll still go about her hex-hunting quest as originally intended.

Beyond Kislev, there’s another couple new unit types to play around with. Cathay receives Nan-Gau Grenadiers, a mixed explosive-lobbing/melee unit that comes equipped with a once-per-battle ability to deploy flashbangs, debuffing attacking melee units. This should synergise well with some buffs given to Miao Ying, including some bonuses to all Nan-Gau units.

On the stinkier end of the new units are Gnoblar Flingers, an addition CA have credited to modders Mixu & Lost2Insanity and serving as a cheap, expendable new Ogre Kingdoms projectile unit filling in a notable blank in the heavyweight-focused faction. The Ogres also have a new mercenary camp just south of Zhao Ming’s starting position, flying their ‘Will Eat For Food’ flag in Jishen and offering affordable mercenary services to the region.

Lastly for major changes, the double-bird-brained Kairos Fateweaver has fittingly changed once more, overhauling his Fragments Of Sorcery system, putting a heavier focus on his particularly chaotic brand of wizarding. He now starts the campaign with two common spell slots, but gains an additional customizable slot every five levels after that, with his sixth, rare slot becoming available at level 20.

You can switch spells in these slots freely, letting players—as CA describe it—“reach into your magic murder bag and retrieve just the right tool for every battle.” Tzeench in general has seen a bundle of buffs, with Kairos starting with two cults already in action and an improved skill tree, hopefully turning him into the bluebird of happiness that players always wanted.

Of course, these are just the key changes, with plenty more minor tweaks detailed in the patch notes, including a mountain of animation fixes across all factions and faster-turning horses. The living ones, at least. Undead ones retain their handling issues. Check it all out here.