Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Volkmar The Grim - Empire Campaign Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts
Hello everyone. In this guide I will cover:
- Victory conditions, faction and climate;
- Starting location;
- Diplomacy and outposts;
- Mechanics of the race and faction;
- Province edicts and army stances;
- Buildings and research;
- Lords and skills;
- Army compositions;
And give you my final notes on the specific faction. Hope you enjoy it.
If you prefer to watch the video, here you go. It also helps to support me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqg9ctSMHxY
If you prefer to read:
VICTORY CONDITIONS:
Short victory:
- Destroy the factions of the Oracles of Tzeentch (Kairos) and the Drakenhof Conclave (Mannfred);
- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 30 different settlements;
The reward is +3 hero capacity for all heroes, which is great for the empire, specially concerning casters and support heroes which are all excellent for good army composition.
A moderate victory condition, your first opponent is so close that it will not take too long; Kairos is a big deal because of all the shenanigans and annoyances he can throw at you, though.
Long victory:
- Achieve the short victory;
- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 70 different settlements
- Control all the provinces of the Empire;
The reward is +10 hero recruit rank, always good for the later stages of the domination campaign to get better heroes for your armies.
This is a lengthy victory, mostly because it focuses on going in the opposite direction of the short victory overall. Take your time with it, for certain.
Volkmar is the Head of the Cult of Sigmar, and he benefits from:
- Volkmar has the mechanic of the Books of Nagash, slightly changed. He can seal them, to improve his military, in essence.
- Hero recruit rank +4 for Witch Hunters and Warrior Priests;
- Bonus vs Infantry: +8 for Flagellants, Empire Knights, and Free Company Militia units;
- Cooldown: -33% for battle prayers and "Accusation";
These actually work out pretty well combined, your early tier troops become quite powerful and it gives you a better start idea, you have a slightly different mechanic for the mid to lategame, which is always a nice change of pace.
Climate is rather good, although I wish Mountains were better for him (unpleasant); It should still be a better campaign to dominate the whole map with than any other Empire campaign, for certain.
STARTING LOCATION:
Your starting province is a 2 settlement one, with two ports. This implies that you will need a second province for certain to get full military going, but you do have a better income and growth overall.
In terms of enemies, you are quite surrounded, so it is not that easy to breakthrough; avoiding wars on all sides will be tricky, so ensure you take every opportunity to assist possible allies and ensure you get some assistance. The typical expansion is to rush Mannfred, then proceed south, but be wary of both the Lizardmen and the Tomb Kings that can attack at any moment's notice.
You also have the sea nearby, which implies you may benefit from any goodies there. These should definitely help out early game, so go for it at any opportunity.
DIPLOMACY AND OUTPOSTS:
Diplomatically you are part of the order tide. Dwarfs, Bretonnia, High Elves, Lizardmen, they are likely to become your friends, but be wary of any wars among them, since you are basically their link and things can go sour very quickly.
In terms of enemies, Vampire Counts, Coast, Tomb Kings, Daemons and Chaos, all of them are likely to pursue you. Later, Greenskins and Ogres to the North will for sure become an issue as you try to go for the long victory.
Therefore, Outposts will likely happen with the Dwarfs for their infantry, Lizardmen for their single entities, Bretonnia for their Flying cavalry.
MECHANICS OF THE RACE AND FACTION:
Volkmar has quite reduced mechanics with really only the Books of Nagash. His task is to go around the world and seal the books so no one can use them. This will take time, but may be worth it to send a couple of armies to start doing the task when you are ready or have a solid base.
Each book that is sealed gives specific bonuses, and it also fills out a bar that also gives you some benefits.
In particular, one noteworthy book gives you +8 melee attack and defense and leadership. Should be noted that the books do not change the spawning location, but change which book is where, so there are definitely great possibilities for variety depending where each book actually ends up.
Sealing each book also gives you an anciliary, unlocks Elector Count state troops, and gives Ward Save and reduced upkeep for those Elector Count state troops. A very basic and simple mechanic, but it does allow you to have some choices regarding where you go and why.
PROVINCE EDICTS AND ARMY STANCES:
Edicts:
Control +4;
Enemy hero success chance -15%; chance of interception +25%; corruption -2;
Income from all buildings +5%
Growth +20; income from trade tariffs +5%;
Recruitment cost -5%; local recruitment capacity +1;
The very basic ones, but with good choices overall to ensure you can always have something a bit more effective running your provinces.
Army stances:
Channeling gives +15 Winds of Magic per turn, costs 10% movement range;
Encamp costs 50% movement, enables replenishment and access to global recruitment, as well as immunity to attrition;
Raiding costs 50% movement, immunity to attrition;
Ambush costs 25% movement;
Forced march;
The very basic and standard ones, but still effective so you can safely replenish or ambush whenever necessary. Pay attention to the movement points and all goes well.
Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires Volkmar The Grim - Empire Campaign Overview, Guide And Second Thoughts(continuation)
BUILDINGS AND RESEARCH:
No specific buildings in your initial province, but you do get income and reduced recruitment cost in the shifting sands, making it a better target for a military province.
Military requires 6 buildings, 2 of them can be built in minor settlements. Tier 3 units are somewhat decent, with Greatswords, handgunners, mortars, and cavalry; However, tier 4 introduces the cannon, rockets, and demygryphs which are great for any playthrough.
Infrastructure:
1 - Growth and replenishment;
2 - Income;
3 - Control and hero recruitment;
4 - Campaign movement, growth and income;
Overall some nice bonuses to be had from all those buildings. You definitely need a second province to get every single military building.
Research is quite nice. It focuses on every part of the game, more campaign or battle focused. The diplomatic corps may seem expensive, but they may yet provide you with the necessary alliances in the long run to get some good outposts going, and some nice units to reinforce your armies.
Research also has Sigmar's Will, with a -50% upkeep for Flagellants, speed and missile resistance, as well as more range for the Auras. With everything combined the Flagellents can barely be a good frontline, but you should definitely try out different compositions just for fun and see how well they can deal with different enemies.
LORDS, SKILLS, ARMY COMPOSITIONS:
Blue line has upkeep reduction and replenishment rate, but in the second part of the line. The first part has attrition reduction, which may be in handy given how many factions around have vampiric or other types of corruption.
Redline is rather expensive, with the main issue being that any alternative or early-mid game units are split up from the elite units.
You have a basic missiles and basic artillery skill line, which is cool, so you definitely have good elite compositions possible too.
Warrior priests provide replenishment, and may be essential in armies considering the climate and overall lack of replenishment means. They are also amazing in battle and give your frontline much needed holding and fighting capabilities.
Remember you have 4 different and specialized heroes, so you may wish to try different army compositions using each of them in your armies, or just having all of them in one army, whatever you do, just plan for it.
Volkmar has an interesting take in giving upgrades to units you do not normally use, such as Flagellants, Free company militia, and Empire Knights. Thus, his early game composition can look something like you see in the first army I propose, and it is still fine to use that into the midgame. LIkely you may want to use more elite troops, so of course I try to maintain the theme with just some good additions.
Then I have my typical take with Hunstmen generals, useful to bringing some sweeper armies too.
Then the typical compositions I would try out and some more sweeper armies. Note that Flagellants are not as good without being under Volkmar, so take them with a grain of salt; it is mostly for cheaper armies running around sweeping the ground or adding defense, instead of a frontline army to deal with enemy top tier ones.
One note, as always, concerning heroes: I only advise one melee/support hero, and one caster hero, but of course you can use all kinds of numbers of heroes and combinations you wish. Just ensure you have a plan for it.
FINAL NOTES:
Volkmar is an interesting campaign just because of its starting location and enemies. A sort of breath of fresh air from the empire mechanics of the elector counts, it still lacks a bit in actual mechanics for himself.
It works well as a campaign versus the undead, to cleanse them from the world of Warhammer, and you will have to contend with Kairos which is always a unique experience.
In terms of units, focuses on flagellants and free company militia which already makes it a different empire campaign. Definitely recommend this campaign if you just wish a different experience without the issues that Markus Wulfhart has with its lack of top tier troops.
Your army consists of:
1 - Average infantry;
2 - Great missiles and artillery;
3 - Great cavalry;
4 - No single entities (siege tank and luminark are more artillery than true single entities);
5 - Lacks flying
Replenishment is good, in particular if you have your Warrior Priests following every army and in decent climate.
So, time to follow the head of the Cult of Sigmar, Volkmar, the Grim.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3009401115
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