Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Kislev

This is the general tactics page on how to play Kislev in Total War: WARHAMMER. As the game isn't out yet and we know very little about how the faction will work, this page won't be filled out for a long time. However, we can make some early guesses based on the table top and the trailer.

Why Play Kislev

• Because you like Humans, but don't want to debase yourself by playing as one of the feeble westerners (or southerners in this case)
• You will likely be playing a more generalist playstyle that leans more into mobile skirmishing and Cavalry.
• You want an excuse to blast Sabaton while playing in fantasy.
• FUCKING BEARS!!!!!

Pros

(Again, we know jack shit other than the factions so this is all subject to change)

• Cavalry: Kislev has always leaned more towards the cavalry side, so expect that to be the case in the game. With Winged Hussars, Bear Riders and presumably good skirmisher cav you should have a very wide selection of horsemen to choose from.
• Flexible Skirmishers: Many of your ranged units, such as the Ice Guard, will have weapons that will allow them to fight in melee, similar to Shades and Lothern Sea Guard. This means them getting stuck in melee won't be too much of an issue as they can actually defend themselves.

Cons

• Lack of Heavy Infantry: You will likely be lighter in the infantry department, as is generally the trend with human factions. Your ranged and cavalry will have to do most of the work in the battle.
• DLC: Yeah, this will be safe to assume. Get ready to join the very large "We need to fork over extra dough to be relevant in multiplayer." club.

Roster

Disclaimer: much of the bellow is taken as speculation from the old limited Kislev army listed printed in White Dwarf in 2003, yes almost 2 decades. Therefore take many of these options with a grain of salt. Anything with a WD in the name will be from this army list but not confirmed via another source, the way the Winged Lnacers showed up in the trailer for example.

Lords

Legendary Lords

• Tzarina Katarin: The only confirmed Legendary Lord for game 3 so far. She will likely be Kislev's Mage Lord level character with the Lore of Ice and access to a horse and a sled mount. Not much else to go on to be honest. She will probably be strong in the magic department but suck hard in melee

• Tzar Boris Ursus-WD: Although dead in the current timeline, that has not stopped Azhag the Slaughterer or Vlad von Carstein from making total war appearances, plus in the limited white Dwarf Kislev codex he was one of the only two lord options, along side his daughter Katarin. With only two canon named lords to pick from, it's very likely Tzar Boris will show up atop his bear to act as the melee beat stick to his daughter's magical might, but this is pure speculation and has not been confirmed as of yet.

• Ivan Radinov: never heard of this guy? Understandable he only showed up in Citadel Journal 15 and 16. He's Katarin's brother and serves as the cavalry commander of the Gryphon legion (see below) and could perhaps be introduced as a faster cavalry mounted melee character to contrast with his somewhat slower bear mounted father. Perhaps the least likely Option on this list but if Helman Ghorst can get into total war, he has a chance. More of a chance really given the lack of other options.

Heros

Boyar-WD:A likely generic hero level character that will be simplified much the way the Empire captain was into a melee character. Given the Russian root of the word Boyar, although unconfirmed it's very likely a hero/lord with this name will show up

Units

Infantry

• Kossars-WD: another very Russian name likely to show up in total war warhamemr albeit perhaps not in this exact form. Due to the limited nature of the White Dwarf army book the Kossars were the only unit on foot and so were forced to play the role of both Infantry and Missile unit, armed with both a bow and a great axe. Although some kind of unit like this is not unheard of for warhammer, Lothern Sea Guard come to mind, it is very unlikely they will be the only option for infantry again and will likely be some kind of elite/mid-teir hybrid unit.

Missiles

• Ice Guard: Judging by the trailers, these ladies are going to be what happens when a Sister of Avelorn and a Lothern Sea Guard have a baby, only it came out human somehow. With a magical bow presumably with AP and a spear they will be pretty hard to crack, though they will likely be super expensive to make up for it.

Cavalry

• Ungol Horse archers-WD: Fast skirmishing Cavalary that will likely crumple in melee.

• Winged Lancers: The Winged Hussars have arrived and they will likely be a light to mid tier cavalry unit. They might come with Anti Large given their long lances but we'll have to wait and see. In the white dwarf codex they forced a panic check if they charge enemy's in the flank, so maybe they will have Fear? but that seems unlikely.
  • Gryphon Legion RoR-WD: An elite group of winged Lancers who act mostly as mercenarys but are sworn to show up when the Tzar/ina calls for there aid. In the White Dwarf codex while Winged Lancers were core and so you could have as many as you wanted, the Gryphon legion were 0-1, although with only one initiative and the ability to take a pistol on the champion? So while there a possibility, no idea how exactly they would be different.

• Sons of Ursun: These guys showed up in the trailer so get ready for them. They will likely be similar to Demigryphs only slower and with way beefier defensive stats. Also expect a hefty amount of AP and at least fear because it's a FUCKING MAN RIDING A POLAR BEAR!!!