Total Tactics - How To: Gunpowder Formations | Total War: Warhammer 3
#howto #totalwarwarhammer3 #immortalempires
This tutorial will help you set up your armies in a way to best use your Gunpowder Units in Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires. This was made just after the 2.1 Update during the Immortal Empires Beta. If you have any questions, or any tips, post them in the comments!
Total War: Warhammer 3 was developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It is part of Games Workshop's Warhammer universe. The music in this video is credited to Creative Assembly and their composers.
Please note this is an unofficial video and is not endorsed by SEGA or the Creative Assembly in any way. For more information on Total War, please visit www.totalwar.com.
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Additional Music
Killers - Kevin MacLeod
Time Stamps
Intro - 00:00
The Problem with Gunpowder Units - 00:21
The Checkerboard Formation - 01:16
The Chevrons Formation - 03:20
The Anti-Cavalry Diamond Formation - 04:43
Outro - 5:46
Thank you all so much for watching!
In my current Empire Campaign I got around most of this by replacing my melee line with allied dwarven infantry Units who are small enough to be shot over from the back
This does actually work? Would be amazing
@@MrFreePoint It works on current patch. You can also do this as dwarves and buy Empire Handgunners who you can place behind your own gunners, creating a more compact firing line.
Lmao that is hilarious! I love that that's a thing!
@@MalleusGaming57 i think lead belchers in row 3 :)
@@monostorizsolt2472 lmao bro Dwarf Thunderers in front, Empire Handgunners second line and Ogre Leadbelchers as the third line?! Yes please take all of my money!!! Hahaha
"This formation will be weak to artillery fire" *Shows the formation getting indeed hit by artillery, except it's his own units friendly-firing each other* Not sure if intentional, but I laughed a lot at that. That aside, great video. Sending this to my buddy who just got the game and never played anything similar.
Lmao that was a bit... unintentionally intentional 😂 I didn’t mean for my own guys to get blown up but when editing I was like “well... gets the point across here” hahaha
I love these formations. Love being able to put real life tactics to use in the game. Thanks for the great ideas!
Thanks bud glad you enjoyed it! I love how you can pull off things like this in these games too!
When you say "real life," I think about how even though the Empire and Clan Skrye are both gunpowder factions, one of them is playing pike and shot while the other is all the way up in 1917 with machine guns, snipers, and gas.
@@CharChar2121 I wouldn't consider steam tanks pike and shot lol
ye me too. I've been looking for videos such as this one !
Too bad all this is just for roleplay 😂 one and only tww formation: corner camp
3 games in a row and this is the first time i've heard or seen good formations for gunpowder, i'd often just hope for a tall hill and awkwardly place my units there hoping LoS works on them, keep up the work
O.o yknow this vid here is a rehash if several toral warhammer 2 videos of tbe same kind, right?
Thanks so much bro! Glad this could helpful for you!
@@trazyntheinfinite9895 good to hear because it means you keep checking on this stuff as they update, since we all know how they like to make a nice mess of a good thing. This video is game changing for someone who literally just checkerboarded or put them on higher ground and hoped for LOS
Same
I knew about checker board and myself had naturally been using something similar to the horse killing diamond when needed but that chevron thing man. I'm gonna go check that you with some grand cathay
big tip, deploy your artillery on the back left and back right flank. instead of having them target the infantry right in front of them, make them shoot across your formation to the other end, having the shots criss cross over your ranks. Especially useful with cannons. If you target the infantry directly in front, you wont have line of sight to arc your shots, as they are too close. If you shoot the front line on the other end of your formation, your shots will arc over your line, because you have enough distance. Works best in chevron formation too, as the enemy front line will be parallel to your cannons shot.
Omg that's such a good tip! Thanks bro I never would have thought of that!
I just finished my second-ever total war campaign as Kislev and I really like using the checkerboard formation with armored kossars. The fact that they’re a hybrid unit means that they can cover each other with pistol-fire when in melee and can be swapped-out whenever their health or ammo gets too low.
Nice! Kislev would be great with these! Streltsi and Armoured Kossars make a great combo together
This is very useful. My favorite factions are powder ones like dawi and empire.
@@MalleusGaming57 10 months late, but i did exactly this on my Boris Realm of Chaos campaign. first time i've ever beaten Realm of Chaos to the end, usually i play IE until i burn out. found out about checkerboard from a different tww3 vid, and decided to try it. once you get armored kossars, this tactic is never not used. pair AKs with regular Kossars, and you have the ol' 2 layer front line with bows in the back. once you get strelsti, true checkerboard goes ham. and if you can add tsar guard, your first line becomes immovable, and usually your back row runs out of ammo before any of your units break, if the enemy doesnt just army-loss mass route (besides them damn demons, which i also play). made me sad though, because kislev became really rinse-repeat every fight, and battles werent very fun to play out. in fact, that's why i just rushed Bel'lakor and beat the campaign, cuz it got boring as i swept all the way to Cathay with no issue (i let the AI keep the Ice Court so i wouldnt have to micromanage both sides of the map)
3:13 God damnit rockets, stop helping!
Lmao when recording this there were a couple of moments where I was thinking "damnit I should have used some Volley Guns..."
Please make this a series. Well done and comprehensive.
Thanks so much! I definitely plan on doing more like this, are there any particular topics you'd like to see covered?
I agree this was incredibly well done, maybe on the next one you could do one on proper hammer and anvil Calvary use, I get the idea but I can never seem to pull it off without like, 5 - 10 models getting stuck and drawing the rest of the unit back in or dying uselessly
I would love, perhaps, a full series from you dedicated to using, breaking down, and understanding legitimate formations and battle tactics for Total War Warhammer. Especially when you start covering the very real weaknesses of these formations with things like magic, hero units, monsters, and so on, I can imagine some very awesome battles ensuing, especially in multiplayer
That sounds amazing and is definitely something I want to look into with this series. It'll be really interesting to see how different real world tactics can be applied to this
Man, I knew about the classic Checkerboard formation from the many other total war youtubers I've watched, but the next two were totally new to me and now I can't wait to put them into action.
diamond formation wont work in multiplayer. A thinking person will either avoid your melle and go for the ranged or avoid the sides and charge into one of the infantry.
Same problem with chevron formation( but less dire, since you CAN divide chevrons and face them to the sides ). The enemy can avoid the kill zones. There is no need to charge your line. Just overload one flank, while sending some chaff units in the middle... or dont. Empire will have to react and reposition to answer the flanks aggression and absence of enemy in the middle. Overloading one flank and ignoring the other will render 1/3 of gunline useless.
@@KaiReel23 i think the point of this was obviously for campaign. Also the whole point of the diamond is to bait your opponent into going for the ranged units
@Alekir This wasn't done for multiplayer
@Cody Smith Bro I'm so glad you were able to take away some new ideas from this! Please let me know if they work out for you! :D
Great video! I loved your mention of the use of square formation for more quickly maneuverable units, its something I do but I feel is often overlooked. Can't wait for more.
Thanks so much bro! Yeah it’s not something I see mentioned too often but it’s such a life saver when something gets behind your lines isn’t it? Glad you enjoyed the vid! Are there any other ideas you’d like to see done?
It's also much better if the enemy has much stronger melee troops than you have as it reduces the number of models in contact and can therefore prolong the inevitable.
@@MalleusGaming57 A cavalry episode would be interesting if you use any tricks for them
This is why I love playing gunpowder factions. Line of sight is such an interesting limitation to work around.
Right?! It's so awesome when you get them working effectively. And it looks epic!
wow this was really informative! Thanks man. Never wanted to play "not orcs" this much
Lmao I mean Green is best after all! Thanks so much bud glad you enjoyed it!
I have a lot of played hours in this game, so I didn’t see anything new for myself. But at the same time, I want to say that I have definitely never seen a video with such content. It will definitely be useful for all beginners. Especially for those who play on a low difficulty, to move to a higher one. I wish the author good luck and success in this direction.
The tip about how to select units and place them is a godsend. I feel like I've been playing way to long to not know how to do this.
Glad I could be of help bro! It’s amazing how much depth these games have
I have been playing TWW for years and never really invested any time into watching these guides, but I found this one particularly helpful. Thanks!
I loved this, going to take it to my gunpowder kislev mod and hold the line against the hordes
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it and dude Kislev is gonna rock with these formations, Streltsi are so badass!
Kossars in checkerboard are also disgustingly good, since first row of units is almost unbreakable
The anti-cavalry diamond is a new concept to me, but one I eagerly look forward to trying. Thanks for the insight.
Cheers bud! It's super fun to use every once in a while and it just looks epic as well. Let me know how it works out for you!
This has leveled up my formation understanding. God bless you this may be what I've needed this whole time for Empire, Dwarves and Vampire Coast
I had been woefully unaware of the diamond formation, but I was aware of the other two. Very informational and I am glad to see how you handled showing the actual formations both in setup and in motion so people could better understand how and why things work.
Glad you enjoyed it bud! I was a little worried it wouldn't be too clear but it's good to hear that it was informative!
Great video! Would love to see more formation videos like this that would focus on other things as well
Thank you! I definitely have more planned for things like this, are there any things in particular you'd like to see covered?
Useful. I wasn't really familiar with the diamond, will have to experiment with it. Try countering some of the inflexibility of chevrons by keeping your missing units in squares inside the gaps, allowing them to rotate a little bit better.
That's a really good tip! I'll definitely keep that in mind when I use a chevrons formation in the future, that should be a huge help. And yeah the diamond is just good fun, I don't use it too often but it's saved me a couple of times and looks epic
Loved the concise explanations highlighting the pros and cons of each formation.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it and glad I wasn't rambling on haha
I saw this video today and of course immediately went to test these formations and leading values behind them for myself with immense success! My battles feel much more intense and satisfying and it's all thanks to you and this series! thanks!
I am looking forward to using some of your more complicated formations and tactics in the future, I can't wait :D
Hey that's awesome to hear bro! I'm so glad these have been useful for you and helping you out in your games! Cheers bro, it really means a lot getting a comment like this!
If you're playing as Kislev, you can approach these formations a bit more casually, considering that most of their infantry do double duty as both ranged and melee, up until you run into a faction that fields a lot of cavalry (ESPECIALLY ranged cavalry). The reason for this is that, without mercenaries being brought in from allies, Kislev's entire roster have a total of only two infantry with anti-large attacks in melee (in vanilla AND OUTSIDE OF THE PROLOGUE CAMPAIGN) in the form of kossars with spears and Ice Guard with glaives, and neither of those units come with shields.
A Kislevite Gunline would be really cool, they'd be able to make really effective use out of it. I've also had huge success with a stack of Ice Guard Glaives arranged in a checkerboard formation, absolutely brutal
Great video - still learning formation shortcuts 600 hours in. This was really helpful!
Same and I played 1-3 😂
Thanks so much! I'm really glad it could help you out!
This is the content I'm looking for. Good stuff please give us even more. Formations and stuff is my favorite part of this game
Haha awesome! Thanks so much my dude I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I'm really interested in seeing what other kinds of formations can work, definitely gonna be working on some more vids like this one
This was really informative. Awesome Stuff!
Thanks so much bro glad you enjoyed it!
You can still use squares for your ranged units in chevron, to maintain their mobility. Because units ignore their own entities for line of sight there's no real advantage to spreading them thin (except perhaps for having a wider angle of fire for fast movers and fliers.)
That's a really good point! I'll definitely doing that in future uses thanks!
You can try setting up your melee infantry into long thin columns rather than the typical rows. So long as the gap between units isn't too large you don't get surrounded and the ranged units behind have good line of sight. It's a bit like checkerboard.
Thin lines get blown through, square do not
Okay I see what you're saying, like a deeper, stretched sorta checkerboard then right?
@@MalleusGaming57 Well, the ranged units can be in squares or rows, only the melee goes in columns. So it doesn't really look like a checkerboard at that point. The idea is that the ranged unit can shoot on either side of the melee unit in front of it.
@@OniGanon Also, the deeper the melee unit, the less models are in contact with the enemy, and therefore the less damage they are taking (as well as dealing) at any time. Plus, they hold the enemy further away from the ranged units. Since we want to deal damage by shooting, this is ideal.
Thank you so much for this!!! I love gunpowder units but feel I underutilize them greatly and struggle a lot. I can't wait to try these formations.
No problem at all bud glad I could help! Let me know how they work out for you :)
Wow, these formation are so cool! Great work on this video
Thanks so much bud! Glad you enjoyed them!
these formations only work in singleplayer. Because AI will just order the melee infantry to attack whatever is the closest, if you fight against a human they can walk through those gaps with ease.
By micromanaging and setting individual orders for each unit as they approach the gap. Sapping their attention at a critical moment and opening up a counterattack opportunity. Not to mention that you can shift the infantry formation left or right as they approach and cut off their attempt. They definitely could get through with enough determination. But doing so is going to require a lot of coordination and micromanagement. And every moment you have to them focused where you want, you can punish them for it.
@NewEden yeah this wasn't done with multiplayer in mind
Yeah, against other humans you'd need a more sophisticated echelon formation.
I wish I had seen this video when doing my Cathay campaign. Great video!
Great tutorial. Opens up a new philosophy to battle formations for me.
This is pretty cool content. The biggest point I disliked about gunners was how they became basically useless after the melee started, because I usually do the whole "place them in front of melee, then retreat them" approach. I tried running them to flanks when possible, to shoot at units from the side or even rear, but with flying units, monsters, cavalry and quick lords on the battlefield I am usually hesitant to try this since the AI really loves sending their quick stuff around my melee to kill the rangeds. This seems like a very smart and also visually pretty pleasant way to fix this issue. Edit: the timing at 2:58 cracked me up lol. "they can be vulnerable to artillery fire" just as your own artillery blasts them apart.
Yeah I had that problem too, was always wary about putting them off to the flanks as they'd just get jumped on by whatever fast nastiness the enemy had. And omg I had to laugh when I realized my artillery was blowing up my own troops, made for a perfect little edit though
Amazing video, clear, concise and helpful! Please make more!
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it! Ask and ye shall receive haha I just released a new one on Cavalry!
Great Formations tips! I'll surely put it in practice
Thanks a lot! Hope they work out well for you bud!
Great video! Thanks for the tips.
Great work my friend. I've been using vamp coast a lot and have so much trouble with the right formations for my gunners. I appreciate this work. Got yourself a new sub too.
Thanks so much bro! Vamp Coast works so well with these tactics and those battles always look so cool too. I really appreciate it bud cheers!
I have thousands of hours in total war titles and this is the best overview on formations I've seen, good job!
Thank you so much! That's high praise indeed I really appreciate it!
freaking awesome love it, been struggeling soo much with range in warhammer 3, gonna try this out for sure. it was a very good watch and strait to the point.
Thanks so much bro! Glad you enjoyed it and hope it helps you out! Let me know how you fare in your campaigns!
Great video, subscribed !
Cheers bro! Thank you so much I really appreciate it!
Thank you for this fantastic video. Concise, informative and to the point, just the way I like it.
Glad you enjoyed it bud! Thank you for watching!
Wow ! That’s gonna help me a lot in battle,thank you ! I was struggling with gunpowder units in the past.
That's great! I'm super glad to hear that bro! Let me know how it goes!
Totally helpful! Thank you. Six hundred-ish hours in to this franchise and I still found useful info. TW III is shaping up to be my favorite of the series and I know it's only going to improve these next few years.
Happy to help bro and thank you for watching! It's amazing how much depth there is in this game isn't it? I can't wait it's just gonna get better and better! Cheers bud!
@@MalleusGaming57 I'm sure I'll pick up all of the DLC, one at a time. I used to table top WH in the late 80's; $10 for a pack of five figures (so, like $25 back then), so $10-15 for a DLC feels like a steal by comparison. :-) Look forward to checking out more of your vids!
Checkerboard sounds like the best option for me. Thank you for this video
The "wow" at 5:46 was legendary and meme-worthy. 😂 Also, loved the video. Straight to the point.
Lmao I was saying "well" but I guess the microphone didn't pick it up properly, glad you enjoyed it though bro!
This was a great video. Would you please do more of them?. Super helpful for learning the tactics of the game!
Thanks so much! I'd absolutely love to do more of these kinds of vids! Are there any things in particular you'd like to see covered?
@@MalleusGaming57 Honestly, I just suck so any of these types of videos are great. I've been trying to use bretonnia lately and cav is a pain to micro. I did play some empire after watching this vid though and the formations really helped! I just think tw 3 needs more tutorial type vids. Thanks for this!
That was really cool and chill video, ty
Thanks so much I'm glad you enjoyed it! Cheers bud!
Thank you, the tips for how to easily setup a checkerboard are very useful.
No problem bud! Thanks for watching!
The last one is really interesting need to test it! Thank you for this very well made Video.
Super cool formations. Thank you for sharing!
Cheers bro glad you found it interesting!
subscribed as I loved the video - please make more content like this
Cheers bud thank you so much! I really appreciate it and will do! I've got a lot more ideas for vids like these :)
Best direct fire guide on KZhead, love the content!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that bro!
Nodding and giving grunts of understanding I felt so smart when i started putting little gaps in my infantry line for my gunners as cannons to shoot through and now i see there is some real magic that standing in one spot can do
Great video, directly understood it and even saying what the key combos are to move your army so that they hold the formation, never heard it mentioned by other youtubers! I'm a relatively new player (51h in) and this helped me a lot understandig checkerboard formation and i think it will be very useful for my ikrit campaign yes yes!
Cheers bud! Glad this was helpful for you and that you enjoyed it! As a newer player are there any other things you’d like to see covered?
Excellent! I love the empire precisely because they can use formations like this with strong gunpowder and cav units.
Cheers bud! Yeah the Empire is amazing, they've got such a great array of units and tools for different situations
Actually very interesting, i've tried the checkerboard formation a few times myself, but i'll get sure to give the others a try too, i'm always amazed how a good tactic can win me a "Close/Valiant defeat".
Nice video! The slow voice is perfect to get everything you say when we aren't good english speaker. Thank you 🙏
Thank you so much! I'm glad it was accessible for you and hope it helps you out!
Late to the party, but wanted to say this video was great! Effective formations, beautiful in their simplicity. Played a campaign as Kislev, someone else mentioned them in the comments and they really are a perfect faction to utilize these tactics, but I kept running into the issue where I treated gunpowder units just like archers and then got confused when they weren’t arcing their bullets. Maybe that’s because I’m something of a Skaven appreciator, and on inspection my dead skavenslaves somehow had more entry wounds than exit wounds in their backs. :)
Haha sounds like those Skavenslaves were doing a fantastic job and earned their warpstone bullet. I mean bonus! Yes-yes! I'm super glad you enjoyed the vid bud and that it was able to help you out! Thanks so much for watching and the kind words, I really appreciate it :)
Going to test these tactics today my friend thank you for the video
Awesome! Let me know how it goes! Cheers bud glad you enjoyed it
Excellent tips, thank you!
Glad it was helpful! Cheers!
thats so creative, great video
thank you so much. please more of these tactic videos! :)
Thank you for watching bro! Check out my Total Tactics playlist on my channel page for more if you haven't already :) Cheers bud!
This was a great video! 😀
Thank you!! 😁
Well, first time I see those strategies! Awesome and clever👌
Awesome tips!
Good tactics. Got stuck on a second one but now you enlighted me. Thanks
Thanks bro glad it could help you out! :D cheers!
Thanks for this video! I've had alot of trouble using guns after the melee has started
No problem my dude hope this helps you out!
This video is that good, you have gained a subscribe from me, dear fellow. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much bud! Really glad you liked it and I definitely will!
This is super helpful man thank you!!!
Glad to hear it! Hope you get some good results!
Thank you for the Video, Great job!!
Thanks for watching! I really appreciate it!
Thanks so much for this! I have used checkerboard to some effect before but this is fantastic
No problem bud glad you enjoyed it!
Hell yeah, I love your tactic videos
Cheers bud thanks so much glad you enjoy them!
I love this video! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Gave my friend half my army after setting up in chevron formation without explaining. He broke formation right after the battle started and we got smashed cause we didn't coordinate. But this is brutally effective! And I finally have a video to send him that explains why. Thanks and much love
Haha gotta whip your buddy into shape! Glad you enjoyed this my dude and I hope it helps you guys out! Cheers bro!
thanks for the tips!, great stuff
No problem bro, thank you for watching! Hope it helps you out!
Thanks for these!
Great video brother man, thank u very much
My pleasure bro! Hope it helps out :D
I love these tactics videos. It reminds me of the good old days of Warhammer 1. Great video friend.
Cheers bud! Glad you enjoyed this! I hope to do more of these types of videos soon
so simple and optimized way about how to make formation. nice.
Thanks bud! Glad you enjoyed it!
great video. subbed
Thanks so much for the sub! I really appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Really solid video 👍
Cheers bud thanks a lot!
Great video. You got yourself a subscriber.
Thanks so much bro! I really appreciate it and glad you enjoyed it!
Good video. I recently started playing the Dwarves for the first time and their lack was a bit issue for me, as I’m more accustomed to armies such as the Elves and what not. Looking forward to using these.
Thanks a lot! I hope these help you out!
Very useful. Keep up the battle tactics!
Awesome glad you liked it bro! And I definitely will
I knew about the first two, but that diamond formation is just diabolical
Haha absolutely bro I hope you'll be able to get some good use out of it! It's a super fun tactic to make use of every once in a while
Wow! I was clueless until I came across this. Great resource.
Thanks bro! Glad you enjoyed it and I hope it helps you out!
that is some nice formations, definitely learned some good bits :D
Glad you enjoyed it! Hope it helps you out!
Great video! Thank you!
Thanks bro! I really appreciate it!
Pragmatic and very to the point, excellent video tutorial
Glad you liked it! Thanks so much bro!
Setting up some of these formations takes some effort, but it feels really good crushing the enemy with them. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah that’s one thing with them, they can be a bit tedious to set up sometimes, especially if you’re doing a lot of battles. Glad you enjoyed them though bud! Cheers
Gonna be using that diamond formation from now on! Thank you!
Yusss awesome! Glad you enjoyed it hope it helps you out! It's a really fun tactic to make use of every once in a while
Thank you for this man! Cool formations
Cheers bud I hope it'll help!
Awesome! Im trying it out tonight!
Sweet! Glad you enjoyed it bro! Let me know how it goes!
Wow it’s amazing, this is all i really want to know. How helpfull ❤
Glad it was helpful bro! Cheers!
I started a Sartosa campaign yesterday, it's time for new formations. Thank you!
Awesome! The Vampire Coast factions make for some seriously epic gun lines I hope these help! Cheers bro
Really good advice on how to use formations!
Thank you so much bro!
All Classics already used and discovered for me on... Shogun 2. Thanks for the great video and reminder ;)
Haha classic! Cheers bro!