Total War: Warhammer trailer showcases the ambition of Grimgor Ironhide

Grimgor Ironhide

Today's new Total War: Warhammer trailer shines a spotlight on the infamous Orc Warboss Grimgor Ironhide, who, as the cinematic begins, is pondering the eternal question of, "Who's next?"

Despite the focus on Ironhide, the trailer is actually meant to illustrate the "sheer range of cities and terrain you can aspire to conquer," as the YouTube description says, "from the Badlands in the south to the Chaos Wastes in the North." There's snow, there's forests, there's volcanic lava, and plenty of Humans, Dwarves, and Vampire Counts to do battle against.

The video is an "in-engine cinematic," which Creative Assembly helpfully explains means that it "uses Development in Progress in-game assets and code as a basis for a video shot with cinematic camera techniques to create movie-like footage. This is representative of the themes and general look and feel of the game, but it is not the direct in-game experience you will get when you are physically playing the final game." Not that anyone would likely mistake it for actual gameplay, but it's nice when a developer is willing to spell it out like that.

As for Ironhide himself, he's a pretty bad dude, even for a Greenskin. He's the boss of Da Immortulz, a near-legendary group of Black Orcs, and he wants nothing from life but battle—the tougher, the better. He's pretty good at it, too.

Total War: Warhammer is set to come out on April 28, 2016. A hands-on, you say? Here you go.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.