Total War Battles: Kingdom announced

Creative Assembly has announced Total War Battles: Kingdom; a veritable hodge-podge of words that, when placed together, describe an upcoming free-to-play strategy for PC and tablets.

It's being developed by the team responsible for Total War Battles: Shogun—a sort of tower-defence-style strategy that was primarily designed for a mobile interface. This new game is set at the turn of the 10th Century, and will be more familiar in structure to Total War fans—with both realm building and tactical battles.

"Players will find themselves managing the needs of their own fiefdom as they marshal formidable armies with which to duel against neighbouring kingdoms," explains Sega's press release. "Ultimately, players will be able to join in massed multiplayer wars against other lords in a fight for the throne. Deception, spying and outright betrayal against enemies and friends alike will see the devious player rewarded."

A PC closed beta will happen early next year. Head here if you'd like to register for that.

Edit: Oh yeah, there's a trailer too:

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.