Warhammer: Mark of Chaos: Battle March

By: Reed Bertrand

Friday September 26, 2008

Battle March is a recent expansion to Warhammer: Mark Of Chaos with added features and two new races: Green Skins (Orcs and Goblins) and Dark Elves. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the Warhammer universe, but I am familiar with Real Time Strategy games that involve no resource collection and micromanagement.  See my review of History Channel’s Great Battles Of Rome.  Battle March has all the classic elements typical of a RTS of this kind. The player fields hero and normal units to combat the enemy while fulfilling objectives.  Strategy comes into play by knowing which formation to use and when for the greatest effect.  Between objectives the player can purchase equipment and additional units.  They may also heal damaged units or resurrect hero characters. 

The player reaches missions by the means of a map with icons much like old platform games (Super Mario World comes to mind) with branches to give players some choice.  Hero units have skill trees that they can use to improve their own abilities or improve attributes of units that they are attached too.  Battle March can be an exercise of fun or patience depending on what kind of player you are.  For the die hard of this genre, Battle March shows a lot of potential but falls short of expectations.  Units are based of their miniature counterparts, have simple weapon/armor upgrade paths and cannot be promoted.

Most of the micromanagement is with the Hero characters.  Hero units are also the only unit in the game that can use special equipment purchased in town or found on the field.  They also are the only unit capable of picking up anything left by enemies on the ground .  In a sense, this is the only “resource collection” in the game.  While engaged in a mission, Hero characters can duel with enemy Heroes.  The outcome of duels can severely affect the morale of your or the other force‘s normal units.  In addition, Hero skill trees and can be given special equipment, but with their special abilities they do the majority of the work over your normal units, which can lead to impossibly quick victories.

Tactical options are small with two formations, charge/walk movement and the choice between spreading out your units or keeping them close together.  A typical fight involves sneaking up on opponents and charging with melee units while ranged units pelt them from behind the charge.  There is no option to pause game play to get a better grasp of unit position and change up tactics. 

It would be unfair to say that Battle March is a terrible game as it can be a lot of fun for those starting out in this type of RTS or for a Warhammer fan.  Simpler upgrade paths for normal units mean less downtime having to think about what that unit will specialize in for different situations.  Having Hero characters with skill trees and special equipment gives it an RPG feel, especially when it comes to dueling to prove your mettle against an equally skilled foe.  Less tactical options offer an easier learning curve and quicker options for players who don’t want to think about how to approach the fight.  Battle March also has an Army Builder, allowing Warhammer fans to build their favorite army, color them, and battle with their friends without the need of a codex or hours of set up. 

In terms of functionality there are some minor gripes.  Controls were smooth up until the point where I had to pan the camera.  Panning the camera appears to be a sensitive operation for the mouse and I found my camera suddenly on the other side of the map in the middle of a few intense battles.  Rotating the camera around the world was also a bit cumbersome, involving the pushing of the Alt button and a mouse button.  This is especially problematic when the battle switched from higher to lower ground and a quick turn of the camera was needed.  While it could be remapped, I felt camera rotation could have had its home on the mouse by default.

Considering this expansion can be played by itself without the need of the original game it’s worth picking up if you are into some quick fun with friends or following the intriguing storyline, but mainly if you are Warhammer fan.  A long time fan of the RTS genre may not find much to drink in.