Total War: WARHAMMER II - The Queen & The Crone is a Lords Pack for the strategy game Total War: WARHAMMER II. It adds two new Legendary Lords, new units, heroes, and campaign mechanics focused on the High Elves and Dark Elves factions. Players command armies in turn-based campaigns across fantasy maps while directing real-time tactical battles. The pack integrates directly into existing campaigns without requiring separate installation or additional base game content.
Gameplay
The core loop involves managing a faction on the campaign map through settlement control, army recruitment, and diplomacy, followed by real-time battles where unit positioning and abilities determine outcomes. Alarielle the Radiant leads the High Elf faction of Avelorn with nature-based powers that improve public order and reduce corruption in Elven lands. Her strength decreases as Chaos forces advance, requiring players to clear enemy armies to restore full battlefield effectiveness. She uses a mix of Life and High magic, quests for the Star of Avelorn item, and can recruit Forest Spirit units such as Dryads, Treekin, and Treemen. A unique Defender of Ulthuan mechanic rewards keeping territories free of invaders with benefits while penalties apply if enemies occupy them.
Crone Hellebron commands the Dark Elf faction of Har Ganeth. She periodically calls Death Nights that expend slaves to maintain her powers, with failure causing negative effects. Each event triggers a Blood Voyage where nearby Dark Elf armies form in her service. She receives upkeep reductions for Witch Elves, Har Ganeth Executioners, and Sisters of Slaughter, quests for the Deathsword and Cursed Blade, and can ride mounts including a Manticore. Her Sacrifice to Drakira rite provides combat bonuses against High Elves along with rank improvements for certain units.
New battlefield units include the Kharibdyss for anti-large monster combat with poisonous attacks, the Sisters of Avelorn as dual blade-and-bow fighters with magical flaming arrows, Shadow Warriors with vanguard deployment and stalk abilities for ambush tactics, Sisters of Slaughter using poisonous lash-whips, and Doomfire Warlocks as fast magical cavalry casting bound spells. A new Handmaiden hero type supports Alarielle with specializations in diplomacy and archery, while Supreme Sorceress lords for Hellebron access multiple magic lores and various mounts.
Game Modes
Content from the pack appears in both the Eye of the Vortex campaign and the Mortal Empires campaign. Eye of the Vortex centers on a race among factions to control a magical vortex through ritual objectives on a focused map. Mortal Empires combines maps from prior games into a larger combined world with over 120 factions and no central vortex race mechanic, allowing broader sandbox-style expansion and conquest. Both modes support the new Legendary Lords, units, and rites without restrictions.
Single-player campaigns form the primary experience, with options for custom battles and multiplayer skirmishes using the added units and lords. No separate multiplayer-only modes or seasonal events tie specifically to this pack.
Factions and Mechanics
High Elf play emphasizes defensive territory management and nature-aligned forces, with Alarielle's rite boosting Handmaidens, Sisters of Avelorn, and Dryads. Dark Elf gameplay revolves around aggressive rituals and upkeep efficiency for elite infantry and cavalry under Hellebron. Regiments of Renown provide elite variants with unique traits such as aura effects, armor sundering, or enhanced ambush capabilities for both sides.
Skill trees for the new lords include mount upgrades and item quests that alter army composition and battlefield roles. Rites function as timed campaign abilities with targeted bonuses, such as improved relations or combat performance against rival factions.
Is It Worth Playing?
This pack suits players who enjoy detailed faction-specific campaigns and large-scale battles in a fantasy strategy setting. The additions expand High Elf and Dark Elf options with distinct mechanics that encourage different approaches to map control and army building. Those already invested in Total War: WARHAMMER II campaigns will find immediate value in the new lords and units for replayability across both available campaign types. New players benefit from starting with the base game to understand core systems before adding this content. The pack remains available as part of the game's ongoing library with no reported discontinuation of support for its features.
