[Update]: Total War: Warhammer 3's release date has been pushed back to early 2022.

While diplomacy plays a big part in any Total War game, it's the battles themselves that are the series' bread and butter. After all, signing a lucrative trade agreement feels pretty good, but not quite as good as watching a herd of minotaurs send a pack of ratmen flying into the stratosphere!

So after recently detailing the Khorne and Kislev armies, Creative Assembly has now taken the time to shed light on some of the improvements and changes coming to battles. First and foremost, more factions will have access to in-battle resources like the stuff we've already seen with Skaven, Tomb Kings or Dark Elves. The specifics have not been revealed just yet, but I don't think anyone will complain about having more toys to play around with!

The often-dreaded autoresolve will also be undergoing a major overhaul. Not only will Total War: Warhammer 3 give you the predicted result before even pressing the button, but the actual calculation behind autoresolve has also been improved. The end result is that the system will no longer force you to fight incredibly easy battles over and over again, while still incentivizing you to get your hands dirty with any bigger scraps.

You'd have to be nuts to autoresolve something this grand-scale anyway!

Battle maps will also be going through some major upgrades. Besides featuring new art and locations, Total War: Warhammer 3's battle maps will have more height variation and impassable terrain, and in the case of chokepoint battles, more avenues to flank your opponents. When it comes to ambush battles, you'll also be happy to hear that the withdraw option from Three Kingdoms will be making a reappearance. As such, you'll be able to escape an ambush by safely escorting your units to the withdrawal point.

The final thing worth mentioning are Survival battles. These will not replace regular battles and will be quite rare, but once they do happen they will be an absolutely massive event. As you push forward you'll be able to construct barricades and towers, capture key points and bring in reinforcements, use resources to replenish health and ammo, upgrade units, and the list goes on for a while.

Since there is far too much to talk about with Survival battles, allow me to share with you the recently posted gameplay preview. It'll give you a pretty good idea of what to expect, as well as what Total War: Warhammer 3 will look like on the battle map. Have a gander:

If you prefer the written word, however, you can learn more about Total War: Warhammer 3's battle changes and additions over at the Total War website. Enjoy!