Herdstones and Blood-Grounds

Herdstone concept by Milek Jakubiec

Herdstones & Blood-Grounds are campaign mechanics for Beastmen. They interact with a number of related campaign mechanics: Herdstone Shards, Devastation, Rituals of Ruin and Marks of Ruination all of which are covered in this article.

They were introduced late in Total War: Warhammer II, as part of a huge overhaul of the Beastmen race. Also introduced was Dread and Bestial Rage was reworked.

Prior to this, in Total War: Warhammer I, Herdstones were visual elements that appeared after Beastmen razed a settlement, and simply gave +100 Chaos corruption in the region.

How it works

To begin:

• Beastmen begin with 1 Herdstone Shard. A shard can be spent to create a Herdstone when razing a settlement. This consumes the shard. The shard will be returned if the Herdstone is destroyed, or if a Ritual of Ruin is completed. More shards can be gained in various ways, allowing Beastmen to raise multiple Herdstones at once.

• The Herdstone is a special settlement type, with very limited building options. Upgrades for Herdstones can be unlocked using Dread. In each campaign there is also some unique Special Herdstones which can be built on certain settlements around the map.
  • Mortal Empires special buildings#Special Herdstones
  • Eye of the Vortex special buildings#Special Herdstones
  • Immortal Empires special buildings/Beastmen

• The regions around the Herdstone become Blood-grounds. Any regions in the bloodgrounds are highlighted red when clicking on the herdstone. Structures built in the Herdstone give different boons that strengthen the beastmen, and weaken enemy settlements within the bloodgrounds.

• The Herdstone has a Devastation number above it, reflecting the amount of destruction caused in the Blood-grounds. When the Beastmen raze another settlement in the Blood-grounds, this Devastation number will be increased. When viewing the campaign map, each settlement in the Blood-grounds will have a number above it, showing the potential Devastation gained if it is razed. Higher tier settlements are worth more.

• When the Herdstone reaches at least 10 Devastation, the Beastmen faction can start a Ritual of Ruin there (not to be confused with Rituals in the Eye of the Vortex campaign).

• If the Herdstone is destroyed before completing a Ritual of Ruin, then the Herdstone Shards are returned to the Beastmen faction, and the Blood-grounds end.

Once the Ritual of Ruin is complete:

• Other factions cannot colonise the ruins in the Blood-grounds without first destroying the Herdstone.

• The Herdstone Shards are returned, allowing the player to construct another Herdstone after razing another settlement, elsewhere.

• All the Devastation from the Herdstone is converted into Marks of Ruination. Marks of Ruination are permanent, and represent your overall progress in the campaign. Your Ruination Level is shown in a bar in the top center of the screen on the campaign map. Higher Ruination Level unlocks more capacity for armies and units (aside from Ungor Spearmen Herd and Ungor Raiders which are unlimited). Similar to Tomb Kings, Beastmen lack unit upkeep but are instead limited by a system of unit caps and army caps.

Herdstone buildings list

• Tier I - Chosen Herdstone
  • Tier II - Blasphemous Clearing
    • Tier III - Nexus of Depravity
      • Tier IV - Heart of Doom
        • Tier V - Crag of the Cloven (Black Crag only)
        • Tier V - Bloodfeasters' Ruin (Drakenhof only)
        • Tier V - Defiled Tournament Grounds (Couronne only)
        • Tier V - Age of Desecration (Karaz-a-Karak only)
        • Tier V - Fall of Man (Altdorf only)
        • Tier V - Great Herdstone of Cold (Naggarond only)
        • Tier V - Morrslieb's Eclipse (Hexoatl only)
        • Tier V - Sepulchral Gate (Lothern only)
        • Tier V - Scorched Oak (The Oak of Ages only)
        • Tier V - Ruins of Urskoy (Kislev only)
        • Tier V - Splintered Compass (Wei-Jin only)
        • Tier V - Wasteland of Hashut (Zharr Naggrund only)

Devastation gained from different settlement levels

• I - 4
• II - 6
• III - 8
• IV - 10
• V - 12

Marks of Ruination levels

Ruination Level is a measure of the warherd's overall progress. Higher levels unlocks new units for recruitment, and allows army capacity to be increased with Dread (allowing you to recruit more horde armies). Unlocking a unit with Marks of Ruination allows a few of that unit to be recruited, but in order to recruit more, the unit capacity must be upgraded with Dread.

Marks of Ruination
Ruination Level	Marks of Ruination	Unit capacity increase	Other effects
Ruination Level 1	0 - 24

Gallery

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