The Barrow Legion is a playable faction of 
Vampire Counts introduced in Total War: Warhammer II. It is led by Heinrich Kemmler and can typically be found in the Northern Grey Mountains.
The Midnight Aristocracy have long struck terror into the hearts of the mortal races. From their lairs deep in Sylvania, the Vampire Counts strike out against the living with their massed armies of the eager dead.
How They Play[]
Assassinate enemy Lords and faction leaders to fell them in battle to collect Blood Kisses for the awakening of powerful Bloodline Lords.- Raise the dead from your Lords' localities to instantly recruit units without training time and quickly muster large armies.
- Spread Vampiric corruption across the land to disable attrition for Undead armies and blight the living as you increase the chances of Undead uprisings.
Campaign[]
| “ | I am Kemmler, the Lichemaster, my destiny is my own! | „ |
The vast, forbidding forests and frowning valleys of the Empire may be lacking in fair Bretonnia, but behind this safe facade, peril lurks. The sprawling lands between the dukes' centres of power are home to all manner of predators, from wolves, through to Goblins, Orcs, Undead, and the like. Beyond the kingdom's borders the Elves of Athel Loren exist as an enigma to their neighbours; a fragile coexistence that, for now, aids the cause of all in these lands who stand against the ever-present threat from the Forces of Destruction.
The Lichemaster prowls his old wanderings in the Grey Mountains, plotting his next move against sworn enemies in nearby Bretonnia and the Empire.
Start Position[]
| Campaign | Territory | Map |
|---|---|---|
|
Northern Grey Mountains
|
|
Legendary Lord[]
| Name | Faction Effects | Lord Effects | Starting Army |
|---|---|---|---|
|
 Lichemaster
Heinrich Kemmler burns with the need for power. Having recognised the limits that mortality placed upon him in his early years, Kemmler made it his life's work to escape them.
|
 Wanderer
You and your masters are desiccated relics of a dead age.
|
|
Diplomacy[]
Diplomatic Traits[]
When controlled by the AI, The Barrow Legion will have the following diplomatic traits:
- Corruptor - Shapes the realm by spreading corruption with their Heroes and armies, creating a world more suitable for their kind and much less so for others.
- Subjugator - Aims to dominate and vassalise the enemy rather than eliminating them.
- Protective - In war, prefers to expand slowly, consolidates before moving forward. Fiercely protects own lands, and wipes out harmful corruption.
Starting Treaties[]
The Barrow Legion will start with the following treaties already in effect:
- War:
Victory Conditions[]
Vampire Counts Victory
Short Campaign Victory[]
- Destroy the following faction(s):
 Argwylon
|
|---|
- Maintain control of the following 3 province(s), either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies:
| Bastonne | Forest of Chalons | Carcassonne |
|---|
- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 30 different settlement(s).
| Reward | Effect |
|---|---|
 Short Victory Achieved!
|
The major victories of tomorrow begin with the smaller victories of today.
|
Long Campaign Victory[]
- Achieve the Short Victory conditions.
- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 75 different settlement(s).
- Control all provinces of the Empire either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies:
| Nordland | Osltand | Hochland | Middenland | Talabecland | Ostermark | Reikland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stirland | Averland | Wissenland | The Wasteland | Northern Sylvania | Southern Sylvania |
- Destroy the following faction(s):
 Reikland
|
|---|
| Reward | Effect |
|---|---|
 Long Victory Achieved!
|
The path to domination is revealed via the subjugation and desolation of those whose existence is incompatible with yours.
|
Domination Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze or sack 272 different settlement(s).
Ultimate Campaign Victory[]
- See: Endgame scenario
Total War: Warhammer II[]
Faction Effects[]
- Suitable Climate: Mountains
- Diplomatic relations: +30 with Chaos
- Upkeep: -50% for Necromancer Heroes
- Attribute: Strider
- Immune to Chaos attrition
Legendary Lord Choices[]
Starting Territory[]
Mortal Empires
- Blackstone Post, Northern Grey Mountains
Victory Conditions[]
- Mortal Empires Short Campaign
- Maintain control of 12 province(s), either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies.
- Destroy the following factions:
- Control any 8 of the following settlements either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies.
- Couronne, Altdorf, Castle Drakenhof, The Oak of Ages, Miragliano, Skavenblight, Kislev, Hell Pit, Karaz-A-Karak, Karak Eight Peaks, Black Crag, Lahmia, Khemri, Sartosa, The Galleon's Graveyard, The Awakening, Wizard Caliph's Palace, Black Pyramid of Nagash
- Maintain 80 units total.
- Construct 3 of each of the following buildings:
- Necromancer's Tower
- Ensure that 2 of the following building(s) have been constructed:
- Oak of Ages (Pacified), Von Carstein Court Hall, Altdorf College of Forbidden Magic, Occupied Courrone (Dark Castle), Vault of Nagash
- Maintain 3 of the following:
- Mortal Empires Long Campaign
- Maintain control of 25 province(s), either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies.
- Destroy the following factions:
- Control any 16 of the following settlements either by direct ownership or through vassals and military allies:
- Couronne, Altdorf, Castle Drakenhof, The Oak of Ages, Miragliano, Skavenblight, Kislev, Hell Pit, Karaz-A-Karak, Karak Eight Peaks, Black Crag, Lahmia, Khemri, Sartosa, The Galleon's Graveyard, The Awakening, Wizard Caliph's Palace, Black Pyramid of Nagash
- Maintain 160 units in total.
- Construct 5 of each of the following buildings:
- Ensure that 5 of the following building(s) have been constructed:
- Oak of Ages (Pacified), Von Carstein Court Hall, Altdorf College of Forbidden Magic, Occupied Courrone (Dark Castle), Vault of Nagash
- Reach Rank 20 with 3 Necromancer character(s)
Strategy[]
The Barrow Legion starts in...quite an interesting location with many, if not, A LOT of difficulties, giving the players a decently challenging campaign, but not too hard.
- To reach other areas that you'll want to capture, you'll need to defeat Artois, which means you'll need to trepass a minor Bretonnia faction's territory just to reach it, if I'm right it's Bastonne. Even though early game Bretonnia isn't really anything, especially minor factions, it's still probably going to impact you diplomatically with other factions, especially stronger ones that may or may not have pacts with the said minor factions and making another enemy, as if you're not already surrounded by them, is a pain.
- The Barrow Legion probably cannot complete the starting province for a while. You own the major settlement that has a unique landmark that grants garrison, which is nice, allowing you to leave the safety of Heinrich's mountainous and defensible retirement home to do his own biddings. But each other settlement, one is owned by a minor dwarf settlement (and early game Vampire Counts isn't known to be winning against highly-armored, high-leadership infantry units), the other one is owned by a minor Greenskins faction which usually gets wiped by Couronne. Not to mention that the other settlement is extremely further away from the local area, forcing you to either trespass or conquer Marienburg's lands just to get there. Expect an expected amount of low-growth.
- Dealing with The Red Duke. Sure, you'll want to confederate a unique Lord that is superior to an average Lord, but the issue is they start at war with Louen, and Louen is a powerful character in the early game. You have several tools in your disposal to deal with him in battles, such as using Krell to duel with him while using spells to buff Krell but Louen has access to Beloved Son of Bretonnia, which buffs his army if he is below 50%, which is again, not really good since he can unit Knights units very early.
- No allies close-by: Other than The Red Duke, which is a minor faction, Sylvania is too far for you to be relied upon as allies, and other Vampire Counts factions are half-way across the map. If your balance of power drops significantly, even the lowly minor factions will declare war on you. Wiping out Couronne to quick will expose yourself to the Shadow Legion and the High Elves, not doing it quick enough will allow this faction to sign pacts with nearby Empire factions which result to even more enemies. Your closest-to-ally (who is as likely to declare a WAAAGH! on you as the Wood Elves extorting you for money or else, they'll declare war) is probably Grom the Paunch rampaging, raiding and eating the peasant of Bretonnia.
- Most of surrounding settlements of this faction is often level 3, which often has walls, forcing you to either siege 'em down or launch a possibly costly assault.
- Unlike some other Vampire Counts faction, this faction does not start with enough Blood Kisses to raise a Bloodline Lord, which is very powerful in battles.
Despite all these drawbacks, the Lichemaster has some tricks under his sleeves and his shoes which vaguely resemble indoors slippers.
- He can easily buff cheap zombies units, which allows you to field more armies for the low-low cost, not as good as Helman Ghorst, though.
- Since the enemies surrounding this faction cannot be considered "easy", Valiant Defeats or Pyrrhic Victories are bound to happen. Usually, this doesn't matter but since Vampire Counts can instantly raise units from the dead, and better quality if there're battle sites of costly battles, which means more powerful units earlier.
- Heinrich has Siege Attack, which allows you to launch sieges instantly without the need of artillery (which is something that Vampire Counts is not known for) or units with siege attacks (which can be hard to obtain) while being able of replenishing anywhere and everywhere.
- His starting settlement is extremely defensible. It takes at least 3-4 turns for any hostile factions to reach it, allowing you an ample amount of time to raise an army to defend it, along with the unique Landmark, it won't be vulnerable to early-game surprise attack anytime soon.
- Krell is extremely powerful and a good all-rounder fighter. Needless to say, since Krell isn't technically "in" the army itself, the enemies will attack you more due to the "lack" of balance of power from Krell (free money, more chances to create battlesites for powerful units to raise dead, free experience...). Since with a quest item, Heinrich can cast Vanhel's Danse Macabre really cheap, allowing Krell to be even more devastating in battles.
- Units that he buff are somewhat early to get in the game, except hordes of zombies, along with being easily raised such as Cairn Wraiths which has very good resistance against physical attacks, which is quite common, especially in the game while being decently fast. Researching enough technology will allow this unit to have Barriers.
- His quest battles are easy compare to...literally everyone else.
Trivia[]
- The faction was added in the Aye-Aye! Patch.
- The Barrow Legion does not exist in Total War: Warhammer. In that game, Heinrich Kemmler is part of the main Vampire Counts faction.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
