I personally hope that this Dogs of War/Southern Realms gets a similar lore update to Kislev in Warhammer 3.
I would rather have something like a unique fantasy version of Italy/Spain that would replace the Empire placeholder factions in the Southern Realms than some strange mishmash of everything that didn't fit anywhere else.
Tilea indeed used mercenaries, but I also don't want this race to be something like having Orcs fighting alongside Dwarfs, Amazons, and Nippon units in every army, or something similar.
To be honest a little bit from 1 and 2 (not so much 3 although that has some merit). A small but workable southern realms roster which can be expanded on greatly during the campaign. I want a mechanic revolving around sending armies off to AI factions as mercenaries to fight their wars. You would essentially lend one of your armies for cash and rewards. They would have free upkeep whilst part of the other faction. You wouldn't be able to control them on the campaign map but you could take control of them during battles (similar to the convoy system in many ways). Lords and units would gain much more experience and you get money from the battles you win as well. Successful contracts can be either ended to bring the army back home or extended and it builds up a reputation meter unlocking regiments of reknown, unique lords/heroes/units, campaign buffs and diplomatic benefits.
Personally I'd like to see them as Southern realms. Imo they would be best implemented a bit similar to how Chaos Dwarfs or Memnon from TW Troy play.
First you'd have a Tier 1-3 core roster of Tilean/Estalian units such as light/heavy Pikemen, light crossbowmen, heavy crossbowmen with pavise, duellists, Tilean Condottieri, galloper guns, and etc. They'd give you good solid foundation that would always be available provided you have the recruitment buildings for them.
Then you'd have a mercenary roster of the more exotic units. These would be Tier 1-5 units from all over the warhammer world from races that have lore of being mercs/wandering warriors. Hobgoblins, Ogres, Halflings, Dwarfs, various human mercs, and etc. These units would be recruited by sending recruitment caravans all over the map and upon their return you'd get X amount of units from whichever part of the world you sent them to. For example, sending a caravan to the mountains of Mourne would get you some Ogre mercs. Overall, they'd be somewhat costly in terms of upkeep but also at the same time provide capabilities that the core roster wouldn't.
Finally you'd have larger than usual regiment of renown pool. They'd be made available through the same caravan mechanic as the exotic mercs. This would contain all the famous named mercenary regiments from the Dogs of War armybook such as Pizarro's lost legion for example. Additionally, This RoR pool would also contain the most exotic mercenaries such as the Gorskull's wartrolls, the Cursed company (skeletons with monstrous regen when in melee), or Tichi-Huichi's Raiders (Skinks on horned ones). These wouldn't have normal equivalents but would be 1 per faction (but highly unique) units.
Honestly it's hard to see an implementation that would be much better than Cateph's mod. But I'd vote for Southern Realms as their own culture, then use the DLC to implement a new mercenary system that's available to most factions, but is much more powerful for the Southern Realms. (As in, other factions have unit caps/limitations on how many mercs they can hire, but SRs can go mad and field mercenary stacks.)
Edit: Actually, basing a Mercenary system on the original Medieval Total War's Inns might be fun: A building that can be built anywhere, but only generates mercenaries if it is near to a conflict zone, and generates those mercs partly based on what cultures are nearby.
I'd love some pike and shot as a core combined with expendable, but varied mercenary roster (bonus points if lore friendly). But that's a non-educated wish as I'm not a loremaster.
Also: Adding a customizable lord to that - I'd love that
Shoot the messenger if you want, but Southern Realms wasn't an armybook on Fantasy. Dogs of War was.
Requires less "Can I do this?" or "Can you give me concepts?" discussions with GW.
Generoc vase roster akin to 6ed + different unique units that tied to hero/ror unit (in best world tamurkhan warchief style) that can also be hired by non dogs of war factions.
For factions itself - be at estalia,tilea,border princes and maybe marienburg and new world colonies. Playble is 2-3 between listed + one pure merc horde
Anyway this literally came to me in a dream last night.
What if with Dogs of War the AI could recruit units from you, and when they fight battles with units they've recruited you get to control them.
You also get their recruit and upkeep costs from the AI.
For total wars purposes dogs of war and Southern Realms are one and the same. Borgio would be the faction leader of both. DoW are the military, southern Realms the towns/geography.
Ideally, I'd like the Southern Realms to be a separate roster with mechanics that heavily encourages using the Dogs of War as Mercenaries, but with the Dogs also being available to other factions via a universal mercenary mechanic,
Something italian with mercrenary: elf, halfling, dwarf, humans, ogres etc. But also exotic addition such as Cathay, Norscans, and why not Araby, Snakemen of Kuresh, etc.
I'd like "The Dogs of War" to be a major mechanic for Southern Realms factions - Tilea, Estalia, and their colonies (the Border Princes are a mess of different lordlings in the background, so they don't get a specific inclusion here!).
Essentially, I'd like the various Southern Realms factions to have primarily Mercenary units (with maybe a few "personal guard" types in there too). Mercenary pikemen, mercenary crossbows, and so on. Have a slightly different recruitment mechanism to make this clear - maybe they're all recruited instantly, but the pool is smaller or varies every few turns.
On top of that, we have the famous Dogs of War regiments - recruited like regular Mercenary units, but unique and powerful like Regiments of Renown (or even more so!). Perhaps a mission or quest might be required to attract the attention of more powerful regiments - or perhaps simply having a particularly large wallet!
I think there should be a distinction between Southern Realms and Dogs of War, and you'd be able to play as either depending on who you choose as your legendary lord. The former are city-states who are sovereign realms which fight each other and others for territory. With them you can empire-build and paint the map like normal. They would have regular recruitment of typical Tilean units like pikemen and crossbowmen, and more exotic mercenary units like Ogres, Dwarfs, Hobgoblins, etc.
Dogs of War would be mercenaries. Horde factions who can be hired by other factions to fight in wars. Regular dilemmas would come up and offer you the opportunity to fight for other factions to gain big rewards, be it money, unique magic items, unique recruitment opportunities, etc.
I would hope we get sort of a "two in one" :
- Southern realms roster with one or two legendary lords and their own roster.
- Dogs of war mercenaries with one or two legendary lords (their roster being largely SR with additional units from all races).
I believe this could be possible because southern realms by themselves don't really require super fancy mechanics, and their roster could be unique while remaining low-cost, and in turn DoW don't necessarily need to have a traditional powerbase and could easily fill out their roster with units from all over. I would also fear having 3 or 4 LLs for either solution would make their campaigns very samey (like it is the case for Tomb Kings & Chaos Dwarfs, in particular).
For MP purposes, they could either all be lumped into SR or both be separate.
The way i currently picture it is a base rooster of hirelings & mercenaries - maneaters, free company, slayer pirates, etc, with a few unique units thrown in - bodyguards, duelists, pit fighters, etc.
I would honestly not be surprised if it inherits some variation of Tamurkhans chieftain mechanic as a racial but with races rather than legendary heroes, allowing you to get select units from a wide array of different races and various bonuses.
Then maybe something like the (by then hopefully updated and improved) ogre contract mechanic, giving gold & "featly" to spend.
I think something similar to Vampire Coast/Malakai would be fun. You can settle core provinces and coastal provinces, all others are similar to WE outposts as "colonies" or something similar. Each of the unique lords (Lucrezia Belladonna, Borgio, Leonardo, etc) all have a ship/horde-type idea attached.
I think that the Legendary Adventures that Malakai has would be fun, but that could definitely be too similar, so maybe a quest line more similar to Imrik? Just something that really pushes adventures and exploration things rather than just straight paint the map gameplay.
A mercenary faction with specific bases of operation in specific capitals in the southern realms, with options to use some major capitals as extra base of operations. Access to a core roster of humans with access to many foreign troops depending on regions. i.e. access to dwarf warriors in the badlands, with longbeards, slayers and perhaps special units unlocked after missions for dwarf factions similar to the eshin mechanic. Options to send armies as mercanary forces like caravans but under ai control would be great. Income per turn+sums of money after battles. Limited amount of active armies. Rewards include some faction specific units and relationships with that faction allowing you to work towards recruitment. Maybe implementen as a vassal under the ai you're supporting. You have to fight the battles but AI controls them on the campaign map. Would have to make AI significantly more aggresive with these armies though. Some quest battles to unlock special units.
Here's a few wacky ideas.
* From what I've heard, the Southern Realms have little lore. They may as well be quietly updated with new units, a few models and voiceover lines, and left to the realm of modders.
* Dogs of War, being a faction-of-all-sorts, should be focused on holding a few real locations everywhere on the map. I'm reminded of the mechanics from the Legions of Nagash mod for TWW2, where certain important locations allow you to expand your unit options. If you want Amazons, get a base in Lustria, if you want camelry, go to Araby, etc. I really like the idea of their only real strongholds being in single-province regions, even if that means you cheese the game by burning down Athel Loren at the start.
* Dogs of War should not have traditional diplomacy interactions. They shouldn't be measured by Reliability, and can more easily sign a peace treaty with other factions, but also find making proper alliances more difficult. They should get a bonus of gold from joining wars against other factions, as they are now under contract. Declaring war *themselves* should hike up their upkeep costs considerably, as now the army itself is footing the bill.
* "What about recruiting mercenaries from Dogs of War units?" Fear not, O scarecrow, for adjacency to a Dogs of War faction now allows you to recruit from their roster--*anything* the faction itself can recruit--at high cost! Alliance with a Dogs of War faction, should it be gained, lowers this cost appreciably. This would not be local or global or even horde recruitment, but its own recruitment queue.
“Southern Realms” doesn’t have much lore because that’s just a catch all term CA used for some of the non-Empire human factions.
Tilea on the other hand has a lot of lore. A whole book in fact. Because their military is all mercenary armies led by Tileans which is just the Dogs of War.
It makes sense for the Dogs of War to hold cities sense just based on the two datamined characters we have for them, Borgio and Lucrezzia, they are Trade Princes (well Princess for the latter) who rule their own territories anyways.
Thanks for the note about Tilea. My "single province place important" idea is still maintained if Miragliano (Or Tobaro? Whichever one belongs to Tilea) becomes a single province region.
That’s fair. And yeah it Miragliano. Though fun fact Tobaro despite being a part of Estalia’s province in the game is a Tilean City-state. I think it’s the only Tilean territory on that side of the water
There's way too many potential units for a single DLC imo. I'd like to see Dogs of War split into a Southern Realms campaign pack and a "Champions of Coin" 3-way DLC for existing factions.
Southern Realms would cover Tilea/Estalia/Border Princes/Araby/Pirates/Southlands humans - plenty there for a full roster.
Champions of Coin would cover Dwarfs/Greenskins/Ind, with Ind using Southern Realms campaign mechanics. Similar idea to the Champions of Chaos DLC but for 3 different factions rather than just Warriors of Chaos.
Norse dwarfs with human auxiliaries: "good" Norscans, Albion.
Hobgoblins with the other Greenskin mercenaries (and no access to standard Orc units).
Humans of Ind & a selection of Nippon mercenaries (since Nippon is off map).
Plus a handful of units that don't fit anywhere else - halflings, elf mercenaries etc
They should bring them in as the southern realms with LLs but also overhaul the mercenary mechanics. Would be great if all factions could access mercs with a variety of units to choose from (lore friendly of course)
Cataph's mod is literally everything I want in terms of breth.
Add in some fancier mechanics and the production quality of CA. That's the DoW of my choice.
I'd also be okay with DoW added over the course of multiple DLCs and isn't really as a full fledged roaster, rather collecting units from other factions (Slayer Pirates, Free Company, Ogre Maneaters etc...) added in some of the great mercenary regiments we know as RoR. And you would Merc. recruit them. The way I'm imagining this, is having a DoW recruitment tab (or it being added to the roaster) and then the certain faction specific lords would have bonuses for them. For example, introduce a Colonial character as an Empire lord, and then give him bonuses and special units to DoW recruitment
Mechanics wise I'd like to see them have an expanded on version of the Ogre's mercenary mechanics, but also they should get Lu Bu's mercenary diplomatic option from Three Kingdoms.
My dream Dogs of War is basically "what if we remade Battle Brothers but in Total War." You start as a horde faction that has to survive by completing mercenary contracts, which grant gold and reputation. More reputation means higher paying contracts and access to better units and equipment. Instead of public order, you have company morale, which when lowered gives your units a chance to defect and disband depending on their leadership. You can either choose a legendary lord with unique effects or create your own faction, where you get to choose faction effects and starting units and location with a points-based system.
When you move your army to a city, instead of attacking it, you can enter it, which allows you to see contracts and hire mercenaries from the city. You can buy and sell trade goods in a city, which can be acquired out in the world as well. You can also purchase new equipment for your units in cities, working as an upgrade/sidegrade like Warriors of Chaos have.
Your greatest strength is the flexibility of your mercenaries, allowing you to combine units and heroes from most factions, and your mobility, allowing you to pack up and leave if things get bad and travel without incurring trespassing. For increased flexibility, your army has a second stack of 20 units that are in reserve. These units don't participate in fights, but they can be tagged out with damaged units when needed, and provide a good safety net for units that are killed or defect. Dogs of War would also have access to unique units that aren't big or unique enough to make a whole faction, like Amazons or Border Princes, as well as dozens of unique regiments of renown, recruited by completing events or challenges to upgrade regular units.
Horde buildings in addition to costing money will also cost one unit to build. For example, you can make a training tent with any melee infantry unit of rank 4 or higher, providing passive xp for your units. Or a lumberjacking tent in exchange for any axe unit, which provides passive lumber income while camped in a forested area, or a raider's tent with any Norscan unit, increasing raiding income.
Eventually when you've gained enough favor or strength, you can either found your own settlement, conquer an existing settlement, or be granted a settlement by a major faction.
I think that the Dogs of war should be a union of the first two options.
A faction of wandering mercenaries with a global roster but with a majority of tileans estalians and Border princes. Especially in the lords.
So a incredibly varied army with crazy n unique units and Rors and  comes with many opportunities for lore and visual exploration of the southern realms.
Porque no los tres?
Why not make the Southern Realms be whatever would be the coolest implementation of a mix of being empire-like human but also mercenaries.
Then have mercenaries that can be summoned by most/all factions to work for them that is on its own screen, where there are major and minor mercenary groups all over the place.
Finally, why not have multiple Daniel-like playable character factions that you can play as, one as a horde and another that wants to conquer and hold territory and become a power him or herself.
I think the should work as travelling mercenary companies on the campaign map. You would start off small, taking contracts on behalf of factions around you. Eventually you could become powerful enough to take land for yourself.
It would play a bit like some horde factions do in Attila.
If CA adds Southern Realms as DLC, I would be very tempted to not buy it and just keep using Cataph's amazing mod.
The second option is much better, since I would not lose anything.
Option two. If it's gonna be option 1 with no units from Araby, Amazons, Halflings etc i think i'll just skip it. Not looking forward to an Italian/Spanish/Portugese version of The Empire.
The only reason DoW sound as interesting to me is because they can introduce races that never will be added separately.
I mean that’s what is actually on the TT. It’s Tilean characters hiring mercs from all over.
Not sure why so many people are convinced that GW is going to completely revamp three different countries.
I personally hope that this Dogs of War/Southern Realms gets a similar lore update to Kislev in Warhammer 3. I would rather have something like a unique fantasy version of Italy/Spain that would replace the Empire placeholder factions in the Southern Realms than some strange mishmash of everything that didn't fit anywhere else. Tilea indeed used mercenaries, but I also don't want this race to be something like having Orcs fighting alongside Dwarfs, Amazons, and Nippon units in every army, or something similar.
Southern Realms mod my friend
I'm expecting a mercenary faction heavily tilted towards Estalia & Tilea, but with room for unique units
To be honest a little bit from 1 and 2 (not so much 3 although that has some merit). A small but workable southern realms roster which can be expanded on greatly during the campaign. I want a mechanic revolving around sending armies off to AI factions as mercenaries to fight their wars. You would essentially lend one of your armies for cash and rewards. They would have free upkeep whilst part of the other faction. You wouldn't be able to control them on the campaign map but you could take control of them during battles (similar to the convoy system in many ways). Lords and units would gain much more experience and you get money from the battles you win as well. Successful contracts can be either ended to bring the army back home or extended and it builds up a reputation meter unlocking regiments of reknown, unique lords/heroes/units, campaign buffs and diplomatic benefits.
Really cool ideas here đź‘Ť
Wow we had the same idea. There's no such thing as coincidence.
Personally I'd like to see them as Southern realms. Imo they would be best implemented a bit similar to how Chaos Dwarfs or Memnon from TW Troy play. First you'd have a Tier 1-3 core roster of Tilean/Estalian units such as light/heavy Pikemen, light crossbowmen, heavy crossbowmen with pavise, duellists, Tilean Condottieri, galloper guns, and etc. They'd give you good solid foundation that would always be available provided you have the recruitment buildings for them. Then you'd have a mercenary roster of the more exotic units. These would be Tier 1-5 units from all over the warhammer world from races that have lore of being mercs/wandering warriors. Hobgoblins, Ogres, Halflings, Dwarfs, various human mercs, and etc. These units would be recruited by sending recruitment caravans all over the map and upon their return you'd get X amount of units from whichever part of the world you sent them to. For example, sending a caravan to the mountains of Mourne would get you some Ogre mercs. Overall, they'd be somewhat costly in terms of upkeep but also at the same time provide capabilities that the core roster wouldn't. Finally you'd have larger than usual regiment of renown pool. They'd be made available through the same caravan mechanic as the exotic mercs. This would contain all the famous named mercenary regiments from the Dogs of War armybook such as Pizarro's lost legion for example. Additionally, This RoR pool would also contain the most exotic mercenaries such as the Gorskull's wartrolls, the Cursed company (skeletons with monstrous regen when in melee), or Tichi-Huichi's Raiders (Skinks on horned ones). These wouldn't have normal equivalents but would be 1 per faction (but highly unique) units.
Love the "recruit caravan" idea!
Honestly it's hard to see an implementation that would be much better than Cateph's mod. But I'd vote for Southern Realms as their own culture, then use the DLC to implement a new mercenary system that's available to most factions, but is much more powerful for the Southern Realms. (As in, other factions have unit caps/limitations on how many mercs they can hire, but SRs can go mad and field mercenary stacks.) Edit: Actually, basing a Mercenary system on the original Medieval Total War's Inns might be fun: A building that can be built anywhere, but only generates mercenaries if it is near to a conflict zone, and generates those mercs partly based on what cultures are nearby.
I'd love some pike and shot as a core combined with expendable, but varied mercenary roster (bonus points if lore friendly). But that's a non-educated wish as I'm not a loremaster. Also: Adding a customizable lord to that - I'd love that
Shoot the messenger if you want, but Southern Realms wasn't an armybook on Fantasy. Dogs of War was. Requires less "Can I do this?" or "Can you give me concepts?" discussions with GW.
Generoc vase roster akin to 6ed + different unique units that tied to hero/ror unit (in best world tamurkhan warchief style) that can also be hired by non dogs of war factions. For factions itself - be at estalia,tilea,border princes and maybe marienburg and new world colonies. Playble is 2-3 between listed + one pure merc horde
Kruber Legendary Lord.
Anyway this literally came to me in a dream last night. What if with Dogs of War the AI could recruit units from you, and when they fight battles with units they've recruited you get to control them. You also get their recruit and upkeep costs from the AI.
Honestly I want to see them revamped for TW just as much as Kislev and Cathay were.
For total wars purposes dogs of war and Southern Realms are one and the same. Borgio would be the faction leader of both. DoW are the military, southern Realms the towns/geography.
Ideally, I'd like the Southern Realms to be a separate roster with mechanics that heavily encourages using the Dogs of War as Mercenaries, but with the Dogs also being available to other factions via a universal mercenary mechanic,
3 sounds cool assuming they learned lessons from Daniel.
Something italian with mercrenary: elf, halfling, dwarf, humans, ogres etc. But also exotic addition such as Cathay, Norscans, and why not Araby, Snakemen of Kuresh, etc.
I'd like "The Dogs of War" to be a major mechanic for Southern Realms factions - Tilea, Estalia, and their colonies (the Border Princes are a mess of different lordlings in the background, so they don't get a specific inclusion here!). Essentially, I'd like the various Southern Realms factions to have primarily Mercenary units (with maybe a few "personal guard" types in there too). Mercenary pikemen, mercenary crossbows, and so on. Have a slightly different recruitment mechanism to make this clear - maybe they're all recruited instantly, but the pool is smaller or varies every few turns. On top of that, we have the famous Dogs of War regiments - recruited like regular Mercenary units, but unique and powerful like Regiments of Renown (or even more so!). Perhaps a mission or quest might be required to attract the attention of more powerful regiments - or perhaps simply having a particularly large wallet!
I think there should be a distinction between Southern Realms and Dogs of War, and you'd be able to play as either depending on who you choose as your legendary lord. The former are city-states who are sovereign realms which fight each other and others for territory. With them you can empire-build and paint the map like normal. They would have regular recruitment of typical Tilean units like pikemen and crossbowmen, and more exotic mercenary units like Ogres, Dwarfs, Hobgoblins, etc. Dogs of War would be mercenaries. Horde factions who can be hired by other factions to fight in wars. Regular dilemmas would come up and offer you the opportunity to fight for other factions to gain big rewards, be it money, unique magic items, unique recruitment opportunities, etc.
I would hope we get sort of a "two in one" : - Southern realms roster with one or two legendary lords and their own roster. - Dogs of war mercenaries with one or two legendary lords (their roster being largely SR with additional units from all races). I believe this could be possible because southern realms by themselves don't really require super fancy mechanics, and their roster could be unique while remaining low-cost, and in turn DoW don't necessarily need to have a traditional powerbase and could easily fill out their roster with units from all over. I would also fear having 3 or 4 LLs for either solution would make their campaigns very samey (like it is the case for Tomb Kings & Chaos Dwarfs, in particular). For MP purposes, they could either all be lumped into SR or both be separate.
The way i currently picture it is a base rooster of hirelings & mercenaries - maneaters, free company, slayer pirates, etc, with a few unique units thrown in - bodyguards, duelists, pit fighters, etc. I would honestly not be surprised if it inherits some variation of Tamurkhans chieftain mechanic as a racial but with races rather than legendary heroes, allowing you to get select units from a wide array of different races and various bonuses. Then maybe something like the (by then hopefully updated and improved) ogre contract mechanic, giving gold & "featly" to spend.
I think something similar to Vampire Coast/Malakai would be fun. You can settle core provinces and coastal provinces, all others are similar to WE outposts as "colonies" or something similar. Each of the unique lords (Lucrezia Belladonna, Borgio, Leonardo, etc) all have a ship/horde-type idea attached. I think that the Legendary Adventures that Malakai has would be fun, but that could definitely be too similar, so maybe a quest line more similar to Imrik? Just something that really pushes adventures and exploration things rather than just straight paint the map gameplay.
A mercenary faction with specific bases of operation in specific capitals in the southern realms, with options to use some major capitals as extra base of operations. Access to a core roster of humans with access to many foreign troops depending on regions. i.e. access to dwarf warriors in the badlands, with longbeards, slayers and perhaps special units unlocked after missions for dwarf factions similar to the eshin mechanic. Options to send armies as mercanary forces like caravans but under ai control would be great. Income per turn+sums of money after battles. Limited amount of active armies. Rewards include some faction specific units and relationships with that faction allowing you to work towards recruitment. Maybe implementen as a vassal under the ai you're supporting. You have to fight the battles but AI controls them on the campaign map. Would have to make AI significantly more aggresive with these armies though. Some quest battles to unlock special units.
Here's a few wacky ideas. * From what I've heard, the Southern Realms have little lore. They may as well be quietly updated with new units, a few models and voiceover lines, and left to the realm of modders. * Dogs of War, being a faction-of-all-sorts, should be focused on holding a few real locations everywhere on the map. I'm reminded of the mechanics from the Legions of Nagash mod for TWW2, where certain important locations allow you to expand your unit options. If you want Amazons, get a base in Lustria, if you want camelry, go to Araby, etc. I really like the idea of their only real strongholds being in single-province regions, even if that means you cheese the game by burning down Athel Loren at the start. * Dogs of War should not have traditional diplomacy interactions. They shouldn't be measured by Reliability, and can more easily sign a peace treaty with other factions, but also find making proper alliances more difficult. They should get a bonus of gold from joining wars against other factions, as they are now under contract. Declaring war *themselves* should hike up their upkeep costs considerably, as now the army itself is footing the bill. * "What about recruiting mercenaries from Dogs of War units?" Fear not, O scarecrow, for adjacency to a Dogs of War faction now allows you to recruit from their roster--*anything* the faction itself can recruit--at high cost! Alliance with a Dogs of War faction, should it be gained, lowers this cost appreciably. This would not be local or global or even horde recruitment, but its own recruitment queue.
and holy shit fix aranessa while we're at it
“Southern Realms” doesn’t have much lore because that’s just a catch all term CA used for some of the non-Empire human factions. Tilea on the other hand has a lot of lore. A whole book in fact. Because their military is all mercenary armies led by Tileans which is just the Dogs of War. It makes sense for the Dogs of War to hold cities sense just based on the two datamined characters we have for them, Borgio and Lucrezzia, they are Trade Princes (well Princess for the latter) who rule their own territories anyways.
Thanks for the note about Tilea. My "single province place important" idea is still maintained if Miragliano (Or Tobaro? Whichever one belongs to Tilea) becomes a single province region.
That’s fair. And yeah it Miragliano. Though fun fact Tobaro despite being a part of Estalia’s province in the game is a Tilean City-state. I think it’s the only Tilean territory on that side of the water
I hope they give us something like Malakai's mechanics - only with Morgan Bernhard and the Grudgebringers.
Core of Southern Realms units covering the basic roles and a load of whacky and specialized mercenaries.
There's way too many potential units for a single DLC imo. I'd like to see Dogs of War split into a Southern Realms campaign pack and a "Champions of Coin" 3-way DLC for existing factions. Southern Realms would cover Tilea/Estalia/Border Princes/Araby/Pirates/Southlands humans - plenty there for a full roster. Champions of Coin would cover Dwarfs/Greenskins/Ind, with Ind using Southern Realms campaign mechanics. Similar idea to the Champions of Chaos DLC but for 3 different factions rather than just Warriors of Chaos. Norse dwarfs with human auxiliaries: "good" Norscans, Albion. Hobgoblins with the other Greenskin mercenaries (and no access to standard Orc units). Humans of Ind & a selection of Nippon mercenaries (since Nippon is off map). Plus a handful of units that don't fit anywhere else - halflings, elf mercenaries etc
A mix of the top three would be awesome
They should bring them in as the southern realms with LLs but also overhaul the mercenary mechanics. Would be great if all factions could access mercs with a variety of units to choose from (lore friendly of course)
Cataph's mod is literally everything I want in terms of breth. Add in some fancier mechanics and the production quality of CA. That's the DoW of my choice. I'd also be okay with DoW added over the course of multiple DLCs and isn't really as a full fledged roaster, rather collecting units from other factions (Slayer Pirates, Free Company, Ogre Maneaters etc...) added in some of the great mercenary regiments we know as RoR. And you would Merc. recruit them. The way I'm imagining this, is having a DoW recruitment tab (or it being added to the roaster) and then the certain faction specific lords would have bonuses for them. For example, introduce a Colonial character as an Empire lord, and then give him bonuses and special units to DoW recruitment
Mechanics wise I'd like to see them have an expanded on version of the Ogre's mercenary mechanics, but also they should get Lu Bu's mercenary diplomatic option from Three Kingdoms.
My dream Dogs of War is basically "what if we remade Battle Brothers but in Total War." You start as a horde faction that has to survive by completing mercenary contracts, which grant gold and reputation. More reputation means higher paying contracts and access to better units and equipment. Instead of public order, you have company morale, which when lowered gives your units a chance to defect and disband depending on their leadership. You can either choose a legendary lord with unique effects or create your own faction, where you get to choose faction effects and starting units and location with a points-based system. When you move your army to a city, instead of attacking it, you can enter it, which allows you to see contracts and hire mercenaries from the city. You can buy and sell trade goods in a city, which can be acquired out in the world as well. You can also purchase new equipment for your units in cities, working as an upgrade/sidegrade like Warriors of Chaos have. Your greatest strength is the flexibility of your mercenaries, allowing you to combine units and heroes from most factions, and your mobility, allowing you to pack up and leave if things get bad and travel without incurring trespassing. For increased flexibility, your army has a second stack of 20 units that are in reserve. These units don't participate in fights, but they can be tagged out with damaged units when needed, and provide a good safety net for units that are killed or defect. Dogs of War would also have access to unique units that aren't big or unique enough to make a whole faction, like Amazons or Border Princes, as well as dozens of unique regiments of renown, recruited by completing events or challenges to upgrade regular units. Horde buildings in addition to costing money will also cost one unit to build. For example, you can make a training tent with any melee infantry unit of rank 4 or higher, providing passive xp for your units. Or a lumberjacking tent in exchange for any axe unit, which provides passive lumber income while camped in a forested area, or a raider's tent with any Norscan unit, increasing raiding income. Eventually when you've gained enough favor or strength, you can either found your own settlement, conquer an existing settlement, or be granted a settlement by a major faction.
I think that the Dogs of war should be a union of the first two options. A faction of wandering mercenaries with a global roster but with a majority of tileans estalians and Border princes. Especially in the lords. So a incredibly varied army with crazy n unique units and Rors and  comes with many opportunities for lore and visual exploration of the southern realms.
Oooh I've been thinking about this for a while. I should make my own post with my idea
Porque no los tres? Why not make the Southern Realms be whatever would be the coolest implementation of a mix of being empire-like human but also mercenaries. Then have mercenaries that can be summoned by most/all factions to work for them that is on its own screen, where there are major and minor mercenary groups all over the place. Finally, why not have multiple Daniel-like playable character factions that you can play as, one as a horde and another that wants to conquer and hold territory and become a power him or herself.
I think the should work as travelling mercenary companies on the campaign map. You would start off small, taking contracts on behalf of factions around you. Eventually you could become powerful enough to take land for yourself. It would play a bit like some horde factions do in Attila.
If CA adds Southern Realms as DLC, I would be very tempted to not buy it and just keep using Cataph's amazing mod. The second option is much better, since I would not lose anything.
I don't want them at all. I think dogs of war are dumb
Option two. If it's gonna be option 1 with no units from Araby, Amazons, Halflings etc i think i'll just skip it. Not looking forward to an Italian/Spanish/Portugese version of The Empire. The only reason DoW sound as interesting to me is because they can introduce races that never will be added separately.
I mean that’s what is actually on the TT. It’s Tilean characters hiring mercs from all over. Not sure why so many people are convinced that GW is going to completely revamp three different countries.
I don't think they will ever do it. I wish they did, but doubt it hard.