Yeah, there's all the poorly fleshed nations you don't see very often. Tilea and Estalia (Italy and Spain respectively) border the Empire and we hear next to nothing about them. Kislev (Russia) and it's many, if battered, cities is between the Empire and the Chaos Wastes (north pole / magical fallout zone) and Cathay and Nippon are far to the East near the Ogre Kingdoms (Mongolia?)I suspect Warhammer was an easy pick for a TW game though as it's already got assloads of different units and factions and all the balance and what not has been worked out. Minimal re-jiggering is needed to make the mechanics work in a video-game format. The hard decision is deciding *which* factions to include-- you've got Empire and Bretonnians for the Humans (not counting Chaos Marauders), *three* Elves (High, Dark and Wood), Dwarves, Ogres, Skaven, Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts for your undead forces, and up to three flavours of Chaos-- Marauders/Warriors, Beastmen, and Daemons, then there's Orcs and Goblins... Oh, let's not forget the Lizardmen, and the occasional expansion like damn I can't remember, that city up in the North, Kislev? The one with the snow-knights or whatever they are, the ones that wear polar bear capes. Point being Warhammer has a *lot* of possible factions to play with. Plenty of material for future expansions.
The Trailer featured the Orks, the Empire, the Dwarves, Vampire Counts and Chaos. As they specifically focused on those factions,I suspect those are the only factions we'll see on release. Knowing how day-of-release-DMC ridden Rome 2 was, we'll likely see Elves (various flavours), Skaven, Lizardmen and maybe Ogres as DLC packs. We might even eventually see Kislev if this does well enough.
What worries me is how small the armies pictured were. One Empire Knightly regiment charging ONE unit of Ork Boar Riders. What Total War does well is the HUGE battles. I'm worried it's going to be much smaller scale that usual, and render the whole thing pointless. That said, I'm going to wait until I see in-game pictures and videos before I throw up my hands in panic!
Warhammer is actually slightly more Grimdark in my opinion. They have all the Gothic silliness of 40k, but also literally everything is corrupt. The Empire's woods are chock-full with Beastmen and wierder monsters - being a peasant is basically a death sentence as villages and farms don't have standing armies. The cities are a mixture of objectives for the armies to assault, and seething hotbeds of rebellion ruled by corrupt inbred Marie-Antionettes. The Skaven are everywhere, assassinating and poisoning at will, hatching plots within human cities and monsters within their own lairs whilst undermining the Dwarf Holds. Chaos cults poison the rich with decadence or cook up plagues in graveyards and sewers. The Dark Elves raid their supine kin at will, enslaving and burning as they go. The Lizardmen, pretty much the only force for good are pretty much just there. Meanwhile the Chaos wastes have basically infinite amounts of Chaos warriors in them, massive armies of pretty much the best infantry in the world with pretty much nothing to stop them but a lack of momentum.
That's not to say I don't like it of course! There's a decayed nobility about the setting, and yes, it's a non-British/American based fantasy world. America is filled with lizards, and England is a mysterious misty island swamp and savages. Landsknechts must ally with Charlemagne and Tolkien elves to fight Super Vikings! Rar!
My favourite quote from Fantasy comes from the Konrad books, in regards to the fight against Chaos. It is revealed that Chaos is basically ineradicable as it is part of humanity.
"You mean it's a fight we can never win?"
"I prefer to think of it as a fight we must never lose."
