Total War: Wainriders is a full-conversion & fully modfoldered modification for Rome: Total War - Alexander. Inspired solely by the written works of J.R.R. Tolkien, it seeks to reflect both the spirit and lore of Middle-earth as Tolkien saw it. Total War: Wainriders is being built by the Fourth Age Total War team on the excellent foundations of the Dominion of Men mod for Barbarian Invasion, but completely reworked to take full advantage of all the features of Alexander. It will feature fully overhauled factions, an updated campaign map, and new mechanics and gameplay systems all designed to effectively transport the setting of the main campaign to T.A. 1864 and tell the story of the great conflicts of Middle-earth at that time.
Long have the Dwarves mined these northern lands, coaxing iron from the hills and wresting rarer prizes from the earth. In ages past, Dwarves hewed a road through the forbidding forest, to ease traffic between the great city of Khazad-dum and these frontier colonies. But as with all things, the traffic began to fail; evil things crept into the woods; and now Men of ill sort have burst in from the East, disrupting trade and threatening travel. Few messages come from Khazad-dum these days.
The villages of Northmen that cluster about the lakes and rivers are filled with refugees from the south, bringing tales of wild men slaying, burning, and enslaving. At the feet of the Lonely Mountain, the men of the dale gather and begin to arm, asking the Dwarves for aid. So once again, as in days of old, there is an alliance between Dwarves and Men. No Dwarf-king leads them, but a Dwarf-lord of proud colonists, stubborn folk who have carved their mansions in this land and will not yield it to Easterlings who have only lately mastered iron. Joined to their cause are the Northmen, rough but hardy people, skilled with beasts and bows and strong of arm, unwilling to shoulder a foreign yoke.
And, should this League prove strong, perhaps other lands can fall under its banner. There are untapped riches in the mountains north and west, and room for many herds and farms to the south. If not snuffed out too soon, perhaps this alliance can grow – a lordship to command respect among the Houses of the Dwarves, and to shield the people of the North from the menace of the East.