Boris Todbringer and Thanquol bring two radically different armies to Lords of the End Times

Creative Assembly has released a new roster showcase for Total War: WARHAMMER III – Lords of the End Times, focusing on the armies commanded by Boris Todbringer and Thanquol.

Both Legendary Lords can recruit from their faction’s established unit catalogue, but their new additions push them in very different directions. Boris transforms the Empire roster through the warriors, priests and knightly orders of Middenland, while Thanquol expands the Skaven with Verminlords, configurable Stormfiends and several grotesque war machines.

The showcase forms part of Creative Assembly’s campaign toward the expansion’s September 24, 2026 release. Lords of the End Times introduces four paid Legendary Lords—Nagash, the Glottkin, Boris Todbringer and Thanquol—alongside a major free update containing Neferata, reworks for the Vampire Counts and Archaon, new End Game Scenarios and revised victory conditions for legacy Legendary Lords.

Boris and Thanquol may arrive in the same expansion, but their armies represent almost opposite design philosophies: disciplined human formations reinforced by faith and cavalry against a chaotic arsenal of monsters, artillery and unstable Skaven engineering.

Boris Todbringer finally receives a complete Middenland army

Boris Todbringer has existed in the Total War: WARHAMMER series for years, but Lords of the End Times develops him into a fully featured Legendary Lord with his own campaign mechanics, characters and faction-specific roster.

As Elector Count of Middenland, Boris is a veteran human commander devoted to Ulric, the Empire’s ancient god of winter, wolves and battle. His campaign revolves around generating Fervour by defeating the Empire’s enemies and investing it in the Great Temple of Ulric.

The Temple contains six Sanctuaries that provide permanent faction bonuses as they are developed. Increasing their power strengthens the Flame of Ulric, permits the performance of Winter Rites and eventually grants access to powerful Elector State Troopers.

Boris can recruit from the wider Empire roster, so he retains the faction’s established artillery, gunpowder, magic, infantry and cavalry options. His personal additions do not replace those tools. Instead, they establish a much clearer Middenland identity built around aggressive melee units, religious support and specialized cavalry.

On the battlefield, Boris himself is a melee-focused commander wielding his signature weapon, Legbiter. Creative Assembly also describes him as an experienced general who provides command-related bonuses to the Middenland troops fighting around him.

That combination suggests a leader intended to operate near the main engagement rather than remain behind the army as a passive source of buffs.

Ar-Ulric Emil Valgeir leads the cult of the wolf-god

Boris is joined by Ar-Ulric Emil Valgeir as a Legendary Hero. The Ar-Ulric is the supreme religious authority of Ulric’s cult and consequently provides the most important connection between Boris’s political position and the spiritual identity of Middenland.

Creative Assembly has not published a complete numerical ability sheet in its written overview, but Emil’s position indicates a support character closely connected to Ulrican warriors and the faction’s religious systems.

The Empire already contains several characters capable of reinforcing troops, casting magic or improving leadership. Emil needs a sufficiently distinct purpose if he is to justify a place beside Boris and the new generic Priest of Ulric.

His inclusion is nevertheless important at the roster level. Boris is not simply receiving a few blue-and-white Empire variants; Middenland is being represented through its own religious hierarchy, military orders and battlefield leadership.

The Seneschal of the White Wolf adds a new generic commander

The Seneschal of the White Wolf joins Boris’s roster as a generic Lord. This gives Middenland armies a thematic alternative to the Empire General and other existing command options.

As the title suggests, the Seneschal is associated with the Knights of the White Wolf and should logically complement armies built around Ulrican infantry and cavalry. The exact lord skills, mounts and unit bonuses have not been fully detailed in Creative Assembly’s written announcement.

Generic Lords are particularly important to faction identity because a campaign cannot rely on its Legendary Lord being present in every army. Boris may command the primary force, but the Seneschal allows secondary armies to retain the Middenland theme instead of reverting entirely to conventional Empire leadership.

The challenge will be differentiation. If the Seneschal performs as another heavily armoured melee commander with minor numerical variations, its thematic value may exceed its tactical importance. A distinctive skill tree connected to Ulrican troops would give the character a clearer long-term role.

Priests of Ulric bring faith directly onto the battlefield

The Priest of Ulric is the new generic Hero accompanying Boris. This position should provide religious support across multiple armies and reinforce the faction’s specialized warriors.

Empire armies already benefit significantly from Warrior Priests, whose prayers and leadership effects improve the performance of nearby soldiers. The Priest of Ulric will need to distinguish itself from that established role through different abilities, priorities or unit interactions.

An Ulrican priest would thematically favour direct aggression, winter rites and close combat rather than the broader Sigmarite identity of a conventional Warrior Priest. However, the precise implementation should be judged from the final ability list rather than assumed from Warhammer lore alone.

At a strategic level, access to a recruitable Priest means the religious identity of Middenland is not limited to Emil Valgeir. Multiple armies can include an Ulrican representative, making the faction’s new theme sustainable throughout a large Immortal Empires campaign.

Wolf-Kin and Warriors of Ulric expand the infantry line

Boris receives two clearly Ulrican infantry additions in the form of Wolf-Kin and Warriors of Ulric.

Wolf-Kin are likely to occupy a more aggressive and unconventional role than standard State Troops. Their inclusion gives Middenland another way to pressure enemy formations without relying entirely on conventional swords, spears or halberds.

Warriors of Ulric provide a more formal expression of the cult’s military strength. They should help establish the faction’s main battle line and create a thematic bridge between inexpensive Empire infantry and the elite Teutogen Guard.

The important question is how these units fit into an already extensive Empire roster. The faction has numerous infantry options, but many of them are valued for utility rather than overwhelming melee strength. Middenland’s additions have an opportunity to produce a more assertive frontline capable of supporting cavalry charges and holding enemies in place.

That does not mean Boris should simply receive stronger replacements for every existing unit. A successful subfaction roster creates trade-offs. Ulrican troops should provide advantages suitable for Boris’s aggressive command style while leaving meaningful reasons to recruit traditional Empire soldiers.

Teutogen Guard provide the elite centre

The Teutogen Guard are among the most significant additions to Boris’s army. These heavily equipped warriors are closely associated with the Temple of Ulric and represent the elite infantry expected to anchor Middenland’s most important engagements.

Their presence addresses a familiar limitation of many Empire armies: the need to protect valuable ranged units and artillery with infantry that may struggle against the most dangerous late-game opponents.

Teutogen Guard should logically provide greater staying power and melee threat than ordinary State Troops. Their exact armour, weapon strength, defensive attributes and special traits have not been reproduced in the general roster announcement, so direct performance comparisons must wait for complete unit profiles.

They also receive a Regiment of Renown variant called the Order of the Axe. This version should offer additional specialization beyond the standard unit, although Creative Assembly has not detailed every distinction in the written overview.

For Boris, the Teutogen Guard are more than another elite unit. They help define an army in which the central line can participate meaningfully in the attack instead of merely delaying enemies for handgunners and artillery.

Hunting Hounds give Middenland a fast harassment tool

Hunting Hounds introduce a lightweight and mobile option to Boris’s roster. Their likely function is to pursue vulnerable units, pressure missile troops and prevent defeated enemies from returning to the battle.

Fast hound units are rarely intended to fight disciplined infantry directly. Their value lies in exploiting openings created elsewhere, attacking isolated targets and maintaining pressure on retreating formations.

That role complements Boris’s heavier units. Teutogen Guard and Warriors of Ulric can hold the central fight while hounds move around the flanks or chase units disrupted by cavalry.

The Hounds of Ulricsberg Regiment of Renown offers an upgraded version of this unit. Its precise traits have not been published in the general overview, but the base concept provides Middenland with a level of pursuit and harassment that would otherwise require cavalry or allied units.

The practical risk is survivability. Light beasts can disappear quickly when exposed to concentrated missiles or caught in a prolonged melee. They should be treated as tactical tools, not miniature frontline units.

Knights of the White Wolf bring crushing cavalry

The Knights of the White Wolf are one of Middenland’s defining military orders. Their inclusion gives Boris a heavy cavalry formation strongly connected to the worship of Ulric.

Rather than using conventional lances, the order is associated with cavalry hammers and close-range impact. In tactical terms, they should support an aggressive cycle of charges, withdrawals and renewed attacks against exposed sections of the enemy army.

They are joined by the Fellwolf Brotherhood Regiment of Renown, providing a unique elite version of the same formation.

Boris already has access to the Empire’s wider cavalry catalogue, including several established knightly orders. The Knights of the White Wolf therefore need to offer more than a thematic reskin. Their weapon profile and combat behaviour should create a different preferred target or engagement pattern.

If properly differentiated, they can become a natural partner for Middenland’s infantry: the warriors hold an opponent in place while the White Wolves strike its flanks.

Knights Panther broaden the cavalry options

Knights Panther add another prestigious order to the roster. Their presence is not as directly connected to Ulric as that of the White Wolves, but it expands Boris’s selection of high-quality mounted troops.

Having two new knightly units gives Middenland room for internal cavalry specialization. One order may prove better suited to armoured opponents, another to anti-infantry pressure or sustained combat. Creative Assembly’s roster announcement confirms both units but does not provide the numerical profiles necessary to define that division precisely.

This additional cavalry emphasis differentiates Boris from Empire campaigns built primarily around gunlines and artillery. He can still use those traditional strengths, but his personal roster appears designed to support more mobile and confrontational armies.

The quality of that design will depend on whether the new cavalry solves different problems or merely offers multiple expensive methods of delivering a heavy charge.

The Celestial Hurricanum brings magical support

The Celestial Hurricanum is the most visually and mechanically unusual addition to Boris’s roster. It introduces a large magical war machine associated with the Celestial Order and the manipulation of the heavens.

Unlike the explicitly Ulrican infantry and cavalry, the Hurricanum represents the broader Empire. Its inclusion gives Boris a high-tier support or magical-attack platform capable of adding spectacle and utility to an otherwise physically focused roster.

The Hurricanum should complement melee formations by influencing engagements from behind the frontline. The exact abilities demonstrated in the showcase should be evaluated from the final unit profile, but its inclusion clearly prevents Boris’s army from becoming one-dimensional.

A roster composed only of infantry, priests and cavalry could struggle against enemies requiring magical damage, ranged pressure or specialized disruption. The Celestial Hurricanum provides a potential answer while preserving the Empire’s identity as a faction whose strength comes from combining different military disciplines.

Thanquol combines spellcasting with Boneripper’s brutality

Thanquol approaches battle from the opposite direction. He is a Grey Seer capable of using spells from the Lores of Plague and Ruin, eventually gaining access to the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell.

As a conventional spellcaster, he would be vulnerable to fast cavalry, flying monsters and enemy assassins. Boneripper changes that equation.

Once unlocked as Thanquol’s Legendary Mount, the Rat-Ogre bodyguard substantially increases his survivability while adding significant melee damage. Thanquol consequently becomes a hybrid battlefield character: a powerful caster who can operate closer to danger without immediately collapsing when engaged.

That does not necessarily make him an unrestricted frontline brawler. Boneripper increases protection and offensive potential, but Thanquol’s greatest value should still come from spell timing, disruption and supporting the wider Skaven army.

His campaign mechanic, Masterplans, reflects the same mixture of ambition and instability. Thanquol can raise secret armies, conduct rituals and organize heists, but complications and setbacks may interfere with his designs. Overcoming those problems allows the plans to produce their intended destructive results.

Skreech Verminking gives the Skaven a monstrous Legendary Hero

Skreech Verminking joins Thanquol as a Legendary Hero. As a feared Verminlord, he adds a large daemonic combatant to an army already known for disposable infantry, monsters and destructive machinery.

His presence should provide Thanquol with a powerful independent threat rather than another support character. While Thanquol casts spells and coordinates the battle from Boneripper, Skreech can apply pressure elsewhere or reinforce the most important engagement.

Large Legendary Heroes can be extremely influential because they concentrate combat power without occupying the army’s Lord position. The balancing question is whether Skreech complements existing Skaven tools or simply becomes an automatic inclusion due to superior statistics.

The official overview confirms his inclusion but does not publish a complete list of his abilities. His battlefield identity should therefore be assessed cautiously until Creative Assembly reveals the final numerical profile.

Verminlords arrive in four configurations

Thanquol’s generic Lord option is the Verminlord, available as Corruptor, Warpseer, Warbringer and Deceiver variants.

Offering four configurations under one unit category gives Skaven players substantial flexibility. Different Verminlords can support armies emphasizing plague, magic, direct combat, deception or other specialized functions.

This is strategically important because the Skaven roster already contains several powerful but highly distinct clan identities. An army focused on Clan Skryre technology plays differently from one relying on Clan Moulder monsters or Clan Pestilens disease.

The Verminlord variants can potentially provide a high-tier commander suited to whichever section of the roster the player chooses to emphasize.

Their size may also be a liability. Large characters are easier targets for concentrated missile fire and artillery, making positioning important even when their raw combat performance is strong.

Stormfiends are effectively an arsenal within one unit family

Stormfiends are the centrepiece of Thanquol’s new conventional units. They arrive in melee and missile configurations, with three weapon options in each category.

Melee Stormfiends can equip Grinderfists, Doom-flayer Gauntlets or Shock Gauntlets. Missile Stormfiends can carry Ratling Cannons, Windlaunchers or Warpfire Projectors.

This produces six distinct configurations, allowing the same basic monster to fill several battlefield roles. One variant may specialize in breaking formations at close range, while another delivers sustained gunfire, indirect bombardment or short-range fire attacks.

That versatility is valuable, but it also raises a roster-density question. If Stormfiends perform too many roles efficiently, they could reduce the need to recruit older Skaven units. Their variations should provide powerful late-game options without replacing every specialized weapon team and monster already available.

The Scratterfire Team Regiment of Renown is based on the Ratling Cannon Stormfiends, offering an elite version of one of the ranged configurations.

Stormfiends are likely to become the most attractive addition for players interested in army customization. They do not merely add a new unit; they add a modular family that can be selected according to the opponent and the rest of the army.

Pusbags reinforce the grotesque side of the Skaven

Pusbags join the roster as another new battlefield unit, although Creative Assembly’s written overview provides little information about their exact statistics or tactical role.

Their name and presentation place them within the diseased and mutated side of the Skaven army, creating a natural thematic connection with Thanquol’s access to Plague magic and the Cauldron of a Thousand Poxes.

The absence of a detailed written profile means their battlefield function should not be overstated. They may operate as expendable disruption, a durable tarpit or a unit with death-related effects, but those possibilities require confirmation from the final data.

Their value will depend on whether they occupy a genuine tactical niche. The Skaven already possess numerous inexpensive bodies and several forms of monstrous support, so a new unit needs more than unusual appearance to remain relevant.

Warp-Doom Magma Cannon extends the artillery line

The Warp-Doom Magma Cannon adds another long-range weapon to one of the game’s most artillery-heavy factions.

Skaven already have access to tools capable of damaging infantry formations, monsters and fortified positions from considerable distance. A new cannon therefore needs a defined target profile or battlefield effect rather than simply producing more damage.

Its inclusion alongside missile Stormfiends gives Thanquol several ways to construct a ranged army. Players can combine mobile or monstrous weapon platforms with conventional artillery, forcing opponents to advance through multiple layers of fire.

That pressure fits Skaven doctrine, but it can become oppressive if the new weapons lack clear weaknesses. Accuracy, ammunition, firing arcs, vulnerability and the possibility of catastrophic failure are all potential balancing tools.

The Cauldron of a Thousand Poxes adds diseased support

The Cauldron of a Thousand Poxes completes Thanquol’s standard roster additions. Its name indicates a plague-focused battlefield function, complementing Pusbags, Plague magic and the existing Clan Pestilens catalogue.

The Cauldron should provide a different form of value from direct artillery or monstrous combat, potentially affecting nearby troops or enemies through disease-related abilities. Creative Assembly’s general written overview does not specify the complete effect set, so its exact support role remains to be confirmed.

Thanquol also receives two additional Regiments of Renown: Deathvermin, based on sword-and-shield Stormvermin, and Virulent Batteries, an elite Plagueclaw Catapult unit.

Together with the Scratterfire Team, these units reinforce three different parts of the Skaven roster: elite infantry, ranged monsters and plague artillery.

Discipline against catastrophic versatility

Boris and Thanquol provide contrasting ways to expand two established races.

Boris develops the Empire laterally. His roster retains the faction’s broad combined-arms structure but adds a recognizable Middenland identity through Ulrican infantry, priests, hounds, heavy cavalry and the Celestial Hurricanum. The objective is not to abandon Empire tactics, but to create a more aggressive and religiously themed version of them.

Thanquol expands the Skaven vertically into more extreme late-game power. Verminlords introduce daemonic commanders, Stormfiends provide multiple monster-and-weapon combinations, and the new artillery and plague units reinforce the faction’s existing talent for battlefield chaos.

The critical issue for both rosters is internal balance. Boris’s new infantry and cavalry must remain distinct from existing Empire choices, while Thanquol’s Stormfiends cannot become universal replacements for older Skaven specialists.

If Creative Assembly achieves that balance, both armies should add meaningful options instead of straightforward upgrades.

Total War: WARHAMMER III – Lords of the End Times launches on September 24, 2026. Boris Todbringer and Thanquol can be purchased individually, while the complete four-Lord bundle includes a 15% discount.