Lords of the End Times: Boris Todbringer finally arrives, and I have waited twelve years for this

I am qualified to talk about the End Times: I was there.

I was there ten thousand years ago, Gandalf, when Archaon marched on the Empire and destroyed the world. Fine, it was 2014 and it happened on a table, but allow me the grandiloquence. My friends and I held the Order side, my Middenheim army fought that campaign, and we felt genuinely invested in it.

So seeing it arrive in Total War: WARHAMMER III is an old dream resurfacing.

What it is, and when

Creative Assembly has announced Lords of the End Times for 24 September 2026, presenting it as the biggest DLC released in the series' ten-year history. A marketing line, obviously, but the announced content makes it defensible.

Four legendary lords arrive at once, one per major family: Boris Todbringer for the Empire, Thanquol for the Skaven, the Glottkin for the Warriors of Chaos, and Nagash for the undead.

The sales model is worth pausing on, because it breaks with habit. Each lord sells separately at 8.99 euros, with a 15 percent discount for the bundle. And above all, buying any one of the four grants access to the Immortal Empires campaign without owning Total War: WARHAMMER III. That is a first for the series, and it turns a DLC into a front door.

Boris Todbringer, or why I will not be sleeping much

Let us start with the one that concerns me, and there is a justice in his arrival: it has taken ten years for one of Warhammer Fantasy's most popular characters to finally earn legendary lord status.

Boris Todbringer is Elector Count of Middenland, beloved of the wolf-god Ulric, and he arrives with a personal obsession: killing his nemesis, the Beastlord Khazrak One-Eye. For anyone unfamiliar with the grudge, it runs both ways and it has been paid in pieces of face.

His campaign mechanic is the Great Temple of Ulric. By defeating the enemies of the Empire, Boris raises his faction's Fervour, which lets him develop the temple and upgrade its six sacred Sanctuaries, each granting permanent bonuses. The higher the Sanctuaries climb, the brighter the Flame of Ulric burns, and the more he earns the right to recruit Elector State Troopers. He can also perform great Winter Rites to energise his armies.

In battle he wields Legbiter, his lifelong weapon, and he is a veteran general handing out command bonuses to the Middenland soldiery fighting beside him.

The roster is generous, and for a Middenheim player it reads like a love letter: Ar-Ulric Emil Valgeir as legendary hero, the Seneschal of the White Wolf, the Priest of Ulric, Wolf-Kin, Hunting Hounds, Warriors of Ulric, Teutogen Guard, Knights of the White Wolf, Knights Panther and the Celestial Hurricanum. Plus three regiments of renown: the Order of the Axe, the Fellwolf Brotherhood and the Hounds of Ulricsberg.

Thanquol, the trailer's real star

Creative Assembly went all in on the Grey Seer, and you can see why: he was the villain of the very first Warhammer video game, and he has waited a decade to enter Total War.

He leads Clan Scruten and rides his rat-ogre bodyguard, Boneripper. His mechanic is called Masterplans: raising secret armies to strike from the shadows, conducting dark rituals, plotting heists. Except things do not always go according to plan, unforeseen complications arise, and you have to deal with them to see your schemes through.

That is very faithful to the character, and it is the best design joke of the lot: Thanquol is a self-proclaimed genius whose plans backfire with metronomic regularity. Building failure into the mechanic as a component rather than a punishment is sharp rules writing.

On spells he draws from the lores of Plague and Ruin, and can unlock the dreaded Thirteenth Spell. His roster adds Skreech Verminking, Verminlords in four variants, Stormfiends in melee and missile versions, Pusbags, the Warp-Doom Magma Cannon and the Cauldron of a Thousand Poxes.

Nagash and the Glottkin

Nagash is after godhood. His campaign, the Lands of the Dead, has him amass legions, raise necropolises, gather the nine Mortarchs and recover the Books of Nagash, each recovered book widening his spell arsenal. The detail that makes him unique: he can raise units from the complete range of undead rosters, Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts and Vampire Coast alike.

The Glottkin are three brothers in one: Otto with his scythe, Ethrac the sorcerer, both riding on the shoulders of Ghurk. They act as a single monstrous combatant. Their campaign turns on Gifts of Nurgle and Gardens of Corruption, transformed settlements granting them a higher proportion of Nurgle daemons than any other Chaos faction, and generating plagues to spread. They arrive with four legendary heroes, the largest character contingent of the four packs.

The free update, which is no consolation prize

This is the part players buying nothing should look at closely, because it is substantial.

The update accompanying the DLC adds Neferata, vampire queen and legendary lord, for free, and delivers a complete Vampire Counts rework, one of the oldest and most tired factions in the game. Add to that an Archaon the Everchosen rework, new end game scenarios, and revised victory conditions for every legacy legendary lord.

For a historic faction that has been waiting its turn for years, that is the kind of update that restarts campaigns you thought were shelved.

What cannot be said yet

Let us be clear about what this article is worth: the DLC is not out. It arrives on 24 September, nobody has played it, no reviews exist, and everything above comes from official announcements and content listings.

So there is no score here. What I can say is that on paper the content is massive and the announced mechanics fit the characters rather than being bolted onto them, which is the best indicator available at this stage.

The open question is balance. The community has been pointing out for a while that successive additions have mostly strengthened the evil side, and that Order is taking the hits. Boris and Neferata rebalance things a little, but that will need seeing in practice.

What it costs

On Steam the four lords are 8.99 euros each, so 35.96 euros for the set. The complete pack is offered at 28.99 euros on pre-order through our partner, which remains the best route for anyone who wants all of them.

And if you take only one, remember it opens Immortal Empires by itself.

I already know which one I am taking. I had the miniature, I played him, and I am going to play Middenheim again.

Which side were you on during the End Times? Come and tell us on the InsertCoins Discord, we have old scores to settle.