Total War: Rome 2 goes Peloponnesian with Wrath of Sparta expansion

You know Sparta, right? Well this is that place.

Rome 2 will soon be expanding with new campaign the Wrath of Sparta, but I’m not going to do any lines from 300 and you can’t make me. There doesn’t seem to be a release date beyond “upcoming” for this one yet (Update: It’s 16 December, apparently), but the Total War: Rome 2 forums have a thread full of faction, tech and unit details.

The start date for this Peloponnesian campaign will be 432BC, apparently the earliest ever start date for a Total War game. Wrath of Sparta will concentrate on (as you’d imagine) Ancient Greece and small portions of Asia minor. You’ll get an intensely zoomed in map, but one which still has 22 different provinces (78 regions) on it.

In-keeping with this tighter map, each game turn will represent one month.

Four factions will be playable, with the main two being Athens and Sparta. But Corinth and Boiotia will be available as options as well. Each will have their own “faction traits, unit rosters, challenges and geographical starting point.” You can expect some famous Greek generals and statesmen to be popping up too. More details about the factions can be found here (just over half-way down, in the ‘campaign packs’ section.)

Creative Assembly is also promising a new tech tree, new army and naval units, twelve new wonders of the world (the Temple of Zeus and the Royal Tombs of Makedon, among others) and some “specialist and legendary troops” like the Immortal Spearmen, Spartan Hoplites and Skiritai.

Here’s the announcement video, which also has a fair bit about how the Byzantine Empire will function in Total War: Attila. It contains the usual sugar-rush Rally Point presenters, so you have been warned.