Taking the starting province is dead easy because you just set up in a series of ruins, however you face constant raids from a High Elf island nearby and from treasure-hunting Lizardman fleets. The Skaven Queek campaign is a tough prospect for a newcomer, but it's a lot of fun if you don't mind taking some punishment and want to think like a Skaven warlord. This is a fact even though Jody will fight me over it.

Lizardmen units are more fun than Elves because they have dinosaurs and giant frogs that cast magic. Once you've seized your province you can ally with the cheerful human faction south of you and then raid the weak Dark Elf forces to the north. Mazdamundi's starting position is very friendly to the Lizardmen. If you have played Total War games before then the organised blocks of infantry in a High Elf army will feel nice and familiar, but I would be tempted to recommend the Lord Mazdamundi Lizardmen campaign and even, perhaps controversially, the Squeek Skaven campaign. Plus their special ability to manipulate enemies through trade is also more abstract than, say, Skaven, who can bring up units from beneath the earth in corrupted territories, or the Dark Elves, who can spawn enormous black arks to harass distant enemies. Their research tree is the most complicated of the set. However the High Elves are an elite army that relies on a relatively small number of vulnerable units that can deal a lot of damage. As starting positions go, this is as good as it gets. It's a beautiful land of rainbows, huge magical vortexes and fortresses positioned in easily defended mountain passes.

If you play as High Elves in Teclis' 'easy' starting position you find yourself in the heart of the High Elf island of Ulthuan. Though it's wise not to opt for a hard campaign straight away, it's worth bearing in mind each faction's tricks and play style before you choose. It's tempting to jump into the easiest starting position, but there is more to the choice than this. In typical Total War fashion each campaign has a difficulty rank to let you know how tough that faction's starting position is on the world map.

Total war warhammer minor factions