Vlad: Total War

Vlad: Total War
Platform	Rome: Total War, Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion
Mod Type	Overhaul
Era	Europe: 280BC-250AD/376-476AD
Mod Leader	vlad
Release Status	v1.5 Beta (RTW), v1.6 (BI)
Forum / Thread	Here
Campaign Map:

Vlad: Total War is a compilation of 2 overhauls; the first being "Roman Expansion", for Rome: Total War, and the other (simply called "Barbarian Invasion"), for Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion. They both include new start positions, loading screens and new campaigns.

History

The first mod came into existence when Vlad (the creator) released the Roman Expansion mod onto the TWCenter Forums in 2005. While the original version of this mod appears to have disappeared, the latest version (1.5 beta) was released on the forums on April 29th, 2009. Regarding the Barbarian Invasion variant, this mod was released in its current state (v1.6) on July 11th, 2006. At present both mods appear to be unavailable for download (until such a time as Vlad decides to re-upload them).

Description

In regards to the Roman Expansion mod Vlad has stated that this mod "tells the story of the period of the Roman Republic right through to the Empire (280 BC - 250 AD). Regarding the Barbarian Invasion mod he has stated that "Vlad Total War: BI tells the tragic events of the period 376-476AD, whereupon the Huns invaded and sacked much of Eastern Europe". Both mods increase the number of units available, and provide a greater depth to the original game, with the addition of several new campaigns for both mods, new units and additional music. Both are also similar in that they include unit re-skins for various factions (e.g. the Huns) and many additional units for every faction in-game.

Features

Factions

Both mods stick to the vanilla layout of factions, with notable additions - for example:

For the Roman Expansion Mod:

• Slavic Tribes (previously non-existent in the game)

For the Barbarian Invasion Mod:

• Arabs (a previously non-existent faction)
• Celts (now a playable faction)
• Slavs (now a playable faction)
• Berbers (now a playable faction)

Units

Both mods are unique in that they both include over 300 new units into both games. Each faction in-game now contains nearly double the initial amount of available units in vanilla Rome/Barbarian Invasion. According to Vlad these units are "historically accurate and authentic, from the legions of Rome to the tribes of the Cimbri/Teutones/Suebi etc".

Map

Both mods use Mundus Magnus as the basis for the Imperial Campaign. As a result, the campaign map has been greatly expanded (from Britain to Arabia and Persia) and includes many new provinces, resources and cities (198 in total).

Combat

• Vlad's Roman Expansion and Barbarian Invasion mods use Darthmods' Formations Pack; this alters the layout of an army at the initial stage of battle deployment based upon their faction (e.g. the Triplex Acies formation for the Republican Roman factions).
• Moreover, Vlad has stated that the unit scale has been increased to "252-253 warriors in each detachment, with officers included", which results in longer battles and more epic gameplay.

Miscellaneous

• Both mods also include many new loading screens, containing images of historical battles (according to Vlad).
• Many new ambient sounds and music has been added to the game, increasing the game atmosphere (both in battle and on the campaign map)
• New flags and banners have been included for the various factions in both games (examples can be seen in the images below).

The Team

The Team

Vlad - Mod Creator

Special Thanks

Razunter - for Internet Hosting

Partyzaan - for Loading Screens

Riczu74 - for the Ship strat models in the Campaign.

Atilla Reloaded - for some of the units used ingame.

Alcibiades of Athens

Warspite - for unit reskins

Arcani

Andriyko

Odovacar - for his new Persian Standards

TB666

PROMETHEUS ts

Diabetes Mellitus - for his Barbarian Standards

Horse Archer - for his Weather Mod

Anyan - for his Landscape Mod

j92633 - for his Sounds Mod

DARTH VADER - for his Formations Mod

KALI

Webbird - for some unit reskins

Visual Material

• 

  Example of some of the new units found in Barbarian Invasion (v1.6)

• 

  Example of the faction starting positions on the campaign map in the Roman Expansion (v1.5b)

• 

  Example of a banner seen in-game for the Roman Expansion mod (alongside some new units; notably the Germanic Warrior Women and Roman Hastati)

External Links

• Official Mod Forum on TWCenter
• Alternate website for Vlad: Total War (in Russian)