Total War: Warhammer 40,000 debuts the biggest unit in series history — the Ork Stompa

Creative Assembly livestreamed a full battle in Total War: Warhammer 40,000 this week, and the highlight was the Ork Stompa — officially the largest unit ever to appear in a Total War game. Battle product owner David Petry confirmed it on stream, calling it "the biggest thing we've had in a Total War."

The Stompa is a massive walking battle fortress crewed by several Orks, dozens of Grot riggers and assistants, and armed with two or three enormous guns plus a gigantic melee claw. In the livestream demo, the Astra Militarum threw an orbital strike at it — described as an emergency last-resort attack players won't be able to use often — and the Stompa somehow survived, though barely, before eventually exploding. Petry also confirmed CA is already working on adding even larger units down the line, hinting at the possibility of Titans or other colossal threats.

The same livestream covered a lot of ground beyond just the Stompa. According to Rock Paper Shotgun's coverage, the battle showcased significant changes to how ranged combat works in Total War — units are more autonomous and flexible, with mechanics like suppression, flanking, evasion stats, drop pods, and flamers all in play. That's a meaningful shift from the traditional Total War formula, where ranged units mostly stood behind melee lines and volleyed. Warhammer 40,000's sci-fi setting is clearly pushing CA to rethink some of the series' core combat assumptions.

Total War: Warhammer 40,000 still has no release date, but CA has been steadily revealing details — this week also brought confirmation that Ork Warboss Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub is among the named characters in the game. How those named characters function in battle remains unclear for now.