Shadows of Change marks an uneven step for Total War: Warhammer 3

polygon.com:

One of the great joys of playing Total War: Warhammer 3 lies in watching its sprawling fantasy world evolve as new factions, units, and leaders enter its various theaters.

Shadows of Change, the upcoming DLC, introduces new Legendary Lords for three factions that launched with the game in 2022: Grand Cathay (the fantasy equivalent of China), Kislev (a hybrid of Russia and several Eastern European countries), and Tzeentch (hordes of daemons dedicated to their titular god, who favors magic and trickery). In addition to new faction-wide units, each Lord also brings their own unique mechanics to bear, both in the real-time battles and on the game’s turn-based campaign map.

These changes run the gamut from compelling to boring to uninspired.

Mother Ostankya, the newest lord for Kislev, is the standout. She’s a hag witch rumored to live in a foreboding forest at the heart of Kislev, and she’s been known to cast hexes and incantations on those she perceives as threats or boons to the land itself. Essentially, she’s a stand-in for the Baba Yaga from Slavic folklore. As such, she brings units to the faction’s roster that thrive in the wilderness, from the ferocious Things in the Woods, which can quickly flank enemy infantry before tearing them apart, to the stealthy Akshina Rangers, who can ambush enemy armies with long-range crossbows. Ostankya’s new units all give Kislev — a faction that previously relied on defensive strategies with hybrid melee/missile units — much more flexibility.

That same universal usefulness doesn’t apply to the new units of the other two factions, though. While the addition of the Cockatrice (a flying beast that can debuff enemies as easily as cover them in acidic vomit) and the Mutalith Vortex Beast