Who is Tradelord, Hoardmaster, Tribestealer Greasus Goldtooth, the Shockingly Obese?

… and many more titles besides. Today we’re introducing you to one of our two Ogre Kingdoms Legendary Lords, the Overtyrant, greatest, and fattest of them all – or so he claims – Greasus Goldtooth. After eating his father and following it up with various tyrants, bruisers, and anyone else who stood to challenge him, Greasus is the up-and-coming leader of all the Ogre Kingdoms. While violence and butchery will get him plenty, part of his success is knowing that endless wealth and its appropriate use – be it bribes, blackmail, or simply having the better weapons and armour – is a valid path to victory.

Declaring himself too rich to walk, he now wheels around, ever a leg of some beast or other in hand, ready to kill his enemies with a great diamond staff to the skull. All respect the Overtyrant’s ability to combine fighting and eating, as well as his enormous girth and wealth.

As usual, we took a moment to sit with Andy Hall and discuss our newest, fattest friend.

So, give us the goss on Greasus.

Goldtooth is what you get when you have an Ogre with an insatiable appetite, a singular vision and the considerable guts to enact it. Before Greasus it had been over a century since the last Overtyrant. No Ogre since Donner Gutbag has had the strength of character to pull the fractured tribes together under one ‘kingdom’.

That all changed with Greasus. After stewing his father – we don’t know the fate of his siblings – he took over the Goldtooth tribe and its wealth became his. The Goldtooths have always done well compared to the other tribes. Their territory crossed the Ivory Road, one of the few reliable trade routes through the Mountains of Mourn between Grand Cathay and The Old World. Greasus’ father, and all previous Tyrants of the tribe, had simply destroyed and plundered any caravans they spotted coming through. A good few caravans slipped through, making it a viable concern for brave merchants and their Caravan Masters but still, such action was earning the ire of the Celestial Dragon Empire. Not that the Goldtooth Tribe cared; they were getting rich off the plunder.

When Greasus came to power he could have kept doing what his forebears had, but this Ogre was far greedier and more cunning. Instead through his envoys he set up a meeting between himself and Zhao Ming at the Tower of Ashshair. The Iron Dragon was speaking on behalf of the Dragon Emperor that day and Greasus made light that they both had ‘difficult’ relationships with their fathers. While Zhao’s retinue gasped at the audacity of this fat creature before them, the Iron Dragon paused – then let out a powerful guffaw, which was quickly joined by Greasus’ own belly laugh. That day an informal agreement was made. Cathay’s caravans could move through Goldtooth territory, but a toll must be paid. In one stroke, Greasus had ensured that he would get a cut from nearly every caravan that came along the Ivory Road – far more profitable than the ad hoc raids of previous tyrants – and had placated enemies in the east allowing him to focus on his ambitions within the Ogre Kingdoms.  

Why is Greasus so much more successful at doing what all Ogres want to do – eat, fight, and gain wealth?

Greed obviously plays a large part. He is greedier than the average Ogre, and for a race whose culture is based around glut, that is saying something. I think it’s his audacity to attain that wealth is why his rise was so monumental. We already touched upon this above with his initial dealing with Cathay, but perhaps the moment that his role as Overtyrant was fully enshrined was at the Fire Mouth.

The Black Orc Warlord, Urk Ironskull’s Waaagh! was rampaging through the Mountains of Mourn. It had knocked aside the Ogre tribes in its way and had gathered at the summit of the Fire Mouth. A clever move by the Black Orc Warlord to squat on their mountain god and deliberately goad the remaining Ogre tribes.

Rather than being upset or outraged, Greasus immediately saw this as an opportunity. He had only recently claimed the title of Overtyrant, dominating most of the tribes local to him but there were still some further from his grubby reach that remained, shall we say, skeptical. The Waaagh! was a rallying call, a chance for Greasus to cement his rule.

Urk Ironskull’s mistake was assuming that all Ogre acted in their own self-interest. That had been the case for the past century, but now there was Greasus. As the vast Ogre horde, the largest gathered in decades, climbed the Fire Mouth, Urk’s army was deployed in a way to lure the Ogres into a trap. He fully expected the Ogres to race towards the open lines, thinking of only their bellies and then close the jaws of his trap from the flanks.

That’s the way it would have gone, but as the Ogres were readying themselves for the charge the peaks reverberated with an almighty shout, an order as if echoed from the gullet of a Sky-titan. It was the Overtyrant demanding a halt. His shout stopped the Ogre charge, overcoming the guts of every Ogre present – and in that moment Greasus was enshrined as the Overtyrant.

Greasus went on to claim victory at the Fire Mouth. He reorganised the Ogres before Urk could react, and all the beasts of the gathered tribes charged as one and smashed the Greenskin lines before the trap could close. There was a great feast afterward and many Ogres developed a taste for Orc meat.

How have we reflected that in-game?

Well, Greasus’ quest battle certainly pays tribute to the Feast at the Fire Mouth battle. He holds some unique and very BIG Names. In addition, expect substantial bonuses to raiding and sacking, and he will never be short of his loyal Ironguts bodyguards.

Anything unique about how we imagined him in-game?

Greasus is an interesting archetype, he may not be a transforming dragon lord, but he has plenty going for him. I didn’t want him to come off as overly comical. He is a ruthless and powerful force, so expect to see hints of Baron Harkonnen, Barry the Baptist from Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, and also Deniro’s portrayal of Al Capone in The Untouchables. He’s one of my favourite voice performances in the game. The actor has done an excellent job!

Yeah, the voices – we haven’t heard many Ogres in games before…

There were some initial discussions, considering going in a different direction. But one of Total War’s design pillars is authenticity. We try and get the material in game as faithfully as we can, unless there’s extreme mitigating factors (see below!). But the army book, and quotes from White Dwarf battle reports, and so on, are very clear how the Ogres speak, so that’s how we cast them.     

Let’s talk about that cart, his miniature is different.

Yes, we loved the concept of the Gnoblar swarm carrying him everywhere. But not even Greasus’ immense wealth could justify breaking the memory budgets and putting our animators through the insane amount of labour required to rig and animate at least 200 bespoke Gnoblars. So, after chatting with Games Workshop, we gave him his cart, pushed by two gnoblar guards. It looks ace in the game – the attacking anims are genius! – and those resources were spent elsewhere.

 Thanks, Andy!

That’s our heaviest ogre, but how about the most magical? Come back tomorrow for a little about Skrag the Slaughterer as we continue to show off the lore behind our Legendary Logres.