It has been known for a little while now that Total War: Warhammer 2's pre-order bonus will in some way be related to the original game, but what exactly the bonus was nobody knew. While the specifics are still unknown, Creative Assembly has come out today and announced that instead of a pre-order bonus the new content will be available to everyone who purchases the game within the first week, and that it will be a new playable race for Total War: Warhammer!

The early-adopter Race Pack will be revealed later this week, but what I can tell you right now is that it will be more along the lines of Bretonnia rather than the Chaos Warriors. In other words, you can expect to see new legendary lords with unique starting positions and their own factions, a whole bunch of new units, as well as different and race-specific mechanics to make it all the more interesting.

Nothing has been revealed just yet, so take the following with a few grains of salt, but there is a high chance the new race will be Norsca. The image that arrived with the announcement (found below) clearly shows a collection of warm furs, something that only really makes sense for the people that live in the frozen North. Furthermore, Norsca harbors a variety of factions that play an important role in the Grand Campaign, yet only have a couple of unique units. It certainly would make a lot of sense to further flesh them out, especially since they also appear in the 'New World' where Total War: Warhammer 2 takes place.

As a final note, it is worth mentioning that even if you don't pre-order Total War: Warhammer 2 you will get the new faction added to your campaign map. You obviously won't be able to play as them, but you will be able to mercilessly crush them and see what all of the new units are all about. I'm usually not a fan of pre-order bonuses, but this one seems to be pretty damn good for everyone involved!