Hero's of legend with special abilities Large numbers of diverse units and forces for epic battles Hugh map of Middle Earth with diverse terrain and battle maps Multiple diverse factions with both challenges and bonuses for each Lord of the Rings provides what Total war needs. The world created by Tolkien would fit perfect for the next fantasy total war game. Besides the Bible, LOTR is the third best selling book of all time, the Hobbit is 8th on the all time list. The Hobbit is the third best fantasy seller. Lord of the Rings is the best selling fantasy book of all time. As someone who has not played a total war game since empire, this would get me back into total war.

Tolkien carries the largest fantasy fan base of all time only expanded by the movies that could be brought into the total war series. Add to that the total war fan base that simply loves total war, you have a major seller even if a few fall through the cracks. However the Tolkien fan base's majority is in the books, not the movies.

If modders can tinker with the looks of units, they should be able to make the adjustments to match the movies.

But even for them a possible solution is in modding. I think if they created a middle earth, few would find objection enough to not purchase a total war game for this reason alone. However It is likely that CA would come to a similar visual attraction to Middle earth than the movies. The only downfall I see some will argue that because the movies were so popular many would want the game to visually resemble the movie by Jackson. This would also allow them to design a middle earth after their own interpretation and give them more licence in this area. But why not do a game based on the books alone? Wouldn't the rights be easier to get? I see less of a downfall if CA makes a game based on the books alone. The downfall being access to the rights to be able to make a game based on the movies and books. I think a total war game based on Lord of the rings would be CA's next best option after warhammer.

Rome total war lord of the rings