The Native American empires also get a Firepit building, adding a bit of strategy to the villager deployment. In addition to being a powerful combat unit on his own, the Warchief is also able to give nearby units combat bonuses, making it quite useful to send them into the heat of battle. Unlike the Explorer, this hero-unit is able to improve as the scenario progresses. The WarChief unit, an explorer analogue, is a bit of an improvement over the European unit. In general, the Native American empires play similarly to their European counterparts, with a few notable exceptions. They managed to hold their own against their European enemies fairly well through all the ages.

The time I spent with the Iroquois didn’t completely wow me, but they were a solid addition to the Empire list. Joining the Iroquois are the Sioux Nations, specializing in quick-striking cavalry units, and the Aztecs with an impressive, all-infantry army. The Iroquois were the only empire available to play in the preview, and according to Ensemble studios they’re the most generalized of the 3 tribes, making them perfect for beginners. The WarChiefs introduces 3 new playable Native American empires to the fray. From my brief foray into this beta preview, I’m sure that fans of the AOE franchise will find a lot more colonial RTS goodness, but I’m not so sure The Warchiefs will bring anything really new and exciting to the table. Ensemble Studios sent us a preview copy of their new Age of Empires 3 expansion, The WarChiefs, and it’s looking like AOE3 fans are going to be happily diving back into this venerable series.

Aoe 3 warchiefs manual