Gamespot has the story.

Don’t dismiss this game as another fantasy RTS. Although Relic’s recent Warhammer: Dawn of War (and expansion) are exceptional RTS titles, they don’t really do too much to break the mold of the standard RTS gameplay. Mark of Chaos aims to do just that.

There’s so much potential in these early rumblings that it’s left me quite a bit excited, so if I ramble then just deal. Unlike Relic’s WH title, Mark of Chaos is set to closely mirror the tabletop Warhammer game that’s swept the nation over the last decade or so. I’ve never played it myself, but I understand it’s more about employing military tactics to engage the enemy with large formations of troops, and it’s not about streaming units out of war factories and sending them off in a line to their death ( as is the RTS norm ). In this way the tabletop game reminds me of a historic battle simulator within a fantasy setting, or a turn based version Rome Total War.

But is’ not fair to claim that Mark of Chaos is a RTW clone in fantasy clothing (or as a dork would nerdily say: ‘garb’ *snort*). The campaign is broken up into two different map ‘views’. One is an overarching strategy view where you’ll monitor your armies’ positions in the larger world, see to your capital city development, and manage all of the territories you control. Ownership of territories sends resources to your capital city, where you can build structures and raise your army. Blacksmiths, archery ranges, that sort. For the most part these structures exist only in your capital city, and not in the individual territories that you own and wage war over.

Then there’s the other map - call it the territory battlemap. Here you zoom in on the view of each individual territory where you’ll play-out the large-scale battles (note that there are also smaller squad battles in the campaign, but that’s not really why we’d play this title, is it?). When you’re not fighting in a territory then you can take some time to position your troop garrison, see how the workers are doing gathering your resources, and also spend resources to purchase and place defensive structures. You can also burn bridges to channel your opponent’s army to the battleground of your choosing. While you’re setting things up in the territory view, the major campaign map continues to roll on; a gameplay mechanic that may seem annoying at first but lends itself beautifully to making multiplayer campaigns a possibility.

In summary - the game hopes to remove the tedium of commanding and protecting your buildings and your peasants as they gather and refine resources (since simply controlling a territory will bring resources to your capital city). There will be an overarching strategic map to position your armies and tactical battlemap where you design defenses and play out battles with troop formations totaling upwards of 1,000 ‘men’. Plus, you’ll be able to ‘paint’ and design your troops look-and-feel by equipping different pieces of armor and weapons just like the real game. And with graphics like these, how could you resist? ( This is the same developer as ‘Armies of Exigo‘, another RTS that has some really fantastic visuals).

The game is set to ship in 2006.