This Lord of the Rings Total War mod, ten years in the making, turns the Roman Empire into Middle-earth

The Dawnless Days mod for Total War Atilla overhauls the game to add in characters, settings, and armies from The Lord of the Rings.

I still get chills when I think about King Theoden's rousing speech at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. A mash-up of his various motivational calls to arms across the books (with some of Eomer's lines thrown in for good measure), it shows a fearless leader doing everything in his power to fight for what's good in this world. I've recreated the scene on the tabletop and as best I can in videogames, but the new Dawnless Days mod for Total War Atilla might be my best chance of embodying the Rohirrim leader.

The mod has been in development for a decade, and has finally released its 1.0 version, although there are still areas that are being worked on. With nine factions to choose from, a full campaign, and all the iconic settings from the books we know and love, this could be the most in-depth and exciting Lord of the Rings game ever made.

From looking at the trailer and screenshots, you can't even tell that Total War Atilla exists under Middle-earth at all. It just looks like the perfect Tolkien entry onto our list of the best strategy games. The v1.0 release marks the completion of a full campaign detailing the events of the War of the Ring (you know, the bit covered by the LotR books).

Taking ample inspiration from the designs of the Peter Jackson film trilogy, the mod is a complete overhaul of the original Total War game, keeping mechanics intact, but little else. Every texture and unit seems to have been rebuilt from scratch to create a living, breathing, fighting vision of Middle-earth like we've never seen before. It's no wonder it took ten years to get to this point.

It hasn't been smooth sailing for the development team. Despite not asking for any donations or getting paid any money for this project, the passionate volunteers had to rename the mod from its original title, Rise of Mordor, thanks to an alleged Warner Bros. copyright strike in 2022.

No matter what it's called, I can't wait to jump into a campaign, living out my fantasies of overcoming the darkness as King Theoden or seeing if I can out-maneuver him with a force of Haradrim and Easterlings. So long as there are Mumakil involved, I'll be happy.

The Total War Attila Dawnless Days mod is available now. You can download it from NexusMods here.

Despite a decade of work, Dawnless Days still isn't finished. The developers intend to make the area of Eriador playable in the future and including it in the campaign. Also on the docket for further updates are more playable factions and iconic settlements as well as polishing the experience to the best of their ability.