If you own any Total War: Warhammer game, you'll get the best part of Total War: Warhammer 3 for free on December 4

As part of Total War's 25th anniversary, Creative Assembly is giving away its best campaign to everyone who already owns Total War: Warhammer 1 or 2, previously only available to players of Total War: Warhammer 3.

On December 4, if you own either of the first two games, you'll notice a new addition in your library: Total War: Warhammer 3. Now, don't get too excited, you're not getting access to the full game for free; instead you'll be able to fire it up and access Immortal Empires and The Lost God prologue campaign.

Immortal Empires on its own is a fantastic freebie, though. This will give you access to a campaign map that stitches together the maps from every Total War: Warhammer, and you'll be able to fight or work with every faction and legendary lord the studio has made, even if you don't own them yourself.

If you end up becoming besotted with any of these factions, you can just buy them. This is the real cherry on top for this freebie, letting you grab all of Total War: Warhammer 3's DLC without first purchasing the base game. I'd wait for the holiday sale, since they regularly get discounts.

They're all worth checking out, though I think the three Thrones of Decay leaders are the most worth picking up, along with the Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs, Champions of Chaos and Ogre Kingdoms expansions.

To access the regular Total War: Warhammer 3 narrative campaign, Realms of Chaos, along with the base factions, you'll need to own the full version. Thankfully, Creative Assembly will be providing an upgrade pack for you to purchase, which will unlock all that good stuff.

Ultimately, this means you'll only be spending money on the factions or leaders you actually want to play as—if Warhammer 3's base factions ain't doing it for you, simply don't buy the upgrade pack.