After much outcry and gnashing of teeth from fans last year when Creative Assembly said there would be no mod support for Total War: Warhammer, the developer has belayed that directive and now said it will be included when the game launches on May 24.

Apparently, Creative Assemby and license-holder Games Workshop have worked out the kinks to get an agreement in place to allow mods into the game. So the following will be included when you open the game for the first time:

• Steam Workshop: upload, browse, follow, discuss and install available mods straight from Steam, and access and manage them from the new Total War Mod Manager.
• The Assembly Kit: CA’s modding tool box, previously released for Steam Workshop, will release with the Database Editor and BOB for modifying and exporting database tables and campaign start positions, with the aim to add further functionality, including battle map editing, later in the year.
• Download Mods: Attendees to CA’s Mod Summits over the last three years will be supplied early access to the game, to help populate the Steam Workshop from day one. Also, well-known modders Magnar and Dresden will receive specific help from the dev team to produce certain mods. Magnar is designing a Legendary Lord Start Position Mod; customising start positions so that Legendary Lords will start in different locations from Race Leaders, while Dresden is engineering a Regional Occupation Mod; altering the settlement rules to enable each race to settle every region.

This isn;t the first time that Creative Assembly has adjusted its plans becasue of fan faeedback. Late last month, it was announced that the Chaos Warrior race pack, which was a pre-order bonus only, will now be available for people who buy the game the first week after release. The company also plans quite a bit of extra content down the road as well.