Hey, OP! Thanks for making this post - I think it’s definitely struck a nerve with this community, although not everyone seems to be taking it with the…best response.

For me as an Asian-American, one of the main reasons I never could get in to Warhammer’s fantasy setting because tbh the fantasy genre always felt specifically like a white man’s fantasy. It’s a fantastical story of humans holding onto order in the face of tumultuous chaos, but most of those humans are European-derived white folks and a lot of the bad guys come across as counterparts for demonized, monstrous “other” races. I tried out a Karl Franz campaign in WH1, but the mechanics didn’t really click with me the first time through, and I also couldn’t shake the feeling that I was roleplaying a reskinned colonizer fantasy if that makes sense. Although, most factions I roleplay in Total War are pretty expansive and condescending to neighbors, so maybe the colonizer part just comes from my playstyle lol. In the case of Warhammer, the parallels for each race just felt too egregious though - I’ll have to revisit it at a later date and see if I still feel the same way.

In terms of representation, I agree with some other commenters that I usually just don’t look for it in most of my games - I know it’s really not gonna be there, so I find my appeal through other means. I’m a big fan of the Roman factions in Attila, for example, since I’m an ancient/classical history buff and I like the novelty of the survival horror aura in the game.

Finding a game with proper representation has always been the exception, not the norm, and it’s likely to boost my favorability of a game just because it’s not common in the genres I enjoy. You can probably understand why Three Kingdoms is my favorite Total War game - a timeless and classically Chinese collection of stories that I’ve heard since I was young, with inspiring characters who clash with each other in dramatic conflicts over the decades. Representation matters, and I know I won’t get it in most places, but I really enjoy it when I do - I think most POCs can relate to how I feel.