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Off-topic and Chatter: The Jolly Boar Inn => Tabletop Games - The Game Room => Topic started by: Jubal on December 13, 2008, 09:38:16 PM

Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on December 13, 2008, 09:38:16 PM: What is Warhammer?An FAQ

What is Warhammer anyway?
Warhammer is a tabletop-based game where players have fantasy armies which they command in battle, with a wide range of races to play and different unit types and playstyles. From undead to dwarfs, Orcs to Elves, Men of the Empire to the dark warriors of Chaos, the end times are nigh in the wolrd of Warhammer...

So how do you decide who wins a fight or whether soemething's happened right?
Dice, and lots of them. Basically based on a given unit's statistics, the dice roll requires a different value in order to succeed or fail. Sometimes the statictics of two opposin units are comapred to work this out; in the rulebooks there are tables of values and so on.

What races are there?
Orcs and Goblins, Hordes of Chaos, Demons of Chaos, Skaven, Beasts of Chaos, Dark Elves, Ogre Kingdoms, Wood Elves, Lizardmen, Empire, Brettonia, Dwarfs, High Elves, Vampire Counts, and Tomb Kings are fully supported.

Dogs of War, Chaos Dwarfs, Kislevites, and Imperial Armies of Middenheim all have lists butare not fully supported and do not have a full range of models.

The universe sounds good - anything computer based I can do?
Games Workshop, the company that produces the models and rules, hs made several PC games, most notably Mark of Chaos, a strategy game, and Warhammer Online, an MMORPG. May other games have Warhammer-themed modifications for them, such as the Warhammer Mod fo Mount&Blade or Warhammer; Total War for Rome; Total War.

Do I really need models?
No, although they look cool. You can cut squared paper to the right size for the bases of your units instead.
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Gen_Glory on January 03, 2009, 11:01:15 PM: No matter how much we explain warhammer it will still be seen by the lesser people as a game for 'nerds' / 'geeks' [smart people basically]
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on January 03, 2009, 11:33:29 PM: Yes, this is more to educate respectable nerds who sadly don't know what it is still.
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Gen_Glory on January 11, 2009, 12:07:16 AM: respectable nerds... respected by whom?
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on January 11, 2009, 12:17:21 AM: Simon :lol:
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Gen_Glory on March 11, 2009, 09:52:24 PM: :D god i hope he goes to warhammer world it will be soo funny and Peter isn't going!!! NOOOOO :D
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jacos on December 16, 2009, 08:20:36 PM: I have this. I love painting my little goblins and leading them to war! :)

I also have dwaves, but dwarves go really slow, and when they retreat goblins always own them.
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on March 26, 2010, 11:29:25 PM: I have a few questions about these models...

Are they expensive ?
How big are those models ?
How big are the boxes (How many characters do they contain) ?
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Goldyrulz on March 27, 2010, 11:14:41 AM: I can answer the first questions thnaks to my bro!
They are very expensive for these piddilin little toys that are about 2 cm high!
Unless you buy a bigger model, which is obviously bigger and more expensive aswell :o
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on March 27, 2010, 12:03:23 PM: They've got far more expensive over time, from Games Workshop at least.

I can only give prices in
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on March 27, 2010, 12:29:08 PM: I've found a few interesting models, but I have a few problems... I can't buy them in my town. I'll have to order them from specialized shops. And selection is limited ...
Prices are marked red (1 British
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on March 27, 2010, 12:43:54 PM: They are for Warhammer or Mordheim, both of which use 28mm scale.

Warmaster is a different game for doing larger battles, with smaller scale models. I've never played it myself.
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on March 27, 2010, 03:07:17 PM: These guys look interesting :

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1380003&prodId=prod1040519 (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1380003&prodId=prod1040519)
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1040516 (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1040516)

What do you think about chaos? Is it a good choice for a beginner like me?
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on March 27, 2010, 06:40:58 PM: I think that I'm going to get a band of Empire Greatswords for Easter...
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on March 28, 2010, 02:52:49 PM: All the armies are pretty much equal in difficulty, Chaos are quite easy as you just run at the other buggers, hit them with axes and pray for success. :P

Also, pick one army rather than getting bits from lots of them. Nothing more annoying than finding you can only use about 1 unit from your whole collection.
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on March 28, 2010, 09:57:35 PM: Which color scheme should I use ? Averland (http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2470027_Averland.jpg), Talabecland (http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2470015_Talabecland.jpg) or Nordland (http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2470009_Nordland.jpg) ?

EDIT : Can somebody give a link to Nordland banner ?
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on March 29, 2010, 06:36:05 PM: Go for Stirlanders, all the way! :D
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Gen_Glory on March 29, 2010, 10:11:40 PM: Averland, their Elector Count bathes in milk and consults his horse (just a cliche of mad rulers)
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on April 05, 2010, 09:32:42 PM: I've got Space Marine Assault Squad (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat1400011&prodId=prod1060082) (40 000 was all they've had)...

I'll take a few photos when I assemble them...
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on April 07, 2010, 09:38:23 AM: Nice. I've never liked 40k as much but the models still look pretty cool. :)
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on April 17, 2010, 11:46:14 AM: I've finally bought Empire Greatswords ... I wanted to buy Marauder Horsemen, but they were sold out...
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jacos on April 18, 2010, 09:31:30 AM: TREMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHTY GOBLINS!
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on April 18, 2010, 01:58:48 PM: Damn... They've sent me 5 metal greatswords instead of 10 plastic ones ...

Here's how they look :
Spoiler: click to toggle
(http://media.moddb.com/images/members/1/331/330217/emp_greatswords_01.jpg)
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Viao on August 17, 2010, 12:57:33 AM: In some sort of way, isn't this like starcraft 1 or 2?
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on August 17, 2010, 11:08:59 AM: What's starcraft like? I've never played it.
Title: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on August 17, 2010, 12:29:17 PM: No it's not like Starcraft... It's much better ...

EDIT : Yeah I forgot to say ... I've painted 2 out of 5 assault marines.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 26, 2011, 04:06:24 PM: I have a new question...

Iron Warriors of Deathguard?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Phoenixguard09 on July 26, 2011, 11:21:32 PM: Iron Warriors. Better paint scheme. Death Guard look unhealthy, Iron Warriors look badass.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 27, 2011, 12:44:33 PM: Iron within ! Iron without!

Seriously Iron warriors scheme is really simple and they're half machines. But gray is still kind of monotonous, don't you think so?

Deathguard, on the other hand, have something special too.. What's cooler than bunch of plague-ridden bloated corpses blessed by Nurgle's rot and pustulent sores?
Oh God, Imagine the possibilities!

A combined force, maybe?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Phoenixguard09 on July 28, 2011, 02:09:48 AM: Perhaps. Myself I've always preferred the Night Lords out of all the Chaos Legions. But I don't play 40k. And if I did, I'd be using my lovingly converted Exodite army from many moons ago.

Iron Warriors may be monotonous but they are easier to pump out an army of them. Plus I have seen some really kickass conversions where this guy combined the Chaos Marine kit with the Fantasy Chaos Warrior kit and put extenders in the waistline, making them stand a head taller than the normal marine models. They were some seriously mad looking marines.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 31, 2011, 02:32:37 PM: Now do you see why I can't play 40k ? I can't make up my mind...

I have no idea which chapter should I start collecting...

Chaos : Iron Warriors, Deathguard Plague Marines or the Word Bearers ?
or
Space marines : Blood Ravens, Blood Angels or Dark Angels ?

They're all equally cool.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Phoenixguard09 on August 02, 2011, 02:38:19 AM: Why don't you just play Fantasy then? Its a much better ~~game~~ setting. 8th killed the game for me.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on August 02, 2011, 10:13:05 AM: Fantasy rules are horrible and 40k's system is really good. Plus 40k setting isn't any worse. It's the same armadillo, just in space.

I found out that steam tank can be poisoned by skinks a few days ago... How does one poison a huge chunk of steel? I'm really interested.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Phoenixguard09 on August 02, 2011, 11:54:05 AM: As I said, the game sucks. The setting's better. On the other hand, 4th ed 40k wasn't too bad. True Line of Sight is what runied 5th. It could have been good, but I play Exodites and its very annoying when your lovingly converted Dragon Lord on his Dragon of Doom (TM) :P causes people not to play you. When I play 40k (and trust me, that's rarely) I play 4th.

As far as poison goes, that didn't work in 7th. 8th on the other hand is a pile of crap.

As far as it being just the same but in space, I resent that. Bar Lizardmen, Fantasy doesn't have stupid names, for everything... :P

The big issue here is that GW is not a games company. They're a miniatures company. Hence the minis are generally good, the rules are crap. I personally buy White Dwarfs/Codices/Current BRB's/Twilight to simply burn them. I consider this mercy killing to the paper they were printed on.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on August 04, 2011, 04:11:21 PM: And Dark Angels are victorious...

But I'm still going to wait for Sisters of Battle. They might be even better.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on August 18, 2011, 11:08:35 PM: Hey people I've started my army blog!

http://talabecland.blogspot.com/

Just tell me one thing : is it in English or Croatian? I'm kind of confused.

Forget about it... I've managed to fix it...
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Death Nade on December 18, 2011, 09:23:45 AM: I made a custom chapter with my own color scheme and name :P. They look pretty nice as well.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Phoenixguard09 on December 19, 2011, 06:19:36 AM: I'm interested, what are they Death Nade?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: DiGiTALZOMBiE on May 02, 2012, 12:00:47 PM: I love Warhammer :] before I became a video games artist I was an Eavy Metal painter back in the day. Started painting and playing at the age of 7 ><....uber geek lol
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on May 03, 2012, 01:39:32 AM: Now that's cool... Could you share some of your work with us?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on June 11, 2012, 08:21:22 PM: Would anybody like to have a go at updating this to be a more general FAQ on wargaming and tabletop RPGs?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: comrade_general on June 11, 2012, 10:35:55 PM: Didn't we make PG2009 moderator of this section? (http://clipartist.info/SVG/scallywag/CLIPARTIST.NET/LEGO/lego_smiley_wink-32px.png)
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Phoenixguard09 on June 12, 2012, 05:19:41 AM: I don't know if its official. Did Khan end up doing it?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on June 12, 2012, 03:59:04 PM: Yes, it's official. It won't say you're a moderator, you have moderator rights everywhere anyway as an admin. :P
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Son of the King on January 17, 2013, 11:35:17 AM: Is getting into Warhammer a good idea then? :D
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Pentagathus on January 17, 2013, 12:39:49 PM: RPGs are far better in my opinion, and a hell of a lot cheaper. If you want a table top wargame though I'd suggest some non Games-Workshop alternative though because GW products are so expensive.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Son of the King on January 17, 2013, 07:16:49 PM: Any suggestions of alternatives? Preferably looking at least as awesome as Dark Elves do :D .
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on January 17, 2013, 08:43:25 PM: There's Mantic's Kings of War (and they do have much cheaper dark elf alternatives) but Warhammer is still the best there is.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on January 18, 2013, 09:25:16 AM: Skirmish games are where most of the rest of the market is.

The initial start-up costs of producing plastic figures are prohibitive for all but the biggest companies; producing a mould for decent plastic figures is a process with a lot more stages and difficulty than doing so for metal figures. This means most smaller outfits rely on skirmish scale stuff as you can sell enough models for a game without stripping the lead off every church roof in western Europe to do so.

For a full scale wargame, Warhammer is the best rules system. Unless you're regularly going to be playing at Games Workshop clubs and events, the models are quite overpriced though, so shop around. As noted above, metal is more common for small retailers than plastic, so (for example) plastic Dark Elves you'll find it hard to get non-GW ones (though EBay is always hugely useful here in getting them cheap). For your heroes etc, there will be a decent number of alternatives out there.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Clockwork on July 27, 2013, 05:09:12 PM: Found some fan made army books, they look really good.

http://battlereporter.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/estalia-new-wfb-army-book-pdf.html
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 27, 2013, 07:52:15 PM: Yep, saw them a long time ago.
I think Jubal posted those.

Kingdoms of Ind is to the best one, at least in my opinion.
The art looks great.
Still needs just a little bit of balancing, though.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Clockwork on July 27, 2013, 08:02:11 PM: Ah ok.

Artwork is ~~stolen~~ borrowed a fair bit of the time. Nippon front cover is ripped from Age of Empires 3: Asian Dynasties.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 27, 2013, 08:54:09 PM: Yes, but as far as I can tell, Kingdoms of Ind had it's own artist. At least for the most of their art.

I'd like to start a small Ind Army (probably around 1000 points), but unfortunately there are no similar models on the market.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Clockwork on July 27, 2013, 09:04:30 PM: http://www.battleline-miniatures.co.nz/products.asp?ProductCriterion=28mm%20Mongols&SubProductCriterion=Mongols

Some of these mongolian might be able to be painted to look Ind, can't recall many places that do 28mm historic models tbh. I'll ask a friend of mine.

EDIT: scratch that after a bit of digging, found this http://indusminiatures.mybigcommerce.com/ hope it helps.

EDIT2: I'd be all over an Albion army if they ever released it, love that celtic look :D

Though I'd be torn about spending £500 for as many points of models. Curse you GW for your premium products at premium prices.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 28, 2013, 04:20:49 PM: Thanks.
Though I'll have to skip this one.
Guys in my club are usually lazy, they will not bother with unofficial armies.
I'll just try to convert a general from GW's bits and putty.

I also like Albion's celtic look. :D
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on July 29, 2013, 07:49:42 PM: Unofficial books are good, but at the same time I sort of feel one may as well just totally overhaul and write a new game if you're going to do that...
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Will on July 31, 2013, 08:49:33 PM: Quote from: Jubal on July 29, 2013, 07:49:42 PM
Unofficial books are good, but at the same time I sort of feel one may as well just totally overhaul and write a new game if you're going to do that...

That may well be a good idea. :)
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Silver Wolf on July 31, 2013, 10:36:32 PM: Maybe, but only if you can get a good starting audience (100-200 people at least) and some really good promotion around big sites.
Other than that, nope.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on July 31, 2013, 10:41:43 PM: I think the issue is more one of models and model ranges fitting what you want to do - which is why the indie games tend to be skirmish so they can be played with all-metal forces.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on May 20, 2020, 12:35:44 PM: Should this still be pinned? This is now a generic tabletop forum that includes eg TTRPGs, and having an FAQ thread for one company's wargame, albeit the hyperdominant one, seems a bit odd. We could replace it with a general tabletop gaming FAQ or something I guess?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: dubsartur on May 21, 2020, 03:40:38 PM: Games Workshop is also run by assholes. I expect that if any of us tried to sell plastic minis, we would realize that theirs should be 50% more expensive, but there are other issues:

- they want to keep the whole pie for themselves by talking about 'the games workshop hobby' not 'wargaming'
- they rely heavily on selling minis to children who can't really paint, and on staffers plowing their paltry wage into discount minis
- they let distributors build a local market, then when sales reach a certain level they open a franchise and cut the distributor off (again, they want the whole pie for themselves)
- when I was reading White Dwarf, I noticed that the 'less bad' army tended to win matchups, and when they talked about earlier plays which they were not writing up, the reverse tended to be true (so were the battle reports in White Dwarf kayfabe?)
- they really really want you to buy their minis and their paint, and every so often they change the rules so you have to buy new minis (or that your old army is no good compared to the newer army books)

I played their games a bit, and one friend was really in to them and worked for a store for years, but its hard that their games have nothing to do with real warfare or history, and growing up I was poor like I am now. Since they don't want to be part of a wargaming or tabletop gaming community, maybe they should not get a privileged place in this tabletop gaming subforum?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on May 21, 2020, 03:44:02 PM: Yes, mostly agreed with that. I don't have a problem that their games have little to do with real warfare, but yeah, they're very much a corporate machine.

Unpinned for now I think. More thoughts on what intro material this part of the site should ahve are welcome.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Clockwork on May 28, 2020, 02:17:28 PM: I'm way into SAGA and warmahordes at the moment for my tabletop wargaming/skirmish game, if anyone's interested I could write a little about that?
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: dubsartur on May 28, 2020, 04:20:03 PM: I would love to hear about the other games people are playing these days!

Flames of War and Bolt Action were two pretty popular WW II game a while back, and of course DBA and DBM are still popular for all their quirks (we learned a lot about ancient warfare since the 1980s, but DBA is good chess-like fun and does not require crazy amounts of storage for the armies and terrain). And Games Workshop's games are fun, the owners are just jerks and that culture spreads outwards.
Title: Re: So what is Warhammer?
Post by: Jubal on May 28, 2020, 05:19:24 PM: Quote from: Clockwork on May 28, 2020, 02:17:28 PM
I'm way into SAGA and warmahordes at the moment for my tabletop wargaming/skirmish game, if anyone's interested I could write a little about that?

Yes definitely! A thread would be good or you could even do sth for the articles section, that always needs more stuff :)