So what is Warhammer?

[Pentagathus]

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.

[Son of the King]

Any suggestions of alternatives? Preferably looking at least as awesome as Dark Elves do .

[Silver Wolf]

There's Mantic's Kings of War (and they do have much cheaper dark elf alternatives) but Warhammer is still the best there is.

[Jubal]

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.

[Clockwork]

Found some fan made army books, they look really good.

http://battlereporter.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/estalia-new-wfb-army-book-pdf.html

[Silver Wolf]

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.

[Clockwork]

Ah ok.

Artwork is stolen borrowed a fair bit of the time. Nippon front cover is ripped from Age of Empires 3: Asian Dynasties.

[Silver Wolf]

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.

[Clockwork]

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

Though I'd be torn about spending £500 for as many points of models. Curse you GW for your premium products at premium prices.

[Silver Wolf]

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.

[Jubal]

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...

[Will]

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.

[Silver Wolf]

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.

[Jubal]

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.

[Jubal]

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?