Warhammer 40K Lore Discussion

[Satinavian]

I think a reason I fell out of favour with Warhammer was that I wanted epic battles with lots of troops, and over time GW moved towards a more skirmish-orientated model. It was painful to read battle reports about great armies led by the Emperor or whoever in White Dwarf, and realise it's got about 120 models - units of 5 knights representing the massed might of The Empire's greatest warriors. For the same reason I preferred Epic 40k to traditional 40k, which of course got discontinued. Well, that and the fact that the units ended up completely pointless: Warhammer was really just about who could stack their army with the biggest and toughest heroes / monsters / wizards (i.e. Chaos), although the group I played with had a house rule of limiting/banning these.

Yes, Fantasy had some issues with this as well. 5th was dubbed Herohammer. It wasn't an issue in 6th and 7th (can't say much of 8th) but now in Old Word it seems that monsters are a tad too strong and heroes riding monsters even more so. But at least it still goes back to rank and file and away from skirmish.

 

[Ag3ma]

When was it about big epic battles?

I really mean WFB here. Back in the 80s, models were much smaller, and it wasn't that hard (expensive) to amass a substantial amount of miniatures. We're still talking low hundreds, but significantly more than many players seemed to favour in the mid-90s when I started to move on. 40k was always a skirmish game.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I really mean WFB here. Back in the 80s, models were much smaller, and it wasn't that hard (expensive) to amass a substantial amount of miniatures. We're still talking low hundreds, but significantly more than many players seemed to favour in the mid-90s when I started to move on. 40k was always a skirmish game.

That was when they were all metal, though? Wasn't that more expensive than when they brought out plastic sets for everything?

(I thought WHFB started off as small skirmishers, but don't really know anything about it before about 4th)

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I think a reason I fell out of favour with Warhammer was that I wanted epic battles with lots of troops, and over time GW moved towards a more skirmish-orientated model. It was painful to read battle reports about great armies led by the Emperor or whoever in White Dwarf, and realise it's got about 120 models - units of 5 knights representing the massed might of The Empire's greatest warriors. For the same reason I preferred Epic 40k to traditional 40k, which of course got discontinued. Well, that and the fact that the units ended up completely pointless: Warhammer was really just about who could stack their army with the biggest and toughest heroes / monsters / wizards (i.e. Chaos), although the group I played with had a house rule of limiting/banning these.

WHFB 3rd edition til death! DEEEEEAAAAATHH!!!! 2nd Edition Epic til death! DEEEAAAATTHH!!!!, Rogue Trader til...*cough*, you get the picture.

No idea what happened after 3rd rules wise, I just remember 4th having some much better sculpt/mould quality but at the same time some utter atrocities in terms of model design (although a lot were very good too). I think the change in painting styles in the RT/2nd ed 3rd/4th ed crossover early 90s also put me off. Plus puberty, can't blame everything on GW.

I remember seeing a battle report of Empire Vs wood elves and Karl Franz died with an army of maybe 50 dudes backing him up in a minor spat over an old burial mound.

That was when they were all metal, though? Wasn't that more expensive than when they brought out plastic sets for everything?
(I thought WHFB started off as small skirmishers, but don't really know anything about it before about 4th)

Obviously you need to take inflation into account, but metal blister pack miniatures usually worked out at less than £1 each, boxed sets would have been cheaper I imagine, although the only ones I remember for Fantasy Battle were the regiments of renown packs.

Trouble with the plastics troops was, they generally looked shit. RTB01 beakies looked alright but that's all IIRC.

EDIT: Incidentally, if anyone's not seen it, Rick Priestly on WFB 1st-3rd ed...better audio than the 40k one

 

[Satinavian]

That was when they were all metal, though? Wasn't that more expensive than when they brought out plastic sets for everything?

Well metal was vastly more expensive than plastic when both were offered. But overall the prices in the 90s and 00s were way lower than the prices now even after inflation.

This might be one of the main challenges for Old World. Students might be outpriced from it unless their local circle allows proxies.