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EDIT: Warhammer is dead. This OP is now but a monument to what once was.  Warhammer, the game of fantasy battles. Where do we get started? To boil it down to its purest form, Warhammer is a tabletop miniatures wargame setting. This is an oversimplification, however, each facet is loaded with potential for entertainment. You might consider yourself a tabletop wargamer, interested most in the tactical, mechanical and social aspects of sitting across a table from your opponent in a battle of luck and wits. Spending hours trawling tournaments or just hanging with friends, drinking beer and rolling dice. You could be a hobbyist, focusing on the modelling, painting and collecting aspects. Aspiring to be the best artisan you can be, entering painting competitions or simply taking the time out to make your army unique. Two painted armies facing off across a well-modelled board is something every hobbyist looks forward to. Perhaps you just most enjoy the setting, the home of many a wily adventurer, part of a Roleplaying group or the hero of a novel. Savage Orcs, Capricious Elves, Stoic Dwarves, Sly Goblins, Chaotic Demons, Cold-blooded Lizardfolk, Shambling Undead, Scurrying Ratmen, Arthurian Knights, Forgotten Empires, Magic, Technology and more. Warhammer is home to everything you would expect to find in a Fantasy setting, but all with its own twist.  Games Workshop has this to say; The Warhammer world is rich with history and legend, aeons of bloodshed and conflict have shaped both its surface and its denizens into a world of relentless battle. It is the battleground between the forces of Order and Destruction, where vast armies clash in mighty battles with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Many races wage war upon the face of world, each fighting for a different cause or purpose. Some fight for freedom and the safety of their citizens, some for the joy of slaughter or to slake an insatiable thirst for carnage. Others do battle for the entertainment of the Dark Gods, seeking the enslavement of all mortals. Warhammer is the Game of Fantasy Battles, a thrilling test of tactical skill and strategy. Warhammer is far more than just a game though, it's also an absorbing hobby where you can collect, model and paint armies of exquisite miniatures. Getting started in the Warhammer hobby might seem daunting, but you'll quickly find that after a game or two, and a little while painting it's a compelling and enjoyable pastime - a sociable and engaging hobby. To find out more, and learn how to get started for yourself, read on. ARMIES OF THE OLD WORLD  The winds of magic sweep across the Warhammer World carrying mutation and corruption far from the daemon infested wastelands of the north. These energies often beget half-man, half-beast monsters which are born to terrified mothers and willing cultists alike in the shadowy forests of the Old World. The beastmen live and breed in the deep woods; reviled by humans, they prey on the weak and unwary. Updated: 7th edition (2/10) Strengths: Large selection of powerful monsters, strong combat characters. Weaknesses: Generally weak/unarmored troops, none of their new rare choices have models. Comments: The sorely needed update fixed some major issues with the list and took the army in a totally new direction. Although it still seems underpowered in comparison to other recent updates, we are waiting to actually find someone who plays them before deciding (nobody plays beastmen, lmbo).  From their mighty keeps in the south of the Old World, these knightly lords rule their peons with an iron fist, duel their rivals, crush invaders, and crusade against the enemies of their Kingdom. They survey the battlefield from mighty warhorses and pegasi; prepared to meet any foe with a thundering charge. Left behind in the dust kicked up by the countless hooves are the poorly equipped serfs who, pressed into service, support their masters with bill and bow. Updated: 6th edition Strengths: Befitting an army of noble Knights riding barded warhorses, the army has a wide access to great arms and armor saves. Coupled with their Faith in their deity providing additional Ward saves, the army is pretty resilient against conventional damage and generally quick around the table, too. The cheap infantry can be a boon, with Men At Arms providing the ranks and Peasant Archers providing an easy, cheap access to Flaming attacks in order to combat regeneration. Genuinely good at slaying large, scary monsters due to said flaming arrows and characters with Heroic Killing Blow. Despite limited magic lore access, they do get 3 of the stronger ones in Life, Beasts and Heavens, all of which bring good synergy to the table. Last but definitately not least, they have one of the best Warmachine in the game in the Trebuchet. Srength 5 stonethrower templates are amazing at clearing out infantry and large monsters alike. Weaknesses: Built for 6th Edition, Bretonnians relied for several years on that glorious charge to break the enemy in one swift move. With the improvements to infantry in 8th, this is now largely impossible without softening up the opposing units with Trebuchets and magic or tying them up with ranks of peasants for the counter-charge. A Knight unit caught in a battle of attrition is probably going to lose. Although the Peasantry are cheap and plentiful, you get what you pay for. If you don't back them up with a Blessing of the Lady or magical augments, they will lose a fight verses almost anything. A simple signature Beasts spell will make them a fairly deadly S5 T4, but they will never get away from their WS2. You will rely on numbers, Trebuchets and Knightly support to get anything done. Comments: This army is a forum favourite because everybody loves a Knight in shining armour who occasionally takes time out of his busy schedule of slaying dragons and bedding women to laugh at the poor people of his realm, maybe increasing taxes a little for the honour of his presence. But in all seriousness, Bretonnians are cool because they are a faction that stands against the magical and technological atrocities of the world with nothing but their lance, their faith and their martial ability. And their flying horses but we will let that one slide. Some of the models in the range are starting to show their age, but others are phenomenal to this day, with Questing Knights being some of my favourite models ever made. 8th Edition isn't as bad to the Brets as many people think, it just requires a shift in list contstruction and a more measured approach, which is not what a lot of people signed up for when first starting that all mounted, alpha-strike Knight army. Bretonnian Links: Round Table of Bretonnia. You can find everything here, from tactics and miniature galleries to a breakdown of the background , up to and including what the music of Bretonnia might sound like. http://www.youtube.com/user/OnceBitten360 This guy has an absolute tonne of Bretonnian battle reports for you to peruse and get an idea what its like to play Bretonnians. A lot of the older stuff isn't really relevant to 8th anymore and he plays Beastmen too, but theres certainly entertainment to be had here.  Daemons are manifestations of raw mortal emotion: hatred, aggression, fear, ambition, and lust. They embody and feed off man's darkest impulses, growing strong enough to enter the physical world. Once on the march they batter humanity in a wave of horrible monstrosities, scouring the land for warm blood to spill. Limited by the fickle ebb and flow of Chaotic energy pouring from the polar region of the Warhammer World, the daemonic armies eagerly await the day they might destroy the very fabric of reality itself. Updated: 7th edition (5/08) Strengths: Every unit is a varying degree of awesome. Models can also be used in 40k. Weaknesses: to some degree shooting, but this is mitigated by their ward saves and immunity to psychology. Comments: Brought back to earth by the 8th edition rules, Daemons are no longer unstoppable but they remain a great army with some really cool models.  Expelled from the elven homeland for their treachery in a bloody civil war, the Dark Elves now live in the cold northern realm of Naggaroth. From here they raid and plunder up and down the coasts of the Old World, plying the seas aboard their towering black arks. Their hosts are comprised of black-hearted warriors, throngs of ravenous beasts, and blood-frenzied zealots seeking slaves and sacrifices for their dark sorcery. Dark Elves are known to hit fast and fade away, dragging their screaming victims with them. Updated: 7th edition (8/08) Strengths: Brutal dirt-cheap monsters, best shooting in the game. Weaknesses: Few aside from small numbers and low toughness. Comments: Dark Elf shooting is so potent that they can just hang back and pummel you until you are close enough to roll over with a hydra and/or cold one chariot. Their sculpts are fantastic. excellent DE review for current edition: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=65603  The Dwarven empire fell apart following the War of the Beard as mysterious earthquakes and swarms of Skaven and Goblins razed their mountain strongholds. As long as there is a single Dwarf standing, this will not be forgotten. In what remains of their empire, the Dwarfs toil on, building mighty halls and keeps, forging armor and weapons, and vigilantly guarding against enemies from above as well as below. A stubborn people, dwarfs keep ever-expanding tomes filled with every single wrongdoing committed against them no matter how slight. Nothing fills a Dwarf with more pride than taking vengeance for these grudges on the field of battle. Updated: 6th edition Strengths: Shooting, stubborn troops, war machine supremacy, good magic defense Weaknesses: Most issues were fixed by 8th edition, but the model range is showing its age Comments: Used to be too slow to compete but now quite able to kick rear end due to great infantry and warmachines.  Forged from a dozen human tribes thousands of years ago by the mighty Sigmar, The Empire is the largest and most powerful human nation in the Old World. Beset by enemies on its boarders and within its impenetrable forests, the Empire is constantly ravaged by war and the preachings of madmen and doomsday cults are common in the streets. Known for their technological prowess, the curious engineers of the Empire have created machines that are as unreliable as they are deadly, while the wizards of great colleges of magic continue to study arcane forces for use in battle. Updated: 7th edition (1/07) Strengths: war machines, detachments, wide selection of units and tactics. Steam tanks. Weaknesses: fragile leadership, comparatively weak characters and magic, status as jack of all trades army leaves them with few stand out units. Comments: Empire can dabble in any aspect of the game and they have some potent combos that usually revolve around making their opponents hate cannons.  The High Elves live on the distant island of Ulthuan, driven out of the Old World by the Dwarfs long ago. Here they maintain their vigil on the realm of chaos, using their unmatched sorcery to calm the winds of magic and keep the world safe from demonic incursion while fending off raiding parties sent by their treacherous cousins in Naggaroth. This ancient race has access to immensely powerful magic and dragons, which they use to support their outnumbered but amazingly agile soldiers. Updated: 7th edition (11/07). 8th Edition has been extremely kind to the High Elves, with Always Strikes First granting To-Hit rerolls coupled with very strong Magic. Strengths: Always Strikes First is phenomenal. Decent shooting. Good cavalry. Potent magic. Bonus to dispelling. Cheap dragons. Ability to give magic items/banners to most of your Special choices. Cheap to start up thanks to the Island of Blood starter box. Weaknesses: Small numbers, low toughness and average armor make for a fragile army, few Rare choices + lackluster Core means that your Special points get spent fast. Comments: The combo of ASF and lots of bowfire make High Elves another race that does best when it hangs back rather than attempting to cross the board and smash heads. They are a very elite army that can still crush many of the newer books. Spearmen are their cheapest unit and can fight in 4 ranks when not charging (5 if they're a horde) though large blocks of other units get expensive quickly (although White Lion blocks have been popular lately.) High Elves have a unit to answer most problems, and so benefit from combined-arms armies the most. High Elves can dominate the Magic Phase against most armies, and should always take advantage of that fact. The Island of Blood starter box coupled with a ton of updated plastic kits means that High Elves are rather easy on the wallet to start up, and the models are very pretty (aside from the aging Spearmen and Archer models.) High Elf Links: http://www.ulthuan.net - for an excellent High Elves focused forums. http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=33584 - for an in-depth discussion of playing a combined-arms High Elf army list against other armies in 8th edition.  Left behind by the Old Ones after the collapse of the polar portals and the emergence of Chaos, the corpulent but magically-gifted Slann oversee the world from atop their temple fortresses, ensuring that their departed masters' plans (whatever they are) might one day be fulfilled. In deep trances they move entire mountains and shape continents by sheer will alone. Together with several species of reptilian slaves, such as the brutish Saurus and the small and nimble Skinks, they reside in the warm jungles of Lustria and the Southlands. Updated: 7th ed. (2/09) Strengths: Excellent heavy infantry can become well nigh invincible with a Slann there to buff them. Skinks can march and fire now which can potentially be very irritating. Salamanders' breath attacks are great for taking out heavy armoured foes. Excellent magic phase when fielding a kitted out Slann. Huge terror causing dinosaurs look awesome and put the fear of Sigmar/Khorne/whatever into your opponents. Cold blooded makes most units very hard to break. Essentially the masters of points denial, decent sized blocks of saurus aren't going to lose many rounds of combat and even if they do, odds are against them breaking. Chameleon skinks and terradons are great for taking out war machines or lone characters. Weaknesses: Not much in the way of long ranged attacks, what ranged we have needs to run right up into the enemies' face before they can shoot. Huge terror causing beasties are very vulnerable to war machines. Horrendously overpriced cavalry are also stupid, meaning theres a chance your overpriced block of cold one riders will spend half the game sitting round picking their noses. Skinks will die if anything so much as looks at them (T2 is just terrible). A lack of core options limits the amount of flexibility in the army. WS is average all round except for expensive elites, and I is downright awful. Comments: Lizardmen are a straightforward and powerful army making them a perfect entry point into the game for a new player. They are tough enough and determined enough to make it into combat where they excel at laying down tons of attacks while a slann mage priest can outmagic pretty much any army out there.  Hailing from the East, most people only knew of the Ogres as mercenaries, plying their trade and eating both enemies and employers alike. Recently they have started to migrate into the Old World, looking for things to eat and meat to sacrifice to their deity, an ever-hungry Maw that lies at the center of a vast crater in the eastern desert created by its fall from the heavens. The Ogres live to eat, and see battle as a smörgåsbord. Followed by the tiny Gnoblars, half slave/half snack, the Ogre lords crush their enemies with swords larger than a man is tall. Updated: 8th edition Strengths: 8th Ed. has given Ogres a much needed shot of adrenaline. While all armies experienced this boost in one form or another, OK made bank in a lot of areas. With most of the army comprised of monstrous infantry, the changes to that category of unit have been extremely helpful. Stomp attacks, supporting attacks from the second rank, and three-wide ranks have made ogre rank-and-file core troops a force to be reckoned with. Additionally, changes to chariots and stone-throwers have made the Gnoblar Scraplauncher, arguably, the best stone thrower in the game (and also the most annoying to assemble, sadly). Gorgers continue to serve as excellent rear and flank harassers, and even the small gnoblar now has a place in nearly every army as magic redirector, charge blocker, or cannon fodder. Every army of any real size is now taking heros and lords that were previously unfielded, such as bruiser BSBs and Slaughtermasters. Lastly, due to errata in the army book, Ogres are no longer hampered by 7th editions pesky "amry building restrictions", which made no sense and held back Ogres from creating truly competative lists. Overall, Ogres in 8th have moved in an exciting, new direction. Weaknesses: Ogres still suffer from a number of severe drawbacks. Lack of armor saves, low leadership, and a lackluster magic system continue to plague the army. Gut-magic is especially beginning to show it's age in the era of 8th edition College Lores, many of which now have spells that force Ogres to test against their ludicrously low initiative statistic or be obliterated. Comments: The Ogre Kingdoms battalion box is currently the best buy in Warhammer Fantasy. 6 Bulls, 4 Ironguts, 4 Leadbelchers, and 20 Gnoblars goes a very, very long way toward building the core of an Ogre army. By converting an irongut or two to make bruisers/tyrants, you can get an entire army out of two battalions and the purchase of a butcher/slaughtermaster.  Orcs live to fight, and Goblins live to follow the Orcs and rob any corpses left behind. They are found all across the Old World, usually in small tribes and war bands. However, every now and then a particularly strong Orc or cunning Goblin will gather a great horde under his banner, beating any rival senseless until they are ready to follow him. Thus the tribe slowly grows until it becomes an unstoppable force and the destructive force of a Waaagh! is let loose on anyone unfortunate enough to lie in its path. Updated: 8th edition (2/11) Strengths: dirt cheap war machines and goblin units, orc blocks are fairly sturdy. Weaknesses: Animosity, bad saves, terrible shooting. Comments: O&G have never been what you could call a solid army and pure dumb luck has always had a larger role in their victories than for most other armies. That said, they are a (literal) riot on the table if you don't mind buying all the green paint at the hobby store.  In their underground tunnels, these ratmen wait for the day that humanity will fall and the secretive Skaven Council of Thirteen will inherit the ruins. They are fueled by the mutating radiance of Warpstone, and are the masters of nefarious plots and evil deeds committed in the dark night. They say that not a single human settlement exists in the Warhammer World without a skaven colony gnawing at its foundations. In untold numbers their shifting chittering hordes flow up from the underworld to wreak havok on their foes with ghastly mutated beasts and foul technological inventions. When the tide of skaven subsides there is often nothing left of their fallen comrades or their victims as the unnaturally high metabolism of these cowardly creatures drives them to cannibalism. Updated: 7th edition (11/09) Strengths: Eighth Ed. has Skaven sitting pretty as one of the top armies. Skaven rules allow for ridiculously large units of high leadership infantry that will easily retain steadfast. Strong unit choices in every category make it difficult to compose a bad skaven army, although several choices are so standout that you'd be insane not to take them. Amongst core troops, massive blocks of skavenslaves can enemies for the entire game, while packs of clanrats with warpfire throwers rain down fiery hell from the back lines. Skaven have access to powerful warmachine hunters called gutter runners and cheap monstrous infantry in the form of Rat Ogres. Rare choices all shine, but the Warp Lightening Cannon and Hellpit Abombination usually take a skaven player's rare points quickly, as both are capable of causing many times their points in casualties (for friend and foe alike). The HPA, in particular is known to take on smaller armies entirely by itself. Skaven magic, divided into two exclusive lores, grants access to incredibly powerful buffs and the penultimate "dreaded 13th spell". Skaven characters can be cheap and plentiful or powerful and punchy to suit your play style. Most every model you will need for the army can be found in detailed plastics. Weaknesses: The largest obstacle in the Skaven players path is the sheer number of models that an effective army requires to be combat ready. Strong skaven armies routinely field multiple large hordes of slaves in addition to a wide selection of other units. More than one player has attempted to complete a skaven army only to find it is a massively daunting task that they were unprepared for. In terms of gameplay, skaven magic items received a boost from the inclusion of common magic items in the main book, but a large portion of their core book items either were unpopular or became worse in Eighth. Additionally, Skaven are unable to play with the core 8 college lores without the wizard hat, and while Skaven magic is generally strong, it doesnt have the same punch as some signature college spells. Comments: Luckily, starting skaven players can easily field a suitable force simply by purchasing and trading away the Elf half of a box of the new starter set, Island of Blood. Alternatively, the skaven half of the IoB box is currently going for $35-$40 on bartertown and other similar sites (as of the time of this writing, December 2010). Island of Blood includes 40 clanrats, which can easily double as slaves, and also includes Rat Ogres, characters, and two weapon teams! While two sets won't allow a new player to field ridiculously large units, it is a start that allows for enough variety and choice that a player wont be pigeonholed into a single army type or into taking ineffective choices. Beyond IoB, picking up other pieces to round out your army is as easy as picking up a Warp Lightening Cannon, some night runners to convert into gutter runners (because gutter runner metals are expensive and unnecessary), a Grey Seer, and maybe a bell for him to ride on. You'll be able to slowly acquire enough ratmen to fill out large blocks of infantry, and then you can sweep across the table with a chittering horde of anthropomorphic beasts to your hearts content!  The ancient lords of Nehekhara were cursed with undeath by the magic experiments of Nagash, and now they rule the vast deserts and pyramids of their old domain. Using old incantations, their priests command dusty skeleton warriors, sun bleached skeletal steeds and tarnished chariots to arise and destroy anyone entering their lands. Many a treasure hunter or lost traveler has been crushed under foot by the mighty constructs that stalk the desert in service to their long dead masters. Updated: 8th edition (5/11) Strengths: core chariots, good casters, lots of interesting rares and specials. Weaknesses: No flesh. Comments: The 8th edition update was very badly needed and the new sculpts are pretty awesome despite being out of left field. Time will tell how effective they are in their new incarnation.  Exiled from Nehekhara, the vampires fled throughout the Old World, using their new found powers to raise undead armies and poison the land. Supported by ghouls, zombies, horrifying bat creatures, and myriad forms of long dead warriors, the aristocratic vampire counts terrify their enemies and their still-living serfs alike with their mastery of death and necromatic magics. Updated: 8th edition (1/12) Strength: Great characters and magic. Weaknesses: A lack of shooting limits their tactical options. Comments: Vampires often have the luxury of waltzing across the table and making you eat poo poo due to their potent mix of spells and their immunity to psychology. Opponents' best strategy is to go after your characters - luckily your characters kick total rear end.  The warriors of chaos are the mortal armies aligned with the Chaos gods. Barbarian men gifted with incredible power by dark forces, the Chaos Warriors are rivaled by few other mortals on the battlefield. These elite soldiers are followed by bands of terrifying creatures and waves of Marauder tribesmen from the north. Chaos knights on giant black steeds can crush anything that stands against them while foul sorcerers and hellish warmachines batter the enemy from afar. Updated: 7th edition (11/08) Strengths: Tough as nails core troops, Great casters, amazing models Weaknesses: few ranged units, limited tactical flexibility, lots of redundant monster options. Comments: 8th edition turned units of warriors into unstoppable killing machines. Once considered slow and overpriced infantry, warriors are now appearing on the table in larger and larger blocks that can be particularly difficult to deal with.  Some elves remained when their brethren retreated from the Old World after the sundering. They sought refuge in the magical forest of Loren at the border of Bretonnia where, isolated for many generations, they have become unpredictable and deadly guardians of the sacred trees. These wood elves have aligned themselves with the spirits of the forest, creatures capable of wreaking havoc on anyone that trespasses. Updated: 6th edition. 8th edition hasn't been kind to the Skirmish-heavy aspects of the Wood Elf army- Skirmishing is about 90% of what wood elves do and 8th edition nerfed the poo poo out of that. The new Monstrous Infantry rules, however, rock for Tree Kin provided your opponent has a mental condition and doesn't buy the 10 point flaming attack banner. Wood Elves have a lot of disadvantages to overcome in 8th edition, but they can pull it off if played smartly. Strengths: Mobile shooting without penalty. Angry trees of varying sizes. Extremely pretty and kinetic models. Waywatchers have the Scout rule coupled with Lethal shot. Access to the powerful Lores of Life and Beasts. Weaknesses: Pricey units compared to other books. Increased charge ranges make shoot-and-run tactics much harder to pull off. Lack of armor saves. Forest Spirit ward saves don't work against magic. Flaming Attacks burn your Trees dead. Need to take a Lord spellcaster to take Life or Beasts- the special "Lore of Athel Loren" that Lvl.1-2 mages are forced to take is underwhelming at best. Lack of places to effectively put Banners. Lack of warmachines. Comments: Like Bretonnia, wood elves are a much loved army with lovely ancient rules. Pick up some of their great models now but wait on playing with them until an update. Despite what the army book might lead you to believe, WOOD ELVES ARE NOT A SHOOTING ARMY RIGHT NOW. Most 8th Edition Wood Elf armies feature an anvil of Tree Kin supported by hammers of Dryads or Wardancers, with Glade Guard archers used for running interference. Also keep in mind that there are only three plastic units in the army, and they're all in the Battalion box (Glade Guard, Glade Riders, and Dryads.) Every other unit in the army is metal, and they ain't cheap. Wood Elf Links: http://diceofdoom.com/blog/2010/08/warhammer-wood-elf-strategy-part-1-basic-army-selection/ - for a good Overview of each unit in 8th Edition. http://www.asrai.org - for a pretty active and helpful forum devoted to Wood Elves.  Related Games BLOODBOWL: Blood Bowl is a two-player, turn-based board game between two teams on a playing pitch. A board containing a grid overlay represents the pitch. Using dice, cards, and counters, the players attempt to outscore each other by entering the opponent's end zone with a player who possesses the ball. The "Blood" in Blood Bowl is represented by the violent actions available to players. Game play is based on a hybrid of American Football, Rugby, and ultra-violent fictional sports events such as Rollerball. Players may attempt to injure or maim the opposition in order to make scoring easier by reducing the number of enemy players on the field. The player races are drawn from the ranks of fantasy races and have characteristics that reflect the abilities of those races. Each team represents one race (with lesser allies) typically equivalent to the armies in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The over-the-top nature of the game is reflected through the game's mechanics, including the use of stylized secret weapons, the ability for large teammates to throw small teammates down field (even while they possess the ball), as well as in-game effects like fans throwing rocks and injuring players prior to kickoff. WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP or WHFRP) is a grimdark pen-and-paper RPG set in the world of Warhammer Fantasy. The second edition, developed by Green Ronin, is probably the most widely-known and played. It uses many of the same basic rules as the Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader 40k RPGs, with simple mechanics based around d10 and percentile rolls. Notable features are a rich and unique career system that's sort of like a midpoint between character classes and freeform advancement, and the ability to pretty much randomly generate any aspect of your character. Combat is short and brutal, and low-level characters are relatively weak. The second edition of WFRP can be purchased at Drivethru RPG here. The third edition of the game was released last year, with lots of tabletop tools and a hefty MSRP to match. It reinvents a great deal of the gameplay, and heavily features a series of proprietary dice (that are included in the game box) and character and ability tracking via stat cards. Many players have found the new rules interesting and exciting and the aforementioned gizmos fun to use, while a common complaint is that the core box lacks the cards and other implements to effectively accommodate a group of larger than four (one GM and three players). WARMASTER: Warmaster is different from Warhammer Fantasy Battles in both appearance and gameplay. It uses smaller 10 mm miniatures. Basic troops are based on stands, of which typically three make a unit. Generals, Heroes, and Wizards are mounted individually or with their retinue. Gameplay focuses on command and control. While magic is used in the game, its effects are limited. The game is designed to focus on the general's ability to command rather than just the armies ability to fight. In the Warhammer 40k universe, Epic fills much the same "large scale battle" role as Warmaster does in Warhammer Fantasy, though the two systems do not share rules. MORDHEIM: Besides being a typical miniature skirmish game, Mordheim also features a campaign system. Warbands gain experience and equipment as the campaign progresses, in a similar nature to role-playing games. Accordingly, players can develop stories, or 'fluff', based on their different characters. For those who play Warhammer 40K, Mordheim is often cited as the Necromunda equivalent for the Warhammer Fantasy Universe. However, the warriors in Mordheim tend to have far more protections than those in Necromunda, therefore granting Mordheimers a much higher survival rate. More recently, fan groups have released several "Alternative Settings," to allow players to fight in other locations, such as Araby (Relics of the Crusades), Cathay (Border Town Burning), Karak Azgal (Battles Underground), Khemri (Land of the Dead), Lustria (Cities of Gold), Mousillon (City of Lost Souls) or Sylvania using the basic Mordheim gaming rules. Also, fans continue to develop new warbands, and revise old ones; however, at this time there is no official news of a major revision. That last official revision was published in the Mordheim: Annual 2002. Having gone almost a full five years with only marginal support, fans around the world have begun to revise the original rules for Mordheim, fixing old oversights, and updating armies to be more in line with Warhammer 7th (Mordheim was designed under Warhammer 5th). The official rules have since been purged from the official GW site, but http://www.mordheimer.com/index.htm still has everything you need. MAN O WAR: Man O' War (sometimes also written as “Manowar”) is a now out-of-print table top war game by Games Workshop. The game was set in the same realm of Warhammer Fantasy as used for the Warhammer Fantasy Battle and included most of the factions from that setting. Other races of the Warhammer world were not included, either because they were lacking seafaring abilities (Wood Elves), missing from the main factions at that time (Ogres, Lizardmen), or both. The game name coming from "Man of war", it dealt with the sea battles of the Warhammer world; each player controlling a fleet of model ships. The game typically used a small number of models with from half a dozen to a dozen models per player. with each model having a corresponding template to record damage, crew levels, and outbreaks of fire, among other bookkeeping activities. In this regard, the game mechanics proved some limiting factors, even if innovations were present, like alternate unit activation. [gently caress the grammar on wikipedia, I'm not going to even try to clean this poo poo up since about 3 of you were ever into this game] Link Station IRC: There's a little community going for miniature war gamers on irc.synirc.net #tinypewtermen. GW: Reference sheets for WHFB and armies Printable editions of the standard magic lores FAQs and Errata for WHFB and armies Forums: http://www.warseer.com - Terrible, but lots of (retarded) members make it good for a laugh https://www.belloflostsouls.net/ - The Bell of Lost Souls. Good for rumors, bad for your sanity. http://warhammer.org.uk/ - The Warhammer Forum. More tournament centric and generally more grown up than the Warseers and Dakkas of the world. Painting: http://www.brushthralls.com (tons of articles) http://www.paintingclinic.com (learn the basics here) Terrain: http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php - papercraft terrain. cheap and impressive looking. http://www.hirstarts.com http://www.ironhands.com Photography tutorials: http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/101 - learn how to make a lightbox and change settings on your lovely cameras. Army Builders: poboom posted:This is a handy tool for all hams and should be added to the OP: Multimedia: Heelan Hammer podcast: http://heelanhammer.com/ Bad Dice podcast: http://baddice.co.uk/ Garagehammer podcast: http://garagehammer.net/ Waaaghcast podcast: http://www.waaaghcast.net/ Recommended Products REM magnets: great for conversions, magnetic slide trays, etc. get them cheap at http://www.kjmagnetics.com or http://e-magnetsuk.com/ Slide Trays: The gold standard is now the GW modular slide tray kit. 10 bucks for sweet looking trays that can accommodate any unit size. You get enough supplies to build trays for over 1000pts of models in one kit. Magnet receptive sheeting for slide trays: http://www.magnetsupplier.com/index.php?cPath=106 Transportation: I used to suggest gluing a REM magnet to the bottom of all your models and just buying a big steel tool box. This has the added bonus of being able to accommodate huge or irregular shaped models like screaming bells and dragons without having to buy those expensive foam kits. Now we go for KR Multicase, send the guy a message telling him what you need to transport and he will let you know what you need.  more recommended product ideas welcome!
Miles O'Brian fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jan 5, 2016 |
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May 10, 2011 01:25
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Someone please help me out with the short summaries that haven't been fleshed out yet.
Miles O'Brian fucked around with this message at 01:50 on May 10, 2011 |
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May 10, 2011 01:26
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Groundfloor post to say Tomb Kings are hot poo poo now. I may do a writeup thing for them after I get some more games in.
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May 10, 2011 01:27
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This post is in honour of a fallen Knight, Aetilus. He was felled by an unseen hand when he deserved an honourable and just combat. May he return to this great land once more in its direst time of need.
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May 10, 2011 01:38
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Here's my attempt at a longer description of Lizardmen. I haven't actually played that many games, so corrections are welcome  Updated: 7th ed. (2/09) Strengths: Excellent heavy infantry can become well nigh invincible with a Slann there to buff them. Skinks can march and fire now which can potentially be very irritating. Salamanders' breath attacks are great for taking out heavy armoured foes. Excellent magic phase when fielding a kitted out Slann. Huge terror causing dinosaurs look awesome and put the fear of Sigmar/Khorne/whatever into your opponents. Cold blooded makes most units very hard to break. Essentially the masters of points denial, decent sized blocks of saurus aren't going to lose many rounds of combat and even if they do, odds are against them breaking. Chameleon skinks and terradons are great for taking out war machines or lone characters. Weaknesses: Not much in the way of long ranged attacks, what ranged we have needs to run right up into the enemies' face before they can shoot. Huge terror causing beasties are very vulnerable to war machines. Horrendously overpriced cavalry are also stupid, meaning theres a chance your overpriced block of cold one riders will spend half the game sitting round picking their noses. Skinks will die if anything so much as looks at them (T2 is just terrible). A lack of core options limits the amount of flexibility in the army. WS is average all round except for expensive elites, and I is downright awful. Comments: Lizardmen are a straightforward and powerful army making them a perfect entry point into the game for a new player. They are tough enough and determined enough to make it into combat where they excel at laying down tons of attacks while a slann mage priest can outmagic pretty much any army out there.
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May 10, 2011 02:19
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Currently doing some test schemes on my Wood Elves right now, pics probably tonight. If I can't win games with them, they'll at least look pretty.  
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May 10, 2011 02:40
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really nice army pics, OP. I miss 5th edition karl franz murdering dark elves as the first image though 
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May 10, 2011 03:28
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To continue conversation from the last thread, I almost always preorder the new magic cards with a new army book when they come out because you can flip those on eBay like whoa. Also webway portals, holy poo poo.
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May 10, 2011 03:55
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typo in first like of O&G flavor text. the word corpses has been reduplicated.
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May 10, 2011 04:12
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Devlan Mud posted:To continue conversation from the last thread, I almost always preorder the new magic cards with a new army book when they come out because you can flip those on eBay like whoa. Also webway portals, holy poo poo. Yeah, that's probably going to be my new policy as well. I'd like to get ahold of each of the magic card sets to make a nice reference for my group, but I don't $30 want them. I'll just keep up on the releases and it'll work itself out over the next few years. Until GW switches to super-limited-collectors plastic chits for the 9th Ed magic system, or something.
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May 10, 2011 04:14
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WHF Dwarfs are the best Dwarfs. I'm really hoping that they change all those metals over to plastics or w/e because I'd love to do a horde of plastic Slayers.  Real hurthling! posted:typo in first like of O&G flavor text. the word corpses has been reduplicated. That was almost the first thing I noticed when I picked the book up and started reading it. Was kind of sad 
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May 10, 2011 04:39
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Surely it should be left there. Since when do Orcs care about extra corpses?
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May 10, 2011 04:42
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^^ he means that the Orc and the goblin are themselves the two corpses being referenced. Due in part to the relatively weak update compared to other previous and following releases but also the historical tradition of handicapping the army because it's hilarious. Typo in my post about typos in the OP.   NEW THREAD, Post those photos!!!!hell just steal them from the other thread before it dies:  
Real hurthling! fucked around with this message at 05:33 on May 10, 2011 |
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May 10, 2011 04:50
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I'm building a 2x4 sacrificial altar for unit filler in my dark elves army to go with my sorceress with a sacrificial dagger, and I'm looking for a model to go on the altar. Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be GW.
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May 10, 2011 05:33
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:I'm building a 2x4 sacrificial altar for unit filler in my dark elves army to go with my sorceress with a sacrificial dagger, and I'm looking for a model to go on the altar. Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be GW. do you mean as a victim? Just grab some plastic empire troopers with a lot of freedom in how you pose the arms, turn one into a corpse laying at the base of the altar, maybe carve out his chest so it looks list he was vivisected or whatever, and then have another human being led by the point of a blackguard's halberd with his arms behind his back and a length of jewelers chain serving as handcuffs. extra points if you use one of the heads with a gaping mouth so he looks like he's screaming.
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May 10, 2011 05:44
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:I'm building a 2x4 sacrificial altar for unit filler in my dark elves army to go with my sorceress with a sacrificial dagger, and I'm looking for a model to go on the altar. Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be GW. maybe get one of the less rotting looking zombies maybe, make it look like they kept him around for the special occasion. You may need a different head though.
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May 10, 2011 06:37
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Real hurthling! posted:do you mean as a victim? that's a bit larger than 2x4... Also technically it should be a dark elf getting sacrificed, given the way the sacrificial dagger works.
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May 10, 2011 07:35
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The latest card sets should be easy enough to find, in the UK at least. Apparently the print runs were tiny, but there was such a demand for the Daemons decks, and they were making such silly money on eBay, that GW have since upped the print runs massively.
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May 10, 2011 09:03
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There was discussion in the last thread about flagstone bases or something like that, I was browsing through my old photobucket account, and remembered that my Tyranids had flagstone and dirt bases made from cereal packets. Not really flagstones but just tiles I suppose, but you could get a good effect for very cheap. just draw up a grid and cut it out. If I had my time again I would get a fairly sharp edged rock and push it into the cardboard to add a little texture. Cheap and very easy, just use superglue and scissors make it a breeze to cut out.
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May 10, 2011 15:43
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How do you stop the cardboard from curling? I always figured that plasticard would be the way to go despite being marginally harder to cut.
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May 10, 2011 16:12
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Real hurthling! posted:How do you stop the cardboard from curling? Never had any issues with curling. I just made sure to cover the whole area that was touching the base with super glue, and make sure the printed side of the cardboard is facing the top and the unprinted side is the side being glued. Big Willy Style fucked around with this message at 16:18 on May 10, 2011 |
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May 10, 2011 16:15
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Big Willy Style posted:Never had any issues with curling. I just made sure to cover the whole area that was touching the base with super glue, and make sure the printed side of the cardboard is facing the top and the unprinted side is the side being glued. That's it then. The printed side is water proofed to some degree or whatever
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May 10, 2011 17:33
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I just bought the war-sphinx and the big wizard tower yesterday, and the sphinx went together in half a movie, I can't believe how easy it was to assemble. The castle I can tell is going to be a whore. I don't know if I should put each level together then paint it or should I do half and half then try to glue it when I'm done.
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May 10, 2011 20:13
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I've just spent HOURS putting my ogre tyrant together... I have a feeling I should not have sprung for it even though it was on the cheap... I really for got how much easier putting plastic mini together is, since I was playing Warmachine for a lone time and their metal ones go together rather easily compared to GW's...
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May 10, 2011 20:29
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yeah the metal cASSting at gw is a lot better than it was but it is still terrible. Privateer uses (or used to use, I haven't bought anything since prime) a softer alloy that gets a cleaner result but then you have issues with spears bending like wet spaghetti if you look at them funny.
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May 10, 2011 21:09
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crime fighting hog posted:I just bought the war-sphinx and the big wizard tower yesterday, and the sphinx went together in half a movie, I can't believe how easy it was to assemble. The castle I can tell is going to be a whore. I don't know if I should put each level together then paint it or should I do half and half then try to glue it when I'm done. I LOVE that new wizard tower. They had it painted up at my FLGS and I drooled over it. I'll probably end up getting it for Mordheim, you should post up a guide when you decide to build it.
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May 10, 2011 21:44
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Real hurthling! posted:yeah the metal cASSting at gw is a lot better than it was but it is still terrible. Privateer uses (or used to use, I haven't bought anything since prime) a softer alloy that gets a cleaner result but then you have issues with spears bending like wet spaghetti if you look at them funny. I played Cryx and Trollbloods so I didn't deal with that many spears, mainly thick weapons like axes and clubs. Still though, I know what you mean: My banethralls axes came all bendy.
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May 10, 2011 22:47
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Bellicose Buddha posted:I played Cryx and Trollbloods so I didn't deal with that many spears, mainly thick weapons like axes and clubs. Still though, I know what you mean: My banethralls axes came all bendy. the khador pikemen basically required mandatory swaps of their spears for brass rod.
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May 10, 2011 23:13
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Hey Tadhg, we were talking about flagstones for bases. This is what I have been doing on my Eldar:  It's really pretty simple. All you do is find - or make - a good pattern for the tiles you want. In my case I wanted hexagns, to look a little less standard. I just downloaded a hexmap template for battletech or something, and printed it at a couple sizes:  Then you just grab a sheet of plasticard. I used what I had sitting around, you want to pick something that won't look stupidly thick on the base. Now, the printed sheets are not going to stick to smooth plastic. So take a moment and scuff up one side real good - I used some good high-grit sandpaper. Then, use a PVA glue (like regular Elmers) to glue the paper down to the roughened plasticard. This probably needs to dry over night. Step two - grab your craft knife, and score up the plasticard. You don't need to cut all the way through, just enough to make up the card. Keep track of what you have cut, because its easy to miss spots otherwise:  Once you have scored up the card, some of the template is probably going to be flaking off, but not all of it. Go ahead and soak the whole thing in warm water. This will loosen up the PVA, and you will be able to rinse off the paper template and any glue. This will leave you with a nice clean tiled surface. And that sanding you did earlier? That even gives it a realistic scuffed surface!  You should be able to snap the sheet into whatever pieces you want. I decided to vary between one and four pieces of flagstone per base, to give a little variety and a 'ruined' feel. You could conceivably tile over the whole base, if you wanted.
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May 11, 2011 02:59
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Ashcans posted:great info. That's a great guide, but you can just buy essentially a big sheet of plastic hexagons made as doll house wallpaper. Scads of hexagons waiting to be cut out and painted for under 8 dollars: http://thedollhousefactory.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=18&products_id=216 they have a couple different sizes, i guess to accommodate different scale dollhouses. Real hurthling! fucked around with this message at 03:12 on May 11, 2011 |
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May 11, 2011 03:09
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:I'm building a 2x4 sacrificial altar for unit filler in my dark elves army to go with my sorceress with a sacrificial dagger, and I'm looking for a model to go on the altar. Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be GW. This would seem to be what you are looking for: http://www.saints-tournaments.com/BOTC11%20PICS_files/IMGP2731.jpg
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May 11, 2011 13:48
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lockdar posted:This would seem to be what you are looking for: pretty much, except I'm looking to put a dark elf on the altar.
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May 11, 2011 14:09
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Ashcans posted:Hey Tadhg, we were talking about flagstones for bases. This is what I have been doing on my Eldar:  That's exactly the sort of thing that I think I'd like to do, and that's an awesome writeup of it. Thanks!Also, good call on the dollhouse tiles being predone. Even easier (for me, since I'm doing squares) would be to pick up some gridded styrene sheets- I know my FLGS carries those, whereas the dollhouse things are a little more iffy. In other news, I've been reading over the old Mighty Empire rules from 1990, and holy crap  . It's definitely a simplified adaptation of oldschool wargame type campaigns (WW2/CivilWar/RomanEra/etc.) with a lot of fantasy stuff thrown in. To compare to more accessible analogies, it's one part Risk, one part Axis and Allies, one part Diplomacy, and one part Warhammer Fantasy Battle. If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking it out. It's free for download from GW via that link, and only 64 pages long.
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May 11, 2011 15:48
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If you can find some pre-printed stuff that's great. My local store didn't have anything with hexes, and I am pretty skeptical about buying stuff sight-unseen from a website. Their pictures are always terrible and I wanted them to be a specific size, and it sucks to waste time and money on something that ends up useless (even if its only  )Plus, I had the spare plasticard sitting around here without a purpose, so it seemed like a good idea to use it.
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May 11, 2011 15:56
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Totally understandable. I'm fortunate enough to have an FLGS that also caters to model trains, and those people are crazy when it comes to details. Dozens of different plasticard patterns, different kinds of flocking, etc. It's a terrain maker's dreamstore. If I didn't have that kind of stuff at my fingertips, I'd probably be going your route. Doesn't seem that hard to make by hand at all. Though I'd probably opt for using an elmer's gluestick instead of white glue for sticking the paper to the styrene (what I used on the books for the tiny gaming table a few weeks back.)
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May 11, 2011 16:13
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I need help finishing up my Orc army. I just cant decide on heroes and lords 20 Savage boyz - extra hand weapons - big stabbas - full company 20 Savage boyz - extra hand weapons - big stabbas - full company 20 Goblins - short bows - full company 10 Savage orc boar boys - extra hand weapons - full company 20 Black Orcs - shield - full company 1 Arachnarok - catapult Lords/Heroes ????? I want at least 2-3 night goblin shamans but I cant figure out the rest. I need that BSB somewhere but I want to be able to keep my Black Orks in line. I liked Grimgor to buff the Black Orks and give a BSB, but he doesnt have the special rule to keep the BO's in line. I could run a regular BO War Boss as a lord, but than I have to either give him the BSB and no magical weapons, or vis versa and put a BSB on maybe a regular War Boss.
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May 11, 2011 17:21
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I've been getting a little bored with the constant painting and such, so I've started basing my minis. I was looking around for something that could be a sort of badlands/rocky desert look when I realized that model train companies sell little packages of gravel. So I'm spreading glue on my ogre's bases and letting dry. I'm then going to prime them and paint them desert yellow, which really does look a lot like badland/desert terrain. Its kinda fun.
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May 11, 2011 18:59
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ForKhorne posted:I need help finishing up my Orc army. I just cant decide on heroes and lords I'm confused about some of your choices in your list so excuse me if I sidestep your actual question right out of the gate. Why are you buying a unit of only 20 goblins? If your answer is "to shoot their dinky bows at enemies" stop there and just delete that line from the list. You'd be much better off with a tarpit unit twice that size with a parry save to add some survivability. multiple large units of Night goblins with fanatics paid for by dropping the boar boys would be really cool, but I can tell you are going with a theme here and I don't want to mess with that because I think savage orc/forest goblin lists should get more play - even if it pains me to see an orc list without a battery of lobbas and divers. I am interested to know how the black orcs fit in conceptually and why you are so concerned with keeping them in check when a savage orc shaman backed up by a gaggle of goblin heroes would give you better synergy options by potentially boosting all those ward saves. How many points are you shooting for? sorry for taking a  dump on you.^^^ all this with a grain of salt. pursue your vision if you like it. Real hurthling! fucked around with this message at 21:11 on May 11, 2011 |
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May 11, 2011 21:07
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Anyone have any tips on where the cheapest place online(US) to buy the new TK army book would be? I've been bidding on them on ebay but so far no luck.
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May 12, 2011 01:19
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Real hurthling! posted:I'm confused about some of your choices in your list so excuse me if I sidestep your actual question right out of the gate. Im still trying to come up with a good start list. I do plan to use probably 1-2 doom divers for some sort of range power and they are fun. As for the goblins, the only reason I have them is to deliver fanatics which are my favorite unit. Im just looking for something fun but still decent.
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May 12, 2011 01:36
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