An' der wuz Warhammer!

[Zanzibar]

Hey there, I thought I'd give this a shot. Anyone out there ever played Warhammer (or any other Games Workshop game)? I used to but haven't for about four years, though my interest in it has been renewed and the new Ogre Kingdoms models have really, Really, REALLY caught my eye. In the past I've played Bretonnians, Orcs and Goblins, Space Marines, and Chaos. What armies have you led across the bloody battlefield, whether to victory or defeat?

(For those of you who don't know what Warhammer is, it's a tabletop war game in which you buy, assemble, and paint an army of small, plastic or pewter miniatures whom you then lead into combat against other people's forces. All the information you need, should you want to check it out, can be found at the manufacturer's homepage: www.gamesworkshop.com

[saintjon]

Yeah I only ever played a few games, but I had a couple thousand points worth of High Elves (still do actually, in storage at Grandma's) I took full advantage of the citizen levy rules, had a core unit of Lothern Sea Guard, a bigass sledgehammer unit of White Lions, and some spearmen and archers. I also had a couple repeater ballistas, some Reaver Knights and a Teclis model (which I never got to try, damn the Man).

[Ouroboros]

I played when I was in my mid teens. Had a coterie of about three friends, and we gamed on weekends. Mid-week at school was spent dissecting results, and generally bitching about rules and who was a better model painter.

Things dissolved as we got older and realised that (a) we were fighting like cats and dogs a lot more than we were just relaxing and enjoying the game, and (b) it was a horrendously expensive hobby.

I wander into a shop from time to time and I'm still impressed by the Warhammer franchise: They produce a very creative range of products. The downside is that it still costs, and I'm not convinced that they aren't fleecing their mid and early teen customers.

Over the years the rules have progressively simplified, and the prices have steadily risen. I believe they are now efficiently targeting kids' parents wallets, as opposed in my time when it was what you could scrape together from your own pocket money.

Anyway, I still have about four thousand points of Blood Angels, four thousand of Eldar, two thousand of imperial guard and two thousand of orks gathering dust in a cupboard. It wasn't that I got that much pocket money, I was just mental and channelled everything I had towards it for a while.

[Zanzibar]

It is damned expensive and it was paid for by my parents when I was eleven and twelve but six years later I finally have a damn job so I think I'll pick up some ogres. Really, I don't have anyone to play with anymore (stupid teenage angst ruined our group of six so I no longer associate with any of them) but I always enjoyed the army-building and painting/converting aspects more, I think (though I suck at painting; I shake like a leaf). Writing up histories and bios for my armies and characters was great fun (and made my friends jealous, which is always good unless you start fighting, which we did).

Originally Posted by saintjon

Yeah I only ever played a few games, but I had a couple thousand points worth of High Elves (still do actually, in storage at Grandma's) I took full advantage of the citizen levy rules, had a core unit of Lothern Sea Guard, a bigass sledgehammer unit of White Lions, and some spearmen and archers. I also had a couple repeater ballistas, some Reaver Knights and a Teclis model (which I never got to try, damn the Man).

I fooled with High Elves in fifth edition but abandoned them for sixth edition orcs when that was released. I was kind of disappointed by the sixth edition High Elves as they didn't look all that refined.

[Huike]

At first I did Space Marines for about 2 years, had a good army but didn't play, just painted. Then I stopped doing it for maybe 3 years. About a year or two ago I began again with Dark Eldars, blew all my birthday money on it (nearly £200) as they are very expensive, and took much more care painting them. I learned the rules with a friend, who also started a new army, and we had loads of fun battles. After a while though, it became too expensive and we got a little lazy. Our armies are still in storage, and we haven't played in maybe half a year or so. Once my exams are over we plan to continue.

It's such a fun game.

Regarding PC version, I played Dawn of War, but didn't like it very much. Didn't really feel like Warhammer to me....

[JamesL]

I used to collect Ultramarines back in the day. Used to love it. I remember I would go around my mate's house and we would spend the summer days in his garage painting our miniatures. I was actually pretty neat at painting, tho I never really played any games despite owning both Warhammer 40,000 and joint-owning Warhammer.

I love the Games Workshop worlds and settings - the Warhammer 40,000 setting in particular is a fabulous mix of gothic architecture, chaotic psychic abilities and countless worlds of aliens, humans and all the rest. A fellow whose family lives across the road from mine actualy works for GW now on White Dwarf.

I agree however that it is hugely expensive and this lets it down somewhat. I'd love to collect the models again but I just don't have the time or the money, and probably never will. Shame, but you grow out of all things eventually...except fantasy of course.

[Zanzibar]

Originally Posted by JamesL

I love the Games Workshop worlds and settings - the Warhammer 40,000 setting in particular is a fabulous mix of gothic architecture, chaotic psychic abilities and countless worlds of aliens, humans and all the rest.

I agree. Both the 40k and Fantasy worlds are very dark settings that seem to be teetering on the brink of destruction. A little negative but definitely interesting.

[Dean]

Well it was my dad who got me into it and, my friends. I started playing lord of the rings warhammer, on the good side since all of my friends were on the evil side, I found it interesting creating all seta with scenery and stuff, I found it cool to see all the models layed out on it. We used to play after school every friday in an empty classroom across three or four tables. It was pretty cool but I had only just started then so I didn't have many minatures (due to the cost aaaarrrrggghhhh!) but then we eventually stopped when we couldn't be bothered walking all that way back from school with all our things anymore. Anyway no more life story! Now I've got back into it and i've realised i'm quite good at painting and I enjoy it, and it's easy for me since I have a modelling shop right next door .

[Zanzibar]

Originally Posted by Dean

Now I've got back into it and i've realised i'm quite good at painting and I enjoy it, and it's easy for me since I have a modelling shop right next door .

Lucky .

[fluffy bunny]

Ooh, had a dabble with a few GW games (40k, Space Marine [epic] mainly) back in my teens. Ended up using quite a few representations as I couldn't afford to collect a huge army- minature gaming in general requires quite an investment, and Citadel minatures are on the pricier side. There are a number of other systems out there, but the GW universe has grown over 20 years to become more than the sum of its parts.

Anyway, I still crack out the blood bowl box from time to time. Space Crusade still rocks.

[Zanzibar]

Might that I'll try to get this going some .

Yeah, GW stuff is probably the priciest on the market, but they also have the quality. I've seen a number of games with equal-quality models but GW has the artwork and the fiction and all that jazz. Of course, all the pretty boxes and books means we have to pay more for it (and it's just packaging, after all) but, as expensive as the game may be, I don't have much of a problem paying the prices (I used to hate it, back when I was jobless). Now, it's not so bad (though still absurd), despite the fact that I make so little money.