Warhammer

Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play is a role-playing game created by Games Workshop, set in the world described in their tabletop strategy game (see below). It is notable for its "dark and gritty" aspect, its complex system of "careers" through which player characters may advance and gain skills and improve their game statistics, and its background world, which features a culture very like Renaissance Germany crossed with Tolkien's Middle-earth---with very Lovecraftian Chaos forces just offstage or out of sight. Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play is more widely played outside the United States than in the US. Games Workshop has alternated between supporting WFRP, licensing it out to other companies, and ignoring it to concentrate on their miniatures-based games. It has now been announced that a new edition is being written by Green Ronin Publishing. Warhammer Fantasy Battle is also a tabletop strategy game created by Games Workshop. The game is played with 'regiments' of fantasy miniatures . It uses stock fantasy races such as humans, elves, dwarves, Undead, Orcs, Lizardmen, etc.\nEach race has its own unique strengths and flaws. Elves for example have the most powerful archers and magicians in the game but have fewer specialised close combat units. There also is a Science Fiction Warhammer game called Warhammer 40K and a string of other spin off games based around similar concepts; Battlefleet Gothic, Blood Bowl, Epic Armageddon, Gorkamorka, Inquisitor, Man O'War, Mordheim, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Warmaster and others. Warhammer is periodicaly updated and re-released with newer rules and changes to the gaming system to improve playability.

Table of contents

1 The miniatures 2 The races (or armies) 3 Playing the game 4 Computer games 5 External link

The miniatures

The models used in this game are often multi-part models and are made of either plastic or pewter. These models are around to be 25mm for a human. Dragons can be around to 10cm. They come unpainted and unassembled. The players spend a great deal of time painting and modifying the miniatures so that they represent the army's background. This is reinforced by annual painting competitions held by games workshop known as the Golden Demons. Players compete in a number of catergories to win; bronze, silver and gold golden demons for painting. To build an average army one has to buy at least 50-100 miniatures (depending on the army he chooses to play) which makes Warhammer an expensive hobby. However the gaming system is flexible so that players can easily opt to play smaller battles of 30-40 models etc. Generally a plastic squad or regiment\ncosts about $40 (canadian) for about 16 characters. More powerful characters are\nusually cast in metal and therefore cost more, however these can often be \nexpected to be more powerful and worth more anyway.

The races (or armies)

\nIn Warhammer Fantasy Battle there are the following races:

• Bretonnians (Humans, French/Arthurian culture)\nBretonnians are derived from medievil England and France, and much of it is\nbased upon the tales of King Arthur, even including sorceresses devoted to the\nLady of the Lake.\n*Chaos (Daemonic forces, Norse/Steppe nomad culture)\nThe Legions of Chaos are composed of evil madmen who worship the Four Dark\nGods of Chaos, who are Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch. The Legions of\nChaos are aided by powerful daemons summoned from another world.\n*Dark Elves (Elves, slight Arabic/new culture)\nDark elves are pirates hailing from the dark lands of Naggaroth. They seek\nonly to pillage and slaughter the other races, and to ultimately place their ruler, the Witch-King Malekith, in his "rightful" place upon the throne of Ulthuan, their ancestral island home-and currently home of their cousins, the High Elves.\n*Dogs of War (Mercenaries, various cultures)\nDogs of War have become obsolete in recent times.\n*Dwarfs (Dwarves, Norse/Germanic culture)\nDwarfs are stout mountain dwellers who greedily mine for gold in their huge\nfortresses. They are based mostly on J. R. R. Tolkien's Dwarves.\n*High Elves (Elves, French/Celtic/new culture)\nHigh Elves are also derived from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. They are\na highly developed culture that is on the verge of collapse after devastating wars with the Dwarves, and constant attacks from their Dark Elf cousins.\n*The Empire (Humans, Norse/Germanic culture)\nThe Empire is based on the Holy Roman Empire during the Renaissance. Divided into many sub-states ruled by Elector Counts, the Empire is nominally ruled by the Emperor. Their armies are amongst the most diverse in the Old World. \n*Lizardmen (Lizard Men, Aztec/Inca culture)\nLizardmen are tribal jungle-dwellers lead by the Slaan, toad-like creatures\nwith extremely powerful magic.\n*Orcs & Goblins (Orcs/Goblins, Scottish/new culture)\nOrcs & Goblins are exaggerated, humurous parodies of the creatures originally\ncreated by J. R. R. Tolkien. Their army also includes Wyverns, Giants,\nTrolls, and other monsters in the same vein. Some Games Workshop designers claim that orcish culture and military tactics are loosely based on Scots Highlanders.\n*Skaven (Rat-men, no particular culture)\nSkaven are giant rats that stand on two legs. They come out of deep tunnels in\ngreat hordes to destroy the workings of the other races.\n*Tomb Kings of Khemri (Undead, Egyptian culture)\nThe Tomb Kings rule over large armies deep in desert wastes. They are lead by a\ngreat pharoh, Settra, who has commanded his servants to awaken and reclaim the\nworld from the living.\n*Vampire Counts (Undead, Slavic culture)\nThe Vampire Counts are a loose collection of various undead lords, Vampires, each with their own agenda. There are five different families of vampires, each with different characteristics, and their armies generally reflect this.\n*Wood Elves (Elves, Tolkien Elf culture)\nAnother army derived from Tolkienesque Elves, Wood Elves are\nreclusive beings who live at peace with nature in deep forests. They have bear\na grudge with the other Elves for turning their backs on nature.\n*Chaos Dwarves (Corrupted Dwarves, Mesopatamian culture)\nChaos Dwarves resemble Dwarves, but have become barbaric and now worship the\nDark Powers. Many of them have become mutated into bizarre forms such as the\nbull-centaurs.\n*Kislev (Humans, Russian culture)\nIn Recent times, Kislev has re-arisen as an "allied" race to be used with Empire armies, but can be used as a separate army on its own as well.\n*Beastmen (Goatmen, Aboriginal/ancient germanic culture)\nBeastmen are the animals of the forest twisted and warped by proximity to Chaos\nDaemons. They now thirst for blood and hunt the other armies. GW designers claim to have loosely based the current incarnation of these creatures on Roman-era Germanic tribes.

Playing the game

\nAs noted the game is played in turns which are broken down into phases, movement phase, magic phase, and assault phase. The game is played for a pre-determined number of turns and a winner is declared based on a points system. \n

Computer games

\nThe computer game Warhammer: Dark Omen is the sequel to Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (1995) and was also produced from Games Workshop in 1998. As Mercenary Commander Morgan Bernhardt, you fight a series of RTS-battles. The action is seen in isometric 3D from a rotatable overhead view. Through the game, you manage your army, replacing losses and adding new regiments. The game is the in the rich Warhammer-universe and makes good use of the vast background, creating a deeply engrossing storyline apart from standard fantasy clichés.

External link

\n*Games Workshop\n*Warhammer: Dark Omen Description\n*Warhammer: Shadow of The Horned Rat Description Category:1998 computer and video games\nCategory:1995 computer and video games\nCategory:Strategy computer games\nCategory:Real-time strategy computer games\nCategory:PC games