[Closed] Warhammer

How do you go about picking an army apart from it looking nice

That's probably the best option. If you're really serious about it I'm sure that there are types that have a slight edge over others. Dark Elves seemed to be hard to beat when I played.

Going to Games Workshop is probably the right way to go to start though.

Caveat - I haven't played for over 20 years but having recently sold all my figures and looked into it a bit, it hasn't fundamentally changed.

How do you go about picking an army apart from it looking nice ( I have borrowed her set of high elves for now ) ?

My 12 year old self would say you can stop looking as you've already found the best - I haven't played since I discovered booze and girls a few years later.

I chose them at the time because someone offered me a shoebox full unpainted for a tenner.

I dabbled in my teens, but never collected an army. I much preferred the painting.

My eldest plays Warhammer 40K. It's the collecting and painting he is more interested in. He is very good at the painting too.

Games Workshop store would be a good starter for the basics of game play, but be very prepared for the hard sell. EVERYTHING is extra. As a hobby it's second only to hard drug addiction in terms of cost.

Also be prepared to be surrounded by nerdy geeky teenage boys / men who will have trouble speaking to girls. You are a girl, right? Have fun.

She wants to play with your fantasy warhammer? Sounds like a keeper.

I used to love almost everything about Warhammer/40k when I was little - collecting the figures, painting, reading the rulebooks and all the extra blurb - except actually playing the games. Which are terrible.

Some people enjoy rolling endless dice and consulting tables and charts but there are so many better wargames out there now, which are much simpler/more fun/more strategic/etc. Games Workshop games have always been like an introduction course for bookkeeping! Which is a shame, because the figures are great - especially Island of Blood, they look awesome.

Basically if you like collecting/modelling/painting/spending huge amounts of money then fair enough, if you want to play a decent board/war game then definitely look somewhere else.

If it's just a way of getting into her knickers though, game on!

An excuse to post one of my favourite Viz cartoons:

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Took my lad into Games Workshop in Leeds this weekend because we had 10 minutes to kill. We were staggered at both the poor personal hygiene of the denizens, and the price of the kit. I thought Lego was expensive, but this is something else!

Yes I am a girl bigblackshed 🙂 and I know what you mean about the hard sell ! and we did get some chaps having trouble speaking to us which was quite funny 🙂 I do like painting the figures (not very well but good enough for me )

[img] [/img]

Yep, BBT came straight to my mind too 🙂

OP, I admire your bravery...

Made me chuckle CaptainFlashheart 🙂

Been selling my stuff on ebay (which reminds me - got more to sell), but got through to the finals of the Golden Demon Awards back in 19XX with a Skaven standard bearer.

Had a Skaven army for a while, but preferred 40k because it had guns. 🙂 The original Chaos had some wicked figures, but then they introduced Nurgle, Slannesh etc. etc. I guess Khorne is the nearest to the original 'Chaos' of old.

Caveat +1 - I haven't played for over 20 years but having recently sold all my figures and looked into it a bit, it hasn't fundamentally changed.

Edit: Flasheart, you are a bad, bad man. 😆

I suspect you're going to find a lot to laugh about if you get into WH and meet other players 😉

I was in Forbiden Planet in Bristol on Saturday and there were about 7 guys playing what looked like a My Little Pony top trumps game 😯

I used to do a lot of warhammer stuff (and the better, less cost-intensive games like Necromunda and Blood Bowl), I still like to drop into a GW shop and see what's what, take in the... heady atmosphere... Never likely to get back into it, not got the time or the money but I miss it.

Gaming can have a brilliant scene though, it's not all fatbeards and wolf shirts. I think mtb gearheads are one step away from miniature gamers tbh, there's definitely a crossover. We like tables of facts, this bike has a head angle of 66 and a ballistic skill of 4. And we are consumed by tiny yet mindboggling expensive bits of metal and plastic. MTB is the warhammer of sport.

Quite possibly the best thing to come out of GW / White Dwarf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrud_the_Barbarian

And we are consumed by tiny yet mindboggling expensive bits of metal and plastic.

Having just sold two very old Land Raiders on ebay for £70, this pleases me. 🙂

Played Blood Bowl a bit as a kid with mates that were into it but could never get into the full-on Warhammer stuff. I'd agree with NW there's a kind of spoddy crossover with MTB nerds though.

I liked Bloodbowl, amazing game.
Loved Space Hulk too, but the cost and arsing about put me off the huge tabletop stuff.

Still play AD&D occaisionally, all you need are a load of hideously expensive books and an imagination. 🙂
Same characters for 30 years too. 😯

PMJ, have you only just realised? 😀

Incidentally, What paintstripper for citadel acrylics on lead figs? (or plastic for that matter?) I must have a ton of money in a cardboard box in my parents' attic, but mostly half-painted or badly painted, if I could chuck them all in a tin of thinners for a week that'd be grand...

My son used to be heavily into this, less so now - the thing that cracked me up was when you could hear him and his mates arguing over which rule (and special exception to said rule) applied in each case, which rule book was in force, it TBH sounded as if they just made the rules up as they went along (or so it seemed)..

he did get quite good at the painting of the figures, as above, which was re-assuring, as I have a collection of well painted wargaming (as in WW2 war gaming) models somewhere in my folks' house, Tiger II tanks, rail guns, that sort of stuff.).

Happy days, never did warhammer, GW was too scene for me love my role-playing and live action stuff
Battletech took all my paper round money!

did try and get into a weekly role playing game a few years back, but I dont have the time these days, especially with kids

MTBing is a definite substitute for me though, same level of geekery relative expense and time commitments required!

What paintstripper for citadel acrylics on lead figs?

I used to use Acetone pretty successfully. Still requires a bit of scrubbing though.

I liked Bloodbowl, amazing game.

Still play it every now and then when I can drum up some interest!

Northwind - Member
Incidentally, What paintstripper for citadel acrylics on lead figs? (or plastic for that matter?) I must have a ton of money in a cardboard box in my parents' attic, but mostly half-painted or badly painted, if I could chuck them all in a tin of thinners for a week that'd be grand...

Not worth as much as you might expect unfortunately. I got about £70 for my lot (pretty big WH Fantasy Orc army) on ebay.

Happy with that tbh! (my battletech stuff otoh paid for my Soul frame and a pair of used Revelations... Quite happy with that!)

Well that's ok - actually I was quite pleased too though I have seen some armies go for hundreds - really well painted though so that seems to be the big difference.

I was gutted though that my carefully preserved 2000AD collection is apparently worth sweet FA. 🙁

MTB is the warhammer of sport

I loved a bit of WH40K and BloodBowl when I was a nipper - unknown to me my Dad kept the lot and now FuzzheadJr#1 is developing an interest!

Space Marines FTW 😉

I was into this a while back, still have some WH40K stuff, not enough for a full game though, quite enjoyed the painting side, not very good at it though.

I thought my son would like it, hence why I kept hold of it all, but we actually enjoy playing boardgames like Severn Wonders and Carcassonne etc more, easier, quicker, more varied and basically more fun.

GW have lost over 25% in share values since friday. they're on their way out. hold onto your stuff and sell it for a small fortune on ebay.

@Pimpmaster Jazz one of those landraiders may have made its way to me

This brings back some memories!
I cleared out my parents loft last year and found a big box of mint condition White Dwarf mags... will get round to looking through them one day which will be fun.

@Pimpmaster_Jazz - I have a vague memory of some epic battles round at Gareth's house... 🙂

greeble - Member

GW have lost over 25% in share values since friday. they're on their way out.

Not the first time they've taken a dive tbh but they're still up over the last few years.

Northwind.

Nitromors for stripping all metal figures. Obviously anything plastic will melt.

I've tried dettol or the supermarket own version for removing paint from plastic figures. You have to cover them completely and add a small amount of very hot water. Carefully, because the water can melt or distort the plastic. Takes ages and is a bit hit and miss.

I found this out when my eldest first started painting. He got a lot better and then wanted to repaint all of those figures.

I'm now in the process of teaching Boy2 how to paint lizard men. Dinosaurs on dinosaurs. 🙄

Played a bit of 40K when I was at school (ie. 20y ago).

No-one's mentioned the power gaming that turned large swathes of the gaming table into a killing zone for anything that was moved into them, and the rampant, uh, 'liberal' interpretation of the rules that I remember.

ratherbeintobago - sounds familiar.

Me - Eldar army. Fast, lightly armoured, minimal long-range heavy weapons, deadly up-close.

Mate - Space Marines. Slow, heavily-armoured, loads of long-range heavy weapons.

We played at his house. He set up the table in advance. Row of buildings along each edge with a huge empty space in the middle every time.

Stevo - was your mate's army entirely composed of devastator squads too? Artillery FTW 😛

I’d like to contribute to this thread, but there are people that I work, ride and generally associate with that frequent the forum who know me in Real Life © outside of STW – so I’ll leave it at that. Needless to say I have an inner geek* that has raged inside me since I was 12 (40) – a side of me that my wife finds hugely unappealing, taking the pi55 whenever it boils to the surface!

*I do draw the line at LARP’ing, however.

Used to play AD&D, with a bunch of mates, that used to involve pitching up at one mates place, who was DM, with a bag full of stat sheets, painstakingly painted figures, rule and reference books, and beer.
After two or three bottles, the standard of game playing and competent decision making usually entered a sort of death-spiral, although generally not leading to the actual death of a favourite character.
That we left for Call of Cthulhu... 😀

This thread explains everything about stw.

Will 3d printing be the way forward for Warhammer etc? Bye bye games workshop, no?

i had a [u]massive[/u] collection (20,000 points) of 'blood angels' made up of lots and lots of vehicles which i gave to my little bro, who was too young and trashed them.
I would be looking at a fair few grand if i sold them now 🙁 whoops

Hi there, Space Wolf Commander Tekintmick over here! (Although I have dabbled with Brettonia and Wood Elf forces in Warhammer before).

Welcome to the world of fantasy battles! Looking at your name, I'm assuming you're female? Which is even better to have you on board, since most gamers and modellers tend to be male (a bit like mountain bikers!)

It's sounds like you're thinking along the right lines so far - go to your local GW store and play a small game. A member of staff or a local Lieutenant will be happy to explain the basics to you. There's no better place to learn and the stores have a really relaxed vibe (unless Ragnar Blackmane is locked in hand to hand combat with a Carnifex! 😀 )

In terms of picking an army, you're on the right track. Pick the one you like the look of, they all have different characteristics and I'm sure one will appeal to your inner warlord!

The painting and modelling is the best part though since you can do it on your own. If you have absolutely nothing to do with your time then it's a great way to spend it - painting up squads to battle table standard, bringing out the fine detail on your commanders or making a crumbling factory diorama from empty Frosties packets - there's no better feeling. And a can of space wolves grey sprayed at close proximity is the ultimate high 😉

I mostly do painting and modelling now, since all my friends have given up gaming. I do sometimes setup a skirmish and play for both sides though.

Also, ignore the mocking that alot of people seem to take pleasure in. Some of the coolest people I know play wargames. Just because you're a gamer, it doesnt mean you're a hairy, pot bellied, adolescent with glasses and a Dream Theatre T shirt. I myself keep in shape (as any self respecting Space Wolf Commander would do) and I usually wear converse shoes, skinny jeans and sports brand (Fila/Reebok/Hi Tec) t shirts i.e. I'm not unfashionable.

Any way, enough about that. Hope the above is good encouragement!

sports brand (Fila/Reebok/Hi Tec) t shirts i.e. I'm not unfashionable.

FYI, Fila, Reebok & Hi Tec are deeply unfashionable

FYI, Fila, Reebok & Hi Tec are deeply unfashionable

In fairness, they were in fashion, back,in 1993 when he was just a corporal vampire wombat.

damn, it looks like I'm one of the mockery and I was actually interested when I opened this thread!

Used to play 40k a lot, I played mainly for the gaming side of it and did fairly okay in tournaments, in the end the stupid high places(started when a land raider was 25 quid, it was 40 when i stopped and i'd dread to think what is is now)drove me out, though i still read a lot of the fluff.

Oh, and Dawn of War 2 came out, I spent wayyyyyyyy too long on that game..

i always wanted to play space hulk/warhammer/D & D e.t.c but never had any friends who were into it 🙁

i did love painting the figures though (just not very good at it.

goes off to google space marine terminators

awesome 😀 [img] [/img]

Also, ignore the mocking that alot of people seem to take pleasure in. Some of the coolest people I know play wargames. Just because you're a gamer, it doesnt mean you're a hairy, pot bellied, adolescent with glasses and a Dream Theatre T shirt.

But the stereotype of Captain Sweatpants is disturbingly real.

Used to work for GW. Any decently trained staff won't be over the top with the sell, as pushing it where it's not wanted loses sales rather than gains them. So head down and be very clear with them what you're wanting. But also bear in mind that despite what they might like to give the impression of, it's a shop, not a club where they'll teach you everything, so any "learning" activity will be pushed in the direction of sales.

As for the "GW is about to die" rumours, it's happened many times before and they're still going. Every time prices go up, it's the end, yet never is. Could be wrong this time, but I doubt it.

And as for stripping models, our favourite method was brake fluid and an old toothbrush.

The best trick to get a cheap 40K army used to be to buy Space Crusade and nick all of the Marines from there.

I heard if you win all of the Warhammer they can take you in the back of the shop and give you back your virginity, if you need it.

I had quite a selection of 40k marines and a few space orks. Never played a game it was the building and painting thing I liked. Games always seemed too complicated when there were bikes to ride or boats to sail.

Warhammer 40K was the main game for me - Imperial Guards FTW! Land Raiders everywhere with Commissars and swathes of units swarming the battlefield.

Had a squad of terminators for the odd Space Hulk venture too.

And Blood Bowl - cracking game. Had two teams - one lot of orcs, snotlings and a troll, another team of skaven.

And every now and then a little bit of Adeptus Titanicus too.

Probably explains quite a lot, thinking about it.

I think mtb gearheads are one step away from miniature gamers tbh,

No no no...

stimpy - Member

And every now and then a little bit of Adeptus Titanicus too.

Epic scale stuff was the business... Made more sense too, "in the grim darkness of the 40th millenium... every conflict is settled by 30 guys punching each other in a field"

"Uh, hey, why is everyone so impressed by that dude over there with the spiky hat? I have this titan with a gun so big y'all could live inside it..."

"No! Too big for the [s]table[/s] battlefield. This war will be settled with spiky hats."

I bought a small group of 12 Lord of the rings figures. Enjoyed painting them, but I was already into bikes by this point so didn't bother again.

Thanks davidtaylforth 🙂 (yes female), Im going for a lesson later this week ( warhammer world ) after a few more lessons ( just to make sure I like it ) I will see which appeals to my inner warlord 🙂

Good luck with it. I rediscovered all my old models from when I was a kid a few years ago and got back into it for a while. Lots of good things about the game in theory, but it seems far too commercial now for my taste. The new rules are designed about selling models rather than creating a good game. There are lots of great guys who play but an equal number who take it all too seriously. Try and find a local independent club, normally a much better standard of play than at a store.

Ebay is your friend if you are putting a new army together

Just started selling my collection which is a bit heart wrenching...

I tried to get into it when I was younger but I always felt very out of place whenever I walked in gamesworkshop with my mates, just wasn't enough of a geek i suppose...

I still have a bunch of unopened LOTR warhammer at my mums house.

Northwind 😆

I loved the epic scale stuff. Imperial Titans were the absolute dogs nads.

Proper big guns FTW 😀

Anyone played warhammer quest on the iphone/ipad?

"No! Too big for the table battlefield. This war will be settled with spiky hats."

IIRC there was a 40K scale Reiver doing the rounds when I played.

@greeble - @Pimpmaster Jazz one of those landraiders may have made its way to me

I sold two of them in original box as a pair - quite early and rare IIRC as after that I only saw them sold singly. I've got another one and a Predator that will be heading ebay-ward at some point. Both were Golden Demon projects that were never completed (many, many years ago).

packer - This brings back some memories!
I cleared out my parents loft last year and found a big box of mint condition White Dwarf mags... will get round to looking through them one day which will be fun.

@Pimpmaster_Jazz - I have a vague memory of some epic battles round at Gareth's house...

Ha! Yes. Didn't he have a small dwarf army?

Think I binned all my White Dwarfs (White Dwarves?) 🙁

Some of the coolest people I know play wargames....

...since all my friends have given up gaming. I do sometimes setup a skirmish and play for both sides...

Stop now David - you're still ahead. 😉

he's not, he's so far behind i've been giggling for the last 18 hours....

Ha! Yes. Didn't he have a small dwarf army?

Think I binned all my White Dwarfs (White Dwarves?)

Yeah I think he did, I did too.

Just checked eBay and it turns out those old mags are worth next to nothing. Good excuse to keep them 🙂

geeks the lot of you.

I played WRG wargames with 25mm Ancient armies. Sad ultra geekness with real history thrown in (assuming the Sassanid Persians had a time machine and really did come up against Alexander the Great)

The tip to picking an army is pick one you can love even when it is losing . For me A the G's Macedonians cos they had flair and even if they were losing you can always rally two men and a dog on a hill and go down fighting. I hated the ancient Brittan's as points wise they were cheep as chips so it was hard to fit them all on a table, a pain to move all of them and they either won in a few tidal wave like moves or jacked it in and ran away en mass.

Used to play loads when I was younger. Had a pretty decent sized Dark Angel army but sold it all. A friend of mine had his loft boarded out and a few of us would set up huge multi army games which would take up many after school evenings. Good fun when arguments weren't breaking out over the rules.

Even though I don't collect the models or game anymore i'm still heavily caught up in the 40K Novels. Only discovered them a few years ago and i'm completely hooked.

ratherbeintobago - Member

IIRC there was a 40K scale Reiver doing the rounds when I played.

Ooh. There were always people doing Warhounds (or planning to) and gargants but that's a bit of a step up.I saw photos of some guy that was doing a wrecked warlord terrain set- individual pieces like a cannon sticking out of the ground, or a chunk of shoulder armour you could move into. Ace.

Mucked about with it when i was younger, enjoyed painting them more than playing.

I would not mention playing it to anyone you want to have any alone-time with, my oh still takes the piss that i even had anything to do with it when i was younger - unless they play too that is.

Bloody strange guys in some of the shops, harmless but strange...

I used to play a bit but much preferred the painting of the figures.

War Hammer 40k for me with a Space Marine army. A few if my mates used to be in to it too and most of the games turned into an argument.

Looking back now it was quite nerdy.

Played for a good few years from school through to Uni. Mainly Epic and 40k, Ultramarines ftw. As I got older I became more into painting and modelling dioramas than playing, which seems to be the trend for many.
I did really like the relatively short lived Man O War maritime game, had a Dwarf navy for that, slow but hard as ****!
At the peak of my interest me and a few mates spent weeks of summer holiday time setting up giant games. We would start with an Epic scale one and then whenever bits got to look tasty we would move into 40k and fight them as skirmishes in that, using e outcomes of the 40k games instead of just playing the Epic rules. Sigh, those were the Lynx drenched heavy metal soundtracked black t shirt and jeans fuelled days....

Just checked eBay and it turns out those old mags are worth next to nothing. Good excuse to keep them

The figures are still collecting small fortunes. They certainly haven't got any cheaper...

For me the best was Gorkamorka. Reason being, no bugger ever actually played it but it was brilliant for modelwork. Basically 40K orks, without any of the gameplay restrictions, and with added Mad Max and LRDG. Got to find those Trukks.

I used to play Warhammer fantesy when I was a lot younger, then moved onto 40k, then more or less settled into Necromunda for a few years as it was cheaper and gave us a bit more quick fun. A lot of the folks I used to game with do bike, or fell run. Just introverted people doing introverted sports I suppose.

I still play board games quite a bit, even got my partner gaming now which is nice. It took a while but it's good as we can just relax and do 'not exercise' type things together. No TV in the house so it's a nice way to spend an evening.