Warhammer Fantasy

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Image:Dwarfs.jpg

Warhammer or Warhammer Fantasy is a fantasy setting created by Games Workshop, in which many games of that company are set, the best known ones being the Warhammer Fantasy Battles wargame, and the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay role-playing game. There is also a related science fiction setting called Warhammer 40,000.

It is notable for its "dark and gritty" aspect, and its background world, which features a culture very like Renaissance Germany crossed with Tolkien's Middle-earth. Chaos is central to the setting, as the forces of Chaos are attempting unceasingly to tear the mortal world asunder. The world itself is populated with a variety of races such as humans, dark elves, high elves, dwarfs, undead, orcs, lizardmen, ogres, and other creatures familiar to many settings.

Contents

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History

The first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles was released by Games Workshop in the Spring of 1983. Prior to this release, the company dealt primarily with the importing of American Role-playing games, as well as support and review of gaming products through their periodical, White Dwarf. With the release of the third edition of the game in 1987 (as well as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay the year before) the game moved from merely a set of wargame rules into a full-fledged fantasy setting.

In 1992 the fourth edition of the game was released, marking a newer era of greater mass-market appeal. Four years later the fifth edition upgraded both rules and miniatures, but did not fully replace core game mechanics, as previous editions had.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles is currently in its sixth edition (released in 2000), a change that dropped the card-based supplemental rules of the previous two editions, as well marked a shift toward balance-oriented tournament play. Re-releasing of old armybooks, beginning in 2006 with Warhammer Armies: Dwarves, has begun a new "rules recycling". A new edition is confirmed to be released in Autumn 2006. Various theories concerning its likely shape are being bandied about on many online Warhammer forums. The new edition is considered by many players to very likely be a minor upgrade of the sixth edition rules - fixing major causes for complaint, such as the magic system, and re-wording rules to make them more comprehensible.

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Rules

Over warhammer’s many generations the rules for the game have changed. The Stats of models have changed and so have the things they can do. All of these rules are shown in the Warhammer rulebook and some I will list now. For example:

Stats

every model has it’s own stat line, this stat line shows how far a model can move, how strong it is and even how likely it is to survive a blow. A standard Humans stat line is as follows:

M WS BS S T W I A LD

4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7

Movement: This is how many inches a model can move without marching or charging. This value is doubled for the just mentioned actions

Weapon Skill: this value is compared with the opposing models value in combat, combined with a dice roll this decides whether you hit the opponent or not

Ballistic Skill: This value is subtracted from seven and then attempted to be beaten on a dice. If successful then the model will hit the opposition with a bow if he has one.

Strength: this is compared with the opposition models toughness to generate a number, this is then attempted to be beaten on a dice.

Toughness: this is used when the Opposition attacks you in the way described above.

Wounds: this is how many times the above process of wounding can be successful before the said model is removed.

Initiative: If neither model dies in one turn of combat or there is more than one model in the combat and a complete annihilation has not occurred then this is used to see who strikes first in the next round.

Attacks: this is how many attempts the said model has at trying to wound the opposition. The standard value is one

Leadership: This value is how likely a model is to run away. Two dice are rolled and if the value is below the Leadership then the models stays put. Otherwise the model flees and rolls two or three dice to see how far it goes

Also a model has an Armour save which can be modified with extra armour. This value is attempted to be beaten on one dice.

There are many other rules, hundreds probably. All of which are explained in the Warhammer rule book which is a staggering two hundred and eighty eight pages long on A4 paper.

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Warhammer Background

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Setting

To many players, the story or background of Warhammer is just as important as games and miniatures. Alongside Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer is among the oldest of commercial fantasy worlds, a direct descendant of both that game and Tolkien's Middle-earth. What is currently recognizable as the Warhammer World began with the first edition of the game, but took off as its own setting with the release of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and the 3rd edition in 1987.

Warhammer has developed a very recognizable stylistic image set. Skulls feature prominently, as well as gothic architecture, absurdly large weapons and shoulder-armor, and bizarre imagery reminiscent of director Terry Gilliam's work, as well as a strong dose of black comedy. From its inspiration from Michael Moorcock's novels, the Warhammer World is centered around the classic Man vs. Himself literary theme. The Chaos Gods are personified flaws of humankind; the inner literal daemons of living things come back through a magic medium to torment and kill. The ultimate victory of these forces is often hinted at, highlighting a strong assumption that sentient beings are fundamentally flawed and will eventually bring about their own destruction via the forces of Chaos. This is especially tragic in light of the outside, non-Chaotic forces that threaten civilized beings; rampaging Orcs, political strife, and general warfare.

Chaos was introduced into the Warhammer World by the Old Ones; star-traveling gods responsible for the creation of most of the setting's sentient races. These Old Ones were brought low by the daemonic forces inadvertently unleashed by their Warp Gates (one at either pole), leaving their creations to fend for themselves. This backstory also provides an easy explanation for the variety of familiar fantasy races, although provides a logical framework for them to fit in. Ogres and halflings, for example, are closely related. Both are resistant to the mutating effects of Chaos energies (fueled by hearty appetites and efficient metabolisms), but have opposite physical templates.

Warhammer owes quite a bit to a variety of sources. Many events are lifted and modified directly from real-world history, including the Black Plague and the Moorish invasion of Spain, and others from original fantasy sources. Like Middle-earth, Warhammer's Elves are declining in population, and a Great Necromancer is reborn after defeats in his Southern stronghold.

Many recent games have borrowed from Warhammer's distinctly exaggerated imagery, most notably the Warcraft universe. The particular green-skinned Warhammer Orcs and Goblins have infiltrated games as diverse as Warcraft, Magic: The Gathering, and Mage Knight. Warcraft also features a creation story very similar to that of Warhammer, with a creator race being driven off by daemonic forces from a dimension of magic.

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Races and Nations

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The Realms of Men and Their Allies

Mankind has a strong foothold in the Warhammer World, and of all races can prove to be the most resistant or most susceptible to Chaos. Most of the featured human nations are based in theOld World.

  • Bretonnia - A throwback feudal nation that relies on its haughty knights, heraldry, and their mysterious patron for military strength. Some consider it to be similar to the French armies before the Hundred Years' War, combined with a heavy dose of Arthurian Myth.
  • Dogs of War - Gold-hungry mercenaries and their exotic allies who primarily hail from the city-states of Tilea. Based upon real-world 15th century Italy.
  • The Empire - Mightiest nation of the Old World; as strong in its military might as it is increasingly corrupt from within. Some consider the Empire to be heavily based upon the real-world Holy Roman Empire, especially during the Renaissance.
  • Kislev - A hardy Northern nation, ally of the Empire, who bears the burden of a close physical proximity to the maddening Realm of Chaos, reminiscent of a mixture of medieval Russia, Mongolia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
  • Dwarfs - An ancient and obsessive race integral in the founding of the Empire, the Dwarfs spend their days avenging grudges and counting gold.
  • Ogre Kingdoms - Massive Eastern barbarians who will do any work for gold and eat anything (and anyone!) to fill their bellies. Some consider the ogres to be based largely on the Siberian tribes including Mongolians, Turks, Tungusic, Merkits and Tatars.
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The Elven Nations

The Elves were the second civilised race to walk the world. Brought from creation by the Lizardmen, the Elves showed an adaptness to magic. Torn asunder many thousands of years ago by a great civil war, there are three major nations of Elves.

  • Dark Elves - The relentless and bitter Druchii still follow Malekith, who was exiled but still claims to be the rightful heir to the throne of the Elven Kingdoms of Ulthuan.
  • High Elves - The Asur carry on the ancient traditions of the Elven people on their Atlantis-like island continent, as well as the burdens of many millennia of arrogance and warfare.
  • Wood Elves - The ruthless Asrai abandoned their kin to both protect and restrain the strange sentient forest of Athel Loren.

In the first edition of the game, the elves were divided in other nations: Sea Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves and the Night Elves. Sea Elves are now seen part of the High Elves.

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Servants of the Old Ones

  • Lizardmen - First created by the Old Ones to aid in their great genetic works, the Slann now lead the Lizardmen blindly via prophesies containing incomprehensible and ancient instructions from their fallen gods, who may or may not someday return, depending on science and the technological advancements of the lizardmen. Lizardmen are also heavily based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures.
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Greenskins

  • Orcs and Goblins - Amoral raiders who love a good scrap, Orcs and Goblins are as intrinsic to the Old World as death and taxes.

The orcs and goblins use a magic power called Waaagh! magic. The magic is drawn from the power and energy of fighting orcs and goblins. A orc and goblin horde is called a Waaagh! Another type of greenskin related to the Common Goblin, the diminutive Gnoblar, is found living as the obsessive sycophants to the Ogre Hordes in the Mountains of Mourn. East of the Mountains of Mourn, upon the boarders of Cathay, live the Hobgoblins, a race of greenskins somewhere between the size of a Goblin and an Orc, but more cunning than both. Hobgoblins can also be found as slaves under the dominion of the Chaos Dwarfs.

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Slaves to Darkness

While the energies of Chaos touch all things magical, there are those who fully give themselves to the deities of this realm, and seek to conquer not just the works of the Old Ones, but the very fabric of reality itself.

There used to be combined Chaos Army in the early 1990s, which was later renamed Realm of Chaos in the late 1990s. Then they split the Chaos forces into the Beasts and Hordes.

  • Beasts of Chaos - Whether born bestial to human parents or raised among mutants, these Beastmen hate all that is civilized and untouched by the glories of Chaos.
  • Chaos Dwarfs - Tireless overseers of soulless industry, the Chaos Dwarfs worship their own Chaos God; Hashut, the Father of Darkness. As of 2005, the Chaos Dwarfs are slowly being dropped as a full race. Their braided beards and Lamassu monsters are drawn from Mesopotamian art and mythology.
  • Hordes of Chaos - Primarily humans who are favored by the Four Great Gods of Chaos, these marauders emerge from the areas below the Northern Warp Gate with the support of Man's fears given form by the winds of magic; the daemons of Chaos.
  • Skaven - Children of the Great Horned Rat, the Skaven are a Chaotic mockery of Man's nations. Inventive and insane, the ratmen live in a vast network of tunnels beneath all the Warhammer World called the Under-empire.
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The Spawn of Nagash

Fueled by the Chaotic sorceries devised by the first necromancer, Nagash, the undead of the Old World do not rest easily.

Up to the 2000s, there was a single Undead army. Afterwards, it was split into the Romanian-/Transyvanian-themed Vampires and Egyptian styled Tomb Kings.

  • Vampire Counts - Disciples of Nagash who stole his secrets of eternal life, the vampires and their minions have spread across the Old World, furthering their own aims.
  • Tomb Kings - Nagash was once one of the most powerful priests in the ancient, Egyptian-inspired land of Nehekhara. When his necromantic magics killed off much of the countryside, the remaining Liche Priests used his own magics to revive long-dead warriors & kings from their pyramids.
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Geography

The world of Warhammer is similar in climate to Earth. In fact, most of its landmasses, (human) cultures and ethnicities in the area are roughly analogous to the geography of Earth. These similarities were originally implicitly explained by reference to a race who went around the universe creating similar worlds. Correspondence between places in the Warhammer world and in the real one, with varying degrees of subtlety includes:

The World's Edge Mountains hold the last dwarf strongholds and form part of the border of the Empire. To the east of the World's Edge Mountains (the Carpathians in the real world) lies the fabled land of Cathay and the Ogre Kingdoms.

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Warhammer games

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Wargames

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Role-playing games

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Board games

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Collectible card games

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Computer games

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Warhammer books

Outside of games, there have also been numerous novels and short stories by various authors set in the Warhammer world, the most famous of which are the Gotrek and Felix novels by William King.

Early in his career, Kim Newman wrote several Warhammer novels under the name 'Jack Yeovil'. Some elements from these books (in particular his heroine Genevieve Dieudonne) later reappeared in the award-winning Anno-Dracula series.

Check the Black Library section of the Games Workshop website for the complete list of books.

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See also

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External links

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