Unfortunately the Golden Summer is over. This year has seen a sustained release of Warhammer Army Books that have injected continued life and interest into the game. We’ve seen Warriors of Chaos, Daemons of Chaos, High Elves, Lizardmen and finally Dark Elves released. I’m not a huge fan of High Elves, in fact I despise the pointy-eared gits, but it is nice to have an updated book that at least gives us new units to crush. Also given the significant boost they have received – still denied by PEG apologists – it is now a challenging and more rewarding crushing of their hopes and dreams.
It's Going To Be A Hard Year Rat Brothers
But from here on in it is all downhill. The next three books are assumed to be Dwarfs, Wood Elves and Bretonnians (oh that GW would just release them as a single book called Warhammer Insignificant Armies for People Who Like to Whine About How bad Their Lot Is. Yes I know this might be a little hard on Bret players but seriously who cares). Brace yourself for 6-9 months of incessant grumbling from the handful of people interested in these armies.
It is so depressing thinking how these releases will sour what has been a great time for Warhammer. I wish I could just fast forward to the release of new Skaven and Beastmen books.
yes, winter is coming... again. Kind of tired of this saying. been overused.
ReplyDeleteTOTALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO BLOWING A WAD OF CASH ON BRETONNIANS
Grail Knights Monstrous Cavalry on Giant Lions FTW!
I bet you are a secret dwarf lover really Pete...
ReplyDeleteTaking bets now on how long Pete takes to start a Dwarf army after they become the new filth
ReplyDeleteName your stake!
ReplyDeleteIts all about the filth factor. Dwarves are just filthy anyway, sitting and shooting, boring... Whats with that ? My dwarf army has been sitting on the shelf for years. (A single exception - a single outing at a club night recently to face a (not expected) Filthy Empire Chicken list - no fun that was) What will they get, monstrous cavalry or flyers, Strollaz Rune buffed up ? Dwarf Magic? Like the lore and fluff, but they are just boring to play.
ReplyDeleteI believe i can proudly go on record and say that i have yet to complain about how bad my lot is since i started the wood elves. I keep on seeing glimpses of victory and brilliance with them.
ReplyDeleteThese three books will be the true test of GW's ability to write good army books. All of them have limits imposed on them by their fluff. Making them more competitive and giving them more choices while staying true to that background will be hard. Not impossible, but more difficult than just tacking on some monstrous stuff and a new lore.
ReplyDeleteLike I've said before, if Dwarves are much the same, just with a Orsome!!! cannon chariot and some new war machines I'll be pretty irate.
As for being the least popular armies, I had a look at the army breakdown over five Wgtn tournaments this year; Runefang, Horned Gobbo, Call To Arms, Warpfire and Skitterleap. A total of 134 players (obviously lots of double-ups), gives us the following;
Warriors 19
High Elves 12
Daemons 11
Lizardmen 11
Vampire Counts 11
Skaven 11
Ogre Kingdoms 10
Dwarves 9
Orcs and Goblins 8
Empire 6
Brettonians 5
Wood Elves 5
Beastmen 5
Dark Elves 5
Tomb Kings 3
Chaos Dwarves 2
Expected mean is 8.4. So any army with 9 or over could be considered popular.
Brettonians and Wood Elves are sadly lacking. But those glorious Dwarves are more popular than Empire, Orcs and Dark Elves it seems, and not far off Ogres, Lizards, Skaven (retch!) and Daemons.
Roll on March, and we'll see if GW are up to the challenge.
Tane, I knew you'd rise to the bait! I'm not belittling the Dwarfs. They are a solid, competitive army. The limitation is in their movement and lack of magic, as you say, its in the fluff. I reckon a spell-caster or two, mobile cannon, monstrous cavalry or effective flyers would make a huge difference. My beloved Druchii are soft up close, but the new book has given me soooo many options! Having said that, their survivability against WoC, DoC or Ogre Death Stars, Monstrous Cavalry and roaming cannons will always make them a less than popular tournament choice (You can rain as many blows or arrows on Epidemius on the portaloo as you want, but you ain't gonna survive the grind. Dwarfs stand a better chance there) I just like to take the battle to the enemy, rather than wait for it to come to me!
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