Gaming

What is Warhammer? And why do people play it?

Hey folks! today we are going to talk about War Hammer. War Hammer is a tabletop wargame created by a business called ‘Games Workshop’ started back in 1983 with Warhammer Fantasy battles and in 1987 it branched off to Warhammer 40,000 or shortened to Warhammer 40k which is a science fiction set in the far future version of the games. There’s a fantasy, there’s a sci-fi and it’s a tabletop wargame so, there is a huge table that people play on and they use little miniatures, and then they move them around so in this overview we’re going to talk about why people do this, the basics of the game and what it has kind of off stood it to so things like video games. I am NOT going to be covering the story so, if you’re looking for what’s happening in the world of Warhammer that’s not what this overview is about. This is for people that know nothing and just want to know why do people do that? Instead of all the intricacies of what has happened in the story, if you’re interested in that I’m sure there’s a lot of overviews but that’s not what this is so.

Where to Start From?

There are a lot of different ways for someone to engage in Warhammer and there are different types of hobbyists. Buy a starter pack for Warhammer from a specific ‘Games Workshop’ store or most hobby shops. Choosing what to buy as a beginner is relatively easy as they have designated kits which come with enough figures and a basic rule book for you. When you open the box, everything is unassembled and unpainted. The starter kit is just a taste. Once you decide to dive in, you need to choose what army you want to play as there’s a huge selection with at least 15 different armies to choose from.

For fantasy; this might be something like would elves be undead, or Gers goblins, or demons? Warhammer 40k gets a little more exotic with things such as the ‘alien Tyranids’ or you could stick to the more familiar ‘Space Marines’.

Each army has a book that you would buy, which outlines the different models and what they do in the game so here’s where the fun comes in. You decide entirely on how to compose your army. Let’s say, I was making a ‘wood elf army’. I built mine around tree spirits so, things like nimble wood dryads a large tree ken these models all act differently on the field.

How to Play Warhammer?

You use a ruler to navigate so, a group of dryads might be able to move eight inches of turn. Models have varying numbers, which represents how fast they are so, in a big game when you have lots of choices you can move specific models into different formations to try to capitalize on what makes those models strong. The tables are also usually covered in various terrain which you’ll need to take into account. Eagle might be able to fly over certain terrain so he’d serve a very different purpose. Each type of model has unique abilities. Homemade tree man might shake the ground he walks on knocking other units over in Warhammer 40k. A group of orcs armed with pistols might do one thing well while a group of orcs armed with flamethrowers might need to watch out for fear of hurting their units. There are different rules for entire armies. The ‘orcs’ might need to stay near the commander or they might decide to go rogue and abandon the battle. The ‘wood elves’ might get bonuses, if they’re near a tree terrain so, that might decide how you approach the battle. With at least 15 armies and 24 armies (Warhammer 40k factions) to choose from each battle will be very different.

Use dice for a lot of purposes in the game as well so, when you finally engage in battle, you’ll check your rulebook for how many dice each gets to roll and what number you need to succeed. While you do have a lot of flexibility, some things are determined by luck so, now you’ve played the starter kit a few times you’ve chosen what army to collect, you bought them, you’ve painted them, they’re ready to go where do you find people to play?

How to Find Players?

Most hobby shops have tables and terrain ready for people to play war games whether Warhammer or any of the other games that have become popular. You can meet a lot of people in these stores you can play with as well as learn from. They also tend to have painting stations where you can spend a day just painting with other folks. This is also a chance to see huge battles play out with more players and bigger miniatures. There’s a process for how many and what models you get to use for the game. It might be a set number of points where each model has a point value, a game of a thousand points might mean you can either choose a lot of small models if you’re playing something like Tyranids or a few really powerful models for things like space marines, this way the army should be relatively balanced. You also get some customizable options, when you’re building the models. It might come with all sorts of options you can choose from.

The Downside of Warhammer

It is incredibly expensive to play either version of War hammer. The starter set for fantasy right now is a hundred and twenty-five dollars at 40k is 110 but both of these contain enough models to play a small game, plus dice rulers and a basic rule book. There are bigger rule books with much more extensive rules that you could buy, you’ll also want the coolest models in your army. A commander for one of the Warhammer factions is 50 dollars by himself and remembers that they come unpainted. You do invest in tons of paints, brushes, glue, fake grass, and rocks for your bases. It’s an incredibly expensive hobby but you get a lot of time as a long game can take you an entire day to play plus countless hours painting and preparing your armies. You can buy an army, paint it up to perfection, and then sell it for a little more than you paid for it. There are a lot of people out there that don’t like painting, they don’t want to deal so, they’re willing to pay a little extra to have someone do it for them. So, if you are not interested in playing the game you can also build the armies, put them together, paint them for others.

That’s the basics Warhammer is branched out to more than just a tabletop game though there have been several video games including the popular dawn of war series. There’s also a huge number of books that you can dive into if the world sounds interesting. Creative people use these books to thematically create an army such as choosing specific units to match what happens in the book.

So, in a nutshell, Warhammer is a tabletop wargame you can go the route of choosing fantasy its latest iteration called Age of Sigmar or you can go the route of Warhammer 40,000 you can paint and model or you can look for pre-painted armies on eBay for usually around five to eight hundred dollars. You can also lookup your nearest hobby shop and see if they have days designated for Warhammer that you can stop by and watch people play and ask questions. They also usually have the starter kit set up so that the staff can play a game with you and you can see how it plays.

For more updates stay tuned with us or you can visit the Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page. Let us know your views and experiences by commenting below. Happy Gaming!

Syed Daniyal Hussain

Syed Daniyal Hussain is a passionate blogger, an internet marketing professional, and a website developer. By reading his posts it’s easy to see how passionate about his work and life Daniyal really is. He’s to the point, genuine, and tells how it is. Hire Him now.

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