Games Workshop’s recent Old World Almanac posts promise a fresh, new take on a classic game system, but just how fresh and new is it really? Let’s take a closer look.
Warhammer Fantasy has been around a looooong time. I am not going to bore you with a history lesson here (though I may in the future!), but suffice to say that it is old “AF” as the kids once said, but those kids are now all grown up, because it’s so damn old. Why does this matter? Well, over the last month GW has been hyping up the new rules, saying things like “Warhammer: The Old World is a new game, designed from the ground up.” To which I say:
I’m not saying this is a bad thing. I own a copy of every edition (except 2nd) of Warhammer Fantasy, in one form (physical) or another (pdf). Though I have not actually played all of these editions, I have read them, and I see a lot of familiar ideas in these Old World Almanack posts. What has surprised me is how far back GW has gone to find some of these ideas, and I thought it might surprise some of you as well.
There have been four Old World Almanack posts discussing: game and turn structure, movement, shooting and combat, with morale & psychology coming next week and presumably a post about magic after that. There are plenty of honest wargamers out there on the interwebs spending hours dissecting these posts to understand their implications for the final game and the tournament scene. I have limited interest in tournaments and little talent for this kind of prognostication, so instead I thought it would be interesting to do a sort of reverse analysis.
Over the next several posts I want to examine each Old World Almanack entry and the claim of a brand new game, written from a blank page. We will have Ballistic Skill and Weapon Skill charts going all the way back to the 80s! Movement rules that got complex, then simplified, then complex again! Magic systems that are so different you will have to see them to believe them, and much, much more! This is going to be fun.
Do you still play any edition of Warhammer? Were you even in the hobby when it was still a supported game? Sing the praises of your favorite edition in the comments!
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