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Dungeons & Dragons vs Warhammer Fantasy

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Leunam

Member
Personally the reason why I dislike Age of Sigmar is that they completely ditched the awesome Warhammer Fantasy lore for... whatever the hell they tried to do this time. I just prefer The Old World over Sigmar's Backyard, which I am glad lives on through other media like Total Warhammer.

I liked the Old World a lot, but the new one seems to be ramped up to be as bombastic as 40k. Sigmar trying to reunite those worst affected by the Chaos victory is a pretty fun read, like his liberation of the Duardin (dwarves) and Earth shaking brawl with the Orruk (Orc) god that ends with them having a good laugh.
 
Someone post that 4chan story of the roleplaying group that spent months on the front lines of a W40K defense mission and had to churn out character sheets faster than they could write them.

For the prologue to their main campaign.

*EDIT* Found It

L2ASKOM.png
 

Dreavus

Member
They are completely different games, really no relation beyond some similarities in setting (if we're talking about forgotten realms). As others have said Warhammer is a larger scale tactical turn based war game where as D&D is a deeper RPG experience (as you know).

If we are comparing it to D&D 4th edition then it starts to creep a little bit closer as a tactical game, but still very different. AFAIK Warhammer generally doesn't involve an overarching campaign or "story" (outside of the lore) and is essentially a competitive game experience, like playing a 1v1 in starcraft.

I understand warhammer is very expensive to get into too, yeah. With D&D, beyond a few of the source books, you don't need a lot to start playing especially if you want to make your own campaign.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
DnD 5e is much more like DnD 2e than 3.0 or 4e, and is waaaaay simpler than the rules bloated monster that is 3.5/pathfinder. Never been a better time for old school did players to get back into it.
 

Leunam

Member
Someone post that 4chan story of the roleplaying group that spent months on the front lines of a W40K defense mission and had to churn out character sheets faster than they could write them.

For the prologue to their main campaign.

*EDIT* Found It

This is pretty hilarious.

Equally likely that they were all either executed on the spot, genestealer infection or not, or rolled into the Ordo Xenos.

Had they been fighting Daemons though, there's precedent for straight up execution of all survivors.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
on the topic of Warhammer though (being this all stemmed from Total Warhammer)

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2016/11/gw-new-battleforce-deal-breakdowns.html

basically Games Workshop (the modern version, that is actually doing good stuff), is releasing (possibly holiday-only) army sets. The BOLS page has the breakdown, but rumor is these sets will retail for $170, and each contain models that combined individually come in around $275-350 a piece. So you are saving $100+ per set.. AND they combine perfectly (almost too perfectly) with the existing Start Collecting sets. So basically for $255 you'll get 40ish miniatures..
 
I used to play Warhammer fantasy back in the day, and that's why I have such a soft spot for Skaven (and ratmen in general) and Lizardmen, since those 2 were the factions I played.
However, it became way too expensive and a bit too boring for me eventually, even though I used paper printouts of the miniatures I didn't have.The lore is pretty cool though, and I still think I have those old 2nd and 3rd edition army books from the 90s lying around among my books.

Anyway, I haven't really paid much attention to it since then. I hear the Vampires got split from the Undead, and there's like a bunch of additional Chaos factions now as well.

I still play D&D though. And as someone said on the first page, technically you could play a D&D campaign within the lore of Warhammer fantasy.

Also, I never got into Warhammer 40k. Not my kinda setting. :s
 
If anyone wants a simple dungeon-crawler game set in the modern Warhammer realms (yes, realms with an s), you can certainly do worse than the new iteration of the 90's classic Warhammer Quest.

BmqLzVm.jpg


It's great fun.
 
Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader is the way to go if you want to play Warhammer 40k as a pen and paper RPG.i actually don't know if they have one for Warhammer Fantasy. I mean I'd assume so,doee anyone know what it's called?
 
One question I have always had about warhammer.


How are battlefields created in terms of layout. I get that there is a sort of point system for armies, but how do battle field work
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
How comparable is this to hero quest or descent

extremely comparable to descent. cut from very similar cloth. descent has a lower upfront cost, but a WAY higher back end cost with seemingly never ending expansions.

heroquest... umm.. sort of in the same vein.. though heroquest is WAY more friendly/gateway/beginner (whatever you want to call it) heroquest close to 1 hour.. WQ closer to 2+ hours.

One question I have always had about warhammer.


How are battlefields created in terms of layout. I get that there is a sort of point system for armies, but how do battle field work

neutral terrain is typically decided/agreed upon prior to the game. faction specific terrain/items count against points.

most battlefields are either relatively symmetrical, or if they are very asymmetrical it is usually some sort of scenario (capture, hold out, etc)
 

Leunam

Member
One question I have always had about warhammer.


How are battlefields created in terms of layout. I get that there is a sort of point system for armies, but how do battle field work

Generally you need a 4' x 6' area to play on. Besides that, you'll need terrain that can block line of sight to serve as cover for advancing troops on foot, vehicles that may be wary of anti tank weapons, fragile troops with long range shooting that don't want to be up close on the action, army commanders, etc. There are guidelines to follow for terrain allotment and placement, but we always played with a house rule that says you need enough terrain to cover a quarter of the board but scattered across the battlefield to prevent walls or a block of cover in the center, for instance. After terrain is placed, players decide who goes first among themselves, then they pick a long table edge to begin deploying their troops.

There are lots of variations to this, but this is the most common method I've seen across different wargames.


All these tables are more elaborate, the scenery is mostly built into the table with very little adjustment possible. But these are examples for Flames of War, 40k, Age of Sigmar, Batman, and Infinity.
 

Leunam

Member
Did someone say Warhammer 40K? Come ye all. Come and hear the tale of the 2 great generals, wheels and shooter, and their epic battle for control over a table.

http://imgur.com/gallery/V0gND

That's gotta be older than three years now. Still gets a laugh out of me.

Reminds me of a match I watched back in the day where this guys Orks swarmed every exit of an immobilized Land Raider and prevent the passengers from escaping lest they be destroyed. Following turn, Land Raider suffers a penetrating blow from what I think was a looted Lascannon and the guy loses his passengers anyway because they're forced to disembark.
 
I love video games and board games, so I'm lucky warhammer and those miniatures games don't appeal to me in the least.. I mean, if it has Orcs, and it isn't Tolkein, it's usually trash.

Not really dissing traditional DnD. I guess that's cool. I've never played though.
 
This is pretty hilarious.

Equally likely that they were all either executed on the spot, genestealer infection or not, or rolled into the Ordo Xenos.

Had they been fighting Daemons though, there's precedent for straight up execution of all survivors.

Spoiler: Yes to all of the above options.

Also holy shit as of last year the campaign is still going and the DM still posts story updates.

I've been reading them all day.
 
I always preferred pen and paper RPGs to miniature war gaming, but I did have fun with Warhammer 40K Epic and Space Crusade. Was always too poor as a kid to build Warhammer armies.

These days I play cooperative board and card games.

Edit: played DND, TMNT and Other Strangeness, Cyberpunk 2020, Call Of Cthulhu, White Wolf (Vampire/Werewolf/Mage mostly), Amber diceless RPG and a few other random things and homebrewed systems. Would probably play these days but don't think I have enough other people in my social circle who would be interested in playing.
 

Dreavus

Member
I love video games and board games, so I'm lucky warhammer and those miniatures games don't appeal to me in the least.. I mean, if it has Orcs, and it isn't Tolkein, it's usually trash.

Not really dissing traditional DnD. I guess that's cool. I've never played though.

What about Orks though? :p
 
When I was a kid I fucking loved looking at the arranged and fully painted sets of Warhammer and especially Warhammer 40k.

Then I bought one little expensive ass model myself and tried to paint it and it was a fucking disaster. I was crushed. Never bothered with it again.
 

Keasar

Member
I love video games and board games, so I'm lucky warhammer and those miniatures games don't appeal to me in the least.. I mean, if it has Orcs, and it isn't Tolkein, it's usually trash.

Not really dissing traditional DnD. I guess that's cool. I've never played though.

OI!

265348913_e1eddf159f_z.jpg
 

Fou-Lu

Member
As much as I love the Warhammer setting I will point out there are A FUCKTON of miniature wargames out there. The hobby has never been bigger.

You've got:
Warhammer AoS
Warhammer 40k
Blood Bowl
Kings of War
The 9th Age
Warmachine and Hordes
Malifaux
Infinity
Wrath of Kings
Guild Ball
Dropzone Commander
Halo Fleet Battles and Halo Ground Command
Arena Rex
Frostgrave
X-Wing
Middle Earth Miniatures Game
Beyond the Gates of Antares
Dark Age
Bolt Action
All Quiet on the Martian Front
Relic Blade
Marvel
Batman
This is Not a Test
Bushido
A billion historical games
And many many many more.

And they all play radically differently from eachother. It's an amazing and crazy hobby.
 

Helznicht

Member
As much as I love the Warhammer setting I will point out there are A FUCKTON of miniature wargames out there. The hobby has never been bigger.

You've got:
Frostgrave

Gonna call out this one as I think it fits the theme of this thread. Its a Miniature skirmish game at heart, but the scenarios are linked into campaigns that make it feel much more RPGish. Its also a very inexpensive miniatures game as that can be used with literally anything fantasy you have lying around or can dig out of a $ bin at a game store. Rule book is also only $20, so very easy to get into. If you want the elaborate dioramas, thats either you doing some modeling, or dropping big bucks on premade or kits, but it worth it for me.

Nice overview/review: http://www.critskillpeople.com/2016/04/frostgrave-review.html/

Some layouts of my table:

PXFZMtr.jpg


lPK1cwU.jpg
 

Tubobutts

Member
I liked the Old World a lot, but the new one seems to be ramped up to be as bombastic as 40k. Sigmar trying to reunite those worst affected by the Chaos victory is a pretty fun read, like his liberation of the Duardin (dwarves) and Earth shaking brawl with the Orruk (Orc) god that ends with them having a good laugh.
That's why I don't like Age of Sigmar. I like both the old Fantasy setting and 40k for different reasons. I don't need them to both be the same thing.
 
That's why I don't like Age of Sigmar. I like both the old Fantasy setting and 40k for different reasons. I don't need them to both be the same thing.

The difference with AoS is that we've got a set of unique realms where chaos has already won. The world(s) were completely overrun. You don't have this huge resource of the Imperium, Sigmar himself was forced to retreat with the survivors to his celestial realm of Azyr.

So AoS is the fight back, the quest to retake the world. To reunite the forces of Order, Death and Destruction against Chaos and gain a foothold again. To rebuild cities, to look forward to a brighter future.

Discovering rag-tag groups of survivors in each realm and bringing them hope, helping them fight back. We've already seen Sigmar's forces help the Sylvaneth hold Nurgle off long enough to rebuild, gain strength and even the rebirth of the Goddess Alarielle into a mighty being of war.

40K meanwhile is a universe in entropy, races are dying out after their glory ages, Chaos is looming, the Tyranids are encroaching. In the 40k universe, things can and will only get worse. There's no hope or optimism there.
 

Spuck-uk

Banned
Worth noting that Games Workshop killed off the tabletop version of Warhammer Fantasy just before Total Warhammer came out. Age of Sigmar is a complete shitshow, mostly designed to make sure GW can have trademarks on every aspect of the lore (impossible to trademake orcs/elves etc.)

They are not a smart company, and their product is amazingly overpriced.


Signed,
someone who grew up as a Warhammer fan in the UK.
 

Ledsen

Member
Worth noting that Games Workshop killed off the tabletop version of Warhammer Fantasy just before Total Warhammer came out. Age of Sigmar is a complete shitshow, mostly designed to make sure GW can have trademarks on every aspect of the lore (impossible to trademake orcs/elves etc.)

They are not a smart company, and their product is amazingly overpriced.


Signed,
someone who grew up as a Warhammer fan in the UK.

AoS isn't a shitshow, it's a great game whose community is positive, enthusiastic and growing fast. Since the Generals Handbook came out, interest has been very high and the game has a bright future. Unless all you wanted was the Old World of course in which case you're out of luck of course. But WHFB was dead before AoS already and I don't think Total Warhammer would've made much difference.

As much as I love the Warhammer setting I will point out there are A FUCKTON of miniature wargames out there. The hobby has never been bigger.

You've got:
Warhammer AoS
Warhammer 40k
Blood Bowl
Kings of War
The 9th Age
Warmachine and Hordes
Malifaux
Infinity
Wrath of Kings
Guild Ball
Dropzone Commander
Halo Fleet Battles and Halo Ground Command
Arena Rex
Frostgrave
X-Wing
Middle Earth Miniatures Game
Beyond the Gates of Antares
Dark Age
Bolt Action
All Quiet on the Martian Front
Relic Blade
Marvel
Batman
This is Not a Test
Bushido
A billion historical games
And many many many more.

And they all play radically differently from eachother. It's an amazing and crazy hobby.

This! there's something for everyone. Myself, I've played or am playing

AoS
40k
Necromunda
Dropfleet Commander
Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes
Bolt Action

And I like them all for different reasons. Such an amazing hobby no matter your preferences!

Here's an actual play letter from WHFRP campign the enemy within - its why I'm dying to run my crew through it - WARNING SPOILERS ENEMY WITHIN CAMPIGN:


How James Wallis (writer of the Enemy Within) Ruined My Character's Lifel

And here is James's response:

Yes I Sank your Barge -

I really wish I'd played RPGs as a kid, I totally missed that boat and there's no way I have time for that now. Sad that the 3rd edition of WHFRP was apparently horrible, but I've always wanted to play 2nd edition and specifically that adventure.
 

Ledsen

Member
WHFB was dead because they had competition who were doing it better and cheaper.
If you're talking about Kings of War, that wasn't very popular (nor very good) until second edition which is what, a year or two old? It wasn't even competition when WHFB was dying.
 

Fou-Lu

Member
I think the death of WHFB was more to do with GW's mismanagement of it. The End Times increased the sales like crazy, if they had just kept the line going it probably could have survived.

I am glad GW is becoming a company I can be confident in again though, they have a community site now, facebook pages, discounted boxes, a mostly better release schedule, and are bringing back things that veterans really missed like specialist games, points in their fantasy game, genestealer cults, chaos god specific armies, etc.
 
I think the death of WHFB was more to do with GW's mismanagement of it. The End Times increased the sales like crazy, if they had just kept the line going it probably could have survived.

I am glad GW is becoming a company I can be confident in again though, they have a community site now, facebook pages, discounted boxes, a mostly better release schedule, and are bringing back things that veterans really missed like specialist games, points in their fantasy game, genestealer cults, chaos god specific armies, etc.

I dunno, to me WHFB for over a decade was suffering, and from my experience in game stores, the gamers just preferred 40k. WHFB was often seen as much more complex game, it turned off many people. When GW attempted to simplify the game, it just pissed off the hardcore fan base, while it failed to gain new players.

Also many people would go into a game store, and could really only afford via time and money, to support one game, and it usually went to what was more popular... which usually was 40k.

WHFB was dead because they had competition who were doing it better and cheaper.

Nope, WHFB was already struggling before any major competition came to the market. And warmachine/hordes really was not taking players away from WHFB, if anything it just created a more crowded market space. Games like Kings of War and such, never have taken off in the gaming community, and most people were buying for cheap minis to uses for Warhammer anyways.
 

Vagabundo

Member
I really wish I'd played RPGs as a kid, I totally missed that boat and there's no way I have time for that now. Sad that the 3rd edition of WHFRP was apparently horrible, but I've always wanted to play 2nd edition and specifically that adventure.

I manage to get two hours a week for an RPG meetup with friends and family we've been playing for the last 25 years with a few breaks here and there. We dont get a lot of gaming done, but its one of the highlights of my week. We normally play DND but I have The Enemy Within on my campaigns' bucket list. I have the 1e WHFRP book at home ready to go.

Plenty of online TTRPG games about though over skype. You should try make it happen, YOLO and all.
 
I was thinking of checking out a warhammer novel. My problem with setting novels like dragon lancestors is they too often return to stays quo
 

Triteon

Member
This has all changed in 2016, they made a complete 180. They now run live streamed tournaments, provide tournament prizes, engage with their customers on Facebook, put out funny viral marketing videos, respond to leaks with more funny videos, have basically released most of the stuff people wanted but thought were just a pipe dream, and much more. Prizes are still very high but they are releasing many box sets that are discounted up to 50%.


Well its nice to know they actually have a dialogue with their customers after they drove me off with successive anti consumerist practices like no internet ordering of product, explosive price increases, and to top it off the cancelling of a game I had played for 20 years.

I told myself after paying $85 AUD (At the time the AUD was worth more than the USD) for the WHFB Warriors of Chaos army book I was done with the price gouging. It didn't help that 8th Ed just wasn't as good as 6th and 7th ed ( an argument could be made it wasn't even as good as 4th and 5th)

Because 8th was crap it didn't sell. The emphasis on big monster units and attrition rather than flanking and movement drove people who actually liked the one really strategic aspect of the game away. GW then decided "this ain't selling, fuck it burn it to the ground and replace it with a game where we own every phrase and concept".

Yes, I am still bitter. I went from a pretty devout fan boy to straight up despising GW over the course of about 4 years. Think EA and Activision suck? They don't hold a candle to GW.

Don't let this put you off trying the WH and 40K RPG's from Fantasy Flight, those games are pretty damn cool.

D&D on the other hand is pretty fun, you can get most of the rules for free if you want to try it 5th ed is actually fairly interesting with its emphasis on background and character identity, and while I do think WOTC does give it the short end of the stick compared to its other properties it still supports it pretty hard.
 
I think there's a big sale or was a big sale on Warhammer fantasy pen and paper RPG stuff. May still be going, not sure.

The difference with AoS is that we've got a set of unique realms where chaos has already won. The world(s) were completely overrun. You don't have this huge resource of the Imperium, Sigmar himself was forced to retreat with the survivors to his celestial realm of Azyr.

So AoS is the fight back, the quest to retake the world. To reunite the forces of Order, Death and Destruction against Chaos and gain a foothold again. To rebuild cities, to look forward to a brighter future.

Discovering rag-tag groups of survivors in each realm and bringing them hope, helping them fight back. We've already seen Sigmar's forces help the Sylvaneth hold Nurgle off long enough to rebuild, gain strength and even the rebirth of the Goddess Alarielle into a mighty being of war.

40K meanwhile is a universe in entropy, races are dying out after their glory ages, Chaos is looming, the Tyranids are encroaching. In the 40k universe, things can and will only get worse. There's no hope or optimism there.

Tends to happen when you literally won't let your empire invent new tech to fight off your enemies because it's against your religion lol.
 
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