Warhammer (game)

Warhammer Fantasy Battle
ManufacturersGames Workshop
PublishersGames Workshop
Years active1983–Present
GenresMiniature wargame
Players2+
Setup timeVaries, depending on the size of the game, but usually around 10 to 20 minutes
Playing timeVaries, depending on the size of the game, but usually around three hours
ChanceMedium – dice rolling
SkillsMilitary strategy, arithmetic, spatial awareness
Succeeded byWarhammer Age of Sigmar
Websitewww.warhammer.com

Warhammer (formerly Warhammer Fantasy Battle or just Warhammer Fantasy) is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley, and first published by the Games Workshop company in 1983.[1]: 47 [2][3]

As in other miniature wargames, players use miniature models (minis) to represent warriors. The playing field is a model battlefield comprising models of buildings, trees, hills, and other terrain features. Players take turns moving their model warriors across the playing field and simulate a battle. The outcomes of fights between the models are determined by a combination of dice rolls and simple arithmetic. Though the gameplay is mostly based on medieval warfare, it incorporates fantasy elements such as wizards, dragons, and magical spells.

Warhammer was the first commercial miniature wargame designed to use proprietary models. Prior to this, miniature wargames rulesets were designed to use generic models that could be bought from any manufacturer.[4]

The first edition rulebook for Warhammer was released in 1983, and the line was supported for thirty years by model releases, supplementary rulebooks, and new editions of the core rules.[5] The eighth and final edition of the core rules was released on 10 July 2010. The game is no longer supported by Games Workshop, and the last supplementary rulebook was released in 2015.[6] It was replaced later that year by Warhammer Age of Sigmar, which uses the models created for the Warhammer line in a new setting and game system.[7] In 2024, Warhammer Fantasy was brought back in a reboot known as Warhammer The Old World, which brings a new version of the old rules and updated models.[8]

The Warhammer setting is inspired by the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Poul Anderson and Michael Moorcock.[9] The fictional background for the game was developed in rulebooks, White Dwarf magazine, Inferno! magazine, and more than 150 novels set in the Warhammer universe. Many of these novels are still in print under the Warhammer Chronicles imprint.[10]

  1. ^ Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. ^ Livingstone, Ian (2019). Board Games in 100 Moves. James Wallis. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4654-9871-7. OCLC 1156364349. The designers behind Warhammer were Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley.
  3. ^ Hyde, Henry (2013). The Wargaming Compendium. ISBN 978-1-78383-069-5. OCLC 867929190. Rick Priestley had written a set of fantasy wargames rules called Reaper in the late 70s, when he and coauthor Richard Halliwell were still at school. The Reaper rules were aimed at fighting fantasy battles, but also allowed for individual miniatures to skirmish under certain circumstances. [...] By the early 1980s, however, under the guidance of Bryan Ansell, who now had control of both Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures [...], a new rules system was created by Priestley and Halliwell that was to have enormous consequences not just for the company, but for the wargaming hobby as a whole.
  4. ^ "The paints of mini war games". Borneo Post Online. 23 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Warhammer: The Mass Combat Fantasy Roleplaying Game (1st Edition)". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Warhammer: The End Times - Archaon". Goodreads. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Rules & Compendiums FREE!". Bell of Lost Souls. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Warhammer: The Old World - the complete guide". Wargamer. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  9. ^ Baxter, Stephen (2003). "Freedom in an Owned World". Vector. No. 229. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012.
  10. ^ "Black Library - Warhammer Chronicles". Black Library. Retrieved 21 May 2020.