Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “G” the number “7” and the support of readers like you.
Thank you.
The Evil Empire of table top miniature wargames, creator of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K, as well as a sundry of other related miniature games, and holder of the license for the Lord of the Rings miniature games. Anyone who has played any of these games for any length of time (aka long enough to have enjoyed an edition change) has a love/hate relationship with GW. It’s really hard to deny the quality of their models, even when complaining about their rules sets is like shooting fish in a barrel – with a tactical thermonuclear device.*
My first exposure to GW came through a game called HeroQuest. This board game came with an array of monsters – goblins, orcs, skeletons, zombies and more – that found frequent use in my D&D games.
 |
| Chaos Warriors, Orcs, and Skeletons. Oh my! |
It was also my introduction to painting miniatures. Back in the day (early 90’s) I was using my dad’s model railroad testors paints.
 |
| Heroes |
I was later reintroduced to GW via Battlefleet Gothic. It was cheaper than either WHFB or WH40K, and the specialist game of the year. Plus who doesn’t love ramming spaceships?!?
 |
| A small portion of my Imperial Battlefleet |
I eventually collected an obscene amount of points for my Imperial Fleet (5,000+), then collected Chaos (4,000+), then Space Marines (2,000), Orcs (3,000), and Tau (1,500). The Orcs and the Tau are the only fleets that aren’t almost completely painted.
 |
| My chaos fleet on my cousin's board |
I then bought someones Bretonian army for Fantast Battles, and started working on a World Eaters army for 40K. I’ve actually yet to work on the bretonians, sad to say…
 |
| My force from a RTT. I came in 4th! |
I’ve also collected a variety of random GW minis
 |
| Elves In Space! |
 |
| Mordheim Necromancer |
More recently I’ve been collecting the Lord of the Rings minis, which have brought me full circle with my HeroQuest minis, as I’ve used them as D&D minis! Especially the orcs!
 | |
| Clearly these are Bandits rather than orcs! |
*OK, that last bit was an exaggeration. Many of GW’s rules sets are fantastic; the problem is that it’s not their core games that have the great rules!
I don't think I'll ever go back to their wargames, but I'll forgive GW a lot for keeping Blood Bowl in print when they could have let it go like all their other brilliant but much missed non-Warhammer games.
ReplyDeleteGames Workshop kicks ass. My personal favorite GW product was Talisman: The Magical Quest Game. A hell of a fun fantasy boardgame.
ReplyDeleteHow very interesting! I've never gotten into the gaming, but I've been reading so much about it this past week. Now, I'm totally curious. I'm dropping by from the "A to Z" challenge and I look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDelete@Kelvingreen~ I completely understand!
ReplyDelete@Carter Soles~ They do. I only wish they would stop messing with their rules so much, and just stick to making awesome minis. Making them a little cheaper would be nice too.
@Sylvia Ney~ Glad you've found something to enjoy! There are a very wide variety of games out there, so if you find this interesting I have no doubt that you'll find a game you like! Thanks for stopping by.