"Best WFB Ever: 6th Edition with Ravening Hordes?" Topic

I'm not personally of this opinion, but it strikes me that it might be one that a lot of people could agree with. I know there is a pretty significant fan base for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th Edition being the most balanced version of the game ever made, but what if you even further limit it to the "Ravening Hordes" pamphlet that came out immediately after the 6th Edition rulebook, before the subsequent army books were released? Could there be some consensus that this very brief period represents the most balanced and best version of Warhammer?

For the several year period that I played WFB,"Ravening Hordes" was indeed the most fun for me.

I prefer 7th edition (got rid of lapping around) but with ravening hordes lists.

Been thumbing through my 3rd ed. 40k book with the lists included in the back. I wish they would go that way (all lists presented in the new edition book) and get it over with for each new edition.

I would agree that through 'rose-tinted-glasses' the Ravening Hordes period was in fact my favourite period for playing WHFB.

Tony

I think 7th (with Lapping Around and a few other things added back in) was the best version of the game. Haven't tried 8th and don't really plan to. I play seldom enough that I can stick with the last one I bought the books for and luckily enough my buddies feel the same way.

Dunno… while there were Chaos Dwarfs and Dogs of War represented in that pamphlet, the Tomb Kings were still stuck with what I think was a fifth edition White Dwarf list.

I'm of the opinion that 6th Edition with Ravening hordes is the best. In fact we started playing it again and found a certain… Je ne se quois, satisfaction that we've not had playing any fantasy battles game in years.

Why not, it even works with 8th Edition ;-) However i much prefer 3rd Edition myself….

9th edition is bestest.

2nd edition with original Ravening Hordes and reduced Magic. Ok the psychology was over complex but it predates all the nonsense.
Had a game of 8th (? one before last?) edition last weekend – felt like I'd lost bfore I even deployed, magic this and special that – I know there has to be som eof that but ther has to be balance surely. If you just want to blast your opponent off the board with powerful magic that isn't really much of a game?
Shame, they looked so pretty !

7th edition was my favorite.
Only thing I like about 8th is the 2nd rank being able to step up and fight back.

"7th edition was my favorite.
Only thing I like about 8th is the 2nd rank being able to step up and fight back."

Shooting in two ranks (sometimes 3) is also a great improvement.

The shame is that even with this two very important improvements – 8th is still terriable.

Good thing I can convert the armies for other games.

TomT

Any version is OK until the army books come along filled with special everything. Ravening Hordes was a nice set of lists all in one.

3rd edition holds a certain charm because it was the first set I really got in to in a huge way. It also had the army books compiled into a single volume, until White Dwarf added a little here and there.

Current version seems nice but I refuse to even consider playing with all the army books.

@KenofYork--do you dislike the current series of army codexes, or are you just not a fan of the various army books and their special rules, etc., regardless of edition?

I have heard on many many boards that the 7th edition army books were a disaster--and reading between the lines, many complaints seem more based upon army lists than rules--but I have also seen largely positive reviews of the 8th edition army books (putting aside complaints about costs).

It is hard to play a game unless you have access to the rules for you and your opponents army. This is a never ending cost as new books appear. Many of the books have varying levels of power, and special rules become ever more problematic as they get spread across years of rules writing. I guess I just do not like having rules scattered over 13 volumes and 10 or so years.

3rd edition had it all in one place written by the same guys. Not perfect but at least in a similar patter. Likewise the Ravening Hordes list. Currently it is just silly. I think some armies never got a 7th edition book while others are using 8th edition.

It actually confuses me to the point that I am not capable of gathering and collating the data needed to play a game, not to mention trying to purge my mind of rules made obsolete.

Perhaps it is because I do not have the desire to make that sort of financial and studying commitment. I just want to have fun and get my troops in action once in a while.

The few holdouts I play with like 7th edition rules with 6th edition books, although a couple of armies, like the Dark Elves, benefitted from a new codex. We've selected a few common sense rules from 8th, like fighting and shotting in 2 ranks, but the major over haul of the basic mechanics doomed it for us.

Wizbangs:

Lets hope all of the Warhammer community adopts your idea.

Bretonian army list for 6th edition was much better on both the game play and fluff levels. An work in progress list publish in White Dwarf was even better the publish 7th list not so great.

TomT