"This new take on Warhammer..." Topic

Okay, let me see if I have this right.

The new game is supposed to take place 200 or so years from the current edition of Warhammer, right?

Yet the 2 sneak peak pictures that have popped up kinda don't look like they fit in that realm at all. (I know it's fantasy).

Warhammer armies always seemed to be styled after and looked like anywhere from 800AD, the Chaos marauders, 1200's, the Bretonnians and the 1400-1500's Renaissance Germany for the Empire.

Wouldn't it seem that then the tech and clothing would advance to about 200 years into the future as well? With the Empire looking like "War of Spanish Succession" troops.

The new models look like they just don't fit in anywhere in the WH fluff…once again, I know it's FANTASY…

I remember when WFB used to have historical analogs for the figures. 5th in particular. Not for the last few editions. They made a deliberate attempt, for good or bad, to get away from that. Can't have them using Old Glory or Perry knights for Bretonnia, can we?
You could have used any historical Polish Winged Hussars for Kislev. And vice versa. And Tartars and Cossacks too. No more.

>No more.

Sure you can…just not in a GW shop.

The 200 year gap isn't just any normal time lapse, it's the forces of Chaos having won and reshaping reality itself, in a very Moorcockian way.

in a very Moorcockian way

Well part of that word is right for the direction GW is headed.

Hey!! Leave Ian alone.

Well, the Empire has had roughly the same military organization and tech for over 500 years, Magnus the Pious was using troops with the same handguns and plate armor that Karl Franz has access to during the End Times. This TVTropes page sums it up nicely (Though it's more like Renaissance stasis): link

Although, the way Chaos forces and Orcs fight, it seems to me that pike and shot tactics would not be a great step forward over the current model of the Condetta/Landsknecht style state armies, so the Empire can't really advance because their main opponents rely on infantry tactics, so the tactics that developed specifically to protect early firearms troops from cavalry which bridged into the horse and musket era, so no "Elector-Count's Lifeguard Rifles" for you. Plus, it just ain't the Empire without fluffy pants.

I was honestly hoping the rumored "Fantasy Space Marines" would be Bretonnian and Order Knights gone a bit Super Saiyan, a magic sword here, some extra plate there, that kinda stuff. The Goretide's actually a little bit cool, though. I'll have to stick with 15 and 10mm stuff for now. If one can find the Corvus Belli HYW range, they look like a modernized, mini version of the Perry Brets (before my time, but pretty).

However, if we were going to take the setting forward with somewhat historic analogs/not getting rid of the Old World, I'd go for something like:
-Empire --> Thirty Years War. You still have cool pants and hats, you stick with the Ren theme, but the Knights look more like 3/4 plate Cuirassiers, Halberds get replace with Pikes, more dakka.
-Brets --> They're cool as they are, maybe put a few knights back in bascinets amongst all the great helms, add some hand-cannons to the mix and just start to break up the Feudal system in slight favor of a national monarchy
-Elves --> Start to get the High Elves moving forward ever so slightly, yeah, they're Atlantis, but if they've stuck around this long, they can get past chariot warfare. Wood Elves are sorta Hollywood Gauls/Celts culturally, maybe they go Romano-British. Dark Elves are their own thing, but I feel like some VSF evil elves wouldn't be out of place.
-Dwarves: They were sorta like Steampunk Roman Legions, now they have a gunline theme. Let's get back to the Roman tactics, but maybe add some innovations from the later Empire, or let the Dwarves inherit the Landsknecht gig from the Empire
-Orcs --> Not a whole lot to see here, they're orcs
-Lizard Men: They're Aztecs with a thing for scales, I'm not sure whether they need to update.
-Tomb Kings/Vampire Counts: Stuck in the past is sorta their bit
-Chaos: Basically, they'd stay the same, play style wise, but maybe a bit more organized, as odd as that sounds.

More interesting to me (in a purely academic sort of way):
The apparent complete revamp of the play-style.
Admittedly the rules haven't been revealed, but the round bases and open formations
make it appear that WarmaHordes has thrown GW into a tizzy.

{edit}
(Yeah, ok: I didn;t see the other 27 threads on this subject.
I done been away for a couple weeks…)

There are two other discussion threads started just today that discuss this and provide more answers.

So GW has decided to steal from Marvel now and go with Asgardian like good guys.

I take is that GW has really Jumped the Shark.

Jumped? I think the shark is a small speck in the rear view mirror.

It's been interesting to see my White Dwarf page scans and miniature sprue photos make their rounds across the internet since this morning. If I had known they'd be so popular I would have put more effort into them!

I have wondered about the stagnation of the warhammer world's Empire society too.

I believe the current Imperial year (before all the upcoming big changes) was kind of close to ours (about 2500). And in those 2500 years the Empire has only advanced from what seemed to be the dat ages to the early renaissance. I think if there was to be an actual "historical" reason, it would be the continual chaos/orc/undead/skaven incursions.

The fighting between the good races over territory and political slights probably would be about the same as our historical wars. But orc WAAAGHs and the Storm of Chaos are so devastating that any advances that may have happened are all but wiped out.