Warhammer The Old World: Choices, Choices...

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

So, Warhammer: The Old World is finally here (look at that logo-I love the colours used...) I've been eagerly anticipating this release since it was first tentatively announced years ago* and it looks like they've knocked it out of the park. I'm not one of those that have moaned ad infinitum about the death of the old Warhammer Fantasy, and the creation of Age Of Sigmar- I understand completely the reasons behind that decision and I really enjoy the new setting and the game(s) set within it but there's no doubt I have a soft spot for the old Warhammer world and all that was created for it. After all, I worked at the design studio during one of the best times in Warhammer history, when a lot of what is now taken as long-established lore, design and style was nailed down. Whether you prefer the relatively realistic, roleplay-heavy stylings of the very early days, the bright, primary colours and cartoony, heroic aspects of the 90s, the more grimdark version that emerged in the 00s, or the epic, bombastic nature of the last incarnation, Warhammer Fantasy had a rich and vibrant history and it was a shame to see it go. I'm very glad to see it return and I'm very much looking forward to where they go with it.

The initial releases of Tomb Kings and Bretonnians have a fantastic mix of old and new models in plastic, resin and even metal! It makes me wish I hadn't sold off my skeleton chariots a few years ago- there's a lesson here: miniatures are like cables, as soon as you've got rid of them, you'll find you needed them...Still, even if my Tomb Kings now only amount to one Warsphinx (which I'm saving for a special paint job- there's no way I'm going to go tabletop-ready on one of my all-time favourite miniatures) and a bucketload of plastic skeleton horses (maybe an entirely cavalry army one day...?) I know I've got a plethora** of other old Warhammer miniatures to choose from. After much rummaging and sorting I discovered I have the High Elf half of Island of Blood, most of the 6th edition starter set Orcs and Empire, and a load of Goblins from Battle For Skull Pass. None of these are really enough to make solid armies from, although that could drastically change when the starter army boxes for these are released later down the line. Thanks to the generosity of Nic Sinton, an old friend, I have a substantial collection of metal Empire centrepiece models like the War Alter and War Wagon but, like with the Warsphinx , I'd kinda like to do showcase paintjobs on these pieces and I don't really have any units to speak of anyway. Similarly, I have a small force of Chaos Dwarfs and Hobgoblins (again, thanks Nic!) but it's not enough to make a playable army (even though I'm itching to paint them up) and, as they aren't going to be one of the supported armies (at least for the forseeable future) filling in the gaps is going to be prohibitively expensive and thus completely out of the question, so they may have to be a more skirmish-sized force that I do later down the line, or maybe I'll save them for a showcase at some point***.

Which leaves me with the Dwarfs (an army with which I have a deep affinity, for some reason) of which I have a sizeable chunk: A Runelord, 2 Lords, a Battle Standard Bearer, 2 units of 20 Warriors, 2 units of 10 Handgunners, 20 Miners, 16 Quarellers, 5 Hammerers, 5 Longbeards and 2 Cannons with crew. I reckon that's a pretty goodly-sized army. All it needs is another box of Hammerers/Longbeards to fill out the units and I reckon that'd be perfect. Of course, I'd need to see the rulebook for the proper points but I reckon that'll  be enough to be going along with, and I'll be really interested to see what new and old stuff gets released when it's their turn.

About 10 years ago, I painted one of them up as a test for an army that never happened, and here he is and, y'know, I don't think he looks too bad. 

Unfortunately, either I didn't write down my process for him, or it's got lost in the mists of time, so I've had to have another go...

I reckon that's good enough for any tabletop, and I like the way he looks on the larger base (although I might go with the Rhinox Hide instead of black...) as it enables me to go with an "island" base style, which I've always rather liked. An hour from bare plastic to ready to photograph is an ideal amount of time when I've got to paint up to 150 of the little buggers, too! Painting this one has really got my juices flowing as well, and I'm super-stoked to start a project in a way I haven't been for a long time. It's serendipitous, and fits in with my thoughts of making a bit of a fresh start that I touched upon in last week's post. I've never done a New Year New Army before but this feels like the perfect time to embark on such a thing. I did try to order a copy of the Forces Of Fantasy book but my FLGS has informed me (as I was writing this) that they can't get hold of a copy, so I'm going to have to wait a while to be able to get my army list finalised properly. In the meantime, I've got a lot of prepping and basing to do. After all, I doubt very much whether the basis of a Dwarf army has changed much...  

I've never had a complete Warhammer Fantasy army before so, by hook, crook or anvil, I'm going to have one. It's going to be complete, game-legal and fully painted. I hope I'll one day get to play a game with it but, frankly, that's by the by. I just want to have a fully painted Warhammer fantasy army. Every home should have one. Ideally, I'd like to have all that I've currently got painted and ready to go by the time that they get around to releasing anything new (or re-releasing some of the old stuff) but I realise that's probably unlikely. I am going to make the promise to myself that I am not going to buy anything new for the army until I've got all my existing stuff ready and painted. Honest. 

By the way, if you want all the most up to date news on The Old World, the official website is right HERE and, of course, you can buy all your square-based need at the Warhammer website (when they come back in stock...)

I'm gonna paint me an army! 

Thanks for reading!

Stu

p.s. if you like what I'm doing here, a click on the link below and the donation of the price of a pot of paint would be a wonderful gesture. I'm thinking of adding special stuff to the Ko-fi, like competitions and prize draws, so it'd be a good idea to at least have a look there now and then 😁 

*I even set up the first Facebook page dedicated to it, almost as soon as it was announced, but the less said about that, the better

**a whole plethora, not just a half-plethora.

***maybe even an Armies On Parade entry- could that even happen one day...?

****Although, as I write this article, I've just been informed by my FLGS that they can't get hold of a copy for me.