Warhammer - The Old World thread
Lahmians can do all their cringe manipulating and trickery and ****, and then a random WAAAGH! or Chaos Host rocks up and sacks the Silver Pinnacle for funsies, what are they gonna do then, huh?
Convince their simps to protect My'lady and pose as refugees if they fail.Manny V wrote: ↑ July 8th, 2025, 02:21Lahmians can do all their cringe manipulating and trickery and ****, and then a random WAAAGH! or Chaos Host rocks up and sacks the Silver Pinnacle for funsies, what are they gonna do then, huh?
Chaos Dwarfs with shaved heads...
The unique thing that I disagree with Arch on is that he says that Warhammer is a low-magic setting. Is not a low magical setting earlier Game of Thrones(GoT become gradually became more and more fantasy in later seasons) In Warhammer, the more "elite" you are, the higher the fantasy. For example, a peasant in Bretonnia. He lives in a very low magical setting. A Tilean mercenary company leader has some mercenary wizards on his payroll and some dwarf contacts. An elector count has a runefang, a legendary magical sword, and probably a celestial wizard who graduated in Altdorf and specialized in divination as an advisor, and also has a life wizard as their personal doctor. For most people, it is low fantasy.
To me, there is not that much difference there. Sure, Warhammer has definetely more fantasy than GoT. But at least in the old lore and even games (not new ones, they skew the balance and make WH Fantasy seem over the top crazy imo) the special stuff was actually quite rare in the grand scheme of things and the setting overall felt much more grounded than what we have for example with the new ****** Cathay or flanderized Kislev with its crappy "ice and bears and magic everywhere" nu-lore.WaterMage wrote: ↑ July 22nd, 2025, 18:31The unique thing that I disagree with Arch on is that he says that Warhammer is a low-magic setting. Is not a low magical setting earlier Game of Thrones(GoT become gradually became more and more fantasy in later seasons) In Warhammer, the more "elite" you are, the higher the fantasy.
So overall, it is low fantasy then? You seem to contradict yourself, or maybe I'm misinterpreting what you mean.
I'm saying that it is not low fantasy but also not high fantasy, is a in between. Is much lower fantasy than Netheril in D&D and much higher fantasy than earlier GoT seasons.Reichspepe wrote: ↑ July 23rd, 2025, 13:46So overall, it is low fantasy then? You seem to contradict yourself, or maybe I'm misinterpreting what you mean.
BUT even in older editions, there are things like Vortex-sucking magic and banishing into another dimension created by Caledor Dragontamer. Nagash corrupting an entire wind of magic and fusing with it and becoming a God. Warhammer feels more grounded because it was made by historians that tried to integrate the fantastical elements in ways that make sense instead of creating a lot of nonsensical magical medieval Commiefornia N 1532153531153 like most modern fantasy authors. Magic is also deeply integrated into the specific culture with Druchii and Asur are exactly the same species, both uses multiple winds of magic, but High and Dark Magic is vastly different. Even among humans using the same magic, a Tilean Mercenary a Empire Magister and a Bretonnian Damsel/Prophetess using the same Azyr/Blue wind of magic would be vastly different.
Now that you explained it more, I fully agree. In my head I have a bit of a disdain for "high fantasy", as for me it kinda means just complete nonsense without any real grounding in settings. The "highest" I like is Warcraft (not nu-craft), and that is already often stretching it in terms of what I can accept.WaterMage wrote: ↑ July 23rd, 2025, 16:45I'm saying that it is not low fantasy but also not high fantasy, is a in between. Is much lower fantasy than Netheril in D&D and much higher fantasy than earlier GoT seasons.Reichspepe wrote: ↑ July 23rd, 2025, 13:46So overall, it is low fantasy then? You seem to contradict yourself, or maybe I'm misinterpreting what you mean.
BUT even in older editions, there are things like Vortex-sucking magic and banishing into another dimension created by Caledor Dragontamer. Nagash corrupting an entire wind of magic and fusing with it and becoming a God. Warhammer feels more grounded because it was made by historians that tried to integrate the fantastical elements in ways that make sense instead of creating a lot of nonsensical magical medieval Commiefornia N 1532153531153 like most modern fantasy authors. Magic is also deeply integrated into the specific culture with Druchii and Asur are exactly the same species, both uses multiple winds of magic, but High and Dark Magic is vastly different. Even among humans using the same magic, a Tilean Mercenary a Empire Magister and a Bretonnian Damsel/Prophetess using the same Azyr/Blue wind of magic would be vastly different.
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Hot take. Modders did a much better job with Warhammer than professional companies. I loved Warsword Conquest for Warband and The Old Realms for Bannerlord much more than any professionally made Warhammer product. Yes, it includes Total War, Warhammer.
I don't find this a hot take at all to be honest, it's just the complete truth. The Total War mods for example of Medieval II for Warhammer also fit into this.WaterMage wrote: ↑ July 25th, 2025, 14:39It is possible to have great high fantasy settings, but for each Morrowind-tier masterpiece, there are thousands of generic magical commiefornia.
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Hot take. Modders did a much better job with Warhammer than professional companies. I loved Warsword Conquest for Warband and The Old Realms for Bannerlord much more than any professionally made Warhammer product. Yes, it includes Total War, Warhammer.
Their armor seems very thick. And Dwarfs are already resistant to magic and have a small profile; I imagine that they could resist arrows easily even from the mightiest warbows. And against magic, they already are very resistant to magic. With runes in their armor, I imagine that they become nearly immune. IE - they are probably the worst enemies to elves as their marksmanship and magic is much less effective against them.
Anyway, here's a nice vid. I find it interesting, because it kinda explains why WHFB failed as a tableto product. And also why it kinda excelled as a PC product. And also, why we can't have nice things in tabletop wargames, ever (almost).
What I like about WH Fantasy is that the "good" factions have their problems. Asur are incredibly arrogant and make mistakes by "underestimating the pawn" and allowing it to be promoted to the queen. Tilea has as much backstabbing as a Tzneech cult. The Empire is a paranoiac amalgamation of elector counts that have each their own agendas and are only held together by faith in a barbarian that lived millenniums ago. Bretonnia is not glorious knights; it is an oppressive feudal hellhole, to the point that being conquered by a vampire lord would improve the life of the average peasant. Cathay is a Bureaucratic nightmare
Warhammer Fantasy isn’t heroic fantasy. It’s civilizational fantasy.
I also like how vampires are different.
Necrachs = Nerds Scholar of the dark arts
Lahmia = Hoes Illusionists and infiltration specialists
Blood Dragons Knighs = Brainlets Warriors
Strigoi = Aberrations Bestial monsters
Carstein = Payboys Aristocrat warrior mages.
If anyone wants to play a nice little strategy/tactics game set in Warhammer Fantasy (the old, good one) made by a Hungarian studio I highly recommend getting this, the game that got me instantly hooked for Warhammer Fantasy when I was a kid:
It was just released as part of a rerelease of many classic Warhammer games on Steam.
One of the best and most faithful WHFB games out there still to this day.
The character leveling and building, together with their abilities and the mechanics of the battles are great, with a huge difference between using good tactics and just brunt forcing your way.
The game still holds up wonderfully visually, graphic-swise and with it's beautiful art style.
The sound is another thing that still is great paired with one of the best Warhammer soundtracks (by Jeremy Soule) to date, creating still the most immersive and fitting atmosphere I ever experienced in a WH game.
Add to that the surprisingly good characters and story for what they are and this game is really greater than the sum of its parts.
And while there are 3 campaings to play, the only critique I have is that there is not enough of it. Though I'd say the biggest complaint being wanting more of it is one thing any game can be happy to have. The good thing about this of course is that you can finish the whole game in about 3 days probably, I you only play it in that time and it won't take you forever to finish it.
Again, highly recommended if you're interested and can spare about 10 bucks ![]()