In Praise of Warhammer 40,000 and Games Workshop

And now, for something completely different...

A recent topic on Dakka Dakka encouraged members to defy the current negativity about Games Workshop and Warhammer 40,000 and share what's good about it.

This got me thinking. I'm someone who deliberately chose not to continue playing 40k with the advent of 7th edition, as I just couldn't see shelling out another $180 ($80 rulebook and two new $50 army books) to keep my hand in a game I don't really play anymore.

However, I have many fond memories of 40k. It was my first and only wargame for many years, and I would likely not be a wargamer today if not for it's early influence. I know for a fact that several other folks in my game club found their way to wargaming through a similar path blazed by 40k.

So, what are the good points of 40k? Does the "Games Workshop Hobby" have anything to recommend it? From the point of view of someone who has ditched 40k, I'd like to remind us of five broad ways in which 40k and Games Workshop are actually quite good.

1. The Universe
The background of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is very wide -- but not very deep. It is repeatedly presented in rulebooks and supplements as being to broad to even hope to describe. In various timelines, entire centuries of the 40k timeline are described with simple phrases or one-line notations. This vagueness and lack of definition is seen by some to be a bad thing, but it's actually one of the ways that 40k keeps being such a fun sandbox in which folks can do their own thing.

By contrast, the Battletech universe (my personal favorite gaming universe) is much more thoroughly and richly developed, with more detail and consistency, and a historical timeline that progresses. However, this richness leaves much less room for creating one's on niche. Technology and factions are fairly nailed down, aliens aren't part of the equation, and the borders of that universe are pretty well circumscribed.

The boundaries 40k universe, however, are much less defined, and there's room for the creative player to incorporate just about anything. A look at 40k fiction demonstrates this. The universe is so vast that it encompasses the gritty Gaunts Ghosts, the slapstick parody of Caiaphas Cain, and the latest offering of Space Marine bolter-porn.

2. The Models
It has never been true -- as the company so often states -- that Games Workshop is definitively "the best" maker of model soldiers. However, they have always been near the top. Like any company, they have some stinkers, and their style is definitely not to everyone's taste. However, it's hard to deny that they put out a lot of great models with a regularity that's hard to beat.

Just last week, Josh showed us a kit of wood elves on stags, which I had to admit were really gorgeous models! Also, their multipart kits offer more variety and customizability that almost any other product out there (with a notable few exceptions, none of which are made by companies that come anywhere near GW's output).

3. The Production Values
The presentation of Games Workshop products and printed materials has always been very slick and extremely pretty. Say what you will about White Dwarf magazine, but it has always one of the best looking hobby magazines you could have by the toilet. Those same production values have been present in GW gaming books, box art and promotional materials going back many years.

Folks will argue style versus substance, but there is something really nice about a really good-looking wargames book. GW has dominated in this field for years, and it's only in the last decade that other gaming companies have truly started to catch up. Starting with Privateer Press and continuing on into products like Tomorrow's War and Kings of War, we can finally say that rule publishers have realized that gamers appreciate superlative production values.

4. Long-Term Value
Games Workshop miniatures have a value that extends beyond the original purchase in a way that exceeds most other wargames miniatures. This makes it financially easier for GW players to switch armies -- they simply sell off their existing army at 30% or 40% of its original retail value and then re-invest in another force.

This innate value has created an enormous, thriving second-hand market where it is not difficult for the thrifty newbie to enter a GW game for a decent discount. To be clear, that lower price is often still more expensive than other games. However, it is still a good discount, and the decades-long history of GW means that older versions of models are often available at an even lower price point. I have funded quite a bit of my own gaming hobby by buying and reselling used GW miniatures over the years.

5. Ubiquity
This last facet is perhaps the most important. Games Workshop is still -- in many areas -- the "only game in town" insofar as miniatures wargaming is concerned. That means that each overpriced model kit has an extra surprise packaged inside: a built-in community of gamers. That's a feature that should not be underestimated. 

I have to admit that if I didn't have access to the great group of indie gamers, I'd probably still be shelling out GW bucks. As much as it would hurt my wallet, I know that it'd be easy to find someone to play against. For those for whom the experience of playing games with other people is a vital part of wargaming, the ubiquity and built-in community of Games Workshop games is a very tangible benefit and likely one worth paying for.

So there you have it, the 40k recipe has a lot going for it. It's not my favorite flavor anymore, but theres more than enough quality ingredients for me to completely understand why many do partake. As for why I'm not ordering from the GW menu anymore, just take a look at the mouthwatering buffet that is the rest of this this blog.

So what do you love about Games Workshop or 40k? Let me know in the comments below!

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Miniatures you've never seen: High Command sci-fi

Here at Chicago Skirmish Wargames, we're big proponents of 28mm scale tabletop wargaming — on a budget. As well as buying from affordable outlets like Mega Minis, EM4 and Denizen, we also acquire lots of figures from companies or model lines that are now out of production. This occasional series of posts will dig deeper into the great lines of OOP miniatures that we've discovered in bargain bins, swap meets, auctions, and the other seedy locales where miniatures are traded.

Today's miniatures you've never seen: High Command sci-fi from Folio Works

This shrink-card of miniatures was offered to me by a friend at Bartertown who knows of my fondness for odd sci-fi minis. These are High Command HC 3/2 Protectorate Officers.


It's marked at DM14.90, which I assume is Deutschmarks. This pack has been on quite a journey over the past 20 years — from England, to Germany and the USA! The rear of the card has neat pictorial instructions on how to attach the weapons to their miniatures, as well as details about the date (1991) and country of origin (England).


From what I've been able to gather, Folio Works was a relatively short-lived company started by two ex-Games Workshop employees. Birthed in the early 90s, it was gone before Rogue Trader gave way to 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000. They produced a Fantasy Warlord fantasy line and a High Command sci-fi line.

Though short-lived, the figures compare well to similar early-90s miniatures and were notable for including separate metal weapons for each pack of figures, a feature that wasn't very common those days. The High Command line had figures similar to GW's Space Marines and Imperial Guard, as well as sci-fi Ratmen and Lizardmen. Some of the fantasy figures are still rumored to be produced today by other companies. Click here for more information about Folio Works and their figure lines. (EDIT: Just a few hours after this post went live, we received word that UK-based Kennington Figures still produces most of the fantasy and sci-fi figures from this line! Thanks Mike!)

As mentioned above the figures themselves compare favorably to their contemporaries. These
Protectorate Officers seem like pretty blatant compatible-with-GW-figures aimed at the 40k market.


Clearly the two figures on the right are exactly the same figure with a coat sculpted over the one on the far right. This adding or subtracting of detail to make one sculpt go further was a fairly common practice in the past, as anyone who has collected Necromunda figures will attest.


They scale fairly well with current Games Workshop offerings. When the soles of the feet are aligned, the swordsman is the same height as the GW plastic Cadian Imperial Guardsman (converted with a Pig Iron head), and the other is slightly shorter. Of course, the sculpting isn't quite up to the standards of today's generation of miniatures.


The gun sprue is nice, featuring some pretty clear copies of a GW laspistol and autopistol, along with a third gun that is somewhere between an SMG and a bolter. I imagine that hobbyists wishing to use these figures for GW games might toss out the weapons sprue altogether and just use GW weapons.


All in all, I'm pretty pleased with these figs. They'll probably be painted up as commissars when I get around to completing my Imperial Guard platoon composed entirely of Demonblade Shockforce Troopers (now sold by MegaMinis).

Coincidentally, researching these figs led to the discovery of the origin of a couple of sci-fi Ratmen that I had recieved a while back. Apparently the critters below are Ratten from High Command, though I can't tell which pack they belong to.




So there you have it: Folio Works' High Command miniatures, a long-lost line of figures from the golden-olden days of Rogue Trader. Good luck and good hunting for these figs — and if anyone has a few more Protectorate or Ratten figures they don't need, I may be willing to take them off your hands...

— Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Vintage Warhammer 40k 2nd edition

As well as the Tomorrow's War game mentioned in the previous post, last week's club game night also featured a game of 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000 at Games Plus in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Those who know our club's game tendencies may be asking themselves, "What were you doing playing Warhammer 40k, and why 2nd edition?"

I assure you that I had three very good reasons. First of all, it was a chance for me to indulge in a bit of nostalgia for the version of 40k that was one of the first wargames I ever played. Second, it was a chance to get my 40k armies on the table again. Lastly, I was interested to see how the older, more granular 2nd edition rules would work for small skirmish actions.

The following restrictions and guidelines were in effect.

• 750 point armies
• Max 25% characters (from your list or allies)
• No vehicles
• No wargear cards
• No using the Dark Millenium supplement.
• No special characters -WYSIWYG (except for grenades of course)
• Half-squads were allowed for units where the required number of minis is 10+

I brought terrain and enough miniatures for 4 armies (two Space Marine and two Imperial Guard). Due to a few no-shows, only one game took place. See the pic below for the gorgeous setup that was on hand for the players who didn't show.


First-time-attendee Don (not to be confused with the other Don who has played with us for a while) and I played a Blood Angel Space Marine assault force consisting of three squads of five marines and a captain. All marines had jump packs and mostly close combat weapons and pistols. Across the table, Mike had a full platoon of 30 guardsmen, 10 ratling snipers and two five-man command squads.



The terrain was provided by Mike M., a Games Plus staff member who also took part in the Tomorrow's War game across the room. We used the mission cards from the 40k 2nd edition boxed set and hid the objectives from the other team. As it turned out, Mike's objective was get units across the entire board and ours was to hold a central objective.

Mike did a great job setting up fire lanes and using overwatch to decimate more than half the marines before they got into close combat. He had some great dice rolls also, but it was definitely a case of sound tactics taking the day.


By the time they reached the guardsmen, there weren't enough marines left to tear through Mike's lines, and the game ended with a massacre of every single marine despite their superior stats and armor.



I had a good time with the game. Here are some observations after this nostalgia-fueled exploration of Warhammer 40k 2nd edition.

• 2nd edition 40k is more granular than the current edition and much, much moreso than any games our club regularly plays. 40k squad members have nine (9!) stats per miniature plus weapon stats, which seems like a lot after playing Song of Blades & Heroes or WarEngine, which have less than half as many.
• It takes a while to play. We resolved the game in just over two hours. Two hours for 750 points isn't bad, but if we were using larger armies, psychics, vehicles or special characters I could easily see it stretching three or four hours. That's just too much.
• 2nd edition is written like a skirmish game rather than a squad-based game, yet it requires players to organize their models into squads and enforces squad coherency. Many things such as scattered landing of jump troops and close combat are worked out on a time-consuming individual basis rather than by squad.
• 2nd edition has the capacity to be a more tactical and "realistic" (if such a rule can be applied to any Warhammer editions). The inclusion of Overwatch and a movement stat adds a tactical element not seen in the current edition.

In conclusion, it might be fun to play again with forces that are more balanced (marines with fewer jump packs and more ranged weapons perhaps?) but it will probably be a while before we play this again. I had a hard time thinking of ways that 2nd edition 40k is better than my preferred sci-fantasy game of WarEngine, which would produce an equal-or-more-enjoyable exprience with a fraction of the rules and stats in 30-50 percent less time.

Still, it's fun to dip into the grimdark world of Warhammer 40K now and then, and for small size games I'd prefer 2nd edition 40K to the current 5th (soon to be 6th in 2012...) edition, which is superior for large games, but (IMHO) too streamlined for small engagements.

Most importantly, preparing for this game has got me excited about Citadel/GW miniatures again. Hopefully someday I'll find the time to properly flock and dip my large collection of block-painted Blood Angels. I've also been picking up a fair number of Rogue Trader-era miniatures so be looking for some of them to appear (possibly) by late 2012.

— Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member