Is Warhammer Fantasy a Dying Game?

Well, is it? This is a interesting question for me as I am a big fan of WHFB and have played it since I started wargaming as a hobby, and I have enjoyed it for as long. There seems to be a persistent view online that WHFB is a dead game with a declining player base and sales are far below that of 40k.In other words it has become a dead weight for GW. The people who make this argument base it on 3 key points

1: On the forums the WHFB sections is less active than the 40k section 2: Their local gaming scene has less WHFB players than 40k players 3: GW gives more time to 40k than WHFB

As you can see there is no solid evidence in that list, and before accusations of me Straw manning the argument start to fly my way these really are the 3 main points that keep coming back up in these debates when I have them with people online, they never cite solid evidence like sales figures, they never quote GW Store Managers saying that WHFB is a dead game whose sales are awfully low.

My issue with the idea that WHFB is a dying game and is a dead weight for GW is that there is no solid evidence presented to back up this claim. I like WHFB, I have played it for 10 years and still rate it as my top wargame so when people tell me that is a failure for GW and that is dying and should be dropped I want to see more than speculation and assumptions backing that claim up.

The Two Game Solution

Recent WHFB 9th ed rumours have suggest that we will see 2 versions of 9th ed WHFB, one skirmish game and one massed battles game. To me this is a smart move for GW as it allows people who love both WHFB and massed battles to continue playing Warhammer and using their armies as they behave them now in massed battles, it also allows people who love skirmish games a way to play skirmish warhammer using a office rules set. And with the apparent popularity of skirmish games it will bring new players into WHFB and make GW more money while at the same time keeping WHFB what it always has been and not pissing off people who like WHFB as it is now (and as it has been for the past 8 editions).

A Step In The Right Direction: Codex Craftworld

If you follow the rumour mill as closely as i do the you would have heard of Codex Craftworld. When it first surfaced this rumour was confusing as it appeared to be the new Eldar Codex, which was confusing because Eldar already have a 7rh Ed Codex and its still pretty good. However recent fresh rumours seem to indicate that its a sort of supplement codex that will allow Eldar players to play a army from one of the main Eldar Craftwolrds. This had already been tried once before in 3rd Edition 40k with the "Mini Codex" Craftwolrd Eldar.

The 3rd Edition Craftworld Eldar Codex

Whats Going On????

Today the pre-orders for the Skitarii Codex went up. Being somewhat interested in this army i went and took a look and was surprised by one very key detail

A Sign of the Apocalypse? You Decide

This is a big surprise as to date all Wh40k codexs are 98 NZD by they supplement codexes, the Harlequin Codex or the Scion Codex. Unfortunately the new units boxes are still 92 NZD for 5 but still, 57 NZD for a codex is definitely progress. Will we see more of it? I dont know but for now this is good enough. Until next time.
Rex

Demons and Cyborgs

What with all the current  WH40k armies having up to date Codexs the natural question is: What Next for 40k? There have been rumours of Adeptus Mechanicus, Death Watch, Gene Stealer Cults and even a Sister of Battle rumour. Today we got solid confirmation of the whats next for 40k and its....well a codex called Khorne Demonkin which appears to be a codex for all things, well, Khorne in 41st millennium.

Behold! Evidence!

Dispelling Myths: Warhammer WHFB Costs More to Enter

There is an often repeated Myth abut WHFB that is both costs more and has a higher models count than 40k, the argument goes to to say that this discourages prole from starting WHFB and thus WHFB is less popular than WH40k. I have had this argument now with a number of people and it has never convinced me mainly because people who make this argument never actually bring up an evidence to back up their claim. I was thinking about this today and wondered if the people making this argument were right, and so i did a experiment to find out if this was the case. what i did was go onto Army Builder and make 6 lists, 1 Orc and Goblin list and 1 Ork List, 1 High Elf List and 1 Eldar List and 1 WHFB Demons list and 1 40k Demons list. All the lists were built with 7th ed 40k codexs and 8th ed WHFB Army Books.

Relentlessly Optimistic

An image of the final paragraph of End Times Archaon popped up this morning, and there were a few issues generated by this that I want to talk about but before I go on fair warning: I will be displaying the image so if you don’t want the book spoiled then turn back, if you don’t mind then read on.