Best edition of warhammer fantasy battle?

[Brother Glacius]

I was over at the AoS forum, and took notice of the lack of discussions there. It made me recall the heyday of the fantasy forums and the multitude of topics and discussions that flooded it. Makes me wonder if it had something to do with the game, or was it simply a sign of the time? Was that the mark of a good edition of the game? because we talked about it a lot? And then that led me to wondering what the best edition of WFB was. Which one did I have the most fun playing? Or was it how well it was balanced? Just kind of curious what people's fondest memories of WFB were and what edition was that in.

[KIRBY]

I actually liked the last one (8th?) the best. I generally liked all the previous versions for one reason or another, but always found a nearly equal reasons why I did not love those versions (over-powered characters; spells; army creep, etc...). AoS sure is cranking out some AWESOME looking minis though...;-)

[Andrewgeddon]

8th was the only version I played prior to AoS, so I guess that was my favorite version of WHFB by default. I had a lot of fun with 8th, but I agree with Kirby that there were issues, "I win" spells being one, huge swings in power levels between armies being another. I feel pretty spoiled playing 9th Age now. It's not perfect, for sure, but you can tell that rules aren't being written with the goal of selling models. I think AoS is the best thing to happen to "rank-and-flank" fantasy gaming, lol.

[Grensche]

I vaguely remember playing WFB when I was a kid, but I don't know what version it was since I was 10 (I'm 33 now). But, I have 8th edition rulebook and O&G army book... I never played 8th edition but I'm still waiting for someone that is willing to show me the ropes. :)

[Brother Glacius]

I first started at the tail end of 4th edition. The Wood Elf army had just been released. I had wanted to go with undead, but my misunderstanding of the rules had me to go the shiny new army with the super cool forest dragon. Those were games of little terrain and basically just barreling at your opponent and hoped the dice fell your way. 5th was pretty cool and brought in two new armies. Most of the time I was playing games at my apartment or a friend's place. It was just a cool game. I don't think it was until 6th edition came out though that it really exploded for me. All of a sudden there were plastic regiment sets and my collection just expanded like crazy. I went from two armies I think to at one point, seven or eight. I don't know what it was, but there was something about 6th edition that just made you want to try different armies out. Maybe it was because of the Ravening Hordes that you got for free. 15 lists just waiting to be tried out. To me, that edition really was the best of Warhammer. It seemed like GW wanted people to play and were actually trying to help them do it. 6th ed really set that hook in me. 🙂

[Varlan]

I've played since 4th on and off.  I didn't care for hero hammer... my favorite by far was 8th edition.  Epic sized units in battles with tons of carnage.  Also the hardest to get people into since you needed 500 models to play... So best and worst at the same time in a way.

[TheBeninator]

Started with 8th edition as well, now on to T9A. If we consider the two to both be WHFB, then I am much happier with T9A due to aforementioned balance issues of 8th. 8th edition had it's qualities though. I started the game by using my buddies O&G army (against the rest of his O&G army). The pure silliness of O&G rules made the game seem more like a comical story then a battle. This really got me into the game with how fluffy it played. 

Though I never played the previous editions, I didn't like the idea of no pre-measuring, as it seemed to just give ANOTHER advantage to veteran players. As if list building, rules mechanics, and tactical mastery were not enough to pwn noobs, you had to make them feel stupid for being 1/2" too short for a charge. With random charges, you can at least blame it on the dice 😄

[TheBeninator]

On 7/7/2018 at 11:12 PM, Grensche said:

I vaguely remember playing WFB when I was a kid, but I don't know what version it was since I was 10 (I'm 33 now). But, I have 8th edition rulebook and O&G army book... I never played 8th edition but I'm still waiting for someone that is willing to show me the ropes. 🙂

You are somewhere in the Seattle metro area right? I have have a friend up in Seattle who wants to see the game, perhaps I can train up from Portland and we can have a 3 way FFA (Dwarves, Lizardmen, and Orcs)?

[Orson]

Only familiar with 7th as far as using the starter set and 8th with getting my goblins torn to shreds by high elves.

Not overly fond of some of the changes to the rules such as random charge lengths or chargers not having initiative but that's just from reading and not actual practice.

[scottshoemaker]

3rd.  Pushback and formations

[Grensche]

On 7/9/2018 at 4:43 PM, TheBeninator said:

You are somewhere in the Seattle metro area right? I have have a friend up in Seattle who wants to see the game, perhaps I can train up from Portland and we can have a 3 way FFA (Dwarves, Lizardmen, and Orcs)?

I live in Auburn, it's about 45 minutes south of Seattle. I would love to learn/play a game with you guys. We could meet at one of the gaming stores in Seattle, I'm currently trying to accrue sick leave so I can pick a day to call in sick and hope a gaming store will have people playing Warhammer in them at noon. 

[Guest]

On July 6, 2018 at 8:17 PM, Brother Glacius said:

I was over at the AoS forum, and took notice of the lack of discussions there. It made me recall the heyday of the fantasy forums and the multitude of topics and discussions that flooded it. Makes me wonder if it had something to do with the game, or was it simply a sign of the time? Was that the mark of a good edition of the game? because we talked about it a lot? And then that led me to wondering what the best edition of WFB was. Which one did I have the most fun playing? Or was it how well it was balanced? Just kind of curious what people's fondest memories of WFB were and what edition was that in.

Part of it relates to rules disputes. Both 40k and AoS/fantasy used to have more traffic on Ordo back when debating rules was more a thing. GW's gotten better with their FAQs and is writting more consise, shorter rulebooks. 

The AoS/Fantasy section was also, always, a smaller group than the 40k players. They got even smaller when they split.

Regarding favorite editions, I never really got into fantasy. I did pick up a copy of Warhammer Siege from 1998 and it looks really fun, so my preference is there (maybe 5th?). I really disliked how fantasy doesn't do siege battles often enough. I know, not every battle should be a siege, but I like fortifications in my fantasy setting. I do own a, AoS Hellfort, 2 Warhammer Siege towers, and a bunch of other warhammer siege stuff. 

Oh, I have, in the past, really enjoyed seeing other people's warhammer armies. I miss Warhammer being at the OFCC. 

[TheBeninator]

 

4 hours ago, paxmiles said:

In the past, really enjoyed seeing other people's warhammer armies. I miss Warhammer being at the OFCC. 

You should take a look at T9A, it has all the warhammer armies of old. In fact, its less hero-hammer heavy then 8th, so the armies look way better imo.

 

14 hours ago, Grensche said:

I live in Auburn, it's about 45 minutes south of Seattle. I would love to learn/play a game with you guys. We could meet at one of the gaming stores in Seattle, I'm currently trying to accrue sick leave so I can pick a day to call in sick and hope a gaming store will have people playing Warhammer in them at noon. 

That's a pretty big risk to just show up. Remember that 8th edition is basically toast, so the chances that someone is playing 8th WHFB is pretty small.

The majority of 8th players either sold their stuff, moved to T9A, or re-based in rounds for AoS.

Probably best to plan it out and make a date. Ill get back up to Seattle before the year is up.

[Brother Glacius]

@Pax - wha? Fantasy used to be the board where all the coolness happened. 40K was ehh. Mostly because 3rd edition I think lasted a long while. My recollection was that Fantasy was the game of choice for most ordos in the beginning. And probably BloodBowl a close second for the inner circle. 40K did start to grow, but I know personally, the more "mature" game was WFB. I think the big downturn for fantasy was when the pricing started to really jack up. You went from a nice period where the regiment boxes were great values...then they went to okay values, and then quickly moved to "wtf are they thinking?" And it was at that point that fantasy saw a big downturn because it was simply too hard to get new ppl into it that weren't born with a silver spoon. Starting with 6th edition, units kept getting bigger too. Where once a hundred models might have been average on the table, now it was easily double that. Once we reached 8th, seeing units of 40+ was common, and then translate that into dollars, and you had a $200 unit...

GW literally changed the meta of WFB so that more and more models were required, but kept upping the cost of those models, and then turned around and blamed the community for not buying as much.

Kind of funny if you now think about 40K. GW has not gone more models, but has gone bigger models, and thus kept the numbers low, but are charging  $100+ for a single model. That seems to not be as daunting for folks. Go figure. And that same strategy is now in play for AoS. You see these killer large models being made, with high price tag. I guess people are okay with it since they only need to buy one.