Any of you guys play Warhammer?

[Raymond (Hodges)]

Your dear old Hodges was thinking about maybe getitng into it once he scraped together some funds.  I was wondering if any of you guys play it and if you do could you tell me a bit about it?  Things I'm wondering are things such as how much is it gonna take me to get started, how hard are the models to paint, how steep is the learning curve, and so on and so forth.  Thanks alot comrades.


To clarify, I'm not talking about the Warhammer MMO.

[Jay (Shadowdwellr)]

i didnt think Warhammer was out yet or are you talking about somehting different

[Raka]

warhammer 40k


warhammer fantasy.

two different games, each made up of different races, and their rulebook, and sets of miniatures. it is an extremely expensive, time consuming, and exclusive hobby, and im my experience a healthy proportion of enthusiasts are lacking in social skills. Games Workshop stores can be places where morons meet, and are inept together.

the reason i liked warhammer is cos the idea of the armies, and painstakingly lavishing detail onto every insignificant part can be very satisfying. some people buy them for display, the models, and some people buy to fight with armies, quiz each other of minutae and feel significant when one nerd beats another nerd by superior trivial and intricate knowledge of the rules and tiny tiny details.

somewhere in the middle are normal people, who do normal things, and play the game because they thing its kinda neat, but they still have other interests.



ANYWAYS, answering your questions

how much is it gonna take me to get started

about 3 months of painting, learning what guys are which, and what each cool little gun has what statistics.

how hard are the models to paint

i suggest you buy a paint starter kit, if this is what you want, and take a LOT of time painting the first squad, get a feel for brushes, how much water to mix with the paint, how loaded the brush should be... (if you do start, ask me and ill try and help you avoid my mistakes)

how steep is the learning curve

learning to play a battle is moderately easy, not needing to use the rulebook happens within 5 games (unless you have models with some obscure ability) and then the next BIG step is having a competitive army, made up of troop types that mesh, (force multiplyers, anyone?), and getting the best ability out of a set amount of army points. once you have a great army composition, you have to buy and paint the models(!!!!!!!) which is very expensive, especially if you dont use only plastics. a basic, BASIC army of 1,500 points (competition size) costs about ... $400nz (half the number for us dollars), and an army with extra models that you can change situationally will cost you $700-->$900nz


these figures are on top of crafting materials, paints, rulebook, your specific army's rulebook, glue, brushes, and i suggest clippers, and a scalpel or similar knife, must be very sharp. copper wire and a tiny tiny drill (called a pin-vice) are necessary for metal models, and all this will set you back... maybe... $200nz.

any questions?

[Bane]

how bout dear old hodges playin some wow eh? how bout that....... 

[Raymond (Hodges)]

Man Raka, you must really hate the community of people that play it. O_o

If you could, I'd really appreciate the brush advice.  I'm thinking about doing Fantasy above 40k too btw.

[Alex (Riptearkill)]

my cousin plays warhammer and he's pretty into it hes Chaos race if you know what that is, and all of his figures are metal. One such item called a "hell cannon" cost about $70 so yea its a really expensive game. If have a lot of time on your hands you might enjoy if not you might not even want to bother trying

[Raka]

i guess that is pretty scathing, the creeps are a minority

i like to undercoat in black, and work up to the colour thats on top, even if its white... the important thing is, the colour on top is affected by the layers underneath it... so you spray your model black, and you can get completely different shades of white by working up through shades of grey, and that gives you a misty sorta white, or through blues up to white gives you a "Whiter than white - washing machine advertisement" sort of colour.

highlighting is painting the very edges of a model a lighter shade, so you shine a light on it, (or just imagine) and put little highlights on so it seems as if the model has real depth and shading.

metallic paints need a VERY small amount of water mixed in, so they spread right... too much and it drips, and all the metallicy tiny flakey bits run down to one place... its sorta complex to paint something silver, heres a basic runthrough for a flat, but slightly worn looking silver sword

1.black undercoat
2.boltgun metal (thats a paint colour) with a tiny bit of water mixed in, not much paint on your brush. you cover the area in a thin coat, taking care to leave the black undercoat showing around the very edges of your metal. let this dry, do another coat, again thin, and with water in.
3. take black paint (watered down a lot) or black ink, and kinda smoosh it around, enough to look SLIGHTLY tarnished. understating this effect is more effective, wipe off a little if the coat is too heavy
4. take a lighter shade of silver, and a thin brush.. dip a very small amount of paint on your brush, and wipe it against a tissue to get some off, this method is called "drybrushing" because the brush is very nearly dry. you paint around the edges of your silver, and along corners, and angles, and this is used to emphasise glinty bits of metal where the outside has worn off a little, or its sparkling in the light.



ps-what race were you liking the look of? or if you think theyre all cool, what sort of army do you want to lead?
-crack kill squad?
-chariots?
-swarms of gribblies?
-lots of cannons?

[Matt (Ghoulie)]

Lemmi and Garygagna are big into Warhammer 40k hit them up for the info my bizzle.

[Raymond (Hodges)]

I was thinking of something like Orcs or Vampire Counts for the army.  They seem pretty badass to me.

[Raka]

vampire counts have one big weakness (if i remember correctly)... once your general (thats your vampire) dies, your army turns into dust, pretty damn fast. also, i dont think there have been any model releases for a while

orcs are cool, when they start running they keep running. the thing i like most about orcs is that your own guys quite often kill each other, but sometimes things go just right, and your fanatic goblins spin off through ENEMY units, none of your guys argue and kill each other, your catapults all shoot the right targets, and your giant doesnt jump up and down on your on fellas... if all that happens at once, you can kill a whole army (your own, or theirs) in 1 turn

[Raymond (Hodges)]

From what I understand, Vampire Counts is going to be updated soon.  But yeah, Orcs are pretty much raw as hell badasses and Goblins can get jacked up on fungus brew so they are looking really cool to me in all truth.  PM them painting tips you curmudgeon!  Once I get established Raka I'll have to invade New Zealand and take you down.

[Raka]

i think ive released a beast! except its shaped like hodges... go buy some models you half-coated double slut! yea. then ill tell u