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Right, procured the new Lizardman book yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole background section.

Lots of depth seems to have been added, from detailing the dead cities, discussing the non-city landmarks etc, as well as a better idea of the motivations of the Slaan, I now know what I consider the 'soul' of army...

But that is largely by the by. What I have noticed however, is a certain trend of nods in the direction of older background. For example, and indeed the example that inspired this thread, is the mentioning of 'Slave Warriors Of the City Of The Moon'. Now waaaay back, in 3rd Edition (possibly before) Lizardmen were just Slaan, though not the big fatty fatfats, but Froggy Skinky type things. And they could take units of lobotomised humans.

Sure, the rules have long since gone the way of, erm, the Dinosaurs, but I like that they still get a mention every now and again in the fluff. Another example would be the Warriors of Chaos book, wherein it mentions Lothar Bubonicus and Werner Flamefist. These two were actually my first brush with Chaos years and years ago, when they were studio Warbands generated via Lost And The Damned and Realm of Chaos. Just a nice little touch, and to an old fogey like me, it reminds me of what got me playing in the first place.

What are your thoughts on such things Dakka?

I'm assuming you don't want a cynical "Dropping olde skool names/events just to keep vets interested" response? I like seeing the references to the older editions, I'm just not sure where it's coming from (Designers or Marketing).

Bit of both.

I find complaining about background changes somewhat pointless, but I can understand why it annoys people.

It's just nice to see the previous work being acknowledge, and the wider world, outside of the rules, getting mentioned.

Personally I love seeing those little snippets of old school fluff, it's like a tiny little loyalty bonus to the Grognards.

I was seriously interested in the Citys of Gold campaign.

I miss the warband play, and the fights against the jungle hordes, the zombie pirates, the Aztec temples, and the booklet that had the large map campaign system.

They need to add more of that kind of stuff.

Yeah, I like how in both 40k and WFB some of the old character has returned. They've left out the funky unplayable rules, but brought back some of the kooky stuff that made the games fun brushed up and polished, but still the same essential character - like say, the Shokk Attack gun.

It's like in moving on in the new editions they've got the rules distilled better from the potato wine of the early editions, to neat vodka of the smoother-running editions we have today. In adding in the fun fluff elements - like old-style character units and such, they've effectively started maturing the game in oak barrels. So now we have the strength of the vodka with the mellow taste of tannins...

Or something...

No, no. I get what you are saying.

As Trench_Raider mentioned in a thread a little while back, the Space Marine book is particularly nice for nostalgia, what with the return of Conversion Beamers and the Thunderfire Cannon combining both Thudd Gun and Mole Mortar.

Even the Vampire Counts book has harkened back to the olden days, with Black Knights regaining their Ethereal Movement.

I'm really quite psyched by all this, as it is nice to see that new stuff can be brought in, without the ditching of older stuff that happened in the past.

But as I said, more than the rules, it's the inclusion of the older background I really like. If you have any of the more recent Warhammer Army books to hand, look at the timelines in them. No longer are they just the preserve of the more important sections of the 'history' now we get mention of all sorts of interesting bits and bobs. Particularly pleasing to me is the mentioing in the Warriors of Chaos book of a Champion being applauded by the women of a Town after he slays a hated Elector.

And more to the point, the game is moving away once again from 'good guys and bad guys' and back to shades of Grey. For example, although utterly opposed to Chaos, the Lizardmen clearly are NOT a friendly force. Mazdamundi has decided part of the worlds problem is that the younger races are well and truly out of their boxes, and to maintain the great plan, they will have to be put back in. Elves on Ulthuan, Stunties tucked back under their Mountains, and Man left on the plains.

I really like this feel!

Yeah, I catch your drift.

Ultimately its the fluff that grabbed me and got me playing. Without the fluff the game's nothing. So anything that deepens and strengthens the fluff is to me an improvement.