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If you dont know yet all of the armies are based off off real civilizations or other fantasies civilization so getting to the point .... what are they based of off?

Bretonnia - france (NOT ENGLAN/ BRITISH)(the names are even french!!)
High Elves - Atlantice civ.
Empire - germany or ottoman empire
Orks and Goblins- Germany again???
Lizardmen- aztec/ mayan civ.
feel free to contradict
dont know about the rest what do you think

I'd agree that Bretonnia is highly influenced by the French, as far as their names, designs, and heraldry are concerned. However, I would say there is still a strong English influence in them, such as the Lady of the Lake/King Arthur fluff.

As much as both sides hate to admit it, England and Franch have historically had a pretty heavy influence on each other... I condiser the Bretonnians to be a sort of 'what if England and France had ever truly been united under one king' scenario.

The Empire is certainly derived from the late-Rennesance Germanies.

Orcs and goblins... yeah, I can see the tie-in to the early Germainc tribes.

The wood elves seem to go pretty Celtic, in my opinion.

If you make allowances for the whole undead thing, the Khemri are a pretty good representation of Egyptian armies.

Muawijhe wrote:I'd agree that Bretonnia is highly influenced by the French, as far as their names, designs, and heraldry are concerned. However, I would say there is still a strong English influence in them, such as the Lady of the Lake/King Arthur fluff.

I am fairly sure that when those stories oringinated from England was under french control, but i am not positive!!

Vulcan wrote:As much as both sides hate to admit it, England and Franch have historically had a pretty heavy influence on each other... I condiser the Bretonnians to be a sort of 'what if England and France had ever truly been united under one king' scenario.

Going to have to put my history hat on here. For a large part of the medieval period, part of England actually was in France (one of the reasons it's called the English Channel). We got kicked out eventually, but went back to give Boney a good walloping.

Actually, the Arthurian myths are generally believed to have their origins in the late Roman/Anglo-saxon period in Britain. This is somewhere in the vicinity of 400-900 AD. The Romans were, well, Roman, and the Anglo-saxons were Scandanavian (Vikings), so not under French control. The only time Britain may have been considered under French 'control' was when William of Normandy (aka William the Conquorer) conquored the island in 1066 AD. Normandy is part of France, so technically William was a Frenchman, but when he assumed control he was considered King William I of England, seperate from France as a nation.

I see it like this:
Empire: Late medieval Germans.
Brettonia: Medieval France.
Orcs and Goblins: Pictish raiders
Kislev: Russians.
Chaos Dwarves: Babylonia
Tomb kings: Egypt.
Albion: Ancient stone age Britian.
Wood elves: Celts.
Hobgoblins: Mongols
Warriors of chaos: Vikings/ Norwegian raiders.
Beastmen: Early Germannic Barbarians (A game designer even stated that this was the concept behind the Beasts.)
Lizardmen: Aztec/ Mayan's.
Vampire counts: Late medieval/ Early Rennaiscance Transylvanians or Romanians.
Ind: India
Cathay: China.
Nippon; Japan.
Araby: Middle east.
Tilea: Renaisscance Italy.
Estalia: Medieval Spain or Italy.
Ogre's: Maybe Hunnic?
High elves: Greeks.
Demons are obviously just Demons.

Not sure about Dwarves, dark Elves, or Skaven (although they're posibly Steampunk based).

I don't think all that all the armies are based off history. I would say that daemons, all flavours of elf, vampires, dwarves, ogres and greenskins aren't based on historical nations. They all have a base theme but not always one based on real life.

Historical themes:
Empire-late edieval germans
Brettonia- medieval france and england (some arthurian legends throw in)
Kislev- russia
Chaos Dwarves-Babylon
Tomb Kings- egypt (duh)
Albion-celts/stone age
BOC- barbarian raiders
Lizardmen-aztec
Ind-india
Cathay-china
Nippon-japan
Araby-asia
Estalia-italy
Tilea-renaisscance italy

Fantasy themes:
High elves- atlantis and ermm elves.
Wood Elves- fantasy elves (common fantasy theme)
Dark Elves- another common fantasy theme.
Dwarves-common fantasy theme.
Vampires- many vampire / undead ideas from myths and books ect..

The 2 I don't know about are ogres and greenskins. Greenskins are not really serious enough for any historical army and they are a unique take in fantasy terms and ogres, well since no human could count for 3 normal soldiers they aren't based on anything real that I can think off. They also seem to be unique to WH. The do however have a hunnish appearance to them.

Vampires are based on Vlad the impaler or Draculea and Transylvania & Hungry & Ottomans empire

Orks and dwarves and elves and ogres were 'taken' from J. R. R. Tolkien's books

Didn't Gav once say (more or less tongue in cheek) that Orcs were based on Scottish football 'ooligans?

Sooner or later threads like these tend to end up in historical dick-fencing. I find that somewhat amusing because writers fail to realise that Warhammer races are not "based" on one historical nation or era, but a collection of different ideas "borrowed" from different sources. For example, it is pointless to argue whether Empire is based on nation x or nation y, when it could have been influenced by both of them.

I kind of had it like this with the fantasy armies
Empire: Holy Roman Empire (this is germany, austria, switzerland and regions of italy).
Brettonia: Medieval France and England (knights are based on the french idea but the peasentry, long bows, religion and Treb are old English)
Orcs and Goblins: Conan the Barbarian meets Germanic and Goth Barbarians
Kislev: Medieval Russia and Poland
Chaos Dwarves: Babylonia and Assyrians for the Hobgobbo Slaves
Tomb kings: Ancient Egypt Old Kingdom
Albion: Ancient stone age Britian mixed with Picts
Wood elves: Celts and Green Peace
Hobgoblins: Mongols
Warriors of chaos: Vikings/ Norwegian raiders.
Beastmen: Early Germanic Barbarians plus Greek and Roman Mythology (Minotaurs, Fauns and Satyrs)
Lizardmen: Aztec/ Mayan's.
Vampire counts: Late medieval/ Early Rennaiscance Hungary and Romania
Ind: India
Cathay: China
Nippon; Japan
Araby: Middle east
Tilea: Renaisscance Italy
Estalia: Medieval Spain
Ogre's: Hun
High elves:Light Side of Atlantean Legends.
Dark Elves: Dark Side of Atlantean Legends.
Demons are obviously just Demons.
Dwarves: Gaulish and Asgardian with Industry

Not sure about Skaven

Wood elves: Celts and Green Peace

Lol

4M2A wrote:

Wood elves: Celts and Green Peace

Lol

I didnt want to go off track but i cant help myself; the Rainbow Warrior Space marines chapter in the old Rogue trader rulebook must be related in some way to the Greenpeace rainbow warrior ship that was sunk in 1985 as the rulebook came out in 1987..

Flashman wrote:

Vulcan wrote:As much as both sides hate to admit it, England and Franch have historically had a pretty heavy influence on each other... I condiser the Bretonnians to be a sort of 'what if England and France had ever truly been united under one king' scenario.

Going to have to put my history hat on here. For a large part of the medieval period, part of England actually was in France (one of the reasons it's called the English Channel). We got kicked out eventually, but went back to give Boney a good walloping.

Exactly the sort of thing I was referring to. Between the English occupation of portions of France, and the Norman occupation of much of the Saxon lands that became England, the two countries share a lot of history.

Heck, the English language was basically born from Norman warriors trying to seduce Saxon barmaids, after all!

thats true most of the English language derives from 5 differant languages, old French, Angle, Germanic, Nordic and Gaelic

I am fairly sure that when those stories oringinated from England was under french control, but i am not positive!!

genghis khan wrote:

Muawijhe wrote:I'd agree that Bretonnia is highly influenced by the French, as far as their names, designs, and heraldry are concerned. However, I would say there is still a strong English influence in them, such as the Lady of the Lake/King Arthur fluff.

I am fairly sure that when those stories oringinated from England was under french control, but i am not positive!!

Generally true that the Arthurian legends originated in Britain (don't leave out the Welsh or the Scots here or we'll never hear the end of it! )
But the French Connection to the Brettonians isn't strictly French in the modern sense. It is a tad more complicated.

After the Battle of Hastings (1066 and all that) parts of what is now France, and England became one kingdom under the Plantagenates.
The Arthurian stories largely originated with the celts. Who also included Gauls and the celts were spread across Europe. The Bretons iirc still look to their celtic roots and consider themselves closer to the Cornish than to the French. May be slightly out here but Brittany was known as Lesser Britain? need to check that.

Any hoo, stories that are found in the Welsh Mabinogion were written by Chretien de Troyes in the 12th century in French, the language of the ruling classes in England, for Eleanor of Aquitaine, who became the wife of Henry II of England. Chretien introduced some of the chivalric and knightly/courtly elements into the stories.
It seems to be this element that has found its way into the Brettonian fluff.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Historical Arthur is set around the withdrawal of Rome from Britain in the 5th century.

and of Celtic not romano-Saxon origin. Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon, traditionally born in Tintagel, Cornwall.

Peredur the was the original Grail Hero (Chretien's Perceval, later Percival) was Welsh.

Ogres are Somalian.
Empire is Otto Von Bismark era Germany
VC Transylvania
Tomb Kings Egypt
Beastmen Celtic
Dwarves take from Scots and Germans but mostly just typical dwarves.
Lizardmen are Aztec/Mayan
Skaven are Chinese/asian
woodelves are hippies
Chaos Warriors are Viking

The Ogres seem like the Mongolians or Huns, what with the whole "foreign barbaric (From the views of those they destroyed) horde coming in." They also have the Maneaters, which are like the Mongolians who settled into the cultures they conquered (Kublai Khan). Hell, you could make an argument that the Gnoblars (Majority of an Ogre army numberswise) equal the people integrated into the Mongolian army; at one time, there were more non-Mongolians than Mongolians' in the Khans' forces.