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Anyone else annoyed with the release of the new Empire book? This is the third Empire book sense I got into the hobby back in 2006. 6 years, 3 Empire books. Yet, the Bretonnian book I bought back in 2006 is STILL the current one for them. I really wish they would stop redoing "popular" armies and do something with the lesser played armies and maybe they'll be played more.

You'd have a better chance of seeing them actually lower prices before they'd stop doing something like this.

Or more accurately, you'd likely see the end of the world before they do anything of the sort.

The funny thing is, I've rarely seen many empire players at my FLGS or general warhammer gaming clubs in the city. Mostly I've seen anything but human armies. Which has also lead me to the same question that you have.
I get it. The empire is the integral army for the warhammer story plot and gaming world...but man there are much cooler armies out there. The empire has always been drab and boring to me. A bunch of long moustached chaos fearing simpletons. They are basicly like orcs with a more unified religion. Just look at Flagellants!

It doesn't bother me.

Brets do not need a new book. A good general is still competitive in 8th. Leave us alone!

is OP zeekill's 2nd account?

I think the most common progression to fantasy is through 40k: where everything revolves around the human fluff, and almost everone has a space marine army. I've always thought this was why fantasy armies seem more varied from the human factions

Fantasy humans are also the center of the GW world, even if the other races have been much more fluffed out, so GW tries to make them readily available and them less drab: more monsters, more magic, more fantasy, more grimdark.

But yes, brets are overdue

Kiwidru wrote:
But yes, brets are overdue

I'm thinking brets are fine for now. Wood elves need a new books sooner than brets do.

Phyrexia wrote:

Kiwidru wrote:
But yes, brets are overdue

I'm thinking brets are fine for now. Wood elves need a new books sooner than brets do.

Yes they do.

Also, remember that GW has said on many occasions that the releases for certain books aren't always based on sales, but also on what designers champion for armies. Hence why DE took 10 years and Squats were discontinued, there wasn't much support and/or interest from the studio itself to get them done.

There's also things like why the last Wood Elf book took so long(in that they redesigned the army from the ground up in both playstyle and appearance). WE and Brets may not have a new book yet because they simply haven't finished figuring out how to keep the feel of the army in 8th.

Empire was one of the books that needed an update to tone it down.

The flaggellent warrior priest spam lists of doom were getting out of hand.


WPs deserved a nerf, Flaggellents needed to be moved out of the potential for Core, and the Stank needed to be rebalanced.

Empire has been fixed so the speak so that now it is on par for 8th edition. and that is probably the story you will hear from now on.

All the wierd books, that is books with odd magic systems or mechanics, have been redone so now GW can focus on balancing the other books.

All the wierd books, that is books with odd magic systems or mechanics, have been redone so now GW can focus on balancing the other books.

With the exception of Dwarves, who at the moment are trying to stay under the 8th edition radar in their armored bunkers, ready to scribe down the names of the author who plans to make a new dex for them in grudgebooks.

Dwarves arn't "wierd"

I think their anti-magic may be a little OTT, but it certaintly isn't out of the ordinary as they simply have dispelling bonuses and can generate extra dispel dice. They completely give up an entire phase for this advantage.

Basically, their core mechanics arn't messing up gameplay.

You pay points for a L4 Wizard and you get A magic phase.

Dwarfs spend the same amount of points trying to remove your magic phase.

Seems about balanced to me....

Spellbreaking, Spell Eating, MRoBalance etc all cost points!

Points a dwarf could put into more guns.... Alas since they dont have ANY magic, they have to defend themselves somehow.

I think they are broken. As in 8th concepts broken. Not as in pwn-your-face broken.

In any game theory other than soccer and baccarat and tic tac toe, it's always easier to kill/score/win than it is to defend. Otherwise the majority of your games are ties or stalemates.

If you buy a lvl 4 wizard and they buy a lvl 4 wizard, chances are the game will simply end sooner, because you're creating larger firepower (usually). Not only that, but armies can be totally built around that magic.

Dwarfs can't spend, say, 750pt on combat troops and the enemy goes, lol, and spends 750pts to be able to completely negate them--and I mean they are effectively useless no matter what type they took. Or have them only work if they roll multiple boxcars and their heads potentially explode if they do.

A problem is that the BRB lists Dwarfs having +dispel innately. But they also state the army books > BRB. So they could always change it. But I think they will leave it and just give them a sucky magic phase. Call it a rune phase. Or a grumble phase. Or a turd phase. Doesn't matter, but having a whole phase gone and require mentions in the BRB just gets weird. Like if an army was all stationary and thus had no movement phase. You have to have footnotes everywhere.

Grey Templar wrote:Dwarves arn't "wierd"

I think their anti-magic may be a little OTT, but it certaintly isn't out of the ordinary as they simply have dispelling bonuses and can generate extra dispel dice. They completely give up an entire phase for this advantage.

Basically, their core mechanics arn't messing up gameplay.

Their core mechanics are all about messing up gameplay. Or at least, actively denying an entire phase of the game. While it's Dwarves 'thing', it's something that is definitely under the 'weird' category when considering how an army works. They not only don't use the magic phase themselves, they actively discourage their opponent using it.

I don't want to see Dwarves using the magic phase, but you can't honestly say they have a normal magic phase and don't mess it up for the other player.

Phyrexia wrote:

Kiwidru wrote:
But yes, brets are overdue

I'm thinking brets are fine for now. Wood elves need a new books sooner than brets do.

Don't touch my elves, I don't want to lose any of my tricksy magic items

Krellnus wrote:

Phyrexia wrote:

Kiwidru wrote:
But yes, brets are overdue

I'm thinking brets are fine for now. Wood elves need a new books sooner than brets do.

Don't touch my elves, I don't want to lose any of my tricksy magic items

This is the crazy thing about the game. The internet says some of the weaker/older armies need a update. The players of those armies (myself included) do not want you to touch us with a 10' foot pole

I think of The Empire as the lens through which we the modern reader view the weird and wonderful world of Warhammer. That along with it being a pretty popular army with the design studio (being the historical re-enactment nuts they are) makes for regular updates that alas make some other army book releases seem as regular as Halley's Comet.

I can sympathise with current Empire players some of whom must be shaking their heads at some of the changes, but as someone who hasn't touched Empire since 4th and 5th edition, the book seems shiny enough to make me want to dust off my old models.

As to older armies and the "Get off my lawn!" mentality to being updated to 8th edition, I think I would feel the same as it seems there is a general creep downwards in power across the whole range of 8th releases which once ALL books are done and kept to the same or similar standards will be fantastic for the game. For now however with the two lane mix of 7th and 8th in uneasy co-existence, it's certainly 'interesting times' in which we live.

As a Bretonnian Player, I feel the current book is great in terms of competitiveness, however the hardback books are really nice and I am excited when it will be hardback and when Grail Knights will be the best Knights in the game (dreams)

However they have been putting books out faster in recent times so I think we will have all the books done soon enough.