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So a year after AoS has been released and I'm wondering what most WFB are actually playing. I'm starting to dabble with WFB again but it seems like there's no one set of rules the community has switched to. The one thing that I think is happening, is that they didn't switch to AoS. I'd actually be curious to know if AoS has a larger following by successfully roping in more 40k players or if it's dying on the vine. They keep releasing horrible models for it (burning dwarves?) so I imagine it's selling well enough for GW to not freak out and re-do it.

So if I walked into the average LGS in the U.S., what would I find WFB players playing?

Age of Sigmar
WFB 8th ed.
WFB 7th ed.
Kings of War
9th Age

Something else?

 Kasrkinlegion wrote:
So a year after AoS has been released and I'm wondering what most WFB are actually playing. I'm starting to dabble with WFB again but it seems like there's no one set of rules the community has switched to. The one thing that I think is happening, is that they didn't switch to AoS. I'd actually be curious to know if AoS has a larger following by successfully roping in more 40k players or if it's dying on the vine. They keep releasing horrible models for it (burning dwarves?) so I imagine it's selling well enough for GW to not freak out and re-do it.

So if I walked into the average LGS in the U.S., what would I find WFB players playing?

Age of Sigmar
WFB 8th ed.
WFB 7th ed.
Kings of War
9th Age

Something else?

I thought it was a June/July release so I think we're only 2/3rds of a year into it.

I live in the UK. When I go in the not-so local gaming shop, what do I see the WFB players playing?
Frostgrave and Bolt Action.

Fantasy was never huge in the game shops I went into. Most gamers that I've seen play in game shops are the younger generation. They tend to go for games with chainswords and bolters. The fantasy gamers have often been from the generation that play in clubs or their own homes/garages/basements. That could be a UK thing though.

When I go in a GW in the UK, the only people I see playing fantasy (AoS) are the youngest of all the kids that the desperate sales manager is trying to get "into" AoS. I've seen kids as young as 7-8 playing in the games stores - or at least been spoon fed through it by the red shirt. The rest of the gamers have been teenagers playing 40k.

I guess any answer you'll get on here will be based on a players local scene only anyway.
As for the "horrible models", that just felt like flamebaiting the 5-10 regular AoS posters on this forum who will jump to GW's defense about how the newest figures are the most technical beautiful works of art ever produced.

Personally, I dislike AoS, BUT I was hoping it would take off and do well and keep the fantasy range alive. However it seems GW are intent on killing off the older fantasy style models and bringing out this newer oversized stuff with skull acne and rune acne. Ah well... :-(

Kasrkinlegion wrote:I'm starting to dabble with WFB again but it seems like there's no one set of rules the community has switched to.

I understand curiosity, but how important is it to you?

Gimgamgoo wrote:I guess any answer you'll get on here will be based on a players local scene only anyway.

That.

Round here, there's a club to the east that sticks with historicals, with an occasional foray into X-Wing; a club to the north that, last time I looked, was solidly 40K but with FoW and Malifaux making inroads; a club way to the east that might have a table each of Infinity and 40K (more rarely, Malifaux or Bushido) surrounded by acres of RPGs and MtG; and a GW shop near that last one. You can guess what fantasy or sci-fi they play there. There are a couple other clubs and such about, but the only other one I've been to (and that's still open) is a FLGS way out east too. I didn't catch what the fantasy scene there was like (they play 40K among other things) but there was a bit of interest in the 10mm Mayhem game I was playing. Might be some Dragon Rampant, Of Gods and Mortals, and Open Combat played there too, in future.

Fantasy in general has dried away here. Nobody plays oldhammer, nobody wants to try 9th, and four of us are interested in AoS, so that's what gets played when GW fantasy is being played at all. Mostly people play 40k, Malifaux, and star wars, though I do see some Warmahordes, too.

I personally would be happy to play whatever (apart from kings of war, I just can't get into that), though if someone wanted to play me in oldhammer or 9th age there'd have to be some allowances made, since my characters and big stuff are on rounds, now.

With AoS release fantasy died off. No one really plays it, three stores around here and no one plays it. Everyone I know sold their fantasy for people playing kings something online, so basically cheap stand in's.

My sugestion drop fantasy, either collect just the models, for fun or go to 40k.

The fantasy models are nice but with AoS you cant do a pick up game or any thpe really.

Here is what your asked when you want to play a game.

How many points? With AoS who knows

What scenario are we using? Sorry didnt buy that book so I do not know it, I bought he other two for 70 bucks and 1 scenario.

What models do we bring? Bring what ever keep placing them til we either not bother playing because we cant decide whats fair, or jus wing it.

This is a pretty bleak picture. If what is said on this thread is true, then GW really killed WFB. I'm hoping there's another side to this that people haven't reported on yet, but I guess I don't have my hopes up.

My area is turning the corner. Age of Sigmar has a solid dozen or so people playing. The Kings of War fad died a couple months in.

Though if I had to say what games are the majority of the public playing FLGS crowd playing it would be:

X-Wing, Armada, and Infinity here with some Warmahordes, 40k, and AoS once in a while if you go on a night where someone is doing it.

The big tournament games here are the first three though which is what most of the public sees. Most people are also only going to report what is publicly seen at the FLGS which often does not include the private clubs and games played at home.

 Kasrkinlegion wrote:
This is a pretty bleak picture. If what is said on this thread is true, then GW really killed WFB. I'm hoping there's another side to this that people haven't reported on yet, but I guess I don't have my hopes up.

Do you know what people are playing in shops, or clubs, or on dining tables near you? Anyone who'd be interested or willing to play a bit of Warhammer? That's all it takes.

around here, GW just basically committed suicide. other than their own shops their games are virtually extinct. AoS was the final straw but they had been sinking fast. we tried breathing some life into AoS but after a while the game itself really shines for how garbage it really is. we went from trying to build an AoS community to just giving it up ourselves and playing the hordes of better games out there.

Around here WHFB dropped dead. A few people who regularly go to the local GW tried AoS for a while (because the Manager would run a AoS event every weekend or so with a comp system he was constantly working on). Not sure if they still do, though, as it was only a small group.

At the club I went to, Fantasy was making a comeback just before the End Times and stayed strong until AoS dropped. None of us moved on to other rulesets, and instead returned to X-Wing and 40k (or 40k and Wharmahordes in the case of 1 player).

I've looked at 9th Age, but no one really wants to play anything like Fantasy anymore. Plus with GW discontinuing Tomb Kings I can't easily add to my army anymore so... yeah.

I have a strong ninth age following where I am, our entire gaming group has turned to it as well and we are regularly recruiting new players from the GW store we play at as well. Our GW manager fully supports ninth age as long as it uses 90% GW models (the odd hero model is allowed, but don't push your luck basically) and encourages us with a ninth age gaming board along side 40k and AoS.

I'd say we have about 12 regulars who I can get a ninth game with, if you can convert some people I would highly recommend it. It keeps the spirit of Fantasy alive far better then Kings of War and since it's a growing and community driven project you can actually have a profound effect on the development of your faction if you are active on the forums.

We play:

AoS
WHFB 8th
WHFB 6th (siege, generals compendium, warhammer skirmish)

Depending on the group's mood. We like the free form simplicity and quick games of AoS, we use 6th for campaigns and such over time, sometimes linked to the 1990 Mighty Empirs game, or 8th since we like some of the mechanics. One day we'll roll out faves from 8th into 6th, but now we just use whatever fits for our current game narratives.

I made the switch to Malifaux- I'm having fun with it though I've got the KoW books in the mail -I want to do something with my chaos minis, seeming as their world blew up (Thanks Archaon and Mannfred )

I'm going to give KoW a shot, though I hope there's more than the 6 spells...

It was End Times that killed interest in warhammer from what I have seen, AoS danced on the grave.

Continued interest is very low and revolves around those players with preexisting large armies.
There is a little AoS played and about as much 8th, but most people just moved on or reverted to what they had.

Matt.Kingsley wrote:I've looked at 9th Age, but no one really wants to play anything like Fantasy anymore. Plus with GW discontinuing Tomb Kings I can't easily add to my army anymore so... yeah.

ALEXisAWESOME wrote:It keeps the spirit of Fantasy alive far better then Kings of War

It's these kind of vaguely-worded feelings that I think bear a little unwrapping. When you say no one wants to play fantasy, do you mean fantasy games, or (with that capital F) Warhammer Fantasy? Why do you think that is? Sudden dislike of the background or genre? Instant boredom with unit block maneouvres? Lack of rules updates? Lack of new minis to add? How much did you need to add?

And what's 'the spirit of Fantasy'?

 Vermis wrote:


And what's 'the spirit of Fantasy'?

As far as I can tell, ranked units, no shooting in combat and customisable characters.

Warhammer Fantasy, not fantasy in general, because it's no longer supported. KoW hasn't caught on either, though that has more to do with people not being overly a fan of its rules.

It's not so much what I needed to add and more I only had a 2400 point list with no spare minis to diversify it, so I'd be using the same old units which gets boring after a while. I could play a game of Fantasy easily right now, but I'd get bored with my list eventually.

I can't complain too much though, as I can concentrate on other systems like 30k and X-Wing with the money I would have spent on diversifying my Tomb Kings.

Our group have a few AoS folks who buy stuff but never play. We've gotten in more Kings of War games than AoS. It's just a better game. A 6000 pt game in 2 hours? Yes please. Their Uncharted Empires book gives those of us with armies that GW has deemed unworthy of their new system can still enjoy our collections while retaining a good portion of the flavor that drew us to those armies in the first place.

Half of the Warhammer crowd is playing aos, the other half quit playing (some quit going back to 6th edition... fantasy was dying for years).

However AOS has increased local fantasy sales around here and there are always games going on at flgs and in the other local scene at folks' homes. About half of the 40k scene quit 40k and joined AOS due to rising 40k costs, balance issues, etc. This has acutally made the aos scene larger than the original fantasy scene from back in it's hayday.

Looks like aos may be suffering in some areas but is flourishing in others. From what I have scene people like the casual, friendly play, low cost to play/entry (esp with those armies popping up on ebay - thanks folks!), and the free rules. The app is the next evolution in gaming imho, and I imagine other companies will follow suit eventually.

2nd edition.

With some 5th.

Kings of War. Lots of old farts (plus me ) moved on to it even before End Times started and we're very happy with it.

Around here, anything but GW, though I am still pushing and playing LOTR before they axe that too.

 Vermis wrote:


And what's 'the spirit of Fantasy'?

When I referred to Fantasy I was referring to Warhammer Fantasy, specifically 8th edition but also the build up lore and tropes of the armies themselves. The spirit of Fantasy was it's essence as a game which I feel AoS has deliberately, for good or ill, abandoned. It was block combat, customisable characters, subtle chaff positioning and a tactically taxing magic phase. Ninth Age has preserved all of these things and improved on them as well, with the Ninth Magic system being much better as well as changes to the basic rules such as parry and champions making block combat much more viable. I don't know how to describe it but the races feel closer to their origins then in AOS, Beastmen for example have access to many units with the ambush special rule that makes games with them feel like they instantly have a setting. Elves have Supernatural reflexes instead of ASF, showing they are more skilled then most non-elves without giving them the crutch ASF was. My point being if you liked Warhammer Fantasy then Ninth Age best preserves and improves upon that style of game play better then Kings of War or AoS does.

For the record Ninth has made it clear that they fully intend on supporting Undying Dynasties (Tomb Kings, but with additional army options such as Barrow Kings and Terracotta Armies) and the community is compiling a list of 3rd party miniatures that could be used if GW fails to continue support themselves.

8th mostly killed Fantasy in my area and AoS really hasn't caught on but there is a 9th Age Tournament happening latter this year I might just check out. I haven't been to a tournament since 7th.

Highly recommend it, Ninth Tournaments have a special feel about them because nobody is quite sure what's the best list to bring so you'll inevitably come across lists you wouldn't of seen in 8th due to the units not being viable but now are.

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
Highly recommend it, Ninth Tournaments have a special feel about them because nobody is quite sure what's the best list to bring so you'll inevitably come across lists you wouldn't of seen in 8th due to the units not being viable but now are.

Yeah I'm thinking I might go...Not sure what I'd bring though. Do I finish updating my Empire Army? or do I quickly find the models I need to bring 2400pts worth of Ogres...decisions!

If you want to try something new Close Combat Empire is doing well in my local community, Flagellents make up the blocks and are supported by the Luminarch which gives out Supernatural Reflexes. They are unbreakable and hit very hard so they made a very reliable core for his army.

Haven't paid much attention to Ogres but i do know the level 3/4's have access to Heavens magic which gives access to a few much needed defensive spells as well as Comet, the best anti-gunline spell around.

I'm definitely in the Kings of War camp! My group has been pretty enthusiastic about it (much moreso than for fantasy, which had lost most interest). But it competes with a lot of other games from different genres for playing time locally (Guildball, Malifaux, etc).

Also Kings of War here. I had a cursory look at 9th age, and I thought the rules looked overly complicated for my current tastes.

I would be interested in hearing more about it though - does it play like 8th, or more like 7th or 6th?

What is 9th Age like? Is it close to any specific earlier WHFB army? Been trying to find a summary of what it's like and haven't been able to do so yet.