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We've already had a few Warhammer and 40K stories with teenage protagonists. The whole Warhammer RPG "Blood on the Ariel" eries. The short story about the Doom Eagles aspirants, the sister and brother running away from the Flayers. "Necromancer". A lot of Necromunda material.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
And why do younger kids like 40k...?
Because it was meant for an older age group and has taboo things for the younger ages.
Remove those and you remove the appeal.

9-10 year olds will like fiction designed for 11-13 year olds.
The minute you market something for 9-10 year olds, those 9-10 year olds are already 'too old' for it.

I think you're pigeonholing younger kids. Many of them probably like 40k for the same reasons most gamers do, with the prospect of age-inappropriate material adding some spice. Not every kid is super obsessed with acting older in all respects. I certainly don't remember a whole generation growing too mature for video games, you know, those things aimed at children.

If the books are good, kids will read them. If they are bland, patronizing or oversanitized, kids won't read them. 40k survived Goto, Ward and 7th edition; it will survive this.

They look incredibly stupid to me and almost give me the impression that GW is getting desperate for new customers. I imagine a lot of dumb parents are going to be surprised when their kid gets into the hobby because of these books and then is forced to buy a codex depicting graphic violence.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
And why do younger kids like 40k...?
Because it was meant for an older age group and has taboo things for the younger ages.
Remove those and you remove the appeal.

9-10 year olds will like fiction designed for 11-13 year olds.
The minute you market something for 9-10 year olds, those 9-10 year olds are already 'too old' for it.

Some kids do. Plus, those 9-10 year old books will appeal to 7-8 year olds who are a bit more advanced.

I want to read the 40k book. I bet it has better Necron lore than we've seen in the past ten years.

Would be funny to get the kids as models, too. I'd make the girl with the great fashion sense my Guard general in a heartbeat. She can even stay a pacifist because she's not going to get a good gun anyway.

The real punchline of this deal is that kids can't even afford to get into this game to even get into the conversation to begin with...

I think You underestimate how many people got into the game ultimately through their parents finances.

Skaorn wrote:
I think You underestimate how many people got into the game ultimately through their parents finances.

I thought that's how we all got involved?

I mean considering that in the society we live in where your family has disposable income, most kids are not in proper "work" until around 16 at the very earliest (barring a few niche areas like farmers)

I like how that kid already has cybernetic implants. He's going to have fun getting those changed out every 6 months at BEST as he grows. Or perhaps he'll be stunted due to the poor diet you'd find on your average imperial world?

Indeed. A very good point.

And as a former GW Till Monkey, you’d be surprised at the money parents are willing to throw at something that’s not ‘another bloody computer game’

 Overread wrote:

Skaorn wrote:
I think You underestimate how many people got into the game ultimately through their parents finances.

I thought that's how we all got involved?

Nah, my parents looked at the price tag and said feth it; I can remember jealously looking at my friend Nate's Warhammer starting box in my early teens. I had to wait until college to get my first box paying for it myself, and then realized that adulthood came with a set of financial burdens I hadn't mentally prepared for. Then, around 30 or so, with a good job and a stable life, I threw down some cash to get started. So, it's strange seeing people complain about the prices. I understand the root of the complaint, but good things come to those who wait I guess.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
And as a former GW Till Monkey, you’d be surprised at the money parents are willing to throw at something that’s not ‘another bloody computer game’

A lot of parents are okay with getting their kids into something that isn't going to have them driving all over town three times a week. Karate, soccer, baseball, gymnastics, Boy Scouts, etc. can really take it out of you and end up costing a fortune in gas and kill all free time a parent has. Something as simple as expensive plastic models and some paint to keep a kid occupied is a better and more affordable option.

 Marmatag wrote:
I like how that kid already has cybernetic implants. He's going to have fun getting those changed out every 6 months at BEST as he grows. Or perhaps he'll be stunted due to the poor diet you'd find on your average imperial world?

If we didn't think you could learn, we wouldn't have given you them. There's always a demand for corpsestarch, and the most creative minds most often need...encouragement, to grow. The eight year old inducted into the Cult Mechanicus should have no fear of finding themselves outgrowing their limbs. Let those who recognised your potential worry about that...


Slaanesh is easy for this, they're the god of submission and control - surrendering to your own appetites or another's will. This is the world that children live in, all the time - controlling your impulses and recognising the limits of your desires against the desires of others is the whole point of childhood in some ways. It's the most perfect big bad - a child of eight(!) knows that Khorne is wrong, even if the temptation to give into that anger and rage is hard to resist. Tzeentch, the Lord of Misrule is also easy to see - the lure of revolution and masters becoming slaves and slaves becoming masters, and the consequences there of is throughout children's literature along with the Devil's Bargain (Prince and the Pauper, Brave, the Littoral Mermaid etc).

Nurgle is the harder one, but at least has the fallback of disease and decay - they work as an antagonist as they are immediately repulsive, without needing to make younger children aware of the concept of despair. That's the one you tread lightly around and could have serious social consequences. Artax in the Neverending Story being the obvious bit of nightmare fuel.

i read the sample of the Attack of the Necron and it didn't meet my expectations yet


https://warhammeradventures.com/warhammer-40000/?utm_source=Warhammer+Adventures&utm_campaign=bd3ffeae34-WHA_24th_September_Website_update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_21bf1529e7-bd3ffeae34-121158165

Are you 8-12? If not, your expectations like mine matter not.

I’ve read both, and was pleasantly surprised. I think the AoS was more immediately gripping though. Lots of ‘just off screen’ horrendous, but entirely implied violence, for those familiar with how well it tends to go when Barbarians in loincloths try to chin a Stormcast.

In terms of the ‘grimdark’, there’s nothing there I’d worry about reading my three year old God-Smol. Her Mam might beg to differ.

Yet, whilst (obviously, seriously, what were you expecting!) not a patch on the main line Black Library, they’re actually pretty good. Certainly I can see 12 year old me enjoying them.

Same - had a quick read through and thought they were well done.

"eternal Emperor"
I guess the word god is banned from WH adventure

Or perhaps that's just what they chose - if anything its more faithful since the Emperor never said he was a god. His title varies lots depending on who one talks to. To some he's a god, to say that he's the Eternal Emperor is also true.

"Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave..."

Just saying.

All good as far as I am concerned, its a sure step up from Hungry troll and the gobbos

Given that the AoS book refers to Sigmar as just "the King Sigmar", I think there is a conscious effort to avoid mentioning the word god. I imagine it's just to avoid awkward questions - the idea of god as a character in a story (even if SIgmar and the Emperor aren't technically the God, whatever that means) might be a bit advanced.

They also replace 'Chaos' with 'Evil', though the reasons for that are less clear. Maybe to avoid the general grey/black morality in the settings? By just equating Chaos to Bad Guys, it makes the sides a bit less ambiguous.

Anyway, I read the AoS story and actually thought it was pretty good. It elided anything overtly graphic without losing any of the actual story, and the style and complexity seemed pretty well-pitched to me.

Thommy H wrote:
Given that the AoS book refers to Sigmar as just "the King Sigmar", I think there is a conscious effort to avoid mentioning the word god. I imagine it's just to avoid awkward questions - the idea of god as a character in a story (even if SIgmar and the Emperor aren't technically the God, whatever that means) might be a bit advanced.

They also replace 'Chaos' with 'Evil', though the reasons for that are less clear. Maybe to avoid the general grey/black morality in the settings? By just equating Chaos to Bad Guys, it makes the sides a bit less ambiguous.

Anyway, I read the AoS story and actually thought it was pretty good. It elided anything overtly graphic without losing any of the actual story, and the style and complexity seemed pretty well-pitched to me.

Warhammer has many grey areas. Chaos has never been one of those. They are the bad guys. Outright evil. No redeming qualities.

Chaos is a mere reflection of mortal desires and emotions.

Khorne is fury and bloodlust, but also martial prowess and honour.
Tzeentch is deception and ambition, but also hope and change.
Nurgle is disease and entropy, but also regrowth and nurturing.
Slaanesh is excess and depravity, but also beauty and artistry.

They're not good guys, but they're more like fundamental forces than villains. There's definitely some ambiguity in there.

If its from these children perspective then evil makes sense.

considering the imperium doesn't want anyone to know what chaos is. so calling it base evil and people that do evil things heretics is just a result of their upbringing/indoctrination.

 Overread wrote:

Skaorn wrote:
I think You underestimate how many people got into the game ultimately through their parents finances.

I thought that's how we all got involved?

I mean considering that in the society we live in where your family has disposable income, most kids are not in proper "work" until around 16 at the very earliest (barring a few niche areas like farmers)

Yeah being in a farmer family doesn't help much. Parents will make you work, unless your sick or somehow favorite, but they won't pay you. Or the "pay" will be in form of work cloths etc.

the idea of god as a character in a story (even if SIgmar and the Emperor aren't technically the God, whatever that means) might be a bit advanced.

I don't think it is the advance part, it is more like the parents of some people may not like the word being used. And if they don't like it the chance the kid is going to get more GW stuff is close to zero.

Are you 8-12? If not, your expectations like mine matter not.

I am not 12, but not that far away from that age. The AoS story seemed stupid, there is no way a girl with a sling shot could knock out or kill a grown man, even at point blank range. And I know it because me and my brothers did shot at each other with self made ones using rocks and old ball-barrings, and not one of us died, and we get our far share of head shots. And we are all way stronger then any unfed girl of our age could be.

Slings have been used as weapons for years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)

Anyone who has played any Age of Empires game can attest to the use of slings as killing weapons in those games and in many others. Plus there is the famous "David and Goliath" story.

So the idea of a sling being a weapon of war is very real. Now my short bit googling hasn't told me if you can outright kill a person at point blank range with one (wouldn't shock me if you could); and it would seem that they might be more a weapon of mass numbers - lots of shots raining down a beating of stones against lightly clothed peoples.

However it might be that the right stone shape, the right sling type and the correct use could kill a person or at least cause significant injury. Also don't underestimate skill and luck; strength alone can be only a minor element next to actual weapon skill or chance. So your own examples might have lacked actual skill in using the weapon, might have had errors in the design of the sling and might even have just been lucky or unlucky.






Even if its not true there's enough casual awareness of a sling being a weapon that it will fit into most fantasy and war stories.

I got into trouble reading Gotrek and Felix under the desk in English lessons in Year 8 and I'd got into the hobby four years previously. I'd tried Roald Dahl because my sister liked the books and I tired those Far Away Tree novels too which my Mum's friend recommended because her kid loved them. I thought those books were boring as hell.

The extracts seems alright to me, I don't really see how people could have a problem with them.

Thommy H wrote:
Chaos is a mere reflection of mortal desires and emotions.

Khorne is fury and bloodlust, but also martial prowess and honour.
Tzeentch is deception and ambition, but also hope and change.
Nurgle is disease and entropy, but also regrowth and nurturing.
Slaanesh is excess and depravity, but also beauty and artistry.

They're not good guys, but they're more like fundamental forces than villains. There's definitely some ambiguity in there.

No. Chaos is the corruption, the darkest extreme of those values you are saying are also part of chaos. The noble martial knight that ends up enjoying too much battle and ends as a bloodthirsty killer, for example.


Also... LOL about slings not being letal. A profesional slinger could kill or at least knock unconscious a soldier with an helmet. A girl that knows how to use one could absolutely kill a grown adult with a hit on the head.
Don't you know about Balear slingers? They where used as mercs by the romans.

Pretty much irrationnal, since it doesn't really affect me, but god do I hope this whole venture bombs badly

 streetsamurai wrote:
Pretty much irrationnal, since it doesn't really affect me, but god do I hope this whole venture bombs badly

Why? If we want the hobby to grow then we need new blood to make it viable. To do this then predominantly recruiting younger gamers makes sense before they commit to other hobbies. With the amazing quality of video games, the draw of social media and a host of other factors there has never been more competition for the time and attention of young people. I think anything that draws in new hobbyists at a younger age can only be a good thing. It’s either that or we allow our past time to wither on the vine.