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So after getting the 6th, 7th, and 8th starter sets, Ravening Hordes, a couple of 6th edition Annuals, the 6th edition General's Compendium, 6th edition Skimirsh expansion, and 7th edition Warbands rules, I feel I have looked over enough and read enough to say that I am blown away by 6th edition. I have read the pros and cons for each of those editions on this site, and feel that whatever shortcomings 6th might have, it makes up for in other ways. I do have many of the 6th edition Army books, but while flipping through them makes some interesting reading, I am just settling on what Ravening Hordes has to offer since 99% of what I have shows up in it.

What sells me on 6th is how much love was given to it by GW. The rulebook alone is amazing in that it covers so many ways to play (I can see where Mordheim came from). I guess you could argue you could use these rules in the later editions, but it just seems silly for me to invest in books going across different editions. I really thought Warhammer Fantasy was a complicated affair, and actually in some ways it still can be, but I do not find it as intimidating as I used to. Maybe because I intend to keep things simple. I am not collecting huge armies or exotic units, so I will never know how larger games or more powerful units in the army books might break competitive play. Slightly expanding on the starter armies I have, I have multiple ways to play with the same miniatures (something I never really saw in 40k and that was the game I played a lot of), and a whole host of ideas on different types of battles to play out. It seems to me that GW employed a lot of people who were really huge fans of 6th, and their business model at the time allowed them at the time to be able to publish a lot of their ideas. I don't see that happening in 7th or 8th but I could be wrong. It seems to me, and I am just guessing here as I wasn't playing at the time, that GW's production and fan interest peaked at 6th and dropped after that. What is also interesting to me is that 40k was in 3rd edition at the time, and while I wasn't crazy about those rules and neither were many other people, support for 3rd was still pretty amazing. Lots of expansion in the armies as well as numerous optional rules and campaigns. I don't see that in 40k anymore. Everything seems centered around the Codexes and that is that.

I wonder what affect the LOTR game might have had on WFB; if it pulled players away from ranked combat to more skirimish style play, and eventually dragged WFB in that direction. I can also see why GW ended the world (which was really too heavily borrowed from LOTR anyway), and started in their own direction with Sigmar. I can see why that had to happen.

But I really feel I missed out on a great time. Maybe its also because I am so burned out on 40k, and do not like the direction its going in either. But I am having a great time exploring this old world and are envious of the players who got to play 6th in its many forms. Kind of like how I tell new players about playing Epic during its peak.

I briefly checked out 9th age. . . it seems this based more on 8th, is that correct? If anyone can tell me the major pros and cons comparing it to 6th I would appreciate it.

 KTG17 wrote:

I briefly checked out 9th age. . . it seems this based more on 8th, is that correct? If anyone can tell me the major pros and cons comparing it to 6th I would appreciate it.

Ninth Age is a game expanding from a "balanced" 8th edition (version 1.0) to a re-written 8th edition (1.3) to brand new game that focus on the spirit of 8th (version 2.0)
Compared to 6th, they have rules for all the shiny new models that were available at the end of 8th, (but miss the shiny new models that came after) have stronger magic, focus in general more in characters and cavalry is not that strong

the opposite of T9A would be Kings of War, focus on units instead of heroes much more streamlined and less complicated rules (and unit bases instead of single models)

On the plus side, having that baseline to go by, it's easy enough to adjust rules from the newer units that aren't in 6th and have them fit in. You'll get a gist of what the power levels are, points cost, and can adjust accordingly.


Before it got quiet over there, there was some discussion between members on ideas on how to port newer stuff over.

I cannot say how common 9th Age in the US is, but here in Germany the tournament community is still quite large.

It is in no way comparable to the number of players GW reached during the heyday of 7th or even 8th edition, but you can still find tournaments with 60+ or even 100+ players.
The gaming community is quite large, compared to older editions or other fanmade legacy systems, so that is on the pro side for 9th age.

Cons: The fluff is made to look feel different from GW. Some may say "who cares, use the rules and move the battle into the old world" but in some cases this is just not possible. For example, there are no 4 chaos gods, but some kind of seven deadly sins - worship.

A lot of the fluffy, but from my pov gamebreaking rules of 8th have made their way over to 9th Age.
Like random attack movement. Or steadfast, making large units necessary for infantry to play them and so on...

Let me quote a famous orange-haired person: Bad deal


We maintain a small player base still doing fantasy, with a rule set comparable to 6th/7th edition, with full rules for all the shiny new toys GW released during 7th/8th edition.
So if you want to play, let's say a Celestial Hurricanum in your 6th edition game or a poison wind mortar of the Skaven, you could look up the rules of it in the Warhammer Classic Edition (that's how the ruleset is called) and use these. If there are questions, you can come back to me, I'll gladly explain them.

I initially posted something about it here in order to promote it a bit here on Dakka. If you're interested.

 Moscha wrote:

A lot of the fluffy, but from my pov gamebreaking rules of 8th have made their way over to 9th Age.
Like random attack movement. Or steadfast, making large units necessary for infantry to play them and so on...

Steadfast is there, but it can be disrupted.

Also units get proportionally more expensive the bigger they are, and horde has been reworked to be 8 rather than 10-wide. So much that the current meta of 9th age is jokingly refered as age of MSU/MMU

You see the odd big unit (mostly core ogres and skeletons) but nothing like 8th edition.

jouso wrote:

 Moscha wrote:

A lot of the fluffy, but from my pov gamebreaking rules of 8th have made their way over to 9th Age.
Like random attack movement. Or steadfast, making large units necessary for infantry to play them and so on...

Steadfast is there, but it can be disrupted.

Also units get proportionally more expensive the bigger they are, and horde has been reworked to be 8 rather than 10-wide. So much that the current meta of 9th age is jokingly refered as age of MSU/MMU

You see the odd big unit (mostly core ogres and skeletons) but nothing like 8th edition.

Thanks for the update! Good to know!

 Moscha wrote:
I cannot say how common 9th Age in the US is, but here in Germany the tournament community is still quite large.

It is in no way comparable to the number of players GW reached during the heyday of 7th or even 8th edition, but you can still find tournaments with 60+ or even 100+ players.
The gaming community is quite large, compared to older editions or other fanmade legacy systems, so that is on the pro side for 9th age.

Cons: The fluff is made to look feel different from GW. Some may say "who cares, use the rules and move the battle into the old world" but in some cases this is just not possible. For example, there are no 4 chaos gods, but some kind of seven deadly sins - worship.

Stick with 1.1 and you get not-Khorne, not-Slaanesh etc

 Moscha wrote:

A lot of the fluffy, but from my pov gamebreaking rules of 8th have made their way over to 9th Age.
Like random attack movement. Or steadfast, making large units necessary for infantry to play them and so on...

The rules are fairly tight in my opinion, a lot of the game breaking things have hidden downsides that are not easily apparent. Normally this is how universal special rules are worded.

 Moscha wrote:

We maintain a small player base still doing fantasy, with a rule set comparable to 6th/7th edition, with full rules for all the shiny new toys GW released during 7th/8th edition.
So if you want to play, let's say a Celestial Hurricanum in your 6th edition game or a poison wind mortar of the Skaven, you could look up the rules of it in the Warhammer Classic Edition (that's how the ruleset is called) and use these. If there are questions, you can come back to me, I'll gladly explain them.

I initially posted something about it here in order to promote it a bit here on Dakka. If you're interested.

6th or 7th with upgraded lists looks interesting.

My main problem with editions prior to 8th is single rank shooting, it looks crap to have single ranks of shooters and makes shooting suck. It s a throwback to the days when twenty models in a unit was large.

I always put my shooting units on hills, took care of the shooting in ranks issue. Now, when High Elves lost fire in two ranks going from Ravening Hordes to the Intrigue book, that's a different story.

 Orlanth wrote:



Stick with 1.1 and you get not-Khorne, not-Slaanesh etc

This is correct, but if you play 1.1, you are ipso facto losing the advantage of playing the "actual" edition and therefore losing players to choose from.

6th or 7th with upgraded lists looks interesting.

My main problem with editions prior to 8th is single rank shooting, it looks crap to have single ranks of shooters and makes shooting suck. It s a throwback to the days when twenty models in a unit was large.

It's like this to some extent, for sure. But to be honest, while I found it to be fitting that Skaven or Goblins field units larger than 40 models, I found it to be strange to have "Elite" units like Witch Elves or Swordmasters in units larger that 30 or even 40 models, which was the case in 8th.
For these units, I would consider 15 models as sufficiently large, up to a max of 25 models. And this size is perfectly fine for older editions like 6th or 7th or in CE.

In CE, High elves are shooting from 2 ranks like in ravening hordes back in the days. Some units with the special rule "light infantry" are also shooting from two ranks. For example Ungor archers ,Dark Elven Raiders or Skinks.

 Moscha wrote:

 Orlanth wrote:

Stick with 1.1 and you get not-Khorne, not-Slaanesh etc

This is correct, but if you play 1.1, you are ipso facto losing the advantage of playing the "actual" edition and therefore losing players to choose from.

I don't care. I host, that is to say I have ten large armies planned, nine of which are done or near done and I can chop and change rulesets. I provide terrain, models rules and army books or printouts. My guest chooses the ruleset and army they play.

9th Age 1.1 is in my opinion the very best edition of WHFB

 Moscha wrote:

 Orlanth wrote:

My main problem with editions prior to 8th is single rank shooting, it looks crap to have single ranks of shooters and makes shooting suck. It s a throwback to the days when twenty models in a unit was large.

It's like this to some extent, for sure. But to be honest, while I found it to be fitting that Skaven or Goblins field units larger than 40 models, I found it to be strange to have "Elite" units like Witch Elves or Swordmasters in units larger that 30 or even 40 models, which was the case in 8th.
For these units, I would consider 15 models as sufficiently large, up to a max of 25 models. And this size is perfectly fine for older editions like 6th or 7th or in CE.

Hosting may be your answer. Your guest asks to play Dark Elves and you show them the available models, because you made them everything is WYSIWYG and there are more characters than needed. Your opponent chooses their characters then looks at core. They want a Witch elf horde but you only have 15, you have 40 Corsairs though and 40 Dreadspears....

99% of the problems disappear when hosting, you get to make up and awesome collection of two plus factions, preferably four plus.

For hosting to work you only have to be a collector first and a gamer second, or equal of both. A hosts collection cab be built over time and most gamers collect more than one faction anyway.

FYI I was able to pick up a used set of Knightly Orders and was able to salvage enough great parts to assemble 5 Knights, champ, musician, and standard included just like you see on the side of the box. Love them! First time seeing them built.

Also, I am just about done with assembling my Orcs. I had no idea they would be as big as they are in compared to other races I mean. I think they look great. Prob take a looooonnnggg time to get them all painted.

I was never fond of the Imperial Spearmen and Handgunners, but I spent some time swapping heads and so on to make more unique figures so I didn't have so many duplicates. I am very satisfied now.

Currently working on their movement trays, which have been hit and miss. Kind of time consuming to be honest. I am doing most of the cutting with my band saw, and I have no idea how others would have done this without one.

Anyway, having a blast with all this to be honest.

Let loose the Dogs of War!!

Sounds like you are having a great time.
@Orlanth :I really like the way you plan your hosted games.

 KTG17 wrote:
FYI I was able to pick up a used set of Knightly Orders and was able to salvage enough great parts to assemble 5 Knights, champ, musician, and standard included just like you see on the side of the box. Love them! First time seeing them built.

Also, I am just about done with assembling my Orcs. I had no idea they would be as big as they are in compared to other races I mean. I think they look great. Prob take a looooonnnggg time to get them all painted.

I was never fond of the Imperial Spearmen and Handgunners, but I spent some time swapping heads and so on to make more unique figures so I didn't have so many duplicates. I am very satisfied now.

Currently working on their movement trays, which have been hit and miss. Kind of time consuming to be honest. I am doing most of the cutting with my band saw, and I have no idea how others would have done this without one.

Anyway, having a blast with all this to be honest.

On the modular tray kit, I flipped it to the 20 mm square side, and ran the Xacto knife down the line I needed with just a little pressure repeatedly until it made headway.


I also have one that I just glued the side rails on with no alterations for my 25 man Minotaur unit.

25 man Minotaur unit? You mean the ones of which I am owning 3 and considering it a unit already?

Dang if I ever get to visit the States again, my orks are coming with me. I just hope homeland security will allow green skinned immigrants from the darklands




Automatically Appended Next Post:
"Green Card" shouldn't be a problem with Orks though.

Got plenty.

"Gaze of Mork". "Smash'em". "Foot of Gork".

Yeah, back during 7th Ed. they upped the rank bonus number of models to 5, and Ogre sized models didn't get an exception, so I had to go 5 wide to get a rank bonus, and the 5th rank was to give me 17 wounds I could absorb before losing that rank bonus. It was a beast of a unit, and the army build I used was invalidated with the 7th Ed. army book. I now run them at 8 or 12 man in 6th, but my brother is still quite insistent that we should keep the 5 wide rule.