WFB 9th and Mantic Makes a Move
If you want to see the hand of capitalism at work, look no further than the forces in play for the future of Warhammer Fantasy players…
Where WFB Sits
First off all, let’s catch up with WFB 9th.
The Old World exploded! – NO really it’s GONE. After five $85 dollar books, GW did the unthinkable and destroyed the entire Old World and almost everyone in it. There are of course rumors of hinted pocket dimensions, the Lizardmen “arcs” escaping into space, and exactly what lay on the other side of the all devouring portal that sucked in the big important characters of all sides at the very end of the END TIMES. But at the end of the day – Chaos blew it up.
No one really expects that when WFB 9th returns in a couple months it will be “business as usual”. A LOT are armies are gone, and consolodation into a small number of mega faction armies (Undead, Elves, forces of Chaos, etc…) seems to be the writing on the wall. I think we can all officially say that Hardcover Bretonnia & Beastmen books are never coming…
As you can imagine, it is a very anxious and trying time for die-hard WFB players. Some are looking forward to 9th. Other are saying they will stick with 8th come hell or high water, splitting the community in a mirror of what happened with Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition.
Enter Mantic:
Get a load of a recent announcement by Mantic Games regarding future plans for Kings of War 2.0:
“We will be putting out tournament legal army lists for lots of non-Mantic armies. These will not be canon in KoW IP but they’ll be great to battle with and against. I think a book detailing say 10 new armies would make an excellent addition – with the armies being either historical or fantasy themed (this is where the Twilight Kin will live until we get them their own Mantic sculpts and a full army – at which point we move them into the main canon). This will allow people with existing armies a chance to play KoW – which is good for us all when we are trying to find an opponent. I cannot recall many other miniature companies that actively promote the use of other manufacturer’s figures in their game, and I think a good example of mantic putting the game before other considerations. These armies will be the perfect place to fit a lot of people’s existing Kingdoms of Men armies, with plenty of options available.”
It looks like the other guys in Nottingham are planning ahead and may be throwing a live-preserver to existing or disgruntled WFB players with armies. Mantic may just end up being the Kings of square bases!
In any case, we won’t have long to wait to see what WFB 9th holds. Rumormonger Arthurius11 says:
“As has been said by Harry previously there is a fantasy box set / starter set coming, I don’t know release dates but from what I know it is very likely that it should be around May sometime. Will be interesting times ahead indeed.”
“Box set will be chaos faction vs human faction. There are armoured warriors in a way like chaos warriors but on the side of order. There is a small rules book / pamphlet included. Models are on round bases. End of April-May sounds plausible but I cannot confirm.”
Warhammer 9th Roundup
What do you think the WFB community will do, and what do you think of folks jumping ship with thier fully painted armies to another game system that is extending a helping hand?
