Op-ed: Warhammer The Old World Should Go to 15mm
I’ve been thinking about the return of The Old World in the years ahead and have a case to make.
Everyone is super excited about the possibility of Warhammer Fantasy returning in the future. The question is exactly what form would it return in. There are a couple of big things that GW did NOT promise in that press release.
- They never specifically mentioned Warhammer Fantasy Would Return – they only mentioned “The Old World”
- They never talked about scale – they only mentioned square bases.
The Problem
The problem for GW is obvious – Warhammer Fantasy had a lot of things going against it as a vehicle to directly bring back.
- It had a giant range of miniatures – over 16 Battletomes in 8th edition, and probably close to a thousand miniatures.
- Many of its miniatures are obsolete or have been entirely retired (like Tomb Kings).
- A great many of the miniatures are finecast – which GW wants to get out of as fast as they can.
- Fantasy had poor sales – remember that is why it was retired in the first place.
- It required a full development team – it was one of GW’s 2 core systems and those resources are best put into 40k/AoS at this time.
A Solution
So from GW’s point of view, The Old World’s IP is popular and valuable, Black Library is sitting on who knows how many WHF novels and the licensed video games just keep on coming. An ideal solution would be a limited game of some type that would keep the concept of The Old World alive, let the super enthusiasts collect and play it (like 30K), but be manageable by a small team of developers.
So here’s my solution: Bring back a Warmaster inspired game at 15mm.
15mm Gives You an “EPIC” Scale
You will be able to collect and fight absolutely huge battles at 15mm. If people love the visual drama of the TOTAL WAR video games – give it to them in a smaller scale.
15mm is Manageable for Products
Back in the heyday of EPIC, often all the core of a single army came on one sprue. GW would easily recreate all the armies of The Old World in 15mm with only a handful of products per army. 1 plastic sprue for the common stuff, and small add on boxes for the large exotic stuff like Dragons, giants, etc.
15mm Can be Done with a Small Staff
You don’t need enormous numbers of staff to manage a game like this. This would be no more challenging than producing something like Necromunda.
Sidestep the Issue of Old Models
With an all-new game, everyone starts at the same point. You don’t have to worry about all the old and obsolete models, or people chasing down oddball stuff on eBay to give themselves a leg up.
The Bases are Still Square!
Yup, whether GW stuck with small squads of 3-5 minis per stand like EPIC did, or just went to a Kings of War “unit vs unit” style – 15mm gives you an all-new game that keeps The Old World alive – and brings those sexy square bases back around.
~What do you think?
