Why I’m starting to love Warhammer Fantasy.

I was planning on NOT reviewing actual games in the “product review” section of our site… but I have to break my promise… cus I’m totally excited about Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay now. Why? Cus I built a character and did a few mock combat to figure out how the game functions in a non-theoretical way.

I know there are a lot of you out there who were a big fan of the last edition. I know there are a lot of you out there who hate new editions of anything. Well on this one you’re just plain wrong. It’s one of, if not the, best roleplaying game I have ever played.

A few weeks ago Chuck and I both dropped $100 apiece on the main box set. It’s a big price tag I know, but when you actually get down to what’s in the box it’s worth it. There are hundreds of cards, puzzle pieces (for tracking all kinds of stuff) and all the special dice you will need.

I’ve read through all the rule books and had a pretty good idea of how the game would work. I’d built a couple sample characters and tried to figure out what I was looking at when it came to those numbers interacting with the game world. I was pretty happy with the books but in no rush to play. The art quality was top notch, the production value of the pieces was excellent and the rules were comprehensive with few (if any) noticeable typos. There was also the word “moustache” which brought me immense joy.

So what changed? Well last night we built characters. At it’s heart the game has three major elements that all work seamlessly with each other to generate synergy on multiple levels. The first is the Character Cards which are your character class. During character creation you choose your race and draw 3 cards replacing them until you get 3 that your characters race can be. The group all drew their class cards and we decided as a group which of the party template cards we would use. Then we built our characters, choosing the best option to fit our template.

I can’t even begin to get into the detail of how complex and deep these mechanics were. Each player card has different options for talents to be slotted into them, these mimic those on the party card. We gain bonuses while doing things as a group and can share talents by slotting them in the party card rather than our own. We chose “Swords for Hire” which gives us shared tactic and reputation tabs and a nice ability to heal fatigue.

Sound complicated? It is! But not in a bad way. If you ignore the mechanics and go with what “sounds like fun” and create characters that fit the concept you will will have great party that functions well together.

Then there is the stance meter and action cards. This is a simple mechanic used to make every character function very differently without everyone having to learn their own set of rules. Once you have the basics down you can play any character. This lets the game focus on character growth instead of character sheet growth.

Everything about the art direction is designed to make an incredibly complex game run very smoothly. The stance meter is assembled through puzzle pieces and you slide a marker up and down it to track your stance. Tons of chits and helpful pieces make the game LOOK like a board game, but play like an RPG.

I’ll leave you with this example of game play.

Chuck: As you travel down the old dirt road (he lays down an old dirt road card) you come to a clearing in the forest (he lays down a forest glade card). It takes a moment before you notice a single bone hanging on a string made of gut from one of the gnarled trees. Once you see it, they all become vividly clear, dozens of bones hanging from the trees around you. Roll for combat initiative. He places our character stand ups (cardboard pictures on stands that could EASILY be replaced with Warhammer Mini’s) on the road card.

We each roll our Agility (social initiative is Fellowship). I take 4 blue 8 sided characteristic dice and luck out with 3 successes. The others roll theirs and report to Chuck, who places “hero” chits next to his initiative tracker. He then rolls some dice behind the screen and places a few monster chits nearby, but does not assign them to the tracker (we don’t know when they go). As a group we decide who is taking the first move, as my weapon is heaviest and we haven’t seen an enemy they let me draw my blade. We act on initiatives 3, 3 and 2, so pretty close together.

Me: I assume a conservative posture (I move my marker down the green line on my tracker) as I maneuver (those are non attack actions) to draw my Greatsword of Hoeth (guess what I’m playing!).

Ian: I draw my weapon and crouch ready to spring recklessly. (moving his marker down the red tracker).

Kevin: I slip an arrow into my longbow as silently as possible (going conservative). I assess the situation (kevin plays a green card labeled “assess the situation” and gathers 3 characteristic dice. He converts one into a conservative dice (as he is 1 point into the conservative track) and adds in a yellow expertise dice (he is trained in the appropriate skill). He rolls 2 successes, but one has an hourglass token. Chuck places 2 counters on his “assess the situation card” because of the hourglass, so he won’t be able to observe like that for 2 rounds. Kevin succeeded, however, and he is now harder to hit until the end of his next turn. Kevin ends his turn and removes one of the hourglass tokens from his Assess The Situation card.

Chuck: Several goblins step from behind trees, one calls out in a feeble voice, “THE SHINY BITS, WE TAKE!” They don’t move to engage you, however, they may be holding back to make use of their numbers. Chuck places a goblin token on the glades card, showing us that it is not at close range to us. Back up to the top of the initiative.

Kevin: Mind if I go first guys? (We nod our approval). I’ll let the one who spoke have it with carefully placed arrow. Kevin moves his tracker down another conservative notch. He takes the ranged shot card and rolls a ballistic skill test, he replaces 2 agility dice with conservative dice, adds in a yellow expertise dice and a white fate die for his specialization in the longbow.

Chuck: This shot isn’t too tough, especially for a longer range weapon like your bow. Chuck tosses in a single red challenge dice to represent the difficulty. Kevin gets 2 successes and 2 boons, the boons allow him to make a free maneuver, so he draws his longsword after the shot. Kevin deals 10 damage, minus some for the goblins toughness and soak, it’s hurt but not down.

Then we kick some goblin asses.