This is the one army book that I think is still the one I originally brought as a kid, everything else was replaced as an adult after trying to get out of the hobby after my mum died in 97, but I kept this, likely because of the nostalgia of The Empire being my first proper army I tried to collect as a kid.
Just off that comment about the catacombs of terror throne has made me have a Vietnam style flashback to trying to superglue the original Treebeard together, and his arm falling off about 6 times! I'm sure 12 year old me was nearly in tears by the end.
On the Empire book calling back to the 3rd edition; in fact, the majority of the book was released as articles in WD, showcasing a revamped 3rd edition army list.R$etrospectively, it's clear GW were testing out 4th edition army formats, there's a similar thing with Space Wolves and 40k 1st/2nd. Most of the 4th ed Army Books had excellent historical narratives, as I recall. High Elves and Undead were always my favourites, they read almost like fantasy epics. Dwarves and Dark Elves were also great, and complemented the High Elves; and of course the Skaven book was excellent and acted as the sequel (squeekel?) to Undead.
genuinely suprised by how many seem put off by the 3rd-5th miniatures later army books largely reiterate older versions. maybe thats why the empire book could feel fuller if that's where one first encountered the information. a common critique of wfb is the monoracial factions, glad you highlighted the variety with humans, halflings, ogres, dwarfs, tileans, and kislev. also with the unrestricted detachment options. looking forward to the 5th ed vampire counts, imo that's when they perfected their army book production 45:00 theres a homebrew for that, have you tried warhammer renaissance? not sure how fair book comparisons would be given projects seemed to rely on having a motivated, personally invested product owner, which certainly wasnt always the case
The Warhammer Armies Project is another homebrew alternative for expansive lists, though it pulls a lot more from 8th edition for it's ruleset than Renaissance
Great series, love this. on the art, I love the inconsistent art style in the older books, it made them feel SO big, like uncovering a tome that has been built over centuries.
You're making me want to buy this book, and I've never played an Empire army 😂. But buying it for the lore and experimenting with different army lists sounds fun.
Buy the book, buy them all. They are a great reference material, a good read, and you can find out about Armies you don't play against very often. Just need to expand my 8th edition collection.
TH-cam appears to have eaten my comment as I tried to post, so trying again. 32:04 - I’m going to have to disagree with the statement that the 8th Ed plastic griffon mini is beautiful. I don’t know what it is about it, but I find it kinda an ugly mini, and it’s a massive downgrade from the old metal Karl Franz on Deathclaw and the generic General on griffon. Part of this is down to the size; I think most monsters in WHFB looked better when sized for 40/50mm bases, and I think at most the size should’ve gone up to chariot base sized. The colossal plastic monsters that came in with 8th never really felt right for me, save for a handful of things like the araknorok spider for O&G. I could see them existing somewhere in the Warhammer world, but only as something super rare, not as something any General could have as his mount, or even Karl Franz for that matter.
I quite like the plastic Karl Franz, however, I do agree with the point about the over-sized minis that came with 8th (and are omnipresent in AoS.) Generally speaking, they're not for me
The Gotrek and Felix story is from a Warhammer multiverse. Felix catches a glimpse of it in a later novel
This is the one army book that I think is still the one I originally brought as a kid, everything else was replaced as an adult after trying to get out of the hobby after my mum died in 97, but I kept this, likely because of the nostalgia of The Empire being my first proper army I tried to collect as a kid.
Just off that comment about the catacombs of terror throne has made me have a Vietnam style flashback to trying to superglue the original Treebeard together, and his arm falling off about 6 times! I'm sure 12 year old me was nearly in tears by the end.
It was brutal when I had no idea what pinning even was!
On the Empire book calling back to the 3rd edition; in fact, the majority of the book was released as articles in WD, showcasing a revamped 3rd edition army list.R$etrospectively, it's clear GW were testing out 4th edition army formats, there's a similar thing with Space Wolves and 40k 1st/2nd.
Most of the 4th ed Army Books had excellent historical narratives, as I recall. High Elves and Undead were always my favourites, they read almost like fantasy epics. Dwarves and Dark Elves were also great, and complemented the High Elves; and of course the Skaven book was excellent and acted as the sequel (squeekel?) to Undead.
genuinely suprised by how many seem put off by the 3rd-5th miniatures
later army books largely reiterate older versions. maybe thats why the empire book could feel fuller if that's where one first encountered the information.
a common critique of wfb is the monoracial factions, glad you highlighted the variety with humans, halflings, ogres, dwarfs, tileans, and kislev. also with the unrestricted detachment options.
looking forward to the 5th ed vampire counts, imo that's when they perfected their army book production
45:00
theres a homebrew for that, have you tried warhammer renaissance?
not sure how fair book comparisons would be given projects seemed to rely on having a motivated, personally invested product owner, which certainly wasnt always the case
The Warhammer Armies Project is another homebrew alternative for expansive lists, though it pulls a lot more from 8th edition for it's ruleset than Renaissance
Great series, love this. on the art, I love the inconsistent art style in the older books, it made them feel SO big, like uncovering a tome that has been built over centuries.
You're making me want to buy this book, and I've never played an Empire army 😂. But buying it for the lore and experimenting with different army lists sounds fun.
Buy the book, buy them all. They are a great reference material, a good read, and you can find out about Armies you don't play against very often. Just need to expand my 8th edition collection.
@leithrogers7755 Yes, I bought it about 10 mins after 😀
TH-cam appears to have eaten my comment as I tried to post, so trying again.
32:04 - I’m going to have to disagree with the statement that the 8th Ed plastic griffon mini is beautiful. I don’t know what it is about it, but I find it kinda an ugly mini, and it’s a massive downgrade from the old metal Karl Franz on Deathclaw and the generic General on griffon. Part of this is down to the size; I think most monsters in WHFB looked better when sized for 40/50mm bases, and I think at most the size should’ve gone up to chariot base sized. The colossal plastic monsters that came in with 8th never really felt right for me, save for a handful of things like the araknorok spider for O&G. I could see them existing somewhere in the Warhammer world, but only as something super rare, not as something any General could have as his mount, or even Karl Franz for that matter.
Yes, definitely too big and sort of blocky as though it's been carved out of something rather than a living thing.
Had so much fun recording this, love chatting Warhammer.
I agree on that griffon in particular. My favourite GW griffon is the one from island of blood. Such a beautiful dynamic sculpt.
I quite like the plastic Karl Franz, however, I do agree with the point about the over-sized minis that came with 8th (and are omnipresent in AoS.) Generally speaking, they're not for me
@@The_Captain40k Yeah the High Elf one from that set is beautiful!