Warhammer Forge

[miteyheroes]

Just got back from Games Day UK (I was the Tech-cultist in red and black robes with a rebreather, if anyone else was there!)

Warhammer Forge, the new WFB version of Forgeworld, was amazing. Here's the stuff I learnt:

The first book will be about a Nurgle general (with Chaos Dwarf support) invading the Empire. It will be taking the WFB storyline further forward, and the books will be shaking up the Warhammer world and changing things!

These books will be similar to Imperial Armour: lots of fluff, rules, etc.

There will be lots of funky models to co-incide with this first book:
Nurgle:

The main warlord, on a massive fat wingless Toad Dragon
Giant mutated toads. There's a strong toad theme! These are disgusting looking beasts, and come either as toads on their own or with plaguebearer riders. They'd make good Beasts of Nurgle in normal/40k armies.
A guy riding a rotbeast, some sort of big nasty Nurgly creature?
New chaos spawn. He had 3 heads?
Chaos ogres
Chaos trolls
Some character models, including Plaguebearer command that had a musician with a HUGE mouth
Maybe add-on-packs for Chaos Knights, to make them more Nurgle? These weren't on display, but their concept art was and they were being talked about


Chaos Dwarf:

Lots of war machines! The war machines are all very Evil Steampunk. A little bit orky (but not ramshackle), a little bit dwarf (but no runes), very spiky, very cool!
One with giant hammers that go up and down crushing people
The Magma Cannon, a big flamethrower type thing
There was a massive Gun Train type thing, with 3 seperate carriages all with huge cannons or rockets or so on
Didn't see many actual CD infantry. Not sure if there will be any or if the war machines are just there to support Nurgle infantry (like the Hellcannon is in standard Chaos armies).
I spent lots of time looking at concept sketches. In general the Chaos Dwarf theme was still strongly Mesopotamian, lots of scale armour and big beards. Horns growing out of people's heads seem to be in fashion. Hats were big- not quite as big as the biggest old guys, but still large. Hobgoblins were still very Mongolian, following on from Hoblakhan's guys.
I had a very surreal conversation with the Warhammer Forge guys where they told me about how Dwarves were all northern Englishmen, and they use the braziers on their hats to keep them warm in t'pit, and they keep pies hidden under their hats. This may not be canon.


Empire:

Resin bodies for handgunner/crossbowmen and swordsmen/etc. The idea being that you buy 1 plastic box and 1 set of resin bodies and then split the plastic boxes arms between the 2. Cunning.
The Emperor's Life Guard on a Demi-Griffon. Which is like a Griffon without wings. Apparently they're considering making a unit of these, led by the champion. Madness!
The Land Ship. A mix of a steam tank and ship. Awesome. Apparently the invasion turns parts of the Empire into swamps, meaning they need amphibious vehicles :D


Apparently the first 4 books will be about 4 huge Chaos invasions, happening all around the WFB world, led by 4 siblings. I'm guessing this will mean 1 book per God, and they'll try to cover lots of different armies as the enemy factions.

Had a particularly fascinating chat about Skaven- possible Vermin Lord (yay!), possible add-ons to the Doomwheel or Screaming Bell sets- what if the Doomwheel was used as just the wheels of a bigger object? Or a generator? Or imagine teleporters, mixing people together like in the Fly for Moulder? It's possible the Skaven will rise up in large numbers, whilst the Empire is distracted by defending themselves from the Chaos invasions...

[Magos Bellum]

Storm of Chaos as it should have been?

Regardless, thanks for the detailed information. This sounds like it will be very interesting at the very least.

[miteyheroes]

Storm of Chaos as it should have been?

That's what I'm hoping!

[DrLove42]

The Dwarf train was awesome, as was the toad dragon. And the empire landship!

[Faultie]

Invasions all over the Warhammer world?! I can only hope this means that Warhammer Forge will, at some point, put out some Kislevite models.

*fingers crossed*

[eldargal]

The WarForge books will be set in a alternate timeline, too. Apparently Rick Priestley said the first four tell the story of what would happen in Chaos won. Very exciting.

[miteyheroes]

The WarForge books will be set in a alternate timeline, too. Apparently Rick Priestley said the first four tell the story of what would happen in Chaos won. Very exciting.

Hmm, I chatted to Mark Bedford for ages and he didn't suggest it was an alternate timeline. Odd. Guess we'll see what happens...

[AirHorse]

Perhaps it is a timeline split? Forge world continuing the story without it being official canon for the main warhammer line?

[eldargal]

According to the people over at Warseer it was Rick Priestley who wrote it and said it was an alternate timeline. I wasn't there (grr) so I can't say for sure myself.


Hmm, I chatted to Mark Bedford for ages and he didn't suggest it was an alternate timeline. Odd. Guess we'll see what happens...

[miteyheroes]

According to the people over at Warseer it was Rick Priestley who wrote it and said it was an alternate timeline. I wasn't there (grr) so I can't say for sure myself.

Yeah, it was definitely Rick that's being doing all that side of it. Sadly I didn't get to speak to him, he was faaaaaar too busy. But yes, Rick'd know!

[eldargal]

Here is a good round up of Warhammer Forge news:

I have done a full summary of everything I'm aware of (credit to all those who posted). Seeing as we already have 2 threads discussing this I won't make another. ;)


Release date
Rumoured that some models will be out by Christmas (2010), the Siege of Tamurkan out Feb/March/April time

The launch was originally intended for 2012 but the company want to start seeing a return on the investment in design so they will likely launch in early 2011 with 6-8 pieces and then a second wave to follow shortly after.

The production cycle is around 3 months and starting in November so around February release, Paul Rudge said that the books are being produced through Forgeworld and that there was one more IA book to come then this then another IA book then a slot which was undecided which could be the second of these.

Models intended for release (as far as I know)
Theodor Bruckner on Demigriffon (and on foot) the emperors new champion
Marienburg Land Ship
Tamur Khan a nurgle ogre ( possibly a human) riding the toad dragon.
Chaos Dwarf Siege Bombard (will have a chained ogre to load it with a couple of CD 'motivators')
Chaos Dwarf Skullcracker
Chaos Dwarf Magma cannon
Chaos Dwarf Demolition rocket
Chaos Dwarf Steam Engine
Chaos Dwarf Engineer (possibly also the second one)
Carmine Dragon
Chaos Ogre
Nurgle WoC Command
Plague Toads
Plague Toad rider
Spawn

Models showcased but unlikely to be released
Empire upgrade sprues on display won’t be produced (the fits weren't tight enough) but they will likely re-work them and then release.
Nurgle champion unlikely to be released

Rumoured models
Third Nurgle Ogre
Third Nurgle Troll.
Various riders for Carmine Dragon (Empire mentioned)
A mammoth with ogres on it
Plastic monsters for next year!
Possible Vermin Lord
One of the land train carriages will be a platform for a regiment of CD blunderbussers and that they will be released separately followed later on by command models.
More Plague Toad riders

Other rumours
Bull Centaurs
Chaos Dwarfs with Great Weapons (possibly also with halberds??)
Hobgoblins on foot and on wolves
Lord on Great Taurus
CD Sorcerer
Warrior Priests of Taal
Warrior Priests of Morr
Warrior Priest on a Griffon
A boat-like flying ship, with wing-oars.
Possible add-ons to the Doomwheel or Screaming Bell sets

Most of the Chaos Dwarf stuff will be split between books 1-2 as the models have either just been started or are still in the concept phase.

Rick confirmed they were not planning to release CD as a complete army.

The artillery train was described as akin to the warhammer equivalent of a nuke which would fire up over the walls into the centre of the city and level it!

Info on Warhammer Forge
They can't start making FW versions of regular infantry units as that treads on the studios toes, so they intend to do upgrade kits to get around this.

Similar format to the imperial armour books; story line, characters, army lists, special rules and figures to go with.

The books will NOT contain photographs of the models, they will only be artwork. The idea is that the Warhammer Forge books will be of the "era" and be illustrated manuscripts. I guess it also allows them to release models for them years later, as they only have artwork as the placeholder.

The Warhammer Forge books will be linked and span several volumes detailing an expansion of Chaos. This is not written as an unbroken narrative but rather as a selection of scenes or encounters, parts of the story which give the background for the battles.

It will be spread over more than 40 chapters and follows the fortunes of the key characters.

The first book follows the fortunes of Tamur Khan for a bit then leaves him hanging whilst following the fortunes of one of his lieutenants for example or spotlighting events elsewhere in the warhammer world which have a bearing on the tale, before returning to the main characters again. All sumptuously illustrated with fine artworks and wonderful maps showing the routes followed by the main protagonists so we can place the events in the warhammer world as the story unfolds.

Rick has actually scaled out the WFB map in his own way to plan out how long it would actually take an army to march etc.

Rick basically wants to muck around with the timeline and advance it in these books.

The first book features the expansion of Nurgle into the West; Nurgle WoC, Chaos Dwarfs, Ogre Kingdoms and Empire.

The second book concludes the Nurgle expansion, and has some Dwarf models

Second expansion is Tzeentch into the south, fighting the Lizardmen (presumably O&G as well).

Third expansion is Slaanesh into the East, fighting ‘elves’ (presumably High Elves and Dark Elves).

Forth expansion is Khorne into the North.

Note that there will probably be 2 books per chaos god, and there may not always be a book with chaos in, if there is something significant happening somewhere else in the world that has some bearing on the overall story.

Book 1 Tamurkhan - The Throne of Chaos

Planned and written by Rick Priestley.

Lots of bespoke Adrian Smith artwork will feature in the first book.

Ostermark mentioned.

Storyline

The first book either starts or ends with the emperor presumed dead along with all or most of the counts. Esme Stoutheart the Halfling becomes the emperor, this lasts for a short while. The new emperor’s son was kidnapped by orcs and sold to chaos slavers, he's a dark sorcerer.

The books may start at a later time, many years from the current time, when the Empire truly is in ruins, a corpse waiting to be eaten by vultures

The stories are to represent the next, biggest and probably last great incursion. Some well known special characters will probably be killed off. The conclusion of this campaign (all the books) would be not just the end of the empire but the entire warhammer world hence definitely an alternative / future timeline

The first book Tamurkan focuses on Tamur Khan (a Nurgle worshipping warlord) who is marching west through the lands of the Chaos Dwarfs and the Ogre Kingdoms. Finally ending up in the Empire.

Tamur has taken the form of an Ogre as he takes on the form of whatever he kills, otherwise he is just a big maggot or a lot of small maggots which are release when he is wounded.

The 4 brothers (major powers) divide the world into quarters, each heading in a different direction. The Nurgle invasion starts just north of the mountains of mourn. Some ogres fight against chaos, some join chaos. They then move on through the steppes and dark lands, picking up chaos dwarf and hobgoblin allies and fight their way over the mountains and along the Reik towards Marienburg. at some point the Nurgle lord bathes in the Reik and turns it to pus. The plague toads are either daemons who have used the befouled Reik as a warp rift or possessed/mutated wildlife from the river.

[Old_Paladin]

Thanks Eldargal, for bringing such awesome info to our attention.

I love the idea of the books being written in more of a 'period-piece' style (like the oop "Loathsome Ratmen" or the "Mordheim Gazette").

[gcsmith]

Hmm i hope even in alternative time line chaos dnt win. well for one they wouldnt want to because then the chaos becomes the natural order of things and therefore no longer chaos :p but also would like to see ulthuan become a bastion of light with all races taking refuge and holding against the chaos invasion, They did it once against all the greatest daemons after all. Plus we all know that Asuryan is the greatest warhammer god, along with vaul and khaine

[L192837465]

I've been waiting for this crap for 8 years. Why so long to do it? They alienated half or more of their player base by not providing more FW stuff for Fantasy.

I'm still excited to see what they make, though.

[eldargal]

Some new titbits:


A bit of a long post...

I thought you may all appreciate this summary. I went to the Scale Model World event today and spoke to Mark Bedford and Ead (the IT/newsletter guy). As they will undoubtedly read this at some point (see later for how I know), I’d like to thank you guys for taking the time to answer my many questions.

As nothing was said that I feel should be kept private, I’ll just note it all down.

I asked Mark first about the Steam Train, what the idea was behind it all. As many people know their idea is that the CD will be travelling to war in armoured convoys. So that’s the idea behind it. From a rules point of view the idea is that the front part of the steam train is the CD equivalent of an empire steam tank (presumably with ‘open top’ rules) and is supposed to be detached from the back part before the battle. The wagon that we’ve seen, the siege bombard, and any others they make will have their own steam engine on them, so they are capable of some locomotion.

The second hero type CD model is an engineer, over on CDO there has been some discussion if it is a combat hero or an engineer (as it didn’t have a label right next to it).

As it is relevant to most of what follows I’ll put this bit here. I asked him about future plans for the Chaos Dwarfs and it seems that they are in discussions right now (well, a meeting next week) about how best to go forwards with them.

From what I gather they have lots and lots of plans for things they can do, but any future support will be directly determined by how popular the other CD models are. The people higher up want to make a decision based on sales data. So the more people buy the higher the chances of them making a stand alone list. Mark basically said that. If the sales figures of the things we’ve seen are good they will green light the whole project so that the Chaos Dwarfs become the Warhammer Forge equivalent of the Death Korps of Krieg.

I asked him about the bull concept art, and it seems there is an intention to rework the idea to make it more metal than burning flesh with lava. Mark was saying it looked too much like a Balrog, which I don’t think is a bad thing at all! :D They would want to make it ridden. I wasn’t too sure if there was a definite plan to actually make this into a model or not, presumably it’s to do with the CD project being given the ok.

Same with hobgoblins, something Mark Bedford is very keen to do.

Bull Centaurs from what I gather are going to happen anyway, they are going to be ogre sized models.

I asked him about them doing basic troops, he said that their remit does not currently allow them to make stand alone infantry, like chaos dwarf warriors. He did however (with a cheeky grin and a twinkle in his eye) say that *IF* they were to have the warriors mounted on a war machine, and people could buy the warriors separately in order to go on it, that it would be a possible way forwards. He mentioned again the Blunderbussers wagon, so imo that one is going to happen.

Something we chatted about for a little bit was the daemonic stuff. How the last thing we’ve seen from GW for them is the Hellcannon, which is obviously nothing to do with steam power. It seems they have thought about this as well, infact he may bring it up at the meeting next week… ;)

The way Mark described this I think they are definitely moving towards a combined range of models that has both steam and daemon powered models (i.e. some steam, some daemonic). We discussed how this would be done in the fluff, and he said they may look at a daemonic energy cult (not his exact words) as a way of working it in. I am fairly certain we will see some exclusively daemon powered models at some point.

I asked him about when the WF book was to be set, whether it is before or after what we consider to be the present (i.e. after SoC or not). What I took from his answer is that it is set in the present, as in the nurgle hordes are right now marching in at the start of the book. He said that the fans would always pick apart where certain characters are in the timeline, whether it’s before or after SoC etc. So from what I gather they have gone with the easier option of starting it *today*, as in a direct follow on after the 8th ed rulebook. The interesting thing is that from their point of view this is the official continuation of the timeline, it is not an alternate future. Mark was very clear about that. Presumably they are leaving it up to the fans to take it or leave it, which is exactly how it should be I think.

He said that where they go after the first book (or 2 books, he wasn’t clear) is up to them, it may change now that Rick has gone. So I wouldn’t consider anything written in stone yet.

I asked him about their plans for Dwarfs (as someone here asked me to) and it seems they have no immediate plans, other than that they are planning to provide the most support to the highest selling warhammer armies, of which Dwarfs are 5th apparently. I guess that says a lot about their plans, he did say that Skaven are seeing a bit of a blip in sales at the moment, but I take it from what he said that they are not a high seller possibly(?)

I asked about how they are looking to do the nurgle models, what they are currently looking at is keeping the back half of the warrior cloaks and replacing the rest with an upgrade set. A tentacle arm was mentioned. For the knights I think it could be everything but the shield arm gets replaced. I didn’t actually ask about the horse for some reason. Maybe the horse head?

The empire upgrade sets are being improved, as has previously been said.

I asked Mark about when they plan to start rolling this stuff out. They are hoping to get stuff out in January, with the Tamurkhan book out in April. Some models before, some with book, some after, same format as IA. I asked him this directly after the steam train questions and I believe that is the one he said had just been sent for production.

Lastly, I asked him about the interview from the newsletter. He said I should talk to Ead, who said (and I quote) “someone started a thread on Warseer asking about us doing interviews and we thought it was a good idea…” To which I replied “that was me!” Lol. So folks, clearly the Forgeworld people (well, ead at least) DO read threads here about FW, hence why I’m sure they will read this.

I didn’t realise, but it seems the Black Library people have done video interviews at some point, Ead was saying that they’ve got the same person doing them. They will hopefully include some picture stills of models and artwork through it, something I said there should have been more of in the Dark Eldar vids. The interview(s) will be put up in December, just before Christmas. Ead was saying that the questions people send in will all be reviewed and they will pick the best to ask.

I asked Mark if they can do this for Warhammer Forge and he said they will! Yay.

Edit. One more thing. It seems they are competitive about how many hits each designer gets on the website and Mark needs more clicks. So we all need to help him out! (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Designers/Mark-Bedford.html)

Cheers again Mark and Ead.

[eldargal]

The first of the Warhammer Force Empire kits is available, as most people probably know by now:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/THEODORE-BRUCKNER-AND-REAPER.html

I like it, it looks like a flightless gryphon would in my opinion, sleeker and whatnot. Will certainly be buying it when the book is released. The description raises in me the desperate hope FW might produce a model of Countess Emmanuelle.:rolleyes: