Review: Year One of WHFB 8th Edition

Is eight edition Monster-hammer? I don't think so because most 
of the 8th ed monsters are actually very balanced.  See Dice and Brush for more great pics.

Year in Review:


Whfb eighth edition was a serious shock to the system of a lot of players, but it's now been over a year since the release of the new ruleset, and the tournament communities around the world havesurvived, and in many cases are thriving.  So this week, with the help of the community, I take a look at why players have come back to the game, and why the game remains a favourite for many.

First up I asked fellow blogger Domus author of The Big House what brought him back to the game after initially being displeased with the new ruleset? He responded by saying it was the friends and community that made him reconsider.  He stated that it's not just the great people he meets in the midwest of the USA, but also the great online community!  Another blogger who recently came back to the Whfb community was UK gamer Matt Lee.  Similarly he credits friends and the community with bringing him back to the game.  It's amazing that both of these guys have not only come back to the community, but also contribute to the online content.  


Here in Canada, good friend of mine, and author of Nerd Ville Population Me, reflected this week on a year of eight edition, and came to the conclusion that 8th kept him in the game.  He suggests that he hated playing 'Math-hammer', and often ended up with a headache at the end of the game.  As someone that comes from a smaller wargaming community, I am always trying to bring new people to the game, and I believe 8th edition has made that easier. 

One thing that I've always loved about Whfb is the ability to theme and customize your armies.  Johnny Hastings of Pointhammerd  does a great job of showcasing this with his Orctonnians.

Combined Arms Challenge:

The awesome Whfb community is a great reason to start playing, or to continuing to play 8th Ed, but what about the ruleset?  Sean Davis, an Australian ETC 2011 team member suggests that if you want to be successful in 8th, you still need to play a combined arms approach.  Using units in support of each other is what makes the new rules exciting and challenging to play.  I have to agree because I recently played with the trademark Vampire Counts army, and had my unit of forty Grave Guard taken down through combined arms.  


Furthermore as Dan the Heelanhammer and Andy Sherman of Ohiohammer both advocate, more units mean more deployments, which means you can importantly dictate the match-ups in a game.  Although this approach can be difficult to master, it is ultimately far more rewarding then the point and click style horde builds.  


Another RHQ blogger who has created his own independent blog recently is Adam Tremblay author of War and More.  When I asked Adam why he enjoys 8th edition he suggested that the combat system has been greatly improved, and that it now actually feels like a battle with both sides slowly grinding each other down.  I believe the fact that combats last longer actually adds to the skill level needed to play the game.  You need to be able to anticipate several turns in advance what magic may impact the combat, and how support units could ultimately tip the combat one way or another.  As most bloggers have been suggesting, summer is a busy time of the year, and I've really only managed to scratch the surface of what makes Whfb 8th edition so great. So please share your experiences with 8th edition below.  We all know that we wouldn't want to start a thread like this on the big message boards!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to the contributors!


Mike