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The Gods Are Fickle! Archaon’s End Times Book Opens Early
February 11, 2015 by brennon
It seems like ahead of the release of the next End Times release for Warhammer Fantasy some of the books featuring Archaon himself have slipped out into the Old World ahead of time. See what you think of these snippets from within the new book HERE...
The Lord of the End Times himself will now be riding at the head of an army that includes a lot of different variations of Bloodthirster which is interesting to see. As well as them the new units have been revealed properly as the Skullreapers and Wrathmongers who are actually looking pretty bloody awesome I have to say. I still stand by my word that they'd make a good Warhammer 40,000 Chosen unit too however.
As well as Archaon, Grimgor and Balthasar Gelt will be making an appearance but that's no surprise. Gelt was the cause of a pretty big rift early in the End Times story and it will be interesting to see how his role develops in the final act of this world changing event. As well as that of course there's Grimgor to consider. Last time they clashed, in an alternate timeline I suppose we should say, Grimgor nutted Archaon and then walked off proclaiming he was the best. Will be interesting to see if the Orcs can muster a big Waaaagh! this time around.
There are also a few glimpses of what's coming in terms of the storyline itself showing off some big names in some of the artwork and army designs. It's a shame that the images aren't of the greatest quality but I also kind of want to read this one for myself at the time rather than having it spoiled for me!
Are you revving yourself up for the final installment of the End Times?
"The Lord of the End Times himself will now be riding at the head of an army that includes a lot of different variations of Bloodthirster which is interesting to see"
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Mmmmm…
It would be lovely to get these, but it is frustrating being nervous that you’ll miss out due to limited availability.
If Workshop were to say they were re-printing in hardcover, with the slip case people would be less frantic.
The money isn’t an issue, but the scrum to get on to the site to buy is really annoying.
You can always get them as soft backs after the initial release so I guess that’s something. But yes, I do agree that making something like this – which is kinda pivotal to the story of Warhammer Fantasy – as a quick ‘buy it or gone for an age’ scheme is a bit annoying.
BoW Ben
Hopefully this time Archaon won’t run tail between his legs back to Chaos Gods.
Seeing all this storytelling comming out from GW making me really look forward to the reboot. I might jump on the boat this time around. Been itching for a good fantasy game and I do love the world.
Been doing some roleplaying in it before and Im ready to go back and waaghh the shit out of everyone 🙂
The world is what keeps me invested and I hope it isn’t utterly ruined by the reboot. I love their Orcs, the way their Dwarfs are, the corruption and intrigue of the Empire, the infighting between the Vampire Clans, how cruel and dark their Elves are (even the High ones – if you’ve read anything about Teclis you’ll know what I mean!) and the whole imagery around the massive hordes of Chaos coming down from the North.
The Warhammer world is intense and full of superb images of heroic last stands and desperate battles that, even if you win, will usually end up with you battered and bloodied. I love that there’s no real ‘good guys’ as well. Something that I hope doesn’t change when we get these ‘Paladins of good’ or whatever they’re going for.
These are the things that I think elevate Fantasy over 40k in my opinion. I never really liked the Horus Heresy or any of the fluff behind most of the races save for the Chaos Space Marines and that’s only because it’s practically the same as the Warriors of Chaos. Lost souls and renegades turning to these Gods for boons and power.
Plus – being a lover of Lord of the Rings and other fantasy books as a young’un I just felt it resonated a lot more. Swords and magic are so much cooler than machine guns and laser cannons 😉
BoW Ben
Couldn’t agree more, it also had that slightly edgy, slightly dark edge that was not present in most fantasy settings. My view of the old world though is very much rooted in WFRP 1st edition moving through to second – which is somewhat different from the current pre-end times fluff. Althought the end time up til Thanquol I feel has been fantasy – Thanquol I am actually struggling to get through.
been fantastic – aaaaaargh …… bloody typos
Why is everyone so up in arms(no pun intended) about these new supposed good guys? i don’t get it. I mean, don’t you think, if you had to guess, they will just be some mini-Luthor Huss-type holy order that came about so the End Times again doesn’t happen in the new setting(if there is one)? It is just super strange to me-no one seems pumped about the idea at all. Just gonna be some witch hunter kinda army, with super knights, maybe some cool mounts. A more elite human army, with some elvish/angelic/wtf knows holy power? Chaos, no matter what happens, isn’t going anywhere. You would have to be a complete moron or totally insane to think GW would ever drop that from either system-I can see it now, GWs next project!”Modern, real-life tabletop game! As lifelike as anything happening today! But, with Chaos Gods! Yeah, we ain’t NOT letting you run some Khornate Russians! Coming Summer 2016!” Actually that sounds pretty cool…
Ok what have I been reading about this Warhammer world is just one of many that have been created, then destroyed, another is populated with the last world’s survivor, eternally. Where is that lore exactly? I’m not saying it is true, I’d just like to see where that was ever written because it was stated earlier on another website,and, although it is to be taken with a grain of salt, most of the other ideas on this site weren’t inaccurate, so they weren’t just pulling this idea out of thin air-they had read it somewhere in Warhammer lore, I’d assume in one of the ET novels or other fluff. This may even be a retconned idea that is very out of date, I just never heard it before(and I go waaaaaaay back. I mean, I am old). Just with the moon lnding on the planet itself, everything going to hell, the setting might not even BE this exact planet, per se’. Of course this could just be bs speculation I was just wondering if anyone had heard something similar or knows where to find it even. thanx
The repawning worlds…Isn’t that the gist of Michael moorcock’s eternal champion books? Which also were one of the major inspirations for warhammer when it first appeared? The star of chaos, for example, is lifted wholesale from those books. I might remembar that wrong, it has been several decades since i read them.
Well be that as it may, maybe GW is just totally running with that idea, and not even bothering with what happens to the Old World. With deading all these major characters GoThrones style, and a moon sized meteor heading towards you btw, maybe the alternate entire world idea isn’t too crazy. I read Elric way back to and I didn’t even realize he created that star, and GW just got rights(or the idea at least) by partnering w/ Chaosium, who made Elric games. It is just universally understood that that means Chaos I think, by fantasy fans at least. Warhammer lore has always been lets just say ambiguous. They might just want to reboot the whole thing, not just to revitalize sales(it only accounts for 10 percent! of all GW profit apparently), they probably want a “clean” start. This is where the story REALLY starts kids! Forget that Old stuff and welcome to Hammeria(patent pending)! Or, you get the idea. Who the hell knows they might just blow up the planet and say its over, just do 40k. Forge World has stopped their fantasy line, and we can assume that GW is at least telling THEM something about their future plans, so maybe that is an indicator. Might seem harsh, and kill off and anger many players, but from what I’m hearing WFB is just bleeding money and ET is just a minor slowing of that profit loss. I love the End Times and I want them to reboot the whole thing, and somehow keep all the old players/armies in the loop, but how do they do it is tricky. To be honest, if they made it all one system, so that you could, for instance, play a fantasy type, black powder era but in the 40k rule/universe setting(which it not-so-secretly is anyways), then so be it. Make the Old World just some backwater, medieval tech level world that hasn’t received the Emperors light(yet. thats the next expansion!). Idk I am just spit balling here. GW won’t keep running money into the ground. Even if they are technically profiting w/ WFB product, if they can be making WAY MORE money by dedicating all their creative, production, stores to 40k and make however more profit, don’t you think as a company they might? Just a possibility, I am not getting all gloom and doomy, but here is some food for thought; I asked a store manager of a GW store. I was a little incredulous myself even when I asked” they wouldn’t just leave a whole game system like that out to basically end would they?” because I was saying my interest in WFB was rekindled by End Times. I haven’t played/collected any fantasy stuff in years, yet I have bought all the hardbacks of ET, and not to resell them lol! He told me “just wait until summer first”. So clearly he thought it was totally within the realm of possibility at least(merge both systems, or even do away with WFB entirely), so who knows. That would be sad as hell if WFB went away, or should I say no longer supported by GW (ala’ all their specialty games). I am lucky enough to have a club that plays everything, everyday of the week, leagues for both games running constantly, but will they both continue or will WFB games just dry up? I mean, ppl still play Mordheim at my store, so I really think, w/e happens, if I really wanted to play some WFB, I could find some games-but that is irrelevant to someone who doesn’t have that luxury. Not even to mention if you have a shit-ton of WFB stuff and all of a sudden its done. What are you going to go play some other fantasy game? That is certainly a very valid option, I am not pooh-pooing that route. Just, you buy all this stuff from a major company, expect the game to be there forever because it is their other main game, its original ffs, and bam! no more new stuff sorry. Go play Kings of War. I really hope they do something cool this summer. Some people will get alienated no matter WHAT they do, but a shakeup was needed in WFB, and, for good or ill, it is here, and there is more to come. It really is the End Times, but is it like the Mayan calendar end times-just the end of one cycle, and the beginning of a new, glorious era? Here is to the future!
I wouldn’t worry too much about fantasy being axed entirely, since not only was WFB the first full blown wargaming system developed by GW, and so still carries something of a special cache in that regard, but squatting the entire setting would also require a major corporate rebrand within GW itself. The White Dwarf character would no longer have any direct relation to any GW product line, so it would probably be necessary to rename their weekly magazine entirely to start with. The logos would also all have to be changed, with the common golden warhammer motif representing Gal Maraz needing to be removed from all promotional materials along with all twin tailed comet imagery, and not only would this be costly in terms of money, but also in possible loss of brand recognition.
It would also spook the investors, since getting out of fantasy and essentially ceding the entire WFB fanbase to Mantic and the Kings of War system would inevitably lead to serious questions about the competency of GW management – if Mantic can do so well with their fantasy system, why can’t you keep WFB afloat? The hit to shareholder and investor confidence would be huge for GW, and it would be an absolute gift to competing companies like Privateer Press and especially Mantic, who would see an enormous jump in their share of the fantasy market. In the case of Mantic, if people were forced to switch from WFB to KoW, then they would also be exposed to Warpath and Deadzone, which could easily lead to a further leeching of custom away from GW, and this time with regard to its flagship 40k system, especially if gamers no longer had condfidence that 40k wouldn’t one day go the same way as WFB.
Squatting fantasy would cause GW many more problems than it could ever solve. It would not so much be a bad decision as a certifiable one. I think we will see an extensive relaunch of Fantasy with 9th edition in the summer, which will doubtless see a continuation of the End Times sweeping changes to the fluff at the very least, and quite possibly major alterations to the rulesets as well, but it won’t be the end of WFB. Should the attempted reboot comprehensively fail, then GW may need to look at the viability of Fantasy going forward, but we just aren’t there yet, and even if the reboot did fail axing WFB would be a last ditch desperation measure that GW would be loath to take for the many reasons mentioned above. At the very least they would want to try going back to WFB’s roots and seeing if revisiting the style of earlier editions had the desired effect before throwing the towel in entirely.
I really do feel that rumours of the death of Warhammer Fantasy Battle have been grossly exaggerated already, and we don’t even know what GW has planned yet. Right now we have little alternative other than to keep calm and play wargames, and wait to see what the summer brings.
Yes this appears to be the case, as we get closer to the “revelation” end of February. Not only does it appear WFB will be strong this summer, there might even be 2! WFB games now, wargame AND skirmish level. I think that GW is just trying to corner their IP by diversifying a(pretty generic) fantasy setting, thus distancing themselves from the Mantics of the world. Nothing against Mantic, they just held a demo at our store today, which is one of the first US live presentations if I hear right. Of course, wait and see blah blah blah, but seems that if you love WFB our world won’t be as rocked as was first gloom and doomed. I think most people just want SOME type of headsup in order to budget. W/e happens this year, between 40k and WFB we will be getting a metric ton of stuff we will probably want to buy, so sounds fun. I think everyone is ready for summer!
Hard to tell what’s coming from the pics.
A few more pic from Faiet 212
http://imgur.com/a/nOyqS?utm_content=buffer438af&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Will get the book to see the story through to completion, but have steadily been loosing faith in the ability to deliver. 9th will be what it will be but I feel the fluff changes will be aimed at the perceived 40k mindset – missing the point 40k works for 40k, but not everyone likes it to the same extent.
Fantasy never had the wiser appeal 40k has, and they have weakened the fluff by changes through 8th – still that’s what happens when you let an accountant do anything other than balance the books.
Wider even
Is Tanka Books the printing house for these?? I can’t find any info on them.