One of the biggest defining moments of my career as a British-based Tabletop Fantasy Gamer is, without a doubt, Warhammer. A constant in the monthly White Dwarf magazine, its grim but darkly humourous take on fantasy gaming, which took in a melting pot of influences (Tolkien, Moorcock, classic British Warmovies), was playing to the crowd of bloodthirsty teenagers who were already addicted to the worlds of imagination shown in early Fighting Fantasy solo game books and of course D&D.

Its been a while since I’ve done a series of linked posts, and I’ve got an ulterior motive in that this is research for a game I’m designing (big reveal later this year). Plus, it will be damn fun to look at the roots of my hobby; this is Warhammer, after all!

One big thing is that I will be looking at early editions—collectively called Oldhammer by Grognards. For reasons that I’ll make clear during my posts, I don’t have such a strong connection with modern editions of the game.

So here’s an overview of what I plan, which I may deviate from if I get overenthusiastic about something.

• Warhammer and Me.A personal introductory post where I get out of my system how early editions of the Warhammer games have affected my gaming and publishing.
• Oldhammer part 1: White Box. Warhammer Fantasy Battle 1st Edition. Primarily a wargame, but with elements of RPGing.
• Oldhammer part 2: Forces of Fantasy. 1st Edition WFB army lists but packed with extendtions to the base game. The equivalent to the OD&D supplements (Greyhawk etc) that leads to…
• Oldhammer part 3: Red Box. Warhammer Fantasy Battle 2nd Edition. Now a wargame pure and simple, but still with the narrative background of an RPG.
• Oldhammer part 4: Red Box supplements. The Tragedy of McDeath, Blood Bath at Orc’s Drift and more! The game’s Grim Dark humour reaches a high mark, a bit too much Carry on Warhammer?
• Oldhammer part 5: Green Book. We reach the first total RPG take on the Warhammer World. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying 1st Edition.
• Olhammer Part 6: Judge Dredd the Roleplaying Game. Perhaps a surprise entry to some in this series, Games Worshops Sci-Fi RPG based around the popular 2000AD comic character.
• Oldhammer Aftermath: Further editions of WFRP (2nd-4th), what I make of them, and the British OSR games that carry the torch.