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Reply To: WHtOW boxed set

February 28, 2023 at 12:47 am #1804455

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I quote from Warhammer Fantasy Battles 3rd edition – published 1987, predating the Black Library in its’ entirety by a decade – page 189, ‘The cosmic background’: “The story of the Warhammer world begins with the story of the Cosmos itself and with the ancient race that first explored it. They were called the Slann, a race of highly intelligent amphibian creatures that evolved millions of years ago.”

It goes on about the creation of the warp gates, followed by ‘The Emergence of Elves and Dwarfs’.

Nowhere in the text is there an emphasis on any particular faction, certainly not Humans or the Empire, the same holds true for Warhammer Armies, the army list compendium for 3rd edition.

Although 3rd edition was not a boxed set, it did contain 2 armies in the form of paper counters: Elves and Orcs.

The cover shows a battle between a ‘Barbarian’, almost Chaos-looking Human, a few Elves and a Dwarf against a bunch of Orcs and what appears to be some kind of evil Wizard, very D&D. Not a single Landsknecht anywhere.

4th edition brought us High Elves and Goblins, 5th Bretonnians and Lizardmen, not until 6th edition – the start of NewHammer in my book – did the Empire even appear in a boxed set or take center stage.

In the immortal words of the great American philosopher Kelly Bundy: “The prostitution rests”.