Chapter Twenty-Four
Part Twenty-Four: A Mirror of Worlds:
“I had just come back from the publishers, rather disappointed really. What had happened was my hopes for a book parodying Fantasy tropes had been rejected simply because they felt it wasn't going to work, not with all the excitement around Ultima. They wanted straight takes on the genre and satire was left by the wayside. I was rather dejected the rest of the day, took the time in the weekend to go to a car boot sale, take the time to mull things over. It was there that someone was selling an old stack of White Dwarf magazines, at quite a good price too. The rejection was on my mind so I thought I'd skim through them in the evening and see what sort of Fantasy was popular and measure my options. It was somewhere in the back that I saw the advert for writers for the Warhammer series. Although it almost a year old, I decided to send in an application. After that, I haven't really looked back.”
- Extract from an interview with Terry Pratchett, 1998
Bretonnia (Witches and Maidens)
Chaos Warriors
Daemons of Chaos
Dwarves
Elves
The Empire (Wizards and Atldorf Regiment)
Orcs (Goblins)
Night Elves
Slann (Amazons)
Skaven
Trolls
Vampires
Werewolves
- List of armies in Warhammer Fantasy that had their own individual army book as of the sixth edition. The forces listed in brackets were too small to feature in Warhammer Fantasy as their own factions, being sub-factions in Warhammer Fantasy, while greatly adding to the success of Warhammer Fantasy Heroes.
“Terry came to us at a crucial time for Warhammer Fantasy. The second edition had been worked on and the world had a map attached to it, but it had yet to be fully fleshed out. When Terry sent us some of his writing samples, the mixture of satire with the fantasy tropes presented a real area of potential for the franchise. The ideas of novels based around Warhammer was a new one for us. We'd have short pieces of fluff written into the game books and short stories in the magazines, but full length novels were something we hadn't considered before. Terry's work showed us it had potential and after publishing his first work back in '84, we realised just how successful it could be.”
- Extract from an interview with Ian Livingstone, 1998
The Light Fantastic
Mort
Wyrd Sisters
Sourcery
Soldiers!
A Midsummer Knight
Something Wicked
Men at Arms
Reaper Man
Carpe Jugulum
The Lost Continent
The Duke's Regiment
Great Gods
- List of the 'core thirteen' books that make up the Warhammer Fantasy World as defined by Terry Pratchett. Others were written, but these made up the core parts of the series which would be developed by other authors.
“At the time, the rules for the game were still rather open to what we hoped to do with them. As Terry continued writing through the 80's, the popularity of the characters made us realise that we could use an even smaller base of characters for a different type of game. Warhammer Fantasy Heroes was born from that, focusing the gameplay on small bands of warriors as opposed to large armies. With several of the characters from the books making up the forces in this, it soon became one of our biggest successes from the mid-90's onwards.”
- Extract from an interview with Ian Livingstone, 2003
Change in Uniform – Once the Nobby Nobbs model is within 6” of enemy units, he calls out that he's defecting to their side. Enemy units then must do a morale check, passing if they get a 5+.
- Special Rule concerning the character of Nobby Nobbs in Warhammer Fantasy Heroes
Bretonnia – Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Maiden Magrat, Maiden Agnes, Sir Eric
Unseen University – Mustrum The Brown, Henry The Licorice (It's not black, only evil Wizards wear black), Rincewind The Ivory, Ponder The Emerald, The Luggage
The Atldorf Regiment – Colonel Samuel Vimes, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, Sergeant Frederick Colon, Corporal Nobby Nobbs, Errol
Werewolves – Lady Angua Von Kislev, Wolfgang Von Kislev, Gavin, Guye Von Kislev, Lupine
- A list of some of the nations, races and characters that were available for the Warhammer Fantasy Heroes line
“I hadn't planned on the Atldorf Regiment becoming as popular as they have done, but these things have a mind of their own. You always had it in the old stories, hero breaking into the temple of such-and-such before stealing the diamond of so-and-so before being stopped by the local soldiers or guards. The hero would then slaughter them, adding multiple charges of murder to the initial theft. I decided to give these brave, doomed souls their time in the Sun. Soon turned into a full tropical holiday.”
- Extract from an interview with Terry Pratchett, 2005
The success of Warhammer, spurred on by the novels written by Terry Pratchett, soon brought it to the attentions of Studio Eleven, who looked to make movies on their own merits as opposed to constantly distributing Studio Ghibli movies. Negotiations began in early 1989 and continued through the year, the violence inherent in the game stalled creative thoughts as they tried to look into ways that the animation could handle the demands. The aftermath of the Splatterhouse murders, the negotiations were dropped as most North American media tried to shy away from images of extreme violence. It wouldn't be until the mid-90's that a movie we be considered when negotiations began with Cosgrove Hall over a short film adaptation of Reaper Man. This also fell through due to Cosgrove Hall's decision to accept Virgin's offer of doing a short film based off the upcoming Pokémon games. It wouldn't be until the new Millennium and the backing of Nelvana that Warhammer would see an adaptation onto the screen of its stories.
- Extract from From Tables to Screens, The Rise of Warhammer, 2009
“The split between Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k has grown more pronounced as time has gone by. Whereas 40k has gone down the grimdark route, constant war and so on, Warhammer Fantasy has been a more satirical and almost light-hearted part of Game Workshop's output since Terry Pratchett joined it. I think that accounts for its much wider success, people bought the books, then got into Fantasy from there on. 40K still remains a popular game, but it's nowhere near the success of Fantasy. Even if people don't get into the game, the books have been successful enough that Games Workshop could probably just turn into a publishing company at this point and make money off Terry Pratchett's work until the cows come home.”
- Quote from OreGriz, member of Alternate History.com, 2009
“Well, we wanted the Five Horsemen as playable characters in Warhammer Heroes, and look what it's gotten us, the most broken and over powered army yet.”
“Don't care, get to play as the Grim Squeaker.”
- A conversation from the Warhammer Fan Forums and a common sentiment among the fandom is shown in the second post, 2002
Vimes looked up from his position on the ground, his eyes blinking back the blook that was running from the wound on his forehead as he looked over to where the Daemon was, seeing what had stopped it finishing him off. A figure in a black robe was standing between the two of them, a scythe in his hands with a blade so sharp that Vimes could feel its edge even from where he was. The Daemon snarled at the figure, its arms swinging its titanic sword directly at it.
"YOU DARE?!" It bellowed in a noise that almost deafened Vimes "You defy the Blood God! You go against your own purpose by siding with these mortals! Whose side are you on?!"
When the figure in the black robe answered, it wasn't with what Vimes could call a voice, it sounding like the lids of tombs slamming down in an empty catacomb. But he could still make out an edge of defiance running through the reply.
NOT YOURS.
- Extract from The Duke's Regiment, 1998
“I had just come back from the publishers, rather disappointed really. What had happened was my hopes for a book parodying Fantasy tropes had been rejected simply because they felt it wasn't going to work, not with all the excitement around Ultima. They wanted straight takes on the genre and satire was left by the wayside. I was rather dejected the rest of the day, took the time in the weekend to go to a car boot sale, take the time to mull things over. It was there that someone was selling an old stack of White Dwarf magazines, at quite a good price too. The rejection was on my mind so I thought I'd skim through them in the evening and see what sort of Fantasy was popular and measure my options. It was somewhere in the back that I saw the advert for writers for the Warhammer series. Although it almost a year old, I decided to send in an application. After that, I haven't really looked back.”
- Extract from an interview with Terry Pratchett, 1998
Bretonnia (Witches and Maidens)
Chaos Warriors
Daemons of Chaos
Dwarves
Elves
The Empire (Wizards and Atldorf Regiment)
Orcs (Goblins)
Night Elves
Slann (Amazons)
Skaven
Trolls
Vampires
Werewolves
- List of armies in Warhammer Fantasy that had their own individual army book as of the sixth edition. The forces listed in brackets were too small to feature in Warhammer Fantasy as their own factions, being sub-factions in Warhammer Fantasy, while greatly adding to the success of Warhammer Fantasy Heroes.
“Terry came to us at a crucial time for Warhammer Fantasy. The second edition had been worked on and the world had a map attached to it, but it had yet to be fully fleshed out. When Terry sent us some of his writing samples, the mixture of satire with the fantasy tropes presented a real area of potential for the franchise. The ideas of novels based around Warhammer was a new one for us. We'd have short pieces of fluff written into the game books and short stories in the magazines, but full length novels were something we hadn't considered before. Terry's work showed us it had potential and after publishing his first work back in '84, we realised just how successful it could be.”
- Extract from an interview with Ian Livingstone, 1998
The Light Fantastic
Mort
Wyrd Sisters
Sourcery
Soldiers!
A Midsummer Knight
Something Wicked
Men at Arms
Reaper Man
Carpe Jugulum
The Lost Continent
The Duke's Regiment
Great Gods
- List of the 'core thirteen' books that make up the Warhammer Fantasy World as defined by Terry Pratchett. Others were written, but these made up the core parts of the series which would be developed by other authors.
“At the time, the rules for the game were still rather open to what we hoped to do with them. As Terry continued writing through the 80's, the popularity of the characters made us realise that we could use an even smaller base of characters for a different type of game. Warhammer Fantasy Heroes was born from that, focusing the gameplay on small bands of warriors as opposed to large armies. With several of the characters from the books making up the forces in this, it soon became one of our biggest successes from the mid-90's onwards.”
- Extract from an interview with Ian Livingstone, 2003
Change in Uniform – Once the Nobby Nobbs model is within 6” of enemy units, he calls out that he's defecting to their side. Enemy units then must do a morale check, passing if they get a 5+.
- Special Rule concerning the character of Nobby Nobbs in Warhammer Fantasy Heroes
Bretonnia – Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Maiden Magrat, Maiden Agnes, Sir Eric
Unseen University – Mustrum The Brown, Henry The Licorice (It's not black, only evil Wizards wear black), Rincewind The Ivory, Ponder The Emerald, The Luggage
The Atldorf Regiment – Colonel Samuel Vimes, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, Sergeant Frederick Colon, Corporal Nobby Nobbs, Errol
Werewolves – Lady Angua Von Kislev, Wolfgang Von Kislev, Gavin, Guye Von Kislev, Lupine
- A list of some of the nations, races and characters that were available for the Warhammer Fantasy Heroes line
“I hadn't planned on the Atldorf Regiment becoming as popular as they have done, but these things have a mind of their own. You always had it in the old stories, hero breaking into the temple of such-and-such before stealing the diamond of so-and-so before being stopped by the local soldiers or guards. The hero would then slaughter them, adding multiple charges of murder to the initial theft. I decided to give these brave, doomed souls their time in the Sun. Soon turned into a full tropical holiday.”
- Extract from an interview with Terry Pratchett, 2005
The success of Warhammer, spurred on by the novels written by Terry Pratchett, soon brought it to the attentions of Studio Eleven, who looked to make movies on their own merits as opposed to constantly distributing Studio Ghibli movies. Negotiations began in early 1989 and continued through the year, the violence inherent in the game stalled creative thoughts as they tried to look into ways that the animation could handle the demands. The aftermath of the Splatterhouse murders, the negotiations were dropped as most North American media tried to shy away from images of extreme violence. It wouldn't be until the mid-90's that a movie we be considered when negotiations began with Cosgrove Hall over a short film adaptation of Reaper Man. This also fell through due to Cosgrove Hall's decision to accept Virgin's offer of doing a short film based off the upcoming Pokémon games. It wouldn't be until the new Millennium and the backing of Nelvana that Warhammer would see an adaptation onto the screen of its stories.
- Extract from From Tables to Screens, The Rise of Warhammer, 2009
“The split between Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k has grown more pronounced as time has gone by. Whereas 40k has gone down the grimdark route, constant war and so on, Warhammer Fantasy has been a more satirical and almost light-hearted part of Game Workshop's output since Terry Pratchett joined it. I think that accounts for its much wider success, people bought the books, then got into Fantasy from there on. 40K still remains a popular game, but it's nowhere near the success of Fantasy. Even if people don't get into the game, the books have been successful enough that Games Workshop could probably just turn into a publishing company at this point and make money off Terry Pratchett's work until the cows come home.”
- Quote from OreGriz, member of Alternate History.com, 2009
“Well, we wanted the Five Horsemen as playable characters in Warhammer Heroes, and look what it's gotten us, the most broken and over powered army yet.”
“Don't care, get to play as the Grim Squeaker.”
- A conversation from the Warhammer Fan Forums and a common sentiment among the fandom is shown in the second post, 2002
Vimes looked up from his position on the ground, his eyes blinking back the blook that was running from the wound on his forehead as he looked over to where the Daemon was, seeing what had stopped it finishing him off. A figure in a black robe was standing between the two of them, a scythe in his hands with a blade so sharp that Vimes could feel its edge even from where he was. The Daemon snarled at the figure, its arms swinging its titanic sword directly at it.
"YOU DARE?!" It bellowed in a noise that almost deafened Vimes "You defy the Blood God! You go against your own purpose by siding with these mortals! Whose side are you on?!"
When the figure in the black robe answered, it wasn't with what Vimes could call a voice, it sounding like the lids of tombs slamming down in an empty catacomb. But he could still make out an edge of defiance running through the reply.
NOT YOURS.
- Extract from The Duke's Regiment, 1998
Last edited:
