Rule the first, this is not a bashing thread!
Rule the second, this is not a bashing thread!
Rule the third...okay, you get the picture.

For you monogamous gamers out there, those of you who willfully confine yourselves to a single gaming system, why not the other?

For me, I'm a committed WHFB player who has his reasons for sticking to WHFB. First, I just have a thing for fantasy. I enjoy sci-fi movies (some of them), sci-fi novels (some of them), and reading about science (James Glecik, EO Wilson, Jared Diamond), but when it comes to my imaginative life, I just have a thing for fantasy.

Second, I was introduced to it first, and it's just stuck.

Third, this is a foggy one. 40K just doesn't appeal to me. Not sure why, I've never read a codex, never looked in detail at any blisters or boxes in the stores (though I ogle the awesome painting jobs online or in White Dwarf or in person), never tried a game. It just makes me go, "Eh, not that interested."

Fourth, the people I know who play both tell me they prefer fantasy. The bit they do explain about the two systems and how games unfold keeps me wanting to play fantasy.

And remember, no bashing! Such posts will be summarily deleted!

I am a 40k player. Sort of. I have collected several WHFB armies, mainly High Elves and Vampire Counts, but Ive just never gotten around to playing them. I want to, just never get a chance. The few people that play at my school only play 40k and I doubt I would be able to turn them onto WHFB as well.

So, I cant really say I only want to play 40k, Ive just never gotten the chance to play the other.

I was first introduced to wargamming through fantasy, I played both Hordes of Chaos, and Vampire Counts, and whilst I really do like it I've found myself switching to 40k.

I found that while 40k may not be as strategical I 1) Like the fluff a lot more, and 2) just enjoy the more light rules set, with fantasy I don't think I ever played a game without spending half the game in the rulebook, for the life of me I could not remember that ruleset. 40k for one reason or another I just remember better, so I find less frustration.

Having a lower model count also helps, I really enjoy painting but I hate haveing to paint 15+ guys for one squad (VC did not help, but even HoC had this as well)

Also as an aside, it is much easier to find a game of 40k than fantasy in my LGS so I play it more offten.

I have a love for both games but I think the overall structure of 40k appiels to me more, not saying fantasy is bad, just a different mindset.

I found that while 40k may not be as strategical I 1) Like the fluff a lot more, ...


I hear that a lot. WHFB is more strategic. 40K has much better fluff. Do more of you out there feel the same?

I was a 40k player for 5 years before I even played a game of Fantasy battle. I had always thought it looked inferior to 40k, it was more complex and wouldnt have been too enjoyable.

However that all changed when I finally got in and played a game of it. And I really really enjoyed it. For me fantasy requires a bit more tactical thought than 40k does, but 40k is much more fast paced which I enjoy in games.

So now I play both, and I enjoy playing them both equally. Now to start Lord of the rings battle game :sinister:

~SR~

I hear that a lot. WHFB is more strategic. 40K has much better fluff. Do more of you out there feel the same?
I prefer the WHFB fluff actually. Could be the Rezephuan in me, but I just prefer swords and ninjas and gobbo cultists of tzeentch* to big ships and big guns.

-AFG//

*Don't ask. What is said on Chat, stays on Chat. It's better that way

I'm into Fantasy. 40k seems to me... to be blunt with you all, I know I might offend some, but I just think it's way less committed as far as the gaming goes. It's basically a dice rolling contest when I watch people play.

Fantasy, I feel, people are thinking about strategy from beginning to end. Sure there's dice rolling too, but it's greatly advantageous to have a strategy in movement, equipment, placement, unit choices, et. al.

I like the character design more. 40k just reminds me of your typical sci-fi RTS. I guess it was designed to suck in the Starcraft crowd? Fantasy has the classics: Orcs, gobbies, Dwarfs, and of course every good fantasy game has to make up its own race or two.

One thing would make Warhammer Fantasy PERFECT. Gnomes. Where are the gnomes? I contemplated buying dwarfs and green stuff some cone hats and things like that and using them like wood elves. But seriously... I wish there just were gnomes.

One thing would make Warhammer Fantasy PERFECT. Gnomes. Where are the gnomes? I contemplated buying dwarfs and green stuff some cone hats and things like that and using them like wood elves. But seriously... I wish there just were gnomes.
Well, drop the Games Development team an email. GW pride themselves on their customer service. If you really want to see this army, add in a couple of concept sketches, fluff pieces etc.

-AFG//

I like the character design more. 40k just reminds me of your typical sci-fi RTS. I guess it was designed to suck in the Starcraft crowd? Fantasy has the classics: Orcs, gobbies, Dwarfs, and of course every good fantasy game has to make up its own race or two.


Actually you're completely wrong about this since the first iterations of 40k came out about 11 years before Starcraft was even thought of, if anything it may be the other way around. Terrans look like space marines and Zurg look like Tyranids. So I believe Blizzard is the one copying here.

Actually you're completely wrong about this since the first iterations of 40k came out about 11 years before Starcraft was even thought of, if anything it may be the other way around. Terrans look like space marines and Zurg look like Tyranids. So I believe Blizzard is the one copying here.

Oh, definitely. Terrans, Zerg and Protoss are just too similar in too many ways to be anything but solidly based off of Marines, 'Nids and Eldar. The Dark Templars don't exactly equate to the Dark Eldar, but in the Protoss's negative propaganda history books they're definitely described as such.

Back to the actual question...

I'm a dedicated 40K player. Yes, it was the first game I was introduced to, and yes, I've never played a Fantasy army... But I've never really felt much inclination to play Fantasy in the first place.

I've always been two things: a Sci-Fi fan, and a modern military buff. I can tell you the overall length of a Star Destroyer (1.6km), the model number of the X-Wing Fighter (Incom T-65), what size the main guns on the IJN Yamato were (18.1 inches), and that contrary to logic (alphabetical order), the German Panther Ausf. D was actually the version before the Ausf. A.

So yeah, Guns, Tanks, Planes and such? That's my thing. Bows and arrows? Chainmail? Not so much. (although swords and other stabby stuff are cool.) Part of it might even be the way the game plays: The old approach to combat of lining up in rows, wearing bright colours and shooting at a bunch of other guys doing the same thing 100 feet away untill one side falls down has always irked me - the very notion is just ridiculous! So I think that maybe I get the same sort of reaction to the strict, regimented style of Fantasy.

The style of the models appeals to me, too - I'm not really one for the fancy, embellished flourishes that are so common in Fantasy. Give me Power Armour and Flak Jackets, mud, grime and camouflage any day. Also horses... I hate painting horses.

I play 40k as it is the only one I can get a game for.
I have a Dark Elf army sitting there calling for blood but they have yet to take to the field.

I started 40k about 10+ years ago. I think 3rd edition was not out long. And in that time I've collected several armies, played countless games and enjoyed the massive fluff.

Warhammer Fantasy just does not have as interesting fluff in my opinion. It is good, but I prefer 40k.

Hopefully in the not too distant future I will get a few games of fantasy in and convince others to do the same.

I am a predominant(if thats the right word) 40k player because simply it does appeal to my direct interests.

I love technology and the amazing things that can be done when put into the right hands, I love war and have a huge array of books about vietnam, ww2, ww1 and some of the smaller inter-continent wars.

A lot of the fluff really thrills me too, especially the more I read about the orks and chaos the more I feel pleased with the two races.

I have heard a lot about fantasy, how it uses modifiers instead of the simple luck based system of 40k, but the fact is I just don't find any interest in magic and bows and arrows and swords.

I have never enjoyed any games or movies about the fantasy type setting and I will steer clear in the future of anything in that scene.

Conclusion:

omgitsduane likes 40k

I play both but have moved more to fantasy of late due to the fact that, at least for my group of friends, the winner of a 40k game is decided in the "army list" phase rather then the movement and deployment phases like in fantasy.

I play both and love both.

For me fantasy is a game of manouvering and psychology and 40K is about use of manouvering and terrain. Both have 'tactics' just differing ones. I started out as a 40K player but branched out into WHFB in 6th Ed with Empire.

I play both but have moved more to fantasy of late due to the fact that, at least for my group of friends, the winner of a 40k game is decided in the "army list" phase rather then the movement and deployment phases like in fantasy.

I disagree with this simply because a single bad roll, say for your ld10 squad of super expensive marines or whatever - failing its test and being swept.

The game can swap over so many times simply because of dice. there has been games where I've felt a guaranteed win and then because of a single bad turn of rolling, I become obliterated.

I started playing fantasy early this year (go lizards!), and recently began to build a 40k army (waaagh! da orks!). After a few games, these are my thoughts:

Fluff: 40k, defenitely. Even if that's just because GW seems only interested in developing 40k fluff.

Minis: Fantasy. The oh-great-another-thingy-with-big-guns of 40k is just... well, childish.

Gameplay: Fantasy!!!!!!!! And I can't stress it hard enough! It actually involves strategy, ranked units just look superb (giving you the impression you're in a real battlefield), you're actually focused on battle and not some objective thingy, the rules are complex and it is NOT fast paced (if you want fast paced, try RTS's for Christ's sake!)

Other considerations: the fantasy players seem to be, well, how can I put this in a polite way?... More mature.

As for my orks army... well, the codex is just plain fun, but they will always come in second after any fantasy army I have or will build over time, and they will be the only 40k army I'll ever own. Turkey shooting contests just don't appeal to me.

I know these are harsh words, and if anyone feels ofended by them, my sincere apologies. But after trying both game systems, this is how I honestly feel.

Cheers!

I disagree with this simply because a single bad roll, say for your ld10 squad of super expensive marines or whatever - failing its test and being swept.

The game can swap over so many times simply because of dice. there has been games where I've felt a guaranteed win and then because of a single bad turn of rolling, I become obliterated.
Let me give an example:

"He Krox (not my real name obviously), can I have a game against you IG with my Tau?"
"Yeh sure"
*after/during deployment*
"Your army has 7 Chimerae, 3 Russ and 7 Sentinels! I don't have enough anti tank weapons to deal with all those!"
"Exactly...:sinister:"

Although tactics CAN change the game, I think they cannot change it nearly as much as in fantasy (where pretty much any infantry unit beats any other infantry unit if you get a flank).

I've been exclusively a fantasy battle player for about three years now, although I used to play both.
The turning point for me was the release of the 40k third edition rules, there were armies that people almost immediately developed which were, in the right hands utterly unbeatable by anyone with a remotely balanced list. As soon as these lists became commonplace and you were either using one or you were getting beaten by one the fun seemed to go out of the game. I haven't played 5th edition yet but some people say its very good.
The reasons why I have stuck with fantasy battle are almost exactly opposite to my reasons for not playing 40k, each army has numerous competitive/ very competitive builds, with most games I play ending up being won in the deployment and movement phases (although the best tend to be won/lost on dice.)
Oh and one more thing, I find the fantasy army books to be clearer in their use of rules, the 40k codexes always seemed to have some new rule in each new release and if you had never played against the army or read the codex you had no idea what was going on.

Other considerations: the fantasy players seem to be, well, how can I put this in a polite way?... More mature.

You know, the thing about stereotypes is that there's usually a bit of truth at the core. The basic requirements of careful planning, evaluation and tactics tend to act as pretty effective screaming kid repellant. 40K doesn't have nearly the same protection.

Having said that, I've always found that once you discount the unpleasant ones, the players in either system are generally wonderful to interact with, both across the tabletop and outside the game... Although I'm starting to think that my city is just blessed with awesome gamers.

I'm genuinely sorry for you if your 40K experience really has turned into a boring case of ListHammer turkey shooting. A lot of the difference between "good" and "bad" 40K lies in simple sportsmanship - reasonable players and sensible armies are great, but the obnoxiously competitive players and horribly overpowered armies have sadly ruined the experience for a great many prospective players over the years.

Let me give an example:

"He Krox (not my real name obviously), can I have a game against you IG with my Tau?"
"Yeh sure"
*after/during deployment*
"Your army has 7 Chimerae, 3 Russ and 7 Sentinels! I don't have enough anti tank weapons to deal with all those!"
"Exactly...:sinister:"
If he is playing a game that is large enough to allow 7 chims, 3 russ and 7 sents, he is just a fool to use not a single piece of anti tank.

I spend the majority of my gaming time with a select few favorites, but I'll learn and try anything.

I play 40k because I've never found any fantasy players to actually play against until the last few years, and even then I've ever not had time or we've all been living too far away from each other.

I do want to play both though it does look like a decent game.

I did play 40k when I was 11-12, then didn't play much for the next 6 or 7 years. Then got back into the hobby but went with FB cos my friend had just started playing FB and the local club is a FB club. I was hooked, I preferred the game more. Little rules like strength affecting armour saves and not being able to shoot through units made a lot of difference to me :soldier:

Now I have almost no time to devote to the hobby, and it has fallen by the wayside. However, should I pick it up again a couple of years from now, there's only one system I'd choose.

I noticed a comment about Gnomes - they were actually in 3rd Ed Fantasy, and "lesser Dwarves" have been mentioned, jsut as Hill goblins eventually became Gnoblars - so who knows....

I noticed a comment about Gnomes - they were actually in 3rd Ed Fantasy, and "lesser Dwarves" have been mentioned, jsut as Hill goblins eventually became Gnoblars - so who knows....

Why do they stop?!!? Ok, so they didn't fly off the shelves, but why abandon the few that do play them?

I play both WFB and 40k, but I started as a fantasy player. Recently I've been playing more 40k because it can require less space, needs less models, and there are generally more people willing to play it. In terms of fluff I think that both sides of the coin have pretty good fluff, but 40k seems to take the cake because it has less of a "generic-brand Sci-Fi" feel than fantasy has a "generic-brand fantasy" feel.
I think around here most people play both because it is how we keep the community together. Otherwise, 40k tends to be cheaper- as tournament game sizes are smaller in points totals and less models are needed to play.

That said, I like both systems, but I like the balance of fantasy a bit more.

I haven't started playing WHFB... yet. I've been curious about it for some time, but there's always something edging me away from it.

Firstly, I know only two guys that play it regularly and prefer it; there's another friend who is just starting. Thing is though, I think there are at least two more regular 40k players who have FB armies and could be swayed if I started playing...

Secondly, I'm not sure about the game system. I have read the rulebook, and though I did not find it "too complicated" as some seem to feel, nothing really jumped out at me. Granted, I probably need to play a game for it to click, and maybe I'm afraid that I'll like it...

Lastly, the fluff. I love 40k fluff, to the point that I run a Dark Heresy campaign. Its not a preference for sci-fi, as 40k is almost more fantasy in nature. I've always been into the fantasy genre, growing up playing D&D and all that. In the last few years though, I just feel a kinda stagnation in the fantasy genre, and I guess that I'm afraid that I'll start delving into WHFB and begin to feel like its " just another fantasy setting"...

Not to mention the $$$ investing in a second game. (This is usually the kicker.)

Why not?

Not my cup of tea.

My first experience of GW was Wood Elves but I never really got into FB and lost interest for a few years. When I got back into GW I started out in 40K and have not looked back, or elsewhere, since.

I think the 40K models are far better than FB, only Necrons and Dark Eldar really let the game down. I have visited Warhammer World numerous times and I can’t think of one time I have actually looked at the FB display cabinets.

The system is far simpler than FB, but that’s what attracts me to the game. I’m not competitive and when I do play I have often had a long day and I really can’t be fethed with anything that’s to taxing, I want a laugh and to let off steam.

Finally the fluff, I’m not a fan of fantasy in general, I love LOTR but that’s my limit, for me every fantasy world created since Tolkien is basically Tolkien with bits added, changed, or removed, so fantasy doesn’t do it for me. Sci-Fi by contrast I love, providing its “hard sci-fi” not silly nonsense like Star Trek. Minus pretty much every alien race except Necrons and Tyranids, 40K has the credentials of hard sci-fi, which is why I enjoy playing the game.

I hear that a lot. WHFB is more strategic. 40K has much better fluff. Do more of you out there feel the same?

Exact-a-mundo.

I hear there's a lot more stragety based games. I don't doubt that, but its the awesome background stories (and subsequently awesome stories can be made from battle reports) that draw me in.

Oddly, it was this small recon mission from Arcadia Prime that really got me interested in the table top aspect. (As I was a Dawn of War junkie beforehand.)

Arcadia Prime: Battle Report: The Attack on Comm Relay South (http://wfarcadia.blogspot.com/2007/10/attack-on-comm-relay-south.html)

At first glance its a really really small battle between guard and eldar. But with some simple writing it became a slaughter against the poor guard, only to have the SGT go out alone in a blaze of glory. Love it.

But overall, this was my first impression after a kajillion hours on lexicanum:

"What? In this game mankind is fighting a loosing battle under an emperor who's been dead for 10 thousand years and his armies consist of guardsmen dying in the thousands and super genetically altered humans against billions of daemons and bug things from starship troopers!? SIGN ME UP!"

:sinister:

For one, I don't want to learn a second game system, have even more models to buy and paint, and find more time I don't have to play. Part of it is that I just don't find I have the resources or want to shift things around to make the resources.

~David

Part of it is that I just don't find I have the resources or want to shift things around to make the resources.

~David

That's pretty much the whole concern for me. I am a 40K only fellow, but from the limited knowledge I have of WHFB, there are some things in there that are interesting enough for me to be curious about buying a couple hundred points of whatever and seeing how it turns out. However, I can't justify spending more money on the hobby at this point, so perhaps sometime in the future.

Its 40k for me and for the simple reason that I can't get enough about eldar, I hear that the elves in fantasy have fluff kinda like them but they don't hold my imagination and I start looking at more eldar.

For me, it goes in swings and roundabouts. To begin with, I was a 40k player. Then I entered a long period of being a fantasy player through and through, and 40k was a kind of semi-interesting diversion from WFB every now and then. Now, with 5th Ed. 40k, the new Space Marine codex and so-on, 40k has begun to be much more interesting again and WFB has been sidelined. I know that at some point in the future my love of WFB will resurface and I'll swing back the other way.

There's stuff to enjoy in both games, but I'm a simple-minded man and multi-tasking doesn't come easily to me. Running projects in both systems at once is like driving two cars at the same time.

GS

I was drafted by my friends to play 40k. There simply aren't any fantasy players in my area. Heck there are only three 40K players in a 200 mile radius.

I like the background of 40K much better than fantasy. I have always been more of a sci-fi person over fantasy too. So that makes the decision that much easier.

Yet, there is the night goblins that would look really fun to play.

I had some keen insights to post but then I got distracted looking for my Warmachine rulebook that was buried under some printed out Gothic rules because I had stuffed my 40K army list into the back of it, but it turns out that paper was just some house rules for Settlers of Catan. So then I finally found my 40K Orks list in the back of my Fantasy Orcs army book, but never got to use it because it turned out to be BattleTech league night.

So maybe I'm not qualified to contribute.

Oh by the way, anybody selling extra Mordheim minis?

I always prefer sci-fi stuff... mainly because of how the models look and how the fluff is. Also, as a person who can't make scratch-built terrain worth a crap, I like how almsot any piece of terrain could be present in the 40k universe... even a castle of sorts. However, some high-tech looking base wouldn't look too good in Fantasy.

Oh, and money. Money is another reason why I stay away from Fantasy. Even with 40k, I barely ever buy anything new besides the books. I just bought the new SM Codex and the 5th ED rulebook and they're on their way to my house... this was my first 40k purchase since early spring.

I was first introduced into 40k when i was young (around 11) but after a few years when i started liking table top games more i got into fantasy and i have been playing it since. I prefer fantasy things than 40k because anyone can pull a trigger but it takes skill to win in a sword duel.

I guess, my story is similar to alot of peoples'.

I got into the wargaming hobby through 40k and gravitated over to Fantasy. I think there was a growing disatisfaction with 40k over the times it felt like I was just showing up and packing models away over a period of hours as I was taken apart by a list that was effectively stone to my scissors. Also, I found myself increasing annoyed with the player base that I'd come into contact with... Saturday gamers who were either kids fielding Ultramarine captains with a bajjilion attacks or unhygenic 50-something lummockses with Forgeworld models with rules I'd never come into contact with before (and bajjilion attacks...)

I feel Fantasy Battle has a better rules system, looks better on the table, has a far greater variety of armies and I seem to get on much smoother with the players at the Veteran's night (Like Mr. StarShowerBlade, muhahahaha! I know your human face) because we share more in common and they don't take the abusable combinations like the 40k vets I've played tend to.

I still play 40k with friends and enjoy it- I'm just not happy with the prospect of taking my army unnanounced to a store and playing a stranger who turns out to have two lash-princes.

I play both 40k and Fantasy and I like them both because 40k is easier and quicker and Fantasy is more tactical and zabadoo.

I really wanted to start with fantasy but because of friends got into 40k instead. Then switched to fantasy for quite a while, and now I'm getting pulled back to 40k (cursed Black Reach and space marine fluff).

The one thing that always bugged me about Fantast was the scale. A regiment of 20 something guys just isn't realistic, In 40k I can imagine a small scouting force with one tank, but an army including 30 spearmen just isnt historically accurate (does that conflict with a fantasy game?). Anyways I think they are both pretty sweet, and I would like to play both simultaneously but lack the funds and the friends.

cheers

All fluff aside, I like to be working on two armies at the same time. For a long time it has always been fantasy, but just recently I started a 40k ork army. I like modeling 40k models ALOT more than fantasy ones. Converting is just to fun with 40k orks. Fantasy I like painting more. Gaming wise I cant say because I'm yet to get my Orks on the battlefield.

I'm not a monogamous gamer, but not by choice. I play a lot more 40k than fantasy, but only because by and large the greater number of players in myarea are 40kers. Hence, after originally starting fantasy back in 5th ed I was suckered into 40k when 3rd ed got realeased. However, now thanks to 5th ed, I am less and less inclined to play it. I find it is over-simplified and just does not present the challenge that fantasy does.
I think that there are a lot more 40kers out there simply because it is, as a system, more instantly gratifying. Armies have less models (normaly) and are easier to paint and base. Less though and emphasis is placed on deployment, movement and individual selection of units in regard to the whol army. Games are won and loss dependant on shooting or close combat. As a whole the system is a lot less strategical/tactical and lot more, not infantile, but simpler and easier to pick up - however I find that it doesn't offer the challenge nor the scope for improvement tactically, nor for a lot of innovation. And for some reason it always surprised people when I used my units for things that they aren't 'meant' to be used for, and just how effective they could be.

I personally only play 40k for 2 reasons. 1) I just came back and can hardly afford 1 game system let alone 2. 2) I can't find anyone to play with me.
Now I just came back so I'm building on my old army (BT), although I do have a decent size (like 800points) WoC army with models still needing a paint job. Maybe if I get my 40k painted and can find someone to play with, I'll work on my WoC (gotta love Nurgle).
As for the fluff, 40k takes it hands down. That's why I got back into Warhammer. Horus Heresy caught me, and I've dove back in head first ever since (sites like this helped too).
So yea, 40k here.

If he is playing a game that is large enough to allow 7 chims, 3 russ and 7 sents, he is just a fool to use not a single piece of anti tank.
It was a 2000 points game and he had 3 Hammerheads and lots of Missile Pods. His list was "balanced". My list took advantage of his lists "balance" by fielding an "unbalanced" amount of one unit type (see my sig link for my full tactica on doing this in 40k).

I'm still on the fence in which one I like better. I grew up reading fantasy novels, and I'm a student of medieval history, so fantasy always appealed to me more than shootemup 40k did on paper.

This is how I break it down...

40k is more popular where I'm at, and almost all of my friends have at least a 200 pt army. It's just one of the things to do where I am. However, I personally hate 40k fluff. It's too repetitive for me. Everyone's a bad arse, everyone has a deep dark secret, everyone has a rediculously epic storyline and everything just seems too black and white for me. Also, I like all the alien races, but the fluff deliberately ignores them.

Fantasy's fluff is really cool to me, especially since the books I've been reading have been focusing on characters of a more humble origin that are almost forced in the situations they're in. I like that for some reason. Despite the magic and whatnot, fantasy stories usually feel much more real to me.

My problem with fantasy, however: the players. In my expirience there are more big fish in small ponds in fantasy than there are in 40k. More people who play fantasy seem to freak out if you're army isn't painted perfectly, or if you even slighty bend a few fluff rules, or if you want to use a list that not "tourny legal." It seems there are a lot more elitists and butt-heads in fantasy than in 40k.

(Please don't take this badly, I've met many real cool people who play fantasy. I'm just saying I've noticed MORE jerks.)

That's pretty much it. Sorry for the lack of organization (not to mention grammar), I'm sick.

40k is easily attained, but I get no creative fuffilment.
Fantasy pleases my inner child, but it's hard to get a good game, and some of the people are jerks.

I agree with IronJack partially. I think their are less disagreeable people in fantasy (by percentage) then in 40k but that they are different kinds of disagreeable.

Fantasy has 'snobs' for the hobby who dislike fluff breaking (Ex: "WHAT? You want to ally your Bretonnians with Ogres?!") and other 'hobby' related things like lack of painting.

40k however has the screaming kids (and the odd screaming adult).

Of course these stereotypes are not representative of the overall population of the players but these minorities can make an enormous impression.

I'm set on one system, mostly, but the reasons are very simple.
First off, I love science fiction. I love tanks, I love the idea of the little human fighting against the galaxy that wants it dead, just to survive. Its my Genre.
Secondly, I've only recently come into the hobby of miniature gaming, and 40k was the very first thing I've been introduced to.
Third...Money. Ahh, the almighty dollar and it's limitations.

Someday, I'd like to start up a WHFB army....I'm tempted to go route of the Lizards, and I have a special preference for hating the Undead (and chaos.) But I'll just have to see where I settle down with 40k, first.

I only play fantasy at the moment but plan on starting 40k soon. Fantasy appeals much more to me as I'm a big fan of everything related to magic, swordfighting and dragons, but I also like sci fi, but not in the same way.

Great thread Dave!:act-up:

speaking of those screaming kids in 40k; the act gets that much better when they attempt a game of fantasy vs each other, neither one really knowing what's going on and arguing with each other about all the little things (not to mention continually running up to the manager or other nearby adults with rules questions).

myself, i actively play 40k imperial guard; not too into the regiment moving of fantasy (but i do love to collect skaven to model/paint/display).
i am considering playing LotR, had a lot of fun learning to play it during a store event, was minas tirath defenders during the sacking of osgiliath. as long as the game is like a spread out skirmish as opposed to just one big pile in. (now if only i can find a mini-rulebook on ebay instead of the big $50 one)

I hear that a lot. WHFB is more strategic. 40K has much better fluff. Do more of you out there feel the same?

Don't agree. I think, from what I've seen, that they're fairly on the same level as far as gameplay and strategy. Perhaps Fantasy has slightly better rules, but 40k's probably still trying to make the transition from 'Fantasy IN SPACE!!!!' to its own distinct thing. Give it another edition or two and they should be fine.

In my opinion, 40k fluff is vastly superior, as it has moved beyond its Fantasy origins and introduced an incredible number of homages, tropes, and elements to make something utterly delicious. As another poster I quoted below states, Fantasy just feels like every other fantasyverse out there, whereas I'm hard-pressed to find a sci-fi universe like 40k- though it has elements from many of them.

Gameplay: Fantasy!!!!!!!! And I can't stress it hard enough! It actually involves strategy, ranked units just look superb (giving you the impression you're in a real battlefield), you're actually focused on battle and not some objective thingy, the rules are complex and it is NOT fast paced (if you want fast paced, try RTS's for Christ's sake!)

I'm not sure I agree that 40k doesn't 'actually involve strategy.' Plus, while ranked units might look good and emulate a certain form of warfare, 40k's squad-based play matches the modern/postmodern form of warfare much better- giving me the impression I'm in a real battlefield. And the idea that armies just meet in a field and go at it is just as outdated as ranks- objectives fit the 40k style of war better as well. I wouldn't call 40k simple by any stretch, even if the rules are more simple 40k can be very complex.

My impression of both games is that you get what you put into it, and that they come out pretty much equal in game terms.

Let me give an example:

"He Krox (not my real name obviously), can I have a game against you IG with my Tau?"
"Yeh sure"
*after/during deployment*
"Your army has 7 Chimerae, 3 Russ and 7 Sentinels! I don't have enough anti tank weapons to deal with all those!"
"Exactly...:sinister:"

Although tactics CAN change the game, I think they cannot change it nearly as much as in fantasy (where pretty much any infantry unit beats any other infantry unit if you get a flank).

Uh... tell me a Tau player who can't handle light vehicles or slow, heavy tanks and I'll point and laugh at him.

Finally the fluff, I’m not a fan of fantasy in general, I love LOTR but that’s my limit, for me every fantasy world created since Tolkien is basically Tolkien with bits added, changed, or removed, so fantasy doesn’t do it for me. Sci-Fi by contrast I love, providing its “hard sci-fi” not silly nonsense like Star Trek. Minus pretty much every alien race except Necrons and Tyranids, 40K has the credentials of hard sci-fi, which is why I enjoy playing the game.

I agree.

Uh... tell me a Tau player who can't handle light vehicles or slow, heavy tanks and I'll point and laugh at him.

I think you underestimate the unfairness of the list I fielded.


7 Chimerae spitting 6 heavy bolter shots a turn (any visible fire warriors die, as do kroot or stealth teams) with 2 BS4 Plasma guns nestled in 6 of the 7 (to disembark and rapid fire the hell out of pretty much anything) with the final one containing 4 flamers (pretty useless against Tau, these are hear to sweep Orks and Nids away)
3 Leman Russ Battle Tanks. Virtually impossible to kill when hull down and able to draw line of sight to any JSJing crisis suits (due to TLoS)
7 outflanking sentinels with lascannons (autocannons would have been better if I knew I was playing Tau) and hunter killer missiles. These guys move on behind his hammerheads or in clear LoS of crisis units (for handy instant death on them) on turn 2-3 and BYE-BYE anti tank capability (leaving my tanks with free reign from then on).

This list (and match up) is a clear example of what I mean when I say 40k is won in the 'army list' phase. As soon as pen met paper my list was going to win.

I've always been a 40k player. It was the system I was introduced to when I was 10/11, and I've always stuck with it. I went through a LOTR period when it first came out but that didn't last, and personally I have never seen the appeal of WHFB. I've never been a great fan of fanatasy.

In all honesty, I've never been a fan of Sci-Fi, but for some reason 40k really appealed to me. I really love the fluff, especially Imperial Guard fluff, and love playing the game.

It seems to me as if for those people who are dedicated to either 40k or Fantasy, and not the other, they haven't really given the alternative a chance. I usually switch between the two back and forth with my interest as I come up with new army ideas, or better ones for each.
My reccommendation for people who believe one to be superior, to try out both, read the background for both.

well personnally I like the Play style of fantasy but as my Roommate was a 40K player I ended Up wih the Necrons 10 man warrior phalanxs :) but with the new rules they got absolet. I then got Lured Into fantasy bye comming across a Beautifully converted Wood Elves Army and I had to make a Wood elves army right there and then. It's a Totale 180 in paying style for me going from a Uber Straight forward necron army just shoot everything with Gauss Fire and you win or Loose a game ( moustly the later for me, which was another reason to switch) to a Army that needs to move fast and smart to even get a chance at a win. For me Personnally Fantasy is more of a chalange and better suited to my gaming needs.

and about fantasy fluff being very bland since everything looks the same in any Fantasy story. Try to look at 40K and not see Humans some Bug a ork styled army and something choas immortal and Elite thinking immortal. It's just as bland as fantasy In my opinion. the only reason that fantasy fluff isn't that renewing atm is that it's a Lot older then 40K and a lot has allready been done.

but nevertheless both systems have there Flair. for me Fantasy is a proper battle of withs which requires a little more finess. where 40k is abit more point and click.

Cheers Jayz

I got into the hobby through 40k, I loved DoW, and my friend said that there was a whole game that it was based off of that was much better than the game itself. After I checked it out I loved the look of Tyranids, and I have sticked there ever since.

I really am not all that interested in the Fantasy side of things, but that may change after I get into Warhammer; Age of Reckoning.

Now I simply don't have the money to pick up another army, much less a whole new game.

Because of WAR, I've felt the pull of Fantasy in the last few days...though oddly, not to the Elves or the Dwarves or the Humans or Chaos or Orks or whatever.....

To the Lizards, of all things. I might buy a handful, just so I can paint 'em.

Originally Posted by daelrog
It seems to me as if for those people who are dedicated to either 40k or Fantasy, and not the other, they haven't really given the alternative a chance.

Perhaps, but the initial attraction has to be there otherwise you’re not going to part with hard cash, the same as the initial attraction to any GW system has to be there otherwise you would be one of the majority of folks who walk on by without even looking in the window of a GW store.

Investing in a GW army isn’t the same as buying a really cool paper back novel every one is ranting about, you can swallow a loss of £6 easier than you can the £50 or so it costs to start an army. I admit I like the Empire, just not enough to want to start paying out for it and for a games system I really believe I wouldn’t enjoy playing.


Originally Posted by Tarnag
Now I simply don't have the money to pick up another army, much less a whole new game.

I used to think this was a drag but now I believe it’s beneficial. The new Space Marines codex and range looks mint, and a few years back I would have bought the codex a whole load of models, and chucked them in a draw to gather dust, now I would rather invest more in the one army I do play, Imperial Guard, I’m actually more involved with the game just by varying how I run my army rather than forking out cash on new armies, it’s cheaper as well.

i only play 40K, but i am getting hugely interested in fantasy. However, at the moment, i have around 1000 point of unpainted eldar, 300 points of unpainted necrons and 100 points of unpainted dark eldar. so when i've finsished painting my armies i probably will start up fantasy, but for now, it's just because i have other hobby stuff to do first.

Also, i consider 40K fluff less involved than fantasy fluff, which is more customisable, and i am also getting tired of the simplicity of 40K, even with dark eldar and eldar.

HI.
I tend to swap and change about between sci fi -fantasy and historical.And Scale goes from 6mm to 54 mm !
But after 20 years of wargaming/table top gaming, my group has tryed out lots of differnt games!
Not all GW BTW!

Variety is the spice of life!

TTFN
Lanrak.