Written by Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley, Alan & Michael Perry

There have been a lot of rumours bandied about regarding this book for some time both on and off the ‘net, and now we have the real thing to look at. I was very lucky to receive one of the first copies off the presses, sent straight from the designers. It will probably be some time before it is commonly available, so this review should go some way towards telling people what they can expect.

Firstly, Warhammer Ancients is not a Games Workshop product. It is the brainchild of a number of GW design studio members, including Warhammer author Rick Priestley and Blood Bowl author Jervis Johnson, as well as miniature designers Alan and Michael Perry. A lot of noise has been made how GW were going to take over the historical market, but this is clearly not the case. You will therefore not find copies in your local GW store, unless this is Lenton (see order details below).

Initial impressions are encouraging. The front cover by Dave Gallagher is nice, and the book is set out very similarly to the Warhammer Fantasy range. It is even the same size, sitting comfortably with my other Warhammer books on the bookshelf. The book weighs in at 144 pages, mostly b/w with 16 colour pages showing miniatures and terrain. The illustrations are good, not as flashy as ones you’d find in a GW book but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The actual game rules are based on those from the Warhammer Fantasy game, hence the name. This meant that for me the rules were easy to learn, but for those unversed in Warhammer it will take a little longer. They are not too complex, and do not use endless tables to work out combat results, preferring the well-known bucket ‘o’ dice technique. The rules are set out clearly, and the emphasis is on playing in a friendly way, to play in the spirit of the rules. Clearly, ‘rules lawyers’ and ‘power gamers’ will have to be taught to behave if they want to play this game with anyone.

For those not familiar with the Warhammer rules, a quick explanation. Each miniature has its own stats line, governing how fast it can move, how well it can fight and shoot, its physical strength and toughness, its ability to react, the number of attacks it gets, and its ability to resist psychological effects and lead others. This may seem overly complex, but since only on or two characters in each regiment will differ from the general stats line, it works well. Each player takes turns to move their troops, then fire missile weapons (including artillery if present), then hand-to-hand combat is performed if necessary. To shoot or fight, you simply roll dice against a characteristic, modified by distance and the stats of the enemy trooper. There are a few tables here, but the result can be quickly worked out in your head after a couple of games. As each miniature has an attack, each has a dice to roll, where the numbers of dice come in. This is a nice mechanic, with tactile qualities.

Further evidence that this is not a GW game can be found throughout the book. There are very few mentions of GW or Citadel, and writing style and suggestions are closer to the earlier editions of WFB and WH40K where players had to rely on their own abilities to do things. The rules attempt to be very complete, including psychology, war machines, painting and modelling suggestions, scenarios, and campaign rules. There are even two army lists in the back of the book, giving the impression that you can pick up the game and as long as you have the correct miniatures, you need nothing else. The two lists included are Early Romans and Barbarians, and include a little background to provide the context. I found this especially informative as I do not know much about the classical world, and it inspired me to find out more. This section is not exhaustive, and isn’t meant to be, as the book will hopefully be followed up by complete lists for a variety of time periods, with more background, and even the odd special character such as Julius Caesar or Trajan.

Overall I would recommend this book, especially to those who are currently playing GW games and would like to explore historical wargaming. The rules are designed for adaptation, and do not concentrate on any one scale or miniature range, though the writers do admit to preferring 25mm miniatures (the Perrys’ do make them at this scale, after all!). If the book is successful, there are plans to do lots of other projects, including other games, and even a miniature range. They really should be supported on this initiative, I intend to at least. The book is good value for money at £15, especially when you consider the price of GW books in comparison. The only real problems I see with this book are its association with GW; rather the people who will associate it with GW and therefore refuse to buy it. This kind of idea is silly, especially when the game is so easy to understand while not sacrificing detail. For those who expect the game to turn into some kind of superhero-fest like WFB can boil down to with unscrupulous players, then I can only say that what is presented here suggests otherwise. The other major problem is how to get a copy. As mentioned above, you can go to GW Lenton and the staff should have a few copies lying about, or can call down Rick or Jervis from the design studio with a copy! Also, the book should be pretty well covered by this year’s conventions, and you can always resort to mail order. For more information, write to:

Warhammer Historical Wargames Ltd,

PO BOX 5226,

NOTTINGHAM,

NG7 2WT

UK

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