Written by Nigel Stillman, with Rick Priestley and Tuomas Pirinen

Cover art by David Gallagher

Internal art by John Blanche, Alex Boyd, Wayne England, Des Hanley, Toby Hynes, Nuala Kennedy, Paul Smith, John Wigley

Published by Games Workshop (£15) (96pp)

Reviewed by Robert Clark

The rumour that a book of ‘Regiments of Renown’ was being worked on has been around since at least Games Day ’96. Details have been vague to say the least, titles and contents changing every few months, until finally, much later than expected, the Dogs of War are upon us. And about time too. It has been far too long; I personally expected it to be the next book after the Lizardmen, but obviously GW had other plans.

For newcomers to the game, Regiments of Renown were boxes of miniatures that formed a ready-made regiment for battle, with their own individual background and rules. Bugman’s Rangers started off this way, along with other once-famous names now forgotten. Now that each of the major armies has been given its own army book, the designers can concentrate on an interesting and entertaining mixture of regiments that can be hired as mercenaries or as an army in its own right.

The book itself is strangely different from the other army books. For starters, the army list and colour pages are at the front, with the background making up the second half. The layout is similar to earlier books, but with an added style and panache. Evidently lots of work has been put into the presentation of each regiment, and the overall feel of the book. It certainly feels different from the other army books, perhaps hearkening back to the earlier editions of Warhammer. The artwork continued to puzzle me; whilst some of it is as good as the modern GW stuff gets, there are other pieces which weren’t so appealing. Special mention has to be made of the character portraits of each of the Mercenary Captains, which are very fine indeed.

As well as new rules for Pikes and how Mercenary armies work, there are included fifteen different regiments, and a selection of special characters. Some of the old favourites make a reappearance, for example Golgfag and his mercenary Ogres (who originally appeared in ‘Forces of Fantasy’, the supplement for Warhammer 1^st edition). Most of the mercenaries are Tilean of one form or another, as this book has a definite Tilean theme to it, as well as the fact that Tilea is described as the ‘home of the mercenary’ in the background section. Each of the regiments is described in great detail, and each of them is unique and special in their own way. Nearly all have a special rule to make them individual, for example the crazy Birdmen of Catrazza who use motorised wings to fly! This section is brimming with what could only be described as the worst Games Workshop humour, which makes it all the more enjoyable to read. Hopefully it won’t just be the power gamers who are poring over the individual regiments.

My personal favourite is Long Drong Slayer’s Pirates, mainly for the number of terrible Dwarven pirate jokes and the highly funny rule concerning the Rum that the Dwarfs drink, which is so potent that no regiment may set up within three inches of them because of the terrible smell! Whilst people may cite that a book of mercenaries might lack appeal, this is not truly the case as nearly all of them have no qualms as to who they will work for, and they are sure to inject added colour and a new tactical edge to your army. Raising a mercenary army is an interesting proposition also, though I can’t but feel that the army will be a little disjointed.

This is probably not the case though. The Special Characters are the usual fare; all ridiculously powerful with points values to match. I have no personal like for these since they often encourage power gamers and definitely cause game imbalance; how many people have ended up with two or more special characters slugging it out while all around them lie the dead and the dying? They do provide some interesting character sketches though.

The background section of the book is the part that I unashamedly hankered for the most, since it promised to take a good long look at Tilea. I am glad to say that I was very happy after I read it, since it is interesting whilst not straying into the silliness and two-dimensional aspects that previous 5^th edition army books have all too often done. As a WFRP player it was a joy to read, since it complemented rather than rewrote the existing background, and was brim full of in-jokes, puns and all the other trademarks that characterise the best Games Workshop products. Clearly the fact that all the designers have had their involvement at some point has stopped anything going awry, and the timeline isn’t just a list of battles for a change. How this will appeal to those who consider the background as ‘fluff’ I don’t know, but for Warhammer this is as good as it gets, and that is not a criticism. You won’t find any overly obvious stereotypes and high fantasy elements here; even the rationales behind the Tilean peoples are carefully considered. Truly some work has gone on here, and should not be skipped as pointless space filling. If this is what people truly believe, then I suspect they are playing the game for the wrong reasons entirely.

Dogs of War is an interesting venture. As a new direction for Warhammer it holds great promise, especially since it is mentioned several times that future regiments will be developed over time, incorporating more esoteric elements and (hopefully) more background. As the range of mercenary regiments increases, a Dogs of War army will become even more appealing than it is now, and the accompanying range of miniatures certainly looks intriguing. Truly this book appeals not just to the gamer who wants to start a new army, but to all generals new and old, since anyone can use its contents. The numerous stories, background pieces and regiments set the scene well, and I can assure you that some of the jokes will make even the most hardened veteran groan with appreciation. Recommended.

Robert

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