Warhammer Ancient Battles (often referred to as "WAB" and sometimes Warhammer Historical) is a ruleset for miniatures wargames produced by Games Workshop's Warhammer Historical Wargames imprint. It is a rulebook for historical wargames developed from the popular Warhammer Fantasy Battle by Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley and the Perry brothers. [1] On 24 May 2012, Warhammer Historical closed their website and are now defunct. [2]
Games of Warhammer Ancient Battles model hypothetical battles between historical armies. [3] Battles are fought between armies of miniatures. [4] The game is played on a table laid out with model scenery to look like a battlefield, on which the units of miniatures are maneuvered. Large numbers of dice are needed to resolve combat and shooting. [5]
Several of Games Workshop's staff had begun experimenting with using Warhammer rules to play historical games [6] before Warhammer Ancient Battles was written, and Wargames Illustrated magazine included some articles that had been written on the subject. This led to the development of Warhammer Ancient Battles as a spare-time project. [7] It was published under the name "Warhammer Historical Wargames." Based as it was on Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer Ancient Battles served as a bridge for fantasy wargamers to discover historical wargaming but also attracted wargamers who had never played the fantasy version. [8] Games Workshop eventually brought the project back in-house, with Rob Broom running the Warhammer Historical Wargames department that promoted an increasing number of books.
To accusations that the rules were only a throwback to an earlier era of wargaming, Jervis Johnson pleaded guilty. The rules, he said, were intended to be fun and informal, rather than dominated by requirements of super-detailed historical accuracy. And, the designers had rejected the approach of contemporary rule sets as being too abstract. [9]
The game rules were heavily based on the fifth edition of Warhammer, with magic dropped and more detail added for ancient weapons and formations. The two games have developed in different directions since. Modifications to the core rules have been included in some of the more recent supplements. The WAB 2nd edition consciously took the rules even further from its fantasy origins. [10]
Following the success of Warhammer Ancient Battles Warhammer Historical branched out into other areas:
The rules are written for individually based figures and this approach was in marked contrast to the element based rulesets current amongst ancient historical wargames when the rules were first published. [11] Standard bearers, musicians and officer figures are given specific advantages - seen by some as giving the rules more character. [12]
A second edition ruleset was released in April 2010, written by Martin Gibbins. [13] The revision aimed to encourage linear battle formations and to make flank attacks easier. [14] Changes include allowing cavalry to make march rules despite infantry and capping bonus troops in melee for the number of ranks of the formation to 2. [15] The first edition had had some elements that derived from its origin as a fantasy set and the revision aimed to remove them. Hence, the influence of characters has been reduced. [16]
The core rulebook includes army lists for "Early Imperial Roman" and "Barbarian" armies. A range of supplementary books has been released to provide more army lists, each focusing on a particular period and place.
The game was supported by a high-traffic discussion group on Yahoo! Groups, the WABlist, and Warhammer Historical Forums (the former a non-Yahoo message board). In addition another group WABMedievalBattles focused on the medieval period.
A wargame is a type of strategy game that simulates warfare realistically, as opposed to abstract strategy games such as chess. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames recreate specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval and air combat as well.
Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, especially in Britain. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the ninth and current edition was released in July 2020.
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which players enact battles between opposing military forces that are represented by miniature physical models. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is aesthetics, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out.
Warhammer is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme that simulates battles between armies from different factions. The game was created by Rick Priestley and sold by the Games Workshop company.
Warmaster is a ruleset for tabletop wargames written by Rick Priestley, published by Specialist Games, and set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. It is different from Warhammer Fantasy Battles in both appearance and gameplay. It is intended for 10 –12 mm miniatures. Basic troops are based on stands, of which typically three make a unit. Generals, Heroes and Wizards are mounted individually or with their retinue.
Fantasy Warlord is a fantasy miniatures game released in 1990 by Folio Works. It was written by Ian Bailey and Gary Chalk who also did the illustrations.
Flames of War is a World War II tabletop miniatures wargame produced by the New Zealand company Battlefront Miniatures Ltd. The 1st Edition set of rules was published in 2002.
Tony Bath (1926–2000) was a British wargamer who favored the ancient period. He was the founder of the Society of Ancients.
De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) is a ruleset for table-top miniatures wargames for the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD. It is the big battle development of De Bellis Antiquitatis. As its name implies, it is aimed primarily at simulating large battles. The rules allow armies to be chosen from published Army Lists using a points system to select roughly equal armies if required.
Naval wargaming is a branch of the wider hobby of miniature wargaming. Generally less popular than wargames set on land, naval wargaming nevertheless enjoys a degree of support around the world. Both historical and fantasy rulesets are available.
Air wargaming, like naval wargaming, is a niche specialism within the wider miniatures wargaming hobby. Due to the relatively short time over which aerial combat has developed air wargaming periods tend to break down into three broad periods:
Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse is an expansion to the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures wargame by the British gaming company Games Workshop. It contains rules which allow players to field massive armies the likes of which are unwieldy using the basic Warhammer 40,000 ruleset. It also allows players to field units that are not available in normal Warhammer 40,000 games, such as large super-heavy tanks and robot-like titans, some of which can stand up to 400 feet in game-scale height.
The Wargames Research Group(WRG) is a British publisher of rules and reference material for miniature wargaming. Founded in 1969 they were the premier publisher of tabletop rules during the seventies and eighties, publishing rules for periods ranging from ancient times to modern armoured warfare, and reference books which are still considered standard works for amateur researchers and wargamers. They are best known for their seminal ancient and medieval period rules, and also for De Bellis Antiquitatis and Hordes of the Things fantasy rules.
The Society of Ancients (SoA) is an international, non-profit organization based in the UK that aims to promote interest in Ancient & Medieval history and wargaming, covering the periods from 3000BC to 1500AD.
Matt Ward is a British author and miniature wargaming designer, who is best known for his work with Games Workshop on the Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game systems. He was also a frequent contributor to the magazine White Dwarf during his time at the company.
The following is a list of Army Books and Supplements for the various armies released for the Games Workshop Warhammer Fantasy Battle game.
The Ninth Age: Fantasy Battles is a tabletop miniature wargame created and updated since 2015 by the non-profit association The Ninth Age. It simulates mass battles between two high fantasy armies represented by 28 mm scale models on square bases in rank and file formations.
A wargame is a strategy game that realistically simulates warfare.
