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Author Topic: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?  (Read 1247 times)

Offline KTG17

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Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« on: June 11, 2021, 11:06:22 PM »
I was just thinking about the box sets that came with minis…

Elves and Goblins
Bretonnians and Lizardmen
Empire and Orcs
Dwarves and Goblins
Elves and Skaven

I am surprised about the Elves. I assume this was a popular army back in the day? I kind of thought how GW sells Space Marines with each starter and was wondering why GW didn’t do the same with the Empire…

And Greenskins were common too.

Offline Victor

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Re: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2021, 09:35:40 AM »
The Empire of WHFB could definitely not be compared to the Imperium of WH40k in regards to popularity if you include Space Marines in the equation. The Empire was overall one of the more/most popular factions in WHFB, but probably at no point the most popular one.

If AoS is anything to go by, "ordinary" humans are apparently almost completely out of fashion these days. Bigger, better, extraordinary and magical is the name of the game. That's also why I do not have high hopes for the reimagined Warhammer Old World.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2021, 09:43:07 AM by Victor »

Offline Fidelis von Sigmaringen

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Re: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2021, 10:53:52 AM »
According to https://www.tabletoptournaments.net/game/Warhammer? (bottom half), they ranked 6th in popularity. The top 3 (WoC, DE, VC) never made it into a WFB boxed game.

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Offline KTG17

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Re: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2021, 04:12:05 PM »
Wow I am def surprised by that list. I am kind of surprised and not surprised by Chaos Warriors being owned by so many. Chaos is always cool and you can get by with a smaller model count right? Plus they are sort of like 4 armies in one.

I am def surprised by the Empire’s rank. I guess you can consider them more to be the Imperial Guard in 40K.

Also surprised by Orcs, but they are another army with a ton of variety. Also makes sense what I am seeing the old Orc Boys regiments selling for on eBay.

I do think think there are a lot of cool armies in WFB. Getting into the game late, I am pretty much judging them from 6th on, but I get amazed with each Battalion set when I open one, or the newer unit sets. Can’t say the same about 40K.

Offline Gankom

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Re: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2021, 06:32:02 PM »
I do think Fantasy was never really dominated by a faction (in popularity) the way 40k is. Space Marines have ALWAYS been super popular (its why they tried to repeat it with stormcast) and most of the others second best. All the Fantasy clubs I've seen have been fairly evenly mixed. 40k tends to be HEAVILY Imperial, followed by chaos of various flavours, and then a somewhat uneven distribution through the rest.

Offline brr-icy

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Re: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2021, 11:15:39 AM »
Until I got back into it, I had only seen one player with an Empire army for the first fifteen years of gaming. But then again, the only multiple armies I seen were a couple chaos and a couple dwarf armies. The rest were single armies. My experience was pretty limited to our group of friends and one game store though. After I got into the local tournament scene for a bit I seen more repeats.

They've tried to repeat with Sigmarines, but bulky suits with tiny heads are boring in a fantasy setting, so i don't see a lot of people playing them either

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Were the Empire not super popular in WFB?
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2021, 11:20:19 AM »
I don't see a lot of people playing much during this public health issue.  Doesn't mean it ain't happening, just can't see it.  The local hobby stores still haven't gone back to in person gaming yet, except for a few pick up games.
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