Warhammer - Every Fantasy Game Ranked

Redglyph

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@rjshae; spotted a ranked list of Warhammer games set in the Old World, the parody-football universe of Blood Bowl, and the Warhammer sequel setting Age of Sigmar, on PCGamer. Thanks!

Every Warhammer Fantasy game, ranked

For a brief period between 1983 and 1985, Games Workshop published their own videogames, including one called Chaos: The Battle of Wizards (created by a young developer called Julian Gollop who'd later make a name for himself with X-COM). But none of GW's videogames were set in their own Warhammer Fantasy universe.

At the time the setting was a barely formed thing. 1984's second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle focused on a conflict between alien frogs and Amazons with laserguns on the continent of Lustria. Only after GW got out of the videogame racket would the Old World refocus on the gritty fantasy version of Renaissance Europe that become Warhammer's center stage.

In 1991 Gremlin Interactive adapted the board game HeroQuest, and Warhammer finally came to computers. Though it was a version of Warhammer targeted at ages nine and up, it still included distinctive elements like the fimir and the threat of Chaos. There weren't many Warhammer games over the subsequent 20 years, just a couple of fondly remembered strategy games and a tragically doomed MMO, and it wasn't until the 2010s that the Old World was explored more fully. Much more fully.

In 2015 alone there were four Warhammer Fantasy games released on PC and four more Warhammer 40,000 games. We went from a drought to a flood, from nothing to more than any one person could keep up with... unless they dedicated months of their life to playing every single Warhammer videogame.

Well, I've done just that. I've played them all. This list will help you navigate the flood.

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More information.
 
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The real question to ask is why Games Workshop keeps leasing their IP to anyone? Sure there are a few good games, but the majority of released games are mediocre at best.

The Dawn of War and Total War versions are the best games.
 
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The real question to ask is why Games Workshop keeps leasing their IP to anyone? Sure there are a few good games, but the majority of released games are mediocre at best.

Probably because they themselves don't know how to translate their board games into a digital form, and they have no reference for what is a "good translation".
 
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I did enjoy both Total War Warhammer games very much. But its true that those are first Warhammer games I enjoyed since Shadow Of The Horned Rat and Dark Omen. Oh, I also played Warhammer Online. I had big expectations about it, I still have collectors box ... at least it reminds me I shouldnt touch MMOs
 
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I also think Blood Bowl and Blood Bowl 2 are very good digital translations of those tabletop games. Sanctus Reach is as well, and though its presentation is somewhat minimalistic it is much closer to the tabletop game than Dawn of War.
Dawn of War is the better computer game, if you don't care how close the mechanics are to the tabletop version. Space Marine is also an excellent action game in the Warhammer 40k universe. Its on the short side, but does a great job with the 40k lore.
 
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I've played both Warhammer Quest games and there's the hint of a decent RPG in there, if it wasn't all grindy combat with repetitive opponents. The reviewer rates the second much lower than the first, but I found the second to be better. Probably not to everybody's taste, unless you're into turn-based fantasy combat with a square grid. I also played Shadow of the Horned Rat back in the day.
 
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Warhammer total war series are maybe the best games here, but I enjoyed playing Dark Omen the most.
 
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I was betting if any of those 20 Warhammer games will be playable for me, because all the recent games arn't and it seems like it never was - the closest is the WoW like MMO, maybe the pirates?

When I have first read Warhammer book I was thinking about how cool setting it is and how it would be great to have fantasy game in that setting just to discover that all Warhammer games are combat only and half of them is strategic/RTS combat. Why do you need licence for a horde combat game? Because players buy it more if it is a known setting?

So Warhammer games are just big disappointment for me. Another cool world and no roleplaying game.
I really wish there would be TES/Skyrim like Warhammer game, with gameplay like from the books.
 
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I realized that maybe the reason is that when Cyanide studio tried with Game of Thrones roleplaying game, it wasn't very successful. It is for me one of the best dialogue decision/ story based game and the negative reviews are about combat, which is similar to DAO, but combat wasn't a problem for players in DAO. I wonder why Bioware with DAO was still OK for many players, while Game of Thrones roleplaying game was rated as bad because of combat? And it has to be very difficult to create such game, right? But maybe that wasn't the reason. But when I would be creating such roleplaying game, I would want to know what makes such combat acceptable.
 
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