The Appeal of WFB

[Redegeneration]

I agree, 40k does really limit the army diversity. That's why I enjoy Fantasy because you have the different armies, but you got the background fluff for the world and each army to mix and match to your hearts content. Its like a choose your own adventure book

[Lord Sigmar]

[QUOTE=LordMcSpank;178624]
In WFB, however, you have 16 different races to choose from that all are very distinctive and play differently. Even the similar races (all 3 elves, 2 human armies, 2 undead armies, etc) each have their own unique background and play style. I think this lends itself to much more variety on the tabletop, whether you are just playing in your friendly weekly league or even in a tournament setting. It's much harder to build your army to defeat a specific opponent when you could literally be facing any one of 16 unique forces at any time.

My thoughts exactly

[Warmaster Primus]

I've found that Fantasy has a bit more diversity when it comes to opponents.

[kargie]

I play both, but there are a few reasons I prefer Fantasy to 40k.
Personally, I like fantasy better than sci-fi in general, though I like both.

But in terms of playing, the proliferation of MEQ armies (half of 40k is MEQ) makes 40k less interesting to play. Fantasy armies don't have as many similarities, and players seem to be more evenly spread than in 40k. In my more regular gaming group, there are only 2 MEQ armies out of 6, which is better, but when I go out it skyrockets to 50-60%. Fantasy just doesn't do that, makes for more interesting games when you play against many different things rather than power armour after power armour army.

[Orminah]

The biggest appeal to me is the imagery of ranked warriors slamming into eachother and fighting in a bloody melee. Nothing beats a game of Fantasy with some Amon Amarth playing in the backround.

[Kaiserdean]

I think you're right that there is a lot of Tolken influence in the Warhammer world (and the fantasy genre as well) but 40k is largely influenced by the Heinlein novels, among others.

At my LGS, there's a lot of varied reasons why people play. I consider myself much more of a sci-fi fan than fantasy, but I like WHFB much more. I like the ranks of troops, models and the fluff of the "special" characters a lot more.

[HaleysRedComet]

I started with 40k but got into Fantasy a few years later. I likd that leadershil mattered and that you could destroy armies by taking out a few models and forcing them to run. Not as true as it was in sixth ed but I still like it. I also really like the painting experience, and playing Brettonia allowed me to have an army without a cohesive color scheme - which is awesome.

[DanteSuper]

I love Fantasy for the fluff and ehhmmm the Fantasy (Monsters, etc) ! and Chaos...

[Warmaster Primus]

I have to agree with Kargie, the proliferation of MEQs is a bit much these days. It also doesn't help that non MEQ armies get the shaft much of the time.

[Enigmai]

I play both games during many editions and my preferred game has changed depending on how much I like or dislike that particular edition or how drastically the power shifted with a new army book or codex.

The two games are currently evenly played by me but with rumors of 6th edition 40K and new army books galore rumored down the pipe for WFB who knows what the future holds....