I'm reading the "breaking news" for WFB 9E ([url]http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/01/breaking-wfb-9th-explodes.html[/url]), and I gotta say, I like it.

Warhammer Fantasy is going Full Grimdark (tm) in the wake of the resounding Chapterhouse loss, starting completely over to retain only those non-generic things which are clearly GW IP that others cannot legitimately genericize. No more generic Forest Elves or Grey Elves. No more Scottish Dorfs. No more generic Medieval / Renaissance Humans. Full Grimdark, all the time.

Now, sure, a lot of people caution "You NEVER go Full Grimdark," but having had their ***** handed to them in the courtroom, GW has no choice. They now move Fantasy to strong GW IP without any generic Tolkien-based fantasy items.

Which makes a lot of sense. Mantic does just fine making generic fantasy stuff at a lower price point. Warmahordes has distinctive stuff that nobody else can tread on, and likely outsells WFB by a fair margin.

So, tearing everything down to make a new Fantasy, GW finally gets to right-size the game with a small number of armies:
- Chaos (which is GW's true IP)
- Skaven (strong GW IP here)
- Empire (with Dorfs & Ogres)
- Elves (blended together)
- Orcs & Goblins (of course)
- Undead (but no generic Skeletons or Egyptian stuff!)
Lizardmen get the axe, with no further development planned, and a lot of stuff is going OOP.

Not only are they shrinking from 12+ Armies to 6, but they're trimming back the model choices going forward. Sure, you can still play your current stuff - it'll just be overcosted and underperforming compared to the new WFB9 stuff coming out of the gate.

In effect, everybody finally joins my Dogs of War and the Chaos Dorfs.

How do the rest of you like them apples?