No Country for Old Men? Oldhammer and the new era.

[Mr Mystery]

How do?

So, Oldhammer eh?

For the uninitiated, Oldhammer is playing older editions of the GW games, and foe the purpose of this thread, specifically previous editions of Warhammer, The Game of Fantasy Battles.

It's not entirely uncommon. I don't know many gamers who (space allowing) are fond of binning their old army books - I for one am keeping hold of my collection of 8th Edition books, and to provide flexibility in my collect, I'll be buying square bases to mount my models.

But I keep seeing claims that its looked down upon, for reasons unknown to me.

Well I say enough of that. The war gaming hobby is about more than The Now. Anyone who has played for any length of time has likely spent a not inconsiderable sum on their collection - models, books and the associated paraphernalia.

How can wanting to keep playing a favoured rules set be a bad thing? Where's the downside?

So let's get the ball rolling.

For those who partake, tell us about it. Which edition(s?) do you play? What's your local scene like? Do you just use the old books, or have you come up with your own versions? Have you developed rules for newer units - could be the very recent stuff such as Stormcast Eternals, could be toys introduced since your preferred Army Book was printed (for instance, Dark Elf Kharybdis)

Tell us of your Oldhammer, Usul....

[Auticus]

In my area, unsupported games are typically not seen in public. I'm sure somewhere someone is playing an older version though.

For me, I started with 5th edition and hated it. I liked 6th edition for the first couple of years but then the 6th/7th edition got very stale for me, facing the same armies, facing the same tactics, facing the same overall strategies, some busted army lists like daemons, vampire counts in 7th, and things like the 1/8" lateral dance were very immersion breaking for me so I quit until 8th came out.

If I had to play an "oldhammer" version it would be 8th simply because the immersion breaking items weren't as strong, though the gimmicks and gaming the game were as strong as ever (six dice for the win!)

Right now I'm kind of in a limbo. I don't mind Age of Sigmar with comp but my area is very tournament-oriented, and I really really don't like Kings of War for the same reasons that I don't like 7th edition fantasy so I'm kind of without a game with a lot of players.

[Ben_S]

I think 'Oldhammer' is usually associated with 3rd edition or earlier. On that basis, I'm pretty much excluded since I only started playing with 4th edition (goblins v high elves). That said, I am currently working on some Oldhammer-inspired chaos warbands, which I intend to use with Frostgrave for rules.

If the question is about preferred WFB rule sets, then I only have experience of 4th, 5th, and 8th. I wouldn't, in principle, object to playing the older editions if I had a group of likeminded friends, but I wouldn't be keen to re-learn the old rules on the off-chance of the occasional game, so 8th would remain my favoured option (for now at least).

[Just Tony]

I think 'Oldhammer' is usually associated with 3rd edition or earlier. On that basis, I'm pretty much excluded since I only started playing with 4th edition (goblins v high elves). That said, I am currently working on some Oldhammer-inspired chaos warbands, which I intend to use with Frostgrave for rules.

If the question is about preferred WFB rule sets, then I only have experience of 4th, 5th, and 8th. I wouldn't, in principle, object to playing the older editions if I had a group of likeminded friends, but I wouldn't be keen to re-learn the old rules on the off-chance of the occasional game, so 8th would remain my favoured option (for now at least).

This.

Classichammer is the term we're using for everything from 4th - 6th WFB and 2nd -5th 40K. 6th is what we're using the most, as it's the most complete and the OP stuff is easy to sort out or house rule.

Also see this site

[url]www.classichammer.com[/url]

[Denzark]

MM - maybe a shout out to the Oldhammer Community on FB is warranted - they keep the fires burning and possibly as importantly (more importantly for me) push sales of retro minis at sensible prices, not some of the gouging to be found on ebay.

[Defenestratus]

*cough*

[url]http://www.blacklibrary.com/Warhammer/whfb-rule-sup/Warhammer-Rulebook.html[/url]

[nsc]

Oldhammer revolves around 3e and 6e as the two most popular editions.

Imo 3e > 6e but there's no unified "oldhammer" community.

It's all splintered groups where everyone feels that their definition is correct.

Basically play the edition you want with your friends and/or make friends on the internet and wham you're playing oldhammer. I just wish the price of a 3e rulebook wasn't so expensive

[jouso]

Tell us of your Oldhammer, Usul....

Our group has moved to 9th age. Though the yearly mega-X-mas game (something like 20.000 points per side) will still be done with 8th edition + End times.

[Voltigeur]

I started with 5th ed back in 96 and I own all of the army books so that would be my first choice (The rose tinted nostalgia goggles are powerful ) I have some fond memories of 6th though so I'd be willing to do that as well. Currently my friends are experimenting with 9th age and KoW for our fantasy needs.