If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know by now that I'm especially fond of Games Workshop's older dungeon crawl games, namely Advanced Heroquest (
which I'm attempting to recreate) and Warhammer Quest.
Both of these games have been out of print for many years as the Games Workshop focused on it's core games, Warhammer 40K and Fantasy Battle. Fantasy battle of course underwent a controversial re-boot, which hasn't won everyone over,
me included and became Warhammer Age of Sigmar.
In recent weeks there has been various leaks on the internet regarding a re-boot of Warhammer Quest within the Age of Sigmar universe, the game is called Warhammer Quest: The Silver Tower. This seems to in-line with the current policy of putting back games into the Games Workshop, which has up until now seen a number of Warhammer 40K games released. This is the first fantasy setting game in the growing range and in fact it's the first fantasy game since the original Warhammer Quest.
Today I visited my local store and got to see a copy of the game. Here are my thoughts.
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| Warhammer Quest: The Silver Tower - Source: Games Workshop (2016) |
I really don't like the setting of Age of Sigmar and I suspect Games Workshop are aware that they still have to win many people over in this regard. The setting of this game seems to be intended to appeal to both older gamers like myself and the newer fans of Age of Sigmar.
If I recall the Warhammer Old World lore correctly the Silver Towers were magical realms of the sorcerers of Tzeentch, one of four powers of Chaos, that in this case have survived into the new universe. This in my opinion is very clever move; along with retaining the Warhammer Quest name. There's enough of a nod to the old, highly regarded, games that preceded it, while at the same time moving onto the new.
The villains have a decidedly Old World feel about them, but Tzeentch is the changer of ways after all and so that fits well. This means fans of both the old and new game worlds will have some familiarity with them. I got to see the actual figures today and I especially liked the new cultist figures and really hope they get a release into the Age of Sigmar world proper, if they do I'll be buying into Tzeentch at some point in the future. The main Tzeentch character is a delightfully insane old-school demon wizard called the Gaunt Summoner, again a nod to days gone by and one the painters amongst us will surely want to get their hands on.
As for heroes they are very much from the Age of Sigmar. I'm a bit sceptical about the Stormcast Eternal as a hero, but apart from that you get new updated versions of the dungeon crawl barbarian, dwarf, elf (in this case an assassin) and spell-caster along with a warrior priest (and his pet Gryph Hound). Having more than the standard four character to choose from is, again, another nice touch which ensures there should be something to appeal to everyone.
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The Heroes - Source: Games Workshop (2016) |
So overall I think this looks like being a fantastic move for the Games Workshop and one I really hope pays off. If it does there are rumours that more expansions will follow. Rules also appear to be following the initial release which will allow more heroes, and possibly villains, from within the existing Age of Sigmar miniature range. With all that in mind the future's certainly looking bright for this one. Well done Games Workshop!
Personally it's been such a long time since I've been excited by the prospect of a new release. This one however has a good blend of old and new and ticks a lot of boxes as far as I'm concerned. So much so, that this afternoon, I went and pre-ordered a copy which should hopefully be with me in a week and a half. I can't wait!
