The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I bought this a looooong time ago when I was caught up in Warhammer-hype, which I am now over, thanks to this game.

I have a number of problems with this game, which I will now list:

1. Games Workshop use exactly the same rules for every one of their games. They have the same statistics (Move, Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Toughness, Strength, Wounds and Leadership) in every one of their games. These work fine for their Warhammer tabletop games, as all you do is fight. However, in a "Role Playing" (and I use the term loosely when talking about this game), this totally ruins it. Your characters can only fight. Because of this, all non-combat related events are totally random and you have no control over them. Upon entering a town, you simply roll a D66 and consult a table to see what happens to you. What? How is this roleplaying? Why did I just help an old lady cross the street and get hit by a cart? Maybe I don't *want* to do that - oh wait, I *have* to because I rolled it. Why can't I kill the haughty minstril who's following me? Why can't I just avoid the military police? Why do I have to pay for a burial for the dog I just killed? The list goes on.

2. Now, it should be fairly obvious to you that Warhammer Quest is powergaming to the extreme. I have no problem with power gaming, as long as it's done well. An example of this would be Diablo - it had gazillions of items, tons of monsters and it's own kind of unique style. With Warhammer Quest, you get a fairly boring collection of items, most of which are just lifted from the board game. Yes, that means that 90% of all your items don't function outside combat. No, that's not right, they don't function outside *dungeon* combat. There are random encounters on the way to town, but it's purely luck if you win or not. You roll the number of monsters, then you roll a dice to see how many you kill. If you don't kill them all, you get your money taken. Your actual combat skills have nothing to do with it - I could be a 10th level barbarian or a 1st level wizard, and the chances of me winning / losing would be the same. This is no better shown than in the "Duelist" encounter. You have a 1 in 6 chance of dying, a 1 in 6 chance of winning, and a 4 in 6 chance of a draw. Does the duelist have stats? No. Can I use my invinicibility potion? No. Can I use my amulet that deflects damage? Once again, no. Does it matter that I am 12th level and have a sword that deals enough damage to kill a greater daemon in one hit? Ummm, no. I just have a random chance of winning or losing.

3. Another thing about Diablo that I liked was character customisation. There is none of this in Warhammer Quest. That's right, none. At all. If you are a Dwarf, you have exactly the same statistics as every other dwarf, apart from your wounds, which you re-roll every level. Even if you go up a level, you can't change your stats at all. In fact all 5th level wizards have the same statistics. At most, you can gain skills - which, by the way, are also random. You have no choice in your training at all. You just roll up 2D6 and consult a table - "Oh look, I got 'mighty blow', even though I think that my character would be better if I trained to search for secret doors. Oh well, I'll just have to get enough GP to gain another level". Oh, by the way, you level up using GP, not experience. Why? Good question. Maybe because most Warhammer fans are about 10, and don't have the intellectual capacity to remember two sets of numbers.

4. Monsters. To be a good powergame, you need to have variety in what you kill. Variety is non-existant in Warhammer Quest. You just get all the usual Warhammer races - Orcs, Skaven, Dark Elves etc. - and then you get more of them. You fight Orcs, then if you want a challenge, you fight higher-level Orcs. Or even higher level Orcs. Because of the fact all soldiers in Warhammer are pretty much equal, there are no really hard meele troops to fight - you just get more of the same, but at a higher level.

5. It pretends to be something it isn't - an RPG. The book (which is actually pretty nice), has entire section devoted to "Role Playing", which left me mystified. How is meeting an old man in a tavern, getting a map and then going into a dungeon ad infinitum role playing? It's essentially the same as the non-rpg version, but with a bit at the start that explains why you're going into the dungeon. Hell, the book even has an entire "Role Playing Adventure" in it, which is just dungeon after dungeons after dungeon with a flimsy plot about a magic crystal (how mind-numbingly original). There's also an "Adventure Book", which contains such gems as "Put the water into the fountain - which is guarded by monsters", "Put the crystal in the eye of the dragon statue - which is guarded by monsters" or "Kill the two minotaurs in the pit - which is, erm, guarded by monsters". Yes, lots of thought obviously went into that.

OK, now that I've bagged the game for a while, I should probably talk about the good points. The miniatures you get with the game are good, but you still have to buy more if you want to play up into the higher levels. The board sections are of high quality, and the books are well designed with a good layout. It's just what's IN them that I have a problem with.

This should satisfy all the pre-teen Warhammer freask out there, but real Roll Players should give it a miss. No, they should avoid it like the plague. Games Workshop are really taking advantage of their fans - they're just re-cycling the same game over and over with a different name. Do not touch the box, it may make you go blind.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)

Warhammer Quest
Author: Games Workshop Category: game Company/Publisher: Games Workshop Line: Warhammer Cost: $120 Aus Page count: ? ISBN: ? SKU: ? Playtest Review by Zeke on 03/22/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Generic	I bought this a looooong time ago when I was caught up in Warhammer-hype, which I am now over, thanks to this game. I have a number of problems with this game, which I will now list: 1. Games Workshop use exactly the same rules for every one of their games. They have the same statistics (Move, Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Toughness, Strength, Wounds and Leadership) in every one of their games. These work fine for their Warhammer tabletop games, as all you do is fight. However, in a "Role Playing" (and I use the term loosely when talking about this game), this totally ruins it. Your characters can only fight. Because of this, all non-combat related events are totally random and you have no control over them. Upon entering a town, you simply roll a D66 and consult a table to see what happens to you. What? How is this roleplaying? Why did I just help an old lady cross the street and get hit by a cart? Maybe I don't want to do that - oh wait, I have to because I rolled it. Why can't I kill the haughty minstril who's following me? Why can't I just avoid the military police? Why do I have to pay for a burial for the dog I just killed? The list goes on. 2. Now, it should be fairly obvious to you that Warhammer Quest is powergaming to the extreme. I have no problem with power gaming, as long as it's done well. An example of this would be Diablo - it had gazillions of items, tons of monsters and it's own kind of unique style. With Warhammer Quest, you get a fairly boring collection of items, most of which are just lifted from the board game. Yes, that means that 90% of all your items don't function outside combat. No, that's not right, they don't function outside dungeon combat. There are random encounters on the way to town, but it's purely luck if you win or not. You roll the number of monsters, then you roll a dice to see how many you kill. If you don't kill them all, you get your money taken. Your actual combat skills have nothing to do with it - I could be a 10th level barbarian or a 1st level wizard, and the chances of me winning / losing would be the same. This is no better shown than in the "Duelist" encounter. You have a 1 in 6 chance of dying, a 1 in 6 chance of winning, and a 4 in 6 chance of a draw. Does the duelist have stats? No. Can I use my invinicibility potion? No. Can I use my amulet that deflects damage? Once again, no. Does it matter that I am 12th level and have a sword that deals enough damage to kill a greater daemon in one hit? Ummm, no. I just have a random chance of winning or losing. 3. Another thing about Diablo that I liked was character customisation. There is none of this in Warhammer Quest. That's right, none. At all. If you are a Dwarf, you have exactly the same statistics as every other dwarf, apart from your wounds, which you re-roll every level. Even if you go up a level, you can't change your stats at all. In fact all 5th level wizards have the same statistics. At most, you can gain skills - which, by the way, are also random. You have no choice in your training at all. You just roll up 2D6 and consult a table - "Oh look, I got 'mighty blow', even though I think that my character would be better if I trained to search for secret doors. Oh well, I'll just have to get enough GP to gain another level". Oh, by the way, you level up using GP, not experience. Why? Good question. Maybe because most Warhammer fans are about 10, and don't have the intellectual capacity to remember two sets of numbers. 4. Monsters. To be a good powergame, you need to have variety in what you kill. Variety is non-existant in Warhammer Quest. You just get all the usual Warhammer races - Orcs, Skaven, Dark Elves etc. - and then you get more of them. You fight Orcs, then if you want a challenge, you fight higher-level Orcs. Or even higher level Orcs. Because of the fact all soldiers in Warhammer are pretty much equal, there are no really hard meele troops to fight - you just get more of the same, but at a higher level. 5. It pretends to be something it isn't - an RPG. The book (which is actually pretty nice), has entire section devoted to "Role Playing", which left me mystified. How is meeting an old man in a tavern, getting a map and then going into a dungeon ad infinitum role playing? It's essentially the same as the non-rpg version, but with a bit at the start that explains why you're going into the dungeon. Hell, the book even has an entire "Role Playing Adventure" in it, which is just dungeon after dungeons after dungeon with a flimsy plot about a magic crystal (how mind-numbingly original). There's also an "Adventure Book", which contains such gems as "Put the water into the fountain - which is guarded by monsters", "Put the crystal in the eye of the dragon statue - which is guarded by monsters" or "Kill the two minotaurs in the pit - which is, erm, guarded by monsters". Yes, lots of thought obviously went into that. OK, now that I've bagged the game for a while, I should probably talk about the good points. The miniatures you get with the game are good, but you still have to buy more if you want to play up into the higher levels. The board sections are of high quality, and the books are well designed with a good layout. It's just what's IN them that I have a problem with. This should satisfy all the pre-teen Warhammer freask out there, but real Roll Players should give it a miss. No, they should avoid it like the plague. Games Workshop are really taking advantage of their fans - they're just re-cycling the same game over and over with a different name. Do not touch the box, it may make you go blind. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)