The Warhammer world and its many games and mediums of play have, since the 1980s, taken the world by storm. Warhammer’s popularity is such that clubs, competitions and retail shops have sprung up internationally. The beauty of Warhammer’s games are their flexibility and encouragement of creativity amongst players – from allowing the players to use their own tactics and form allegiances and start wars, to providing undecorated and unassembled playing pieces which can be painted and kit-out in a manner decided upon specifically by the player themselves. Moreover, Warhammer’s world is intoxicatingly fantastical – it draws players in, luring them to take their characters and battles seriously.

The world of Warhammer echoes that which was described by Tolkien and which was recently seen on the big screen with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and many of its character types also bare similarities. Intended to draw players into a magical world filled with mystical beings and terrifying sources of chaos and evil, Warhammer is popular with fantasy, role-playing, science-fiction, and history buffs. Far from being a passé phenomenon, Warhammer is set to release a new computer game at the end of 2008 entitled ‘Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning’, and has recently updated its classic table-top game ‘Warhammer Fantasy Battle’. Although intricately detailed in it’s layout and playing conceptions, it’s not difficult to learn to play if you are new to the Warhammer world – in fact there are so many forums and fan sites online you should find yourself an expert in no time!