Warhammer Armies Project
Mathias Eliasson's Warhammer Armies Project is a testament not only to the diverse potential of the Warhammer World, but to the commitment and patience of someone who loves his hobby.
In the spirit of the White Dwarf rules expansions and 'back-of-the-book' army lists which have sadly vanished from the GW army books of late, Mathias has been churning out 8th Edition-appropriate alternative army lists for almost any thematic army list variation out there (such as Halfling armies, Kislev armies, Cult of Ulric, Dogs of War) and even several that have never been released by GW (Fimir, Cathay, Nippon).
Tournament-focused gamers will no-doubt see little point in this work, as the rules and units are in no way official. However, the service provided for those who love to delve into the depths of the Warhammer lore is significant, as it allows gamers who field uniquely-themed forces that do more than just proxy to an existing army book; they can field entire armies with unique rules that match the look and the feel, scratching an itch that is actually quite difficult to satisfy - at least at home, in campaign play if not at tournaments.
But these books contain more than rules - each has a tasteful background section, and artwork to suit, set out to match the 8th Edition army books. The production value is really quite good.
I particularly like the Special Characters book, which contains rules for mighty hero's who have long since passed from newer editions of the army books, like Magnus the Pious, or Prince Imrik.
I highly encourage you to check out his blog and support his efforts. The books themselves are free to download.
Sigmar's Warhammer Fantasy Battle Recorder
Currently in its testing phase, Sigmar's Warhammer Fantasy Battle Recorder (SWFBR) found its way onto my browser's bookmark bar very quickly. Entering your battles is a very simple process, and even has the added feature of being able to rate the affect of luck in your game, and the amount of fun you had.
The exciting feature is the aggregate data of all battles reported, showing a multitude of statistics of how armies fare against all the other armies. This goes beyond just a simple W/D/L tracker.
Our own Tronhammer Warband Escalation league is starting up this week, and I was excited to see a section on this website which allows the setup of different leagues, so that users can maintain separate sets of data specific to their gaming group.
The 'hobby' section allows you to select you most loathed army to face, what armies you secretly would like to collect, and other such information which is again compiled to rank the 'Most Loathed' armies and other fun titles.
I see huge potential in this tool, and again encourage readers to take a look. It is completely free - try it out, get your friends on there. In addition to the website, they also run a blog.
Gitzman's Gallery
Jesse 'Gitzman' Burke has been doing his thing at Gitzman's Gallery for quite a while now. His RPG resources for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay have been top-notch, and very useful. Though I do not listen to it anymore, he produces the Reckless Dice Podcast for WFRP 3rd edition, and is well worth checking out if you are new to the game - particularly the early episodes.
The thing I like the most from his website though is his map collection. Dubbed the Super Huge Detailed Map of the Warhammer Old Word (SHDMotWOW), this thing is truly massive. Hundreds of hours have gone into its production, as Jesse collated all of the official maps produced in army books and RPG sourcebooks, and created a master map - 'one map to rule them all', if you will. Apparently, when printed at its proper resolution, it takes up entire walls. Plural.
I use this thing for my WFRP group, as the 'google maps' style interface is great for showing any region in real time on a computer monitor. You can zoom right in to see just a few towns, and then zoom right out to view the entire continent. It is superb.
Jesse also makes his collection of maps used in the production of SHDMotWOW available to us. If you wanted to know the layout of a particular city of province, this is for you. Perhaps you wanted to find some obscure township on the borders of Stirland from which to base your Empire force - the Gallery makes the research that little bit simpler.
Huge props. Completely free service, though the big map is almost 500 MB. It can be viewed online or downloaded to your harddrive.
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