Warhammer Plus
 Expect huge amounts of derp and rage, punctuated by /tg/ extracting humor from it. |
"We realized the best way to monetize content was through a subscription model."
- – Trip Adler, about Scribd
Warhammer Plus (or Warhammer+) is an subscription service dedicated to all things Warhammer. The marketing for it in the beginning was quite whack, since the only new information we got from these projects was another short animation reel, the first 5 minutes of Angels of Death, a free showing of an episode of Hammer & Bolter, and small audio clips from each project (the one for Astartes 2 being quite notable as it was only the sound of marching). Though there are other aspects to the service, it was clear that the animations were what everyone was here for.
As of September 2021 though (A month after the subscription's start), it's clear that this was a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Out of the lineup of animated series, only two have had any episodes released with the rest in uncertain release status. While the other stuff has appeared with relative frequency, the sentiment that the service is overcharged for what is rather meager, especially compared with other on-demand video services like MiniWarGaming and their Vault, which had several years' worth of batreps, narrative campaigns and other videos available, or Disney+/Paramount+/Hulu, which had massive archives of tv shows, movies, AND original content so that consumers don't blow through the entire catalogue over a bored weekend. While this would be a bit harsh for a service that just started, it should also be noted that this is coming from THE premier wargame miniatures company (in their own words) and this being the best they could do for the prices they charge feels a bit like a pisstake.
The Lineup
The Animations
Currently available
Angels of Death
The series that GW worked on with Richard Boylan of Helsreach fame, centered around a group of Blood Angels fighting against a host of Genestealer cultists. It's good but plagued at times with bad lip syncing and nauseating camerawork. The refusal to use any other colors than black, white, and red is also annoying and hard on the eyes. Black and white was fine when it was a solo project, but having normal colors schemes is not too much to ask now that GW is backing the project.
Hammer & Bolter
An anthology of various shorts set in the Warhammer universe. Everyone has pretty much universally mocked this series for being "little better than a slideshow" at worst and "flash cartoon from Newgrounds" at best. The stories themselves aren’t bad, but this fault can really drag it down.
- Death's Hand: An Inquisitor fears that his death is upon him, and takes heretical lengths to avoid such a demise from occuring; such as murdering imperial psykers prophecizing his death plus assassins trying to end him, and trying to learn from foul xenos. He is attacked by a Callidus Assassin who murders most of his squad, but is incapacitated and sent for questioning by the paranoid inquisitor. With him sat and still, he becomes intrigued by a tale of a Vindicare’s uprising that he forgets to look out for one himself.
- Bound for Greatness: A menial adept working in an Imperial Librarium discovers that things are not as they seem. He looks beyond what he’s meant to, and finds a strange book that’s unlike the others. Voices in his head influence him to read it, but hesitates. He finds himself questioning everything around him as people start going missing over the same book, and eventually looks for it himself. He becomes mad with tzeentchian revelation before becoming bound to the book and sent to be read by Imperial Cardinals. The word of Tzeentch spreads so easily across the masses, as heresy shadows above the doomed world.
- In the Garden of Ghosts: An Aeldari Warlock rediscovers the past of his former craftworld. He is partnered by a Ranger who doesn’t see the point in this hopeless search. The group meet with an Exarch of the Striking Scorpions, forever mourning the craftworld and watching over its ruins. To seek the truth, the young warlock has to see through the eyes of various beings to paint the full picture: Space Marines attacked. It was a slaughter on both sides, as the exarch wiped out Bladeguard Veterans while the Avatar of Khaine as usual becomes GW's buttmonkey, being overwhelmed by bolterfire and falling…… Yeah… This episode was pretty much proof on the overall quality of this show, as the Eldar are beaten humiliatingly and very unlikely given their agility. In the end, the Warlock finds his mother’s spiritstone. He is able to save her soul into a wraith, and it ends pretty well all things considered.
- A Question of Faith: A Sister of Battle's faith is put to the test when their convent is invaded by cultists of Khorne. Sisters of the Order of Our Martyrd Lady fight against the supposedly endless horde of khornates; wave after wave of blood and bodies slowly tearing down at their attrition. Their wounds begin to pile on, soon they find themselves bloody and dying upon the floor, hoping for a miracle. Likewise to their order’s name, they end up receiving one. A literal deus ex machina occurs as the eldest sister becomes a host for the Martyrd Lady, saving the other from death and blinding her in return.
- Fangs: Three Space Wolves aspirants undergo trials of survival on the surface of Fenris. Each one is tasked by a different master to grab the biggest beast’s fang for their game, and we the viewer see their trials to achieve their goal. One tries to fight a fenrisian bat by riding upon it midflight and trying to get the fang while it’s still alive. He takes a fatal blow in the cold fenrisian wilds and keels over. The second aspirant fights against a wolf, but it goes awry as the two end up in the cold arctic waters. The marine-to-be doesn’t give up his fight, and managed to impale the fucker upon a stalagmite and claim the fang. Unfortunately, he’s still underwater; despite his best efforts, he succumbs to the deep blue. The third and final apprentice goes deep into a cavern to fight a fuckoff huge bear, and actually comes out successful. After grabbing his fang, he meets up with the even bigger Mama Bear, and he’s not so successful, to say the least. Out of all three, the second ended up surviving his fate, as he climbs out of the icey waters with his fang and howls in success to his mission, before walking all the way back to give his big ass fang to his master. It ends with him having become a Marine, valiantly charging into the fray of combat with his squad.
- Old Bale Eye: A RuntHerd’s perspective on the legend of Commissar Yarrick. Nothing more to say, really. It goes over the battle for Armageddon and him fighting off Ork capture with Thraka’s approval.
- Kill Protocol: A Techpriest and her Kastelan Robot search an Ork infested planet for archeotech. They scavenge high and low across the forts and strongholds of the Greenskinz to find her treasure. Sacrifices are made for her journey to continue, as she murders a lone guardsman stranded on the planet, taking his artificial limbs for her own repairs. She ends up finding a rare STC, but the endless brawling of Ork Boyz is too much for her Kastelan to handle, and makes a sacrifice she calculates is important. She sacrifices the STC so her Kastelan can be repaired, and continues her journey yet again for another STC. The chances may be low, but it’s never 0%.
- Cadia Stands: A Cadian soldier escorts a messenger through the trenches during a battle against the Tyranids. It is Hell on Earth. Swarms of gargoyles flock the sky as wave after wave after wave of gaunts and fexes pass over the defences. Spore Mines sneak up on unsuspecting soldiers, genestealers rip through the gunline and rippers devour individual men without any rhyme or reason. That doesn’t say nothing about the Guardsmen either; Cadia Stands indeed. With each man that falls, another comes in to take their place while they surround a carnifex and flood a storm of lasgun fire upon its face, killing it easily. The messenger is able to reach his, but the same couldn’t be said for his protector, dying doing what she did best: Serving the Emperor
- Artefacts: A squad of Black Legion Terminators hunt for an Aeldari artefact but get more than they bargained for. They find their destination in the middle of a space hulk, and find out that the Dark Eldar have also been there as well. They argue amongst each other, but ultimately decide that they must go for the sake of what’s on the line. Cut from the Warp, and lost in a collage of broken ships, the team make their advance across the eldritch location as strange occurences begin to happen. Time and space seem to make no sense, even for these Chaos Boys, as they eventually find what they are looking for: A Webway Accessor. Unfortunately, it was all a ruse for the galaxy’s greatest collector, rivaled only by the Blood Ravens.
- Plague Song: A bubonic sorceror of Nurgle takes it upon himself to take command of a Death Guard fleet and do what must be done to spread the love of the plaguefather. He renders his previous lord into a sp-Thing, and takes his fleet to a world ripe for corruption.
- Double or Nothing: The first Age of Sigmar Hammer and Bolter. A human city in Ghur is under threat from an Orruk horde, but the mad lad Stormcast Hamilcar Bear Eater is there to save the day.
The Exodite
Originally an in-production fan-animated series that was eventually bought out by GeeDubs, meaning everything's gonna be under their payroll. Generally seems focused on the very idealistic Tau trying to take over an Eldar maiden world and its native inhabitants disagreeing with this annexation. Its episodes are well-made, bringing badly needed quality to an otherwise lackluster set of animations, but also incredibly short in comparison.
Interrogator
The series follows Jurgen, an ex-interrogator, who along with a fellow ex-retinue member named Baldur is investigating the murder of the inquisitor whose retinue they used to be a part of.
- Always More Blood: Jurgen is haunted by his past deeds and the murder of Inquisitor Bellona, under whom he served as Interrogator, keeping sane with a regular supply of neural suppressors and amasec. He is visited by some thugs working for someone named Aedo, who demand him to repay his debt by performing some task. Jurgen refuses and a firefight ensues, resulting in him killing all of the thugs, but one. He is then visited by Baldur, another member of Bellona's retinue who says that he has a lead on her murderer.
- This Is Going To Hurt: Jurgen and Baldur visit a bar owned by Sortha, another ex-member of Bellona's retinue. Baldur points Jurgen towards Broath, a voidport worker who he had overheard talking about someone fitting the description of Heroth, a blank who was also a member of Bellona's retinue and the man who murdered her. Jurgen uses his psyker ability reads Broath's mind, confirming Heroth's presence in the city, before letting go of the now-traumatized Broath. Baldur and Jurgen leave the bar having found what they came for.
- Someone Else's Nightmares: Outside the bar, Jurgen tells Baldur what he'd seen when reading Broath, the voidport worker. He sees Heroth speaking with a priest in the Cathedral of St. Larimus in the lower levels of the city. Both of them then make their way through the lower levels of the city as a civil war rages on in the streets between two noble factions lead by Duke Klore and Baron Sedimere for the control of the city. The war is revealed to have been started after Bellona killed the planetary governor. After dispatching some troopers from House Klore, Jurgen and Baldur are accosted by Aedo's thugs.
- I'll Owe You A Favour: Aedo, a primus-medicae turned narco-lord, arrives and reminds Jurgen about his debt for the medication he has consumed. He then leads him and Baldur on a tour of his drug facility. They observe as psykers are pulled into machines that disintegrate their body into ash, which is then used to create Aedo's neural suppression medication. Baldur fights Jurgen upon learning that Jurgen has been knowingly taking the pills until stopped by Aedo. Jurgen is surprised to know that Aedo knows that he is an Interrogator. Malen, a savant and scribe who was also a member of Bellona's retinue, arrives and is revealed to be working for Aedo. Jurgen tells Aedo that he'll owe him a favour in exchange for a single pill. Malen reveals to Jurgen and Baldur that Bellona was working on some secret compound or drug called Sanctus, unbeknownst to both of them. He provides them with a map of a location and asks them to look for themselves. As they leave Malen reminds Jurgen that he now owes him two favours.
- One For The Road?: Jurgen and Baldur arrive at the location marked in Malen's map to find the place heavily guarded despite being seemingly abandoned. They kill two of the guards and take their coats to disguise themselves. They infiltrate the building under disguise and look around to find distillation equipment, powered down servitors and astropaths suspended in fluid tubes. Jurgen reads the mind of a dead servitor to see that Bellona was indeed involved with Aedo and that Sanctus is a more concentrated form of the medication he had been taking. Baldur warns that the facility guards are moving in towards them and insists that they leave. However, Jurgen waits until a drop of Sanctus drops into a vial before taking it and leaving. They arrive at Sortha's bar to find the place destroyed by House Klore troopers but learns that Sortha is possibly still alive by reading a dead trooper. Jurgen pours himself a drink when more House Klore troopers accost them. Their leader tells them that Duke Klore will see them.
- The First Rule: Jurgen and Baldur are escorted to a prison by House Klore troopers and locked up in cells. Upon awakening, they are taken before Duke Klore. Duke Klore demands them to be the scapegoat for the assassination of the governor and face execution so that he could bring peace to the city and gain the support of the people against Baron Sedimere, threatening a slow and painful death if they were uncooperative. They are then sent back to their cells. Baldur, enraged by their predicament, demands Jurgen to sort the situation out by any means necessary. In desperation, Jurgen decides to consume Sanctus from the vial he had taken from the drug facility. The drug begins to take effect after a few moments, resulting in a psychic explosion that destroys the cell door and results in various guards being burned by psychic fire. When Jurgen recovers from the episode, he sees Baldur impaled by some rebar as a result of the explosion he caused. Outside, Jurgen looks upon his bloody hands and remarks "Always more blood."
Upcoming
- Astartes II: The follow-up to the insanely popular Astartes animation.
- Blacktalon: A series focusing upon Naeve Blacktalon of the Stormcast Eternals.
- Broken Lance: A series about imperial knights.
The Live-Action Stuff
- Citadel Colour Masterclass: An On-Demand series of videos providing tips for certain advanced painting techniques.
- Battle Reports: GW staff playing batreps of the various games, including Kill-Team.
- Loremasters: Deep dives into certain iconic characters in the Warammer Mythos like Abaddon or Teclis.
The Other Stuff
- White Dwarf Vault: GeeDubs not only provides you some digital copies of older issues of White Dwarf (But only going as far as a few years ago, so nothing of the classic stuff), but also some of the older rulebooks from certain campaigns - stripped of the rules lest anyone ask why we can't replay these same scenarios due to outdated rules. 2022 has seen the scope predictably expand as they announced the addition of the Imperial Armour and The End Times books to the lineup, though only the ones with campaigns and not just rules.
- That Free Model!: Another big selling point is that for each year they subscribe, all members of WH+ get one of two free minis of their choice (With the first year being either an Ironjawz Orruk or a Vindicare hiding in some imperial statue) on the anniversary of their subscription while the other one can be purchased at some point.
- VIP Privileges: Apparently, WH+ members get some VIP privileges during certain major events like Adepticon or GW Weekenders.
Casualties of War(hammer+)
Just as you can always count on an Avatar of Khaine to get shafted, so too can you count on GeeDubs to shaft their fanbase. And none of said shaftings have been more egregious than around the announcement of Warhammer+. Before the announcement, GW started poaching the most popular community animation creators to work for them. Everybody who signed up had to take all of their existing content off Youtube. Those who refused to sign up had to remove their content regardless. The shitstorm only grew worse as GW made an update to their intellectual property guidelines forbidding creation of fan content without their explicit permission, causing popular content creators gave up producing Warhammer fan content altogether. This turned the once lush Warhammer fan animation community into a barren landscape like the nids licked it clean.
Here are some of the popular creators who closed shop after GW's intellectual property guidelines fiasco. Look how they massacred my boys.
Bruva Alfabusa
Everybody's favorite golden boy of If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device fame. One of the longest running and best Warhammer 40000 parody series to ever grace our unworthy, miserable lives. After GW's ill-omened announcement, he made a video expressing his concern for what this entails and the risk of producing Warhammer 40000 content in the shadow of GW's dogs of law. He has since moved on to create Hunter: The Parenting, another parody series based on the World of Darkness setting. The main TTS series is effectively on indefinite hiatus.
SODAZ
This guy made some of the most action-packed and badass Warhammer 40000 animations, some of which include the Death Korps of Krieg rough-riders mowing down heretics and Imperial Fists defending against an Iron Warriors attack. GW contacted him to work with them officially on Warhammer+, however after he signed up with them and took all of his content off Youtube, GW allegedly ghosted him. This along with constant harassment from the fanbase at large caused him to give up on Warhammer 40000 content altogether. He has since moved on to producing animations for other franchises, ones who are not as dickish as GW.
AbsolutelyNothing
Another Youtube animator mostly known for creating short Warhammer 40000 animations, including an animation featuring Death Korps of Krieg. When contacted by GW to sell his soul to them he refused. In return, GW forced him to stop his Patreon and demonetize all of his Warhammer 40000 videos. Citing the uncertainty and risk of producing more Warhammer 40000 content, he has since put this on hold to focus on other content. At least until GW revises their statement.
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Reminds me of a certain emo firebender...
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Perfect Tagline....
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The Initial lineup of animations
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Good luck explaining the sister statue while fighting on an exodite world...
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A meme from /tg/ about what was really being said
