Warhammer Plus
Wonder where the animated projects such as Angels of Death, Astartes 2, Exodite and others are going to be hosted? Wondering why Alfa Busa has shut down TTS, and animators are going as silent as if a Vindicare had been sicced on them? Well, someone at GW finally remembered that back in the day, they would throw a cow in the door of the legal department, shut it quickly, ignore the screams and roars that came out, and mail out the (slightly blood spattered) copyright notices that would be shoved out from under the door. On July 21, 2021, Games Workshop released a very stringent interpretation of their IP, in which only they want to be the ones to profit from any animations or fan creations about anything Warhammer, disregarding the obvious benefits of growing the fanbase and encouraging the community. This came as an expected disappointment to long time fans, who were familiar with GW's old scummy attempts to copyright things like "Space Marine", or "Pauldron", but had hoped the new management would have moved GW into a more enlightened era of public relations, and company growth/outreach. Apparently not.
Warhammer Plus (or Warhammer+) is an upcoming subscription service dedicated to all things Warhammer. The marketing for it in the beginning was quite wack, 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 air 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 AND original shows so that consumers don't blow through the entire catalog 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 wargames miniatures company (in their words) and this being the best they could do for the prices they charge feels a bit like a pisstake.
The Lineup
The Animations
- 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.
- Hammer & Bolter: An anthology of various shorts set in the Warhammer universe.
- Fangs: A (supposedly) shorter series involving some aspirants trying to survive on Fenris and become Space Wolves.
- Astartes II: The follow-up to the insanely popular Astartes animation. Upcoming.
- The Exodite: Originally an in-production fan-animated series that was eventually bought out by GeeDubs, meaning everything's gonna be under their payroll. Upcoming.
- Blacktalon: A series focusing upon Naeve Blacktalon of the Stormcast Eternals. Upcoming.
- Broken Lance: A series about imperial knights. Upcoming.
- Interrogator: A series about the inquisition? Upcoming.
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.
- 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) 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.
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Reminds me of a certain emo firebender... -
Perfect Tagline.... -
The Initial lineup of animations -
Good luck explaining the sister statue while fighting on an exodite world... -
A meme from /tg/ about what was really being said
