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Games Workshop Attacks the Warhammer Armies Project

By Travis Pasch | July 21st, 2023 | Categories: Games Workshop, News & Rumors, Warhammer Community, Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer The Old World

take-down-copyright-IP-games-workshopGW served Warhammer Armies Project, the site that has been keeping Warhammer Fantasy alive since AoS began, with a take-down notice.

Back in 2015, GW made the switch from Warhammer Fantasy Battles to Age of Sigmar, leaving block units and the old ruleset entirely in the dust. However, despite not using any of the rules, they still own the IP of that game system and setting.

The community didn’t want the game to die and one site stepped up and has been coming out with pretty amazing free rules in the years since. At first, it looked like things would be coming to an end for the Warhammer Armies Project, but now there has been a promising update!

Warhammer Armies Project is Back After GW Tries to Take Them Down: (July 7th, 2023)

One Site Keeping Warhammer Fantasy AliveSo, GW didn’t say they can’t have the rules and games; it’s more the fact they were using GW IP, such as army names and images. Initially, they said it would be a little too much effort with life to rework everything and rewrite all the army books and core rules.

Luckily, it looks like they did a sample book, and things didn’t take as nearly long as they thought they would. Coming from their blog, here are some more details about the comeback.

After over a week of “WAP is now dead” I decided to see how much work it would require to at least get the Kislev update out in rules-form; and it does look like it will be fairly manageable. It still requires many hours of work, but not nearly on the same level as the old book versions did. As such, I’ve decided to start transferring all army books into the new “rules-only” system, starting with Kislev. This will likely result in PDF’s of around 50 pages in length or so for the larger armies and will contain all units, stats, magic items, special characters and lores of magic. I’m aiming towards getting one book update out every 1-2 weeks which should be manageable. The main rulebook will likely need to wait until I’ve gotten at least most of the armies out since that will take a lot longer.
ice queen kislev oldThis is great news, as people who have been playing this version of the game can keep doing so after nearly 8 years of updates and rules. An update every week or two seems like a good benchmark, as any more than that would be a little crazy. So, if you love the ruleset, you’re in luck!

As well as this; I’ve decided to launch my own Patreon for those who want to support me there, in tiers of $1, 3, 5 and 10. I’m not paywalling anything like the Discord or the downloads, but Patreons will be able to vote on the order in which I update the books. Do bear in mind that I will not make changes to the rules regardless of monetary support; the last thing I want is for the game to be “pay to win”.For those interested in supporting me; you can do so here: Patreon 

WAP is back, baby!
If you love the game and want your faction done first, be sure to support them on Patreon, as you’ll be able to vote on what comes next. We’re also happy they aren’t paywalling anything; so if you can’t support it, you can still use the rules.
However, if you have a few bucks to throw around and love the ruleset, you might as well support the Patreon and help keep the rules flowing!

GW Attacks the Warhammer Armies Project That Kept Warhammer Fantasy Alive

The latest Games Workshop takedown notice information comes from the Warhammer Armies Project blog.

One Site Keeping Warhammer Fantasy AliveThey were currently on the 9th Edition of Rules, and honestly, they were quite balanced, super fun, and loved by so many people.

With Old World on the way and Fantasy rules returning, GW sent them a letter to take down all the army lists and anything using their names, lore, or artwork. This is a pretty big blow, and it looks like all the work is done. This is quite sad, as the site and community were the only ones actually keeping the game alive all these years when GW turned their back on Fantasy.

Warhammer Armies Project Vs. Games Workshop

Here’s a little from the Warhammer Armies Project about what’s happening with the site and Games Workshop.

I’ve recently been contacted by Games-Workshop regarding using their text and artwork in the majority of the Warhammer Armies Project publications, and they have requested me to remove all instances which infringes in their intellectual property. I don’t begrudge them for doing so, even if I would obviously have preferred to be allowed to keep the books up as is. I also want to point out that GW has been very polite about the whole thing, and in no way threatening. I also appreciate that I have been able to keep the project going for this many years and keep the interest for WFB alive during that time.
 
What this means is that starting today; all the download links to the books are no longer available on this website anymore and I will not be able to keep working on the books in their current format. This also applies to the non-GW army books as most of them contain some amount of GW lore and/or art; and the few that do not are not really worth to keep up by themselves as part of a now very incomplete collection. 
Bretonian Battle Standard Bearer vidAt least they said GW has been nice about everything and that they understand the reasons why. Either way, it is sad to see, as this has kept the idea of the game alive for a really long time.
You can still check the blog out for their armies and the original rules, so if you really liked the rules, it’s worth it to check out the site for the minis.  At this point, it doesn’t seem like WAP will be coming back anytime soon.
Note that I do not want to make any promises I cannot keep – I’ve been working on the Warhammer Armies Project for over 13 years now, and I’m not a student with a ton of free time anymore. I’m married, have a full time job and alotof miniatures to paint. As such, I cannot say for certain what the future will be for the Warhammer Armies Project, only that I will do my best to support it as well as I can make the time for it.
So for the foreseeable future, this website will be limited to just being a hobby blog of my personal armies along with the link to the current web version of the 9th Edition rules and a few hobby-related downloads. But regardless of what happens to the Warhammer Armies Project later on, it’s been a fun (if sometimes frustrating) ride, and those of you who still have the army books can of course use them to keep playing the game and share it with your friends. 
If you have things already downloaded, you can keep playing with those rules, but in the post above, they make another good point. Most people will most likely switch to the new rules, so them spending an insane amount of time to switch up all the names, artwork, and lore in the army books probably isn’t worth the effort.
At this point, we’ll have to see how the new GW rules shape up, and let’s hope they are fun, as the main alternative is gone for now.

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Are you a fan of the Warhammer Armies Project, and if so, what are you going to do now with the take down from Games Workshop? 

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About the Author: Travis Pasch

Travis Pasch

travis pasch writer headshot profile bioJob Title: Head Writer & Editor

Socials: @paschbass 

About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.

Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.

Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!

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