History YMMV / Warhammer

** Generally, every new army book would simultaneously break ''two'' bases -- players of the opposing armies would complain about how many great things the new army got, or how their features were better than the features of the other players' armies; the players of the new army book would complain about all of the flaws springing from the new army book, or how they couldn't play the way they used to. A perfect example is the 8th edition High Elves book: rival players immediately broke into an uproar over how powerful the Frost Phoenix, Book of Hoeth and ''especially'' the Banner of the World Dragon (a 2+ Ward Save against all Magical Attacks, and there are a ''lot'' of those) were. Many High Elf players immediately complained when the Dark Elf book came out with some tricks that were noticeably better than their High Elf versions.

** The High Elf book in 8th Edition features a big one in The Banner of the World Dragon. It effectively neuters many enemy Characters attempting to fight the unit with the Banner (a 2+ Ward Save against Magical Attacks, and most Characters would naturally have magical weapons), and basically renders that unit unkillable to Daemon Armies. Even their Frostheart Phoenix is extremely dangerous, packing a -1 to Hit De-Buff on the enemy unit.

* EvilIsSexy: The dark elves, witch elves in particular. And all Slaanesh worshippers/daemons, it's a pleasure god, what do you expect? Although Slaanesh goes quickly from "sexy" to "the Caligula-movie level disturbing" to just plain horrifying.

** The new Skaven Hellpit Abomination is sometimes known as the A-Bomb.
** The Warriors of Chaos are often known as some variation of 'Heavy-Metal Vikings'.
** The Dark Elves have a monster called the Kharibdyss -- the ludicrously-difficult spelling all but ensured that within a week, players were calling it "the K-Beast" instead.

** The Chaos Dwarfs are sometimes called by the shorthand nickname of 'Chorfs.'
** High Elves are sometimes called 'Helfs' and Dark Elves are sometimes called 'Delfs'.
** The Chaos Daemons factions that belong to their specific Chaos Gods are known as 'Monogods'.
** Lord Kroak is called something to the effect of "Prime Pepe" or "Grand Pepe Supreme"

* FetishRetardant: Slaanesh has so much Nightmare Fuel about him that even though he is a god of desire, it's hard to actually be aroused by anything about him or his followers.

** High Elves in sixth edition had the "Intrigue at the Court" special rule. Instead of picking your general normally, each game the general was randomly selected from all eligible character models. This could mean that your Ld10 Star Dragon-riding Prince was left taking orders from the Ld 8 hero-level SquishyWizard you were originally planning to have hang out on the back lines while lobbing fireballs at the enemy. High Elf players hated this rule for its unpredictability and it was done away with in their next army book.

** Beastmen have been one of, if not ''the'' lowest-tiered army in the game pretty much since they were spun off as their own army in seventh edition. A complete lack of armour, overpriced unit, and generally lacklustre magic gear combined to make one of the least viable armies in the game. Basically the only way to play them and have a reasonable chance of victory was to spam chariots, and even then it was a band-aid fix at best.

** The Tomb Kings weren't quite as underpowered as the other two above, and could still readily win games if played competently, but they were widely seen as the most difficult army to play well thanks to their quixotic rules and their WeaksauceWeakness in the Hierophant (getting one specific character [almost always a SquishyWizard] in your army sniped by a cannonball or snapped in half by a close combat lord would cause your entire army to start crumbling to dust, taking automatic wounds each turn as the magic animating them dissipated).

** The Tomb Kings tended to straddle between this and DifficultButAwesome, depending on who you asked. The entire army was slow due to an inability to march, weak due to low toughness and a lack of armour, and killing the highest-level wizard caused the entire army to crumble to dust. The general consensus was that Tomb Kings could be played effectively, but they were the one of, if not THE most difficult to play army.

* NeverLiveItDown: While removed from later editions, you can bet everyone is never going to forget that Malekith and Morathi used to be implied to be in an incestuous relationship.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** The seventh edition Daemons of Chaos are a strong contender for the single most unbalanced faction Games Workshop has ever released in ''any'' of their games. The entire army had ward saves, every single unit caused Fear or Terror, their magic was insane, and half the army was undercosted for what it did. The book was so imbalanced and caused such a huge disparity in the power levels of the game that after its release, virtually every high-level tournament consisted almost entirely of Daemon armies and a small number of armies specifically tailored to fight daemons. To give an idea of how reviled the daemons of this era were, it is widely believed by the fanbase that the imbalance created by the daemons was part of what caused GW to rush out eighth edition - probably the single-most controversial edition of the game, from a rules perspective - which ultimately wound up being the last edition of the game altogether. When a healthy chunk of the fans blame an army book for killing off the entire setting, you know it's pretty bad.
** From the same era, Dark Elves were pretty much the most reviled army other than Daemons, due to having army-wide Hatred, some of the best characters in the game both for combat lords and spellcasting, and generally undercosted units.
** On the other end of the scale, Beastmen have been one of, if not ''the'' lowest-tiered army in the game pretty much since they were spun off as their own army in seventh edition. A complete lack of armour, overpriced unit, and generally lacklustre magic gear combined to make one of the least viable armies in the game. Basically the only way to play them and have a reasonable chance of victory was to spam chariots, and even then it was a band-aid fix at best.

* FanonDiscontinuity: A large portion of the ''Warhammer'' fandom hate everything related to ''The End Times'' and the ''Age of Sigmar'' with a passion, to the point that they consider ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer''[[note]] ''Total War: Warhammer'' entirely ignores everything about the End Times and keeps the ''Warhammer'' world as it was before that event occurred[[/note]] the real continuation of the setting. The fan-made ''[[TabletopGame/The9thAge Fantasy Battles: The Ninth Age]]'' and ''Warhammer Armies Project'' were created purely so players could effectively ignore anything regarding The End Times or the Age of Sigmar and continue playing Warhammer.

* FanonDiscontinuity: A large portion of the ''Warhammer'' fandom hate everything related to ''The End Times'' and the ''Age of Sigmar'' with a passion, to the point that they consider ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer''[[note]] ''Total War: Warhammer'' entirely ignores everything about the End Times and keeps the ''Warhammer'' world as it was before that event occurred[[/note]] the real continuation of the setting. The fan-made ''Fantasy Battles: The Ninth Age'' and ''Warhammer Armies Project'' were created purely so players could effectively ignore anything regarding The End Times or the Age of Sigmar and continue playing Warhammer.

** Generally, every new army book would simultaneously break ''two'' bases -- players of the opposing armies would complain about how many great things the new army got, or how their features were better than the features of the other players' armies; the players of the new army book would complain about all of the flaws springing from the new army book, or how they couldn't play the way they used to. A perfect example is the 8th edition High Elves book: rival players immediately broke into an uproar over how powerful the Frost Phoenix, Book of Hoeth and ''especially'' the Banner of the World Dragon (a 2+ Ward Save against all Magical Attacks, and there are a ''lot'' of those) were. The book was virtually a TierInducedScrappy (with even many Elf players refusing to use those particular magic items out of protest / sportsmanship), yet many High Elf players immediately complained when the Dark Elf book came out with some tricks that were noticeably better than their High Elf versions.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** The Vampire Counts and Daemons of Chaos, especially the latter.
** The Ogre Kingdoms were this for a while, until their 8th edition update made them a common tournament army. Wood Elves also suffered a long lull between updates until late 8th edition.
** Bretonnia suffered this after a general heavy {{Nerf}}s to cavalry units hit them particularly hard due to them being a cavalry-focused army.

** [[GeniusBruiser Gorbad Ironclaw]] is a brilliant [[Characters/WarhammerGreenskins Orc]] Warboss who stood out among his typically brutish people. First taking power by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority defeating his enemies]] in battle, he amassed a power base of countless Orcs, even using clever tactics such as assassination. Then, after handily defeating most of the Dwarfs, Gorbad used his power to wage war on the Empire. Combining his people's might with cunning and intelligence, Gorbad outplayed and defeated most Imperial forces that opposed him, even building a makeshift bridge from debris to sack the city of Nuln. Despite being [[WoundThatWillNotHeal permanently wounded]] by opposing general Count Adolphus as he destroyed the province of Solland, Gorbad defeated Adolphus and pressed on to the Imperial capital. Despite losing many troops due to initial overconfidence and the wound, Gorbad recovered and unleashed wyverns upon the city which [[HeroKiller slew the Emperor]], and was stopped only inches from victory. Even when without most of his army and cornered by the vengeful Dwarfs on his way back to his clan, Gorbad fought valiantly and became a legend to the Greenskin people.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: With respect to Orcs and Goblins. After Grimgor Ironhide was portrayed as effortlessly beating Archaon the Everchosen into the ground in the official ending story of the Storm of Chaos, Games Workshop had him get involved in the Nemesis Crown campaign, where he was blown to pieces by the very ArtifactOfDoom he was seeking. To be fair though, Grimgor blind-sided him and Archaon had already been injured from his fights with Valten and Luthor and various others right before. So it is at least somewhat plausible. This may also be why Grimgor is still to be found in the most recent Orcs and Goblins army book, and also why the Nemesis Crown campaign was an exclusively online event, rather than being featured in ''Magazine/WhiteDwarf'' like most of the recent big campaigns (Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade, Albion, the aforementioned Storm of Chaos...).

* UnfortunateImplications: The Pygmys of the Southlands, a faction from the very early days of Warhammer. Even if one disregards the fact that they are based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_peoples actually existing people]] and treated like something fictional, something that many fantasy franchises are guilty of, one can't help but to be deeply bothered— and indeed [[http://realmofzhu.blogspot.com/2013/07/lstri-pygmies.html many]] [[http://beardedquail.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-perils-of-pygmies-are-these-old.html have]] [[http://www.theliberati.net/quaequamblog/2015/07/09/warhammers-race-and-gender-problem/ been]]— that the models look like something out of a racist caricature (complete with overly large red lips and everything) and the fact that they were the only dark-skinned people in the setting for the longest time doesn't help matters either. There is a reason why they have not been mentioned for decades and are a concept even more dead than the Squats of Warhammer 40000.
* WhatAnIdiot:
** Caledor II the Warrior, Phoenix King of the Elves, is a one-man reason for the decline of the once great Elven Kingdom. Malekith, the Witch King of Naggaroth, took advantage of this elf's mountainous arrogance by sending a bunch of dark elves disguised as high elves to attack a dwarfish caravan. High King Gotrek of the dwarfs sends an emissary to Ulthuan, demanding an explanation for the attack and compensation.
** '''What you'd expect:''' Caledor being surprised that his people are accused of something they haven't done, ordering his people to investigate on the attacks to find the perpetrators and offer compensation to the dwarfs for the lost caravan.
** '''What happens instead:''' Caledor arrogantly responds that he will only answer to pleas, not demands, and sends the emissary back to Karaz-a-Karak with nothing.
** ButWaitTheresMore Gotrek is monumentally pissed, but he sends the emissary again. The emissary then says that he will return to his king with double the compensation he asked or a shaved beard (Shaving their beard is the biggest insult you can perform on a dwarf!)
** '''What you'd expect:''' Caledor coming back to his senses and doing what you expected at first.
** '''What happens instead:''' Caledor orders his retainers to shave the emissary's beard, then sends him back to Karaz-a-Karak, with a message to Gotrek stating that, if he wants compensation, he can come to Ulthuan personally to get it.
** '''The result:''' The War of the Beard. The dwarfs took a very big hit because of it, but the elven empire ended up on the verge of annihilation, and Caledor died by Gotrek's hand. To add insult to injury, Caledor's Phoenix Crown, the most prized elven artifact, was taken from his corpse and is still on public display in Karaz-a-Karak to this day.
** Archaon is prophecized to be the [[TheAntiChrist Everchosen of Chaos]] who will destroy the world, but he hates the Chaos Gods and wishes to defy them, even to [[KillTheGod kill them, if possible]].
** '''You'd Expect''': Archaon to try not to fall to Chaos.
** '''Instead''': Archaon tries to defy the Chaos Gods' plan to turn him into the Everchosen and destroy the world by...becoming the Everchosen and trying to destroy the world. Needless to say, his plan [[DidntThinkThisThrough doesn't work out.]] The logic behind it is that if everyone is dead, there's no one to worship the Chaos Gods. Putting aside that the Warp actually exists in multiple realities, this ignores the fact that the existing Chaos worshippers exist and even in the unlikely scenario that Archaon managed to wipe out all life on the planet, he'd still have to go and exterminate all the forces of Chaos by himself.

** Despite them [[OutOfFocus not getting their own army books for many years]] the Chaos Dwarfs maintain a dedicated fanbase.

** Cathay is surprisingly popular despite not even being a playable faction, with a dedicated fanbase who wants to see it become playable. Fans got there wish with ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' announcing Cathay as a playable faction, and a starting one, not as DLC like they were expecting.

** Gorbad Ironclaw is a brilliant [[Characters/WarhammerGreenskins Orc]] Warboss who stood out among his typically brutish people. First taking power by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority defeating his enemies]] in battle, he amassed a power base of countless Orcs, even using clever tactics such as assassination. Then, after handily defeating most of the Dwarfs, Gorbad used his power to wage war on the Empire. Combining his people's might with cunning and intelligence, Gorbad outplayed and defeated most Imperial forces that opposed him, even building a makeshift bridge from debris to sack the city of Nuln. Despite being [[WoundThatWillNotHeal permanently wounded]] by opposing general Count Adolphus as he destroyed the province of Solland, Gorbad defeated Adolphus and pressed on to the Imperial capital. Despite losing many troops due to initial overconfidence and the wound, Gorbad recovered and unleashed wyverns upon the city which [[HeroKiller slew the Emperor]], and was stopped only inches from victory. Even when without most of his army and cornered by the vengeful Dwarfs on his way back to his clan, Gorbad fought valiantly and became a legend to the Greenskin people.

** '''Instead''': Archaon tries to defy the Chaos Gods' plan to turn him into the Everchosen and destroy the world by...becoming the Everchosen and trying to destroy the world. Needless to say, his plan [[DidntThinkThisThrough doesn't work out.]]

* FanonDiscontinuity: A large portion of the ''Warhammer'' fandom hate everything related to ''The End Times'' and the ''Age of Sigmar'' with a passion, to the point that they consider ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer''[[note]] ''Total War: Warhammer'' entirely ignores everything about the End Times and keeps the ''Warhammer'' world as it was before that event occurred[[/note]] the real continuation of the setting. The fan-made ''Fantasy Battles: The Ninth Age'' was created purely so players could effectively ignore anything regarding The End Times or the Age of Sigmar and continue playing Warhammer.

** The 6th edition version of Bretonnia is considered either a great DeconstructiveParody of a medieval society or just painfully and needlessly dark.

** Many were found, given the game's long existence. To name a few; the Night Goblin warlord Skarsnik, the Chaos champion Wulfrik the Wanderer, the archmage Balthazar Gelt and the Tomb Queen Khalida. They are special characters who are not the main leaders of their factions, yet feature in their own stories outside the armybooks.

** Grand Cathay is surprisingly despite not even being a playable faction, with a dedicate fanbase who wants to see it become playable. Fans got there wish with ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' announcing Cathay as a playable faction, and a starting one, not as DLC like they were expecting.

* BrokenBase: Pretty much every new Army Book set off the base in some manner, with certain "exploits" coming to the fore immediately, and some taking a good deal of time to get revealed. 8th Edition completely altered the previous tactics ("Multiple Small Units" or MSU, which featured tiny units, a super-Lord and War Machines to make unrealistic (and unintended by the game designers) but highly-competitive armies) -- instead, large units then became a mainstay.

** [[TabletopGame/WarhammerTheEndTimes The End Times]]. On the one hand, many fans love it for being [[{{Gotterdammerung}} the epic, final culmination of the great struggles wracking the universe]], putting an end to the [[StatusQuoIsGod long stasis and stagnant nature of the setting]] and [[AnyoneCanDie making character death a real possibility]]. On the other, many fans hate it for introducing [[AssPull questionable]] {{Retcon}}s, [[DeusExMachina not always handling its storylines gracefully]], and [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun almost literally destroying the setting altogether]]. [[spoiler: Averted by the bleak, nihilistic, and universally-panned ending.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Many were found, given the game's long existence. To name a few; the Night Goblin warlord Skarsnik, the Chaos champion Wulfrik the Wanderer, the archmage Balthazar Gelt and the Tomb Queen Khalida. They are special characters who are not the main leaders of their factions, yet feature in their own stories outside the armybooks.

* GameBreaker: Daemons of Chaos are probably the most infamous example in 7th edition. They're essentially a [[ACommanderIsYou Brute force/Elitist]] type army, so one would think that balancing out their powerful units would be done by their cost. WRONG! Not only was the whole army REALLY strong, but everything had a Ward save (a saving throw against attacks that's usually rare because you can't have it be altered or ignored by anything -- most armies would usually have them on really expensive units, not ''everything''), everything caused Fear or Terror, and the army's magic was not only powerful, but incredibly under-priced for what it did. All of this basically meant most enemy armies would be running scared or dead before they had much chance to actually fight back, and even the Vampire Counts and Dark Elves that were considered the best armies after it struggled against them. Current rules Nerfed them, however, with limits place on magic and fear and terror effects getting being nowhere nearly as deadly as they used to be.

* MemeticMutation: A lot from nicknames such as the Hypnotoad for Slann, Hulking Out for when Teclis drinks his strength potion, to things like Sigmar being the Patron God of Shouting and Hammers. Also expect your opponent to declare casting Lord Kroak's spell as "I'MA CHARGIN MAH LAY-ZER!"

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The [[http://old-hammer.blogspot.fi/ Oldhammer]] movement, which plays the 3rd edition rules and army lists, ignoring any changes afterwards.

* EasilyForgiven: To some, the High Elves took [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Malekith's ascension to the Phoenix Throne]] and working alongside the Dark Elves in the End Times too well or accepted it too quickly, considering Malekith's centuries-spanning grudge wars against the High Elves.