In part VIII of this series I quoted from Katherine Kerr’s scathing review of WFB1 in Dragon 85.

She
remarked that “perhaps someday the game will be revised to make it live up to its potential”. That
revision came rather more quickly than Kerr’s distant “someday”. In the two years following its first
release Warhammer would undergo something of a revolution, culminating in WFB2.

The revolution was conducted piecemeal. From the very beginning Warhammer‘s primary objective had
been to support sales of Citadel Miniatures. The wargame existed to support the miniatures, not the
other way round. And so WFB1 was not initially revised and expanded via extensive supplements.
Instead material was mainly released in the form of inserts in miniatures boxed sets.

The earliest inserts are described below.* I have listed them in what I believe is the correct chronological
order, though this is not always entirely clear. For most of the sets, flyers and advertisements provide a
release date. However, these dates are not always precise. For example, some sets are listed as new
releases in more than one month. Moreover, it is not always known whether the inserts were included
with the miniatures’ initial release or were added subsequently. It is, however, reasonably clear that the
first six inserts (printed in single-column text) predate the remaining six (which present text in multiple
columns). The first group probably appeared around July and August 1983, and the second around
September and November 1983.

DUNGEON ADVENTURERS AND DUNGEON MONSTERS

Dungeon Adventurers Starter Set (v2)

Dungeon Monsters Starter Set (v2)

I believe the first Citadel box sets to contain inserts with Warhammer material were the updated
versions of the Dungeon Adventurers and Dungeon Monsters Starter Sets released in August 1983. This
view is based on the apparent release date of the miniatures and an announcement in both of these
inserts that “from now onwards, all new boxed sets will include a ‘Character Detail’ flysheet such as this
one”.

The sets contained a selection of individual characters and monsters, rather than a regiment of uniform
miniatures. This is consistent with the approach of WFB1, which styled itself as a dual system for both
role-playing games and skirmish wargames.
The inserts provide WFB1 profiles for all of the miniatures in the boxes. The information is quite generic.
There are some mentions of names from WFB1 (Borunna and some magic items), but they are very few.
There is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to Vandamar, Lord of Chaos. Overall, though, they say very
little about the incipient world of Warhammer.

(Download as PDF)

WARRIORS OF CHAOS AND WARRIOR KNIGHTS OF LAW

SS1 (v2) – Warriors of Chaos

SS5 (v2) – Warrior Knights of Law

The next inserts accompanied these box sets of Chaos warriors and knights of Law. They describe a short
two-part campaign for WFB1 (‘The Quest for Chaos’ and ‘The Mausoleum of Ifram’), which adds a small
amount of information about the Warhammer world. It mentions a few place names that do not survive
into the later setting. Most notably, though, it introduces elements of Warhammer‘s early conception of
Chaos.

The campaign describes how a band of Chaos warriors cross the Crack of Desolation, enter the human
realm of Irysia and try to take a powerful magical artefact from the tomb of a knight of Law, Saint Ifram.
This artefact is the Eye-stone, which keeps the forces of Chaos in check and prevents them from
overrunning Irysia.

These boxed sets were announced as new releases in July 1983. This is shortly before the release of the
two Starter Sets mentioned above. However, the text of the Starter Set inserts quoted above strongly
implies that they were the first to be produced. The text can be reconciled with the stated release dates
in a number of ways. The release dates may simply be inaccurate. ‘The Quest for Chaos’ and ‘The
Mausoleum of Ifram’ may have been not included in the initial release of the miniatures but been added
shortly after, possibly in August. The Starter Sets’ inserts may have been written first, but the miniatures
not released until later. In any case the dates are sufficiently close to each other that their exact order
may not be significant.

(Download as PDF)

BRYAN ANSELL’S CHAOS MARAUDER’S AND HEROIC ADVENTURERS

CP1 – Bryan Ansell’s Chaos Marauders

CP2 – Bryan Ansell’s Heroic Adventurers

In August 1983 Citadel launched a pair of box sets by Bryan Ansell in the Citadel Presents range. These
sets again contained collections of individual characters more suitable for role-playing and skirmishes
than mass battles. On this occasion, though, the inserts contain a lot more detail about the early
Warhammer setting. The setting is once more very different from what it would later become.

The inserts describe two bands of warriors on conflicting quests. The Heroic Adventurers are led by
Skarlos, a knight from the city of Chrystol. Skarlos bears a marked resemblance to Michael Moorcock’s
Elric of Melniboné. He is an albino half-elf, who is the cursed descendant of great warriors. He is clad in
black mithril and wields a soul-stealing sword called the Black Doomblade. He is on a quest to destroy
the revenant spirit of Enkalon Garusa, ancient Emperor of the Four Nations.

The Chaos Marauders count Enkalon Garusa among their number. Interestingly they are led by Cormanti,
who is described as a Sudden Priest of “the mad god Khorne”. This is, I believe, the first mention of
Khorne in Warhammer. His character is just as bloodthirsty as his later incarnations: the Sudden Priests
are descended from the Cult of Laerial, whose priests used to engage in ritual carnage in the Great Arena
of Dakron.

(Download as PDF)

ARCANE RAMBLINGS

Citadel also produced a pair of ‘Arcane Ramblings’ flyers in this period. They were not connected to any
specific set of miniatures. The first flyer contains an orc army list and rules for infestations and swarms.
The rules are described as extracts from an unnamed forthcoming supplement.

The Stuff of Legends dates the first ‘Arcane Ramblings’ flyer uncertainly to August 1983. It might,
however, have been released shortly after, in September 1983. There are three reasons for a later date.
The first is that the swarms miniatures it mentions were advertised as new in WD45 (September 1983).
The second is that it uses multiple-column text, which is not present in any of the other flyers from
August 1983, but is used in all the later flyers. The third is that there is no mention of the Citadel
Compendium. All the flyers I have placed in November 1983 mention the Compendium, and so this
document probably predates then. None of these factors rules out an August date, but all are consistent
also with a September one.

(Download as PDF)

TOM MEIER’S TROGOLODYTES

CP3 – Tom Meier’s Troglodytes

In November 1983 Citadel released this licensed range of troglodytes by Tom Meier. The troglodytes are
reptilian, as they had been in D&D/AD&D since the original AD&D Monster Manual (1977). They seem to
be the origin of Warhammer‘s conception of troglodytes as lizardmen.

The set contained an insert titled ‘The Duelling Circles of Khorne’, which describes the city of
Horvenghaast (whose name was perhaps inspired by Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast). Horvenghaast had
once been a distant outpost of the slann, but fell to the forces of Chaos, who host ritual duels there at
the time the piece is set.

(Download as PDF)

TOM MEIER’S LIZARD WARRIORS

CP4 – Tom Meier’s Lizard Warriors

This set of lizardmen miniatures was also released in November 1983. The insert contains a short
scenario, ‘Dorian Redhorn & the Lair of the Lizard King’, in which the eponymous Dorian Redhorn
(possibly echoing Moorcock’s Dorian Hawkmoon) has to navigate the Lizard King’s tunnels under the
Black Mountains.

(Download as PDF)

KNIGHTS OF CHAOS

SS3 (v2) – Knights of Chaos

The insert that accompanied this set, ‘The Warrior Knights of Chaos’ describes various followers of Chaos
and their cults. Khorne is once again mentioned, along with a range of unfamiliar sub-cults, ranging from
“the Divine Tuluk” to “Heinous Suth”. It was released in November 1983.

(Download as PDF)

ORC WAR MACHINE

CP5 – Orc War Machine

This set, also from November 1983, contains an insert with Warhammer rules for the war machine, but
no background information.

(Download as PDF)

ARCANE RAMBLINGS

The second ‘Arcane Ramblings’ flyer contains rules for Old Slann arcane rods and power weapons. They
are said to be “parts of Bryan [Ansell]’s gigantic chaos saga”.

In this case I believe The Stuff of Legends is correct in dating this document November 1983, as it refers
to the “new” Knights of Chaos set and the Citadel Compendium.
(Download as PDF)

I shall discuss these inserts in greater detail in parts XIV to XX, where I will look thematically at the
development of the Warhammer world.

The next post continues the chronological review of WFB1‘s development.

FOOTNOTE

* The copies of the inserts presented above are taken from this excellent post in the Eldritch Epistles
blog and The Stuff of Legends.

CHRONOLOGY

The following chart summarises the chronology of this post relative to others in this section of ‘The
WFRP Story’.