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I know this is controversial, but I don’t think Warhammer Plus is terrible.

Okay, let’s get something out of the way right up front. I *like* Warhammer Plus. I don’t *love* Warhammer Plus. But I do think that it’s worth it for the money. Here’s why.

Warhammer Plus has gotten a lot of heat, and there’s some very real reasons for it. (And there are some reasons which I think are completely unfounded.) But let’s start with my thesis, and then we’ll try to back it up with some argument.

I support a lot of YouTube creators on Patreon. I toss them two or four or six dollars a month. I’m paying them this for content that they deliver once every one or two weeks. Typically, this is a single painting video once a week, sometimes every two weeks. The one Patreon that I support at the highest level will post as many as three painting videos a week. There are also battle report channels on YouTube that I like and support, and there are also lore channels that I like and support.

And this, ultimately, is my argument: if I am willing to pay $4 a month for a once-a-week painting video, or a twice-a-week lore channel, then why am I not willing to pay $6 a month to get, on average, a battle report, a lore video, a painting tutorial, and several issues of (admittedly old) White Dwarf magazines in the Warhammer Vault? I argue that there is no difference. Plus, Warhammer Plus gives me a neat model at the end of the year.

What Are the Legitimate Criticisms of Warhammer Plus?

Now, there are some perfectly legitimate problems with Warhammer Plus, and I’m not going to gloss over them. Some of them are big enough to make me angry, and some of which are just kind of minor-league annoying.

The Loss of YouTube Animations

Okay, so this is the biggest reason to dislike Warhammer Plus, and, in my opinion, the only major reason to hate it. I am not at the level of “hate” but I am at the level of “Games Workshop, that was kind of a low blow.”

The thing is, Games Workshop approached the YouTube Warhammer animation content creators and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse: work with us, or shut down. It’s not a great deal, especially for people who had been making an entire career out of creating Warhammer animations.

I will admit that I had, at the time that this all went down, only watched Astartes–though I loved it–and some of the the more notable animations, like the Emperor’s Text to Speech channel, were unknown to me. From what we have heard (which I take with a pinch of salt because I’ve only heard it third-hand) the cease-and-desist issuance that these animators got was pretty bad. And I do feel bad for these people, and I think that Games Workshop made kind of a crappy move. YouTube animations were essentially free advertising for Games Workshop, but now it’s either absorbed into Warhammer Plus, or gone entirely.

The other part of this that I don’t like is that the animators that were absorbed into Games Workshop have lost their sense of identity. Every time I watch an animation on Warhammer Plus, I always wish that there were credits at the end that told us who did what–who was the production designer, the voice actors, the writers. I want to know all of that, but it’s just a blank screen at the end of the animations. That feels wrong.

The question with all of this is: is this immoral? Because that’s where these conversations tend to go. If this was a business decision, then even if it’s a business decision that we don’t love, it’s not “wrong” per se. The only way in which this would be immoral is if Games Workshop purposely tried to ruin the careers of these animators, and I don’t think that’s what they were doing. Most of the animators (I have to talk in “most” and “I’ve heard” because who knows the real facts) got offers to go work for Games Workshop making more Warhammer Plus content. So that doesn’t strike me as immoral. It just strikes me as “big corporation bosses around the little guy.” Maybe the fact that this isn’t a dealbreaker for me says something important, but maybe it just says “businesses are bad in a capitalistic society, but we have to live here.”

So, I’m sorry about the animators. But that is, in my mind, the biggest legitimate criticism.

What Are the Real Benefits of Warhammer Plus?

Warhammer Plus Battle Reports are… Really Good?

Here’s the deal. I got back into Warhammer about seven years ago after a long break, and it was through Miniwargaming.com. I fell in deep love with Miniwargaming, and I actually credit them for not only refreshing my interest in Warhammer, but truly with saving my life. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know that I am mentally ill, and it was through long days of staring at the screen, watching the guys at Miniwargaming have fun and play game after game (I subscribed to their vault as well, so I had a LOT to watch) that I got through the worst of my depression. I actually wrote an email to Matt at Miniwargaming telling him in no uncertain terms that Miniwargaming saved my life. And I mean it.

I love battle reports. And there are some battle reports that I love more than others. With Miniwargaming I love the narrative campaigns above anything else. With Guerilla Miniature Games I love the way that he gets a new game, paints it in a day and a half, and has produced battle reports almost immediately after a game is produced. And with Warhammer Plus? I love that they explain everything in so much detail. Maybe that would drive the expert gamers crazy, but the fact that they talk about new rules and stratagems and tactics, and then show excerpts of these rules on the screen is extremely helpful to someone like me who doesn’t get to play as often as I would like.

And, not for nothing, but the battle reports are just polished. They look great. Now, I’m sure that a battle report like the ones created on Warhammer Plus take a full day just to film and a crew of many, and that doesn’t include the editors and graphic designers and writers who have to do all the post production. But these are good-looking battle reports.

And of course the models are expertly painted and the terrain is top-tier.

So, if there was a battle report channel that was producing these kind of battle reports every single week at the level of quality we get from Warhammer Plus, I’d probably send them a couple of dollars a month on Patreon.

Warhammer Plus Animations are… Pretty Good?

Here’s the deal. If there was a YouTube channel, prior to Warhammer Plus, that was making something to the level of quality of Angels of Death, it would be getting mega hits. Even the Warhammer Plus animations that are getting less-than-stellar reviews, such as Hammer and Bolter and Interrogator, are good enough that they’d be getting substantial Patreon support. And The Exodite? That’s one of the best animations (and writing) they’ve done. Sure, Astartes is now behind a paywall, but so is a lot of good stuff. And considering how much financial backing Astartes got, I don’t see why it’s now not worth it because it’s owned by a corporation.

But that’s just me.

Warhammer Plus Painting Tutorials are… Pretty Good?

The painting masterclasses are actually masterclasses. It’s not, as some feared, just more of Warhammer’s YouTube channel put behind a paywall. I mean, they actually use a wet palette. This isn’t your standard Warhammer painting video. And the techniques that are being taught are really good techniques by really good painters.

If Louise Sugden was running her own YouTube channel she’d probably be doing pretty well for herself, and people would probably be contributing $5 a week to her Patreon.

(On the downside, ever since Duncan Rhodes left I have a VERY STRONG suspicion that all of the Games Workshop painters got non-compete clauses in their contracts so that they wouldn’t take the very trademarkable “two thin coats” line away and launch a lucrative career.)

But the point is, the painting Masterclasses are good, and they’re worth throwing a little money at.

Warhammer Plus Loremasters are… Not So Great

Don’t get me wrong. I listen to all of the Loremasters content while I paint, just as I listen to other lore videos while I paint. But if you wanted to get a real loremaster then you should have hired Baldermort, because, for my money, it begins and ends with him.

Would I donate to a Loremasters Patreon? Eh, probably not. It’s not bad, but it’s very bland. It reads like a textbook, without flavor or opinion.

The Warhammer Vault is… Hit and Miss

There’s a lot to like about the Warhammer Vault and I catch myself perusing through it relatively often. But it’s old and out-of-date stuff, and it’s mostly entertaining for its historical value. Considering how much money I have spent on White Dwarfs over the years, I would have expected them to hold their value longer.

The Exclusive Miniature is Pretty Neat

I like both of the miniatures, though I admit that I am not an Orruk player and to me the Orruk looks like any Orruk. I don’t imagine many people picked him. But the Vindicare Assassin is really neat.

My main quibble with the Vindicare is that I signed up for Warhammer Plus almost on Day One, and I have yet to receive my miniature. The countdown clock says that I won’t be getting it for more than another month. I don’t know why this is when other people have gotten theirs, but here we are.

Conclusion: It’s Worth $5.36 a Month

My annual subscription came to $64.36, which works out to $5.36 a month. And, for all of the stuff that I’ve laid out above, including the really good battle reports, the really good animations, the really good painting masterclasses, and the so-so Loremasters and Warhammer Vault, I think that I’m getting my money’s worth. Warhammer Plus is certainly not Disney Plus with a ton of content dropping all the time, and I don’t blame people who compare $5.36 for Warhammer Plus to $7.99 for Disney Plus. But when I compare $5.36 a month to the $12 I pay in Patreon money to my very favorite YouTube painter, I don’t think that I’m really losing out.

So, in my mind, Warhammer Plus is still worth it.