Review of WH+ It's current state and it's potential

[Orange Knight]

Yesterday I subscribed to Warhammer Plus. Upon inspection, the value proposition was simply too good to pass up - a large model that would typically sell for £25/$35 or more, and a limited time gift voucher of £10. I paid for an annual membership up-front, which ultimately means the digital content I digest over the following 12 months only set me back £15 in total.

 

Now that the cost is out of the way, let's talk about the experience, the content, the apps and the future potential.

 

The subscription was straightforward enough, I had no issues with navigating the website. The WH40k app would not allow me to log on, and I had to re-install and update it before it finally worked. What I personally found confusing and unclear is the fact that there are two separate apps you have to download, and neither shares the same name as the Warhammer Plus service. The various videos and shows can be found online, through the use of a browser, or by downloading the "Warhammer TV" app. It took a while to get everything working, but I've had no issues since, thankfully. The video player is pretty basic, with no way to change playback speed, but the quality is good. I have not tried to use screen mirroring or screen casting via Chromecast yet - if anyone has done so feel free to let me know how you got on.

 

In terms of content, currently it is pretty sparse, but what it available is generally good;

I didn't particularly enjoy "Angels of Death". Something about the animation and the character faces was unappealing to me, but it's a perfectly competent work otherwise, and I'm sure others will enjoy it. 

"Hammer and Bolter" was more to my taste. I enjoyed all 3 episodes - and I hadn't seen the "Old Bale Eye" episode during the free period. I think it was the weakest of the 3 episodes by far, and perhaps wasn't the best indication of the quality of the future content.

 

"Painting Masterclass" with Louise is an absolute joy to watch. She is clear and charismatic, and makes watching the tutorials a joy. I might like her more than hallowed Duncan, but that remains to be seen. 

There are only two episodes currently available, which I know disappointed some people. I should point out that this is a new course for advanced painting techniques intended for intermediate skill painters who are looking to elevate their craft, and not a basic guide to getting your miniatures on the table. GW have produced a lot of free painting tutorial videos, and nothing is stopping them from moving them over to Warhammer Plus. In truth I'm surprised this isn't already the case.

 

Finally, the Battle Reports: In a word, they are excellent. The production and personalities on screen are of the highest order. The way the armies are introduced, through a combination of lore exposition and the reveal of key rules is done very well. Also the level of painting and modelling on display in both the armies and terrain are of the highest quality that you would find, as one would expect. I also appreciate how condensed the battle reports are in terms of run time - around the 1 hour mark. Youtube and other paid services are filled with battle reports that also include well painted armies and charismatic personalities, but the editing here is an order of magnitude higher than any of them, giving the content a "big budget" feel, whilst making it more enjoyable to watch with little time wasted.

 

Final thoughts:

 

The content is currently lacking in terms of volume. No doubt this will get better over time, and I imagine a few months from now the service will be more appealing as it builds up a library of battle reports, painting tutorials and shows. I'm hotly anticipating the lore series they have announced and I'm curious to see how they will stack up to the fierce competition that exists from channels such as Luetion09 over on YouTube.

 

In my opinion, Warhammer Plus will appeal most to what I dub "Complete Hobbyists."

There are many people who enjoy specific aspects of the hobby and have little interest in others. There are those who only care about playing the game and get their armies commissioned. There are others who only care about the lore, and other still who's only interest lies in collecting and painting models they like. And of course there are hobbyists who's interests lie in combinations of some or all of the above.

 

If you are one of the hobbyists that enjoys all aspects of what GW are offering; Lore, painting, playing, collecting, then I think the service will appeal to you and will only get better with time. If your interests are limited to only one of two of those aspects, then you probably won't get the value of what is offered here. It should also be noted that because the content is currently scarce, it might be better to wait for a month or two before subscribing - but I'm also aware that the gift voucher currently on offer for early adopters makes the decision to subscribe even more tempting.

 

I hope this has been informative in some way.

[Petitioner's City]

I am looking forward to Loremasters - I think it will play very well to Wade Pryce's clearly deep knowledge and love for the settings of Warhammer. I hope his (really frightening) illnesses haven't slowed down his ability to do the series, but they also advertised for an additional host too. 

 

I wonder what else will come out of the woodwork - and if they will do more 'fan commissions'. 

 

Also I hope they capitalise on their current brands in BL (Crime, Horror, etc). If there is a Warhammer Crime-animation or other content, part of me is curious if it will be as "adult" as those books have been, both in terms of the language, and more so the much more real depiction of parenthood and domestic life, they have compared to other Warhammer content.

 

The vault so far is nice - but I really hope it is expanded soon to go far into the past. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Petitioner's City

[Cerberus1775]

 

The subscription was straightforward enough, I had no issues with navigating the website. The WH40k app would not allow me to log on, and I had to re-install and update it before it finally worked. What I personally found confusing and unclear is the fact that there are two separate apps you have to download, and neither shares the same name as the Warhammer Plus service. The various videos and shows can be found online, through the use of a browser, or by downloading the "Warhammer TV" app. It took a while to get everything working, but I've had no issues since, thankfully. The video player is pretty basic, with no way to change playback speed, but the quality is good. I have not tried to use screen mirroring or screen casting via Chromecast yet - if anyone has done so feel free to let me know how you got on.

 

 

I had no issue with casting from desktop through warhammertv.com to my Chrome device.  I did have an issue on moving from one show to another.  The way Warhammer TV is set up the next show did not cast even though the cast tab was engaged.  IE: not able to smoothly move from one program to the next w/o manually recasting the next show.

 

In general I agree with the review above.

 

I will add that if you are looking for Astartes /Exodite level of art/cgi then you will be sorely disappointed at this time.  You will also miss the point of Hammer and Bolter.  To me Hammer and Bolter is the short story animated.  So far that is what H&B is to me.  The stories for all the episodes were intriguing, engaging, and without giving them away good 40K.

Edited August 26, 2021 by Cerberus1775

[Marshal Rohr]

The Vault will be absolutely vital if it starts including retro White Dwarf.

[Grotsmasha]

Not sure if it's just me, but watching on Tablet PC through the website, there was no full-screen mode for the player, and it personally really detracted from the experience.

[Orange Knight]

Not sure if it's just me, but watching on Tablet PC through the website, there was no full-screen mode for the player, and it personally really detracted from the experience.

 

The app is pretty good on a mobile device. I assume your tablet doesn't support it?

[Grotsmasha]

 

Not sure if it's just me, but watching on Tablet PC through the website, there was no full-screen mode for the player, and it personally really detracted from the experience.

 

 

The app is pretty good on a mobile device. I assume your tablet doesn't support it?

No, it's a MS Surface. Hopefully the App makes onto the Microsoft Store and Xbox, and I'll be able to watch this stuff on my TV rather than the Tablet anyway.

[The Yncarne]

The Warhammer TV app was full screen on my tablet. It appeared to be locked to a landscape orientation though. The 40K app does not scale to tablet size. My AppleTV app played things back as intended and without issue.

 

I cancelled my subscription after realizing that I still needed to buy a book to unlock the entire 40k app tools. The animation and fiction stuff is not a draw for me, but I am sure a significant chunk of the customer base will disagree and that's fine. :)

[Sword Brother Adelard]

 

 

Not sure if it's just me, but watching on Tablet PC through the website, there was no full-screen mode for the player, and it personally really detracted from the experience.

 

The app is pretty good on a mobile device. I assume your tablet doesn't support it?

No, it's a MS Surface. Hopefully the App makes onto the Microsoft Store and Xbox, and I'll be able to watch this stuff on my TV rather than the Tablet anyway.

Same issue on the Xbox browser, a video player with no full screen option, baffling!

[ThePenitentOne]

My first stop was the Vault... Where I was able to blow up the docs big enough to read them on a computer!

 

I've had the Gathering Storm books in E-PUB for more than a year... And I've never actually been able to read them. I hate E-Pubs... As much or more than my sisters hate heretics.

 

Man did I love Death's Hand (H&B EP 1). Makes me want ALL of the Assassins.

 

I agree with the assessment that Old Bale Eye was the weakest of the three (though I did still enjoy it).

 

Bummed that the E-Voucher won't arrive until October 1; I've got some purchases I'm lining up, and I could have used it- August was the most expensive month for hobby so far this year, so my budget is tapped out.

[Schurge]

Taking your review at face value it sounds like the sky isn't falling.

 

I still have no plans to buy it, but if it ends up being hobby focused long term I might. Assuming of course that GW walks back their treatment of fan creators.

[StraightSilver]

Totally agree with your assessment, I have no regrets subbing for a year.

 

I've also found F11 works in a laptop to get stuff full screen.

[Domhnall]

A good review. 

 

Not had much chance to explore too far into all that's available, but what I have seen is decent. I've watched the Hammer and Bolter episodes, and they are pleasingly bleak and surprisingly graphic! Old Bale Eye was probably used as it's the most 'family friendly' of the three so far 

 

Obviously the volume of content is a bit low, but the bonus extra's are why we signed up early for it 

 

I'll probably not view the battle reports much, as I don't game, but the masterclass and especially the vault will be most useful to me. I generally buy a White Dwarf most months, but I'm not all that fussed about being up to date, so having a year old issue every month (and the back issues) for much the same price is good going! 

 

Though I can understand that this will not be for everybody. You can get pretty much everything elsewhere for free: Battle reports, painting tutorials etc on youtube, books and magazines can probably be obtained somewhere somehow if you really wanted them. 

 

But I'm happy with what I've got, so will stick with it.

[MARK0SIAN]

I find it quite hard to review Warhammer+ In terms of value for money because the free model throws most of that out of the window. The service, with the model, is unquestionably worth the money in my opinion so it’s hard to say exactly whether the rest of it offers value for money.

 

I’m going to try and judge it on a month by month basis instead and almost ignore the model because it’s feasible that next year it’ll be a model I don’t want. Personally I also don’t count the app as much added value as it’s unreliable and still relies on you purchasing all the various books to use fully.

 

So basically, this month, I paid £5 and so far have received 4 animations, 2 battle reports, 2 master class videos, a years worth of white dwarf back issues, visions, and half a dozen lore publications. That’s a pretty reasonable amount so I definitely think it was worth it.

 

It remains to be seen whether month 2 yields the same value for money. It seems unlikely they’ll deliver that much animation every month so they’ve got a bit of work to do to ensure it continues to be good value as a monthly purchase.

 

Like I said though, the model completely throws all that out of line

[MrSpoon]

I find it quite hard to review Warhammer+ In terms of value for money because the free model throws most of that out of the window. The service, with the model, is unquestionably worth the money in my opinion so it’s hard to say exactly whether the rest of it offers value for money.

 

I’m going to try and judge it on a month by month basis instead and almost ignore the model because it’s feasible that next year it’ll be a model I don’t want. Personally I also don’t count the app as much added value as it’s unreliable and still relies on you purchasing all the various books to use fully.

 

So basically, this month, I paid £5 and so far have received 4 animations, 2 battle reports, 2 master class videos, a years worth of white dwarf back issues, visions, and half a dozen lore publications. That’s a pretty reasonable amount so I definitely think it was worth it.

 

It remains to be seen whether month 2 yields the same value for money. It seems unlikely they’ll deliver that much animation every month so they’ve got a bit of work to do to ensure it continues to be good value as a monthly purchase.

 

Like I said though, the model completely throws all that out of line

 

This pretty much echoes my sentiments on Warhammer+. The initial value proposition is quite impressive. I paid the £50 for the year and by the time you deduct the vindicare model and £10 voucher it works out at approx £15-£20 for the year. It will only be possible to measure the true value by next August, as significantly more animation should be added by then along with more in the vault, but using the current state as the credible worst case for the £15-£20 it still seems good value. I have been pouring through some of the visions books as I have never seen them before and I am really enjoying them; they almost seem like coffee table type books compared to the WD of today. 

 

The animations themselves have been great so far, I don't know why but the Hammer and Bolter series has reminded me a little of Love, Death and Robots which isn't a bad thing. 

Edited August 27, 2021 by MrSpoon

[Rik Lightstar]

The model and the White Dwarfs made it for me, I've not kept up with White Dwarf for a while, so being a year behind makes no odds to me and at £50 for a year that's £10 cheaper than the WD Sub would be. Add the model and Voucher and the actual video content is pretty much free.

 

I've not had any major issues with the 40k app, but again, basically that's free too.

 

Rik

[Redcomet]

It has been a flawless experience for me, so I am pleased.

 

The highlight is the Masterclass painting videos, which are just super. The battle reports very very entertaining and easy to follow, plus the terrain was awesome.

 

The animation I have seen where also good, my favorite being the Assassin one.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

I like it so far... but I wanted one of the models. What I'd like to see in the future is an option for a voucher if I don't like one of the minis. I don't think there will be enough value for me otherwise assuming they stay at this level of animation. There are things they go can that can increase the value of their content for me

 

I) A poll for a topic to be covered later or a battle report we'd like to see. I understand they would need time to make the video but if we voted for a topic in sept to be released in October it would be nice perk.

 

2) They did a battle report using the AoS dominion box, and they really missed an opportunity to make it a bit of preview. I do think it was intended to be released earlier but they could have shown off some rules from the fractions upcoming books. I do like the format of them.

 

3) I'd really like a FAQ show. They really haven't been great at answering questions this edition, and I'd like to see them be more proactive. 

[Plague _Lord]

Funny, but I can't even link my warhammer account to warcom and thus can't subscrobe to warhammer +.

 

All i get is "nurgling infestation"

[Toxichobbit]

Funny, but I can't even link my warhammer account to warcom and thus can't subscrobe to warhammer +.

 

All i get is "nurgling infestation"

 

I got that. It went away when I turned off my Ad Blocker for the site. I also can't access it on Vivaldi, I have to use Chrome. I wouldn't be surprised if a VPN or even an Antivirus could have a negative effect too. Maybe there's something among that lot that can help you.

Edited August 27, 2021 by Toxichobbit

[Grotsmasha]

I like it so far... but I wanted one of the models. What I'd like to see in the future is an option for a voucher if I don't like one of the minis. I don't think there will be enough value for me otherwise 

 

I'm pretty sure that once they start arriving, those models that end up on eBay and the like will sell high enough to cover 50-100% of your annual subscription....

[AenarIT]

EDIT: nevermind

Edited August 28, 2021 by AenarIT

[excelite]

 

 

I like it so far... but I wanted one of the models. What I'd like to see in the future is an option for a voucher if I don't like one of the minis. I don't think there will be enough value for me otherwise

I'm pretty sure that once they start arriving, those models that end up on eBay and the like will sell high enough to cover 50-100% of your annual subscription....

Especially the early ones from the yearly subscriptions

[Plague _Lord]

 

Funny, but I can't even link my warhammer account to warcom and thus can't subscrobe to warhammer +.

 

All i get is "nurgling infestation"

 

I got that. It went away when I turned off my Ad Blocker for the site. I also can't access it on Vivaldi, I have to use Chrome. I wouldn't be surprised if a VPN or even an Antivirus could have a negative effect too. Maybe there's something among that lot that can help you.

 

 

Sadly nothing helps - I still can't link accounts, no matter what settings I change.

 

This release reeks of amateurism...

[Orange Knight]

It's only a single account.

 

I logged into the Warhammer Plus website using my existing account that I use for shopping and the old Warhammer App. Once I was there I simply subscribed to Warhammer Plus.

 

After that I logged into everything again and it was fine.