Warhammer Plus

This article is about something that is considered by the overpowering majority of /tg/ to be fail. Expect huge amounts of derp and rage, punctuated by /tg/ extracting humor from it.

Perfect Tagline....

"We realized the best way to monetize content was through a subscription model."

– Trip Adler, about Scribd

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

– GW representative Vito Corleone, when talking about bringing Warhammer fan animators in to work for Warhammer Plus

Warhammer Plus (or Warhammer+) is an subscription service dedicated to all things Warhammer. The marketing for it in the beginning was quite whack, since the only new information we got from these projects was another short animation reel, the first 5 minutes of Angels of Death, a free showing of an episode of Hammer & Bolter, and small audio clips from each project (the one for Astartes 2 being quite notable as it was only the sound of marching). Though there are other aspects to the service, it was clear that the animations were what everyone was here for.

As of September 2021 though (A month after the subscription's start), it was clear that this was a bunch of smoke and mirrors and the smoke only thinned as time passed. The most evident of this would be the animations, as the releases of their animations (arguably the content with the most value since it's not covered by other people) have gotten fewer and fewer, showing how much all that headhunting and aggressive C&Ding had paid off. While the other stuff has appeared with relative frequency, the common sentiment that the service is overcharged for what is rather meager, especially compared with other on-demand video services like MiniWarGaming and their Vault, which has several years' worth of batreps, narrative campaigns and other videos available, or Disney+/Paramount+/Hulu, which have massive archives of tv shows, movies, AND original content so that consumers don't blow through the entire catalogue over a month. While this would be a bit harsh for a service that just started, it should also be noted that this is coming from THE premier wargame miniatures company (in their own words) and this being the best they could do for the prices they charge feels a bit like a pisstake.

Also, just to let you know how little GW respects its own service: In Dec 2022 GW announced that Henry Cavill will be producing a live-action 40k series...which will be airing on Amazon Prime, and not Warhammer+. GW is more than willing to cuck its own in-house streaming service from showing what would probably be the largest, most (over?)hyped use of their IP. But considering the overall Derpiness of their own shows, that may not be a bad thing.

Even worse? After the doubts started to solidify about whether that Cavill 40K thing would actually happen, GW then announced that they'd be appearing in part of a sci-fi anthology show called Secret Level written by the team behind the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots. Shows how much they value it... (Although granted considering they're such a small part of it, its kinda hard justifying putting it on Warhammer Plus, the single episode maybe but the rest not so much.)

The Animations

Currently available

Angels of Death

The series that GW worked on with Richard Boylan of Helsreach fame, centered around a group of Blood Angels fighting against a host of Genestealer cultists. It's good but plagued at times with bad lip syncing and nauseating camerawork. The refusal to use any other colors than black, white, and red is also annoying and hard on the eyes. Black and white was fine when it was a solo project, but having normal colors schemes is not too much to ask now that GW is backing the project. Hell, even Helsreach displayed the full spectrum of colors more the AoD.

It would return in 2022 as Angels of Death: Origins. The first episode of this is available on Youtube for free. This series will frame how the Blood Angels ended up where they were in the first series. The Sword of Baal is under attack by a Dark Eldar ship, and some of the bridge crew (including the captain) is killed. The shipmistress we've come to know takes charge of the ship, to the objections of the Master of Ordinance due to seniority. His objections become enough that the shipmistress executes him, even though the execution of someone that important probably isn't a good idea at a time like this. The gunnery crew escapes a fiery death, only to have to patch a gas leak in the room they escaped into. The Dark Eldar are setting a trap by relying on a distress signal by the Sword of Baal being sent. The crew on the Sword know this, and want to lure the Dark Eldar into firing range for a desperate gambit to kill them. The ploy will severely damage the ship and kill the entire gunnery crew via the backwash, but its the only chance of survival for the ship. The gunnery crew carries out their suicidal duties, the Sword fires its batteries, and blows the Dark Eldar to hell.

Hammer & Bolter

An anthology of various shorts set in the Warhammer universe. Everyone has pretty much universally mocked this series for being "little better than a slideshow" at worst and "flash cartoon from Newgrounds" at best. The stories themselves aren’t bad, but this fault can really drag it down. Think "Love, Death, and Robots", but with none of that first one and much less impressive animation.

The Exodite

Originally an in-production fan-made series that was eventually bought out by GeeDubs, meaning everything's gonna be under their payroll. Generally seems focused on the very idealistic Tau trying to take over an Eldar maiden world and its native inhabitants disagreeing with this annexation. Its episodes are well-made, bringing badly needed quality to an otherwise lackluster set of animations, but also incredibly short in comparison.

Interrogator

The series follows Jurgen, an ex-interrogator, who along with a fellow ex-retinue member named Baldur is investigating the murder of the inquisitor whose retinue they used to be a part of.

Their investigations takes them through a rioting city, crossing paths with old companions, crime bosses and other nefarious characters. Uncovering a much larger conspiracy and the true intentions of the inquisitor they used to follow.

Iron Within

The Dark Eldar raid an Imperial Guard fortress, pushing its defenders to such a point that they have to activate an emergency beacon to call upon the Emperor's Angels of Death. If you remember the title of this, then you'll have a good idea who shows up instead. Technically, they do stymie the Dark Eldar offensive...they just slaughter everyone else that's there too.

Blacktalon

A series based upon the adventures of Naeve Blacktalon of the Stormcast Eternals, looking to uncover more of her past. Has a second season confirmed

Pariah Nexus

A short but wonderfully CGI-animated series based on the 9th edition trailer. It takes place on the Shrine World of Paradyce III, all but overrun by the Necrons with most of its Imperial defenders either dead or unwillingly enslaved/possessed. A handful of civilians, the last Sororitas named Danica with PTSD, a hallucination-induced dead Guardswoman sassing Danica, and a Primaris Salamander named Sa'kan are the only survivors as they journey through the city to safety. They come under attack by a Deathmark bossed around by Illuminor Szeras, who engages in his twisted shit in his lab. True to form, its ending is very grimdark. Easily the best thing out of Warhammer Plus.

The Tithes

A three-part mini-series focusing upon (you guessed it) tithes. With each episode focusing on three different tithings for the Imperial Tithe that are required to pay to the Adeptus Administratum. It uses a lot of the same assets and also the art style of the Pariah Nexus, with the first episode even being a sequel to the previous series. Excellent series, and a hopeful sign that WH+ animations are finally catching their stride (and that GW's hostile takeover of 40k fan animation wasn't all for nothing.)

• Episode 1: includes the return of the Salamander Sa'kan. Said episode also has an Ultramarine Primaris Apothecary named Brutus, and shows that the two chapters -for all their comradeship- differ greatly in terms of culture. Apparently Brutus also hears that people are shit talking our favorite burner bois, and almost starts buying into the hate. Good episode, even if the Necrons there get the stormtrooper treatment.
• Episode 2: Focuses on the Talons of the Emperor assisting the Arbites with evacuating a nid-infested world. Notably cool because it gives us an example of the Sisters of Silence's sign language and how being a blank would work. We get to see the arbites in action too, and as we can see they're not to be fucked with. Also shows the first animated depiction of a custodian, which was awesome (triple-down on the femstodes notwithstanding).
• Episode 3: Kasrkin fighting Orks. Features aeronatuica imperialis versus ork fighters, and the soldiers actually curse this time!

Broken Lance

A saga about Knights fighting Spiky Knights. Specifically, a Knight House on the world is fighting Nurgle forces and tainted Knights. The protagonist we see at the start is a chick leading some of her Knights as they retreat due to the enemy's numbers. She and a few survivors make it back to the Keep of a Knight House.

An old queen is the head of the household, but all appearances show she's nihilistic and apathetic, or even hostile to her own house's survival. She's also a prick to both her sons and the protagonist, who she forbids from sallying out to fight with everyone else. When she's done being a prick to her two sons and sends them to war, she reveals a bombshell seemingly justifying her behavior: the entire house is tainted by Chaos. The Knight house made a deal with NURGLE for protection and salvation, tainting the whole bloodline. It turned their king, the protagonist's dad, more dickish and evil as time went on until things reached a breaking point.

The story of the protagonist's father being killed in battle by a great beast is a lie. She and the protag's father did ride out, but there was no beast. She simply killed him after realizing he could no longer control the corrupting forces of Nurgle. It becomes clear in the story that she's tainted by Chaos too since we see her with dirty skin in some parts along with hearing voices in her head. Upon hearing the story however, the hero vows to stop the invasion and kill her father, right before killing the queen.

She finally sallies forth and does battle, managing to slay the enemy and her father in a climactic duel. She takes the throne of the Knight House, both by virtue of winning and being the only remaining survivor of the bloodline. Unfortunately, in the midst of her triumphant monologue, we see the same taint of Nurgle appear on her skin...

Upcoming

• Astartes II: The follow-up to the insanely popular Astartes animation.
• Altar Of Wrath - A series about the Black Templars fighting Necrons.
• Kill Lupercal - Announced in 2024, a show focusing on a Titan Maniple during the closing stages of the Siege of Terra going on a suicide run to take traitor heads.

The Live-Action Stuff

Funnily enough the only content that actually consistently updates weekly, mostly because of how little effort has to go into making it. It's also some of the least valuable since there's already plenty of videos on YouTube that do this same stuff.

• Citadel Colour Masterclass: An On-Demand series of videos providing tips for certain advanced painting techniques.
• Battle Reports: GW staff playing batreps of the various games, including their less-popular stuff. Usually only used as an advertisement for the newest item on the catalogue.
• Loremasters: Deep-dives into certain iconic characters, factions and items in the Warhammer Universe.

The Other Stuff

• White Dwarf Vault: GeeDubs not only provides you some digital copies of older issues of White Dwarf (Sans the real old-school stuff of the 80's and any rules), but also some of the older rulebooks from certain campaigns - stripped of the rules lest anyone ask why we can't replay these same scenarios due to outdated rules. 2022 has seen the scope predictably expand as they announced the addition of more recent splatbooks like the Imperial Armour and The End Times books to the lineup, though only the ones with campaigns and not just rules.
  • Funnily enough, this was one of the first signs of the short-sightedness of Warhammer+ as despite having over 40 years of lore and stuff to work with, they've focused only on a couple key White Dwarf issues and the more recent campaign books. For whatever reason, they've refused to go through the full depths of White Dwarf (and not counting the potential legal grey area of their D&D stuff) by not covering any of their old campaigns like Storm of Chaos or the Gothic War. While it was a decision to omit the rules from the books it did provide, it also showed how dedicated they are to keeping to a specific scope of Warhammer history, where they don't need to answer questions about evolving lore, failed projects by GW and the big hype-pieces they tried to put over in the past. As of August 2024, there hasn't been a new update to this section in almost a year - Making one wonder if they're just stalling until the last big books get old enough to re-sell as just lore.
• That "Free" Model!: Another big selling point is that for each year they subscribe, all members of WH+ get one of two free minis of their choice (With the first year being either an Ironjawz Orruk or a Vindicare hiding in some imperial statue) on the anniversary of their subscription while the other one can be purchased by other members at some point.
• VIP Privileges: Apparently, WH+ members get some VIP privileges during certain major events like Adepticon or GW Weekenders.

Casualties of War(hammer+)

Just as you can always count on an Avatar of Khaine to get shafted, so too can you count on GeeDubs to shaft their fanbase. And none of said shaftings have been more egregious than around the announcement of Warhammer+. Before the announcement, GW started poaching the most popular community animation creators to work for them. Everybody who signed up had to take all of their existing content off Youtube. Those who refused to sign up had to remove their content regardless. The shitstorm only grew worse as GW made an update to their intellectual property guidelines forbidding creation of fan content without their explicit permission, causing popular content creators gave up producing Warhammer fan content altogether. This turned the once lush Warhammer fan animation community into a barren landscape like the nids licked it clean.

Here are some of the popular creators who closed shop after GW's intellectual property guidelines fiasco. Look how they massacred my boys.

Bruva Alfabusa

Everybody's favorite golden boy of If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device fame. One of the longest running and best Warhammer 40000 parody series to ever grace our unworthy, miserable lives. After GW's ill-omened announcement, he made a video expressing his concern for what this entails and the risk of producing Warhammer 40000 content in the shadow of GW's dogs of law. He has since moved on to create Hunter: The Parenting, another parody series based on the World of Darkness setting. The main TTS series is effectively on indefinite hiatus, likely to never return. It should be noted all the main characters are essentially the same from TTS so you can slip in easily, and this does make the implication that text Emperor was like Big-D before heresy happened one of the funniest concepts in history.

SODAZ

This guy made some of the most action-packed and badass Warhammer 40000 animations, some of which include the Death Korps of Krieg rough-riders mowing down heretics and Imperial Fists defending against an Iron Warriors attack. GW contacted him to work with them officially on Warhammer+, however after he signed up with them and took all of his content off Youtube, GW allegedly ghosted him. This along with constant harassment from the fanbase at large caused him to give up on Warhammer 40000 content altogether. He has since moved on to producing animations for other franchises, ones who are not as dickish as GW.

AbsolutelyNothing

Another Youtube animator mostly known for creating short Warhammer 40000 animations, including an animation featuring Death Korps of Krieg. When contacted by GW to sell his soul to them he refused. In return, GW forced him to stop his Patreon and demonetize all of his Warhammer 40000 videos. Citing the uncertainty and risk of producing more Warhammer 40000 content, he has since put this on hold to focus on other content. At least until GW revises their statement. The crazy sumbitch is back at it, Emperor protect him.

Gallery

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  The Initial lineup of animations
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  A meme from /tg/ about what was really being said
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  Reminds me of a certain emo firebender...
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  Good luck explaining the sister statue while fighting on an exodite world...

Iron Within

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Pariah nexus

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  Brother Sa'kan of the Salamanders
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