Forces
of Fantasy is a hard to find GW product for the 1st edition
of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Released in 1985, this boxed set
had three books and a little booklet. It was a companion to
the original WFB, detailing a bit about the world and further
expanding upon the game and its mechanics. Essentially the set
is a magic expansion, rules expansion, and WFB Armies book in
three little little soft cover books.
I'm not sure what it is, but I find something
nostalgic about the cover art. While by no means "fine
art", when I first got into roleplaying, it was the sort
of image that would have fired my imagination. But enough about
judging a game by the box cover!
Volume 1: Forces of Fantasy
This book serves as a sort of "Armies" book. For those
looking for game atmosphere, there is little here. Some information
on Men of the East (Arabs), Men of the Orient (including details
on Samurai and Vim-to monks) and all of the other regulars,
lots of Elves, Dwarfs, Undead, and a group that I never heard
of before: Red Goblins. It concludes with Goodly Hosts (including
"Winged Panters") and Marauding Monsters ("Giant
Weevils" and "Serpent Crawlers"). This book offers
little additional detail that isn't described in WFB 2nd edition
or 3rd edition.
Volume 2: Fighting Fantasy Battles
This book seems at first to be even less of value for those
searching for world background. Rules for terrain, siege weapons,
and mounted troops. After this section though, the book improves
noticeably, providing designs and details on all the armies
described in volume 1. Images of the "Oriental", "Eastern",
and Slann armies give a glimpse into the cultures. Then there
are the "Regiments of Renown" which introduces us
to "Bugman's Brewers" as well as a few other groups
that have long disappeared from the WFRP world (The Knights
of Origo, Mad Mulla Aklan'ds' Death Commandos).
Volume 3: Arcane Magicks
This book, an addition to the WFB 1st edition magic system introduces
us to "Oriental Magic": magic carpets, enchanted ropes,
enchanted bottles, etc… Potions, magic artifacts and treasure
charts are described, fairly dated material and not worth any
close examination. Following this part are monsters, most notable
are the "Genies" who have disappeared from the WFB/WFRP
canon. Djinn, Efreet, and Dust Devils are all covered in the
book, the rest of the creatures, Chaos Chimera, Hydras, and
Balrogs deserve further little attention. Infestations, or swarms
are detailed, followed by a few new spells. There is a magical
items random generation section that might still be useable
for WFRP/WFB, with the rest of the book further detailing magic
items and weapons including the first appearance of "power
weapons".
The Book of Battalions
This book is printed on poorer quality paper than the others,
and is composed of fan contributions, none of it official. Most
of the units are pretty uninspired. Some include a small bit
of background and there is some information that other players
might find interesting - to my knowledge known of the material
in here has ever been used in an official capacity however.
A few little tidbits can be drawn from it, but for all practical
purposes, this book is unimportant.
Summary
This book is only of interest to the most devoted of warhammer
collectors. Nearly all of the background material in here is
presented in greater detail in other books. For those interested
in WFB, the WFB 2nd and 3rd editions provide more detailed and
complete information than the few undeveloped tidbits hinted
at in this book.
Rev. Lepper
