Strike to Stun: How did you get into the hobby?

Alessio Cavatore: In 1994 I was in a club playing Advanced D&D with some friends, when we've seen some people playing a game of Warhammer. It was Skaven vs. Empire and
it was love at first sight, I found those nasty rat-men irresistibly entertaining! At first I couldn't play it much, because of my commitment to my other favourite hobby: Kendo. Later I broke my leg and that forced break from Kendo left me with a lot of spare time to play toy soldiers. The year after I won the Italian Grand Tournament, and that got me an interview with the heads of GW Italy (based in Nottingham). They offered me a job as a translator and I accepted. Great was the joy of my parents when I told them that I was not going to finish my Biology degree and I was leaving the country to work in a company that was making toy soldiers!

StS: How did you get the job as game designer for Games Workshop? / What was your previous occupation?

Alessio: While working as a translator for Games Workshop Italy, I won the Warhammer
staff tournament twice in a row. Also, I've written a piece of colour text (The field surgeon) that was published in the 5th edition Dogs of War book. These two achievements showed my gaming and writing skills to the right people (Rick Priestley and Tuomas Pirinen) and finally, probably tired of my continuous insistence, they decided to give me a chance for the position
of games developer that was open!

StS: Are there any other fantasy games you play besides of Warhammer?

Alessio: Fantasy? Well, apart from GW's Lord of the Rings game that is now my main job commitment, I play lots of computer and console RPG (I love the Baldur's Gate series) and the odd nostalgic game of D&D. I also play lots of Sci-fi, and horror games, not to mention several historical war-games.

StS: I heard rumours that you are planning to finish your studies. Will you leave Games Workshop then? Why?

Alessio: This year, touching wood, I should finish the last exam of my Biology degree
with the Open University (I transferred quite a lot of credits from Italy...). I have no intention of leaving GW, finishing my studies is just something I have to do out of completeness and to prove to my parents (and myself) that in coming to England I haven't lost anything; no remorse, no regret!).

StS: In WD I read that you left the Warhammer-team in favour of the LotR-design team. What was the reason for that?

Alessio: Well, working with the LOTR is a dream come true and I've tried hard to get to this position. You see, I've always been a devoted fan of Tolkien's works, the kind of person that needs to read a book by Tolkien every Christmas. I've seen the film nine times in England (and a couple in Italy as well...). To give you an idea of how deep that story reaches within my soul, I'll tell you that I've cried of sheer emotion every single time I've seen it. Yes, I'm that much into it. Oh, and by the way, the promotion to Ring-bearer (what a cool job title!)
has also been a good career move within GW. :-)

StS: The last months have seen the release of many cool armybooks and preview armylists. How much is your work? And what are you thinking about the recent products for WFB?

Alessio: Well, we are absolutely snowed under; it's scary the sheer amount of work we
have in the Games development department. The most recent army books for WFB have the best miniature range I've ever seen, in particular Chaos and the yet to be released Khemri army. I also like to think that we have done a good job in balancing out the game. It seems quite all right now.

StS: What do you think about new armies/races for WFB? Kislevites for instance.

Alessio: I cannot reveal anything without Gav coming after me with a machete, but I will here say: "you are up for some big surprises, but it won't be tomorrow."

StS: GW is planning to release two Armybooks for Chaos. What was the reason for this? Wouldn't a larger Chaos-armybook have been the better idea?

Alessio: Another one of those that break up in your hands after a few games because the volume is too big for perfect-binding? No, we felt that often Chaos books have too much squeezed in them and don't do justice to the content.
Much better to do two and give everything the space it deserves. Oh... and of course so people will buy two books! Muahah ha ahah ah! [evil corporate laughter]

StS: When you take a look at the forums and rumours at www.games-workshop.com
you notice that a lot of people would like to see again a Fimir army for WFB. Is there a chance that those people will ever get their Fimir armylist? Perhaps in the second part of the Chaos-armybook?

Alessio: I'm afraid that's not very likely to happen, but I understand their fan's
feeling, I've always found the one-eye monsters quite entertaining...

StS: You wrote a short-story for White Dwarf in which you described the destruction of Miragliano. This story hit the Warhammer-scene (especially the roleplayers) like a bomb. What was you intention and is Miragliano destroyed forever?

Alessio: No, don't worry, it will be rebuilt. The intention? Well, you see, the fact that I'm from Turin and there's always been a bit of a friendly rivalry between my city and the near-by Milan... so I just couldn't resist the temptation of razing Miragliano to the ground! By the way, have you noticed how close the position of Turin and Skavenblight are on the maps?

StS: What was the reason for making the Archers in the Bretonnian preview armylist a special unit? Why did they loose the Arrowhead formation?

Alessio: I want to move away from the bow as a Bretonnian weapon, it seems to me to
contradict the entire theme of the Knights' hatred for missile weapons.

StS: Will there be new units like peasants or catapults in the forthcoming Bretonnian Armybook?

Alessio: Cheap peasantry armed with forks and the like seems a good idea (and
warrior monks and penitent Knights...). Catapults? See previous answer (and may the
Lady withdraw her favour from you for just mentioning such despicable weapons!).

StS: Will there be a special magical lore for Bretonnia?

Alessio: Probably not, but I'd like to expand on the link between the conduct of the player and the favour of the Lady waning and waxing.

StS: Last year GW rewrote the background for Albion to fit it into the Dark Shadows campaign. Since its existence no other part of the Warhammer world has been changed so often. Now Black Library releases an old Warhammer-novel from Brian Craig, Storm Warriors, which also takes place in Albion (or better, the island of Morien). The Albion described in that novel is a very different one from that used in the Dark Shadows Campaign. Isn't this a major contradiction?

Alessio: Ehr... ehm... next question please!

StS: Each year GW has a great summer campaign. Two years ago there was Armageddon, last year was Dark Shadows. Whats the theme of this years summer campaign?

Alessio: The Last Alliance! I'm afraid though that not all GW territories are taking part... check our US web-site for more information.

StS: Why did GW release a supplement for Warhammer skirmish?

Alessio: That was an initiative of GW US to promote Warhammer. I don't think it has been published elsewhere.

StS: Do you think the various WFB-armies are balanced?

Alessio: They will never be a 100% balanced, there are too many variables involved, but I also think they have never been as balanced as they are now.

StS: Which armybooks will be released in the next future and will you be involved in the creation process?

Alessio: I've written the basic army list for the Khemri list, which will be the next one to see the light. After that I've gone full time LOTR and that does not leave me much time to work on WFB. The one after will be Lizardmen and I didn't have much to do with them at all.

StS: Some people think that GW neglects WFB in favour of the Lord of the Rings-game. Do you think they are right?

Alessio: I think it could be the other way around! The LOTR game has been so successful that we risk leaving it to its own devices, confident that no matter what it will still sell lots. It is my mission to try and change this and make sure we get more and more stuff published for this game, to really make it our third core system.

StS: Do you think that LotR (the movie and the game) will bring new live into the scene? Will games like Warhammer benefit from a new fantasy boom?

Alessio: It is already, the great thing about the LOTR game is that it 's bringing a
lot of people into contact with fantasy gaming that probably would have never heard about all this otherwise!

StS: How do you see the future of the Warhammer Games and wargaming in general?

Alessio: Well, and I'm being honest here, the future has never looked so bright!

StS: Alessio, thank you for the interview!