Game Workshop, the makers of Warhammer 40,000, posed a huge question in the past few months: can a tabletop games company launch a streaming service and fill it with great animated series that fans will pay to watch. Thanks to a free Warhammer+ preview made available over the weekend, we’re ready to say: “Absolutely, yes!”
Warhammer+ is Games Workshops’ answer to Crunchyroll and Funimation, but for hobbyists who love their sci-fi and fantasy with strong, grimdark flavors. Games Workshop already has a strong lineup of content on Twitch, which mostly revolves around the hobby, such as painting tutorials and gaming news. Now, by adding animated series to the mix and putting it on their own platform, they’re creating a portal that could fulfill the enormous appetites of their fan base in a whole new way.
But is it Anime?
Fair question. Does an animated series need to be produced in Japan to be called an anime? Sure. At this point, though, the globalization of the industry is blurring the line between what is and what isn’t anime, so I’ll leave that definition up to you. The show is certainly influenced by anime, and has plenty to offer even the most hard-core of anime fans.
More importantly, is it any good? If the sparkling wine tastes great, hand it over, even if it’s not made in Champagne.
If Old Bale Eye is anything to judge by, then we can expect great things from Warhammer+.
Old Bale Eye Flies the Fandom Flag High
The story revolves around the Ork’s perspective of a tenacious warrior, Old Bale Eye himself, Commissar Yarrick. The warmongering Orks admire Yarrick as one of their greatest enemies, so you’d expect plenty of bloody battle between the green-skinned horde and the loyal Astra Militarum that Commissar Yarrick commands. The 20-minute show delivered that in megaton payloads, along with enough kill-machine fan-service to satisfy any fan of either of these prominent factions (“Waaagh!” I say, “Waaagh!”).
Here are more views of this stunning little animated short:
Many Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar players have had little to do but paint their armies and twiddle their thumbs since global lockdowns began. Games around a table with friends are still risky business, even when that table’s four-feet-wide, so maybe the timing’s just perfect. If you’ve never dived down the dark, grim rabbit hole of lore that is Warhammer 40,000, then maybe Warhammer+ is the perfect opportunity to give it a go.
Source: Warhammer Community (The page was modified after the free viewing period ended.)
