The box cover by John Blanche is an instant eye-catcher. I purchased Warhammer 1st Edition back in the early 1980s as an impulse, no doubt the box art had something to do with that. The 1st Edition, Firsthammer if you will, tries to be all things fantasy tabletop, including a role-playing game. Later editions would drop the role-playing element (a separate Fantasy Role Play would be published) and add "Fantasy Battle" to the name to distinguish it from other Warhammer products, but back in 1983 this was the only Warhammer.
Authored by Bryan Ansell (Citadel Miniatures), Richard Halliwell and Richard Priestly and with art by Tony Ackland, Firsthammer bills itself as The Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Playing Game and includes three booklets (just like the other White Box!). The booklets are titled, Vol 1: Tabletop Battles, Vol 2: Magic and Vol 3: Characters. The system is recognizable to anyone familiar with any later version of Warhammer including the ever-present stat line, Initiative, Weapon Skill, Bow Skill Wounds, Toughness, etc. (Toughness is a letter here not a number).
Each volume is illustrated by Tony Ackland and the b&w images are very inspiring (some later appear in other publications). Sprinkled among the typewriter text are a number of figure illustrations probably from Citadel's catalog and there are numerous references to using Citadel Miniatures in one's Firsthammer games. As it says on the tin, Firsthammer is about Mass Combat and the rules emphasize having several figures on a tabletop battlefield. There is a section on fighting in dungeons and an emphasis on characters, so Firsthammer is really a type of hybrid between a big battle wargame and a role-playing game. The role-play elements focus on the use of miniatures, which may reflect a gaming trend in England at the time.
The rules for characters are very basic and using Firsthammer to play campaigns requires a bit of work on the part of the Games Master (I prefer Referee as I think that term better reflects what we do, fairly apply the rules and make interpretations). Like most older games, the Firsthammer rules specifically spell out that the GM should invent or change rules as seems best for play. Despite being rules lite and somewhat incomplete in spots, Firsthammer has a lot of good ideas.
There are two types of characters, warriors and wizards. Wizards seem a bit more complex than warriors, although even warriors go a bit beyond White Box and possess skills. The included list of skills could be improved on and seems a bit weighted towards seafaring skills. One listed skill I find odd today is "transvestite". I suppose a character being able to convincing portray a member of the opposite sex could have some useful and perhaps entertaining applications during gameplay.
Firsthammer wizards have four levels of magic mastery and like White Box, they carry titles such as Novice/Initiate, Acolyte, Adept, and Magician/Mage. The spell list is likewise arranged into four levels of power or experience and contains many bog standard fantasy spells and a few original ones (worth borrowing) including Droop which causes an enemies weapon to become useless, a version of Alarm which once placed will alert a wizard of how many living souls pass near the spot where the Alarm mark was left. Several of the spells seem to be aimed at battle use and affect an entire unit of figures.
Magic spells are cast using a point system and not only is renewable Constitution spell points used, but also Life Force points of which each being only has a limited amount. As Life Force is "burned up" the wizard ages and may acquire mutations. This is suggested, but not detailed in the actual rules, but I think it is a rather grand idea! Most spells also require the wizard use a Talisman in casting the spell. Talismans are magic charms and include philtres, amulets, relics, a staff or wand and other objects. Some may be consumed in the casting of the spell and will need to be replenished. Certain spells can be cast over and over, the wizard merely paying the points and using the appropriate Talisman (if any), other spells including Cure Light Injury may only be cast once per day.
The rules mention the existence of specialist wizards and gives the example of the Necromancer, who can steal Life Force as well as control undead. There is invitation for the enterprising GM to invent other specialists. An elementalist is mentioned but there are no rules for such. Priests, druids, and illusionists (to borrow from White Box and supplements) would certainly be possible in a Firsthammer campaign. How the GM sets up the milieu and casts the PC character possibilities is an important element of individualizing play.
A list of enchanted objects includes a few worthies. Elberath's Leash is a delicate silver cord which when placed around the neck of a creature binds it to the will of the person holding the leash. Garathea's Cord is a thin red rope of enchanted strength which allows great weights to be lifted or pulled with little effort. Firsthammer is a work (like many early RPGs) which combines original thought content with things freely borrowed including other magic items and quite a few monsters which seem lifted from recognizable sources such as White Box and the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien. This however does not make them any less useful for game play.
I recently discovered the Oldhammer community of gamers who are devoted to older Games Workshop (GW) games including Firsthammer. The parallels with the OSR (Old School Renaissance/Revival, etc.) are striking. It seems that sneering at "new fangled rules" (as one Oldhammer blogger put it) is not strictly limited to those of us ensconced in the RPG part of the hobby. I am not sure how popular Firsthammer was in the early '80s, but it was the first in a long line of games and supplements to bear the brand name and today it remains an interesting combination of battle game and role-playing. American RPGs including Tunnels & Trolls, White Box and the Advanced Game, and probably RuneQuest as well, were known in England, Great Britain and the UK at the time of Firsthammer's introduction and no doubt were having the same kind of revolutionary influence on the game hobby there as in America. The fact that Firsthammer still has a following I find encouraging. Older games can still provide fun, even if they are a bit "long in the tooth".
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