Time for justice: Tackling race inequalities in health and housing
Dayna Bowen Matthew, Edward Rodrigue, and Richard V. Reeves Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Despite undeniable progress since the civil rights era, the gulf that separates black and white Americans remains vast. This chapter reviews the reasons for this stubborn race gap, focusing in particular on data showing the extent, causes, and impact of housing segregation and health inequity. It proposes concrete recommendations for the new administration to shrink the racial divide, urging strong political leadership, improved housing market mobility, innovative focus on the social determinants of health, and tools to reduce unintentional biases in health care.
The following brief is part of Brookings Big Ideas for America–an institution-wide initiative in which Brookings scholars have identified the biggest issues facing the country and provide ideas for how to address them.
The first decades of the 21st century have, like the many that came before, been difficult for black America, despite the election and re-election of our first black President. There has been progress on some fronts, including narrower gaps in high school graduation rates, declining rates of teen pregnancy, and fewer suicides among black men. But the median black American will be as just as far behind their white counterpart in 2017 as they were in 2000 in terms of income, wealth, unemployment, earnings, the risk of incarceration, and many measures of health. In the last couple of decades, progress toward broader equity for African-Americans has been halting.
Compared to whites, black Americans face the same risk of unemployment today as in the 1960s. Between 2007 and 2013, the net wealth of the median black household fell from 10 percent to 8 percent of median white household wealth, largely the result of the differential impact of the Great Recession. In other words, the median white household now has a net wealth 13 times greater than the median black household. In 2000 the median black household had an income that was 66 percent of the median white household income. In 2015 that figure was 59 percent.
In other words, the median white household now has a net wealth 13 times greater than the median black household.
In terms of housing and health, the two areas we focus on here, the race gap faced by black Americans remains wide and stubborn. It is perhaps no surprise that black and white Americans have starkly different views on progress toward racial justice. Nine in ten blacks say African-Americans have not achieved equality in this country. Four in ten are skeptical that they ever will. Yet thirty-eight percent of white Americans think “our country has made the changes needed to give blacks equal rights with whites.” Among the half of whites that think there is more to do to achieve equality, almost all think that it will be achieved. The two groups are, as the Pew Research Center puts it, “worlds apart.”
Many of the barriers blacks face are the result of invisible, insidious force of unconscious bias. Whether it is water quality in Flint, school quality in Ferguson, environmental hazards in Dickson, Tennessee, or the inferior health care that the majority of black patients receive nationwide, the African-American experience is different, and is allowed to be different, more than would ever be accepted within white communities. Racial injustice and inequality is a problem not just for poor and low-income blacks, but for moderate-income blacks as well, as we will show. Racism, even if unintentional, determines where, how, and how well black people live, relative to other groups in America. For most African-Americans, in addition to the tangible inequalities captured in statistics, the intangible experience of being black in America is nothing like the experience of being a white person. Racial injustice lies not only in hard facts, but also in “the thick of everyday life.”1
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump appealed directly to whites, especially those who felt threatened by immigration, trade, and diversity. His choice of words and his choice of advisers have not suggested that the inequalities faced by black Americans are at the top of his agenda. He did point out, however clumsily, the difficulties that many blacks living in cities face in finding jobs or decent schools. If the new administration decides to treat the race gap seriously, there is much that can be done, right now.
Residential Segregation: The Problem
More than half of black or white residents in 70 of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas would need to move to a different census tract in order to integrate the metro. At the rate of progress we’ve seen since the 70s, 268 of our metro areas will not be integrated until the year 2120.2 Younger black city-dwellers (born between 1985 and 2000) are just as likely to live in a high-poverty neighborhood as the previous generation (born between 1955 and 1970). White Americans are also more segregated from black Americans than from either Asian or Hispanic Americans, according to analyses by our Brookings colleague William Frey:
American neighborhoods have become more diverse in the last 20 years, but the main reason for this is the growth of the Asian and Hispanic-American populations, rather than significant movement by either black or white Americans. Native-born black Americans experience levels of urban neighborhood segregation nearly three times higher than native-born black British citizens.
Native-born black Americans experience levels of urban neighborhood segregation nearly three times higher than native-born black British citizens.
The causes of residential segregation are complex, enduring and overlapping. It is only a few decades since racial segregation was an explicit goal of public policy.3 But even after the successes of the civil rights movement, a number of factors continued to contribute to segregation—and, in many cases, do so still today. Four stand out:
1. Zoning. Even in the post-civil rights era, many forms of land use regulation have perpetuated segregation. Complex webs of covenants and zoning ordinances across U.S. cities—in particular for low-density development—superimposed on already highly-segregated neighborhoods, have slowed integration. When there are wide economic gaps by race, as we have in the U.S., exclusionary land-use policies based on families’ economic circumstances entrench racial segregation.
2. Transportation. Highways and runways have often damaged or cut off black neighborhoods. “Highways cut the heart out of poor areas,” as Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx observed. Meanwhile public transit investments often fail to connect minority communities to opportunities for education and employment.
3. ‘Steering.” Black and other minority homebuyers and renters receive different treatment from realtors and agents. In 2012, white and black “homebuyers” (in fact actors) were sent to 8,000 randomly selected realtors. Black home-seekers were shown 18% fewer homes. There are some signs that realtors “steer” by race with reference to local schools.
4. Credit. After being denied home loans before the civil rights era, black Americans have continued to be denied affordable credit, and have been pushed towards sub-prime loans.4 SunTrust, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America have in recent years settled with the Justice Department (for $21 million, and $175 million, and $335 million respectively) for pushing black homebuyers into subprime mortgage deals, overcharging them for home loans, and other breaches.
5. Attitudes. Although harder to pinpoint, the attitudes and preferences of individuals and families likely plays a role too. Attitudes are shifting, but remain heavily influenced by race. Many white Americans strongly prefer to live with only a minority of black neighbors, up to roughly 20 percent of the neighborhood. Black Americans, meanwhile, prefer “50-50” neighborhoods, and are averse to homogeneous neighborhoods.5
Physical segregation by race is costly to society simply in terms of race relations. It is harder to foster an equal, tolerant, multi-racial society when people of different races live in their own enclaves. But there are more tangible costs, too, especially in terms of wealth disparities, educational opportunities, concentrated poverty and neighborhood effects, with implications for well being and health.
Wealth. The median black family has barely any wealth, in large part because blacks have not been able to participate in the wealth-generating momentum of the heavily-subsidized housing market. Many blacks who did get a foothold before the recession fell backwards during the Great Recession, when black median household wealth almost halved from $19,200 in 2007 to $11,000 in 2013. The median wealth of white households is now 13 times greater than for black households—the largest gap in a quarter century (see figure 3.2).
Education. There are wide, well-documented race gaps in educational outcomes. School quality is a significant factor here, and since schools tend serve specific areas, residential segregation leads to school segregation, along both racial and economic lines. The compounding effects of wealth, race and place means that even middle-income black students are more likely to attend high-poverty schools, as recent research by Sean Reardon, Demetra Kalogrides and Kenneth Shore shows. This may be one reason why black children born into middle-income families are twice as likely to be downwardly mobile as middle-income whites (see figure 3.3).
Neighborhood effects. People living in areas with higher rates of poverty have worse outcomes across a range of social and economic measures. From sidewalks to social capital, differences in safety and neighborhood quality lead to differences in outcomes, as the case-studies jointly produced by the Community Affairs Offices of the Federal Reserve System and Brookings show. Children in poor families that were able to use a voucher to move to a low-poverty neighborhood saw a 16 percent increase in college attendance and were much less likely to become single parents, compared to a control group; those who moved earned 31 percent more in their mid-twenties.
Residential segregation in terms of race is deep, and damaging. What can be done?
Residential Segregation: some solutions
A complex and enduring problem like segregation will not be solved quickly or easily. It will require sustained political attention and policy efforts from federal and local government. The president’s role may seem limited at first. But there is plenty that she or he can do, even without new laws or funds. Many of the powers needed to make progress already exist; they simply need to be used. Below we sketch out a concrete policy reform, one element of a wider strategy to tackle segregation. But the most important ingredient is political leadership—from the new President, but also from the people that she or he appoints to critical roles in the administration.
Bring back Romney (The other one)
All of these proposals will require leadership from the new President. But it will also require bolder action from HUD. Leadership of that Department is critical. We need another Romney. George Romney, that is.
“Some white people and public officials will advocate the return to state’s rights as a way to legalize segregation,” he said in the wake of the 1967 race riots: “As citizens of Michigan, as Americans, we must unhesitatingly reject all these divisive courses.” He then enacted a statewide fair housing law and told voters he wanted to end local zoning where it facilitated segregation and evenly distribute affordable housing around metro areas.
Appointed Secretary of HUD by Nixon, Romney didn’t hesitate to use the tools at his disposal—and which are still at HUD’s disposal. As Nikole Hannah-Jones reported for ProPublica:
“Romney ordered HUD officials to reject applications for water, sewer and highway projects from cities and states where local policies fostered segregated housing…[he saw his goal as using] his power as secretary of Housing and Urban Development to remake America’s housing patterns, which he described as a “high-income white noose” around the black inner city…HUD terminated grants to the Boston, Baltimore and Toledo metro areas after they rejected low-income housing slated for white neighborhoods, and won concessions.”
Since the end of Romney’s HUD tenure in 1972 there have been only a handful occasions when the department cut funding to recipients for violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. “HUD has sent grants to communities,” wrote Hannah-Jones, “even after they’ve been found by courts to have promoted segregated housing or been sued by the U.S. Department of Justice.”6
Scale up “Small Area Fair Market Rents”
In many metro areas, HUD benchmarks the value of housing vouchers to costs in the entire metro. This means voucher holders can’t afford to rent in more expensive, opportunity-rich neighborhoods, and are effectively pushed into neighborhoods with cheaper housing.
In some places, like Dallas, voucher amounts are indexed to zip codes, rather than entire metro areas. This means the allowance falls slightly in lower-rent areas, but rises in higher-rent areas. In a recent study of this “small area fair market rent” (SAFMR) approach in Dallas, Robert Collinson and Peter Ganong find that SAFMR led voucher families to enter neighborhoods with less poverty and violent crime. Across five SAFMR demonstration sites, the total cost of the program actually fell by 5 percent between 2012 and 2014. This doesn’t mean that SAFMR will make sense everywhere, but HUD should permit and encourage more cities to adopt the approach, especially in those areas with concentrated poverty.
Expand Mobility Counseling
Opening up broader, regional markets for voucher recipients will help to create more integrated cities; a powerful complement would be “mobility counseling” that helps voucher holders find a new residence. In Chicago, the Housing Opportunity Program offers a range of services, including housing search counseling and unit referrals, free credit reports, financial counseling, transport to potential new homes, expedited HUD Quality Standards inspections, legal workshops, and post-move support and house visits. The program helps families move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, according to longitudinal research, including a 2005 analysis by Mary Cunningham and Noah Sawyer. Recent analysis of the Baltimore Mobility Program suggests that families who get this kind of extra support raise their neighborhood and school expectations, and move to areas with higher-quality schools.
Health Inequality: the problem
As the new administration and Congress design the ACA replacement,7 it is important to remember that increased access is necessary but not sufficient to close morbidity and mortality gaps between blacks and whites. Health disparities resulting from racial inequity will persist as long as our nation continues to tolerate a separate and unequal health care system for black Americans.
The infant mortality rate for black babies is more than twice that for whites.This gap persists as the mother’s’ education and income rises.8 Babies born to well educated, middle-class black mothers are more likely to die before their first birthday than babies born to poor white mothers with less than a high school education:9
These disparities continue into adulthood. Black men still have the shortest life expectancy of any other group in America. Racial inequities, compounded by education gaps, have a cumulative negative impact on health outcomes. White men and women with college degrees live an average of 14.2 years and 10.3 years longer than black men and women with less than a high school education.10
African Americans are disproportionately treated at health care facilities with the fewest technological resources, the most poorly trained professionals, and least experienced clinicians serve predominately black patient populations.11 The most highly trained professionals serve predominately white populations.12 When compared to whites, black patients are referred to see specialists less often, receive less appropriate preventive care such as mammography and flu vaccines, receive fewer kidney and bone marrow transplants, receive fewer antiretroviral drugs for HIV, receive fewer antidepressants for diagnosed depression, and are admitted less often than whites for similar complaints of chest pain.13 No single cause explains these disparities, but five stand out.
1. Unintended race discrimination. The next president should take direct aim at the problem of unintended racial discrimination—also known as implicit bias—in medical care. Practices and policies that are race-neutral on their face actually result in inferior quality of and access to health care for blacks as compared to whites across geographic regions, diseases, facility types, and treatments.14 Though different from intentional racism, the impacts of unintended discrimination are equally harmful. Because implicit bias is subtle and hidden, it allows discrimination in health care to persist although most Americans reject explicit racism.15
2. Social determinants of health. The next administration must also address racial disparities in the social determinants of health. These are the conditions in which Americans live, work, and play—including access to clean, safe, affordable house and health food choices. Health care alone accounts for only 10 percent of health outcomes. Social and environmental factors (20 percent), genetics (30 percent), and behavior (40 percent) all have a greater influence on health than health care. Closing the gap in health outcomes for blacks and whites means addressing inequity in upstream social and environmental factors that impact health.
3. Housing disparities. Housing inequity is an obvious place to start. Substandard housing conditions such as pest infestation, lead paint, faulty plumbing, and overcrowding disproportionately affect black families and lead to health problems such as asthma, lead poisoning, heart disease, and neurological disorders. Blacks are 1.7 times more likely than the rest of the population to occupy homes with severe physical problems.16 Concentrated housing inequity also disproportionately exposes black communities to environmental pollutants17 and isolates black populations from essential health resources such as improved recreational spaces; quality pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals; and healthy food options (see figure 3.5).18
4. Health behaviors. Addressing housing disparities will encourage healthy behaviors. For example, reducing neighborhood violence and improving built environments will reduce sedentary behavior. Reducing the ratio of fast food and liquor outlets to healthy food options will reduce disparately unhealthy food consumption.19
Why Presidents Fail And How They Can Succeed Again
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5. Criminal law enforcement. The next administration can improve health equity by addressing instances of discriminatory law enforcement that disproportionately affect black communities. Black men and women are more likely to be arrested, charged, and convicted of crimes than whites who commit the same crimes (see figure 3.6);20 disparate marijuana arrests are exemplary.21 Once convicted, black men receive prison sentences that are nearly 20 percent longer than white men for similar crimes.
The public health impact on black communities is staggering. Crowded living conditions in prisons increase transmission of infectious disease such as tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted diseases. The prevalence of mental illness and injection drug use among incarcerated populations is significantly higher than in the community at large. When prisoners are released, they bring a higher incidence of disease back to the detriment of the entire community’s health.22
Incarceration affects the mental and physical health of communities left behind. Family members experience increased mental illness such as depression and anxiety disorders, and there is an increased risk of poverty and homelessness.23 These health consequences are multi-generational. Incarceration, for example, is associated with a 30 percent increase in infant mortality.24
While there are some who express doubt that discrimination in the health care system is a cause of health disparities,25 the costs of differences in black and white health outcomes are indisputable:
1. Excess deaths. In 2005, former surgeon general David Satcher estimated the cost in terms of lives lost due to racial discrimination in health care. He concluded that over 83,000 African American men and women needlessly lose their lives yearly due to unjust and avoidable differences in the quality and quantity of health care that they receive compared with the rest of the U.S. population.26
2. Preventable hospitalizations. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that if black Americans had the same adjusted rate of preventable hospitalizations as non-Hispanic whites from 2004 to 2007, the African American population would have had 430,000 fewer hospitalizations.27
3. Dollars. It is estimated that racial and ethnic disparities cost Americans $1.24 trillion between 2003 and 2006.28
Health Inequality: some solutions
The new President’s most important step to achieve health equity will be to provide strong political leadership on this issue from day one. The President must publicly name the elimination of health inequality as a top priority of the new administration. This will intentionally and comprehensively re-focus the entire federal government’s attention on the issue of racial discrimination, which gave rise to the civil rights statutes beginning in 1866; but the promise of equality of opportunity has yet to be fulfilled. Hence, black Americans have suffered the worst health outcomes of any group throughout this nation’s history. We make three further recommendations:
The new President’s most important step to achieve health equity will be to provide strong political leadership on this issue from day one.
Maintain Strong Agency Leadership Committed to Health Equity
The new president must ensure that political leaders are committed and empowered to fight health inequity to the full extent of the law. This must be true throughout the federal family, and especially so for Dr. Tom Price and Scott Pruitt, the people who will occupy the positions of secretary of health and human services (HHS) and administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Similarly, political leadership in both agencies’ offices of general counsel and offices of civil rights must be individuals charged by the president and demonstrably committed to make the elimination of health disparities a top administration priority.
Make Efficient Use of Interagency Working Groups
Without any additional federal expenditures, the new president can strengthen the use of the Federal Interagency Health Equity Team to develop strategies, technical assistance tools, and accountability measures that will ensure that all federal agencies and departments, as well as all recipients of federal financial assistance, comply with health civil rights statute Section 1557.29
Section 1557 and its accompanying regulations provide powerful enforcement tools for the federal government to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race by health programs and activities. However, despite the strong final rule implementing the statute, Section 1557 is underutilized against racial health inequity. Currently, no sample or reported cases involving use of this statute to combat race discrimination in health care appear on the HHS website. The president can use existing interagency working groups to significantly enhance deployment of Section 1557 as a weapon against racial discrimination—whether conscious or unconscious—that produces health disparities.
Fully Implement Executive Order 12898
More than two decades have passed since President Bill Clinton signed the historic Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice, yet the order has not been fully implemented. The new president has an opportunity to live up to the promise that in America, “no matter who you are or where you come from, you can pursue your dreams in a safe and just environment.”30 Improving Title VI civil rights enforcement is the place to start. Currently, the EPA dismisses or rejects over 90 percent of Title VI complaints, takes an average of 350 days to complete jurisdictional reviews,31 and has never in its history made a formal finding of discrimination. The EPA has never denied or withdrawn financial assistance from a recipient. And the agency’s civil rights office has cases on its Title VI docket that were filed more than 10 years ago.32 Making the promise of this executive order a reality will help reduce health disparities suffered by black Americans.
In sum, the new president can, by reducing the inequality that separates blacks and whites, not only improve economic growth, social mobility, health, and opportunity for many, but also ensure justice for all Americans.
Read more in the Brookings Big Ideas for America series »
Dayna Bowen Matthew
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy
Twitter daynamatthew3
Edward Rodrigue
Former Senior Research Assistant
Richard V. Reeves
John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair
Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
Director - Future of the Middle Class Initiative
Director - Center on Children and Families
Twitter RichardvReeves
This is a phrase used, in a different context, by Gerry Cohen in his book If you're an egalitarian how come you're so rich?
Here, “integration” means that each census tract’s demographics match those of the larger metro. This 2120 figure assumes that more integrated metropolitan areas would experience additional integration at historical rates, which isn’t how things have played out in the past.
See, for example, racist lending practices within the Federal Housing Administration during the 20th century.
Redlining furthered segregation, and continues today; see here and here. Here is a list of examples of redlining in the past few years. Another example: Wisconsin’s largest bank, Associated Bank, just settled with HUD over discriminatory lending. Now they have to finance $200 million in home loans in minority census tracts, fork over $10 million in down-payment assistance, open four new offices in minority neighborhoods, and spend $1.4 million on marketing to these underserved communities.
See here and here. Even fairly small differences in the kinds of communities people prefer to live in can have significant aggregate effects, as Thomas Schelling's work famously showed, especially in his book Micromotives and Macrobehavior.
One example Hannah-Jones provides: “New Orleans…. has continued to receive grants after the Justice Department sued it for violating that Fair Housing Act by blocking a low-income housing project in a wealthy historic neighborhood.”
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that the uninsured rate among black non-Hispanics dropped by more than 50%, from 14.3% to 7.0% because of the Affordable Care Act. http://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2016/03/03/20-million-people-have-gained-health-insurance-coverage-because-affordable-care-act-new-estimates
Lindy Washburn, “Medical Mystery Endures: Black Babies at Twice Risk of Whites for Death, Study Indicates,” Medical Press (March 2, 2011) (available here: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-03-medical-mystery-black-babies-whites.html).
Laudan Y. Aron, (August 26, 2013) “Despite Fifty Years of Improvements in Infant Mortality, Large Black-White Gap Remains Unchanged,” Urban Wire: Poverty, Vulnerability and the Safety Net. (available here: http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/despite-fifty-years-improvements-infant-mortality-large-black-white-gap-remains-unchanged).
S. Jay Olshansky, et al., (2012). Differences in Life Expectancy Due to Race and Educational Differences are Widening, and Many May Not Catch Up, Health Affairs 31(8):1803-1813.
Justin B. Dimick, et al., (2013). Black Patients are More Likely to Undergo Surgery at Low Quality Hospitals in Segregated Regions, Health Affairs (Millwood)< 32(6):1046-1053; Laurent G. Glance, et al. (2013).
Popescu, (2011). Differences in Admitting Hospital Characteristics for Black and white Medicare beneficiaries with Acute Myocardial Infarction. Circulation 123(23):2710-2716 (Differences in hospital quality, which may be due in part to zip code differences, may contribute to disparities).
Kevin Fiscella and others, “Inequality in Quality: Addressing Socioeconomic, Racial, and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care,” JAMA 283, no. 19 (2000), 2579–84.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “2015 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report and 5th Anniversary Update on the National Quality Strategy,” AHRQ Publication no. 16-0015 (Rockville, Md.: Department of Health and Human Services, April 2016).
Bianca DiJulio and others, “Kaiser Family Foundation/CNN Survey of Americans on Race” (Washington, D.C.: Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2015).
James Krieger and Donna L. Higgins, “Housing and Health: Time Again for Public Health Action,” in Urban Health: Readings in the Social, Built, and Physical Environments of U.S. Cities, edited by H. Patricia Hynes and Russ Lopez (Burlington, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009), 106.
Liam Downey and Brian Hawkins, “Race, Income, and Environmental Inequality in the United States,” Social Perspectives 51, no. 4 (2008): 759–81.
R. Williams and C. Collins, “Racial Residential Segregation: A Fundamental Cause of Racial Disparities in Health,” Public Health Report 116, no. 5 (2001): 404–16.
Angela Hilmers, David C. Hilmers, and Jayna Dave, “Neighborhood Disparities in Access to Healthy Foods and Their Effects on Environmental Justice,” American Journal of Public Health 102, no. 9 (2012): 1644–54.
Dylan Matthews, “The Black/White Marijuana Arrest Gap, in Nine Charts,” Washington Post Wonkblog, June 4, 2013.
Sandro Galea, “Incarceration and the Health of Populations,” Boston University School of Public Health, March 22, 2015, www.bu.edu/sph/2015/03/22/incarceration-and-the-health-of-populations/.
Editorial Board, “Mass Imprisonment and Public Health,” New York Times, November 26, 2014.
Christopher Wildeman, “Imprisonment and (Inequality in) Population Health,” Social Science Research 41 (2011): 74–91.
Jonathan Klick and Sally Satel, The Health Disparities Myth: Diagnosing the Treatment Gap (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute Press, 2006).
Joe Palazzolo, “Racial Gap in Men’s Sentencing,” Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2013.
David Satcher and others, “What If We Were Equal? A Comparison of the Black-White Mortality Gap in 1960 and 2000,” Health Affairs 24, no. 2 (2005): 459–64.
Carrie Hanlon and Larry Hinkle, “Assessing the Costs of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: State Experience” (Rockville, Md.: Health Care Cost and Utilization Project, June 24, 2011).
Thomas A. LaVeist, Darrell J. Gaskin, and Patrick Richard, “The Economic Burden of Health Inequalities in the United States” (Washington, D.C.: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, 2009).
See, for example, Executive Order 11246, as amended by Executive Orders 113575 and 10286 and applicable regulations.
See, for example, Lisa Garcia, “President Obama’s Proclamation on Environmental Justice,” EPA blog, February 25, 2014, https://blog.epa.gov/blog/tag/executive-order-12898/.
Editorial Board, “The E.P.A.’s Civil Rights Problem,” New York Times, July 7, 2016.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Environmental Justice: Examining the Environmental Protection Agency’s Compliance and Enforcement of Title VI and Executive Order 12,898” (Washington, D.C.: September 23, 2016).
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A Banquet of Consequences: A compelling critique of all that is wrong with the world economy
Written by Contributor, 14th May 2016, 0 Comments
The essential argument of Satyajit Das’ new book is: “The 2008 crisis showed that perpetual growth is an illusion. It exposed the high debt levels, credit-driven consumption, global imbalances and excessive financialisation that underpinned an unsustainable economic model, coinciding with an emerging scarcity of energy, food and water, and increasing evidence of climate change impact.”
Jayati Ghosh, Sify Finance
The Age of Stagnation: Why Perpetual growth in Unattainable and the Global Economy is in Peril
(Marketed in the U.S. as ‘A Banquet of Consequences’)
By Satyajit Das
Published by: Tranquebar Press
Edition: Hardback Pages: 346
The essential argument of this book is neatly encapsulated in its title. Satyajit Das argues that the recent era of unprecedented economic expansion is now definitively over, and the watershed for this was the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008. In essence, his point is this: “The GFC showed that perpetual growth and progress is an illusion. It exposed the high debt levels, credit-driven consumption, global imbalances, excessive financialisation, and unfinanced social entitlements that underpinned an unsustainable economic model. The crisis coincided with an emerging scarcity of energy, food and water, and increasing evidence of the impact of climate change.” (page 285-286)
All of these problems have reached or are reaching the point of no return, that is the point when they are no longer amenable to easy or even feasible solutions. As a result, all of us have to accept the reality of a period of stagnation, or “the new mediocre”, in which fragile and volatile economic conditions will be the norm. This argument is made sharply, in clear and approachable prose, and is peppered with striking analogies and literary quotations that drive the points home in a more persuasive way than dry analytical statements. Das also makes sweeping generalisations, some of which are indeed debatable and can be contested, but much of what he says does indeed make a lot of sense.
But the overall message of gloom and doom – while compelling – is unleavened by a deep sense of history or of the specific roles played by political, social and economic configurations that need not be taken for granted as inevitable. Das takes us through a quick and somewhat racy tour over the economic landscape leading up to and subsequent to the Global Financial Crisis, noting the role played by debt-driven models of accumulation and consumption, which must inevitably end in tears. Much of this was well-known, though it has been remarkably quickly forgotten by those who matter, especially as the policy responses to the crisis across the world have been in the direction of generating more of the same.
Das is particularly frustrated by the easy money policies of low interest rates and quantitative easing that have dominated crisis responses in the advanced economies. He is upset with them not only because the stimulus from low interest rates tends to be temporary, but because “low rates create zombie economies. Weak businesses survive, directing cash flow to cover interest on loans that cannot be repaid but banks will not write off. With capital tied up, banks reduce lending to productive enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones, which account for a large portion of economic activity and employment. Firms do not dispose of or restructure unproductive investments. The creative destruction and reallocation of resources necessary to restore the economy does not occur.” (page 77) They also encourage asset bubbles, which in turn create the conditions for future crises.
All this is absolutely true, but the central problem is not that of cheap money per se as the response to the crisis, but that it is occurring in a continued context of unregulated finance that is also not directed to socially important goals – neither of which is inevitable. Das notes the significance and terrible role played by financialisation, but he does not give sufficient importance to the process of financial deregulation that made it possible, or note that this can still be reversed with sufficient political will. And this makes the consequences indeed appear, as he puts it, like the global economy in a black hole, in which “(e)xcessive levels of debt deep-seated fundamental imbalances now prevent escape from stagnation or worse.” (page 92) These depressing factors are rendered even worse, according to Das, by changes in the real economy and patterns of production and investment.
Das provides a correct critique of GDP as a false indicator of human or even economic well-being, but then proceeds to use it as the relevant indicator in much of the rest of his discussion. He finds that several processes that impinge on the real economy are combining to add to the forces of economic stagnation: technological change, trade patterns, environmental constraints, economic inequalities. These forces are then further exacerbated by the growing democratic deficits and social instability that they generate, in a vicious cycle.
Das notes that recent patterns of innovation have focused on “disruptive” technologies rather than sustainable and productive ones – those that create cheaper and poorer quality goods and services, thereby with limited long-term growth and productivity generation potential. So the cycle of technology booms and busts continues, but without the longer term and economy-wide impact of previous industrial revolutions. Das is also sceptical of the potential gains of the so-called “sharing economy” based on internet and connectivity. He points out that in reality it “relies on disintermediating existing businesses and minimising regulatory costs” (page 267) so that amateurs provide work previously done by professionals, and peer to peer brokers like Uber and Airbnb essentially reduce costs by depressing the incomes of the service providers. Therefore “the sharing economy exploits low-wage workers in a weak regulatory environment”. (page 269).
Das also exposes the myth of the rise of emerging markets, which is now rather old news even in the world of global finance, as these countries are no longer the favoured destinations they briefly were. He points to the limitations of China’s growth model, based not just on ever-increasing exports but on massive excess capacity creation increasingly financed through debt levels that are rapidly becoming unsustainable. He briefly (and it must be said, quite simplistically) outlines the problems with the growth strategies in other countries like India and Brazil. Some of his arguments read not as careful analysis so much as reiteration of trite stereotypes beloved of the international financial media, which now focus on weaknesses that they ignored during the boom.
But on a central question, that of inequality, Das is clear: “economic apartheid, in the shape of inequality, now threatens growth.” (page 227) But the rest of that chapter is somewhat weak in suggesting how it can be redressed and how such inequalities can be reversed. While he castigates Thomas Piketty for being limited only to asking for high taxes on capital and on inheritance, he himself offers no other solutions, and in other chapters he even criticises governments like those in Latin America that have taken direct and positive action, and is surprisingly wobbly on the need to curb finance and control rentier incomes much more explicitly.
On all of these issues, Das provides a clear and compelling critique of the existing system, one that can be usefully taken up to consider feasible alternative strategies (which indeed exist for each of the dilemmas he highlights). But because he does not appear to take these alternative possibilities seriously, his own thought experiment of a feasible alternative as described in his Epilogue is a stark one, unlikely to find too many takers. Instead, readers should take note of the criticisms of existing policies and economic arrangements that Das describes, to consider how these can be changed for a better future in which at least the living standards and social freedoms of the majority of the world’s poor can be improved. For that a closer look at class relations and the political economy of both policies and power in different societies and in the world economy is essential.
Renowned economist Dr Jayati Ghosh is the Chairperson at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has been a member of the National Knowledge Commission. Since 2002, she has been the Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates (IDEAS), an international network of heterodox development economists.
Tags: Books, climate change adaptation, collapse, debt bubble, debt crisis, economic recession, global economy, Global Inequality, Satyajit Das
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Warhammer (game)
Miniature wargame
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Manufacturer(s)
Setup time
Varies, depending on the size of the game, but usually around 10 to 20 minutes
Varies, depending on the size of the game, but usually around three hours
Random chance
Medium – dice rolling
Military strategy, arithmetic, spatial awareness
www.games-workshop.com
Warhammer (formerly Warhammer Fantasy Battle or just Warhammer Fantasy) is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme that simulates battles between armies from different factions. The game was created by Rick Priestley and sold by the Games Workshop company.[citation needed]
As in other miniature wargames, players use miniature models (minis) to represent warriors. The playing field is a model battlefield comprising models of buildings, trees, hills, and other terrain features. Players take turns moving their model warriors across the playing field and simulate a battle. The outcomes of fights between the models are determined by a combination of dice rolls and simple arithmetic. Though the gameplay is mostly based on medieval warfare, it incorporates fantasy elements such as wizards, dragons, and magical spells.
Warhammer was the first commercial miniature wargame designed to use proprietary models. Prior to this, miniature wargames rulesets were designed to use generic models that could be bought from any manufacturer.[citation needed]
The first edition rulebook for Warhammer was released in 1986, and the line was supported for thirty years by model releases, supplementary rulebooks, and new editions of the core rules.[1] The eighth and final edition of the core rules was released on 10 July 2010. The game is no longer supported by Games Workshop, and the last supplementary rulebook was released in 2015.[2] It was replaced later that year by Warhammer Age of Sigmar, which uses the models created for the Warhammer line in a new setting and game system.[3]
The Warhammer setting is inspired by the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Poul Anderson and Michael Moorcock.[4] The fictional background for the game was developed in rulebooks, White Dwarf magazine, Inferno! magazine, and more than 150 novels set in the Warhammer universe. Many of these novels are still in print under the Warhammer Chronicles imprint.[5]
2 The Warhammer world
3 Armies
4 Magical Lores
5 Editions
5.1 Inspiration
5.2 First edition (1983)
5.2.1 Critical reaction
5.2.2 Expansion
5.3 Second edition (1984)
5.4 Third edition (1987)
5.4.2 Reviews
5.5 4th edition (1992) and 5th edition (1996)
5.6 6th edition (2000)
5.8.1 8th edition's Expansion (2011)
5.8.1.1 Reviews
6 Future
7 Derivative games
Gameplay[edit]
Warhammer is a tabletop wargame where two or more players compete against each other with "armies" of 25 mm – 250 mm tall heroic miniatures. The rules of the game have been published in a series of books which describe how to move miniatures around the game surface and simulate combat in a "balanced and fair" manner. Games may be played on any appropriate surface, although the standard is a 6 ft by 4 ft tabletop decorated with model scenery in scale with the miniatures. Any individual miniature or group of similar miniatures in the game is called a "unit".
The core game rules are supplied in a single book, with supplemental Warhammer Armies texts giving guidelines and background for army-specific rules. Movement of units about the playing surface is generally measured in inches, and units' combat performance is dictated randomly by either the roll of a 6-sided die (a 'D6') or a 6-sided 'scatter' die. The latter is often used to generate direction, commonly alongside an 'artillery' die, for cannons, stone-throwers, and other artillery. Each unit and option within the game is assigned a point value for balancing purposes. A game will commonly have armies of 750 to 3,000 points, although smaller and larger values are possible.
The Warhammer world[edit]
Main articles: Warhammer Fantasy (setting) and List of Warhammer Fantasy novels
Warhammer is set in a fictional universe notable for its "dark and gritty" background world, which features influences from Michael Moorcock's Elric stories, and also many historical influences.
The geography of the Warhammer world closely resembles that of Earth because of manipulation by an ancient spacefaring race known as the Old Ones. This mysterious and powerful race visited the Warhammer World in the distant past. Establishing an outpost, they set about manipulating the geography and biosphere of the planet. With the assistance of their Slann servants, they moved the planet's orbit closer to its sun, and arranged the continents to their liking.
To travel between worlds, the Old Ones used portals to another dimension ("warp gates"), which they built at the north and south poles of the Warhammer World. Eventually, however, these gates collapsed, allowing raw magical energy and the daemonic forces of Chaos to pour forth into the Warhammer world. At this point, the Old Ones disappeared. Before leaving however, they had established the Lizard men (ruled over by the Slann) as their servants. In addition they had created the races of Elves, Dwarfs, Humans, Ogres and Halflings. Orcs and Goblins were not created by the Old Ones, or part of their plan, and their origin is not made clear in the setting. Beastmen and Skaven were the result of mutation from raw magical energy at this time. Eventually the Chaos Daemons were driven back by Lizardmen and Elves, with the Elves performing a great ritual to drain out the raw magic that was flowing into the world and sustaining the Daemons. Some creatures, such as Dragons and Dragon-Ogres, are stated to have existed prior to the arrival of the Old Ones.
After this, Elves and Dwarfs flourished and created mighty empires, but eventually they were set into a slow decline. A series of civil wars amongst the Elves split them into two groups – the malicious Dark Elves and righteous High Elves. A petty war between the High Elves and Dwarfs served only to diminish both races and caused the High Elves to abandon their colonies. Some of the colonists refused to leave their homes in a magical sapient forest and over time developed into the enigmatic and isolationist Wood Elves. A period of seismic activity caused by the Slann decimated the underground holds of the Dwarfs while attacks by Skaven and Goblins, who breached the Dwarf strongholds from below, only made things more desperate.
The humans were the slowest to develop, but ultimately formed several strong nations able to defend themselves from aggressors. The Nehekharan Empire (based on Ancient Egypt) was the first great human empire, but due to a curse by Nagash (the first necromancer) they became an undead faction known as the "Tomb Kings" who now dwell in The Land of the Dead (former Nehekhara). Nagash, in his efforts to find eternal life, also created the first Vampires, an entirely separate undead faction.
In the present time (according to the setting's fictional timeline) there are two prominent human nations: The Empire which is based on a combination of aspects of the Holy Roman Empire and Renaissance Germany, and Bretonnia, which is based on Arthurian legends and medieval France. Sigmar, founder of The Empire, wielded a mighty Dwarf-made Warhammer from which the name of the "Warhammer Fantasy" setting is derived. There are also numerous other nations which are fleshed out in the background information but are not represented by playable factions in the tabletop game, some of which are loosely based on real-world nations from various historical periods; examples being Estalia and Tilea which reflect medieval Spain and the Roman Empire, or Cathay to the far East that is analogous to a fantastic version of Imperial China.
The forces of disorder are often depicted as not a localised threat, but a general menace consisting of disparate factions, many of which are typically also at odds with each other. The Skaven exist in an "Under Empire" (an extensive network of tunnels beneath the planet's surface), while the war-loving Orcs and Goblins are nomadic (although they are most common in the Badlands, Southlands and Dark Lands) and regularly amass large numbers and stage raids without warning. Similarly, Ogres are most common in the Ogre Kingdoms and in the eastern Mountains of Mourn, but are depicted as unscrupulous wandering warriors who are always hungry, who sometimes hire themselves out as mercenaries to both the forces of order and disorder.
In addition to the chaos-worshiping Warriors of Chaos who live in strange Chaos Wastes north of the other faction's lands, chaos cults often arise within human and elven nations. Beastmen are depicted as mutants dwelling deep in forests and impossible to fully eradicate. Vampires and necromancers raising armies of undead are also depicted often as an internal threat. Chaos Daemons are restricted to manifesting themselves where magical energy is strongest, but this could be almost anywhere.
The 8th Edition Empire Army Book describes the Warhammer World to currently be in the year 2522 (Empire calendar), whilst the current Lizardmen Army Book puts the collapse of the warpgates at −5700 on the same calendar, thus the fictional history spans at least 8200 years.
Armies[edit]
There are a number of playable armies for Warhammer, which are representative of one or other of the factions or races that are present in the Warhammer world setting. For the first few editions of the game armies were presented in collective books like Warhammer Armies. Starting in the 4th edition individual books were released for each army.
In the 8th edition of the game, the following armies had individual army books:
During the 6th edition, the following armies had official rules available from the Games Workshop website, and were usable throughout the 6th and 7th editions. These rules have since been taken down, and they were unplayable in the 8th edition.
Chaos Dwarfs: The White Dwarf Presents army book was released during the 4th Edition as a collection of White Dwarf articles, but is still considered an official rule book. An official Chaos Dwarf army list was included in Ravening Hordes at the start of the 6th edition. The army list was included in the reference section of the 7th edition, but has been removed from the 8th edition rulebook. This model line was discontinued at the end of the 5th edition and is no longer supported by the main rules. Forge World released Chaos Dwarf models under their Warhammer Forge line.
Dogs of War: The official army book was released during the 5th Edition; Regiments of Renown and Mercenary Army lists for the 6th edition were released on the website. Regardless, some of this line remained available for direct order from Games Workshop as late as 2013.[citation needed]
Kislev: The army book was given away free with White Dwarf magazine during the 6th edition. This model line has since been discontinued and is no longer supported.
Armies that were left unsupported prior to the 6th edition:
Fimir
Magical Lores[edit]
The eight main Lores of the Warhammer world are used by multiple armies and races, and are the only Lores available to Empire and Bretonnian armies. Dwarves do not use magic at all.
Lore of Light
Lore of Metal
Lore of Death
Lore of Life
Lore of Heaven
Lore of Shadow
Lore of Fire
Lore of Beasts
While at least some of the eight main lores can be used by many armies of the Warhammer world many races have their own unique magical Lores.
Lore of High Magic (High Elves, Wood Elves and Lizardmen)
Lore of Dark Magic (Dark Elves and Wood Elves)
Lore of the Little WAAAGH (Goblins)
Lore of the Big WAAAGH (Orcs)
Skaven Spells of Ruin (Skaven)
Skaven Spells of Plague (Skaven)
Lore of the Wild (Beastmen)
Lore of Nurgle (Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos)
Lore of Slaanesh (Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos)
Lore of Tzeentch (Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos)
The Lore of the Vampires (Vampire Counts)
The Lore of Nehekhara (Tomb Kings)
Lore of the Great Maw (Ogre Kingdoms)
Former Lores:
Lore of Athel Loren (Wood Elves)
Lore of Ice (Kislev)
Editions[edit]
Throughout the eight editions of the game, the core movement, combat and shooting systems remained generally unchanged, with only minor revisions between editions. The most significant changes which ensure incompatibility between editions have been made to the magic, army composition systems, and specialist troop types.
The starter armies in the box sets have grew more detailed with each succeeding generation, and the 7th edition (2006) was the first to be titled as a scenario ("The Battle for Skull Pass") instead of just Warhammer Fantasy Battle. For example, the High Elves have appeared in the 4th edition (1992) and the 8th edition (2010); while the 4th edition only contained Spearmen and Bowmen figures (essentially, just two types of figurines) plus cardboard cutouts for the general and a warmachine,[6] the 8th edition contained a more widely varied army (including cavalry, Sword Masters, mage, and a general mounted on a griffon).[7]
Inspiration[edit]
Published in November 1981 for its second edition (1978 for the very first one), and written by Richard Halliwell and Rick Priestley, Reaper is considered the ancestor of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Reaper is more a skirmish game for up to 30 miniatures rather than a large-scale wargame.[citation needed]
First edition (1983)[edit]
The first edition, written by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell and Rick Priestley was published in 1983 as Warhammer The Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Playing Game and consists of a boxed set of 3 black and white books illustrated by Tony Ackland: Vol 1: Tabletop Battles, which contains the core rules, turn sequence, creature lists, potion recipes and features an introductory battle 'The Ziggurat of Doom'. Vol 2: Magic which explains rules for wizards of 4 different levels and the higher order arch magi. Higher level wizards have access to more powerful spells. In this system, a wizard picks his spells at the start of the game, must have the correct equipment (usually Amulets), and as he casts each one it depletes a store of 'constitution' points, until at zero points he could cast no more. Vol 3: Characters introduces 'personal characteristics' statistics, rules for roleplaying (including character advancement through experience points and statistic gains, random encounters, equipment costs, and alignment) and has a sample campaign "The Redwake River Valley".
Very little world background is given at all and the race descriptions are kept to a minimum, and most of the background given is in describing the origins of magic items. Some notable differences to later editions are the inclusion of Night Elves (later Dark Elves), the appearance of Red Goblins – and that Citadel Miniatures order codes are given.
Critical reaction[edit]
In the July 1983 edition of White Dwarf, (Issue 43), Joe Dever gave the system a positive review, saying, "If you regularly wargame with miniatures, or have been wondering what additional fun you could have from your rapidly growing collection of fantasy figures, then I recommend you check out Warhammer and let battle commence!"[8]
Chris Hunter reviewed Warhammer for Imagine magazine, and stated that "if you are looking for a mass fantasy combat system, I would recommend Warhammer; but if all you want is a fantasy role-playing game, it would perhaps be better to look elsewhere".[9]
In the May 1984 edition of Dragon (Issue 85), Katherine Kerr was not impressed, and called it "one of the most irritating new games I’ve ever read." She found the manuscript full of typographical errors, and "On top of it all, the authors have a miserable command of the English language. Their prose is even more awkward than the usual low level of gaming writing and is studded with grammatical errors." She found the game system divided between a good combat system and a poor roleplaying system, and called the effort "two separate games with a weak attempt to link them together. The first, a set of rules for tabletop battles with miniature figures, is very good; the second, pieces of a fantasy role-playing game, is embarrassingly bad."[10] In the same issue, Ken Rolston also reviewed Warhammer, and although he agreed that the rules were "hardly a model of English usage or proofreading," they were well-organised and readable. Rolston agreed with Kerr that the miniatures rules were the strong suit of the system, but he also admired the psychology rules that determined how classic fantasy racial types behave towards each other. However, he found the role-playing system to be "primitive".[11]
In the January–February 1985 edition of Space Gamer (Issue No. 72), Edwin J. Rotondaro also thought the system was divided between good miniatures rules and bad roleplaying rules. "Overall, I have to say that Warhammer is a good miniatures game, but a terrible roleplaying game. The system is flexible enough to be used as a mass combat module in most RPGs, but you have to decide whether it's worth [the price] for a set of fantasy miniatures rules."[12]
Expansion[edit]
The first edition was extended with Forces of Fantasy boxed set in 1984.
Second edition (1984)[edit]
The second edition split the rules into three rulebooks — Combat, Battle Magic and Battle Bestiary, with full-colour artwork by John Blanche. There were few substantive changes in rules, but major clarifications of the original rules were included. New rules included uses and effects of standards and musicians, flying, fortifications, fire, artillery, chariots, reserve units, specialist spellcasters, and poisons.[13]
This edition also further developed "The Known World", which was geographically and socially based upon Earth.[13]
In the June 1985 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #66), Robert Alcock called the second edition "a predictable expansion of the original", although he noted that this edition had "not ironed out all the problems." Alcock especially disliked the mechanic of "throwing a bucket full of dice to cause casualties and then find that your opponent gets most of them back with a saving throw." However, despite these issues, Alcock concluded that "Warhammer does remain the only viable set of fantasy mass battle rules", and gave the second edition an overall rating of 8 out of 10.[13]
Third edition (1987)[edit]
The Third Edition of the game was published as a single hardback book in 1987. It had the most in-depth and complex movement and manoeuvre system of any edition. Other changes included a variety of new specialist troop types, rules for war machines and a more finely tuned system of representing heroes and wizards. It kept the same magic system and open-ended army design system as the first two editions. However, by this stage the use of army lists was very much encouraged. Army lists for this edition were published in a separate book called Warhammer Armies in 1988; until then, use of the 2nd Edition's Ravening Hordes list was encouraged. This is partly because it was the last edition published before Games Workshop took a different commercial approach, leading to competition from former GW employees in the briefly published competing Fantasy Warlord.
The third edition was expanded with the Realm of Chaos: tome one, Slaves To Darkness, followed by tome two, The Lost and the Damned; and Warhammer Siege books.
In the February 1989 edition of Dragon (Issue 142), Ken Rolston gave the third edition high praise, saying, "If you’re serious about fantasy tabletop gaming, Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB) is probably your only choice. Rolston liked the "fast-paced" rules system and developed fantasy background, and his only reservations were about presentation: "The text is dense and wordy. The wealth of diagrams is good, but their captions aren’t always clear. The abundance of photos, illustrations, and paintings is often visually stimulating, but many of these graphics are of marginal or negligible relevance to the accompanying text. The black-and-white photographic reproduction is surprisingly poor." He concluded with a strong recommendation: "The fantasy campaign setting is simply super. The series of revised editions, supplements, and magazine support articles indicates that Games Workshop is interested in and capable of catering to the gamer’s appetite for new features, refined editions, and elaborated fantasy campaign materials."[14]
Reviews[edit]
Challenge #37 (1989)
4th edition (1992) and 5th edition (1996)[edit]
The fourth and fifth editions of the game, released in October 1992 and October 1996, respectively, were similar to each other but quite different from the third. The fifth edition in particular became known pejoratively as "Herohammer" because of the imbalance between the very powerful heroes, monsters and wizards in the game and blocks of troops which existed effectively as cannon fodder.[citation needed] Both editions of the game were sold as box sets containing not only the rulebooks and a variety of other play aids but also sufficient plastic miniatures to be able to play the game "out of the box". The rules underwent a re-write compared to the 3rd Edition. A completely re-worked magic system was produced which was available as a boxed expansion set. Rather than selecting spells they were drawn at random and the magic phase was based on the play of these cards, making magic a bit like a game within a game. The magic system was further expanded by the Arcane Magic box set and the magic element of the Chaos box set.
The fourth edition was also the first edition to enforce the use of army lists in the form of separate Warhammer Army books for the separate racial groupings. These books prescribed for each army a limited number of unit choices; specifying limits on the number of points that could be spent on "characters", troops and monsters and so on. The books also included background on the particular army, illustrations and photographs showing models and have remained with the game though updated with the rules.
The magic system was reworked and re-released in December 1996 as a single box covering the magic for all the armies. The magic was "toned down" (WD204) with spell casting limited to the players' own turn. The multiple card packs of the Colours of Magic system was replaced by 20 Battle Magic spell cards but the Colour Magic spells were in the rule book for players to use if they wanted.
Several boxed campaign packs were produced, Tears of Isha for example, gave a campaign for High Elves and included a card "building" to assemble. Likewise, the Orc and Goblin themed campaign Idol of Gork included card idols of the Orc deities Gork and Mork. The others were Circle of Blood (Vampire Counts vs Bretonnians), Grudge of Drong (Dwarves vs High Elves) and Perilous Quest (Bretonnians vs Wood Elves).
The fourth edition featured High Elves versus Goblins. The fifth edition, released in 1996, re-introduced the Bretonnian forces, which had been left out of the 4th edition, and re-worked the Slann heavily to create the Lizardmen armies.
In 1997, the fifth edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Miniatures Rules of 1996.[15]
6th edition (2000)[edit]
The sixth edition, released in 2000, was also published as a box with soft-cover rulebook and miniatures (Orcs and Empire). The Rulebook was also available for separate sale, hard-cover in the first printing and soft-cover after that.[16] After the fifth edition, this edition put the emphasis back on troop movement and combat: heroes and wizards were still important but became incapable of winning games in their own right. There was also an all-new magic system based on dice rolling.
The seventh edition rules were released on 9 September 2006. It was available in two forms: as a single hardback rulebook for established gamers and as a complete boxed set game complete with plastic miniatures (Dwarfs and Goblins), The Battle for Skull Pass supplement book and a soft-cover rulebook that has less artwork and background material than the hardback version. The smaller rulebook from the boxed set was approximately half the size of the large book both in size of the cover and page count. The "Basic Rules" and "Advanced Rules" sections of both books were identical in text, layout, illustrations, credits, page numbering and ISBN. The two books had different front pieces and the larger rulebook has two extensive addition sections "The Warhammer World" (68 pages) and "The Warhammer Hobby" (56 pages) plus slightly expanded appendices.[17]
According to the official Games Workshop webpage, the 8th edition of Warhammer was made available for pre-order on 14 June 2010 and was released 10 July 2010.
The new starter set named Island of Blood contains facing armies of High Elves and Skaven. A condensed mini-rulebook, as well as 10 standard dice, one scatter and one artillery die, two 18 inch rulers, and three blast templates are included in the box.
On Friday 23 July 2010, Games Workshop began posting an "unboxed" series detailing the contents of the new game box called "A Blog of Two Gamers"[18]
The first army to be introduced to the 8th edition was Orcs and Goblins. They are one of the most popular Warhammer Fantasy armies, but their release in the 8th edition was not totally expected, as at the time there were four (Dwarfs, Wood Elves, Tomb Kings and Bretonnia) Warhammer army books which had not been updated since the 6th edition. The Dwarf, Wood Elf and Tomb Kings army books have since been replaced with newer versions. The Skaven and bretonnians armybook however, still has not been updated since the 7th edition.
8th edition's Expansion (2011)[edit]
The 8th edition was extended with Storm of Magic 'supplement' in 2011 (an expansion that features rules for using more destructive magic and monsters). Another one was released, called Blood in the Badlands shortly afterwards (it included some special scenarios and introduced rules for siege warfare). In 2013 Triumph and Treachery (an expansion that allows multi-player games of between 3 and 5 players) and Sigmar's Blood (a 5 scenario short campaign between Empire and Vampire Counts following the crusade led by Volkmar to destroy Mannfred von Carstein) were released. Another series of five books in 2014–15, entitled The End Times, saw the appearance of every major character of the setting. The last book Archaon described the end of the Warhammer world.
Casus Belli (v4, Issue 15 - Jun/Jul 2015)[19]
Future[edit]
In 2019 it was announced that Games Workshop is working on Warhammer: The Old World, a new wargaming line using the Warhammer setting.[20] The released map[21] suggest that it takes place in the past of the setting.[citation needed] Concept art featuring units for Kislev has been released.[22] Development is expected to take three or more years, so it is not expected to be released before 2022.[23]
Derivative games[edit]
Games based on the core Warhammer mechanics and rules include:
Warhammer Ancient Battles (often referred to as "WAB" and sometimes Warhammer Historical). Intended to simulate armies of the real world of the Ancient and Medieval periods.
A science fiction based skirmish wargame using similar rules was developed as Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader by Games Workshop and released in 1987. Originally using a minor variation of the 2nd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules, the two games have subsequently taken different development paths. This has since developed into the separate Warhammer 40,000 setting.
The first edition of Blood Bowl uses the same basic turn system and character statistics as Warhammer to simulate a fantasy American football game. Rules for ranged combat applied to ball throwing. Since the second edition of Blood Bowl the game has taken its own development path. A card game inspired by the game has also been developed.[24]
Games Workshop released a skirmish scale wargame set in the world of Warhammer called Mordheim. It is set in the destroyed city of Mordheim. It uses the same basic rules as the 5th edition of Warhammer, but modified to support activation of individual models in a small gang. It also has a campaign system which you use to improve your warband as they gain experience.
The Warhammer Fantasy Battles rules led to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in 1986, again using the same statistics, although presented as percentiles rather than 1–10 to give more detail and differentiation between characters than is required in a wargame. In 2005 Black Industries released a second edition and Fantasy Flight Games now owns the rights to the 2nd edition game. In 2009 Fantasy Flight Games discontinued active support for the second edition due to the release of the 3rd edition.
Dark Heresy (another Role-playing game) was released by Black Industries in 2008 using a variation of the 2nd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The line was transferred to Fantasy Flight Games, which then released Rogue Trader (2009), Deathwatch (2010), Black Crusade (2011), and Only War (2013), each using close variants of the Dark Heresy engine.
Games Workshop release Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game (1985) was clearly derived from the same percentile mechanics as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
Inquisitor is a detailed, percentage based miniatures game set in the derivative Warhammer 40K setting. The mechanics fall somewhere between Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1E and Warhammer 40K.
Games based on the Warhammer setting, but not sharing the rules, include:
Warmaster, representing very large-scale, epic battles. Warmaster uses smaller models than Warhammer using 10 mm as opposed to 28 mm, with different rules regarding troop movement and combat.
In 1987, GW released a board game Chaos Marauders[25]
In 1989, GW released another board game, Advanced HeroQuest[26]
In 1993, Games Workshop released a naval wargame set in the world of Warhammer called Man O' War.
In 1990, Games Workshop released a strategic wargame of empire building, Mighty Empires, intended both as a stand-alone game and as a way to manage a campaign of miniature battles. This was followed in 1991 by Dragon Masters, an introductory game reusing some Mighty Empires assets in which players take the role of competing Elven princes in Ulthuan.[27]
In 1995 the boardgame Warhammer Quest was released. Based upon the Warhammer Fantasy Battle system it shared many of the same combat mechanics as well as the setting, while building upon the previous game Advanced Heroquest. Warhammer Quest was followed by two expansions, Lair of the Orc Lord and Catacombs of Terror, nine Character Packs and several Card Packs.[28]
Warhammer Fantasy Battle has been adapted as computer games: the 1995 Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, its 1998 sequel Warhammer: Dark Omen, Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and the MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning which was released on 18 September 2008.
Chaos in the Old World has been released (2009)[29]
On 1 October 2011, Games Workshop released the one-off game, Dreadfleet.
Fantasy Flight Games' Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition is a new game engine not derived from the earlier game mechanics. It was released in 2009.
Warhammer Quest card game has been released (2015)[30]
Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide is a first person shooter video game developed and published by Fatshark that was released on 23 October 2015. A sequel titled Warhammer: Vermintide 2 was released on 8 March 2018.
Total War: Warhammer is a turn-based strategy real-time tactics video game developed by the Creative Assembly and published by Sega that was released on 24 May 2016. It was followed by a sequel that was released on 28 September 2017.
Warhammer computer games
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^ "Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Rules & Compendiums FREE!". Bell of Lost Souls. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
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^ Kerr, Katherine (May 1984). "Warhammer FRP falls flat". Dragon (review). TSR, Inc. (85): 68.
^ Ken, Rolston (May 1984). "Advanced hack-and-slash". Dragon (review). TSR, Inc. (85): 68.
^ Rotondaro, Edwin J. (January–February 1985). "Capsule Reviews". Space Gamer. Steve Jackson Games (72): 34–35.
^ a b c Goldberg, Eric (June 1985). "Open Box". Ares. Simulations Publications, Inc. (7): 6.
^ Ken, Rolston (February 1989). "Role-playing Reviews – 'Warhammer'". Dragon (review). TSR, Inc. (142): 34–39.
^ "Origins Award Winners (1996)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007.
^ Priestley, Rick; Tuomas Pirinen (2002). Warhammer. Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-051-X.
^ Cavatore, Alessio (2006). Warhammer. Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-759-X.
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^ https://rpggeek.com/rpgissuearticle/175363/warhammer-battle
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^ "Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game". BoardGameGeek.
^ "Chaos Marauders". BoardGameGeek.
^ "Advanced Heroquest". BoardGameGeek.
^ "Dragon Masters". BoardGameGeek.
^ "Warhammer Quest". BoardGameGeek.
^ "Chaos in the Old World". BoardGameGeek.
^ "Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game". BoardGameGeek.
Alcock, Robert (June 1985). "Open Box: Warhammer (2nd Edition)". White Dwarf (review). Games Workshop (66): 7. ISSN 0265-8712.
Priestley, Rick (1988). Warhammer Siege. Games Workshop. ISBN 1-869893-44-1.
Priestley, Rick; Bill King; Andy Chambers (1992a). Warhammer Rulebook. Games Workshop. from Warhammer (4th edition) boxed set.
Priestley, Rick; Andy Chambers (1992b). Warhammer Battle Bestiary. Games Workshop. from Warhammer(4th edition) boxed set.
Priestley, Rick (1996a). Warhammer Battle Book. Games Workshop. ISBN 1-869893-97-2. from Warhammer(5th edition) boxed set.
Priestley, Rick (1996b). Warhammer Rulebook. Games Workshop. ISBN 1-872372-04-X. from Warhammer(5th edition) boxed set.
Pirinen, Tuomas; Nigel Stillman (1998). Warhammer Siege. Games Workshop. ISBN 1-872372-51-1.
Warhammer Skirmish. Games Workshop. 2002.
Warhammer End Times Nagash. Games Workshop. 2014.
Warhammer End Times Glotkin. Games Workshop. 2014.
Warhammer End Times Khaine. Games Workshop. 2014.
Warhammer End Times Thanquol. Games Workshop. 2014.
Warhammer End Times Archaon. Games Workshop. 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Warhammer.
Games Workshop Creators of the games Warhammer
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Biffle Salvages 20th-Place Finish after Being Collected in a Lap Three Accident
Monday, Jul 06 1337
The July 4th weekend at Daytona International Speedway proved challenging for Biffle and his team. A wreck early in practice was severe enough for the team to pull out the backup Cheez-It Ford. As if one wreck wasn’t enough, after a rain delayed start of the Coke Zero 400 Biffle got collected in an accident just three laps into the race. The team made the necessary repairs and Biffle was in contention for a solid finish until being collected in the final lap accident, resulting in a 20th-place finish.
Biffle took to the track in the first of two practice sessions on Friday in his No. 16 Cheez-It Ford. Just a few laps in things got dicey up ahead and Biffle wound up collected in the melee. The damage resulted in the No. 16 team having to pull out the backup car. Despite July Daytona heat, the team got the backup car ready in time to make some laps in final practice.
The start of the Coke Zero 400 was delayed around five hours for rain. Biffle started 25th, but just three laps in got collected in an accident on the track. Despite multiple pit stops for repairs, Biffle was able to remain on the lead lap in his Cheez-It Ford.
Aerodynamics are crucial to Superspeedway racing and after the damage the team did the best they could to fix their Ford. Over the course of the race the No. 16 Cheez-It Ford had good balance, but was lacking aero speed.
Biffle was poised to salvage a decent finish as the field headed into a green-white-checkered finish. A giant wreck unfolded as the field slid across the finish line. Biffle was sliding sideways in the No. 16 Cheez-It Ford and made it across the finish line for a 20th-place finish.
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