Creative Assembly making Warhammer game.

[Cykeisme]

Agreed, the Empire is very Roman Empire-ish (with gunpowder too, whee), but the elves, dwarves, orcs (though with a "k"), even the undead can be found in a dozen other fictional franchises.

It does have tons of unique quirks about its various factions and world that'll draw people into its web, but you need the prey to come a little closer, first. I can't think of a way to describe Warhammer Fantasy in under five minutes that'll really grab people.

WH40k simply just added "...in SPAAAAAAAAACE!!!" to all of that. And quite simply, it has the intended effect.

[Zinegata]

Agreed, the Empire is very Roman Empire-ish (with gunpowder too, whee), but the elves, dwarves, orcs (though with a "k"), even the undead can be found in a dozen other fictional franchises.

The HRE actually isn't very Roman. It's instead a state that tries (and largely fails) to claim to be the rightful successor to the actual Roman Empire. It's a gothic German Empire that was composed of dozens of little Kingdoms and Principalities (spanning from Denmark to Italy, and from the Low Countries to Poland) that were nominally united under an elected Emperor, just like Sigmar's Empire. The main change is that there's magic and fantasy creatures.

The HRE was also an empire that came into prominence in the early gunpowder age. See the Thirty Year's War for instance, where the musket and pike formations of WHFB are basically copied from.

As an aside, try playing the old computer RPG Darklands. It's set in the historical HRE of 1400 but with some fantasy elements (i.e. Alchemy works, witches exist, Saint Thomas Aquinas actually hears your prayers and is willing to rules-lawyer against the devil on your behalf). It's basically WHFB the RPG.

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Also, to expound on Vendetta's point...

Bretonnia is basically Feudal France but with Arthurian mythos (so we can probably call them Normans ). Kislev clearly takes its historical roots from the Russian and Polish lancer / steepe horse armies.

[Aaron MkII]

And Tilea is supposed to be Italy, right?

[Zinegata]

And Tilea is supposed to be Italy, right?

Yep. It's much less covered than the other nations, but what little fluff exists on Tilea clearly shows that it's modelled after the Italian City-States and the period of warring Mercenary Captains that plagued them around the Rennaisance.

WHFB also actually has analogues for pretty much all the real world nations of the Rennaisance period. For instance Estalia is basically Spain, Albion is England, Cathay for China, etc.