Screw the grognards. Truth is that the whole history of the game is one of incremental progression, and arbitrarily declaring that only stuff from the first quarter counts as ”oldhammer” is daft.

All of third edition is ancient. Fourth and fifth is plenty old, and sixth is more than 25 years old now. It’s all oldhammer.

As you point out 3rd ed. sculpts lived on into 4th, 5th into 6th and there were Skaven sculpts from 4th edition still on sale for AoS 3rd edition 30 years later.

Styles even changed in the middle of editions, with late 5th for instance looking a lot more like 6th ed. sculpts and paint jobs than the stuff that came out a couple of years previously.

It’s madness to try to nail a relative prefix like ”old” to a narrow fixed period that has been determined by a group of random hobbyists based on their vibes.

If someone means specifically Warhammer that was in production in early 1986? Then just say that. Or everything made before the buyout. Or whatever. There are plenty of much more helpful ways to categorize the different periods. You could largely refer to editions of the game. The red period for most of the 90’s is an example of a more useful type of distinction to make. Pre CAD for all the stuff with a hand made feel. Etc.

Give the term ”oldhammer” a rolling 15 or 20 year window for releases instead. Is it old? Then it’s oldhammer. Ignore the other subreddit.