The Old World is Finally here! Nearly nine years after the finale of the End Times and four years since the announcement that square bases were coming back, it’s here. Warhammer: The Old World is a nostalgic blast from the past and a masterclass in classic miniature wargaming design.

A little background about your authors today- Dan has been playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles since 6th edition back in 2002 and started with Beastmen. Over the years he’s tried out many armies (and borrowed more to play one-off games) including Orcs and Goblins, Warriors of Chaos, Tomb Kings, High Elves, Skaven, Ogre Kingdoms, Daemons of Chaos, Empire, and probably more. His current collection consists of High Elves, Skaven, and Ogres on square bases, and Beastmen and Khorne and Nurgle Daemons on rounds (yay for conversion movement trays!). He’s also played a lot of 40K over the years and dabbled with AoS a few times. Warmachine/Hordes, Star Wars Legion, Confontation, X-Wing, and tons and tons of Marvel: Crisis Protocol have also come across the gaming table.

Taylor was roped into this crazy miniatures world by Dan and his brother Timmy way back in High School. Taylor started miniature gaming with Warhammer Fantasy 6th (buying Timmy’s Wood Elves), and grew to love it to almost obsession all the way through 8th, and even a smidge of Age of Sigmar. Taylor’s armies over the years were varied, from one ADHD obsession to another. Wood Elves, Night Goblins, Dwarfs, Ogres, and even a smidge of Vampire Counts. Taylor once bought the Skaven book for 8th edition, then promptly had a coronary looking at the amount of minis he’d need to buy. Taylor dabbled in 40k around 6th edition after much hipster resistance because “FaNtAsY iS bEtTeR!” then promptly fell in love with that as well (MOAR DAKKA!) Taylor then expanded out of GW games with Warmachine (Clockwork Jacks go TICKTOCKTICKTOCK), MCP, Shatterpoint, Legion, X-Wing and some others that aren’t important enough to remember. He’s an avid gamer, whose addictions range from Minecraft to Morrowind to [ANOTHER GAME THAT STARTS WITH M]!

First Impressions

Dan’s First Impressions: Before I got my hands on the physical rulebook, I watched a ton of YouTube videos of content creators that got advance copes. Ash from Guerilla Miniatures and Steve and Luka from Mountain Miniatures were a great point to get some of the major changes to the game were. Luckily, playing a few editions of WFB over the years, I was coming in with a lot of the basic information, but a lot of things have changed. After Taylor and Tim brought me back a book from the Las Vegas Open (frontlinegaming.org, use code Professionalcausal for a discount!) I got to flip through and check all the specifics.

I started with Special Rules, as units seem to have more of these than in the past, many are new, and many are changed. Check out the third episode of “Beards, Ears, and Skulls” our Old World podcast for our discussion on highlighted Special Rules. Overall here I’m very happy. Some of the game-breaking special rules like Stubborn have remained mostly unchanged, but it is much less common than it was in 8th edition. The inclusion of entirely new rules helps to differentiate similar units. Like the new Counter Charge rule with my High Elves, Dragon Princes as elite cavalry have this, so can react to being charged by charging right back! Meanwhile, the Core cavalry unit, Silver Helms, don’t have this rule, making them more different from each other than they’ve ever been. There are a few dozen of these rules and they just take a bit of time and experience to memorize.

Taylor’s First Impressions: Looks like Fantasy’s BACK on the menu boys! MAN am I excited to put squares on the table again! Nothing quite like the rank and file to really bring me back to summers in High School, playing games in the Dragon (beardeddragongames.online) with no AC. Chugging Powerades (not a sponsor) and eating terrible Chinese food!

This book is, honestly, one of the more well laid out rulebooks that I’ve had the pleasure of reading! Where there’s a reference to another rule, there’s a page number in parenthesis. The Index makes sense how it’s grouped together. The summary in the back of the book is USEFUL. And OH MY GOODNESS is this bad boy pretty to look at! This BRB (Big Rule Book) is a work of art, with it’s sepia homages to editions past, as well as the glorious old artwork.

One of my ABSOLUTE favorite overall changes in this edition is the staying power of units. I’m no longer scooping up minis in droves that haven’t been able to do anything the whole game. My massive 500 point unit with 2 characters isn’t being overrun off the table because of one lousy combat (most likely…). ARMOR actually MATTERS! Minis are lasting longer (heh), and I’m very here for it.

Our First Game

Dan and Taylor got a 1000 point game in a few days after getting their hands on the books and they had a blast! The game took three hours, but that was due to a lot of time spent looking up and double checking rules. They had High Elves versus Dwarfs, and it was a classic match up.

Dan’s High Elf List:

Noble with Full Plate Armor, Barded Elven Steed, Giant Blade, Seed of Rebirth, Pure of Heart Honor

8 Silver Helms with Shields and Full Command

8 Silver Helms with Shields and Full Command

5 Dragon Princes with Drake Master (Champion) and Musician

2 Tiranoc Chariots

6 Swordmasters

I was going for an all-cavalry list, but ended with points left over for a small unit of Swordmasters (I had no more cavalry models to increase the unit sizes, not yet!).

Overall the list worked well and did what it needed to do. Other than an Organ Gun taking my Dragon Princes down to just the Champion before they were able to charge, the elves performed admirably. We spent a lot of time in combat, naturally, and got a lot of experience with the new Break Test results. My Silver Helms with the Nobel got stuck in against dwarf warriors and a Runesmith, each pushing the other back and Falling Back in Good Order. At no point did anyone full break from combat, but the new literal back-and-forth of combat was great and added another tactical element.

Twice one unit in the combat Fell Back in Good Order (FBiGO) and I had the choice to reform my Silver Helms and charge into the remains of the Hammerers (with the BSB Thane in the picture above), or stay in formation, assuming the dwarfs would catch me and continue the combat. Both times I stayed and accepted the results, but it was so nice to have the choice- and to be able to charge again with lances! The new combat results adds a new layer to the game that I love and I can’t wait to see more of it. One day risking a reform after FBiGO will pay off big time, allowing a charge in a flank or rear of another unit and make a big difference- something that couldn’t be done before! I think this will make for a more dynamic game and keep things from building up in the middle with a few big combats.

Even though the game took much longer than 1000 points should, we had a blast and were fans of just about every rule change. Typing this up now, I can’t think of a single change I don’t like, or at least one that I don’t understand why they changed it that way. We did run into a hiccup when trying to decide if Taylor’s Hammerers could charge around his Organ Gun, but we decided that now that a wheel is counted in the movement needed, he didn’t roll high enough. We need to check into that one again.

Being able to take units of chariots outside of Tomb Kings was a blast. Even just two Tiranoc Chariots can pack a punch. They charged to Taylor’s big block of Hammerers, along with the lone Dragon Prince Champion, and their Impact Hits had a huge impact on the combat. It helped that I rolled well and they do D6 hits each, but clearing out most or all of the Fighting Rank of Hammerers with their +2 Strength, AP-2 weapons, was absolutely necessary to stay alive for at least a round. Due to their Stubborn Special Rule, the Hammerers held on no problem, and demolished the chariots in the second round. The unit didn’t have much left and I got 25% of their points as Victory Points at the end, mostly due to the Impact Hits of the chariots.

Sound off in the comments, what are you impressions so far? At this time, having read through most of the armies and the rulebook, I honestly feel like this is the best version of Warhammer fantasy yet. Even my Beastmen look good!

Taylor’s Dwarf List:

Dwarf Thane BSB w/ Shield, Rune of Iron and Rune of Might

Runesmith w/ Great Weapon and Rune of Spellbreaking

10 Thunderers w/ Full Command

18 Warriors w/ Shields and Full Command

16 Hammerers w/ Full Command

Bolt Thrower w/ Rune of Skewering

Organ Gun

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with this list, so I decided to just try out as much different things as possible. As a dwarf player, I’ve always loved the idea of Organ Guns so I knew I needed to use one. I’m very glad that they’ve decided Organ Guns are too new to have runes inscribed on them, as Flaming Attack Organ Guns with a reroll to the Artillery Die was WAY too much. Also I wanted to give a Bolt Thrower a try with the Rune of Skewering. I knew Dan was a fan of Cavalry, little did I know he was going ALL cav, so the rune was a great idea…if the Bolt Thrower would’ve actually rolled a hit. 3 shots, 3 misses all game!

I’m super impressed with the Dwarf’s ability to stay on the table! They’ve been a hardy force for a long time, but the new changes to Break Tests make them even harder to move. They are the Rock and Stone of this game! Even losing combat isn’t an issue when you FBiGO 2d6″ take the highest -1. This will allow for a lot of flank charges and such if you play your moves right. I’m even more eager to run my all combat Dwarfs again!

Dwarf shooting is still king however. Their 3″ M makes charges VERY difficult, especially against a force like High Elves. Your tactic needs to change to counter maneuvers against foes like Elves, Ogres, and Cavalry, which I just didn’t have the number of units to do. Adding some Miners and Rangers would’ve helped this list SO much, or just digging straight into shooting (which isn’t my Dwarfy style…).

I’m eager to see what else the Dwarfs have to offer me while we go through our Slow Grow campaign! My 500 points are ready to chew through some Rats and Skelly Bois!

Final First Thoughts

If you’re an old grognard that played through multiple editions of WFB, it’s time to dust off those minis and get some new movement trays! Warhammer Fantasy is back and better than ever. If you’re knew to the land of squares, then get to your local game store or beardeddragongames.online and get some new minis to paint up! We’re already planning on how to expand the armies we have and to add new ones, and luckily most armies available have minis on shelves now that just need square bases! Make sure to join the Discord and hop into our Slow Grow Campaign we’re starting February 2024! Dan is working on Skaven that haven’t seen the light of day in years, and Taylor is focusing on painting up part of his massive Dwarf throng.

Next time we’ll take a look at parts of the game we didn’t include in our first try, like Magic, Monsters, Fear/Terror, and more. Let us know what you’d like to see in our blogs about Warhammer: The Old World.

For more things Warhammer Fantasy, make sure to check out A Grim Podcast of Perilous Adventure, our Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Actual Play of The Enemy Within Campaign.