‘Warhammer: The Old World’- How To Fix Infantry

Can the footsloggers of the world be saved in Warhammer: The Old World? Here’s how to fix Infantry.

The other week I took at look at some of the biggest issues the game is facing, rules wise. High up on that list is the fact that infantry, in particular, ranked up infantry, just isn’t good or relevant to the game right now. Now, I’m sure to some of you, this isn’t an issue, and everything is working fine. If so, there is no need to continue on! But I think most players would agree that it’s not ideal. While there are some exceptions, Unbreakable infantry can be good, Skirmishing infantry is useful and some ranged infantry is OK, most ranked up infantry just doesn’t have a place. That’s pretty tragic in a rank-and-flank game as it removes most of the ranking and lot of the flanking. So today, take a look at several ways to fix infantry, and what I would do.

The Infantry Problem

So what is the issue with ToW infantry right now?  Well, with only a few exceptions, infantry are simply too slow and lack good mobility. They also tend to be less durable and have a lower damage output then almost anything in the game. In the past this was balanced out somewhat by having a high static combat res, however ToW has nerfed this. All of this has led to units that just don’t have a viable place on the tabletop. When I see ranked-up infantry in a game’s meta right now, I tend to just see free points. Every other unit class simply has massive advantages over them.

This is particularly the case when it comes to the classic cavalry/monster vs infantry match up. In most cases the cavalry/monster will get the charge. While infantry CAN charge, it’s much harder to pull off, and rare. The cavalry will then strike first and either decimate or completely wipe out the front rank of the infantry. In many cases the infantry will get few to no attacks back and fail to hurt their attacks. They will then most likely either break or fall back in good order.  If they break, its GG. If they fall back in good order the attacker will pursue and count as charging and the cycle will repeat.

Thus while ranked infantry can be fun and good vs other ranked infantry once they run into anything else they tend to get owned. Since cavalry and monsters are widely available,  infanry will run into these things. This leaves very little incentive to even take infantry in the first place.

3 Methods of Attack To Fix Infantry

While there are a lot of things you can do fix infantry, they tend to fall into three categories:

1. Make infantry more deadly.
2. Make other things less deadly to infantry.
3. Build up infantry in a way that gives them a viable roll outside of straight combat damage.

Now for myself, I don’t like the first way all that much.  I think it tends to have a lot of follow-on effects and that the game doesn’t need to be more deadly. It’s also pretty hard to balance with making them more deadly to non-infantry without making infantry vs infantry fight just blenders of blood where both sides explode.  But I do think there is some more merit in the other options. When looking for fixes, I also tend to gravitate towards easy and simple fixes that change the least rules. So what are some examples?

Bring Back “Step Up”

Now I’ve seen a lot of people push for this idea. It’s to bring back a version of the Step Up rule from 8th Edition fantasy. Basically it worked like this. Right now when a model in the front rank is killed another model “steps up” to replace them. Currently, a model that steps up cannot make any attacks. However under the 8th Edition “Steps Up” rule these models could attack. Basically, this means as long you have models left alive in the unit your front rank will always be able to attack, no matter how many the charging enemy killed.

It’s A Fix I Don’t Like

Certainly this would make infantry more deadly as it would allow them to strike back against attackers and charging enemies. This is likely to account for more kills. And if that is your goal, then it’s well and good. However I’m personally not a fan of this fix. For starters, I think it takes way to much out of the tactics in the game. Maneuvering to the get the charge and strike first is a huge part of the game and a core tactic. Step Up replaces that with simply wanting larger units so you can both fight. It’s also a rule that simply makes the game more deadly, without really addressing the issues.

Now some argue, you could have it work only for infantry or when infantry fight non-infantry. But to me that’s even worse. Not only does it have the above issues but you’ve not made a super complex rule that only applies sometimes and in certain situations, plus is a bit hard to rationalize. Indeed, most of the variation of this rule I’ve seen proposed end up being quite complex, in an already complex game. So for me, adding Step Up is not the fix.

How I’d Fix Infantry – Their Role

So how would I go about fixing infantry? Well, the core of it comes down to their role for me. See the thing is… infantry probably should lose a lot of fights. They are often the cheapest and worst troops in the game. It make sense that they will get charged by faster units. It makes sense for them to often get beaten. After all when my 100 pt unit of Goblins gets charged by a 400 pt unit of knights it should lose that fight! But that doesn’t mean that infantry shouldn’t have a role, and we can see it by looking at the infantry in the game that is good. Namely this is Undead infantry that works by being able to absorb charges, hold and then use numbers (including coming back to life) to chew through a stalled enemy.

So that is how I would approach the role of ranked up infantry. They should get charged and lose the initial fight. Then it becomes a question of if they can hold, or if they break. If they break the enemy has succeeded and pushes through. However if they hold they should now have a chance to wear the enemy now and overwhelm them.

Some Small Changes for Infantry

So, I’d start with three small changes at first to see what effect they had:

1. Increase the base rank bonus you can claim by 1 from 2 to 3 for most infantry and from 3 to 4 for horde. This gives large blocks a better advantage vs the enemy.
2. Change the +1 bonus for being in close order. I would say that only the largest single unit in close order in the combat gets this bonus.
3. I would change lances to only work on the first round of combat.

What Effect Would This Have?

So what does this do? Well, it switches the static close combat resolution back in favor of large blocks of infantry. Right now, for instance, your normal fully ranked up infantry unit will have a +4 combat res (two ranks, banner, close order). A monsters will have a +1 and a cavalry unit a +2/+3. Against a large monster the infantry only start at a +3 and that is trivial for for the monster to overcome. Cavalry are often almost equal. This would switch the infantry to a +5 vs  monsters and likely a +4 vs cav. Unless the enemy does very well the infantry will likely still lose, but by a narrow margin. It also opens up the chance that a monster will just flub and lose.

It also I think better accounts for close order than the current rules. I mean why should two five model units in close order get more of a bonus than one large ranked up 30 model unit? I think these changes would push you towards larger ranked up bonus. Dropping the lance to only being used on the first turn would also help fight the doom cycle of infantry losing every combat.

With this in place the infantry are much more likely to hold from the initial attack, but still suffer a lot. However on subsequent rounds the enemy cav will now be fighting with reduced effectiveness (should they be lance armed). Leading to less kills and more infantry attacks back. You may now see the tables start to turn. I think this would be a great start.

Other Infantry Equipment Changes?

I think there are a few other small changes I’d consider as well. The first is to bring back the old Warhammer Fantasy “parry bonus”. This allowed infantry fighting with a mundane hand weapon and shield to get a +1 to their save in combat. I think it was a nice option to  make infantry a bit more durable. It also gave you any reason to take hand weapons and shields. As it stands now, for more armies, that combo is simply worse than any other weapon option you can take. A few armies do have special rules to boost hand weapons, but they still normally end up being worse. This is something I’d consider.

I think I’d also be open to making spears a bit better, especially vs cavalry. Historically spears are a strong counter to cavalry, or being charged in the front in general. It would be rare to see cavalry make a frontal charge vs a firm spear wall. In the game currently, this isn’t really reflected. Spears do allow you to fight in an extra rank, but most of the time this has little effect as you either still lose too many men or your attacks are just too weak. So maybe giving them more buffs when being charged by enemy cavalry. Or do you do something interesting, like require the enemy to make a leadership check to charge them in the front? A little something extra would be cool.

Missions?

Another thing that can be done is to make infantry more central to ToW missions. This isn’t something that actually needs any rules to be changed at all. It’s also something that TO’s and other players can just… do. Right now. Missions that strongly favor ranked up infantry can give the troop type a role to play. It can be as simple as having objectives that can ONLY be claimed up core formed up infantry and bam, they have a role. But they have to be strict missions. I think merely giving infantry an advantage in scoring does do enough, being better at scoring doesn’t matter if I can just kill you and still score. It has to be missions that can only be scored by them.

Would This Fix Everything?

So, would this fix everything? I don’t know. It certainly won’t fix all the game’s issues. However, I do think it gives infantry a better role in the game and makes them a lot more viable. I think these relatively small changes do change a lot but also have a fairly minor effect on the overall game. Hopefully there isn’t a ton of unforeseen consequences. Of course, they would need some playtesting, as would any equipment changes. Maybe it won’t pan out, but I think this is where I would start.

Let us know how you would fix infantry, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.