‘Warhammer: The Old World’: Hey Games Workshop, The Game Doesn’t Need The Rule-Of-Three

Let’s keep half-baked rules like “the rule of three” out of Warhammer: the Old World.

Warhammer: The Old World has been out for just under two weeks. The game has gotten a lot of love online, and a large and growing community has sprung up around it. Tons of old Warhammer Fantasy players have returned to play a GW rank and flank game. Joining them are plenty of new players eager to get into it for the first time. While there have been some issues with stock during the release, overall, the game’s launch has gone very well. GW has done a solid job promoting and supporting the game. However, in their attempts to keep doing this, they appear to be making a critical error: trying to add the “rule-of’three” to the game. Take a look at why this rule isn’t needed and is straight-up bad for the game.

What Is The Rule Of Three?

The “Rule of Three” is a rule that was introduced during 8th Edition Warhammer 40,000. In essence, it limits an army to taking no more than three copies of the same unit. Normally there are some exceptions to this rule. Since just before the formal release of The Old World some players have advocated adding this rule into the game. Some events have also, it seems, toyed with the idea. Now GW has made the first real move in bringing it in. The first official GW Old World event will be held at Warhammer World in April. In the event package, you can see that the rule of three has been included for this event.

This version of the rule limits any units that are not already limited to 0-3. It’s a blanket rule with no other exceptions. Now the Warhammer World event using this rule is only 1500 pts and fought on the minimum table size. Take means its games are smaller than it seems normal games will be. Maybe this rule of three is only meant to apply to smaller 1500 pts games. However, that’s not how things are worded. The packet simply says it applies to matched play events. This implies that GW may try to push this rule going forward and by extension that other events and causal games will follow suit. However that would be a big mistake.

The Game Already Has Restrictions

Maybe the simplest reason that the game doesn’t need the Rule-of-Three is that it already has inbuilt restrictions. The rule was added to 40K because that game had effectively removed all or most restrictions on what you could take in an army. This led to people spamming crazy builds or building armies made exclusively of the same character. Old version of Warhammer Fantasy also had some blanket limits, such as 0-3 of a special choice and 0-2 of a rare. But that was the build-in army composition rules for the particular edition.

The Old World, on the other hand, has extensive restrictions on what you can take in an army already.  You are limited in how many points you can or must spend in various categories. You have to take a minimum number of units. Many armies have units they have to include. Many, if not most, units also have individual unit restrictions in place already. This game is not a free-for-all take whatever you want kind of affair. It’s already got a robust system of limits that the game is balanced around. If a specific unit is causing issues, place a limit on it in particular, not all the armies.

It Hurts Armies Unfairly

Another huge reason not the use the Rule of Three is that it hurts some armies a lot more than others. This is always the case with lazy blanket rules like this. Elite armies don’t get hurt a whole ton, as they often don’t take a lot of units. However, basically any army that wants to run a bunch of just simple core units, which is a great way to play the game, now can’t. Do you want to take two units of common Goblins with spears and two with bows? That seems pretty basic and not an issue, but under the Rule of Three – it’s illegal. Four units of Bretonnian Men-At-Arms? Clearly broken and needs to be stopped. Any army like this just doesn’t work under the Rule of Three.

Combined Units Show The Game Wasn’t Designed for the Rule of Three

Another big issue with the Rule of Three is how the Old World combined a lot of units together. Take Orcs & Goblins. Five units, Boyz, Arrow Boyz, Big Uns, Savage Orcs and Savage Orc Big Uns are all combined into one unit entry – Orc Mobs. Under the Rule of Three if you wanted to take one unit of each of those things, which I don’t think anyone would call spamming, you could not. That would count as five of the same unit and be illegal. You see this all over the place where units that had different options have been combined into the same unit. It’s clear this was done on purpose, and its also clear that no one would do this thinking that the Rule of Three would get applied.

You can see this very clearly in 40K, a game that does use the Rule of Three. There any units with even slightly different loadouts, such as jump packs vs not jump packs, have been split into different entries.  This has been a clear reaction to getting around the Rule of Three and the limits its places on the game. The Old World is written differently and the Rule of Three kills a ton of balanced and fun builds.

It Leads To Some Silly Things

Another argument against the Rule of Three is just all the silly situations it leads to under its current form. By limiting units without restriction to three, you actually start to end up in a lot of situations where you can take MORE of a unit that is supposed to be limited than one that isn’t. Let’s go back to Orcs & Goblins for example. In that list Night Goblins are supposed to have more restrictions on them than Common Goblins. You can take unlimited Goblin Mobs, but only one Night Goblin Mob per Night Goblin Character. However, since you can take more than three Night Goblin Characters, this actually allows you to bypass the Rule of Three with Night Goblins, but not Common Goblins. This is not the only instance where that happens.

If the Rule of Three applies at 2000 pts, then that also means that any unit that has a 0-2 per 1000 pts restriction is more common than a basic unrestricted core unit. Or take the Empire. They can take 0-3 special artillery units, such as cannons, per 1000 pts.. That means at 1500 pts you can take as many cannons as units of say crossbowmen, and in theory at 2000 pts you can take 6 units of cannons but only three of crossbows – ridiculous! It’s also a little unclear how units under the same heading work. Wood Elf Archers for instance includes sub-headings for both Glade Guard and Deep Wood Scouts. Would I be limited to three of each, three total or what? As you can see the Rule of Three leads to some really silly things.

Please Games Workshop, Trust Your Game

I’m sitting here and I’m really just asking GW to trust their own game. The Rule of Three is a knee-jerk reaction to, at this point… nothing. It’s a bad rule, and the game doesn’t need it. So far, there is zero data on The Old World. We don’t know if anything is broken or if restrictions are needed. The Rule of Three might help cut down on spam or really bad MSU. But the fact is the game already has a lot of rules and restrictions built in to stop this. Let this carefully crafted game, one with a much longer pedigree than 40K, going back 42 years to Warhammer 1st Edition in 1982, stand on it’s own for a bit. Do not deal it a mortal wound by adding in an ill thought out rule that the game was clearly not designed around.

Right now the Rule of Three doesn’t fix anything. There isn’t a broken list out there winning all the events. There have been no events. What it does do is kill off a lot of fun and totally balanced, not to mention fluffy, builds. It stifles creativity right at the launch of the game. It shows a lack of trust in the game’s rules. But this game isn’t 40K, or even 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy. It’s a new thing, and it deserves a chance to be that.

What To Do With Problems?

So what if something does become a problem, such as the Gyrocopter lists floating around? Well, first, I’d say, let’s see if they are really an issue. Personally, I don’t think the Gyrocopter list is all that great. The game has a lot of built-in ways to deal with it. No one has taken it to an event. It’s not winning a ton of games, so we don’t know if it or any lists like it are even an issue. But if it does become one, then use the systems already built into the game to fix the problem.

You know what would fix this list? An FAQ saying “0-2 Gyrocopters per 1000 pts.” There fixed. If tons of five-model Woof Elf Archer units become an issue, change that unit size to a min of 10. Targeted changes like these will always be more effective and will not lead to innocent bystanders being hit. So please, please GW, trust the game you spent four years working on. Don’t ruin it with The Rule of Three. Please.

Let us know what you think about the Rule of Three, 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.