Five Lessons I Learned Playing ‘Warhammer: The Old World’

The Old World is a brand new game, here’s the best lessons I’ve learned playing it.

The Old World is out and its the best game GW has made in a while. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten to play a number of games against a variety of armies. Now let me just say, this game is a blast! It’s a lot of fun, and I stand by saying it’s the best game GW has made in a while. It might even be better than any edition of Warhammer Fantasy. Reading the rules of a game can show you a lot about it, but its playing that really reveals what the game is. Getting down and dirty with it on the tabletop I learn a lot of things about the game. Here are five of them.

The Hill Trap – Watch Out!

This is a classic lesson that a lot of old WFB players have learned, and likely forgotten. It’s a tactics lesson, and not directly tied into the rules, but still really important. I call this idea “the hill trap.” Players with shooting units tend to gravitate towards hills. If they see a hill, they will move to put ranged units on it. There are benefits to this, such as better LOS, more models can shoot, etc..  But hills can also be a huge trap, as seen in the picture above. Trying to put your stuff on a hill, any hill can force you to deploy your army in a bad position. It can also concentrate vulnerable units in one location.

In the first picture, the other player was drawn into the hill trap, and I was able to flank him with cavalry and take out a lot of ranged units. I’m not immune to this either. Playing against Wood Elfs, I did the same thing. I loaded ranged units onto a hill and got overrun. Hills can be great, but they can also be a trap. Be warned.

Breaking Units Is Hard

One thing that was driven in again and again in my games was how much harder it is to break units these days. In old WFB it was pretty easy. A single lost combat would often see the unit break, with a good chance of being run down. Panic could also sweep through an army, sending it running. Things are pretty different now. If a unit panics in The Old World, as long as they are above 50% of their starting strength, they will just Fall Back in Good Order and rally.

In combat as well, it’s a lot harder to break units.  Unless you outnumber the enemy two-to-one most likely they are not going to break. They will simply Give Ground or Fall Back in Good Order. This is extra true if the enemy has high LD, or is supported by a general and/or BSB. In the game shown above, none of our main units ever broke. Despite losing plenty of combats on both sides, we would always just fall back.

You Can’t Just MSU

I think the implications of how hard it is to break units is something that hasn’t really set in, with a lot of people who have not played the game yet. Looking around online, I see a lot of MSU armies. A ton of people, Brettonians especially, are running small five-six model units of Knights. People are super scared of big monsters. The thing is, these small units are going to have a really hard time getting the numbers needed to break enemy units. Unless you can get a lot of multi-charges off, you just won’t have the numbers.

Simply winning combat is no longer enough. You need to win combat and have a big numbers edge to break the enemy reliably. That’s just not happening with small units. Because of this, it’s a lot harder to just run MSU. While you can do it, it’s not going to have the same punch as in prior editions of WFB.

You Need A Plan To Deal With Magic

Another big takeaway from my games of  The Old World  is that you need to have some plan for dealing with magic. Now, I’m not trying to say magic is broken or anything. In fact, I think it’s in a really good place. But it certainly can be powerful. Because of that, you need a real plan to deal with it. If one player spends 400 pts on a couple of wizards and the other spends zero, magic is going to be a problem for them. As it should be. However, if both players spend 400 pts on wizards, well, then you have an interesting conflict there. A Level 4 wizard is certainly the easiest way to deal with other magic, but not the only one, and you need a plan.

It’s an All New Game

Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a whole new game. It’s a game that is very familiar to old WFB players. It’s rather comforting even. However, The Old World is not Warhammer Fantasy Battles. The rules, armies, and some of the tactics are different. It’s very easy to get things wrong, or make tactical mistakes, by thinking it’s just WFB. So I encourage everyone to read their rules closely. Check the FAQ.  Think things over, and just enjoy a great new game.

Let us know what lessons you’ve learned playing The Old World, 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.