‘Warhammer: The Old World’- Don’t Make These Five Mistakes When Building Your Armylist
Here are some common mistakes you DON’T want to make when building your army list for Warhammer: The Old World.
Most of us have now had Warhammer: The Old World in our hands for a while now. It’s a great game, with a ton of cool features. It is one of the best games GW has made in a long time, and just a ton of fun. Now that we’ve figured out how all the rules work we’ve been able to get down and start building lists. As people start building lists, it’s easy to fall into a few pitfalls. Today, let’s look at some mistakes you should avoid when building a list.
N.B.- There is no “right way” to build a list, and at the end of the day any list you find to be fun and enjoy playing is the best list for you. This article is aimed at those trying to build at least mildly optimized lists, for competitive or semi-competative play.
5. Having No Way To Deal With Enemy Magic
Magic in the Old World is significantly toned down, on a spell-by-spell level, from how it used to be in Warhammer Fantasy. That does not mean that it is bad. In fact you end up casting a lot more spells per turn than in any previous edition. It’s also just much easier to get magic off and include some casting in a list. Because of this, when building a list, you need to have some sort of plan about how you are going to deal with enemy magic. This could be wizards of your own, putting magic resistance on important units, building mage hunter units or some other plan. You CAN choose to take no magic defense, but you need to build an army that can handle that. What you should not do is show up to a game with no way to counter magic and be surprised, and upset when magic wrecks you.
4. Not Having A Plan for Your Magic
Related to the above point, you need to have a plan for what you are doing with your magic. Each of the lores of magic has a different focus. Within them, there is a big variety of spells. It’s both tempting and easy to just slap a lvl 4 into a list give them some spells and let them do… stuff. However, this is rarely effective. Some spells need you to be in units or in combat. However most other spells, and dispelling, don’t work if you are in combat. Getting this kind of thing wrong can take a potent wizard that can cast 4 spells to a turn to suddenly not casting at all, or only being able to cast only once. You need to figure out what magic and spells you have access to and how you want to use them.
3. Not Having A Way to Deal With Big Monsters
Monsters, and the heroes that ride them, are pretty good in the Old World. Certainly, they are far better than they were in the last several editions of Warhammer Fantasy. Right now, they, and especially dragon-riding Lords, have become something of a bogeyman for the game. As much as there can be a meta in such a new game, its seeming to skew towards powerful lords on dragons. However, one of the main reasons that these are doing so well right now is that people just aren’t prepared to face them. When building a list, one of the questions you need to think about is how you are going to deal with this kind of unit. There are options and upgrades to give you monster slayer, war machines, tarpit units, etc.. The scary monsters can be beaten and dealt with, but you need to have a plan for that. Come unprepared, and you won’t fare too well.
2. Upgrades You Don’t Need
A big trap I see people falling into when building lists is taking upgrades they just don’t need. For instance sticking full command on every unit no matter what. You also see people go crazy with magic items on units and heroes. If anything, The Old World has made this even easier, as many units can take rule upgrades for a few points. You want to really think about what upgrades you are giving units and why. Each upgrade should have a point and give you some value. As a base rule, you very rarely want to give non-close combat units, such as archers, command. These minor point upgrades may not seem like a ton, but can often add up to enough points to give you entire other units, or bulk out the critical ones you already have – to make them extra effective.
1. Taking Units That Are Too Small
Maybe the biggest mistake I’ve seen players make in building armies is taking units that are too small. Now, there are times when you want small units. Most ranged units do well at small sizes. Going for a MSU strategy can also justify it. But when it comes to close combat units, you generally want bigger units. I see a lot of 5-6 model units of knights running around. I see people taking 18 model units of Men-At-Arms. To me, these are all huge mistakes.
There are a few reasons you want big units. First off, to absorb causalities. It’s pretty likely you will take some hits, often before combat is joined. Small units just can’t deal with casualties well. Big units can. However, maybe more important in The Old World is that you need big units to break the enemy and not be broken yourself. In combat, if you outnumber the enemy 2-to-1, they cannot Fall Back In Good Order and will instead break on any failed test. This is huge and the best way to just wipe out enemy units. However taking small units will make it very hard for you to outnumber the enemy enough to break them, leading to lengthy multi-turn grind-y combats. It will also make it easier for the enemy to outnumber and break you as well. I’m not saying go crazy, but please people, bulk up your key units!
Let us know what mistakes you think should be avoided when building a list, down in the comments!
