‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Legacy Basic Infantry Units
In Warhammer: The Old World not all armies are created equal, but the Legacy armies still have some good basic infantry. These are the best!
We’ve all had our hands on The Old World for a bit. The game is starting to shake out. We’ve gotten a decent look at what is good and bad and how people like to play. Today, we are continuing our series, looking at the best units form various categories. We’ve looked at basic core infantry, elite heavy infantry monstrous infantry and ranged infantry. That’s covered most of the infantry and we’ve gotten into cavalry.
In all of this, we’ve mostly been looking at the Core armies in the game. However, a lot of people are still in love with and playing the Legacy factions, so it’s only fair to give them their due. Today, I want to take a look at the best basic infantry units that the Legacy factions have to offer. These aren’t the strongest units in the game. They are strong and efficient choices when you need to fill out an army. We are just looking at Legacy units today and sticking with fighting units.
5. Hobgoblin Cutthroats – Chaos Dwarfs
We are going to start off our list here with good old Chaos Dwarfs. Their most basic unit are the Hobgoblin Cutthroats. This a very basic unit, with threes almost across the board. However, where they shine is in cost. At 3 pts they are a cheap option and you can take plenty of them. Compared to common and Night Goblins they actually have better WS and lose Impetuous. They can also take bows for free, rather than the 1 pt other goblins must pay. You can spam them as cheap ranged units or flankers and with Backstab they might kill something. Add in Horde and Warband and they’ve got good rules. You probably won’t build an army around them, but I think most Chaos Dwarf armies will have room for a couple units. (Infernal Guard are great, but a little too elite for this list).
4. Black Arc Corsairs – Dark Elfs
Jumping over the Dark Elfs, next up we’ve got the Black Arc Corsairs. Of the basic combat infantry Dark Elfs have they are by far the better option. You’ve got the normal solid Elf stat line going for you. Move through cover and Open order make them a mobile unit. Sea Dragon Cloaks gives them a bit of a buff vs enemy shooting. On top of that you’ve got the option of either an extra hand weapon for two attacks or a repeater hand bow for some nice shots. If you want to be aggressive and mobile with an infantry force, these aren’t a bad choice. Of course, the current meta will likely see your core filled with Dark Riders or the arguably superior Repeater Crossbowmen, but hey, you take what you got.
3. Daemonettes of Slaanesh – Daemons of Chaos
Next up we are jumping over to Daemons. Up first we’ve got classic Daemonettes, everyone’s favorite NSFW Warhammer unit. While we again push what a basic infantry unit, these aren’t heavy infantry and what daemons get, so I’ll say they fit. They are also a fairly decent unit. They are basically rocking an Elf stat line with the nice buffs of M5 and WS4 giving them some speed and killing options. They’ve also got I5, which is pretty handy – when charging, great weapons are going to go after them.
While Daemonettes don’t have a ton of survivability, just their daemon save, they have good damage output. Two Attacks at AP -1 and Armorbane -2, and the aforementioned WS4, lets them put a bit of hurt out. They aren’t cheap but they can likely win a fight vs most other basic infantry.
2. Plaguebaerers of Nurgle – Daemons of Chaos
The most expensive unit on the list, we’ve got Plaguebaerers. It’s no wonder they are high on this list as they are the closest to an elite unit, but hey Legacy factions sadly are kind of lacking in good choices in this category. What puts Plaguebaerers in the list is having S and T4. That’s a great stat line for a common troop like this. Combined with a light regen, making enemies re-roll 6s to hit them in combat and their daemon save and they are pretty tanky. As daemons, they also aren’t going to run away, making for a hard-to-shift unit. Their attacks are… S4! So that’s nice, also randomly good vs Undead. This isn’t a flashy unit, but it’s reliable, and that often is what you most want from your basic units.
1. Zombies – Vampire Counts
A classic unit and still a mainstay of Vampire Counts for decades. VC are the best of the Legacy factions, so it’s no wonder they get the basic core troop. These guys are about as basic as you can get, with most of their stats actually being sub 3s! They are slow as they can’t march and only have a 6+ regen save. Don’t look to them to win any fights (unless you happen to try charging your most expensive knights into an enemy unit of Zombies, in which case they will invariably kill several.).
So what are they here for? Well, they are an amazing and cheap tarpit unit. At 3 pts they are about as cheap as you can get. More than that “The Newly Dead” means you can heal them past their starting size. Take 20 and soon have a unit of 40! They are unbreakable and can get a decent static res, you’ve also got some not horrible buff options for them. All this combined ups them to… if not an outright threat, then a unit you have to be aware of. They can eat charges and tie up units, if you can’t kill them all in one round, expect them to be back at full strength next round. At half the points of Skeleton units, losing them just isn’t an issue either. This is a unit you will see in most VC armies and one that will provide utility beyond its cost or damage output.
Let us know what units you think should be on this list, down in the comments!
