‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Five Best Magic Weapons From ‘Forces of Fantasy’

Need to heroically slay the bad guys in Warhammer: the Old World? These are the best magic weapons the good guys of the world can wield!

We’ve spent a fair bit of time looking at the best units in the game lately. However, units aren’t the only things that make up an army. Weapons, upgrades and especially magic items are a huge part of the game. Picking the best things to take can make or break your army. We’ve looked at the best common magic items before, but now I’ve started to drill down a little deeper into what is good and worth taking.  However, there are a lot of items out there so we are going to have to break things down a lot.

Today, I want to take a look at the best magic weapons from the ‘Forces of Fantasy’ armies (and their AJs). This is a pretty strong list, so let’s dig in and see what is worth taking. (There will probably be a lot of debate on this list, as what items you like best can change a lot depending on the army, combos and who is taking it, but these are my picks based on generic usefulness.)

5. The White Sword – High Elves

Right off the bat we are starting with everyone’s favorite haughty elves. The White Sword is a bit pricy, but hits nice and hard. A great +3 to S and AP 2 means it can really cut through the enemy. Two-hands and Strikes Last kind of sucks, but Monster Slayer is very solid and in the current meta a powerful rule. This is a sword that can threaten anything. In addition stuck on a Prince, the Strikes Last is less of a big deal since it only cancels out their Strikes First. It can only be given to infantry or chariots – but that makes for a deadly chariot character. It’s also decent to combo with Illusion. Is it better than the Ogre Blade? Sometimes! It’s at least worth thinking about.

4. The Dragon Bow – Empire

A bit of an uncommon item, as you don’t see all that many ranged magic weapons. The Dragon Bow comes from the Empire and is a solid choice. It’s rocking a 36″ range, S6 Ap 2 and most importantly 2 Wounds. Empire heroes that can take it have pretty decent BS so this is nice for plinking off enemy units. Things like Pegasus Knights and even Banshees kind of have to worry about this. You can also throw it on a flying character (pegasus or griffon) to line up some really nice shots. It’s a decent item to add to a gunline.

3. Spear of Twilight – Wood Elves

Back over with the pointy ears, we shouldn’t be surprised to find Wood Elves have a good wood-based weapon. The Spear of Twilight is one of the top-tier magic items and isn’t cheap at 65 pts. However, it packs a punch. It’s got Ap 2 and Killing Blow. While it doesn’t give you an S buff, it does always wound on a 3+ so that doesn’t matter! Killing Blow makes it deadly to most characters and any non-monsters. Wounding on a three with AP 2 makes it a threat to bigger things as well. Drop this on a Dragon Lord with An Annoyance of Nettling’s and you can be a pretty big threat to anything in the game.

2. Frontier Axe –  Bretonnia

Bretonnians actually have a pretty stacked list of magic weapons and items. However, by far, the best weapon is the Frontier Axe, coming from the Arcane Journal. Now it is locked to the Exiles Army of Infamy, otherwise you’d see it in every list. This baby is S+2, AP 3(!) and does two wounds. It’s also two-handed. That’s a weapon with some major punch that will cut through the best armor and do real damage. It’s also running you only 30 pts, which is a steal. On average, it’s actually better than the Ogre Blade, at less than half the cost! Combo’d with The Virtue of Knightly Temper you can have a Baron the charge putting out 7 attacks with Hatred and an amazing stat line. And you’ve still got plenty of points left over for other options. There really aren’t any normal magic weapons in the game that beat it.

1. Dwarf Runes – Dwarfs

Dwarves of course don’t get normal magic items. They use the runic system and, for that reason, have by far the best magic weapons in the game. Their weapons are flexible and customizable to a T, with far more options than I can count. You can make weapons with D6 wounds, that always wound on a 2, that get extra attacks, that make you harder to hit and so so much more. Almost anything you could want you can do with Dwarf weapon runes. Now yes, it’s a bit of a cheat as they aren’t one weapon at all, but as a whole system,  you can basically build several of the best weapons around the Runes.

Let us know what weapons from Forces of Fantasy you think are the best, 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.