Here are the new rules for Warhammer The Old World; check out what we know so far as the release date approaches for this new Fanatsy-based game system!
They mentioned the release date will be Early 2024. However, as they said before, not everything will be new (or even in plastic). If you want to see more on the Warhammer The Old World launch line-up, you can check that out here.
This is the first real look at the rules we’ve gotten, so it’s nice to have an idea of how the game will play! For now, though, it’s time to start pouring over the rules and see if they are shaping up the way you dreamed of!
Plus, in Warhammer the Old World, ALL 8th Edition Fantasy armies would be playable! So now we will truly see plastic, resin, and metal minis on the same tabletop when the game finally releases!
In case you missed the major Warhammer Old World announcements since 2019, we’ve included them here:
- GW Announces Warhammer Fantasy Returning (sort of)
- Warhammer Old World Release Date Details & Starter Set
- Fantasy Bears! More Kislev Previews For Warhammer Old World
- Bretonnians, Tomb Kings, Orcs & More Confirmed in Warhammer Old World!
- Warhammer The Old World: Everything We Know So Far
New Combat Phase Rules Revealed For Warhammer The Old World: (November, 20th 2023)
The new Combat Phase rules for Warhammer The Old World rules come from Warhammer Community.
You may not be surprised by this point to discover that the fourth and final phase of the Game Round is divided into four simple steps: Choose & Fight, Calculate Result, Break Test, and Pursuit. As with the Shooting phase, these steps are followed in order for each separate combat. It’s too complicated to summarise in full here, but this article should give you a flavour of how it all works.
You begin the phase by choosing which combat you want to begin first. In general, fighting happens in ranks, and only the first rank* of an engaged unit can fight. However, a unit with a wider fighting rank than its opponent can still attack with every model in that rank – your troops surround and envelop the other regiment.
There are plenty of wrinkles to this – some models may make supporting attacks from a deeper rank, multiple units can be engaged in the same combat, and any model that is able to fight without being in base contact may only make one attack this turn.
Well, the biggest thing here is your whole front rank gets to attack whether they are in base to base or not (but only one attack), meaning giant blocks can get an insane number of attacks, and there are still things like spears to get more than one rank of attacks.
Once you’ve worked out who can fight, it’s time to determine Initiative for each model and see who strikes first. The model with the highest Initiative statistic strikes first, and so on down the order – with a bonus for charging and a bigger one for hitting them in the flank or rear. There could still be a situation, however, in which a lumbering foe like a Stone Troll (Initiative 1) may find itself striking second on the charge against the preternatural senses of a Swordmaster of Hoeth (Initiative 6).
Initiative is one of the best mechanics of Fantasy, and it’s making a triumphant return!
Weapon Skill & Rolling to Hit
The big news here is that we’re back to the classic Weapon Skill stat – which means higher WS is better, and that to work out each model’s roll to hit, you must compare your WS against theirs. Yes, the To Hit Chart is back and it’s as beardy as ever. Bad news if you’re a Goblin Spearman, but fantastic for that Bretonnian Duke who’s about to skewer them.
More than double either gets you a 5+ or a 2+. You better start training your minis so their WS is nice and high!
You roll as many dice as your engaged models have Attacks and, with the higher Initiative models striking first, a charging unit has the opportunity to overwhelm its enemies before they have the wit to swing back. Next, you roll to wound and make armour saves as normal.
Casualties are removed from the back ranks, representing the rear ranks stepping forward as their comrades bite the dirt. Set every death in each unit aside – you’ll need to tot them up for the next step…
There’s nothing too crazy here, and it looks pretty similar to before.
Calculating Combat Results
Combats in Warhammer: The Old World are usually decisive – one side or the other makes the breakthrough, and the loser is pushed back or breaks. Unlike in other Warhammer games, you don’t flee based on your Leadership alone; you have to calculate the Combat Result – in other words, you work out who’s won by totting up who’s killed who.
It’s not just how many deaths you’ve caused, however – you get bonuses for complete ranks, for having the high ground, for standard bearers, and for attacking the side or rear.
It’s so good to see combat results come back! You get points for wounds, ranks, standards, flanking, and much more! This makes combat really fun, as giant units can win by just being big.
Add it all up and see who’s won. If it’s a draw, combat continues next turn, but if there’s a clear loser, they must take a Break Test. This is a Leadership test modified by how much you lost the combat by, and with several outcomes:
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- If the natural roll is higher than the Leadership stat of the testing unit’s leader (either that of its Champion or of a Hero model that’s joined it), then the unit Breaks and Flees
- If the modified roll is higher than the Leadership stat, but the natural roll is lower, the unit Falls Back in Good Order
- If the modified roll is lower than the Leadership stat, or if you roll a double 1, the unit Gives Ground
As you can see, this is a substantial change to combat rules from the last few editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and instead combines and refines a selection of rules from earlier editions and spin-offs of the game. It may seem complex at first glance, but it’s a mechanic that quickly becomes clear once you’ve run through a few combats – and it adds a ton of tactical depth to the most important part of the game.
This is a decent amount different than before, but you break if you roll higher than your natural leadership, but even if you lose, you still give ground.
Warhammer The Old World Combat Phase: Run Them Down!
When you win a combat, you have a range of choices depending on how the enemy reacts:
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- Restrain – pass a Leadership test to avoid pursuit and instead reform your ranks for free
- Follow Up a unit that gave ground, re-entering combat a few inches forward
- Pursue a unit that flees or falls back. If you catch a fleeing unit, it’s cut down and destroyed. If you catch a unit falling back, combat begins again and the pursuer counts as having charged
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- Overrun – in the case that the victor has completely killed its target, it may make a full move directly forward… and if you end up in another combat, that counts as a fresh charge. Clever use of Overruns will have heavy cavalry licking its lips…
The full overrun mechanic is back, and if the opposing unit flees, you can completely destroy them! Then, you can still charge back in, depending on what the enemy did.
Warhammer The Old World Combat Phase: Magic
There’s plenty more to the Combat phase – Wizards can use Assailment spells, for instance, while units fighting from behind a barricade or wall benefit from the extra protection.
Hammerhand is actually a pretty strong combat spell with AP-2 and could turn the combat in your favor. Then, Soul Eater isn’t nearly as good against big units but can kill a character in one go. You just have to wound with that S3 hit, and you’ll deal three wounds!
New Shooting Phase Mechanics Revealed: Warhammer The Old World: (November 13th, 2023)
The latest news on the Shooting Phase for Warhammer The Old World mechanics comes from Warhammer Community.
As with the other phases, the Shooting Phase is broken into four steps which you follow in turn for each unit: Declare Targets, Roll to Hit, Roll to Wound, and Remove Casualties. Everyone and everything shoots in this phase, whether they’re lowly peasant bowmen and barbarian javelineers, a macabre Khemrian screaming skull catapult, or a High Elven mage manifesting a Fiery Convocation.
First, pick a unit and declare its target. A unit can only shoot if it has a ranged weapon, hasn’t marched or charged that turn, and isn’t fleeing or in combat. To shoot, a model must have line of sight to its target and you can’t split fire – so in some cases, not every member of a unit can let loose. Models can (almost always) shoot only once, no matter how many Attacks they have in their profile, and unless they have the Volley Fire special rule or are stationed on a hill, only the front rank may fire.
Nothing too crazy yet, except you can’t split fire or shoot if you marched or charged. However, it looks like Volley is returning, and they will use AP! For Longbows, the profile looks pretty similar, and the Screaming Skull Catapult uses the 3″ Blast Template with plenty of special rules and extra wounds if you can hit them with the center.
Hit Subphase
Once a target has been chosen, it’s time to roll To Hit. Here’s the big news: old-style Ballistic Skill, or BS as it is on the profile, is back, and it runs from 1 to 10. The higher your BS, the easier it is to bullseye your target, and once models reach a BS of 6 or more, they start earning rerolls on their missed shots.
Now, the higher your BS, the more you can get free re-rolls! If you have even 6 BS (probably not very often), you roll to hit on a 2+ to start, then a 6+ on your re-roll.
Of course, it’s not always as easy as that – there are various negative modifiers to your shooting: it’s -1 to hit if you’ve moved, you’re at long range, you’re receiving a charge, or if the target has partial cover. On top of that, a natural one always misses, while negative modifiers can stack past 6+, and you may find yourself having to roll 7+, 8+, or 9+ to hit (a natural six followed by another roll of 4+, 5+, or 6+!).
It also looks like they are bringing back the 7+ to hit mechanic, meaning you have to roll a six followed by following higher numbers.
Wounding
There’s more old-school goodness in the next step, in which you roll To Wound by comparing the Strength of the Attack against the Toughness of the target. There are even Toughness caps – a Strength 3 bow is simply too weak to harm a beast of Toughness 9.
Small arms fire can’t even harm big monsters, which is pretty interesting, and there are no 7+ to wound rolls, only to hit. Also, note it’s not 2x toughness for 6s; it’s two more toughness. You can’t wound something that has 2x Toughness +2.
Shooting Phase Warhammer Old World: Saving Throws
It wouldn’t be Warhammer without a saving throw, which your opponent will make during this step. It’s a familiar process: compare the Armour Penetration of the weapon with the armour value of the model it’s hitting. Light armour grants a 6+ save and heavy armour a 5+, which can be boosted with a shield, a barded mount, and certain spells and magical items. There is a small difference, however, as models can also have a Ward Save. This cannot be modified by AP, and it is rolled for as a separate save made after the armour roll has failed.
It’s good to see the light armor, heavy armor, and shield idea. It makes the game easy; if you have a shield and heavy, you get a 4+; if you add a mount, you get even better saves.
The final step is to remove casualties and take panic tests where necessary. This is super simple – remove one model for every Wound caused, unless the target has more than one Wound. You know the drill. You’ll need to take a panic test if the shooting has killed more than a quarter of the models in a unit – but we’ll get to what happens then in another article.
Then, you just take off the models who died and take panic tests if you need to. However, they did give some more info on other special rules.
There are plenty of weird and wonderful shooting units in Warhammer: The Old World, and a plethora of special rules to go with them. Big beasties have Breath Weapons, some skirmish cavalry can Fire & Flee, while Dwarfen Irondrakes have cinderblast bombs that can Quick Shot. Wouldn’t you like to know…
Magic in the Shooting Phase
As for magic, there are two categories of spells to be fired off in the Shooting Phase – Magic Missiles and Magical Vortexes. Human wizards using Battle Magic can, for instance, blast off a quick fireball, while those blessed by the Dark Gods may use the Lore of Daemonology to conjure a Vortex of Chaos.
Fireball is a huge classic, so it’s good to see it return! You’ll need an 8+, but it’s worth it for 2d6 Strength 4 hits!
Vortex of Chaos is a great way to disrupt the enemy and get off a few hits throughout the game; just be sure not to roll the scatter die toward your own army!
How the Movement Phase Works In Warhammer Old World: (November 4th, 2023)
The latest news for how the movement phase and rules work in Warhammer the Old World comes from Warhammer Community.
Formations are one of the biggest changes this time around, so let’s look at that first!
All units in the game must adopt a formation, which will dictate how they act in battle, including moving and fighting. Most units can only adopt one: Close Order, though some can also choose options such as Skirmish or Open Order, and for Bretonnian Knights, the mighty Lance formation.
Close Order units are arrayed in base-to-base contact, facing the same direction in order to fight in ranks. Where possible, there must be the same number of models in each rank, with more models in the rank than the file,* which sometimes means leaving spaces in the back rank if necessary. They move and fight as a single entity – walking, wheeling, charging, and exposing their flanks and rears. The more full ranks you have, the greater your advantage in combat.
If you played the game before, this is nothing really new, as you got bonuses for having bigger ranks, but skirmishing makes moving around the table easier.
When they need to move rapidly, your units can adopt a Marching Column, reforming into a shape that’s deeper than it is wide. A unit formed in this way may not charge and earns no rank bonus in combat, but it can move at triple speed.
Units with the Skirmisher special rule do not need to rank up at all. So long as each model is within an inch of at least one of its comrades, they can fan out. They tend to be highly manoeuvrable, harrying enemy units with missile fire and hit-and-fade flank charges. Open Order units still fight in ranks, meanwhile, but they’re faster, more agile, and handle tough terrain better.
This is a new mechanic for moving, and if you need to make good time across the board, reform into a Marching Column!
The Movement Phase
The first of these is Declare Charges, in which the active player nominates each unit that they want to charge and their targets. Charging is the only way to enter combat, and there are a couple of caveats: the target must be visible to your unit and at least partially in its front arc, and your unit cannot be fleeing, rallied this turn, or already engaged in combat. You may, however, pre-measure the distance to your targets.
After all this, the inactive player declares Charge Reactions. Most units may Hold to receive the charge, Stand and Shoot if they have missile weapons and are further away than the charging unit’s Movement characteristic, or Flee by pivoting around 180 degrees and trying to escape. If you’re caught, however, you’ll be run down and destroyed! Beyond that, some especially alert units may Counter Charge…
The second step is to actually make your Charge Moves. To establish the range of their charge, units roll two dice, pick the highest score from the two and add it to their Movement characteristic. This means a unit of Skeleton Warriors has a charge range of between 5” and 10”, but Bretonnian Knights are rather more dangerous – their Swiftstride special rule adds an extra d6” to every charge they make.
It’s great to hear you can still react to charges! That’s such a big part of Fantasy, and it’s nice to see it stick around. Then, you get an extra D6 to your charge move, but if you are swift, you get an extra d6!
If you’re in range – accounting for wheeling – move the charging unit into base contact with its target, bringing the maximum number of models from both sides into combat. If you whiff the roll, however, the charge has failed. The unit must move the full distance rolled towards its target, but your warriors haven’t got the impetus to complete the charge and they’re now ripe to be hit back next turn!
However, be sure you can get the charge off, or you’ll just move forward and not hit anything!
Compulsory Moves
The third step accounts for Compulsory Moves. This is mostly to accommodate fleeing units that failed to rally during the last Strategy Phase, but it includes other rarer moves such as the Random Movement of Night Goblin Fanatics, or Stone Trolls who have failed their Stupidity test.
The fourth step covers the Remaining Moves – regular manoeuvres that don’t result in combat.
In Fantasy, if you’re fleeing, you don’t just stop! You keep running unless you can rally, and or some it makes the game more fun.
The Mechanics of Movement
As you’d expect from a game of multi-model units acting in concert, movement in Warhammer: The Old World is fairly involved. In general, units may Move or March, performing Manoeuvres on the way. In the first case, they move up to their Movement characteristic, and may then shoot later in the turn. In the latter case, they may double their pace but they sacrifice the ability to perform any manoeuvre more complex than a wheel, and their ability to shoot this turn, for speed.
While moving, a unit may Wheel, in which the unit pivots from one of the front corners of its leading edge, measuring distance from the outside model. You may also Turn all a unit’s models through 90 or 180 degrees, spending a quarter of your Movement for each 90 degrees, Move Backwards or Sideways at half pace, and Redress the Ranks or Reform.
Considering you’re fighting in big formation, you can’t just move all willy-nilly! You have to wheel around terrain and use up those precious inches to make it where you need to go. It looks like things will be pretty similar to the old system, which is great for people who played the old game and should really be fun for new players as well.
First Look At New Warhammer The Old World Rules (October 28th, 2023)
The latest on all the new rules for Warhammer Old World comes from Warhammer Community.
Warhammer: The Old World is a game of Rounds and Turns; each game is broken down into a number of Rounds. During each Round, both players will take a Turn, each of which is broken down into four main phases: the Strategy Phase, the Movement Phase, the Shooting Phase, and the Combat Phase. Finally, every Phase is broken down into four steps called Sub-phases.
It sort of feels like they are combining the old rules with some new mechanics from their current games. There is no dedicated magic phase, as you cast in different phases of the game, which might actually allow for more magical shenanigans than before.
The sub-phases are interesting, as each of these will have four phases as well, meaning each turn gets basically 16 different sections. However, they are probably things like shooting, spell casting, fighting, winning combat, morale, etc. as before.
Warhammer The Old World Rules: The Strategy Phase
We begin with the Start of Turn sub-phase, which is when certain units perform special actions or take tests. These aren’t common, and their details will be clearly stated in their rules. For example, Stone Trolls would take their Stupidity tests at this juncture, and it’s also when Night Goblin Fanatics are placed on the table.
Additionally, a particular scenario may require you to check whether a victory condition has been met at this point. You may also use this period to tidy the table, removing stray casualties and errant dice.
It’s great to see things like stupidity tests returning (and maybe animosity for all you Orc players out there), but more importantly, Fanatics! We also assume a lot of the sub-phases will be like this, where most times, they take a minute or two.
Command Sub-Phase
The second sub-phase is more exciting – Command. This is when most Characters’ special rules fire off. For instance, a Bretonnian Lord brandishing the Falcon-horn of Fredemund may blow it in the Command sub-phase, hopefully preventing opponents from being able to Fly.
Where would Warhammer be without magic? You’ll note that there’s no Magic Phase in the game – instead, magical powers and spells are cast during relevant phases. Hand of Mork (or Gork) is a Conveyance spell, which means it’s cast in the Movement Phase, for instance.
Stopping the entire enemy from flying is pretty sweet, but we’re sure there will be plenty of awesome enchanted items throughout the game! Then, as we said before, the magic isn’t done in one phase; it’s done throughout the turn. So just be sure to remind yourself to use certain spells, like Hand of Mork (or Gork).
Conjuration Sub-Phase
However, the third step of the Strategy Phase is Conjuration – which is when you cast Enchantments (magical boosts for your allies) or Hexes (magical penalties to your enemies). Players take it in turns during this step to choose Wizards who aren’t fleeing to attempt to cast spells. The Tomb Kings, for instance, might choose to cast Djaf’s Incantation of Cursed Blades from the Lore of Nehekara. What’s a Casting Value? We’ll go into more detail on Magic during another article…
While they don’t give all the details of magic, it is nice to know you can cast spells in both players’ rounds. Getting re-rolls to hit is always awesome, so we are totally fine with the first spell shown off!
Rally Fleeing Troops
The final step in this Phase is Rally Fleeing Troops. This is when the active player must attempt to rally all of their units that are fleeing. To take a Rally test, choose a unit and roll two dice against its Leadership characteristic. If you fail, it will continue to flee during the Movement Phase; if you pass, your unit is allowed a free reform move and returns to the fray.
We’ll have more on Morale in a later article too, but please do bear in mind that if your unit is under half strength, it gets a -1 modifier to its Leadership when attempting to Rally. Under 25% and you need a natural double 1
In fantasy, when you flee, you don’t just get to turn around and fight; you actually have to rally! If your units are under starting strength, they will have a harder time rallying.
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
