Warhammer: The Old World. What we know so far
Warhammer: The Old World is an upcoming Games Workshop's tabletop wargame set in the classic Warhammer Fantasy universe. Let's review what we know so far about this highly anticipated tabletop strategy game.
Background
Warhammer Fantasy Battles was the Games Workshop's original miniature wargame set in the Old World, a classic game that grew up with many of us here at All Out War since 1983. In November 2015, Games Workshop decided to destroy the Old World with a five-book series about the End Times and lay the foundations for the beginning of the Age of Sigmar.
Four years later in November 2019, Games Workshop announced Warhammer: The Old World, a game intended to be a return to the Warhammer Fantasy setting. This is exciting news for us here at All Out War because we are all die-hard fans of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles!
I have included a list of all the Warhammer Community articles related to the highly anticipated Warhammer: The Old World from November 2019 to July 2023. Here is everything we know about Warhammer: The Old World so far!
15/11/2019 Old World? New Warhammer!
28/12/2020 The Old World - Your First Look at the Map of Bretonnia
14/10/2022 Warhammer: The Old World – Orcs, Bretonnians, Tomb Kings Arrive
11/1/2023 Old World Development Diary – Explore the war torn lands of the World-that-Was
13/3/2023 Old World Development Diary – Revealing the Weapons of War
23/5/2023 Old World Development Diary – The Main Factions Revealed
24/7/2023 Old World Development Diary – The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same…
Warhammer: The Old World Release Date
The official release date of Warhammer: The Old World is still unknown. According to the Warhammer community article on the 21st of July 2021, the release date will be "quite some time yet". Fast forward two years and 2 months and 18 days, we are still impatiently waiting for an official release date to be announced.
Warhammer: The Old World Setting
On the 15th of November 2019, it was an exciting day for us here at All Out War. It was the day that Games Workshop announced the news about Warhammer: The Old World for the very first time. Games Workshop revealed the first version of the map of the Old World, featuring several classic regions, including the Empire, Bretonnia, Estalia, Norsca, Tilea, Albion, Badlands and Kislev. The regions of the Empire and Bretonnia were revealed in more detail in the subsequent articles.
It is confirmed that the Warhammer: The Old World timeline is set to be decades before the original game of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and hundreds of years before the End Times. This suggested that many of the original sixteen Warhammer Fantasy armies would not be featured in the Warhammer: The Old World. According to the Warhammer Community article on the 23rd of May 2023, the game will be focusing on nine core armies, including the empire, orc & goblin, dwarf, chaos, beastmen, Bretonnia, wood elves, tomb kings and high elves.
This meant the remaining seven Warhammer Fantasy armies, including dark elves, Skaven, vampire counts, daemons of chaos, ogre kingdoms, lizardmen and chaos dwarfs would not be part of the Warhammer: The Old World. Fortunately, Games Workshop will still provide rules for them at the launch of the game, but they will not publish or update their rules in the future.
Warhammer: The Old World Ruleset
The Warhammer: The Old World ruleset will be extremely important to Warhammer Fantasy Battles fans like us here at All Out War. Although we do enjoy the more streamlined, simplified rule system of Age of Sigmar, we also greatly missed the rank-and-file formations, the ability to customise individual characters and units, and the complex and detailed ruleset of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles. On the 21st of July 2021, Games Workshop confirmed that the square bases, the classic rank-and-file formations, and our favourite game mechanics from the 3rd edition to the 8th edition are going to be back in the game.
A few important changes were pointed out in the Warhammer Community article on the 24th of July 2023.
- The rules do not enforce the ideal number of models per rank, hinting you don't need a specific number of models to get a rank bonus.
- The ability to customise characters and units will be available, suggesting character and unit load-outs are not bound by warscrolls like the Age of Sigmar.
- The breaking of the enemy was mentioned, hinting the classic bait-flee-countercharge is going to be back.
- The devastatingly game-changing magic phase of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles is going to be incorporated into different phases of the game. A single spell that can decide the outcome of a battle is rare but not excluded, suggesting that insanely powerful magic spells like the classic Purple Sun, the Dwellers Below, and the Dreaded 13th, may still be included in the game.
- Warhammer: The Old World will use square bases. However, all 20mm square bases will be replaced with 25mm square bases, while 25mm and 25x50mm bases may or may not be replaced with a new base size.
Warhammer: The Old World Table Size
All Out War is all about providing a realistic and immersive environment for your tabletop battles with our high-quality and visually stunning battle mats. The classic Warhammer Fantasy Battles game is played on a 60" x 48" table, but the official table size has not been confirmed for Warhammer: The Old World. Therefore, we are eager to find out what table size the Warhammer: The Old World is going to be played on, so we can provide you with our battle mats when the game is finally released.
Meanwhile, in the last few weeks, we have been engaged in a period of industrious activity getting our new battle mats designed. We are thrilled to announce the release of our latest 60" x 48" collection of battle mat designs. The two new designs, the Grass Land and Scorched Earth have been meticulously crafted for fantasy settings. They are only available in 60" x 48" and are perfect for Classic Warhammer Fantasy Battles, LOTR and Middle Earth Strategy Battle games.
The Grass Land and Scorched Earth battle mats are available to pre-order right now – head over to the All Out War website and grab them for yourself.