Warhammer: The Old World
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Warhammer returns to its roots with the reboot of the original Warhammer: Fantasy, now called ‘Warhammer: The Old World’. The Old World is the original setting of the high-fantasy realm of Warhammer, set before the Age of Sigmar. The ‘Known World’ is ruled by rival factions such as the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, the Undead and Chaos. Few alliances exist in The Old World, and tension is high. At Gathering Games, you can shop all the latest Warhammer: The Old World miniatures and accessories.
Kingdom Of Bretonnia Box Set: In the Old World, the Kingdom of Bretonnia are best known for their military prowess. The Knights of Bretonnia are considered the most well trained across the Old World. With a mix of new and old sculpts, the Bretonnia box set has an expansive collection of miniatures to kickstart your human army. This box set is valuable as it includes 76 miniatures (totalling 1250 points!), a rulebook and all accessories required to play The Old World.
Tomb Kings of Khemri Box Set: The Tomb Kings were the glorious rulers of an ancient civilisation of men known as the Nehekhara. Their Golden Age of rule has since been forgotten, though the Tomb Kings are now waking from deep sleep in their graves. The Tomb Kings box set is the perfect place to start an army of the zombie faction. It includes 93 miniatures totalling a whopping 1250 points, a rulebook and all accessories required to play The Old World.
Orc & Goblin Tribes - Battalion: The Orcs and Goblins, while found en masse across the Old World, actually originate from a different planet from the Old World. Also known as the Greenskins, they are most known for their favour of violence and their barbaric nature. They frequently battle among their race and have a long history of civil wars. The Orc and Goblin Battalion contains 73 plastic miniatures to get you started with a Greenskins army. Unlike the previous faction box sets, this doesn’t include any extras, so pick up the Ravening Hordes book for all the rules and datasheets required to run an Orc and Goblin Tribes army.
Games Workshop took a conservative approach to rebooting Warhammer Fantasy. While the new rulebook has been updated, it is still very much the game that was loved by many before it was dropped. If you still have your old miniatures lying around, picking up the rulebook would be the best item to purchase to play again.
Along with the core rule book come new and updated faction rule books. The Forces Of Fantasy book covers all the primary units of the Dwarfen Mountain Holds, Empire of Man, Kingdom of Bretonnia, Wood Elf Realms and High Elf Realms. The Ravening Hordes book covers all the primary units of Orc and Goblin Tribes, Warriors of Chaos, Beastmen Brayherds and Tomb Kings of Khemri.
Each faction will also receive a smaller supplement book, the Arcane Journal, to cover any significant rule changes and new unit stats.
Beyond that, each faction comes with a larger box set containing a large collection of miniatures and numerous smaller box sets, which often include brand new units or new sculpts for previous units. Which faction will be your choice?
For many Warhammer Fantasy players of the past, hearing that their favourite wargrame was being dropped was a devastating blow. Warhammer Fantasy was loved for its unforgiving and immersive ruleset that rewarded a good understanding of the different faction armies. While Age of Sigmar was seen as a fresh start for the high-fantasy version of Warhammer, the experience it provided was different from what most Fantasy players wanted.
The popularity of Warhammer: Fantasy exploded again more recently, with the highly popular Total War: Warhammer video games being set in The Old World of the original Warhammer: Fantasy. This triggered Games Workshop’s change in stance on the franchise, which eventually led to the full blown reboot that is Warhammer: The Old World.
The popularity of the reboot of The Old World miniatures was unprecedented. It has brought many players who previously moved on from Warhammer back into the hobby yet again. Newer Warhammer franchises started streamlining rule sets in favour of accessibility, but this left old fans wishing that the old design style was still supported. The ruleset of Warhammer: The Old World is still very much how it was as Warhammer: Fantasy - deep, rich and unapologetically thematic. It’s fair to say that Warhammer: The Old World is back and here to stay.
Warhammer: The Old World reboots the original Warhammer Fantasy ruleset. It uses square based miniatures and is set thousands of years before the Age of Sigmar.
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar was the follow up title to Warhammer: Fantasy after Games Workshop initially ended it. It uses circular bases and a new ruleset drastically different from Warhammer: Fantasy. Brand new factions were added that did not exist in the age of Warhammer: Fantasy. Age Of Sigmar has gone through four new editions and has a more streamlined game system than older systems such as Warhammer: Fantasy.
In comparison, Warhammer: The Old World refreshes the old system used in Warhammer: Fantasy. Over time, Games Workshop has attempted to ‘streamline’ its rulesets to encourage greater accessibility. This created rulesets that many fans argued were ‘less immersive’ or ‘less cinematic’. It inspired the designers at Games Workshop to make more intentionally complex games, such as Warhammer: The Horus Heresy, as they provided an experience many long time fans wanted. Warhammer: The Old World is their attempt at bringing back the beloved Warhammer: Fantasy ruleset in the way that people remembered it. Minor adjustments have been made to the ruleset, but it plays very closely to how it played as Warhammer: Fantasy.
No. Age of Sigmar will run side by side with The Old World, as Games Workshop has no current plans to discontinue either. In fact, a brand new edition centred around the Skaven is due out in summer 2024.
While some Warhammer: The Old World models feature new sculpts, most models released so far are not new; they are sculpts previously released under Warhammer: Fantasy. This time, the manufacturers will produce the sculpts entirely in plastic, except for the Forge World models, which they will make from resin.
There have been two types of factions announced for Warhammer: The Old World so far: Core Factions and Legacy Factions. Core Factions will receive support with new miniatures and narrative supplements to continue the story of The Old World. The following are all Core Factions:
Legacy Factions have no plans for new miniatures or narrative supplements but have supported rules that will be freely available through the Warhammer Community Website. The following are Legacy Factions:
The reports from Games Workshop suggested it was mostly due to poor sales of Warhammer: Fantasy, particularly when compared to Warhammer 40K. Other theories have circulated around the reasons for cancellation, though none have been explicitly confirmed or denied by Games Workshop.
A popular theory revolved around Warhammer: Fantasy's ‘generic’ style. It took inspiration from JRR Tolkien and the high fantasy setting of Middle-earth, though it did not do well to distinguish it from that setting. In comparison, when Age of Sigmar replaced it following its discontinuation, it had a much more recognisable art style, with factions that felt unique to its universe.
The accessibility of Warhammer: Fantasy may have been a contributing issue, too, as armies were significantly larger than Warhammer 40K at the time. Collecting models was becoming more difficult to source, and building/painting was very time consuming considering the size of the army. The lore of the Fantasy universe was complex, as was its ruleset. All of these points may have contributed to its discontinuation.