‘Warhammer: The Old World’- How To Build A Winning Army

Want to craft a strong winning army to really dominate games of Warhammer: The Old World?  Have no fear; here’s how to do it.

Warhammer: The Old World is alive and well! With armies coming out left and right, and people playing games all over the place. There was some debate over what size games we are all playing, but mostly it seems to have settled around 2000 points. So you know what faction you want to play and you know how many points you need to field, the next step is to point out and build an army. Of course you can just throw whatever you want on the table, but you my friend want more than that. You want the best army, or at least a good army. An army you can win with.

Now, “the best” army is one you have fun with and like. However, that’s neither very concrete nor useful advice. So today I figured lets take a look at some tips for things to think about when building an army. These are tips to help you refine and build a good army, but they aren’t going to be specific builds for a particular army. And look, these are meant to be for building a good army that can win games. That doesn’t mean you have to be going to events or to build the most cut throat army ever, but you and still want to win games anyway. And if you aren’t interested in that, that’s OK also! This article might not be for you. But for the rest of us, lets dig in.

Be Aware Of the Meta

If you are trying to build a good list, you want to pay some attention to the meta. This doesn’t mean you have to restlessly track stats from tournaments around the world. Your meta is going to be made up of the people you plan to play against. It could just be your local store or friends, or it could be all of North America or Europe. Having a basic idea of what people are playing and what you might face should help inform your army building. This doesn’t mean tailoring lists to beat one friend, though it could if you want, but instead, building for common threats. If everyone in your local group is running a lord on a dragon and you have no way to deal with dragons you won’t have a very good time. Being aware of what you are likely to face, and trying to bring counters for that is a core step.

Have A Reason For Everything You Take

Taking units because they are cool and you like how they look is great for a casual list. However when you are trying to optimize a list you need to really think about what each unit in your army does. Ideally each unit should have a role and fill a place in your army. It can be there to tank enemy charges, or strike into the enemy back lines, or whatever.

The point is it should have a reason for being in your list beyond, “I needed to take units”. Luckily, list building in The Old World is really flexible and robust and you normally have a lot of options. If you can’t tell yourself why a unit is in the list and what it does on the table, don’t take it! Once you understand the role of each unit, not only will it help with list building, but also with playing. The same also goes for any kind of upgrades you are taking. Don’t just take stuff because it’s there, you should have a reason for taking it.

Have A Plan For Your Magic

Related to the above point, you need to have a plan for what you are doing with your magic. Each of the lores of magic has a different focus. Within them, there is a big variety of spells. It’s both tempting and easy to just slap a level 4 into a list give them some spells and let them do… stuff. However, this is rarely effective. Some spells need you to be in units or in combat. However, most other spells, and dispelling, don’t work if you are in combat. Getting this kind of thing wrong can take a potent wizard that can cast 4 spells to a turn to suddenly not casting at all, or only being able to cast only once. You need to figure out what magic and spells you have access to and how you want to use them. Ideally you’ll have a cool combo to pull off. Don’t take a wizard just to take one, have a clear plan for them.

If you don’t have a reason or a use for a wizard, you might even consider not taking one at all. A number of armies have taken best general at major events, such as NOVA and LVO without any wizards at all. While this can be a risky option, it can free up points to be used somewhere else.

Think About Table Control

Another key thing to think about when building an army is how you can control the table and the flow of battle on it. Some players will call this “putting pressure on the enemy”, others will talk about “taking initiative in the fight”. It all boils down to the same thing – how can you dictate what is happening. How can you make the enemy react to what you are doing, rather than reacting to them? Ranged units, warmachines and wizards can be really good for this. They can project damage across large parts of the table. This can force the enemy to come to you and move out of good positions, rather than allowing them to do whatever they want.

Ranged units aren’t the only option here. Scouts, Ambushers, and fast, flying units can also let you project power forward into the enemy deployment zone easily. These are all things that put pressure on the enemy and force them to react. In short, they should be thinking about what you are doing to them, not what they could be doing to you. When building a good list you should be thinking about what units you can take to help with this.

For example if you are fielding a generally slow moving army, you will want to think about ranged options that can help your project threat. If your are is fast move you might not need ranged options. You can mix and match these ideas at will.

Concentration of Power Is Key

In theory, both players start with a level playing ground of 2000 points.  One of the key ways to think about building a list and winning games is how you can better concentrate your points to overwhelm theirs.  Effectively (and this is somewhat theoretical) , if each 200 points of your army fights 200 points of their army, it’s going to come down to sheer luck who wins that fight. However if you can make 800 points of your army fight 200 points of theirs… well then you should win handily and be able to fight the next 200 points and so on. Being able to concentrate your forces, your points, is a key to winning and this starts when building a list.

Ranged units and artillery are, again, a good way to concentrate points on a target. Powerful units and or monsters are another. Putting characters into units can be your answer. Running lots of fast-moving units that can combine to attack a single target is another way. These are all ideas you can plan around during The Old World list building. Now this isn’t to say you should put all your points into one unit. Do that, and not only will you have no mobility, but the enemy will also be able to focus everything vs that unit, and you are back to being equal. Rather, it is a balance between flexibility and concentration that you should be thinking about mastering.

Consider How Much Going First Matters To You

Going first can be a major advantage for you. With a fast army, such as I ran at NOVA, going first can allow you to get off turn one charges before the enemy can react. It can also allow you to get off ranged attacks before the enemy can, reducing return fire. Some armies really want to go first. Others, often your mid-ranged, mid-speed lists that won’t do much on turn one, don’t care as much. When building your list you need to think a bit about how much your army wants/needs to go first.

Now you can’t chose if you will go first or not. But you can effect it as most missions give you a +1 to go first for setting up your army first. That means if going first is very important to you, you’ll want to field an army with only a few units and avoid skirmishers. Some units, like characters and warmachines  are all deployed at the same time, so you can double down on these without fear. If you can pair your army down to 5-6 “drops” you’ll have a very good chance of getting that +1. If you are stuck in the 8-9 range, likely you won’t. So this is something you want to consider and see if you need to slim down your unit count, or just go crazy with a bunch of units.

Really Think About Magic Items

This ties into the earlier point about having a reason for everything you take. However I think it bears repeating. You don’t have to max out all your magic items. I think this is a very common trap, I fall into it myself. It’s really easy to look at characters and say, well they can take 100 pts of magic items, I need to try to take as close to 100 pts on them. You don’t have to. You can leave characters lightly equipped! Sometimes making that mega killer is the right choice. But other times you just don’t have good options to give them. Or need points elsewhere. It’s OK to keep characters light at times and save those points. You don’t have to cram extra great on them just because you can. You should only do it if you have a reason for it.

Bonus- Don’t Forget Fun!

Lastly, for Sigmar’s sake don’t forget to build a fun list. You can build the most optimized killer list, but if it isn’t one you enjoy playing, what’s the dang point? Make sure whatever list you do end up with is one you can enjoy playing with, and ideally your opponent can have fun with as well.

Let us know if you have any good tips for list building, down in the comments! 

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.

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