Warhammer: The Old World has a massive new errata/FAQ, take a deeper look at what changed.
What a month it’s been for the Old World. In just about a month we’ve gotten 4 books and three armies. We’ve also now gotten a truly massive, a lot bigger then I thought it we be, FAQ and errata, not just for the core rules, but for the factions as well, that shakes up the game a ton. I’ll admit that I was a bit wrong, and this is a very shaken up game, the FAQ/Errata makes a whole host of changes, some good, some I don’t like and as usual a few that are just plain…baffling. We don’t have time to go through every change here today, though I did do a stream with Squarehammer going over the core book changes if you want to watch it here. Instead lets take a look at a few of the highlights and biggest changes. These are five of the big ones.
5. Death of the Poison Block
One of the major meta units recently has been poison blocks. These are units of 50+ archers with poisons attacks. Several, but not all factions can pull this off. They took advantage of large target rules to be able to get every model to shoot at them, and then count on getting 10+ poison wounds. While this might not kill ridden mounts, normal monsters were in trouble. Now however I think this tactic is gone. Two changes hit it. The first is that now not all models in a unit can shoot at Large Targets. Instead you get a single extra rank. This is a call back to WFB 6th/7th ed rules. While it’s extra shots, it’s not a whole unit anymore. In addition, skirmishers still have to draw LoS to the target. 
However the bigger change comes next. Rather than auto-wounding on a 6 to hit, you now just get a +2 to wound for each 6. This is in most cases a huge downgrade. For instance shooting at a T6 target instead of wounding on a 6 to hit, you now just hit- and will still need a 4+ to wound in most cases. This effectively costs you half your poison wounds. The slight upshot is that if you have an effect that triggers on a 6 to wound, armor bane, killing blow, etc.. you can still score that. Still given you get less shots and a lot less poison wounds, I think the block is likely dead.
As a last note, poison blocks, and other units, have been trying to abuse Travel Mystical Pathways for extra movement. However they also changed that to require the unit to be completely within he 12 inches, making that spell a lot worse and putting another nail in this coffin.
4. Magic, Oh Man Magic.
Next up we have a host of changes to how magic works. These are very impactful and really will have wide ranging effects. The biggest part of the change is that your modifier to the casting roll is now half your lvl, rounded up. So lvl 1s and 2s get a +1 to cast and dispel, and lvl 3s and 4s get +2. This makes it a lot harder to get spells off reliably, while also making the difference in power between a lvl 2 and 4 a lot less stark. To go along with this, a lot, but not all, or even most, spells have had their casting values reduced and many bound spells have changed their power level.
These aren’t the only changes though. Wizards can now only cast a number of spells equal to their wizard level, not every spell they know. This makes items that let you know more spells a little less useful, though its pretty rare that a wizard has a single turn they can cast all their spells in anyway. In addition a wizard in combat can now attempt to dispel spells that effect them or their units. So hexes that go into combat and assailments and I think this is a great change as it made little sense that a wizard in combat could cast an assailment but their opponent couldn’t dispel it.
It’s a Whole New Magic Game
Other changes included allowing you to dispel vortexes that are in your range, no longer do you have to have the caster be in range. Vortexes also bounce through units less, but do their effect if you move over them. You can’t cast when Stupid. A lot of army buffs to casting have been nerfed as well. For instance Mort Cult can now add plus one to one wizards casting roll once a turn (for the army, not wizard). All of this has a ton of pile on effects. Magic Resistance is sudden a lot more valuable. As are items that give you a bonus to cast. Magic overall is less reliable. Fated dispels are better. It’s going to take a bit of time to shake all this out, but it’s big big big.
3. Regeneration 
Regeneration, a core rule that lots of units and even whole armies have, has undergone a major change. Rather than rolling it as a save when taking a wound, but before any multiple wounds came into effect, you now roll it right after you lose a wound, but before you are removed from play. This has some pretty big ramifications, and a few extra questions. The most obvious is how you roll for multiple wound attacks. Instead of making a single roll and either ignore the hit or taking all the wounds, you now roll per wound you would have lost and save or take them individually (Saved wounds still count for combat res). There is maybe some debate on how this works on 1 wound models, but the net result on most big monsters is more chipping away of wounds and less swinging all or none results.
However this isn’t the end of things. Because the roll is made after you lose a wound, this means you get it against things that cause you to just “lose a wound”. In the past you did not get any save against this. So for instance, you can now regen dangerous terrain. Most importantly you can regen the wounds lost from the unstable rule. This is a huuuuuge buff for undead in particularly as it lets them have a chance to save all those crumbling wounds and makes their units even more resilient. I’m not sure they needed it, but there you have it.
2. Frenzy/Impetuous
A quick double header here as these two rules both allowed you to be kited around. Frenzy now only gives +1 attack when you charge or follow up. This is… a pretty bad change in my opinion. Frenzy was already such a double edged sword and not really all that good with how it allowed the enemy to control your movement. Now you don’t get it on turns you don’t charge. This pretty much makes Frenzy useless on infantry. A sad move.
Meanwhile Impetuous got a huge buff. It’s now no longer a 50% change of having to charge, but a leadership test. Give the generally high leadership in the game, and a lot of access to Veteran, this makes it very unlikely you’ll be forced to charge. I’m not sure why this is even a rule now to be honest as it will have an effect in very few games, but sure. I know it makes sense for high leadership units to be more restrained but the reality of the game games it trivial to pass this.
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1. Infantry is Good?
OK friends, buckle up. This is the big one. Infantry have had a major re-work, and might be good. But there is a lot that goes into this. The first change… well is a bit of a nerf actually. Now if you are in the fighting rank or making supporting attacks you can only do it if you are in b2b or within your movement of the target. So no more crazy wide linehammer, but a little bit of linehammer. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this. Not because it reigns in linehammer, which fine, I don’t think it was a big deal, but sure fix it.
No I dislike this because of how fiddly it is. You’ve now got to a do a lot of extra measuring and calculating to see who can attack and who can’t. There will be arguments. Where you hit a unit now matters a ton. It’s going to be messy and annoying and I feel like there were better ways to do this. It’s important to note who can fight, and how many attacks they make, is determined before attacks are made, so you don’t have to recalculate things as a combat goes on.
But That’s Not the Biggest Change
OK, but that’s not the really big change. The big one is this. Effectively when they aren’t charging, infantry (regular and heavy, not you monstrous) get to fight in 2 ranks. If they have spears or a weapon that lets them fight fight in an extra rank they will get to fight in three ranks. Now you still only get your full attacks in base to base, but it does mean you can now get a lot more models to fight and a lot more attacks. This is pretty big, and while on it’s own doesn’t make infantry good, it is a big buff. I’ll let you think through all the implications here (more attacks is good), because there are even more changes.
The Massed Infantry rule now gives you an extra +1 to combat res if you out number the enemy and have a unit with this rule on your side (note your whole side doesn’t have to have this). This is pretty big as it means most infantry are always going to have a +1 to combat vs monsters and any kind of lone hero. On top of all that infantry get Parry back, again from 6th/7th Ed. This gives infantry fighting with hand weapon and shield a +1 save, that caps out at 3+. This is going to let a lot of units be more resilient and take less wounds when hit by the enemy. This makes infantry a lot more resilient.
You can also now change what weapon you are using round to round. So this allows infantry to take a charge using their shields and then maybe hold and switch to great weapons. All in all you get more flexibility here.
But Wait! There’s More
That’s not even all the changes that are making infantry better. Another big one is that you now have to be US 10 to gain the +1 bonus for close order in combat. This means that most monsters, ridden or otherwise and chariots wont get it anymore. Indeed I think only a Chaos Lord on a Dragon still does. This is pretty big. Moreover it combines with the Massed Infantry rule. So a High Elf on a dragon charging most infantry blocks will start with a +0 to combat, while the infantry will start with a +5 or +6 depending on if they have horde. (Assuming full ranks). Many units can get more, like Empire state troops with a BSB rocking up a +11.
Things get even worse for ridden monsters when add int his FAQ change. Before in a challenge a mount could attack the dead enemy to help you max out overkill. However now its attacks, including its stomps, are lost. This makes it a while ton harder to max out combat res (and leads to some odd instances where you want to mount to attack before the rider to give you all your attacks, its… odd).
Lets go back to that High Elf Prince on the Dragon. He charges into some spearmen and the brave champion challenges him. The Elf has 4 attacks and will likely kill the champion, he’s likely to miss once, so lets say he does three wounds. That’s now all he gets. The dragon is stuck unable to attack and the Prince gets a 3 combat res. Meanwhile the Spearmen… win combat, with a 5, or maybe 6 or maybe 11 result and dragon has a real chance of just breaking. this is pretty big I would say.
Putting It All Together
So all of this means that infantry have gotten a major re-work. They now get more models that can fight, meaning more attacks, can get more buffs to their defenses and get more static combat resolution. Those are all good changes. It still means they are slow. And big cav units with characters, or multiple monsters, will still beat them. But one guy charging into them is a whole lot less likely too. It also put them very solidly into a defensive role (as they lose a rank of attacks on the charge). Now this might seem like they are still not great, but it is a role. And it’s a role that gets a lot better when you think about the new Matched Play Guide (which I will cover soon! There is just so much coming out RIGHT NOW!).
The addition of secondary objectives, most of which need a US 10 unit to claim and are points of the battle field is big. This gives infantry a place to go and defend. And a way to earn points. Park that now uber tough Dwarf unit on an objective and sure the enemy might never charge you, but you’ll just be racking up points. Since many objectives are in midfield or your own deployment zone, it also means you don’t have to spend the whole game trying to get across the table.
Now all of this doesn’t mean, at least I don’t think it does, that infantry are now kind and rule the game. But it does make them viable. It gives them a real role to play. It makes them good at that role. And its a role that can earn you points towards winning the game. With these objectives the enemy can’t just ignore and evade your blocks. It’s really a huge swing towards making infantry good and a part of the game. Which is very nice.
Let us know what you think of all these changes, down in the comments!
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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 Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.
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