Here’s some of the biggest Warhammer : The Old World rules questions that came up at the NOVA Open GT 2025.
The other weekend saw the NOVA Open GT take place in Washington, DC. With 66 players and armies representing every faction save Chaos Daemons, it’s one of the largest Old World events around. I returned to the scene of my crimes this year not as a player, but as a judge. We had a great Judge team and the whole shebang went really well. A huge shout out to Blue Ford of SquareHammer for putting it all together and making it happen. As a judge I had a lot more chance to watch games and look at the lists there. I’ve talked about the best lists we saw there and some big take aways from the event. But of course one of the primary roles of a judge is to answer rules questions.
Now I want to say that I feel like everything ran very smoothly over all. There weren’t any big fights or disputes. And most questions were able to be answered pretty easily and well. But there were a few that came up that either stumped us or provided very surprising answers. Things that were brought up that just hadn’t been on our radar. Our goal as judges was to keep things flowing and fair, we made the best calls we could, and I think we were right, but it’s always possible we missed stuff as well. So today I want to take a look at some of the more interesting rules questions that came up during the event.
4. Raising Skirmishers?
One question that came up, and I had seen this before, was if undead could raise/heal units of skirmishers. I think a lot of people instinctually assume you can raise them, but the RAW is against it. The issue comes up at the end of the Resurrect The Fallen rule where it describes where models are placed:
“Resurrected models are added to the front rank until it reaches the minimum required to claim a Rank Bonus, after which additional models can be added to the front or rear rank. If the unit already has more than one rank, models can only be added to the rear rank. A unit cannot be taken beyond its starting size.”
That’s pretty clear and straight forward. However it presents and issue with skirmishers. They don’t have a front or rear rank to add models to. This means that RAW there is no legal place to add the resurrected models and they can’t be brought back. Interestingly, it does seem that if the skirmishers are in combat, and thus ranked up with a front and rear rank, they can then be healed.
I’ve seen people argue against this, but the rules seem fairly clear to me. Moreover I think it is intentionally here. Preventing skirmishers from having models added to them prevents you getting “free” movement out of a unit or growing it across the table. That has been an issue in the past, and I think this was there way of nipping it in the bud.
3. Can Champions Die While In A Challenge?
This was a strange one for us, but did seem to have an answer. The question was, what happens if a unit is killed, with left over wounds, while it’s champion is in a challenge. Does the champion also die, or does the challenge protect them? The initial assumption was that the challenge would protect that champion, it’s pretty rare that things go into or out of challenges and a character would be safe in one. However the rules for challenges only state “Whilst the challenge is ongoing, other models engaged in the same combat cannot direct their attacks against either of the dueling models.” (pg 211). So you can’t have attacks directed at you, but can be affected by other attacks (for instance a miscast, fanatic or moving non-assailment template would hit you.)
As for champions their rules state:
“A champion is not counted amongst casualties caused by enemy attacks in combat unless:
- They are the last remaining model in the unit.
- The attacks were directed against the champion by enemy models in base contact.”
By these rules you can’t direct attacks vs a champion, but it does appear that if they are the last model in the unit, they will take wounds meant for the unit. So if a champion and 4 models are left in a unit and they take 5 wounds, the champion will be removed as the last model, even if they are in a challenge. At least that was our reading.
2. When Do You Declare Scouts/Ambushers?
This question actually came up a couple times in the event. Ambushers states:
“A unit with this special rule may be held in reserve rather than be deployed at the start of the game.”(pg 166)
Meanwhile Scouts states:
“Units with this special rule may be deployed after all other units from both armies.” (pg. 177).
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In neither case is it very clear when you make a declaration that the unit will be scouting/ambushing. Now, it is clear that once you deploy characters any remaining units that can must Scout/Ambush, since characters are deployed last aside from these. Outside of that however its not clear.
It’s not even clear if you are locked into a decision before you deploy characters, you could theoretically say something would scout/ambush and then still deploy it normally if there is no “declare step” (I don’t think this would be very sporting however). This choice of when it happens can be important when trying to figure out who will get a +1 to go first, or trying to see where the enemy can/will drop units. For instance if both players have units that can scout, your decision to scout or not might be determined by if the enemy is doing so as well. Yet its just not clear when you have to make/declare this choice.
The rules themselves are super unclear, and I think various judges made different calls at the event. For constancy, I ruled you had to declare everything at the start of set up, as that seems most fair. However I can see arguments against that as well.
1. What Happens When A Random Mover Charges A Fleeing Unit?
This question came up and kind of stumped us. What happens when a unit with random movement makes contact with a fleeing foe. I think the gut reaction is that obviously the fleeing unit is destroyed. And yet looking through the rules we couldn’t anything that said it would be destroyed. The rules that we could find cover three instances of making contact with and destroying a fleeing unit.
- If you make contact with one on overrun/pursuit roll “Catching The Curs” and “Pursuit Into A Fleeing Enemy” Pg 157. However random movement is clearly not an overrun/pursuit roll.
- When you run down an enemy unit that fled from you as a charge reaction. “Running Down The Foe.” Pg 129. Both the above rules reference this rule. However in the case of random movement the enemy must hold. So they have not fled and it wouldn’t fall under this rule.
- Accidental Contact During A Charge. This is covered under pg 131 and would result in the fleeing unit being destroyed. However, Accidental Contact During A Charge doesn’t apply to Random Movement, because they don’t declare charges.
So What Happens?
So interestingly none of these situation apply with random movement. Now normally a unit that is fleeing and is charge has to flee as a charge reaction- triggering #2 above. However Random Movement requires that the enemy Hold, and as a special rule it overrides the normal rules. Based on this it appears that RAW if you charge a fleeing unit with a random mover nothing really happens. The unit isn’t destroyed and you just fight a normal combat. However the fleeing unit hasn’t rallied, so if it should survive the combat it will resume fleeing. This didn’t really seem in the spirit of the game, so we did rule, with the players agreeing, that the fleeing unit would be destroyed, but it doesn’t seem to be the RAW here.
Let us know what you think the correct rulings are, and any weird questions you’ve seen, 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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