‘Warhammer: The Old World’ – Did The 1.5 FAQ Change The Game For The Better?

We all love Warhammer: The Old World, but did the big 1.5 FAQ made the game better?

It’s been almost three months now since the 1.5 FAQ/errata came out and changed Warhammer: The Old World. This update was just jammed packed with a lot of changes to the game, both large and small. Most of them were pretty straight forward, though a few did raise more questions. Since the FAQ came out I’ve had the chance to play in three events and judge a major GT. I’ve also watched a ton of other games and played it a large number of casual games. I think I’ve got a pretty decent idea of where changes has left the community as a whole. So today I thought it would be useful to go back and look at how some of the big major changes have shaken out and if I think they were the correct moves on GWs part.

Magic Changes

One of the big changes to the game was with magic. I think this has also been one of the more controversial changes. However, I for one am a pretty big fan of the changes here. Yes, magic is harder to use and get off. But I don’t think that’s bad. What it has done is transform magic from a brute force weapon, take the best casting wizard and spam the most spells, and made it more of a precision implement.

This has had the effect of making a lot more thing viable now. Level 1-2 wizards have a role, but it’s more of a support role. Level 3-4s are going to take a more offensive roll. More spells are good, based on how hard it is to get them off or not. Different spells are better or worse for different wizards. Rather than trying to get off just at on of spells every game you have to focus on getting off a few important ones. But these few, can still decide a game.

I do think GW could give the spell casting values another pass. I think a few are too high still. Some tweaking to buffs may also be needed. But overall I think these changes to magic have opened up the game a ton.

Infantry Changes

Infantry was another area that got a ton of changes. Overall I think they have been very good. The net result is that infantry are a lot more viable and that big monsters have to think a lot more about how they play. A fight that would have been close before, will now normally go in the infantry’s favor. And if you like the game to feel like a rank-and-flank game that’s really good. We’ve seen armies transform and people are running a lot more blocks of troops out there. And these lists are doing a lot better then they used to. Infantry now has a real role and place in the game. Which is really good. Things feel like they worked (despite some people fearing you will just see lines of infantry facing off and not charging, that’s not really how it worked out.)

There are a couple of caveats that I would add here however. The first is that I really think you do need to be using the Matched Play Guide (MPG) to see infantry really be worth it. Infantry is still, relatively slow, and isn’t going to be able to pin down and fight a lot of the really fast and scary stuff. The MPG gives infantry a role by letting them score objectives and fight over them. Without that they get a lot worse. Secondly… good doesn’t always mean super great.

Low and medium tier infantry are still just that. If some elite unit with a combat hero charges into your Clanrats… they are still likely going to lose, just maybe not as bad as before. Just because they got more viable doesn’t mean infantry is suddenly super deadly. If you look at NOVA, while there was  a lot more infantry there, the top lists weren’t using it as the main killing part of their armies.

Poison Changes

Poison was one of the things that got a big nerf with the FAQ. It went from a natural 6 to hit auto-wounding to giving you a +2 to the wound roll. And look, this was a bad change. It’s taken poison from a decent buff to super meh. It also hit a lot of mid/lower tier armies bad and hurt the ability of little things to stop big monsters and Lanterns. On top of that it also just slows the game down. Given that the FAQ also limited how many shots you could get a large targets and Travel Mystical Pathways, I think we had already seen the end of the giant teleporting  archer blocks and this Poison change just wasn’t needed.

Frenzy Changes

Frenzy was  another one that got a bit of a nerf/change. The two big points are that frenzy only gives you a +1 attack on the charge, but now does apply to a mount in most cases. I know a lot of people are mad/sad about it only working on the charge. And frenzy was kind of bad before, so this does suck a bit. On the other hand I see why it was done. Infantry getting two rank in combat could really abuse the frenzy rule to get a lot of attacks, especially as they can pull from the non-base to base contact models first. This change prevents frenzy from being a defensive buff, and also gives you extra attacks to break enemy defensives. It helps separate defensive infantry from offensive infantry and gives different units different roles.

Giving the attacks to the mounts (if they even meant to do this) is also just a straight buff. This does help them break through infantry blocks now. So overall I’m OK with this.

Final FAQ 1.5 Thoughts

Overall I think the game is in a much better place than it was. I’ve just gone over a few of the biggest changes, there are plenty more that I like (changing weapons mid combat), dislike (Skirmisher charge rules) and am mixed on (Impetuous). I may dig into some of these more later. But the end result has been overall very good for the game and it feels much more like a rank and flank game then before. On the flip side I’m not sure that the top levels of the game have moved quite as much as it seems or was wished. But it still pretty new, and we will see as more events happen, and more missions are tried, what happens.

Let us know what you think of all the changes, 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 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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