‘Warhammer: The Old World’- The Most Important Units of 2025

These are the units and models that have the biggest impact on Warhammer: The Old World in 2025.

2025 is wrapping up. It’s our second year exploring the Old World, and the game has settled into itself well. As we wrap up the year it’s time to look back on what has happened. Now it’s been a heck of a year, with a ton of new books that have made the meta go all over the place. As the game has progressed we’ve seen a lot of fads pass us by. So today I want to take a look back at what the most important units, both for game play and for the game as a whole were for 2025. So lets dig in.

5. Pegasus Knights/Lord

Pegasus Knights were for a time the big boogey man of ToW. They, and the Bretonnian characters that join them, had managed to eclipse even Dragons as the thing people are worried about and fear. And yes, I was part of the problem I know, winning NOVA with a Peg Knight heavy list. However they’ve stopped being as oppressive as they once were. While still powerful, people have gotten a lot better at dealing with them. Changes to how Skirmishers charge helped reign them in. They are still one of the best units in the game and dominated the first half of the year, but are not longer the all consuming issue they once were.

4. Cathay Cannons

Next up we have a relatively new unit. The Cathayan Grand Cannon. Now it’s been showing up in a lot of oppressive list since Cathay came out, and is a scary thing to face. But I think its important because it shows off two issues the game faces. The first one, and this is a minor issue, but its simply that everyone gets better cannons that Dwarves. I mean come on! But more importantly it shows how some sloppy writing and certain interpretations of rules can take a good unit and make it broken.

The big issue with the Cannon is the -1 to movement it gives out. Now the rule is a little vague and this has lead to a debate on if it stacks or not. If the -1 doesn’t stack the cannon is really good, but doesn’t break the game. However some events have ruled that it can stack and this… kind of breaks the game. The amount of cannons you can get (and their ability to double fire) means that you can prevent whole armies from moving. That’s just very bad for the game and this shows how important local rulings can be on the effectiveness of a unit.

3. New Marauders

This year also saw the release of of new Marauder models, both infantry and cavalry. This was kind of a sunrise release as it really came out of nowhere at the end of the year when we didn’t think we’d be getting more stuff. However the release and these models are super important for the future of the game. First off, it’s the first time GW has updated models that have already been released for ToW. The Chaos Marauders only saw a ToW release a little over a year ago, and now have new models. It also shows that GW is willing to update rules for units mid-edition if needed. Both of these show they are committed to the game and willing to update small parts of an army, rather than waiting for a  giant faction release. With people wondering if ToW would get many new plastic kits for existing models, this unit is big news.

2. Infantry

I’m going to lump basically all combat infantry in together here. One of the big complaints and issues with early ToW is that infantry didn’t seem to have a real place in the game. Most of it was just straight up bad and most armies were better off avoiding it. It was basically free points and the game didn’t really feel right that way. However the 1.5 FAQ radically changed that. Infantry now how real roles to play and can be built into strong units. You see a lot more of them on the table and its really been transformative to the game and how it looks. This really should have been the most important thing to happen in 2025, but…

1. Cathay Sky Lanterns

Well, I think we all knew what would be up here. The release of Grand Cathay was of course a big damn deal. Getting a whole new army with new models and stuff out is big for the game. But it came with a giant shadow hanging over it and the whole game. The Sky Lanterns are a super cool model and look great. They are also without a doubt the most broken unit in the game, and one of the most clearly broken units GW has ever put out. It’s a unit that’s really left people scratching their heads about how GW thought it was OK.

This model has had a huge effect on the game. It’s not just the meta, though it has affected it massively. It has also affected how players look at and play the game. Some players have outright quit the game, or at least competitive play, over the Lantern. It’s just not a fun army to run into. I think its had a negative effect on event attendance. It’s been such an issue that’s its once again pushed a lot of people running events to take matters into their own hands with compositions rules and FAQs to either rebalance the Lanterns or limit how many can be taken. At this point I know many people won’t attend events unless they have something in place to limit Lanterns. This unit has had an impact on the game like few others in GW history.

Let us know what units you think made a big impact this year, 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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