The other week saw the biggest North American Warhammer: The Old World event take place at Adepticon, here’s what I learned while judging there.
At Adepticon this year I was lucky enough to get to judge the Championships and the 1k/3k events (I also got to play in the doubles). Judging a major event is a great way to meet a lot of players and see some of the state of the game. I got to watch 100s of games be played and talked to a ton of players, both highly competitive ones and more casual players. So today I wanted to go over a few of my big takeaways from the event.
People Think Comp Is Needed
There is a widely held perception that, at least for singles events, you need some form of comp to make the game more balanced. Now there are some who argue that you don’t really need comp, and that because most events are using comp we can’t tell what is actually balanced or not, but this is not widely held. Adepticon did have a comp pack. I would describe the comp we used as mid-range in its severity. Overall I think the comp we used worked well. You saw a lot more big blocks of units on the table and lots of infantry. You also saw a ton of what I would call, just normal armies, which I think the comp helped push people towards and set the tone for.
Comp Won’t Fix Everything
While comp can improve things, its not going to “fix” everything. Despite nerfs Cathay still won the event. Tomb Kings came in 2nd and Beastmen 3rd. These are strong armies and all ones people might have guessed at ended up in the top 3. Even with comp they remain very strong, and better than some other armies. On the other hand these are also armies piloted by some of the best players in the US, so they might have won with anything.
And comp clearly had an effect. We’ve had some events out there where the same army, such as Cathay, dominates the top 10. This didn’t happen at Adepticon. Seven different factions made it into the top 10 (9 if you could Armies of Infamy separately). And we did have some surprises, such as Wood Elves, considered a lower tier army, taking two of the top 10 slots. Overall the top factions were quite diverse. At the same time the specific army builds were often different from what you might see in other events.
The Game Is A Lot Of Fun
This maybe an obvious one, but Old World is a lot of fun. Sometimes when you get stuck in online discourse this can be easy to forget. There are issues with the game, and the rules have some holes. You see people complain about this a lot online. I’ve seen people talk about how horrible the game is. And while fun is subjective, I saw over 100 people have an absolute blast. Pretty much everyone I talked to had a great time and loves the game. Some of these are hard core players. Many of them are casual fans with magnificent armies. Flaws and all, if you get together with a group of other people who like the game, you’ll probably have a great time.
The Game Is In A Better Place Then It Was
The game has come a long way since it first came out. And I think it’s moving in the right direction. I said the same thing last year when I judged NOVA, and I think its only kept moving there. Now part of this was likely due to comp, but the game feels a lot healthier then it used to. At this level of play and with these guardrails, the armies feel a lot more like, well armies. You’ve got big blocks of infantry and some cav and a few other fun things. I saw a lot of really cool infantry fights and some great cavalry clashes.
At the same time there is still room for monsters and some powerful heroes. But now, and especially with some comp on them, they feel a little more like they are part of the game. Now there are still some issues; dragons still make a game about them, and skirmish is still a mess, but it’s a lot better. And with big events continuing to grow it seems like people agree.
Legacy Armies Are Growing Less Important
While they remain a contentious subject, the fact is at events Legacy armies are growing less important. Adepticon for instance had 71 players, but only 4 legacy armies, 2 VC, 1 DoC and 1 Ogres. That’s under 6% of the players. This is on the low end, as general stats have suggest around 20% of players at events are using Legacy (NOVA for instance had about 16%). But it does show that you can have major events with little to no Legacy presence and they can still be a success. Also, with the exception of VC, they have only a minor impact on the meta.
Let us know what you think of the current sate of the game, 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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