The bascinets have been polished, the arrows fletched, the desert dust blown out of all the crevices, and Warhammer: The Old World is nearing release in early 2024.
As the Warhammer Design Studio unrolls the last of the green flock, it’s time for us to start taking a longer look at the actual rules of the game in a new series of articles in the run-up to release.
Today, the Old World Almanack looks at the basic structure of the game, and the first main phase: the Strategy Phase.
Game Structure
Warhammer: The Old World is a new game, designed from the ground up to simulate large regiments meeting in combat as volleys of arrows and artillery shot soar overhead, and cavalry, wizards, heroes, and monsters crash into combat all around them. That’s not to say that it hasn’t taken plenty of inspiration from what came before it – including several popular editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Much of the complexity has been kept (and – particularly regarding morale – added), but a lot of thought has been put into the structure of the phases, in particular when units and characters might use their abilities.
Warhammer: The Old World is a game of Rounds and Turns; each game is broken down into a number of Rounds. During each Round, both players will take a Turn, each of which is broken down into four main phases: the Strategy Phase, the Movement Phase, the Shooting Phase, and the Combat Phase. Finally, every Phase is broken down into four steps called Sub-phases.
The Strategy Phase
We begin with the Start of Turn sub-phase, which is when certain units perform special actions or take tests. These aren’t common, and their details will be clearly stated in their rules. For example, Stone Trolls would take their Stupidity tests at this juncture, and it’s also when Night Goblin Fanatics are placed on the table.
Additionally, a particular scenario may require you to check whether a victory condition has been met at this point. You may also use this period to tidy the table, removing stray casualties and errant dice.
The second sub-phase is more exciting – Command. This is when most Characters’ special rules fire off. For instance, a Bretonnian Lord brandishing the Falcon-horn of Fredemund may blow it in the Command sub-phase, hopefully preventing opponents from being able to Fly.
Where would Warhammer be without magic? You’ll note that there’s no Magic Phase in the game – instead, magical powers and spells are cast during relevant phases. Hand of Mork (or Gork) is a Conveyance spell, which means it’s cast in the Movement Phase, for instance.
However, the third step of the Strategy Phase is Conjuration – which is when you cast Enchantments (magical boosts for your allies) or Hexes (magical penalties to your enemies). Players take it in turns during this step to choose Wizards who aren’t fleeing to attempt to cast spells. The Tomb Kings, for instance, might choose to cast Djaf’s Incantation of Cursed Blades from the Lore of Nehekara. What’s a Casting Value? We’ll go into more detail on Magic during another article…
The final step in this Phase is Rally Fleeing Troops. This is when the active player must attempt to rally all of their units that are fleeing. To take a Rally test, choose a unit and roll two dice against its Leadership characteristic. If you fail, it will continue to flee during the Movement Phase; if you pass, your unit is allowed a free reform move and returns to the fray. We’ll have more on Morale in a later article too, but please do bear in mind that if your unit is under half strength, it gets a -1 modifier to its Leadership when attempting to Rally. Under 25% and you need a natural double 1
There’s a lot more to clue you in on for Warhammer: The Old World in the coming months. We’ll be tackling the rest of the Phases, plus rules for Magic, Morale, Psychology, and other matters, and we’ll also be taking a closer look at the factions, the setting, the models, and… the future of the game, only here on Warhammer-Community.com.