Reading the Tea Leaves – Prospects and Predictions for the Old World

Hi all,
This is part of our continuing series of articles examining Old World rumors, and trying to predict some outcomes. We will start by reviewing some old rumors and making some new predictions about the coming game.

Let’s take a look at some of these old rumors!

• Battle for Skull Pass and Island of Blood are getting reprints
• The initial release will be small, just a Launch Box, Rulebook, the Compendium and an Accessories Pack. More releases will come in 2024
• Launch Set will be Empire vs. Orcs
• First (6) Factions to get releases will be Empire > Orcs & Goblins > Chaos > Kislev > Bretonnia > Dwarfs
• We know GW will be re-releasing older kits as explained in their last Old World Community post
• Projected release of Fall 2023

While the Old World preview at Warhammer Fest didn’t address many of these directly it did drop some hints. The Q&A session was also quite illustrative. If you missed it here are some highlights:

• Document before release showing base size. Most base sizes go up, end of Warhammer fantasy the models were already starting to overhang. Cavalry get bigger bases, most infantry go bigger.
• There’s rules for chaos dwarfs, but not a faction for focus and won’t be getting new models for a few yrs at least
• Sounds like they’re not simplifying stuff, said it’s not the best way to start on your wargaming journey.
• They’ll make boxes to make it easy to jump in (sounds like army boxes?)
• Army books – focus is on factions in the old world. They’ll then reassess whether that’s the way the should carry on. No promise of an army book for every faction.
• May have upgrades compatible with old kits, but far more likely to get new kits
• Lizardmen won’t get a re release of old kits. New kits + a document showing base size needed. New stuff for AoS unlikely to be ported back to WHF. No re release of old kits (eh old saurus), but will give base sizes to use the new ones
• Cathay in the very far future
• New units for bretonnia that we haven’t seen before
• No plans to bring back the old forgeworld monsters at the moment, but there should be rules for them

Okay, so putting this all together what can we say? I think it is a little early to be certain, but I think the Fall 2023 launch date is likely wrong. GW doesn’t like to announce projects more than a couple months in advance , so it could happen. We also know Epic is coming soon and I doubt that they would launch two games in that time frame. However, if you look at the schedule of releases the winter spot is a little barren, so there is some possibility there. I have heard some rumors that this release will be a smaller one then the Horus Heresy, meaning it will be easier to slot in then some other options. I think we will know for certain at the NOVA Open. If there is no preview there then it means the release will come in 2024 or later.

Other than that, I think these rumors still line up well. There has been a kerfuffle about what counts as a “starter set” and whether the Old World will get a release like Horus Heresy did. I think the odds of a launch box are decent, although it might not come at release. The idea of GW reprinting the older starter sets may be a stop gap measure as the gauge interest. Either way I remain optimistic and am hungry for any new rumors!

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