Warhammer: The Old World – Bringing All The Grudges

I bet you thought this was going to be a Dwarf article.

A little while back I played my first game of Warhammer 6th Edition in far, far too long. I 3D printed and painted an entire army, themed after the Dark Omen and Shadow of the Horned Rat video games. With that out of my system, I am ready to dive into Warhammer: The Old World. But is my army up to the task? Let’s find out how easily my list for the mercenary company Grudgebringers conforms to the new system.

To start off, here is my 2,000 point 6th Edition list:

Obviously, this is a narrative list with a ton of proxying going on. The commander, Morgan Bernhardt, was taken as an Elector Count, rather than a Grand Master of a knightly order so I could legally give a 50 point banner to a regiment of state troops. The Grudgebringer Cavalry were taken as Empire Knights, as was a second cavalry unit representing Carlsson’s Guard (the household cavalry of a border prince from the games). The big unit of swordsmen are the Grudgebringer Infantry, the smaller one were Carlsson’s Guard on foot, taken as a detachment. The rest is pretty self explanatory.

Now let’s see what happens when we put this into The Old World using the basic Empire army list in Forces of Fantasy:

++ Characters [587 pts] ++

General of the Empire [206 pts] (Hand weapon, Light armour, General, Barded Warhorse, Sword of Striking, Armour of Meteoric Iron, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Talisman of Protection, Burning Blade)

Captain of the Empire [101 pts] (Hand weapon, Full plate armour, On foot, Sword of Might, Talisman of Protection)

Master Mage [140 pts] (Hand weapon, Level 2 Wizard, On foot, Luckstone, Dispel Scroll, Biting Blade, Elementalism)

Master Mage [140 pts] (Hand weapon, Level 2 Wizard, On foot, Armour of Tarnus, Luckstone, Elementalism)

++ Core Units [961 pts] ++

10 State Troops [60 pts] (Hand weapons, Light armour, Shields, Detachment)

13 Empire Archers [96 pts] (Hand weapons, Warbows, Marksman (champion)

11 Empire Knights [264 pts] (Hand weapons, Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Standard bearer [Banner of Duty], Musician)

8 Empire Knights [194 pts] (Hand weapons, Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Preceptor (champion), Standard bearer, Musician)

16 State Missile Troops [127 pts] (Hand weapons, Crossbows, Sergeant (champion) [Crossbow/Handgun], Standard bearer, Musician)

20 Veteran State Troops [220 pts] (Hand weapons, Light armour, Shields, Standard bearer [Griffon Standard], Musician)

++ Special Units [250 pts] ++

Great Cannon [125 pts] (Great cannon, Hand weapons)

Great Cannon [125 pts] (Great cannon, Hand weapons)

++ Rare Units [202 pts] ++

15 Flagellants [202 pts] (Hand weapons, Flails, Prophet of Doom (champion))

Wow, that works great; 2,000 points, right on the nose! The magic items needed to be toyed with a bit, as not all the items from 6th edition are still around, nor do they all cost the same (damn inflation). I like that I was able to take a General, rather than an Elector Count. 6th Edition limits an Empire player’s options for an army commander to A) Elector Count, B) Templar Grand Master, or C) Wizard Lord. No one else leads armies in the empire? I also really like being able to upgrade a unit to veterans and give them a magical standard. You can see I did this with the Grudgebringer Infantry and I think it’s the perfect way to add flavor to the unit and army.

I’m actually quite shocked I can get the army to 2,000 points in both editions. Close observers will notice that there is one extra man in each of the State Troops units, but I actually painted these extra minis and left them off the 6th edition list. Apart from that, the minis used are identical. That’s pretty cool! Points have gone up and down in a few places: Canons went from 100 to 125, Flagellants went up, knights went down, and the characters stayed almost exactly the same! In the end, it all washes out and I can take the exact same army out of the box and play whatever edition I want. I’m pretty happy!

Are your armies from previous editions coming back to the tabletop? What will you be playing in The Old World? Let us know in the comments!

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