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Let’s take a look at what armies did the best, and worst, in the latest Warhammer: the Old World FAQ.
The other week we got our latest Old World FAQ. It has some good stuff but was overall a bit of a mixed bag. Now this FAQ didn’t just address rules issues, it was also a balance update. As such some armies got nerfed and other got buffed. So today lets take a look at the winners and losers of the FAQ and how they were affected.
Loser – Nuln
The first losers on our list are Nuln. For them both the Veteran Outriders upgrade and the Squintsoffen’s Marvellous Magnifier were reduced to one per army. Nuln used these two upgrades to normally run 2-3 good units of Outriders that had better than normal shooting and mobility. Now they are reduced to only taking 1 unit of them. Since this was one of the main things Nuln had going for it over normal Empire its a decently big hit, but we will see if its enough to take them out of competitive play.
Losers – Dwarf Expeditionary Force
Expeditionary Force has been a pretty big (and very annoying) list in the competitive field for a bit now. They took too big hits. The first is limiting the LoS of their Gyros. This is a bit of a nerf, but not enough to really tank the army.
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The bigger hit to them was the change to LLOs, which they get from Entrenched. This change allowing models full attacks over them, takes their entrenched bricks from almost impossible to break, to able to be taken down by a strong combat unit. This is a massive hit to armies survivability and kind of kills it core tactic. Cannons did get a bit better, but this has really taken them down a peg.
Winner – Slayers
Slayers on the other hand did get a buff. Many of them gained Furious Charge. In addition the Goblin Hewer got fixed to me… well not good, but maybe OK? They are decent buffs that do make the list a bit better.
Losers – Tomb Kings
Tomb Kings took a few pretty big hits across all their armies. Royal Heralds not being able to take wounds from a challenge is a pretty big change to a core TK strategy and hurts the list a bit. Some other TK armies were relying on stacking Eternal Taskmaster on units, normally Tomb Guards, to make a really deadly unit that is dead as well. On top of that Ubshabiti went to BS 2, so their shooting got worse. The LLO change also hurts some of the TK builds. Overall it doesn’t take the army out of the top rankings, but probably does knock Mort Cult out of top lists.
Winner – Warriors of Chaos
Chaos got a decent number of changes that overall help it. Now it did take a hit in that the Daemon Prince got significantly worse losing what really made it unique. On the other hand a lot of Chaos stuff got better. Warriors (and Chosen) gained Furious Charge, which is pretty nice. Maybe even better basic Warriors and Knights got a 6+ Ward, which is really really nice. Daemonic Mounts also got a lot better, and got to keep 360 LoS. A few other things also got a bit cheaper. Overall I think this opens up some extra builds for the army and gives it extra hitting power and survivability. A 6+ ward on the knights is really decent.
Loser – Wild Herd
Now Beastmen got a number of buffs in the FAQ. A lot of their monsters got a bit better, higher T. A number of units also gained Furious Charge. But they also took some really big hits, especially the top table Wild Herd builds. One of the main damage outputs of this list was casting Viletides, and using Hagtree Fetish to buff those. Both of those got some magic nerfs hurting them a ton. The army also made heavy use of Earthen Ramparts/the LLO buff to create a flying wizard bunker that was almost impossible to charge. Well the LLO change also hurt that a ton. So all the things that Wild Herd was using to win big got hit big. Not great.
Winner – Wood Elves
Wood Elves also got a decent number of buffs. Wardancers got a significant Glow Up. The Branchwraith got fixed. Tree Kin got a stat bump. A few other things got some buffs or points changes. It’s not ground breaking stuff here, but it is another in a line of nice buffs that are slowly pushing them to be better.
Loser – Brets
While Brets got a few buffs, mostly to their infantry , and the interesting choice of taking Knights in 3 model units, overall I think they got another nerf. All their Pegs, lone and in units, lost 360 LOS. I talked about this more in my overview of the FAQ, and why its a bad change, so check that out for more info. But at the end of the day it does hurt the army and is just the latest in a long serious of nerfs. In addition the Green Knight got worse, which is good, but bad for the army.
Neutral – Orcs and Goblins?
Overall I think Orcs & Goblins mostly got a pretty neutral FAQ. Fanatics got a little easier to kill since you can shoot them now. On the other hand Giants went to T7. Trolls got slightly better but still likely aren’t worth it. Trollhide Trousers are now just one per army. Some units got Furious Charge. On balance the armies being played right now got a very small bit worse, but overall pretty neutral for the faction.
Mild Losers – High Elves
Now High Elves got a whole bunch of buffs, making Martial Prowess better and a number of units dropping in points. I don’t think any of that matters. These were all bad units and they are still bad. The important change is that Seed of Rebirth is now one per army, massively limiting the ability of the army to hand out cheap Regen to characters. That change is overall good, but it hurts the army more than all the tiny buffs help it.
Winner – Grand Cathay
Outside of the confusing and non-workable Dragon change, Cathay didn’t have any balance changes. Given that they are the top army in the game… this is kind of crazy. Not getting nerfed at all keeps them at the top and makes them a big, and surprise, winner of the FAQ. Now the changes to cannons does hurt them a bit. But overall they came out of this FAQ far better than they should have.
Let us know which armies you think did best/worst out of the FAQ, 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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