I started wargaming with Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 4^th edition, back in the late 90’s. It was the game I spent the most time playing and painting until Games Workshop blew up the Warhammer World in 2015 to introduce the Age of Sigmar.  I was not a fan of Age of Sigmar when it first came out.  Perhaps this was because the game was so different as it was now a skirmish game, the lack of a points system, the change in aesthetic for the minis I knew and loved, or a combination of factors.  The Ninth Age, a fan made system, came out and while a lot of my friends adopted it I was never a fan.  In the beginning they updated the rules to often for me to keep up with, then they made changes I just wasn’t happy with and made things more confusing than I was willing to work my way through.  When Games Workshop announced they were coming out with Warhammer The Old World I was cautiously optimistic, and as we got to see rules overviews I started to get excited about bringing out my old miniatures. 

Last week I brought my Dwarves to the shop on my regular game night and was invited to join in a multiplayer game.  I hadn’t so much as cracked a rule book (in fact one of the reasons I was at the shop was to buy my copy of the rules!) so a friend made my list for me and I gladly joined in.  Each of the good armies (Dwarfs, Bretonnians, and High Elves) each got 500 points each to face down the evil armies which consisted of 1,000 points of Beastmen, and 500 points of Dark Elves. 

My thunderers let loose their first volley and were able to eliminate the unit of Harpies, while the Bretronian archers and High Elves whittled down the approaching hoards.  The second turn the thunderers were less accurate only killing two beastmen. 

They were then charged by two massed units.  The Thunderers must have been dug in because they only lost two of their number and joined by their thane they struck down three of the enemy in return!  This caused the beatmen to back up.  When the slayers launched a countercharge the beastmen decided to flee rather than face the might of the angry warriors and ran all the way to the middle of the table!  While this was going on the Brettonian knights, high elf chariot and high elf cavalry charged the witch elves.  Despite some less than heroic rolling on the flank the witch elves lost the combat and fled getting cut down.  The Ungor decided to charge the Thunders again, and they were cut down in close combat, and then chased down to finish them off.  In the last turn of the game the Thunderers got the range on the beastman mage and killed him with their handguns. 

The knights charged the Ghorgon killing it, but it then fell directly on top of the chivalrous knights killing one!  The Forces of Evil were cut down almost a (beast)man and the Thunderers earned unit of the match!

While this is definitely a different version of Warhammer it is definitely still Warhammer.  While it is way to early for me to compare it with Warhammer version 8 I can say playing Warhammer again brought a joy to me I haven’t felt in many years of gaming.  It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed the games I’ve been playing, because I do, but this was a hit of pure nostalgia.  I cannot wait to play my next game, and start painting my next army.  I’m not super keen on rebasing the armies I do have but that is another problem for another day.  The excitement of my favorite game, and favorite universe making a return is awesome and I look forward to many more years of playing!

-Wachtmeister