We’re back with another Warhammer: The Old World F&Q and Errata. This has come a lot quicker than most of us expected but it’s a welcome sight for sure. We’ve got a few changes in place and some good classifications which have come to light since the game launched and everyone’s got their grubby little hands on it. I’m going to go through and give a quick hot take on the F&Q and hopefully get you up to speed as quickly as possible.
The first couple of Errata changes are more about house keeping and tidying up. First around Fly and Movement and the second around Monster Handlers (for the very few units which use that). We’ve also got a change to Reserve move just to clear up some language, in terms of gameplay it doesn’t make any real difference to how you’ve been playing it.
We’ve got a clarification on the Scatter Dice and if things “hit” or “move” using the little arrow on the “hit” side of the dice. In short, they don’t use the little arrow unless the rules specifically tell you to, for example, when firing an indirect Stone Thrower as that can’t hit. This effects all rules which interact with the scatter dice, so fanatics for example now don’t move 1-in-6 times.
Next we’ve got a clarification on Multiple Wounds (X) and Killing Blow and how it interacts with damage all at the same time. I’m not going to try and explain it better than they do in the F&Q but in effect do Killing Blow and Monster Slayer, then Multi Wounds (X) (with excess lost on each damaging hit) followed by individual damage attacks.
Spells with more than 1 casting value are now confirmed to work in a way that you don’t declare at which level you want to cast it. You just cast the spell and if you roll well enough you get the bonus effect. Not sure who wasn’t playing it that way before but either way, having it in writing is nice if it was ever to come up. A clarification related to dispelling next and confirmation that a Wizard can in fact dispel a bound spell in the same way they would an enemy Wizard casting a spell.
Under movement we’ve got a few questions where I’ve seen some online discourse in the last few months. A move is now a move, anytime you touch a model with the exception of pivoting a Warmachine it counts as moving. This means that any spell which takes a model and puts it somewhere else (for example Travel Mystical Pathways) means that Move or Shoot weapons can no longer fire for example.
Next, we have a question regarding how far a model can move and in short it’s the sensible answer we all hoped. You can’t move more than twice your Movement characteristic (or dice rolled as required) unless the rules specifically allow you to (such as a spell like the afore mentioned Travel Mystical Pathways) or if it was an obligatory move such as a flee. What this does mean is it fully clarifies things such as reforms etc on how far units can shift during that manoeuvre. We also can a comment at the end of the question in that when a model gets a free manoeuvre (such as Drilled) you can up to double your movement value in that as well as your actual move, so for example a Dwarf (M3) could move up to 6” during a drilled free redress then another 6” when it moves again during it’s actual move.
Perigrin: It is also important to note that while clarifying movement they put to bed one of the lingering questions around Drilled, that being “But what specifically counts as a move?” GW went with the broadest definition, so literally any time you are touching a miniature and shifting it on the table, that counts as a move, and as Drilled can be used before any move, that means that you can use Drilled to do all kinds of shenanigans. Most notably, you can Drilled on a Counter-Charge, potentially going from a 3 wide marching column to an 8 wide combat formation. Be careful around units with both rules! “Drilled gets clarified in a FAQ” is currently my favorite genre of rules change for this game.
We’ve got a massive change to High Magic next in that you can’t cast a Conveyance spell during a turn in which you charge, which makes Walk Between Worlds far less oppressive than it has been in some scenarios. I’m sure there’s something else in there which matters more but for now that’s the big one which jumps out at me.
Clarification on Magic Missiles or Magical Vortexes follows with it being confirmed that you can indeed cast as many spells as you know in any given turn. If you know more than 1 magic missile you can indeed cast both for sure.
We have a new question in the Challenge section gives clarification that during an ongoing combat where Fall Back in Good Order or Giving Ground occurs that challenge to indeed continue as long as both are alive and swinging.
On USRs we’ve got a few questions regarding impact hits, the first makes it clear that the whole model on the base gets the impact hits rule not each specific part of the model. No getting multiple sets of impact hits for each goblin riding and each wolf pulling the chariot. We’ve also got a very similar clarification later on with regards to Stomp Attacks operating in the same way. In addition, we have a change to the way impact hits can be used in combat’s where the impact hit causing model has counted as charging, but it also charged in the same turn. In effect you must put the impact hits on the models you contacted, not the ones which contacted you.
Another going rules debate is put to bed here regarding multiple ranks of missile armed troops being able to all shoot at large targets (they can) while Motley Crew gets a quick tidy up regarding what happens when you have exactly the same armour save for 2 types of troops with exactly the same number of models in a unit, in short you use the better save option. While on the topics of saves we’ve also got multiple clarifications through this document that regen or ward armour values don’t get improved by shield or barding being equipped on the models.
Another big one here, especially with the amount of troll hordes being prepped ready for the gaming table is the blue text change regarding Multiple Wound (X) and regeneration for combat resolution. In effect if you pass the regen save you still count the Multiple Wound (X) characteristic for combat resolution. So even if you get lucky and don’t get any damage against a Multiple Wound (D3) Ogre Blade for example you might still suffer 3-9 wounds for Combat Resolution and end up fleeing.
Models that cause Terror don’t cause it in models which cause Fear themselves, in effect it just gets downgraded. Again, useful with Fear and Terror causing models popping up everywhere.
The next couple of questions regard around skirmishers. In effect we have a clarification around hitting the middle of a unit of skirmishers (just make it work) and a clarification on what happens when you can’t move a unit of skirmishers into a legal position (remember that movement question earlier) when required to. If you can’t then they’re removed as casualties, simple. There’s going to be cases where large skirmish units end up losing a few extra models when charged on one side, or especially when charged on two opposite sides.
Something for Vampire Count and Tomb King Players to pay attention to (as they’re the two biggest Ld Bomb Abusers) is that if you modify a units Ld and they’re using the General’s Inspiring Presence (or some other Ld characteristic) then that does still get modified by other modifications placed on the target unit. Along with this we now know for sure that if a Battle Standard Bearer who refuses a challenge is still engaged in combat, then units can’t use their “Hold Your Ground” special rule. Banners are less inspiring when they’re hiding at the back of a unit, who knew?
We’ve had a clarification on what “better” means in relation to armour saves. In effect you as the player can decide what’s “better” and what’s not. So, any discussion around the Armour of Ages and a Tomb King on a Bone Dragon has now gone away, you can use it without issue.
In terms of quickfire questions we’ve got a few more for characters. If a character takes up space in a unit over multiple ranks it doesn’t’ effect a units rank bonus in any negative way. We’ve also been told that a character who’s in the fighting rank can’t move along that fighting rank, in effect they aren’t big enough to push themselves down into combat with the enemy from within that front rank, so be careful where you’re putting your characters. A negative to going wide and putting them on the corner for sure. To help with that we’re now told a character can be placed within a units command group, not just on either side. This is a change to the rules but something which certainly helps with the above. We’ve also got confirmation that you need to be within 3” of a friendly unit to be safe from enemy shooting.
Wound characteristics of Warmachines aren’t used when working out their Unit Strength, just that of the crew, so no bonus US in the break point scenarios’ when needed! In the “why are people asking this” category we have a question on the minimum percentage of core units so lets just pretend that isn’t there and then a question on spells on regimental units and detachments and spells. That one might as well go in the “why” category as well. We also have confirmation that Plague of Rust doesn’t effect Ward or Regen saves as well, which is how we all knew it should be played, but not how it was written, so the clarification is nice to have.
In addition, potions are only drank by the character who purchased the unit, they don’t bring a second one for their mount just in case you wondered. Finally we get confirmation around how many spells a Wizard with an Arcane Familiar knows; in effect they don’t get bonus spells for taking that item, you just split the amount of spells they know between the two lores they know, so in their example 2 from 1 and 1 from another or 3 from a single one.
There we have it, all the rulebook FAQ sorted … but what’s that? We have more in the ones relating to the Ravening Hordes and Forces of Fantasy? Okay, lets look at them as well.
The first big change here (and maybe the biggest from all of these documents) is the Fanatic change so you can only have 1 for every full 10 goblins in the parent unit. No longer are those marching columns of goblins where 30% of the unit are hiding a ball and chain down their pants a thing. In effect this means that a lot of Orc and Goblin lists are going to gain 50-75pts to spend through dropping a few fanatics or are going to have to find 50+ points to add a few goblins to their units. Either way it’s a better game for it.
We have confirmation that Defensive Stakes from Bretonnian Bowmen do nasty things to fanatics (Ha!) and to balance all of that out the news all Doom Diver devotes wanted to know and unlike most of the other rules we’ve had they indeed can aim for enemy characters when scattering their D3 flapping roll. After all, which self-respecting Goblin wouldn’t want to go out making history.
For those who weren’t sure a Black Orc Warboss doesn’t count as an Orc Warboss. If you take a Black Orc Boss (either kind) and choose to mount him on a Black Orc Chariot then that doesn’t’ count as the Black Orc chariot you’re allowed to take as a Core of Special Selection, in effect it doesn’t matter what he’s mounted on. Finally the Hag can’t be the General of an Orc & Goblin Grand Army composition list, an actual character has to lead that.
Away from Orcs and into Tomb Kings we have confirmation that the Light of Protection ability isn’t cumulative. Great news.
On the light side of the track in the Forces of Fantasy book the Imperial Griffon no longer has a special rule for having 2 heads. Finally in anticipation of the Dwarf Book we have a small change where the Axe of Dargo is not S+2 instead of the S2 which is specified in the Arcane Journal.
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