How to Start Warhammer: The Old World

Warhammer: The Old World rewards patience, and it can look as though it demands a great deal of it up front. Ranked regiments, movement trays, wheeling manoeuvres, and decades of accumulated lore make the classic fantasy wargame seem like a closed club for people who already memorised the map. The truth is gentler. Every veteran began with a single unit and a great many questions, and the setting is generous to anyone who simply picks a corner of it and starts. This guide breaks the journey into plain steps, so you can go from curious onlooker to fielding your first proud, slightly wobbly regiment at your own pace.

What The Old World Actually Is

At heart this is a mass-battle miniatures game. Two players build armies of rank-and-file soldiers, monsters, and war machines, arrange them into ordered regiments, and manoeuvre those blocks across a tabletop, rolling dice to resolve the clash. What sets it apart from many wargames is its love of formation. Troops fight in tight ranks, facing matters enormously, and a charge that lands on an enemy's exposed flank is worth far more than one that grinds into a braced front. Victory is less about a single hammer-blow than about outmanoeuvring your opponent one wheel and reform at a time.

The setting is a grim, late-medieval fantasy world, familiar and warped: a Renaissance Europe glimpsed in a cracked mirror, where the forests are full of monsters and every nation stands one bad harvest from ruin. You need know none of it to begin, but be warned that many players come for the game and stay for the world.

Choosing the Army That Grabs You

Your first real decision is which force to collect, and the best advice is the simplest: choose the army you cannot stop looking at. You will spend many hours with these models, so pick the one whose story and silhouette make you want to tear the box open.

A few armies are especially kind to newcomers. The Empire of Man fields the archetypal fantasy host (blocks of halberdiers and spearmen, handgunners, cannon, and battle wizards), and teaches the core game beautifully. The Dwarfen Mountain Holds are stubborn, resilient, and forgiving of beginner mistakes, standing their ground while their war machines do the talking. If you dream of the cavalry charge, the Kingdom of Bretonnia delivers the finest knights in the world thundering home in a single decisive wedge.

For something wilder, the Orc and Goblin Tribes are boisterous, characterful, and cheerfully unpredictable, while the Vampire Counts raise the dead and march them in silent ranks that do not rout. Do not agonise over the choice. Most hobbyists end up with more than one army, and the second is always easier to start than the first.

What You Need to Begin

Less than you fear. A boxed starter set is the smoothest on-ramp, bundling troops, a rulebook, dice, and measuring tools together at a friendly price. Beyond that, a modest hobby kit covers the essentials: clippers to free plastic parts from their frames, a hobby knife to tidy them, and plastic glue to assemble them. Movement trays, which hold a regiment together as a single block, are enormously helpful and worth acquiring early.

For painting, begin with a small clutch of paints, a couple of decent brushes, and a pot of water. A cutting mat saves your table and good light saves your eyes. You will also want somewhere to play; a kitchen table with a few books standing in for hills and ruins will carry you through your first games.

Building and Painting in Ranks

Assembling rank-and-file troops is its own quiet pleasure, and there is a trick to it: think in units, not single models. Because you will paint twenty near-identical spearmen rather than one showpiece hero, batch painting becomes your friend. Prime them all, block in the main colours across the whole unit, then wash the lot with a thin dark shade that flows into the recesses and adds instant depth. That three-step method (prime, basecoat, wash) produces a regiment that looks unified and handsome without demanding masterpiece-level skill.

Do not chase perfection on model one. Your first troops will not match the display cabinet, and they are not meant to. A finished, tabletop-ready regiment beats a single flawless figure every time, and your tenth soldier will be visibly better than your first.

Learning the Rank-and-Flank Game

The game unfolds in turns, each side moving its regiments, firing missiles and war machines, then grinding through close combat resolved with dice. Written down it sounds fiddly; on the table it clicks fast. Start tiny, two or three units a side, so you learn the essential rhythm of form up, wheel, and charge without a fog of special rules.

The heart of it is manoeuvre. A regiment that strikes an enemy in the flank or rear fights at a huge advantage, so much of your thinking becomes a slow, deliberate contest of angles: screening your blocks, guarding your own flanks, and setting up the charge that shatters the enemy line. Play a few small games with the rulebook open beside you, and the fundamentals settle in naturally.

Finding Games and a Community

Nothing accelerates the hobby like another person across the table. A local gaming store or club is the single best resource a beginner has: experienced players almost always enjoy teaching newcomers, lending terrain, and answering the questions the rulebook leaves murky. If learning in public feels daunting, a couple of beginner battle-report videos will show you the flow of a real game before you play your own.

Where to Go Next

Once you have a small painted force and a game or two behind you, the world opens in every direction. You might expand your army, learn advanced painting, or fall happily down the rabbit hole of the setting's history. If it is the lore that has you, our overview of what Warhammer: The Old World is and our guide to reading Warhammer Fantasy are natural next steps.

Above all, remember this is a hobby measured in years, not weekends. There is no finish line and no need to rush. Buy what excites you, paint at a pace you enjoy, and let your army grow one proud regiment at a time.