Warhammer: The Old World has flown off the virtual shelves during its pre-order window, with queues lasting hours on the Warhammer website and many fans left gutted as their favourite models were sold out by the time their turn came to check out. This is a recurring problem with Games Workshop releases, but seems even more surprising considering none of these were new models.

Whether the company’s plans for a fourth Nottingham factory will change these issues or not is a question that none of us can answer definitively, as supply chains are somehow more complex than Warhammer itself. But fantasy fans are in for another shock when they realise that half of their Warhammer Age of Sigmar armies cannot be used in The Old World.

Games Workshop has been very open about the fact that Dark Elves, Skaven, Vampire Counts, Daemons of Chaos, Ogre Kingdoms, Lizardmen, and Chaos Dwarfs won’t be supported in The Old World after an initial PDF detailing rules for old units. The company is clearly separating Age of Sigmar from The Old World, but it’s drawn the line between the two games in a very interesting place.

A few of these armies make complete sense. Vampire Counts have become the copyrightable Flesh-eater Courts, who are currently in the middle of an extensive range refresh. Dark Elves became the Daughters of Khaine years ago, and the Ogor Mawtribes are a far cry from the faction of Ogres that plagued Warhammer Fantasy. Chaos Dwarves don’t have a place in Age of Sigmar but are an iconic Warhammer Fantasy force that many players have clung onto long after the range was discontinued, so it makes sense to release a simple rules PDF to keep fans happy.

The Chaos Dwarfs (better known as Chorfs) have been accused of perpetuating harmful antisemitic tropes in their dated designs.

On the other hand, Lizardmen haven’t undergone many significant changes barring the army name becoming Seraphon. The same goes for Daemons of Chaos. However, perhaps the most notable absence in The Old World is Skaven. Age of Sigmar’s ratmen have been an iconic part of Games Workshop’s fantasy universes for decades, and a horde of plagued vermin was a regular feature on the tabletop in Fantasy.

Does this mean Skaven players are in for a treat in the near future? I could see a range refresh in the future, otherwise why would Games Workshop not include them in The Old World, a fantasy universe they were a core part of? I’ve no actual information about this, but it seems like a logical conclusion. It could be next year, next edition, or later still, but it seems Games Workshop has plans for Skaven.

Separating Age of Sigmar from The Old World miniatures makes a lot of sense. Many fantasy players’ complaints about the new fantasy game – aside from the simplified rules – were that the new models strayed away from the classic fantasy of, well, Fantasy. The shark-riding, waterborne Aelves (yes, even the word Elf has been turned into a copyrightable name) of the Idoneth Deepkin have no place in The Old World’s universe, so they’re not included. The same goes for the Lumineth Realm-lords, another new flavour of Aelf. However, classic High Elf miniatures like the Swordsmen of Hoeth have returned specifically for The Old World.

Games Workshop is making it clear that these are two separate games. The same has happened with Warhammer 40,000, where many 30K units were initially integrated into the bigger game but have since been removed. Contemptor Dreadnoughts were the start, but have since been phased out again to Units of Legend, much like firstborn Space Marines. Warhammer 30,000 and The Old World are analogous, and I think we can expect the games to be treated similarly to each other, especially in regards to their bigger, better-selling siblings.

None of this is bad news. While you might be as gutted as I am that your Skaven army isn’t officially supported in The Old World, basic rules for Stormvermin and Screaming Bells are available for the time being. And then, at some point in the future, we can expect a host of new models for Age of Sigmar.

Separating AoS from The Old World is a business savvy move, firmly defining the new game system as a specialist interest rather than a new way to play Age of Sigmar, or a walking back of all the changes it brought. Keeping some armies as Age of Sigmar-only forces also makes a lot of sense to completely detach the two games from each other. If you want to utilise the base PDFs to use your Skaven or Daemons, however, it might get a little annoying to keep rebasing your miniatures from circles to squares and back again.

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