Warhammer Old World Factions Revealed

Warhammer Old World Factions have been revealed, and while it’s not full of surprises, it’s great to get the information early.

With Old World approaching ever so slowly, releasing new information is tantalising. So this week, the little bit of information we get is the main factions of the game. Interestingly, it’s been split into two parts. Firstly, the main story factions, and then the other factions who will have rules, but won’t be part of the game narrative.

Warhammer Old World Factions – Story Factions

Credit Warhammer Community

Below are the key factions for the lore of Warhammer Old World as it starts, and most likely in the future.

• Empire of Man
• Orc & Goblin Tribes
• Dwarfen Mountain Holds
• Warriors of Chaos
• Kingdom of Bretonnia
• Beastmen Brayherds
• Wood Elf Realms
• Tomb Kings of Khemri
• High Elf Realms

Again, no real surprises; Games Workshop are obviously playing it safe here with the factions that will likely get some new models or at least re-prints of models. But for now, you can go out and buy old Warhammer models with at least some level of security that will have a purpose in the Old World.

The above armies will be a core part of Old World, with rules launching alongside the release of Warhammer Old World. GW did confirm that the above factions will include new miniatures alongside the return of classic kits.

Warhammer Old World Factions – Rules Only

Other factions, like those listed below, will not be part of the game’s narrative, but will, however, have a set of rules. So while these factions won’t have the narrative implications, there probably won’t be any issues.

• Dark Elves
• Skaven
• Vampire Counts
• Daemons of Chaos
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Lizardmen
• Chaos Dwarfs

Know as “legacy armies”, these factions will have their rules available for free via PDFs. GW sees this as payback for fans who have old armies sitting on shelves. Though, these factions will only have old units represented, “new” Age of Sigmar models in these ranges will not be support for the “legacy” factions.

Warhammer Old World Factions – What are they up to

For those interested in the story, here’s a brief post that Warhammer Community posted on the topic:

During the century before the Siege of Praag, the Skaven Under-Empire was riven by civil war to the extent that they retreated from the surface world. This is the origin of the belief that Skaven aren’t real – they vanished for several generations and became folklore. The Skaven re-emerged only after the Horned Rat himself was summoned at Skavenblight to end the strife and instil new purpose into his children (this ties in with the wider rise of Chaos and the destruction wrought by Asavar Kul), turning them into a new power in the world.

The Von Carsteins were all dead (for a given value of dead) after the Vampire Wars. With their defeat, other vampires went into hiding and became less active, waiting until the world became safe for them to emerge once more.

Dark Elves, Lizardmen, Chaos Dwarfs and Ogre Kingdoms are all based far from the Old World and, during this period, are very inward-looking and insular races.

Chaos Daemons have existed in the past and will again, but there is an ebb and flow to the power of Chaos – in our period Chaos is at its lowest ebb in a long time. When Asavar Kul rises to become the 12th Everchosen, the power of Chaos will build again, but we won’t see daemonic servants of individual gods for a while yet. Daemons and, especially, Daemon Princes exist, the latter given power by the belief of the mortals that worship them as demigods, but whole legions manifesting in the real world are currently incredibly rare.