Warhammer: The Old World Core Set is crunchy, complex, and the best introduction to the game you could hope for

The Old World Core Set is like a time capsule; it's filled with bric-à-brac from the past wrapped in fond memories. As is the case with so many time capsules, though, this is an idealized version of history. The bad has been trimmed away, leaving your best foot forward.

This is the cantankerous Warhammer Fantasy Battles (AKA Old World's inspiration) on its best day. There are grand armies with gorgeous models sweeping across the battlefield, crunchy rules with endless depth, and enough dice being thrown to form a bone-white carpet on your table. However, The Old World Core Set goes one better than its predecessor. It's made a noticeable effort to be as beginner-friendly as possible, and it's a shining example of what The Old World should be. In fact, it's the best entry-point to the game yet.

Don't get me wrong – this is still the most complicated entry in Warhammer's arsenal. It can be overwhelming in its ambition, too. But if you're able to stick with it like a block of spearmen bracing for the charge, you'll be richly rewarded.

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The Old World Core Set features & design

• This is a crunchy, rules-heavy game
• Includes two Battle March armies & everything you need to play
• Brand-new Warriors of Chaos vs. Grand Cathay

Much like The Horus Heresy, this is a ganglier, more complex beast than anything else on Warhammer's lineup. It's far denser than Age of Sigmar and makes 40K seem trite. This is a game of edge-cases and sub-rules; everything from flanking to the willpower of your units is included, and there are a staggering number of mechanics to define the most unlikely scenario. It's far crunchier, too. The Old World still has you consulting to-hit and to-wound tables, comparing your unit's scores against your opponent's.

You'll know just from reading that paragraph whether The Old World Core Set is for you. If you find mathematical tomfoolery like this intimidating, run. But if you find today's wargames too lightweight, prepare to feast. This is the ultimate tactical experience, with so much to factor into your strategy.

Not that you're thrown in at the deep end, of course. Before now, you had to fully commit with a massive battalion box or by buying individual units to start playing Old World. This Core Set fixes that with two smaller, but still competitively-recognized, "Battle March" armies that are far less intimidating to make. (An all-new range of Chaos Warriors is featured here alongside last year's Grand Cathay line.) They're supported by the full rulebook, stats for all your troops, a battlemat, reference guides, and all the accessories necessary to play. In other words, you've got everything you need to get stuck in here other than terrain.

In terms of construction, these models are far more advanced than you'd find in a box like the starter sets or Armageddon; they're incredibly 'bitty' in a way that's reminiscent of the Horus Heresy Custodes models. They look phenomenal and are far more dynamic than the majority of (in some cases decades-old) miniatures in the game, but they require more patience.

Gameplay

• Incredible depth leads to so many tactical options
• The complex mechanics make its warriors feel like real people
• You'll need to flip between multiple books at first as you learn rules

There's nothing quite like seeing two enormous armies of ranked infantry, resplendent knights, and grand warmachines marching into battle on the tabletop. It's a sense of scale you rarely see from the hobby, which normally limits itself to skirmishes with a loose handful of warriors per unit. As a result, formations and where you charge the enemy are far more important factors here. Flanking maneuvers and well-timed cavalry attacks can be devastating, just like they would be in real life, and you'll have to keep an eye on your army's morale to make sure groups don't turn and flee under strain.

I grew up with this back when Fantasy Battles was still a thing, and I don't think I realized how much I missed it until I was pitting The Old World Core Set's Chaos Warriors against Grand Cathay. Soldiers turning tail or to-hit tables representing the cut and thrust of combat makes it all feel much more real. I became a lot more invested in my troops as a result.

I just hope you're prepared for a lot of flipping back and forth through the rulebook (or between booklets) while you get used to the rules. Each unit's stats are included in the same pamphlet, while info like to-wound tables are kept elsewhere, so you'll be bouncing from stats and back again throughout your first matches.

That's my one criticism about The Old World Core Set; I think it could do with separate datacards for each unit of the kind you'd find in Kill Team: Terror on Devlan, because then there's far less hassle jumping between pages. Similarly, a separate summary sheet of key terms would also have been handy. It's fine consulting the rulebook's glossary to find what you need mid-match, but it does bring things grinding to a halt.

Still, that'll become less of an issue the further down the road you go. And because both armies are a strong foundation from which to build a greater force, it's an off-ramp to exciting possibilities.

Should you buy Warhammer The Old World Core Set?

If you're looking for a crunchy, in-depth game system with a lot of weight, you'll be in heaven here; The Old World's complexity makes it feel so much more alive than its peers, and the result is immensely satisfying. This Core Set is also the best route in by far. Although it could do with some more player aids to assist with those early days, it provides everything you need to get stuck in.

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How we tested Warhammer The Old World Core Set

After familiarizing myself with the rules and constructing models from the box-set, I tried a test-match pitting both armies against one another in a full battle (as laid out in the Muster Lists booklet). This allowed me to get a practical sense of how gameplay worked in practice.

For more on our process, be sure to check out how we test board games or the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

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