Hey! So this is just a quick write up on the first set of tournament results we have in for The Old World. It’s a super exciting time to see the meta develop and to get our armies back on the table after all these years!
There’s not a huge amount of information we can take from these early events as I believe people will mostly be taking models they’ve had sitting on shelves for years or models from the new box. We also don’t know the tournament standard yet but it does appear that the larger events such as RTT's and Majors are leaning towards 2000 points. I'd view most of the tournaments here as early, introductory events and so the results should definitely be taken with a pinch of salt! Not to mention model availability isn't great for a lot of the armies.
Anyway, enough waffle, here are the events:
--------------------
Authentic Dragons Casual Tournament // 1250 points // 12 players
@ Authentic Dragons, Edmonton, Canada
Placings
1st - Beastmen Brayherds - Doug Lamb
2nd - Wood Elf Realms - Matt Lau
3rd - Kingdom of Bretonnia - Kesler Skeels
There are no lists available for the first ever event for The Old World, which is a shame, but we’ll extrapolate what we can from this casual event. Beastmen take the top slot with three convincing victories. I’ve seen a lot of talk out there on how strong the magic is and that the chariots are very good but with no lists we have very little clue to what they may have taken.
Following in second place is the Wood Elves with a close first round followed by two convincing wins. Formerly an MSU catch-me-if-you-can style force; will that change? Perhaps not. Most Wood Elf lists I’ve seen knocking around go quite heavy on the MSU shooting and use their awesome cavalry options in Wild Riders and Sisters of the Thorn to get the job done.
Kingdom of Bretonnia are in our final podium spot with two convincing victories after a first round loss. Surprisingly, the only Bretonnia player in the event. Bretonnia have been on the radar as one of the stronger factions currently with: fast cavalry that are quite durable, a (mostly) army wide ward save, and the deceptively powerful Duke on Pegasus. They are obviously helped out by having an Arcane Journal to draw from too.
--------------------
The First Old World Forgemaster // 2000 points // 13 players
@ Tabletop Forge, Barrie, Canada
Placings
1st - Dwarven Mountain Holds - Chad Hackman https://pastebin.com/jME5MxAu
2nd - High Elf Realms - Eddie Crompton https://pastebin.com/9CbvDh58
3rd - Tomb Kings of Khemri - Brandon Deamer https://pastebin.com/n3kbyhzD
We've got our first look at some winning lists! Unfortunately, I was unable to get a list for the top spot. Was it the infamous two star dragons list? We may never know. However, they did have a comfortable time with three very one-sided wins to take the title. EDIT: The winner of the event has come forward and informed me that he was actually playing Dwarves! Sorry High Elves, you'll have to get your win another time. List has been added in.
In the second spot we have another High Elf list! They have a high scoring game one which was a loss, but then two good victories in rounds two and three. The list is headed by a Prince on Star dragon with a bucketload of magic items. The combo is unfortunately illegal (due to taking two items from the same category that are not extremely common) but the premise of slapping a bunch of items onto a dragon still looks very strong. The Dragon is backed up by a level four Elementalism Archmage rocking the Seed of Rebirth (this item is so good) and the Sigil of Asuryan, the High Elf dispel scroll, and the Silvery Wand. A Sea Guard core with Phoenix guard and a Bolt Thrower make up the rest of the list.
Tomb Kings rock in at third with two wins and a loss taking a little bit of everything! We have a level four High Priest with Necromancy on a Bone Dragon sporting warding splint, making him a bit more durable. Then a second High Priest, and a Necrotect. In the core we see Chariots, Skeletons with Phalanx, and Tomb Guard also with Phalanx. For special we see some Necropolis Knights, some Ushabti with bows and the controversial Tomb Scorpion. Taking up the rest of the list is the fearsome Necrosphinx, a Casket of Souls, and a Screaming Skull Catapult. All together looks like a bit of a messy list trying to take as many different things as possible to find what works this edition. I imagine that's what a lot of players will be doing early on anyhow.
All in all, a pretty strong showing from the High Elves, the only two in the event, taking the top two podium places. Three Tomb King lists with only one breaking the top three.
--------------------
Primo Torneo TOW // 1500 points // 20 players
@ Piazza Castello, Italy
Placings
1st - Kingdom of Bretonnia - Federico Bostrenghi https://pastebin.com/WB997HuF
2nd - Ogre Kingdoms - Riccardo Milella https://pastebin.com/x1gvxHS0
3rd - Wood Elf Realms - Mattia Pagliana
So Bretonnia pick up the win on this one. The Pegasus Duke proving to be a very strong option, skirmish and fly on a punchy character is really powerful. The rest of the forces consist of, and I'm sure we are all surprised here, the best cavalry options available. Pegasus Knights, Grail Knights and Knights of The Realm all having good damage output and solid survivability.
Next up is the Ogre Kingdoms. The first of the legacy factions to grab a podium spot. Monstrous infantry, monstrous cavalry and behemoths prove effective. A large wound pool, impact hits with AP on almost everything. Ogre's play really well into the new step up rules. Being deadly on the charge and even able to soak a charge fairly decently. Sabretusks look pretty versatile for their points. Able to redirect and charge block, or war machine hunt in a pinch.
No list for the Wood Elves.
--------------------
Welcome to The Old World // 1250 points // 23 players
@ Hulls Angels, Kingston upon Hull, England
Placings
1st - Tomb Kings of Khemri - John Dale https://pastebin.com/HB5WS1k5
2nd - Lizardmen - Robbi Soussan https://pastebin.com/vac3rrZ9
3rd - Dwarven Mountain Holds - Pascal Maguet https://pastebin.com/MFjYtLPA
The largest event of the year (so far)! This is the first time we are seeing Lizardmen and Dwarves make the podium.
First up is what I imagine to be what a fairly standard Tomb Kings list will look like, leaning into the strong units with: Horse Archers, Tomb Scorpions, and Necrosphinxes. We again see the force led by a level four Wizard - perhaps starting to cement the idea that a level four is close to mandatory?
The silver medal Lizardmen list is lead by a level four Frog (sorry, Slann) and his Skink friends, with the Skirmishers choosing Javelins over Blowpipes. They bring two bigger dinosaurs in the Bastiladon with Solar Engine and the Ancient Stegadon. Monsters look to be very good this edition and Lizardmen play well into that strategy, so I wouldn't be surprised if this became the norm for their competitive lists.
Winning the bronze we see perhaps the most standard of dwarf lists with a plethora of characters, leading a gun line with some Gyrocopters. Nothing much to pick apart here, Dwarfs seem very forced into the gunline strategy with movement three being the standard, at least the list has some melee punch for when(if?) the enemy gets there. Hey, at least its not 40 rangers in a line, right, guys?
--------------------
Break Point - Old World 1k // 1000 points //16 players
@ Underworld Gaming, Dublin, Ireland
Placings
1st - The Kingdom of Bretonnia - Andy Farrell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv3hNEiXFKE
2nd - Dwarven Mountain Holds - Tim Raymond https://pastebin.com/xcsVQiH3
3rd - Tomb Kings of Khemri - David Bowes https://pastebin.com/TWSdZUn0
The Bretonnia pick up their second win, looking strong. However with no list I have no insights other than Bretonnia look good! EDIT: Andy has uploaded a video on his channel breaking down the list. He does it far more justice than I ever could so I've added the link above.
Dwarves come flying in at second with a couple of Gyrocopters, a block of hammerers and some rangers. I suspect Dwarves will have a harder time in the larger points games where we will see more level four Wizards and fast monsters. But tough troops and decent offensive output seem powerful, even if slow.
Tomb Kings shamble along into third with our first Mortuary Cult list. Horse Archers continue to be frequently seen, as do skirmishers. Tomb Scorpions again make it into the list. Killing blow and Monster Slayer on a 70 point model is clearly very valuable!
--------------------
Metropolis Centre Old World 1250pt // 1250 points // 14 players
@ Metropolis Centre, Madrid, Spain
Placings
1st - Tomb Kings of Khemri - Daniel Bellido https://pastebin.com/7sdQJmSu
2nd - Empire of Man - Oliver Povey https://pastebin.com/nKu6KAkQ
3rd - Unknown - Javier Bujanda
Tomb Kings pick up their second win of the The Old World! Though, unfortunately, with another illegal list, taking both a King and a High Priest in below 2000 points. It's early days so there's bound to be list building errors, especially in smaller, local tournaments. The list leans heavily into shooting with Horse Archers and Skirmishers being the go-to.
The Empire come hot in at second featuring a scary block of Demigryph Knights and a large block of Empire Greatswords. In the core, we see a big unit of Empire Knights and some State Troops to bulk the list up. No mage here though, just two beatsticks - presumably one for the Knights and one for the Greatswords?
The mysterious Javier takes bronze. I'd imagine he did bring an army, but I have no idea what it is.
--------------------
Overall, pretty exciting first few weeks for The Old World! The first tournaments have kicked off the competitive scene and we have our first sets of juicy data.
Tomb Kings come hot out of the gate and Bretonnia looks to be chomping at the heels. Wood Elves feature a few times and their cousins, the High Elves, make an appearance too. Monsters seem to not be as prevalent as many of us first thought, though maybe people just don't have them all painted up yet.
Not much more to take away from this but I hope everyone enjoyed my write up! I'll be back soon with another report in the coming weeks, hopefully some big events to come. Have a great week and happy wargaming everyone!
