In a major update on the Warhammer Community website, key details of the main factions in the forthcoming game, Warhammer: The Old World, were disclosed. The game, set in the decades before the Great War Against Chaos and the Siege of Praag, will focus on nine core factions, with their stories unraveled in the first wave of books and supplements.
Warhammer: The Old World will be deeply rooted in the Old World itself – the lands between the coast of Bretonnia in the west and the Worlds Edge Mountains in the east. The focus of the narrative is the Border Princes – the barrier lands between the Empire and Orc territory.
Among the core factions that will be central to the game’s narrative are the Empire of Man, the chivalrous realm of Bretonnia, the Dwarfs, and the Wood Elves. The Old World is also home to the High Elves of Ulthuan, who maintain colonies and outposts along the coasts of the Old World and oversee the affairs of Man.
However, these realms do not exist in isolation. The Old World is teeming with malevolent forces, such as the Beastmen Brayherds that wreak havoc across the Empire and Bretonnia. The savage Orc and Goblin tribes, skeletal legions of the Tomb Kings of Khemri, and the formidable hordes of the Warriors of Chaos also threaten these lands.
Seven legacy factions from Warhammer Fantasy Battles will be included in the game but are not part of the narrative. These factions are Dark Elves, Skaven, Vampire Counts, Daemons of Chaos, Ogre Kingdoms, Lizardmen, and Chaos Dwarfs. These armies will be given rules at the game’s launch, available for free as pdfs, to accommodate fans with existing collections of these classic armies.
The post delved deeper into the backstories of these legacy factions, shedding light on their activities in the century leading up to the Siege of Praag. The Skaven Under-Empire, for example, was engulfed in civil war, prompting them to retreat from the surface world and then re-emerge after a summoning of the Horned Rat at Skavenblight. The Vampire Counts, on the other hand, had retreated and lay low following their defeat in the Vampire Wars.
The update concluded with a promise of more insights to come, with the next development diary scheduled for release in June. As Warhammer: The Old World marches closer to its release, fans can look forward to more revealing diaries like this one, chronicling the journey of their favourite factions and the evolution of the Old World.