We’ve modified the way to play The Old World to make it perfectly suited to smaller battles. Follow the guide below to set up your games. All these rules are also available as convenient jumbo rules cards, available here.
500-Point Fantasy Battles
Below you can find our general rules for creating your army and setting up your battlefield:
List Writing
Two Unit Minimum: Each player’s army must include a minimum of two non-character units, rather than the usual three.
Character Limitations: When writing their muster lists, neither player may spend more than 125-points (25% of their army’s total points value) on any single character.
Unit Limitations: To represent the small size of the forces that took part in such battles, neither player may spend more than:
- 175 points (35% of their army’s total points value) on a single Core unit.
- 150 points (30% of their army’s total points value) on a single Special unit.
- 125 points (25% of their army’s total points value) on a single Rare or Mercenary unit.
0-X Per 1,000 Points: In the core rules, many units or options are limited to ‘0-X per 1,000 points’. This means that such options would not normally be allowed when writing a 500-point muster list. However, rather than preclude such options entirely, the players may include a single such option. This might be a unit, a character or even an upgrade listed within a unit’s options.
Setting Up Armies
Battlefield: This scenario should be played on a battlefield measuring 30″ x 44″.
Choose Terrain Layout: After explaining their armies, both players roll a dice. The player who rolled lower vetoes one map; the player who rolled higher picks from the remaining two. Then terrain is set up accordingly.
Deployment: Once the battlefield has been set up, the winner of a roll-off chooses their deployment zone (A or B) and deploys their first unit. The players then deploy their armies using the alternating units method, as described on page 285 of the core rulebook.
Terrain Features
Hills
Beyond the Crest: If a hill lies between two models and if neither model is upon the hill, a line of sight can only be drawn between them if an uninterrupted line can be drawn between their bases without crossing over or through the hill.
Vantage Point: A unit on a hill can fire with one additional rank compared to a unit on flat ground.
In addition, any unit that is entirely on a hill can draw a line of sight across or through other units or models that are not themselves on a hill. However, due to its elevated position, a unit that is entirely on a hill can also be seen more easily. Therefore, any unit that is not on a hill can draw a line of sight to a unit that is entirely on a hill across or through other units or models.
Woods
Woods are treated as difficult terrain.
Woodland Boundaries: A wood terrain feature must have a clearly defined edge. This allows individual trees to be removed and replaced to facilitate the movement of models.
Regardless of the position of any individual trees within the terrain feature, any model or unit counts as being behind partial cover as long as up to half of the model, or up to half of the models within the unit, is within the woods (i.e., within the terrain feature’s clearly defined edge).
Arboreal Gloom: Woods of any size are dark places, filled with branches and trailing vines. Seeing clearly through such arboreal gloom is difficult to say the least. If a wood lies between two models and if neither model is within the wood, a line of sight can only be drawn between them if an uninterrupted line can be drawn between their bases without crossing over or through the wood.
Camps
Camps are treated as impassable terrain.
Impassable terrain cannot be crossed during the course of a battle – units must go around it. In addition, if it is not possible to align a charging unit to the enemy unit due to the presence of impassable terrain, the charging unit has made a disordered charge.
Scenarios
There are 3 scenarios for Foray, each with 3 unique terrain layouts, which you’ll choose by the method above.
Scenario 1 – Open Battle
First Turn: In this scenario, the winner of a roll-off chooses who takes the first turn.
Game Length: The battle will last for five rounds or until one side concedes.
Victory Condition(s): As in standard games, to stand victorious a player must score the most Victory Points (VP). Victory Points scored via the Dead or Fled conditions remain the same, but the following conditions are modified due to the smaller size of the armies fighting this battle:
- Trophies of War: A player wins a bonus of 25 VP for every enemy standard claimed as a trophy, as described on page 200 of the core rulebook. Additionally, a player wins another bonus of 25 VP if the enemy Battle Standard Bearer is slain, has fled off the battlefield or is fleeing when the game ends.
- The King is Dead: A player wins a bonus of 50 VP if the enemy General has been slain, has fled off the battlefield or is fleeing when the game ends.
Scenario 2 – Take The Camp
First Turn: In this scenario, the winner of a roll-off chooses who takes the first turn.
Game Length: The battle will last for five rounds or until one side concedes.
Victory Condition(s): As in standard games, to stand victorious a player must score the most Victory Points (VP). Victory Points scored via the Dead or Fled conditions remain the same, but the following conditions are modified due to the smaller size of the armies fighting this battle:
- Trophies of War: A player wins a bonus of 25 VP for every enemy standard claimed as a trophy, as described on page 200 of the core rulebook. Additionally, a player wins another bonus of 25 VP if the enemy Battle Standard Bearer is slain, has fled off the battlefield or is fleeing when the game ends.
- The King is Dead: A player wins a bonus of 50 VP if the enemy General has been slain, has fled off the battlefield or is fleeing when the game ends.
- Controlling Objective Markers: At the end of each turn, a camp is controlled by the single closest Core unit within 6″ of it, which has a Unit Strength of 10 or more, is not fleeing, and has not succumbed to Stupidity. If two or more eligible units are equally close, the unit with the higher Unit Strength controls it. If two or more eligible units are equally close and have the same Unit Strength no unit controls it. At the end of each player’s turn, both players score 10 VP for each camp they control.
Scenario 3 – Seize The Tower
First Turn: In this scenario, the winner of a roll-off chooses who takes the first turn.
Game Length: The battle will last for five rounds or until one side concedes.
Victory Condition(s): As in standard games, to stand victorious a player must score the most Victory Points (VP). Victory Points scored via the Dead or Fled conditions remain the same, but the following conditions are modified due to the smaller size of the armies fighting this battle:
- Trophies of War: A player wins a bonus of 25 VP for every enemy standard claimed as a trophy, as described on page 200 of the core rulebook. Additionally, a player wins another bonus of 25 VP if the enemy Battle Standard Bearer is slain, has fled off the battlefield or is fleeing when the game ends.
- The King is Dead: A player wins a bonus of 50 VP if the enemy General has been slain, has fled off the battlefield or is fleeing when the game ends.
- Seize The Tower: Controlling the tower is the goal of both armies. To represent this, if either player controls the tower special feature at the end of the battle (as described on page 275 of the core rulebook), they win a bonus of 100 VP.
