Best Army to Start With in The Old World

Choosing your first army in Warhammer: The Old World seems easy… until you open the faction list, see 17 options, and realize that if you get it wrong you’ll end up with impulse buys, models you never paint, lists you don’t enjoy, and a half-built army gathering dust.

And just to be clear: this isn’t about “what’s most meta” or a tier list that’ll be outdated in three months. It’s about picking the army you’re actually going to enjoy playing and painting in 2026, with a simple 5-step filter to narrow things down fast and end up with real candidates.

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Which army to choose in Warhammer: The Old World in 2026: faction comparison

I’ve been collecting armies and helping other people with this for ages.

I’ve messed up plenty. And I’ve learned.

The goal is to help you avoid the usual mistakes—especially wasting money and ending up with that “why did I buy this?” regret.

Who this guide is for

This guide is for you if you’re in one of these situations:

You’re new to Warhammer: The Old World and you don’t know which faction fits you.
You’re coming back to the hobby after years and you’ve realized you don’t want “what used to be cool”, you want what you’ll actually enjoy playing and painting now.
You’re coming from Age of Sigmar / Warhammer 40,000.
You want your first “real” army: you used to buy random minis because they looked cool, but now you want something you can start at 1,000 points and scale to 2,000.
You don’t care about “the best army” in the abstract: you want the best one for you.

This:

Isn’t a “tier list” that dies in 3 months.
I’m not going to tell you “pick X because it’s broken”: if you pick based on meta, you’ll eat the crash when they adjust things or when your group plays differently.

The fastest way to get this right is to reduce options and decide with a simple 5-criteria system.

Criterion 1: pick 6 factions based on aesthetics

Right now we’ve got 17 factions total. We’re going to keep a third of them.

Any faction you don’t feel like painting: cut it.
If a faction doesn’t excite you visually: cut it.
If you like 13, it’s fine: keep 6 to compare properly. If you like fewer than 6, even better.

Rule of thumb: if you don’t enjoy seeing your minis on the shelf, you won’t survive the process of building and painting them.

Where can you see the list? Here. If there’s any you don’t know what they look like, go to the official Warhammer site, the Old World section. Do that, then come back here.

Warriors of Chaos
Beastmen
Orcs & Goblins
Tomb Kings of Khemri
Vampire Counts
Dark Elves
Ogre Kingdoms
Daemons of Chaos
Wood Elves
High Elves
The Empire
Dwarfs
Chaos Dwarfs
Cathay
Bretonnia
Lizardmen
Skaven

Ready?

Let’s keep going.

Criterion 2: support and Arcane Journals in The Old World—what it means and why it changes your faction choice

An Arcane Journal isn’t “the mandatory book for your faction”. It’s a supplement with lore and extra rules that expands options, but you don’t need one to play the faction in its basic form. In fact, I already explained in my “how to start TOW” post why I recommend NOT buying it.

This matters for a very simple reason: in 2026 you’re not choosing just a “faction”, you’re choosing “faction + level of support + how often it gets new stuff”.

What support gives you (in practice):

More variety of OFFICIAL playable lists.
More ways to use your collection without buying a whole new army.
More room to grow: if a faction gets Arcane Journal(s), it usually gains thematic content, characters, and variants that change how the army is built.

Knowing that, the question you need to ask is:

Is it a deal-breaker for you if an army DOESN’T HAVE an Arcane Journal?

If yes, from the 6 you picked for aesthetics, cross out the ones that don’t have an Arcane Journal.

The ones that do have one are:

The Empire
Cathay
Dwarfs
Bretonnia
High Elves
Wood Elves
Warriors of Chaos
Beastmen
Tomb Kings of Khemri
Orcs & Goblins

Criterion 3: INFAMY in The Old World—what an Army of Infamy is and why you might care

In The Old World, Infamy doesn’t mean “evil” here. It’s about Armies of Infamy: alternative composition lists compared to the “Grand Army”, or regular army. Why GW called them that? No idea.

Let’s focus on what matters.

Sometimes you don’t love the whole faction, but you do love one specific list, or one specific Army of Infamy inside that bigger army.

For example, you might like the Dwarf Slayers list, but not like the Dwarf army in general.

My advice here:

If you like an Army of Infamy BUT you don’t like the main army, don’t buy.
If you like one (or several) Armies of Infamy AND you also like the main list, that’s a big plus.

And careful: I’m saying you need to LIKE it, not that you think it’s good or “meta” if you already know it.

We’ll get into that later, but first… there’s another thing that helps you cut options hard.

Criterion 4: number of miniatures in The Old World—horde vs elite, real painting time, real cost

At this point you might still have a few options, but this one is a brutal filter.

Are you okay with your army being a horde—having a ton of models?

In The Old World, just like in 40k or AoS, there are armies that are defined by that. Even if they have meta lists sometimes with fewer models, sooner or later you’re back to pushing loads of bodies.

So if you don’t want horde because you don’t want to paint that many similar minis, or you don’t want to carry that many, or you don’t want to spend half your life removing casualties, or you don’t like regiments and prefer monsters, then you could probably cut:

Skaven, no question.
Vampire Counts, Tomb Kings of Khemri, and The Empire (debatable).

And don’t assume horde automatically means cheaper minis. Twenty years ago that idea was more true. Today? Not really.
If you hate batch-painting, don’t pick a horde army.

Criterion 5: playstyle in The Old World—pick a faction based on how you want to win games

The real question isn’t “which faction is better”. It’s “how do I want to play?”. What’s fun for me? What does my army absolutely need to have?

And very important: do I need my army to offer MULTIPLE very different ways to play, or am I fine with just one?

I’m going to copy the list from earlier and tell you, in general terms, what each army lets you do and what it DOESN’T let you do:

Warriors of Chaos: They lack long-range missile weapons that aren’t spells (bows, war machines…).
Beastmen: They lack heavily armoured troops and cavalry in general. They have monsters and mobile troops.
Orcs & Goblins: Very versatile, but they don’t really do flying units as a core strength.
Tomb Kings of Khemri: They lack heavy cavalry and very mobile troops. They will always have magic in the army, even if it’s minimal. They can’t flee.
Vampire Counts: They will always have magic too. They lack missile weapons that aren’t spells (bows, war machines…). They can’t flee.
Dark Elves: They lack cheap “horde-style” troops. In general they’re fragile, but they can be very mobile. Combat, shooting, and magic lists.
Ogre Kingdoms: They lack high-armour troops. There are no middle options: either very cheap troops (grots) or fairly expensive ones (ogres).
Daemons of Chaos: They can’t flee, like the undead. They lack high-armour troops and also cheap horde-style troops.
Wood Elves: They lack cheap “horde-style” troops. In general they’re fragile, but they can be very mobile. Combat, shooting, and magic lists. No war machines. No armoured troops.
High Elves: They lack cheap “horde-style” troops. In general they’re fragile, but they can be very mobile. Combat, shooting, and magic lists. They have access to more armour than their Wood Elf and Dark Elf cousins.
The Empire: Lots of options, very versatile. No real monsters outside of character mounts.
Dwarfs: No horde troops, no cavalry, and they’re the least mobile army (this does not apply to their gyrocopter Infamy list). No magic and not much ability to play aggressively. They defend very well.
Chaos Dwarfs: Low troop variety.
Cathay: No horde troops RIGHT NOW, but they’ll probably get them later. Low troop variety, but that seems like it will change.
Bretonnia: Right now they can play cavalry and infantry and they’re pretty versatile. They lack monsters that aren’t character mounts.
Lizardmen: Low troop variety. Access to magic and monsters. They lack long-range shooting weapons.
Skaven: They have access to lots of magic, war machines, monsters… they lack mounted characters, cavalry, and elite troops. They’re basically locked into “horde”.

Para hacer esta lista me he intentado olvidar de lo que es el metajuego actual y centrarme en las opciones que los ejércitos tendrán aunque GW haga un cambio importante de reglas.

Ten en cuenta, al empezar un ejército, que eso puede ocurrir. GW cambia las cosas cuando quiere y por eso el meta de un momento concreto no es un buen criterio para elegir ejército.

When I made this list, I tried to forget what the current metagame looks like and focus on the options these armies will have even if GW makes a big rules change.

Keep that in mind when you start an army: that can happen. GW changes things whenever it wants, which is why the meta in a specific moment is not a good criterion for choosing an army.

Bonus criterion: how to start without wasting money (Battalion, Army Reinforcement Set, and partworks)

By now you should have a pick.

Even if it’s by pure elimination.

Now let’s talk wallet, because this can push the decision one way or another.

When you’re about to jump in, check what bundles exist for each army you’re considering (battleforces, “spearhead-style” starter boxes, army starter boxes, partworks (the magazine collections), and second-hand options).

The first three you can buy from the official store, or you can also check Wayland—they usually have good stock, ship anywhere without customs hassle, and they often have a big discount.

check this on Wayland

In Spain, partworks are distributed by Salvat. Go to your kiosk and ask if there’s an active Warhammer collection, or go to Salvat’s site and check the Miniatures section. In those partworks, the minis are often sold for less than half what they cost in the GW store (the saving obviously isn’t as big if you compare to Wayland or other non-GW stores).

And OBVIOUSLY…

If a friend is telling you he’ll sell you his old army at 20% of the price, then yeah, consider it.

But I’m not going to talk about that, because I don’t know him and I don’t know what’s actually going on.

Important: why lore is NOT important

Let me be blunt: Warhammer lore is awesome, but for your first army it’s not a good decision criterion.

Why it doesn’t work as the main criterion:

It’s so good that every army has cool stories.
When you look at your shelf every day, you won’t see the lore—you’ll see the minis you own.
When you’re painting, you’re not painting lore, you’re painting minis.
When you’re playing… yeah, I think you got it.

Oh, and the Warhammer universe lets you invent the background for your own army.

That’s why lore shouldn’t drive your first purchase.

FAQ: which army to choose in Warhammer: The Old World (2026)

Which faction should I choose in The Old World if I want to learn fast and not overcomplicate things?

Orcs & Goblins, Bretonnia, or Dwarfs.

Which army should I choose in The Old World if I want to paint fewer miniatures?

Elves or Ogres, generally.

What’s the cheapest army to start in Warhammer: The Old World?

It depends a lot on what partworks and battleforces are available, but in general avoid hordes—I’d lean more toward Warriors of Chaos, Elves, and Ogre Kingdoms.

Do I need an Arcane Journal to play a faction in Warhammer: The Old World (2026)?

No. Not to start, not to finish—don’t buy it. I explained it in the “how to start” post I’ll link below.

What is an Army of Infamy (INFAMY) in The Old World, and is it good as a first army?

I don’t recommend it unless you like it way more than the rest.

Which army should I choose in The Old World (2026) if I like magic?

Elves, Vampire Counts, Warriors of Chaos, or Skaven.

Which faction should I choose in The Old World (2026) if I like long-range shooting?

Dwarfs or The Empire.

Which army should I choose in The Old World (2026) if I want cavalry and hard-hitting charges?

Bretonnia, The Empire, Warriors of Chaos.

Conclusion: which faction to choose in 2026 for The Old World without regret

If you want to choose your first army well, don’t do it based on what’s hot this week. Do it with smart elimination: follow the steps.

If you still can’t decide between two, flip a coin. And before you look, pay attention to what you’re secretly hoping for.

That’s your army.

And now yeah, the next logical step is to read (or revisit) these two things before you spend money: your “how to start in 2026” guide, and how to build your first list without mistakes.

Best Army to Start With in Warhammer: The Old World (2026)