Wh Old World: How to Get Started in 2026

Are you drawn to Warhammer: The Old World but feel lost between factions, books, boxes, bases, and “what do I buy first”? This guide is written so you can start in 2026 with clarity, without overspending and without turning your first purchase into a snowball that ends with 45 kg of unpainted minis like the rest of us.

In 2026, The Old World has one big advantage: there’s already a solid rules foundation, formats for small games, and official material that helps you get in without needing a huge army from day 1.

Alright, straight to it!

ORC-AND-GOBLINS-LIST-WARHAMMER-OLD-WORLD-THEOLDWARRIOR-GOBLINS

1) Choosing a faction in Warhammer: The Old World (2026)

There are a few criteria to keep in mind so you choose well and don’t mess it up.

Careful: it’s not the most important decision of your life, but minis aren’t cheap, so it’s worth not buying anything until you’ve done your “homework”:

Golden rule

Rule out any faction you don’t like visually.

This is a hobby.

A very complete hobby. You’re going to spend more hours building, painting, thinking about minis, and staring at them than actually playing.

The “best army” in Warhammer: The Old World

Careful, because there’s a nasty trap here.

GW games evolve over time (well, some. TOW does). Rules get updated, some armies rise and others fall, they release patches, FAQs, secondary armies…

They release a lot of stuff.

So what’s overpowered today might not be tomorrow.

This post is everything you need to decide.

Because of that, I’d tell you aesthetics come first, BUT you do need to consider the difference between…

Supported factions vs “Legacy”

GW said it would support Cathay, High Elves, Empire, Wood Elves, Bretonnia, Chaos, Beastmen, Dwarfs, Khemri, and Orcs. That means they “commit” to releasing things for them, updating rules, and so on.

For other factions like Daemons, Skaven, Lizardmen, Dark Elves, Chaos Dwarfs, Ogres, and Vampire Counts, they basically released an initial rules PDF and, in principle, that’s where they’ll stay. These are called LEGACY.

This is an important criterion: do you not care about that, or do you? I’d pick a supported faction over a non-supported one, even though GW can change its mind if it wants.

That said, AT LEAST RIGHT NOW, among the Legacy factions the only one that’s strong and has been strong for a long time is Vampire Counts.

To start easily, prioritize factions with current support: clear rules, kits that are easy to find, and a community that’s playing them.

If you’re new: start with the easy stuff. There’ll be time for weird picks later. Here’s a tier list I made in July and I think I didn’t miss by much:

2) Before you buy, choose your “entry mode” (this saves you money)

There are two good ways to start. Pick one and take advantage of what it gives you, depending on what your local scene can offer (if it only offers 1 of the 2, congrats: one less decision to make):

Option A: “I want to learn and try Warhammer: The Old World”

Play a small format (500–750 points).
You learn movement, charges, morale, magic/shooting without getting overwhelmed.
It lets you try the game with few minis (and without wallet pain).

This approach fits really well with the Battle March format, designed precisely for armies between 500 and 750 points.

What’s Battle March? I’ll leave the link here—save it for later.

Option B: “I’m sure and I want to play 2000 points”

Smaller-scale play doesn’t give you a clear view of how the game plays, what the meta is like, combos, which units really have a place and which don’t… so you might prefer this option.

If you’re doing this, it might suit you to grab a second-hand army.

That’s the advantage I see: buying in a bundle, cheaper.

If you’re buying everything new, I’d start with option A.

3) What you need to buy to start playing The Old World in 2026 (and how to save a lot of money)

Here’s what really matters. I’ll split it by levels.

What I WOULD buy

A) Miniatures

An army core (ideally: something that lets you hit 500–750 points without weird workarounds).
If you want to test things before buying them, you can cut the base size out of cardboard or paper and try it in games with friends (we call it paperhammer), or say that X miniature represents another (example: a Dwarf warrior is my Dwarf King).

B) Dice and measuring

Any regular D6s will do and a tape measure in inches (you measure distances).
One Scatter Dice (the one with arrows).

C) Minimum assembly tools

Glue: I’d buy plastic cement for plastic and super glue for resin/metal.
Clippers and a hobby knife for mold lines (I’d only skip these if you’re buying everything built and painted. I’d still buy glue no matter what, because something always comes loose).

What I would NOT buy (and why) when starting The Old World

If any of this comes in a bundle you buy, fine, but actively hunting it down doesn’t make sense to me.

Rulebook, Arcane Journals, Forces of Fantasy and Ravening Hordes:
I don’t want a single book. Two reasons:
1 The FAQs they’ve released, the number of books that overlap and overwrite each other, and the errata, you need a lot of books just to keep things straight. So where do I see the rules to play the minis? Well…
2 On list-building websites and apps (post about Newrecruit and Oldworldbuilder), where you can check every miniature’s rules for free, updated, and all in the same place. A luxury.
“Everything from the faction” all at once.
A transport case. Start with a normal box and, when you can and want to, upgrade to a magnetized box (forget foam cases—run from them).
Infinite paints before you’ve played: build and play first.

4) Your first list in Warhammer: The Old World

I recommend your first list shouldn’t be yours.

Decide how many points you want, copy someone’s list from the internet, and make minimal changes so it matches the minis you own.

Done—play as soon as possible.

The reason is there are tons of things to consider (restrictions, what works, what doesn’t, secondary objectives, unit type limits, changes that appeared in new manuals that weren’t there at the start…).

I’ve got a bunch of lists posted—here they are (in each post I analyze the list; I recommend ignoring the analysis itself for now and just going for the list).

5) Unpopular take:

Even if it’s your first game, DO NOT PLAY without missions (called secondary objectives).

Don’t play a straight-up deathmatch.

Pick a single mission per game (here they are) so you don’t overcomplicate things, and play.

The reason is the missions are super simple, you understand them in 1 minute, and they’ll give you a real view of what the game is like right now (even though the normal thing is to run several missions in the same game).

Also, what the hell… they make the game more fun.

Dwarf hammerer the old world the old warrior blog

6) Is it worth starting Warhammer: The Old World in 2026?

If you’re worried about investing in a game “that might die,” what we’ve seen in 2025 is that The Old World is still getting support and new releases (for example, material for Grand Cathay and more related content).

Also, the fact that there are formats to start small (500–750) makes getting in during 2026 easier than when lots of people try to start straight at 2000.

And when a GW game dies or goes on standby, its miniatures go up in value on the second-hand market (Wallapop), so the worst that can happen is you enjoy it for a while and then the game dies and you can sell them for more in a few years.

7) Typical mistakes that ruin your start (avoid them)

Buying unnecessary stuff before playing a single game.
Choosing a faction “because it’s strong” and not because you like it.
Wanting to paint perfectly from day 1: you get blocked and quit.
Collecting multiple factions at once. An army takes quite a bit of time—go one at a time.

All that said, I’m going to do a series of posts that make starting and getting into the game easier for anyone who wants to jump in.

The game is awesome, it’s getting better and better since release, and it looks like it’s on a good pace and headed in the right direction. I don’t need more reasons than that to want to help more people get into it.
If you’re up for it, we split the work: I write, you share the posts.

50/50.

Warhammer The Old World: How to Get Started in 2026