Here it is. What we have been waiting a year for! The Old World 1.5 we are calling it. We have complained and they have listened. Will this fix all of the issues of The Old World? Let’s break down some of the significant changes. The first part I will cover are the new changes to magic.
Every list started with a level 4 wizard. Even if you weren’t needing it, you definitely did not want your opponent to be throwing out 5 spells with +4 to cast succeeding on nearly every cast. It was mandatory to include one to keep your opponent in check.
Magic has definitely been toned down. The big one is the positives to casting and dispelling. You now only get +1 for level 1’s and 2’s and +2 for level 3’s and 4’s for both casting and dispelling. Now, a level 1’s bonus is only 1 lower than a level 4, so needing to take a level 4 to keep from getting spanked in the magic phase is no longer a necessity.
You can also only cast as many spells as your level, so no more getting to cast 5 spells if you have an item that lets you know more than your level. You still know 5, but you have to pick which one not to cast.
The last major change is dispelling remains in play spells. This one lets you dispel if in range of the wizard but now adds the caveat that you can dispel, specifically vortexes if you are in range of the vortex. I am not sure if this is an oversight or intentional, but it is only for vortexes. You can still have an ethereal hero flying around with steed of shadows, but being in range of them does not let you dispel it. You still have to get in range of that wizard hiding in a corner to dispel that one. It’s weird to target just vortexes, and not all remain in play spells.
While we are on magic let’s skip ahead to the spells. There are several changes to spell casting values, but you can read them so I won’t go through everyone. The biggest and best one, in my opinion, was the change to the Travel Mystical Pathway. You can no longer move insane distances with it by keeping one model in range. Now, the entire unit has to be within 12” of its original location and outside of 6” from enemy models. This one was mostly locally fixed already with house rules, but now it’s official.
Pillar of fire got both buffed and nerfed. It is no longer dangerous terrain and is now difficult terrain. It also moves in a random direction rather than the direction being chosen by the player. However, as compensation, it only damages enemy units rather than all units, friends, and foe.
All of the vortexes lost their dangerous terrain and are now difficult but most remained unchanged otherwise. The only other one that took a hit was Spiritual Vortex. It is now whilst within 8” of one or more so you can no longer stack -1 leadership modifiers with multiple Spiritual Vortexes.
Lastly, we have magic items. They have magic in the title, so we will just cover them here. The biggest one I think was the Ruby Ring of Ruin. This auto include item went up to 35 points and dropped to bound spell Power Level 1 instead of 2. Is it still auto include now? It is still in my lists at the moment, but that is TBD. Also, the Ogre Blade went up to 75 points. Now you have to choose between Ogre Blade or Talisman of Protection. You can no longer have both.
That is it for all things mystical and magical. When I first got the rule book and went through the magic phase, I thought to myself, “This feels really bad” and I am apparently not the only one who thought that. This seems like the gap in magic being too good and auto include is narrowed, and I feel like there is much more diversity in list building. I am not starting every list by adding a level 4 like I did just last week, so that is at least a start to having diversity, which is important for the health of ToW. They seemed to have found a way to make it less overwhelming without completely nerfing the magic phase, which is great news. Although if you ask me, I still really liked having a pool of power dice!
Stay tuned. Next, I will cover what everyone has been waiting for. Changes to combat! Will infantry finally be useful?
All vortexes lost the dangerous terrain but they’ve gained that they do their effect if they move through you or you move through them. It makes sense now!