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Warhammer: The Old World – Arcane Journal: The Razing of Westerland Review

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Warhammer: The Old World continues to expand its library of Arcane Journals, and this time the spotlight falls on Frydaal the Chainmaker and the burning of Westerland. In this review I look at the lore, the gorgeous maps, the Path to Glory rules, and the slightly awkward subject of rebasing your Marauders (again).

What is The Razing of Westerland?

The Razing of Westerland is the latest Arcane Journal for Warhammer: The Old World. Focusing on Chaos Marauders and their invasion of the Empire’s northern coast. Inside it you’ll find:

  • Narrative background for Frydaal the Chainmaker and her hordes
  • Regional history and battles across Westerland
  • New rules and army options for Chaos Marauders
  • A Path to Glory style campaign system for The Old World

It is aimed at players who want more story and flavour for their Chaos forces, as well as groups looking to run a linked campaign.

Lore, Art and Maps: The Real Highlight

The strongest part of this book is the lore section. The narrative around the Doom of Hollun, the defence of Oostwald and the grinding campaigns across the coast is well written and drenched with atmosphere.

For me the real stars are the maps. The book features sweeping invasion maps that show how the forces move across Norsca and Westerland. Giving you an immediate sense of geography and make it much easier to imagine your own battles in the same locations.

Path to Glory: Fun, But Not Deep

The Razing of Westerland includes a Path to Glory campaign framework for The Old World. But this is essentially an escalation league system:

  • Players start with a smaller army and grow it by a set amount between games
  • Units can gain experience and veteran abilities
  • There are simple rewards for winning battles and completing objectives

It works, and it is easy to run. This is a good thing if you want to get a campaign up and running at a club without scaring people off with bookkeeping.

However, if you are used to the more detailed Path to Glory in Age of Sigmar or Crusade in 40K, this version will feel quite light. There is not much in the way of:

  • Purchasing or managing units as a resource
  • Long term injuries or scars
  • Branching narrative choices
  • Detailed faction specific upgrades

It does the job, but it could have been much more. I would have liked to see a proper Old World campaign system where you are forced to make choices about what you buy and how your army changes over time.

Marauder Base Size Changes: The Awkward Bit

We need to talk about bases.

The new Chaos Marauder kits are larger and this has forced Games Workshop to push their base size up to 30mm. From a visual standpoint this makes sense.

The problem is for players who already rebased their classic 20mm square Marauders to 25mm for The Old World launch. Being told that those same models should now be on 30mm is frustrating. It means:

  • More time spent rebasing
  • More money on new bases or adaptors
  • Units no longer matching the rest of the army if you decide not to change them

None of this ruins the game, but it does leave a sour taste.

Rules Content for Marauders

Beyond the campaign system and base sizes, the book adds flavourful touches for Chaos players:

  • Focus on different Marauder cults and their favoured gods
  • Themed options and abilities that lean into those identities

It is not a huge competitive shake-up, but it does give Chaos armies more character.

Who is This Book For?

You will get the most value from The Razing of Westerland if:

  • You love Old World lore and want more detail on the northern invasions
  • You enjoy campaign play and want a simple escalation framework
  • You collect Chaos Marauders and want more story and flavour for them
  • You like using maps and specific locations to build your own scenarios

You may be disappointed if:

  • You only care about matched play balance updates
  • You are looking for a deep, crunchy narrative system on the level of AoS Path to Glory or 40K Crusade

Final Thoughts

The Razing of Westerland is a strong addition to Warhammer: The Old World if you value narrative and presentation. It is a book that makes you want to set up campaigns and run raids on named villages.

On the other hand, the Path to Glory rules are more of a tidy escalation league than a full narrative engine and the Marauder base size change feels like another hurdle for existing players.

If you are here for story and inspiration, it is well worth picking up. If you’re hoping for heavy campaign mechanics you might want to take a closer look before committing.

Declan Waters, Modiphius, RPG, Rules Reviews, Rules Roundup, Sci-Fi, Star Trek Adventures

Rules Review – Exploration Guide

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Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius Entertainment

A Guide for a GM looking to expand their stories in the Star Trek Adventures Galaxy.

Our friends at Modiphius have recently released a new book for their Star Trek: Adventures RPG. It’s their Exploration Guide, and they were kind enough to send us a copy for a read and a review. Thanks to them for supporting Woehammer!

Modiphius Entertainment

Regular readers may be better acquainted with the wargames that Modiphius sell (and they’ve got more than a few including Fallout and Five Leagues from the Borderlands). But they also have an extensive range of RPGs (role playing games) including the Star Trek Adventures series – now going into it’s second edition.

Star Trek Adventures

Star Trek Adventures RPG provides the players and their GM with all the tools needed to play through Star Trek episodes (or ones of their own imagining). It uses the 2D20 system from Modiphius and it is great fun! I’ve loved Star Trek since The Next Generation, and my credentials go all the way back to joining and Star Trek society at university, so I’ve been a fan for a long time.

Exploration Guide

Book Cover: Modiphius

The Exploration Guide is a full colour, hardback book of 144 pages with a full colour double side map of the Alpha and Beta quadrants. It includes everything a GM needs to create their own missions on the strange new worlds which are present in the Star Trek galaxy.

As with most expansions there are some new character options, but where this book really shines is the creation of sectors, solar systems, planets and biomes. And if that sounds like a lot of potential you would be right.

Each section is beautifully illustrated (with artists credited… /cough), and with many, many tables for generating the next away mission.

A Federation vessel escaping from a pulsar (Art: David Metlesits)

And did I mention the tables… I love the tables. My RPG playing goes back to the days of Traveller, and I sometimes struggle with story telling when being a GM, so a table is great to prod me into action. Just remember to bring the D20s… no D6s here!

Hmmm… tables! Maybe I need to get better at taking pictures from books!

Playing in Biomes

The majority of the book covers nine different Biomes from cave systems (complete with 60s polystyrene if you want), to deserts and everything in between. In each section there is a description of what our intrepid explorers might meet, the sub-types of biomes and potential threats and advantages of being there.

Of particular note here is that each section is crammed full of mission ideas and story hooks. For when you are struggling for inspiration.

So grab your GM, D20s and an exploration party and soon you may find yourselves in a Temperate Flower Forest, in the middle of a recent Burn Scar that has torn through a Glade. But remember the mission: There’s a distress call from deeper in the Forest.

And if I can do that in a few D20 rolls, imagine where it can take you!

Buying a Book?

The book costs £35, and as always, buy where you play; so check your local FLGS to see if they have a copy or can order in.

Alternatively check out Modiphius Entertainment’s own website.

If you are in the UK, you can find them at Dragonmeet at the end of November on stall D22.

What’s the conclusion?

This is a great book and a brilliant edition to a franchise I love… so it was always going to go down well. But the production quality, artist credits on the superb pictures and tables, tables, tables… have all combined to definitely convinced me it’s worth recommending.

So we give it 5 Woehammers!

And just in case you run other sci-fi RPGs or skirmish wargaming, and you’re looking for inspiration the solar system generation, and the biomes sections of this book are mostly rule agnostic and you could easily use this in another setting as an aide for idea generation.

Thanks again to Modiphius for providing us a copy to review.

— Declan and Eeyore