Today let’s take a look at the very best units in Warhammer: The Old World.
There are a lot of units in Warhammer: Old World. Hundreds of various units battle it out of the tabletop. Amid all that it can sometimes be hard to tell which units you really have to worry about, or want to include in your armies. Now I’ve looked at the best units in a lot of various categories. And it can be hard to define what the “best” unit even means, since units can be good at a lot of different things. But today I thought I’d take a stab at looking at what I think are the very top units in the game post 1.5 FAQ. I am going to look at just unit units, and not characters as those are kind of different and really very a lot by load out. So lets dig into the best units we’ve got in the game.
5. Necrosphinx (Tomb Kings)
Cutting out characters does sadly leave us with out a lot of the big ridden monsters in the game. Of the non-ridden ones around I think the best you can find is the Necrosphinx. It’s one of the units that really helps hold Tomb Kings up as one of the best armies and is just an amazing unit. The Nexcro really has a lot going for it. For a big monster its really tough, with both decent armor and regen, and can be healed. Then on top of that it’s got Fly, making it one of the fastest unridden monsters around.
In combat it’s also really potent. Six attacks is pretty average, maybe even high, and d3+2 stomp attacks is a lot better than the d6 you often seen. On top of that it’s got Killing Blow and an attack with Monster Slayer, making it a real threat to just about anything out there. These guys do have counters, but they are a real deadly bundle. On top of all that they are quite points efficient, and some armies just can’t deal with them, especially when combined with characters on dragons.
4. Peg Knights (Bretonnia)
This is a unit that doesn’t need a ton of introduction. Pegasus Knights were the big boogie-man of the game for a while. Though they have been toned down a bit, they still remain very good. They bring a very strong mix of mobility, being flying skirmishers, and offensive power, while being at least decently survivable. They are one of the major units that the meta has evolved around and lists using them are still winning game, though they take more skill then some might think.
Now I will say the Pegasus Knights on their own, are a strong but not crazy unit. They don’t have the damage output of some real crazy units and there are counters and ways to play around them. It’s really the character and magic buffs that you can throw onto them that turn them from a strong unit into a game defining unit. But they are such a good unit to turn into a death star that they have to be on this list in their own right. They are a really really good canvas to build your list around.
3. Night Goblins/Fanatics (Orcs & Goblins)
Speaking of units that define armies and factions, I think there isn’t any better example of that than Night Goblins and Fanatics. On their own Night Goblins are a cheap but pretty normal and mid infantry unit. The inclusion of Fanatics, those little spinning balls of death, turns them into a game winning combo. Fanatics are really the main thing that keeps Orcs and Goblins as a really competitive list. That is actually a bit of shame as they’ve really twisted what you see in O&G armies and are a good example of poor internal balance in a book.
2. Grave Guard (Vampire Counts)
Grave Guard are at this point to me the best infantry in the game. They have a wealth of strong rules and have solid stats to back them up. The biggest things they have going for themselves of course is being Undead, the combo of unreachability and very easily being healed is pretty scary. This is a unit that most armies in the game just cannot kill. While their stats aren’t crazy, VC do have access to some strong buff options that can make them better, but they will really shine in any kind of grinding fight.
The 1.5 buffs to infantry really pushed them up in the rankings, and that fact that you can get them as Core to hold objectives is great. This is a just a really really strong unit, but also one that doesn’t really feel like its broken (unlike others on the list). Balanced or not you do always have to watch out for this Undeath Star.
1. Sky Lanterns (Grand Cathay)
I think this entry mostly speaks for itself. Sky Lanterns are the most broken unit in the game, and a real issue. This is a unit that just doesn’t play by the rules. Or rather it plays by its own rules, of which it has literal pages of. Crazy mobility, hard to kill, cost effective, and amazing damage potential are just its main selling points. But it does do more than all with random buffs for your army and basically just getting to ignore combat.
While they do get even better when used as a mount, even on their own they are crazy good. This is a unit that is defining the meta and getting some of the biggest backlash we’ve ever seen in ToW. It’s crazy good and crazy cheap and just a real issue. A few of these on the table is down right oppressive and there really aren’t good counters to them en masse. Just… just a crazy good unit, and by crazy I mean way too good.
I’ll also throw in an honorable mention to the Cathay Grand Cannon here. This is another really strong unit. Depending on if you, or your event, has ruled that it’s -1 to move stacks, it could bump up to this list, but with out the stacking I don’t think it quite makes it!
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Let us know what units you think are the best in the game, down in the comments!
Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers Warhammer: The Old World, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe mourned over loss of WFB for its entire hiatus, but has been reborn like a gaming phoenix with Warhammer: The Old World.