Warhammer is getting a completely new army for the tabletop, but not for the popular Warhammer 40,000, rather for The Old World. The exciting part: The original game has been dead since 2014, and the new army comes from the successful Total War: Warhammer 3.
What kind of faction is this?
- The Grand Empire of Cathay is a human faction modeled after ancient China, ruled by dragons. The realm maintains the Great Wall, which protects the steppes in the east from the chaos in the north.
- Cathay is known for trade and economy, but also for the use of gunpowder in the form of rockets and cannons, war balloons, and the deployment of massive terracotta warriors.
- The faction is one of the starting races in Total War: Warhammer 3 and was announced for the tabletop with its release in 2021. Now Games Workshop is showcasing the new models.
That’s why the reveal is so special: The last completely new army in Warhammer Fantasy came in 2010 with the Beastmen or in 2003 with the preceding Beasts of Chaos. A few years later, the game was discontinued in favor of Age of Sigmar, only to be re-released in 2024 as The Old World.
The Old World, however, only launched with 9 of the original armies. Other codices from the past have been surpassed but will not be officially supported for the first edition of the game.
In 2021, Games Workshop already announced Cathay as a new army in collaboration with Total War: Warhammer 3. The strategy game is still the largest Total War on Steam and one of the best strategy games you can currently play – and apparently successful enough to influence Warhammer itself.
Cathay exists in the lore of Warhammer long before, but the army itself was first seen in the strategy game on Steam.
“I thought this was just a cash-in for Games Workshop”
The reaction to the reveal of Cathay has been overwhelmingly positive, especially since very few fans expected new units at all. The community has held the assumption that Games Workshop simply will not continue to support Warhammer Fantasy because it isn’t worth it.
In a thread on Reddit, players express their excitement about the look of the miniatures and about getting something new at all:
I can’t believe this is real! I really thought Old World was just a nostalgia cash-in for Games Workshop. The fact that they are making a brand new army shows that they mean business!
St4rry_knight on Reddit
The second army from Total War: Warhammer 3, which has never been seen before in the tabletop, is Kislev. The faction inspired by Polish history from the north consists of bear riders, ulans, and tsars, with a deeply rooted enmity towards chaos. Kislev has recently received a complete overhaul and is now expected as the next army for The Old World.
Warhammer itself only received a completely new army in 2022, but for the dystopian sci-fi version Warhammer 40,000. Here, a year and a half ago, the conglomerates of Votann joined as the first new army since the T’au: In Warhammer 40,000, there are space dwarves and they are even tougher than in Deep Rock Galactic
