Last-Minute List Tweaks Before a 500-Point Old World Battle
We had one of those very familiar hobby mornings: a game was getting closer, the lists were definitely already done… and then, naturally, they were not done at all.
This time it was all about a small Warhammer: The Old World clash at 500 points, with Wilini bringing Bretonnia and Michał adjusting his Skaven right before the battle. Very normal behavior. Very healthy. Absolutely under control.
Bretonnia: peasants, knights and one important correction
Wilini dropped in with a correction to the list that he had meant to make earlier, after a previous game with Michał, but it slipped through until basically the last moment.
The change was in the bowmen unit: two archers were removed, Defensive Stakes were added, and the unit switched to regular formation instead of skirmishing. If Przemo had a problem with that, Wilini was ready to play them as skirmishers anyway — but the intended version was the updated one.
Here’s the Bretonnian list as it stood after the fix:
- Damsel — General, Bretonnian Warhorse, Level 2 Wizard, Illusion — 106 pts
- 25 Men-at-Arms — Standard Bearer, Musician — 110 pts
- 8 Mounted Knights of the Realm — Knight’s Vow, First Knight, Standard Bearer, Musician — 213 pts
- 12 Peasant Bowmen — Defensive Stakes — 70 pts
That gives us a neat little force with a very classic feel: a block of infantry, a proper knight unit, peasant shooting, and a mounted Damsel trying to keep the whole thing together.
Hobby panic mode: activated
Of course, list changes were only part of the story.
Wilini was also in full pre-battle emergency hobby mode, literally gluing weapons on before the game. Which, honestly, is one of the most relatable parts of this whole exchange.
On top of that, there was the issue of the Damsel’s mount. The plan was to pin the horse and, if possible, use a bit of putty so the Damsel could stand on the cavalry base instead of leaving it awkwardly empty. Michał was asked to bring some putty, though in very realistic fashion the answer was basically: some, but not much.
We love this kind of detail because it’s exactly what army-building often looks like in practice — not just writing lists, but also making sure the models are actually ready to hit the table in a form that doesn’t scream “we solved this 12 minutes ago.”
Skaven: because no one tweaks only one list
Naturally, Wilini wasn’t the only one making changes.
Michał first joked about the timing — two hours before the battle is clearly the ideal moment for list editing — and then immediately admitted that he had also changed his own list for the next day. A little later, that became a concrete Skaven update.
In the final version, Michał:
- dropped one knight-equivalent element he had mentioned earlier,
- removed the Chieftain’s magic armour,
- gave the Clanrats a standard,
- and added a unit of Giant Rats.
The resulting 499-point Skaven list looked like this:
Copy of RATunku [499 pts]
Warhammer: The Old World, Skaven, Renegade, Battle March
Skaven Chieftain, Halberd, Heavy armour, Shield, General - 53
Warlock Engineer, Warplock musket, Wizard [Level 1 Wizard], Battle Magic - 84
20 Clanrats, Light armour, Shield, Standard bearer, 1x Weapon Team [Hand weapons + Ratling Gun + Light armour] - 170
12 Giant Rats, Hand weapons (Claws and teeth) - 36
11 Night Runners, Sling - 99
3 Warplock Jezzails, Warplock jezzails, Pavise - 57
It’s a very Skaven little bundle of problems: some bodies, some shooting, some nonsense, and just enough unpredictability to make everyone nervous.
12:30 start, probably with fresh glue still drying
At some point Stas asked the most important question of all: when are we starting?
The answer: 12:30.
So yes — this was one of those excellent hobby days where army-building, emergency assembly, and tactical second thoughts all happened right up to the edge of the game itself. Which is, if we’re honest, a huge part of the charm.
We’ll always respect the players who submit a list early, paint everything in advance, and arrive with all basing complete.
But we also deeply understand the energy of:
- changing a unit size on the morning of the game,
- asking if someone can bring putty,
- gluing weapons right before leaving,
- and hoping the opponent is cool with the corrected version.
That’s the real pre-battle phase.