Rules Rabbit Holes: Fighting Ranks, Miscasts, and Move-or-Shoot Weirdness
We had one of those very classic hobby-chat stretches this week: a couple of short rules questions, one cursed magic item reaction, and then a late-night “wait, what?” moment over war machines. In other words: a very normal Warhammer: The Old World conversation in our group.
Fighting rank, Press of Battle, and extra ranks
Michał kicked things off with a question to Stas about how “every model in a fighting rank” interacts with infantry, Press of Battle, and Fight in Extra Rank.
The question was basically: if infantry gets two ranks fighting because of Press of Battle, then does Fight in Extra Rank push that to three fighting ranks?
Stas’s reading was a very useful “yes and no”:
- Press of Battle expands what counts as the fighting rank
- Fight in Extra Rank allows supporting attacks from behind the fighting rank
- but it doesn’t further redefine the fighting rank itself beyond that
So the practical takeaway for us was simple:
max 2 in the fighting rank
That is exactly the kind of distinction that feels tiny when you first read it, but matters a lot once units actually hit combat and you start counting who gets to swing.
A truly disgusting magic item
Then came the much more emotional part of the discussion.
Michał found an item and the immediate reaction was, very fairly, that it was absolutely ridiculous.
On reading it more closely, the especially nasty bit seemed to be that double natural 6s that cannot be dispelled still cause an automatic miscast. That kind of wording instantly puts a spell or item into the category of “okay, this is going to create stories” — whether good stories or traumatic ones depends very much on which side of the table we’re on.
We love these moments because they are peak Old World energy: you start by thinking “that seems strong,” then keep reading, and by the end you’re just staring at the rule and wondering who signed off on this nonsense.
Move or Shoot war machines that can still pivot
The other interesting rules catch from Michał was about war machines with Move or Shoot. On a second read, it looks like they can pivot normally and still fire.
And that immediately raised the obvious question:
what is even the point of that wording, if they are Skirmish?
This is exactly the sort of rule interaction that sends us back into the book for another pass. Sometimes the answer is hidden in a technical distinction. Sometimes it is there because of edge cases. And sometimes it just feels like one of those rules that only makes sense after the fifth reread, two forum threads, and one game where it suddenly matters.
The joy of tiny rules debates
Honestly, this was a small exchange, but it captures a lot of what we enjoy about the hobby. Not every conversation is about painting progress, giant battles, or finished armies. Sometimes it’s just:
- trying to pin down exactly how a fighting rank works,
- discovering a magic item that looks completely deranged,
- and questioning why a Move or Shoot rule is written the way it is.
And somehow, that is also a big part of the fun.
If nothing else, we came away with one solid conclusion and two fresh reasons to keep double-checking the rulebook.