The Brass Orb Question: Our Latest Old World Rules Rabbit Hole
The Brass Orb Question: Our Latest Old World Rules Rabbit Hole
One of our favourite parts of Warhammer: The Old World is that army-building never really ends on the list-writing screen. Sometimes it continues deep into campaign planning, weird item interactions, and very specific dreams of deleting one enemy character with a single ridiculous trick.
This time, we went down a proper rules rabbit hole over the Brass Orb.
Wilini kicked it off by checking whether Look Out, Sir! works against the Brass Orb, because the wording seemed different from what we had in our heads. Instead of just picking a model, the rule shown on the screenshot clearly talks about a small template.
That immediately sent us into the classic hobby-club mode: wait, are we using an old rule in our heads, or the current one? On top of that, there was the question of whether a hit roll should even be made, and if yes, what characteristic should be used.
The second screenshot made it even clearer that we were looking at updated wording and not just relying on memory.
From there, the discussion got beautifully specific.
Wilini pointed out that Look Out, Sir! works in shooting, not in combat, which makes the whole interaction feel wonderfully awkward. Michal said he had rolled a hit roll already, using BS, because that felt natural at the table. But then came the follow-up doubt: if this happens in combat, should it actually be WS instead?
And honestly, that is exactly the kind of question we love and hate at the same time in The Old World. The item feels intuitive in one way because you are “throwing” the orb, but the phase and context suggest something else entirely.
Of course, the best part of the whole exchange was not the technical rules debate, but the campaign energy behind it. Michal more or less declared that his personal mission for the campaign is now to land the Brass Orb on a Bretonnian Duke and send him straight into Chaos. Preferably the annoying kind of Duke that ignores Multiple Wounds, because apparently this is the one glorious way to try and one-shot him. Even with the painful reality that this is a 50-point single-use item.
That is such a perfect Old World moment: spending a lot of points on a one-use gimmick, then building an entire emotional subplot around making it work exactly once.
In the end, Wilini’s verdict was short and terrifyingly practical: WS. Also, he announced the only sensible counterplay — just ask where the Brass Orb is and avoid that area completely.
We respect that.
Why we love this stuff
This little exchange is a good reminder of why army-building for us is never just about efficiency. Sometimes a list includes a choice not because it is mathematically optimal, but because it creates a story we instantly want to see on the table.
Will the Brass Orb become a legendary campaign moment? Will it whiff completely after all this discussion? Will everyone start measuring safe distance from Michal’s model like their lives depend on it?
We genuinely hope so.
Because in the end, that is the kind of thing we remember most: not just the wins, but the schemes, the rules debates, and the one deeply specific plan to delete a Bretonnian noble with a cursed metal sphere.
If the Duke eventually gets orb’d, we are absolutely coming back with the battle report.