Battle March in The Old World – small boxes, 750 points, and a lot of guessing
We’ve been looking at the new Battle March article for Warhammer: The Old World, and honestly, it immediately got us into speculation mode.
Michał dropped the Designer’s Notes into chat, especially the bit about the new magic items made specifically for Battle March games. The idea sounds simple but very promising: cheaper, mode-specific items in the 5–30 point range, with things like the Banner of Renown acting as a budget, one-use version of the War Banner. That kind of design really suggests a format built around tighter lists, faster games, and a bit more flexibility for small forces.
From there, the conversation went exactly where you’d expect: is this a hint at Battle March starter-style boxes for factions like Bretonnia, the Empire, and High Elves?
Michał threw that idea out first, and the more we looked at it, the less far-fetched it seemed. Wilini’s take was basically: yeah, it really does look like that. Even more interestingly, he counted it up and figured that you could realistically build around 750 points from this kind of concept. That feels like a very deliberate number, and exactly the sort of target you’d expect if Games Workshop wanted to package Battle March as a compact entry point.
So now we’re wondering whether this is leading toward some kind of mini box format: not a full giant army launch set, but a smaller, focused force that gets you straight into Battle March games without needing a huge collection.
And if that really is where this is going, then of course the next question is: what would we want to see in those boxes?
For Bretonnia in particular, Wilini immediately went hobby-wishlist mode. His ideal version would be a refresh of Men-at-Arms, peasants, or cavalry — and, naturally, add gryphons. Which is the kind of escalation we fully support. If we’re already speculating, we may as well speculate properly.
What we like most about this whole idea is that Battle March could become a really nice bridge format for The Old World. Something smaller, easier to collect, faster to play, but still recognisably rank-and-flank Warhammer. If these new magic items and list structures are indeed paving the way for faction boxes built around that experience, we’re very curious to see which armies get the treatment first.
For now, it’s still speculation on our part — but it definitely feels like the sort of article that’s meant to get people thinking in that direction.
Are we reading too much into it? Maybe. But also… probably not.