Games Workshop has revealed the first two armies on the Warhammer: The Old World release map for 2025, the Empire of Man and then the High Elves. Though there are scant details in the trailer GW released on Wednesday, an accompanying Warhammer Community article provides some cryptic hints that we’ve decoded.
The Empire of Man launch will consist of “a host of returning plastic, metal, and resin” plus “totally new models” and an Arcane Journal supplement – all par for the course for a Warhammer: The Old World release.
The Warcom article then says to “get your Nuln Oil ready”. While that’s good solid advice for painting miniatures, Nuln is also the name of a major city state of the Empire. At the time that The Old World takes place, Nuln is also one of the major powers contesting the Imperial throne.
On the basis of the hint and the timeline, we expect one of the Armies of Infamy in the Empire’s Arcane Journal to be the Nuln Gunnery School, which was founded in this time period. This organisation combines a military training academy with foundry complexes, enabling Nuln to field an army armed to the teeth with blackpowder weapons.
Models for Nuln Ironsides, heavily-armored elite handgunners, were produced by Forge World to accompany the Throne of Tamurkhan campaign book in 2011. Those minis might well come back into production, as Games Workshop is delving deep into its model catalogues when choosing figures to remaster and cast for each Warhammer The Old World faction.
We’d love to see a return of the Nuln-made, Marienburg-financed Land Ship model too, which was also released with the Throne of Tamurkhan book. Though the experimental war engine wasn’t invented until much much later in the history of the Empire, GW changed the lore on the Goblin Hewer warmachine to bring that popular model back for the Dwarfen Mountain Holds range, so there’s still hope.
The hint for the High Elves is rather more on the nose, as GW says the snooty magic users are “Merwyrming their way back in” to the game. It’s a blunt hint that the Merwrym model will be re-released, another Forge World original sculpted by legendary monster maker Trish Carden. The promise of a “nautical new character” suggests that the fine sailors of Cothique might feature as one of the Armies of Infamy for the Elves.
If you want to start playing with these forces without waiting for next year’s model releases, check out our guide to all the Total War: Warhammer III DLC: the most recent pack is crammed with retro units from the Throne of Tamurkhan.