Arc in the Old World 2026 Aftermath - Part 2

This is the second part of my report of the recent Old World tournament at Arcfest. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2: A Chance Encounter (Special Features, Domination)
Ben Hallett - Jade Fleet

• Shugengan Lord (General, Level 4, Illusion, Lore of Yang) on Great Spirit Longma with The Monkey King's Wisdom, Scrolls of Wei-jin
• Shugengan General (Level 1, High Magic, Lore of Yang) on Great Spirit Longma with Celestial blade
• Gate Keeper (Battle Standard Bearer) with Celestial blade, Heavy armour, Shield, Banner of Swirling Wind, Sigil of Smoke & Powder
• 25 Jade Warriors with Shields, Heavy armour, Drilled, Stubborn, Jade Officer [Spirit Lantern], Standard bearer [The Jade Banner], Musician
• 8 Jade Lancers with Cathayan lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Ambushers, Drilled, Jade Lancer Officer [Ring of Jet + Charmed Shield], Standard bearer, Musician
• Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader [Gunpowder bombs]
• Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader [Gunpowder bombs]
• Cathayan Sentinel with Granite Sentinel
• Sky Lantern with Sky Lantern Crane Guns

This was only going to be my second game against Cathay, but I can't say as I was feeling very optimistic with 2 Grand Cannons that could double fire once, a Shugengan Lord that could easily kill a Dragon in a turn (maybe even without casting Spectral Doppelganger), and a Sentinel that could hit me with Monster Slayer... After a big win in the first round, this felt like it was likely to be a correction.

Last tournament, this deployment absolutely wrecked me. I had nowhere near enough room, my army was ill suited to it, and I had no idea how to approach it. This was a little better, although I realised after deploying the Dragon Princes that my opponent had cannons, and I might not get the first turn...

Gaming Arena Nov 2025 Aftermath - Part 1

As foreshadowed in my previous post, last week I attended a one-day Old World tournament at Gaming Arena. It was an opportunity to bring out all the Nuln stuff I have been painting, using the City-State of Nuln army list. My army was basically thrown together with a focus on using as much as I could of the things I've been painting. As a result, I knew the army was not really going to tick all the boxes. I made no effort to prop the army up with magic items, and even my general was waving around a pistol in combat instead of a proper weapon. That was OK, I was sure this would in no way come back to bite me...

• General of the Empire with Full plate armour, Pistol, The White Cloak
• Captain of the Empire with Battle Standard, Full plate armour, Great weapon, Shield
• Empire Engineer on Empire War Wagon with Grenade launching blunderbuss
• Master Mage (Level 1, Daemonology)
• 24 Nuln State Troops with Halberds, Light armour, Full Command
• 5 State Missile Troops with Handguns, Sergeant (Hochland long rifle)
• 5 State Missile Troops with Handguns, Sergeant (Hochland long rifle)
• 24 Nuln State Troops with Halberds, Light armour, Full Command
• 5 State Missile Troops with Handguns, Sergeant (Hochland long rifle)
• 5 State Missile Troops with Handguns, Sergeant (Hochland long rifle)
• 5 Outriders with Sharpshooter (Grenade launching blunderbuss), Musician
• 5 Outriders with Sharpshooter, Musician
• Empire War Wagon
• Empire War Wagon 
• Great Cannon
• Great Cannon 
• Steam Tank 

The plan for the army was to try to shoot things a bit, annoy characters with lots of Look Out Sir rolls from the Long rifles, and hope that the blocks of Halberdiers and War Wagons could save me from whatever got too close. I did not expect this plan to work especially well.

Game 1 - Chance Encounter (Special features, Baggage train, Break point)
Nathan Shipley, Cathay Jade Fleet

I'm not going to lie, my summary of this list is very incomplete. I think it's all the units, but even with a full load of items on the Shugengan and BSB, the army is nowhere near the points. There must have been items and magic banners all over the place...

• Shugengan Lord, (Level 4, Illusion), Great Spirit Longma, Some array of gear including +1 spell
• Lord Magistrate in Sky Lantern (Iron hail guns, Sky Lantern bombs) with Armour of Meteoric Iron, Talisman of Protection
• Gate Keeper, with Battle Standard, probably other gear that didn't really come up
• 24 Jade Warriors with Shields, Heavy armour, Stubborn, Full Command
• 12 Jade Warriors with Halberds, Heavy armour
• 10 Jade Lancers with Drilled, Full Command, Ring of Jet
• Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader
• Fire Rain Rocket Battery with Ogre Loader
• Captain of the Empire on Barded Warhorse with Halberd, Twice-Blessed Armour
• 6 Empire Archers with Scouts

Cathay! This was exciting, I wasn't convinced there would even be a Cathay army at the event given the army wasn't that old.