Why 6th Edition?
In 2026, the wargaming landscape is full of options. While The Old World (TOW) brough back the square bases and the rank-and-flank mechanics, and Age of Sigmar (AOS) continues being the mainstream fantasy wargame, a massive, global contingent of veteran players has come back to the tables.
6th edition is considered by many like the most balanced edition of Warhammer Fantasy, and the 2000-2007 the Golden Era of Warhammer. Others use the rulebook of 7th, which clarifies aspects of 6th but remain similar, and the army books of 6th, considered fair and balanced for competitive game, far for the "HeroHammer" of the 5th edition and the power creep that came in later editions. It works like a charm and we love it.
But more than 20 years have passed since the golden days. The community has envolved, some created alternative editions like the 9th Age or Extended 6th edition. In Karak Norn we are proud to play the game as it is.
Digital Archaeology
For the players that got their armies in the 2000's, the game still the same. But for new players, starting in 6th edition becomes an effort. The books have not been available for years, unless you are able to pay a fortune for a second-hand edition or a PDF scan of the original books. And books... there are SO MANY BOOKS! Add then the Errata and FAQs and you end with a pile of papers (or PDFs). Many players (even veterans!) do not know the full potential of their armies just because were not able to collect all the rules available in a hidden spot of the past.
And, of course, some of the most relevants websites of the Golden Age are dead: Warseer, Yahoo! groups, The Round Table of Bretonnia...
We kept records for years and we digged into the deeps of the old Internet. And we compiled them for you.
Digital solutions
That friction ends here. The Karak Norn Wargaming Club has jumped to the digital era. We have created a digital engine for Army List Building that contains all the Rules, Errata and FAQs of the whole 6th edition.
This document is a functional blueprint. It details the modern software stack, the practical solutions for sourcing models, and the exact publication index required to put a legal army on the table. There is a massive amount of manual data entry beneath this project, and we are still forging new features, but it works.
This is the exact standard the Karak Norn Wargaming Club uses to run our local narrative campaigns and competitive tournaments. It saves us hours of administrative work, so we are making it public. Here it is.
Enough talk! What do you need!
Besides time and someone to play with (and a table! and dice!), you will need three things:
The rules of the game
Miniatures to play
An army list to organize your forces!
Note: The "Rules Engine" and "Digital Repository" are fully operational. The "Miniatures Equivalency" section below is an Active Restoration. We are currently mapping the 2026 'The Old World' and 'Age of Sigmar' catalogs to the classic 6th Edition profiles. If you have verified proxies or high-fidelity conversions, please contribute your findings to the archive below.
1. The Rules of Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition
The Digital Rulebook (6th.whfb.app)
Nothing beats the feeling of an old physical book, but being practical... the Rulebook must be consulted constantly, and a digital search is faster (and does not damage your physical relics!).
This website is just awesome, and it already includes:
Basic Rulebook (the Big Red Book, BRB).
Storm of Chaos Campaign.
Lustria Campaign.
Army Books.
Annual 2002 and Chronicles 2003/2004.
Mercenaries and Dogs of War.
FAQs.
Errata (already applied to the rules).
Base size references.
It does NOT contain:
The second Army boof of the Dwarfs (2006, because they consider it 7th, find it in 7th.whfb.app)
Appendix lists from the Army Books.
Special units from scenarios and campaigns.
Annual and Chronicles experimental units and characters.
White-Dwarf experimental units and characters.
Citadel Journal units and characters.
GW's website units and characters.
ForgeWorld units.
Bizarre lists like Skaven's Hellpit, Khemri's Army of Quatar or Vampire Counts' Army of the Cairns.
For the official rules, the website is the most usefull tool you will need, specially DURING the games.
Beware they may have some typos due to the OCR scans of the original documents. Still awesome.
2. Miniatures for the 6th edition
In 2026, we have access to several brands and models. Karak Norn Wargaming Club uses mainly models from Games Workshop, so we will cover the closest to the original ones that you can buy today.
Most of the 6th edition models survive either in TOW or AOS.
We will create an exhaustive guide to compare them, unit by unit, but the general overview of the factions is this:
WHFB 6th ed | The Old World | Age of Sigmar |
|---|---|---|
High Elves | High Elf Realms | Lumineth + Idoneth Deepkin |
NO | Daughters of Khaine + Cities of Sigmar (partially) | |
Wood Elf Realms | Sylvaneth + Cities of Sigmar (Wanderers) | |
Orcs & Goblins | Orc and Goblin Tribes | Orruk Warclans + Gloomspite Gitz |
Dwarfs | Dwarfen Mountain Holds | Cities of Sigmar (Dispossessed) + Fyreslayers + Kharadron |
Chaos Dwarfs | NO | Hellsmiths of Hasut |
Vampire Counts | NO | Soulblight Gravelords + Nighthaunt + Flesh-Eater Courts |
Tomb Kings | Tomb Kings of Khemri | Ossiarch Bonereapers |
Empire of Man | Cities of Sigmar (partially) | |
Kingdom of Bretonnia | NO | |
Kislev | NO | NO |
Dogs of War | NO | NO |
NO | Seraphon | |
Skaven | NO | Skaven |
Forces of Chaos (Daemons, Beastmen, Hordes of Chaos) | Warriors of Chaos + Beastmen Brayherds (also WH40k for Daemons) | Slaves to Darkness + Blades of Khorne + Maggotkin of Nurgle + Disciples of Tzeentch + Hedonites of Slaanesh + Beasts of Chaos |
Ogre Kingdoms | NO | Ogor Mawtribes |
The base references:
TOW uses bigger square bases: 25mm for normal infantry
AOS uses round bases.
Note: The "Rules Engine" and "Digital Repository" are fully operational and forensicly audited. The "Miniatures Equivalency" section below is an Active Restoration. We are currently mapping the 2026 'The Old World' and 'Age of Sigmar' catalogs to the classic 6th Edition profiles. If you have verified proxies or high-fidelity conversions, please contribute your findings to the archive below.
3. The Army Builder: The New Recruit Engine
Karak Norn Wargaming uses, supports and recommends the use of NewRecruit for several reasons:
It's cloud-based, so you don't need to install it (just configure it)
Can run in the browser, without apps or installing programs!
You can sync army lists bewteen devices (requires a free account)
Mobile-friendly (but in tablet/PC the experience is better)
Active support and development
Find it HERE
 |
| Click in the image to install the repo in NewRecruit |
The main alternatives are:
Army Builder: The king in the 2000's, without suppor since 2012.
BattleScribe: Its succesor, now without support since 2022. The app was retired from the PlayStore, but still working on PC/Mac/Linux.
References and help during the game
We strongly suggest to have printed both the army list and a reference sheet.
This Reference Sheet (in BGG, it requires free account) is the official one, what we use.
This Roster sheet (in BGG, it requires free account) is the official one, use what you want.
4. Index of rules publications during 6th edition
Most of the rules were published through physical books and magazines. The most important are:
Date | Publication name | Author |
|---|---|---|
Ene. 2000 | Ravening Hordes (6th Edition) (WD248 UK) | Jake Thornton y Alessio Cavatore |
Ene. 2000 | Warhammer Armies: The Empire (6th Edition) | Alessio Cavatore |
Ene. 2000 | Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins (6th Edition) | Rick Priestley y Jake Thornton |
Nov. 2000 | Army List: Tilea & Dogs of War (6th Edition) | Alessio Cavatore |
Ene. 2001 | Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (6th Edition) | Gav Thorpe y Alessio Cavatore |
May. 2001 | Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (6th Edition) | Alessio Cavatore |
May. 2001 | Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition) (WD256 & WD259 UK) — Trial Army List. | Jake Thornton y Gav Thorpe |
Jun. 2001 | Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (6th Edition) | Gav Thorpe, Space McQuirk y Tuomas Pirinen |
Ago. 2001 | Campaign: Dark Shadows (6th Edition) | Alessio Cavatore, Space McQuirk y Jake Thornton |
2001 | Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (6th Edition) (WD260 UK) — Trial Army List. | Alessio Cavatore |
Ene. 2002 | Warhammer Armies: High Elves (6th Edition) | Jake Thornton y Space McQuirk |
Mar. 2002 | Warhammer Armies: Skaven (6th Edition) | Alessio Cavatore |
May. 2002 | Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (6th Edition) (WD269 UK) — Trial Army List. | Alessio Cavatore |
Jun. 2002 | Warhammer Armies: Hordes of Chaos (6th Edition) | Gav Thorpe, Rick Priestley, Anthony Reynolds y Alessio Cavatore |
2002 | Warhammer Chronicles 2002 (6th Edition) | Varios autores |
Sep. 2002 | Warhammer Skirmish (WD281-285 UK) | Unknown |
Ene. 2003 | Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition) | Alessio Cavatore |
May. 2003 | Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition) | Anthony Reynolds |
Ago. 2003 | Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos (6th Edition) | Gavin Thorpe |
Dic. 2003 | Warhammer Armies: Kislev (6th Edition) | Gav Thorpe y Graham McNeill |
2003 | Warhammer Chronicles 2003 (6th Edition) | Varios autores |
Mar. 2004 | Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (6th Edition) | Anthony Reynolds |
Jun. 2004 | Campaign: Storm of Chaos (6th Edition) | Gav Thorpe |
2004 | Warhammer Chronicles 2004 (6th Edition) | Varios autores |
Ene. 2005 | Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms (6th Edition) | Phil Kelly |
May. 2005 | Warhammer Expansion: Lustria (6th Edition) | Andy Hoare y Graham McNeill |
May. 2005 | Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (6th Edition) | Anthony Reynolds y Matthew Ward |
2005 | Campaign: The Conquest of the New World (6th Edition) | Andy Hoare y Graham McNeill |
Ene. 2006 | Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (6th Edition Revised) | Pete Haines |
2006 | Warhammer: Skirmish / Warbands | Unknown |
In the NewRecruit ArmyList builder we have included units, alternative lists, special characters and rules from all the following sources:
Warhammer Rulebook 6th Edition (BRB)
Warhammer: Annual (2002) (AN-02)
Warhammer Chronicles (2003) (CR-03)
Warhammer Chronicles (2004) (CR-04)
Citadel Journal #41, p.24-27 (CJ#41)
Citadel Journal #43 (CJ#43)
Citadel Journal #44 (CJ#44)
Citadel Journal #46, p.24 (CJ#46)
Citadel Journal #48 (CJ#48)
Citadel Journal #49 (CJ#49)
Citadel Journal #50 (CJ#50)
Forge World (FW)
Lustria (Campaign) (LUS)
Storm of Chaos (Campaign) (SoC)
Ravening Hordes (6th Edition) (RH)
Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos (6th Edition) (BC-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (6th Edition) (BR-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (6th Edition) (DE-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (6th Edition) (DW1-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (Revised 6th Edition) (DW2-AB)
Warhammer Armies: High Elves (6th Edition) (HE-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Hordes of Chaos (6th Edition) (HC-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Kislev (6th Edition) (KS-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition) (LM-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms (6th Edition) (OK-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins (6th Edition) (OG-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Skaven (6th Edition) (SKV-AB)
Warhammer Armies: The Empire (6th Edition) (EM-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition) (TK-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (6th Edition) (VC-AB)
Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (6th Edition) (WE-AB)
WebGW-DE (webGW-DE)
WebGW-ITA (webGW-ITA)
WebGW-OZ (WebGW-OZ)
WebGW-US (WebGW-US)
White-Dwarf #100-ES (WD#100-ES)
White-Dwarf #103 ES (WD#103-ES)
White-Dwarf #250 US (WD#250-US)
White-Dwarf #254-UK (WD#254-UK)
White-Dwarf #258 UK (WD#258-UK)
White-Dwarf #258 US (WD#258-US)
White-Dwarf #259 UK (WD#259-UK)
White-Dwarf #263 UK (WD#263-UK)
White-Dwarf #287 UK (WD#287-UK)
White-Dwarf #288 UK (WD#288-UK)
White-Dwarf #290-US (WD#290-US)
White-Dwarf #296 UK (WD#296-UK)
White-Dwarf #298 UK (WD#298-UK)
White-Dwarf #299-UK (WD#299-UK)
White-Dwarf #300 UK (WD#300-UK)
White-Dwarf #302-UK (WD#302-UK)
White-Dwarf #303 UK (WD#303-UK)
White-Dwarf #304 UK (WD#304-UK)
White-Dwarf #307 UK (WD#307-UK)
White-Dwarf #308 UK (WD#308-UK)
White-Dwarf #309 UK (WD#309-UK)
White-Dwarf #310 UK (WD#310-UK)
White-Dwarf #311 UK (WD#311-UK)
White-Dwarf #314-UK (WD#314-UK)
White-Dwarf #315-UK (WD#315-UK)
White-Dwarf #316 UK (WD#316-UK)
White-Dwarf #317 UK (WD#317-UK)
Troll#25-ES (T#25-ES)
