One of the exciting things about Warhammer: The Old World was the news of collaboration between the team working on it and Creative Assembly, which was working on Total War: Warhammer 3 at the time, to round out the army lists for Grand Cathay and Kislev. These two nations hadn’t been focused on in tabletop Warhammer for years, and the thought of them being expanded in The Old World was tantalizing.
We even saw concept art for specific units, like Kislev’s bear riders, Gryphon Legion, and Ice Guard. However, tucked away at the bottom of a news post about the additions coming to Total War: Warhammer 3’s Shadows of Change DLC is the following statement: “Fans of Warhammer: The Old World should note that there aren’t any current plans to bring Kislev or Grand Cathay to the tabletop for the foreseeable future.”
While it’s carefully worded enough to be interpreted in a “never say never” way, it certainly puts the kibosh on any hope we had that miniatures and rules for Cathay and Kislev were right around the corner. It seems to have been a recent decision, given how often the two nations are mentioned in the background of the Warhammer: The Old World rulebook, which even re-uses art from Total War: Warhammer 3 of Cathay’s army.
Meanwhile, Total War: Warhammer 3 has just been updated with patch 4.2. As well as all the additions to Shadows of Change, the game itself has received plenty of tweaks. The bloom’s been toned down, rampage effects reworked, Cathay’s tech tree rebalanced, and a host of other bugs and balance issues have been addressed. See the full patch notes for more.