The medieval city of Talavera de la Reina, east of Madrid in central Spain, will soon play host to one of the nerdiest metal gigs this century. On Monday, metal legends Sabaton, Wind Rose – they of Diggy Diggy Hole fame – and power metal band Nanowar of Steel, announced that they will be playing shows in the town from October 25-27 to coincide with the Warhammer: the Old World World Team Championships, with each band declaring its support for one national team.
From speaking to fans of the game I’m pretty sure that the Warhammer community has adopted Sabaton – with its high energy and aggressive power metal and recurring theme of historical warfare – as its unofficial soundtrack, and it seems that the regard is mutual. The band has declared its support for its home country, Team Sweden, in the upcoming tournament.
Both Wind Rose and Nanowar of Steel are Italian, and Nanowar of Steel has called shotgun on Team Italy. Wind Rose has thrown its weight behind Team England, stating “yes we are Italian and we love our country, but the English are playing an army of Dwarves… and no Dwarf must be left behind!”
For metal heads unfamiliar with the tangled history of Warhammer games, Warhammer: the Old World is the classic flavor of Warhammer, with Orcs, Elves, and Chaos Warriors marching in big square regiments to fight over a fantasy world that is shaped a lot like our own but is populated by rather more dragons and daemons. The game was removed from sale in 2015 and was missing for almost a decade, but Games Workshop relaunched it at the start of 2024 and it’s been hugely successful since.
The World Team Championships is a fan-organised tournament with 160 players from 20 teams all across the world, with an admittedly heavy bias towards European and Anglophone nations. When two nations face off, they’ll start the round by alternately putting forward players, letting the other team decide their opponents. This creates an intricate metagame; teams must decide which of the many Old World factions their players will field, how to optimize those armies, and then how to pair up players to account for strengths and weaknesses of each army to try and ensure the team as a whole wins the round.
Which metal bands do you think give the most Warhammer energy? I have two whole articles on this, one with bands that aren’t explicitly referencing Warhammer, and one with bands that absolutely are (and yes, Bolt Thrower is on there) – but I’m always keen to hear more suggestions. Let me know in the Wargamer Discord community!
Source: Wargamer
