Warhammer’s Silliest Jousting Minigame Is Back

This was not on my bingo card for 2024. Following the Old World’s resurgence of Bretonnia, the monarch is employing its holy knights for his convenience. Even though you’ve proven your fighting skills on the battlefield, your royalty deserves entertainment, therefore it’s time to saddle up and put on your lance for a jousting competition.

The Old World from Games Workshop revives Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Legions Imperialis is the resurrected version of Epic, and The Cursed City is the spiritual successor to Mordheim, a la Bloodborne. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that more niche games are getting a second life this year. But Full Tilt isn’t your average specialized game.

There’s hardly any gameplay in Full Tilt. The Grand Tourney’s original rules were initially published in White Dwarf (Issue 215, to be exact) in 1997. All you needed to organize your own joust-off was a few pages and a few tables, but the game never got formal support. It was a little entertaining, an additional use for your knightly models, and an opportunity to show off your scenery-building skills. It’s not a profitable venture, therefore its reappearance almost thirty years later is shocking.

However, adding a jousting tournament to the Warhammer rules set would be ideal. Consider any fantasy TV program from the ten years prior to Game of Thrones, when everything was more realistic. There was always a jousting tournament, generally early in the season. I’m not sure why it was usually referred to as a tourney rather than a tournament, but if you watch any fantasy television, you’ll probably find it in episodes two or three. A couple are even included in Game of Thrones to lighten the mood, albeit they do occasionally result in someone’s head being turned into jam.

Putting We Will Rock You on Alexa, gathering your knights, and unleashing your inner Heath Ledger has never been simpler. Simply cross your fingers that no one examines your family tree more than once.

A basic jousting tournament offers a plethora of storytelling opportunities, ranging from surreptitious competitors to cunning strategies, and Full Tilt can effectively narrate these tales with a minimal set of regulations. With its four updated pages (that you can get for free right now), you can create the ideal setting for your match. It’s advisable to give your participants names, and I also like to give them personality. Instead of participating in civilized and friendly competition, you can dedicate yourself to light roleplay by having the evil Black Knight (it was always the Black Knight) duck, dive, and dodge out of the way. Never will your honorable champion go for the head.

Lances will break and knights will be knocked from their seats as the tournament continues. Some might even pass away. However, it’s possible that the tales you will share with your companions will surpass the majority of those fought on the far bigger battlefields of the Old World. When I was a child, I can still clearly recall my imposing Sir Lancelot (I wasn’t that imaginative) defeating a rival Chaos champion on the last die roll of a tournament. Do I recall the specifics of all the 6,000 point Apocalypse matches I’ve played that required more setup time than Full Tilt? Not really.


Full Tilt has the impression of a forgotten Games Workshop project. Instead than trying to sell you the largest, deadliest models, this ruleset aims to bring out the fun in toy troops. Since all the epic battles and century-long wars might get a little heavy at times, I’m happy that the corporation is embracing the enjoyable aspects of the pastime. Battle of the Bastards need not be the theme of every Warhammer game. A few examples might be the noble jousting competition from episode two.