diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otBase.py b/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otBase.py
index 521a98ebd..f4a39e5f3 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otBase.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otBase.py
@@ -498,6 +498,11 @@ class OTTableWriter(object):
 		return OverflowErrorRecord( (self.tableTag, LookupListIndex, SubTableIndex, itemName, itemIndex) )
 
 
+class LiteralCount(int):
+	"""A count value that should be taken literally, rather than recomputed on compile."""
+	pass
+
+
 class CountReference(object):
 	"""A reference to a Count value, not a count of references."""
 	def __init__(self, table, name, size=None, value=None):
@@ -690,8 +695,12 @@ class BaseTable(object):
 				# table. We will later store it here.
 				# We add a reference: by the time the data is assembled
 				# the Count value will be filled in.
-				ref = writer.writeCountReference(table, conv.name, conv.staticSize)
-				table[conv.name] = None
+				if not isinstance(value, LiteralCount):
+					# we ignore the current count value since it's being recomputed,
+					# unless this is a LiteralCount, which is assumed to be already correct.
+					value = None
+				ref = writer.writeCountReference(table, conv.name, conv.staticSize, value)
+				table[conv.name] = value
 				if conv.isPropagated:
 					writer[conv.name] = ref
 			elif conv.isLookupType:
diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otTables.py b/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otTables.py
index 252d121ca..53f9fa82f 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otTables.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/otTables.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ converter objects from otConverters.py.
 """
 from fontTools.misc.py23 import *
 from fontTools.misc.textTools import pad, safeEval
-from .otBase import BaseTable, FormatSwitchingBaseTable, ValueRecord
+from .otBase import BaseTable, FormatSwitchingBaseTable, ValueRecord, LiteralCount
 import logging
 import struct
 
@@ -687,6 +687,22 @@ class VarIdxMap(BaseTable):
 		mapping[glyph] = (outer << 16) | inner
 
 
+class VarRegionList(BaseTable):
+
+	def preWrite(self, font):
+		# The OT spec says VarStore.VarRegionList.RegionAxisCount should always
+		# be equal to the fvar.axisCount, and OTS < v8.0.0 enforces this rule
+		# even when the VarRegionList is empty. We can't treat RegionAxisCount
+		# like a normal propagated count (== len(Region[i].VarRegionAxis)),
+		# otherwise it would default to 0 if VarRegionList is empty.
+		# Thus, we force it to always be equal to fvar.axisCount.
+		# https://github.com/khaledhosny/ots/pull/192
+		fvarTable = font.get("fvar")
+		if fvarTable:
+			self.RegionAxisCount = LiteralCount(len(fvarTable.axes))
+		return self.__dict__.copy()
+
+
 class SingleSubst(FormatSwitchingBaseTable):
 
 	def populateDefaults(self, propagator=None):