Best order for buying books

[Colin the Flea]

Hi,

I've been away from the GW scene for a while now, moving towards board gaming.  I essentially skipped 8th Ed, and AoS, until now.  I do keep up somewhat, through listening to Bad Dice and Heelanhammer, but apart from that, and reading the AoS rules when released, I am clueless.  After hearing about the new book that includes tournament rules/points, I've decided it may be a good idea to get back in, start painting some old models, and generally reenter the hobby.

There is one problem with this plan.  I don't know where to start.  I was at a local games store, and from browsing their books, I realized I had no idea which ones to prioritize.  On the face of it, it seems there is a fair amount of overlap.  So, what is the most efficient way to add game rules?  Here is a list of armies I have pretty much complete 3rd/4th Ed models for, that will form a base for my AoS lists:

Chaos Warriors

Beastmen

Wood Elves

Daemons

Normans

Now, I understand a little bit about how things work, but if you were to start over on the books, and had the above (plus partial armies of many more), where would you start?  I will not be buying new models, so unless I can do a reasonable proxy/conversion, assume I will not be using those warscrolls in my lists.  (I plan to use my old models for some Oldhammer also, so these conversions must be applicable to 3rd Ed rules also).

Thanks,

Colin

[Darth Alec]

You'll be happy to hear that things are substantially easier in AoS. All the rules you need are right here, for free! https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-Age-of-Sigmar-Rules

 

Just download the relevant compendium, and you'll have all the rules you want.

 

Now if you'd like to actually buy a book, check out the Grand Alliance: Chaos. It contains all of the rules for Warriors of Chaos, Beastmen, Daemons and Skaven. It's cheap and plentiful.

 

I reccomend getting the Mighty Battles in An Age of Unending War as well. It sets up all the background for AoS. It also contains a lot of battleplans (scenarios), which makes your games a lot more fun.

[Ben Johnson]

Hi Colin,

If it's gaming books you are looking for they the Grand Alliance book are a great resource and will explain how your Chaos Warriors fit in to Age of Sigmar as will the Mighty Battles in An Age of Unending War book.

if it's story and narrative you are looking for then the Realmgate books are very good and full of gaming information to, they pick up from where the Mighty Battles book ends. There is also a series of novels that run along side these books. Theses are all numbered on the spines so is you start at one you can't go far wrong.  

Check out the Black Library site for details. http://www.blacklibrary.com/aos/whaos-feat

 

[endtransmission]

There is also a really neat timeline diagram that was posted onto the GW facebook page. For those not using Facebook, there is a copy on https://war-of-sigmar.herokuapp.com/bloggings/826

[Rob P]

Hi

Following on from the original poster's question and answers, can you confirm what exactly is included in each category of book, please?

I'm more interested in the lore than the rules and not sure where to start.

Obviously the Black Library novels etc will have specific stories that may or may not interlock with each other. As they are all under 'The Realmgate Wars' i'm assuming they're an opening narrative only.

Presumably the battletomes are just the army books by another name (so they include the unit warscrolls and lore on that faction).

What's the deal with the 'Grand Alliance' books? Are they just warscrolls?

The Age of Sigmar big book is presumably a mix of an outline of the lore for the setting (and therefore probably the best one to start with to got an overview), the rules, warscrolls for all the old factions, some starter campaigns and artwork.

The non-Black Library Realmgate Wars books presumably carry on the Age of Sigmar narrative with campaigns etc (like the End Times hardbacks?).

Am I anywhere near the mark?

Thanks in advance

 

Rob

 

[rokapoke]

I can't speak for the other Grand Alliance books, but the Order book has rather limited fluff that is almost exclusively focused on Azyr. It's predominantly warscrolls with a few battalions mixed in.

[Darth Alec]

1 hour ago, Rob P said:

Hi

Following on from the original poster's question and answers, can you confirm what exactly is included in each category of book, please?

I'm more interested in the lore than the rules and not sure where to start.

Obviously the Black Library novels etc will have specific stories that may or may not interlock with each other. As they are all under 'The Realmgate Wars' i'm assuming they're an opening narrative only.

Presumably the battletomes are just the army books by another name (so they include the unit warscrolls and lore on that faction).

What's the deal with the 'Grand Alliance' books? Are they just warscrolls?

The Age of Sigmar big book is presumably a mix of an outline of the lore for the setting (and therefore probably the best one to start with to got an overview), the rules, warscrolls for all the old factions, some starter campaigns and artwork.

The non-Black Library Realmgate Wars books presumably carry on the Age of Sigmar narrative with campaigns etc (like the End Times hardbacks?).

Am I anywhere near the mark?

Thanks in advance

 

Rob

 

To break it down:

 

Black Library:

The books are a mix of expanded campaign book narrative and entirely separate stories. Wardens of the Everqueen fore example greatly expands a specific part of the Balance of Power book. Gates of Azyr expands on the starter set. On the other hand, the Audio Dramas and the Warbeast book are entirely separate from any other material, with only tenuous links to other stories. Great for a deeper look into the fluff.

 

Battletomes:

You're correct. It's a lore/rules book ala the old army books. Very focused on each faction, obviously. Recommended for any particular faction you'd be interested in.

 

Grand Alliances:

Largely rules books. They contain roughly a page of fluff for each sub-faction, but nothing more. Best for getting all the rules you could ever want.

 

AoS big book:

Sets the tone and lays down the setting. It ends roughly around the starter set. Gives a solid overview of the fluff. It doesn't go too in-depth though. If you're intersted in the fluff, I recommend picking this up after something else.

 

Realmgate Wars campaign books:

Story/campaign book. Yeah, they look a lot like the End Times books, but with the rules integrated. I've enjoyed each of them! Very narrative in structure.

 

Just a short overview. Ask if there's any more questions.

[Colin the Flea]

Great, thanks for the responses.

Just one thing that I'm still confused on.  I should have made it clearer in my original post, but what I'm looking for is rules, rather than fluff, though I'll read that also over time.  My confusion is the difference between the Grand Alliance books and the Battletomes.  Take the Chaos Grand Alliance book versus the Clan Pestilens Battletome.  What is the difference?  If I have the former, is the latter needed at all?  Is the overlap 100%, rules-wise?

Having been a collector and player of Warhammer since 1985, I've been inspired by Ben C and Dan/Wayne enthusiasm for AoS, and am keen to try it.  I left to play board games, but after an initial kid-in-a-candy-store feeling, I've realized that a love for board games is just not there.  I miss the 1:1 competition of miniatures.

Thanks,

Colin

[rokapoke]

Your Battletomes will have more faction-specific Battalions than the Grand Alliance book. That said, you can acquire the warscrolls for the Battalions much cheaper through the app than you can in the books. So if you only want the rules, the app is the least expensive way to get them. Otherwise, if you have a specific army in mind, and they have a Battletome, that's the best bang for your buck.

[Colin the Flea]

OK, so assume I know nothing.  I can use any combination of warscrolls in a single Grand Alliance, right?  But there are advantages to only using those from a single faction, i.e. Battaliions?  Is that about right?  Do people use Faction-specific lists?  Or are Grand Alliance-specific lists more popular?  I think I'm still a little confused.

Thanks,

 

Colin

[rokapoke]

Most of the battalion benefits are faction-specific rather than Alliance-specific. In the Grand Alliance: Order, however, you can find several abilities that can help any unit within the alliance: 

Generally, though (at least in my experience), battalion abilities benefit the faction rather than the alliance as a whole. That said, just get out there and have fun! I played a mixed army of Stormcast with a smattering of Seraphon last night and enjoyed it despite the Seraphon not benefitting from my Lord-Celestant's +1 to wound command ability.

[Darth Alec]

2 hours ago, Colin the Flea said:

OK, so assume I know nothing.  I can use any combination of warscrolls in a single Grand Alliance, right?  But there are advantages to only using those from a single faction, i.e. Battaliions?  Is that about right?  Do people use Faction-specific lists?  Or are Grand Alliance-specific lists more popular?  I think I'm still a little confused.

Thanks,

 

Colin

If you just want rules, you'll find them for free in the App, for cheap in the Grand Alliance books, and with fluff and scenarios in the Battletomes. The Battletomes supercede the Grand Alliance books when there's a difference, but most of them are identical. This is due to most of the Battletomes so far being released before the Grand Alliance books, so the GA takes their rules from the battletome. However, the Flesh-Eater Courts, which was released after Grand Alliance: Death, has very different rules.

 

You can build your army any way you like. For tournament play, the most common way is keeping it within a Grand Alliance. Some people build faction specific lists, but not all factions can do this effectively. You can easily go Stormcast Eternals-specific, but it's not practical to go with only Lion Rangers, for example. The trick is that many units and heroes can improve the performance of other units. This synergy is keyword specific,  and that is almost always a faction keyword. Stormcast Eternal heroes will buff their own units, but won't buff Duardin units. You may want to take a Duardin war machine to plug a gap in your army, but it won't benefit from being in an army of Stormcasts (a hero's +1 to hit ability won't affect it, and so on). So where possible, many keep within a single faction to benefit the most from these synergies.

 

Chaos is a little different. Many of their synergies are god-specific. So a Bloodsecretor gives all Khorne units, whether Daemon, Mortal or Beastman +1 attack, as long as they are Khorne. This isn't true for everything, but is very common.

 

Likewise, Death has a lot of cross-faction buffs. Most of their hero's abilities affect Death units or a wide variety of factions. 

 

 

So yeah, you can get the rules for free in the Age of Sigmar app for Android and iOs. And you can use whatever models and whatever factions you like, but will probably benefit from staying within a Grand Alliance or specific faction.