Help with getting into Skirmish-level AoS?

[Aegisgrimm]

So, I'm interested in finally getting into playing AoS using the 'actual' rules (previously only been playing in the AoS setting with the indie game Age of Fantasy by One Page Games, which shares all the units of Warhammer/AoS, but not the same mechanics).

I'm very eager to play with a couple of the armies I have, but definitely at the skirmish level rather than the army level.  How do I go about gathering all the resources I need?  What should I be looking at for the actual skirmish materials?  Or, as I have Hinterlands (2.1.1, which I think was the last update, correct me if I am wrong), should I play that instead?

 

[flemingmma]

The skirmish book costs barely anything, and one of the starter sets/easy to build sets and a cheap hero will do the the job

[Aegisgrimm]

Sorry, more of what I was asking is which batches of rules material do I need to gather together to play at a Skirmish level?  After buying the Skirmish ruleset, do I need to purchase the full Battletomes for each race I own?  Do I need the 2018 General's Handbook?  Do I need to dip into the fanmade points document stickied at the top of this page, because it purportedly has the renown costs for stuff that's not in the main Skirmish book?

On the other hand, I had meant to try out Hinterlands back when Bottle was working on it, and after downloading his stuff (the 2.1.1 doc) it seemed back then that I only needed the basic rules, the unit warscrolls, and General's Handbook after that so I can work out points values from the pitched battle section for each figure?

Models are not an issue, as I have tons.  At the very least I already have large skirmish-sized forces of Stormcast, Orruks, Skaven, and Human Freeguilds from (a lot of) years of dipping into and out of painting Warhammer figures, but I admit I am a complete newbie when it comes to owning any of the actual AoS rules material.

 

Thanks for any help from those with more experience than me!

[Redking]

Download the Warscroll app, which also has the rules.  Buy the skirmish book and you are good to go.  You don’t need any battlefomes.

[Aegisgrimm]

Thanks, Redking.  I was just originally unsure of which rules material was expressly required, as I am coming from a position where Skirmish would be my first game(s) of Age of Sigmar.  All I have done so far is read the core rules that are available online/inside the Getting Started book, and peruse through the Warscrolls on the GW site that would pertain to what I have in my collection.

[Redking]

You’re welcome.  Skirmish is easy to get into and it lets you get a handle on the rules.  There are a couple of minor changes that are listed in the Skirmish rulebook, but it is essentially the same game.  Not quite as fun as Mordheim, but what is.

Once you’re good with skirmish, next step might be trying a Path to Glory campaign.

[Greyshadow]

It is optional but if you have the core book you can take the allegiance abilities in this book in skirmish (Order, Chaos, Death, Destruction). You can gain a battle trait for your warband this way, gain command traits for your general and even choose from a list of additional magic items. No other allegiance abilities are allowed other than the core book ones.

[Jamopower]

I can recommend as a next step from Skirmish to play with reduced size units. 5 models for regular stuff such as skeletons etc. and 3 models for more elite stuff like stormcast line infantry. It works nice as the small heroes are pretty equal terms in wounds with those units and you can have more units on board with smaller amount of models as playing with say 3x10 models plus a hero per side is much less interesting than having 6 units per side as it allows more interesting scenarios and the single combats are not so decisive. The game mechanics of AoS don't work very well with just a few units per side in my opinion. 

With the smaller games (500 points and such) I would stay with the grand alliance allegiance abilities, as the ones in the books are designed for bigger games (like blood tithe or the undead resurrection).