So, Warhammer 8th Edition just came out. You wander along to your nearest gaming store to buy the rulebook. You recoil at the size and price, and during your confusion, they tell you that the starter box, Island of Blood, will be out soon. Not only that, it also contains a mini-rulebook. Which edition do you choose? Well, here’s the facts.
Option 1: The Warhammer Rulebook
If you haven’t seen it already, the new Warhammer rulebook is amazing. The rules are laid out even better than before, with excellent pictures and examples. It’s got gorgeous illustrations, colour on every page, and a very solid looking binding (which is so important in a book you’re going to leaf through hundreds of times). It’s also so heavy, you could kill someone with it…
The problem with the new rulebook, however, is its size, weight, and price. It’s about twice as thick as the previous edition, so you’re paying a stack of money for something that is really hard to carry around. All of this extra quality and content comes at a hefty price – the book will set you back £45/US$75/AU$124, which is a fair bit more than previous books.
Option 2: The Starter Set
The new starter set, called Island of Blood, will be released on the 4th of September. The conundrum, as mentioned above, is that the total cost of the starter set is not going to be much more than the rulebook itself, yet it contains a mini-rulebook with all the rules. The main difference to the content is that the mini book comes without the pictures and background stories and the like.
The mini-book is much smaller and more portable than the full one
The huge advantage of the mini-rulebook is you can fit it in your case with your models, and carry it anywhere without any sort of hassle. Also, when you’re actually playing a game, you couldn’t care less about the stories and pictures: having all the rules condensed into a smaller book is immensely useful.
The Island of Blood set comes with all the standard stuff (dice, templates, etc), plus a massive army of High Elves and Skaven: like the 40k Assault on Black Reach box, they have got to huge lengths to fit an absurd number of models into the box. Somehow they have even managed to fit a High Elf Griffon in it.
The price of the box set is £60/US$99/AU$165. Hmm. If you live in Australia, do NOT purchase it here: the price on the GW website for buying from the US and shipping to Australia is US$129 = AU$141 (at time of writing). You can get it even cheaper if you go for third party suppliers… which I normally can’t be bothered to do, but in this case, I think it’s worth it. I ordered mine from the UK site Firestorm Games, which ends up being the clear winner because of free worldwide shipping for orders of £30 or more.
So what do I buy?
Well, the answer many people will come up with is “both”, which is probably exactly what Games Workshop is hoping. But if you can’t afford or don’t want to buy both, you need to make a choice.
This is what I would recommend:
Get the big rulebook if:
- You are interested in the stories and setting of Warhammer
- You like a book with lots of gorgeous illustrations
- You like the model galleries and modelling/painting advice
- Can deal with adding a large, heavy book to the list of things you carry around
Get the starter set if:
- You or a friend have or want to have High Elves or Skaven
- Don’t have basics like templates and scatter dice
- Want or need to be able to easily transport the rulebook
- Can deal with not having a lot of extra content in your rulebook
Alternatives
Naturally, there are more options. In particular, there is the Gamers’ Edition: a special set of the big rulebook with a carry bag, templates, dice, etc. It’s a bit more expensive, but cheaper than buying both the big book and the starter box: £75/US$124/AU$200. It is, however, only available online and stocks are limited.
The Gamers’ Edition could be a good choice if:
- You really want the big book, but you need it to be portable
- You want/need some (rather nice) dice, templates, etc
- You don’t want the starter box as well as the rulebook, either because of the cost or because you really don’t want a stack of High Elves and Skaven
- You get in before they sell out
The Collector's Edition is gorgeous
Finally, there was one more alternative: the Collector’s Edition. I say “was”, because, like the Gamers’ Edition, it was limited stock. Leather bound, with metal decoration and clasp, and nearly an inch thicker than the normal book. Since only 3500 were made, most people will never even get to see one, which is sad, because they are a work of art: one of the most gorgeous books you will ever see (and I am a VERY lucky owner of an edition). If you love Warhammer and have a time machine, you should buy the Collector’s Edition.
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