New to AoS

[Koonitz]

First and foremost, you'll need the rules. They can be found free of charge on Games Workshop's website:

HERE.

Note, this is the Canadian site, but offers the download in all available languages, so take your pick. It is also worth noting that pretty much every hard-cover publication for Age of Sigmar includes a copy of these rules printed at the back of them, including battletomes (such as Battletome: Sylvaneth).

Second, you'll need the rules for your army. Each unit has a warscroll, which is the equivalent to a dataslate from 40k. Basically, one page with the rules of the unit. They are also available free of charge. The old Fantasy armies are all available at the link above.

Any of the newer armies (armies released specifically for Age of Sigmar, such as Sylvaneth, Orruk, Fyreslayer Duardin, et cetera) are available in that army's section of the website or, more specifically, under each individual model's section of the website.

Technically, that is all you NEED to play a game, beyond the models and a board to play on, obviously. Please note that the free downloads will not include rules for warscroll battalions (formations), which may be found in the various publications, such as battletomes (ie: codices).

However, if you wish to play with points, you will need the General's Handbook (again, Canadian website).

The General's Handbook includes rules for playing standard open-play, Narrative play, Campaign play, multiplayer games and pitched battles (points games). The book includes points for EVERY AVAILABLE MODEL for all armies (though not the rules for them), as well as the various Allegiance abilities for playing an Order/Death/Destruction/Chaos aligned army. As such, you will require nothing beyond this book and the models/table and the free downloads.

So far, I believe only the Battletome: Sylvaneth book includes the full extra rules for playing in General's Handbook (including Allegiance abilities for playing Sylvaneth and all available warscroll battalions except the Start Collecting one). As such, it's not entirely necessary to buy the books for any given army unless you are interested in reading the fluff and having physical copies of the unit rules on-hand. Personal preference on that one. Though I may be wrong, honestly, as I have not looked into any battletome beyond my dear Goddess's Battletome Sylvaneth.

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In summation, you will need:
1) The 4-page rules, free from GW (or any publication for Age of Sigmar that is not a novel that will include said rules printed in the back of the publication).
2) The rules for each unit you wish to field, free from GW, or printed in a battletome.
3) The General's Handbook.
4) Optional: The publication for any warscroll battalion you wish to use.

[AoSKing]

Hey dude, delighted you're looking to play AoS. I have an Age of Sigmar review you can check out. It's super bias cause I really like the game but it gets most things covered (not all). It's been a bit quiet on the AoS front recently with a string of 40k releases but that's expected after we got so much love through the summer

http://www.ageofsigmarking.com/age-of-sigmar-review/

[Dez]

Bonesplitterz and Beastclaw Raiders have allegiance and magic items in their books.