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I am new to warmachine and have the rule book.  I am not necessarily interested in reading new rules or army types, yet.  Can anyone recommend good novels, sourcebooks, or books that provide the background material for the Iron Kingdom universe?  I look forward to your replies.

 

RG

the Iron Kingdom's World Guide is a great read. it has general world, info deep history, current affairs such as the the Longest night incedent in Corvis and the current War, and and indepth looks at all the nations, not just the Big Four.
The book is mainly a RPG resourse but is also just a really great book to have around for any WM fan.

Link http://www6.mailordercentral.com/thewarstore/prodinfo.asp?number=PIP402&variation=&aitem=14&mitem=39

Yeah, the IKRPG books are really good, even if you don't play RPG's. Course, they are a mite expensive. If you're looking for something cheaper, albeit shorter, No Quarter (PP's magazine) always has a few short stories.

Cool, both look like good choices.  Thanks and thanks for the link too.

 

There is LOTS of stuff out there.

IK Character Guide... Lots of fluff! Good stuff on religions and technology in particular.
Lock and Load Character Primer...Like the Character Guide but thinner and cheaper.
Liber Mechanika..Lots of fluff on technology. Good read.
Witchfire trilogy: The D&D adventure that started it all. It's ig good even if you don't Play D&D. It's freaking excellent if you ARE a player, however.

There's going to be a comic book someday, if I recall correctly.

Here is my $.02.

The best fluff for warmachine itself are the rule books.  I have never seen a company put so much effort into the story of every character, and every rule book that they put out.  It covers the character development,  National politics, and some mythology.

The best guide to the people, classes, religious history, mekanica, and even warcaster armor is the Character Guide.  Very good and a fun read.

For the time lines, national histories, city details, it is the world guide.  However a word of warning on this one.  It is a long read - a little like a history book, and encyclopedia - not bad, just be ready.

The lock & loaded book which is out of print is basically an early mixture of the character guide and world guide but on a much smaller scale.  That is were I got started after reading Prime.  Found in on Ebay.

The witch fire trilogy is an AD&D module set - I read it like a novel and it was neat.  Very focused story, but gets you in the mood.

Then the monsternomicon - another great read - alot like all the other monster books, but the fluff was fun to read.  The Dragons are insane - if you play AD&D - the dragons are basically god like.  The concepts of the undead are also detailed in this.

I have the libra mekanica - just have not gotten to it yet - the world guide is huge

I really like the whole Iron Kingdom world - from soup to nuts - that is why I have read so much.  I think Warmachine can be self contained if you want, but if you hunger for more I would get the character guide or lock & loaded (if you can't find it - you can borrow mine).  It also has a full  map which is helpful and missing from the other books (world guide has one too).

-solomon. 

Wow, thanks for the detailed response.  I have to admit I have been looking at the Character Guide and World Book.  Others have raved about the Witchfire Trilogy too.  Might even be fun to dust off the D&D books and do a dungeon crawl with warmachine.  It reminds me of the old Warhammer Fantasy Book.  Remember that one?  They reprinted it recently.  I actually played back in the early 1990's it was a blast.  That was even before I got into the minature side and you are right those RPG books can definitely add to the universe.  I will check those out.  And that is a very nice offer to lend me your book.  If I run dry after reading those two above books, and I cant find in on ebay.  I might just take you up on your offer.

I am finding that the Iron Kingdom Universe is just as fun as the Empire for GW.  I am finding that games with good backstories just make better games.

RG

I have only read the fluff from prime so far, though plan to get escalation and apotheosis sometime soon, so hopefully I can get a better idea of Immoren and the WM world. Hordes rimal will no doubt have a alot of extra fluff.

Now to save some money to get those IK books.

Well, to answer my own question, I just picked up the Full Metal Fantasy Character Guide for roleplay.  It rocks.  Its a great read in of itself let alone looking like its lots of fun for a table top role play game.

PS.  Big Willy Cool Avatar man!

rg