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I'm looking at getting to WHFB, mostly for collecting and modelling but I would like to play when I can get my friends in town. My question for those who have bought the Isle of Blood box is; Is it worth it? I look at the GW website and see.

Dice, check (Have tons, but having played 40k for 15 years you learn that you never have enough dice)
Templates, great
Models. wow, pretty freakin sweet. That seems like a *load* of minis for under 100 bucks
Pocket sized rulebook ... Wait a second

Is this just a smaller version of the full rule book minus the fluff? Is it fairly sturdy? Is it written in like 5 point text? I just dont want to buy IoB and end up with a bunch of models and only an idiots guide to the rules, eventually forcing me to spend the money on the full rulebook anyways. If thats the case I would just get the big book and some Bretonians

The rulebook contained in IoB is very readable, and contains every rule necessary to play the game. It just leaves out a lot of the fluff, not to mention a lot of the bulk!

If you want the Brets IoB seems pointless. But yes, the rulebook is all you ever really need. It's the real rulebook without alot of the pictures and fluff.

The miniatures arefantastic, but if you are mainly interested in Bretonnia, you might not be interested.

The rulebook is a full smaller scale reprint of 160 pages of rules, that is all rules and the essential scenarios. So this is all you need for gaming.

But the big rulebook contains more scenarios and rules to make your own (30 pages scenarios, other 70 pages for how to make your own , to make campaigns, big battles etc). Good updated coverage of all fluff plus inspirational pics of all armies. A serious gamer will have more fun with the big book, but if you don't care about background or advanced gaming, then the small book is good enough. Man have both, the small one to take to tourneys etc, the big one for home and reading.

I think IoB is a great deal for an intro into fantasy. The new rule book is a little too big for easy reference. The IoB pocket one is almost better just because its smaller.

There is also a reference sheet with the units stats on GW's website so you dont need either army book(codex).

If you want brets buy brets, dont be attracted to IOB for the good deal alone. If you want a small rule book check out ebay or The War Store (not sure if im allowed to post that). So you know brets are a more difficult army to play and they require patience to learn.

Thanks for the replies guys. And so far I havent made an official determination on an army. I spend most of time time painting and modelling and I just kind of pulled the bretonians out of a hat as a suggestion because they weren't included in the box set lol.

Im still kind of debating in my head if I want to grab the big book or not. You really cant go wrong with the potential fluff, but then again IMO the best source of fluff is the respective armies codex, not the rulebook, so IoB might just be a win all around. Especially since I imagine they will be doing some re-writes on what appear to be the rather ancient collection of Fantasy codices over the next couple years anyways.

UNREALPwnage wrote:If you want brets buy brets, dont be attracted to IOB for the good deal alone. If you want a small rule book check out ebay or The War Store (not sure if im allowed to post that). So you know brets are a more difficult army to play and they require patience to learn.

If the army was easy, it wouldn't be fun. Plus I hope you can plug the War Store here. I think the're a Dakka ad sponsor, and their service is second to none. At risk of sounding like a commercial I seriously buy just about everything GW related through Neil (Plus I once purchased a battleforce through TWS which for whatever reason only included like 8 bases for 40 minis, I called The War Store and without any crap they had the extra bases to me free of charge within like 3 days, including a ton of whatever extra bitz and sprues they could fit in the bag, most of which have now been incorporated into my ever growing Waaaagh. Kind of makes you loyal to a place )

If you go with the IoB, choose Skaven as your army so we can swap. (I need someone to do this)

The island of blood box game is good i brought it so i can have the rule book and the HE modles to convert to my VC army

I play Skaven and Dark Elves, so it was win-win for me. Granted, converting the Sea Guard was a pain, but the Swordmasters made sweet Executioners. The Reavers also make decent Dark Riders too.

And, of course, the Skaven were neat too. If you have an established army, you can convert the IoB Warpfire Thrower into a second mortar or a doomflayer with a bit of creative work and some spare parts.