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Hello dakka,
I was wondering if the mini rulebooks that come in the dark vengeance set or in the new campaigns boxes include all the rules needed to play or just the rules pertaining to the box they came with? I am wanting to get a new rulebook and want to get the new shield of Baal box coming out and was hoping to kill two birds with one stone.

You will successfully kill both birds with that plan.

It is the full rulebook. I wish they sold it separately because it's much easier to carry to games, even compared to the new hardback that just came out.

Toofast wrote:
It is the full rulebook. I wish they sold it separately because it's much easier to carry to games, even compared to the new hardback that just came out.

Why would they do that when including it in a box set a) increases the MSRP of said box and b) gives you a reason buy more models from them?

Well thank you all for a speedy reply.

GW has never sold softcover rulebooks since...well..since I joined the game back with 4th edition in 2004.

It is the full rules required to play. It does NOT contain any of the background or story information that the hard cover rule book contains.

It's a very handy book though.

Waiiiiiiit.

The mini rule book is IDENTICAL to the full size hardcover rulebook, and the small size hardcover rulebook. It's just shrunk down. It contains all of the rules of 40k. In many gaming groups, "veterans" or people who mostly model just give these away or sell them for cheap, as they come with Stormclaw and Dark Vengeance.

However, it is NOT everything that you need to play the game, because with only the mini rule book.... you'll have no army. There isn't a single unit that's listed (in terms of point values or options), only 2 sample detachment configurations. You have no templates, too.

To actually PLAY the game, you would need one of the following:

1. Dark Vengeance, using just the units that come in the box. With DV, you also get the regular sized templates, by the way (for blast and plasma).

2. At least one other codex to build an army. You also need dice (lots!), templates and markers (you can make these out of cardboard if you wish, but you still need a plasma one to trace).

Finally, you need the Escalation book, if super heavies are allowed; and you may want to read the non-fluff parts out of the other codices if you want to properly play against other armies (you'll lose bad against other people if you are totally unfamiliar with their units!). Also, if you want to play with super heavies, you need to get the apocalyptic templates.