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I'm not sure if it counts, but I really enjoy 'How to build Wargames Terrain'.

There is a special kind of magic in seeing household garbage transforming into fantasy dioramas/scenery!

Hordes of Chaos and the 3rd Ed Necron Codex. 'Tomorrow's War' was a great read and the rules looked cool (never actually played them).

My top three are in no particular order:

American Civil War Wargaming by Terry Wise, full of strange rules and grainy pictures of Airfix armies.

Laserburn by Bryan Ansell, my gateway to 40K.

Probability & Statistics (Schaums Outline Series) my goto book when looking for inspiration for house rules.

I got this from a local library in the early 90s. I was already into the hobby but this book brought the wider world of fantasy gaming to my attention. I must have borrowed this out several times over the years. I picked up a copy on eBay a few years ago and it's still a fun read.

Battletech "Wars of Reaving."

Big universe changer and amazingly written, it is a testament to how awesome Battletech is.

Oooh, tough one. I'd go with Dan Abnett's 'Gaunt's Ghosts' series from Black Library.

I almost went with the Macross II RPG from palladium, but this one is what captured my attention the most as a young lad. I was reading the Robotech novels having never actually watched the show, it was off the air by then, and this is all I had for visual reference at first. A friend gave it to me after I mentioned the novels, he had no idea what robotech was and his brother had gotten the field guide at some point. It was perfect since I started reading the series on books 11 and 12 (2 and 3 of of the New Generation books), so all of the cyclones and Alphas and Invid were relevant. There's very little info in the book, it's mostly art references for the Sentinels cartoon, but it allowed the novels to capture my imagination in a way that nothing ever had before. I had to keep a dictionary by my bed since they were well beyond my reading level. I bought many of the other RPG books also just for reference as I read more of the novels. I picked up every comic I came across, bought all the Exo-Squad reissues of the Robotech toys came out. It was years later when I actually watched the cartoon. I still have some great friends I met in high school playing the Macross II and Robotech RPGs. And it all started with Metamorphosis, Symphony of Light, and the REF Field Guide

For me it has to be the old sourcebooks for LOTR, when I started playing said game it was due to looks trough those books in the local shops. It also helps that they take litle space and are made very well so that they have stood the test of time and much use. That and they showed of how well an army can look when you get the painting correct.
If I had to choose one spedific book it has to be the one with the Easterlings in it.
A honoruable mention to the old Wood Elf army books of WHFB as well

One hour wargames is a great one for scenario ideas.

i really like warhammer 2nd edition for reference and inspiration, same goes for rogue trader.

Despite not playing much GW besides Necromunda, that company knows how to make a great wargaming book and they are responsible for nearly all my favorites.

My number one might be the Rogue Trader Compilation (yellow book). I borrowed it from a guy at school it was my first exposure to GW. The Genestealer cult army list and fluff was really inspiring stuff. A few years back I bought my own and it really holds up. Other notable mentions include Codex Imperialis and the Necromunda Sourcebook. Still have my original copy.

Perhaps read as much as the Compilation, the first two (red and blue) GW "How to Make Wargames Terrain" books were fantastic. I still thumb through them now and then for inspriation.

edwardmyst wrote:I'm on the Battletech bandwagon....
...Shrapnel, a collection of great short stories. Sure, I am completely biased etc, but it pulls in the more realistic military sci fi I loved (as in, it fit my suspension of disbelief, and seemed very close to how I see mercenaries if that world did exist). Far more than GW, who in their defense do not aim for the same level of our world, just in the future. (not a knock, just taste difference)

Despite not liking the "classic" game at all, BT is favorite gaming universe. I have a ridiculous collection of the sourcebooks and every BT novel in print up until about 7 years ago. Shrapnel is great and I love reading the various sourcebooks. Tough to name one that I like the most but the Tech Readout 2750 that I got back in middle school was read ALOT.

Was going to post my own, but see someone has beaten me to some of the best ones!

Alex Kolodotschko wrote:

Do your worst, I'll post in a bit as I have a few in mind but it'd be nice to see yous first.

Come on then - want to see what you found!

RandyMcStab wrote:I've always loved 40k Compendium, has tons of rules for thing we now expect as standard, this compilation of WD articles is just great. Army lists for Marines, Squats, IG and Harlequins! My fav rules of all time are in there, the fantastically complex robot programs. Amazing.

That was a brilliant book, just packed full of so much stuff. A similar one was the Compilation, which I remember picking up because the cover artwork (the Blood Angels coming out into an airless moon/base, attacking Genestealers)

H.B.M.C. wrote:Imperial Armour Volume 4: The Anphelion Project.

It's the smallest of the IA books, and it is my fav.

Additionally the 2nd Ed Guard and Tyranid Codices are my fav Codices of all time.

All brilliant! As a story, I probably preferred the 3rd book centring on the Tau. It was an attempt to make a conflict actually sound realistic, with the way the imperial forces run out of food and oil supplies (think the author must have read a fair bit about the WW2 conflict in North Africa!)

jeff white wrote:Ere we go.

Those books were incredible - so much info on the ork 'kulture', the sense of humour. Can't say I am as much of a fan of the modern, rather two-dimensional (and definitely more dull) approach.

Old-school, I'd have to say Slaves to Darkness. Lost and the Damned wasn't quite as good. I also enjoyed 'Ere We Go.

Modern era, I love the Badab War books. I've re-read it several times from cover to cover.

How to Make Wargaming Terrain is a pretty great read, even today.

Actually, I revise mine. The original Hordes: Primal rulebook. I loved the fluff of that universe. Too bad the game is played primarily by douchecanoes where I live...

For me it is the first true Codex:Chaos (2nd edition WH40k, release 1996). I still have it and sometimes flick through it.

Second place is the Freebooterz book from Rogue Trader.

 Low_K wrote:
For me it is the first true Codex:Chaos (2nd edition WH40k, release 1996). I still have it and sometimes flick through it.

Second place is the Freebooterz book from Rogue Trader.

Those 2nd ed codexes keep drawing me back, which isn't something I have really felt with any later edition ones. The whfb 6th ed had a couple of good army books though, Bretonnians and Beastmen. I can somewhat see why those books took so long to replace in hind sight; apart from wonkiness from edition creep they were good books.

It always pained me in 7th ed how beastmen were forced to form up 4 wide against narrow frontages, instead of being erratad to 5 wide (to match the 7th ed minimum width for rank bonus).

nareik wrote:

 Low_K wrote:
For me it is the first true Codex:Chaos (2nd edition WH40k, release 1996). I still have it and sometimes flick through it.

Those 2nd ed codexes keep drawing me back, which isn't something I have really felt with any later edition ones

I definitely agree. I collected all of the second edition codicies with the intention of playing it again. Turns out it's not as much fun as I remember, but the books are great! From what I've seen the most recent batch was quite well done, but there is something special about those 2nd edition books.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The Necrons' 3rd edition codex changed my outlook on 40k and completely sold me on the hobby. Xenology as a follow up was perfect. BL had a string of great fiction at the same time, like Eisenhorn, Ciaphas Cain and so on. Each of those supported the others, so it is really difficult to point at a single book or novel and say, "It's that one." However, the Oldcron codex that started tying it all together is the closest to "that one" in the bunch, so I guess that's my answer.

Outside of GW, AT-43's Red Blok codex is everything I want in a sci fi game fluff book, and the best in a good setting. Plus, that's how you do Space Soviets the right way.

Dropzone Commander's core book is also really well put together in terms of design and narrative. It gives me the same feeling when reading it as the old Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual, which is the best tie-in sci fi technical manual of all time.

I have to agree with the first Necron Codex - the art, the stories, the theme, it was all spectacularly done. Opening up that book (it's in the glorious old black and white format, with gritty, dark artwork) you really get the sense of how alien and brutal, mysterious and horrific the Necron race and C'Tan really are. I loved that the Necrons didn't have heros (aside from the C'Tan) and were mindless killing machines - the new lore doesn't do them justice at all, in my opinion, and 40k lost a regrettable chunk of grim-darkness when they changed the Necrons into what we have today.

2nd Edition Wargear book. I just remember reading about all the different weapons a lot, was fun.

I somehow missed that the OP included fiction. In that case...

I'd have to put the Eisenhorn Omnibus as right up there with my other choices. Encapsulates how I see the 40k universe like not much else does. It's one of the few 40k novel/series that...
-Can stand on it's own in the wider pulp sci-fi literature genre.
-I'd recommend to folks who aren't wargamers.
-I've actually taken the time to re-read (3 times now I think).

 Trickstick wrote:
2nd Edition Wargear book. I just remember reading about all the different weapons a lot, was fun.

That was brilliant - along with all of the super detailed illustrations of the weapons. Really fleshed out alot of the universe stuff at that point (a lot of which is still in place today)

The Battletech Compendium. Where it all began (for me at least).

Hard to find players these days, at least outside of Megamek, but this is one of the few games from this era that still exists (more or less) in the same form, and I've never stopped loving it.

My first edition, first printing of the Warmachine: Prime rulebook from 2002 that had just about the entire staff of PP at the time (like all 10 of them?) signed.

The two mighty Realm of Chaos tomes, the massive Ork Rogue Trader books, someone also mentioned 'Out of the Pit' from fighting fantasy as well.
The Black Books from Forge World are things of beauty certainly.


But a book I used to read over and over again and actually got detention for keeping past it's library return date, was this (thinking of hunting it down again at some stage).