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Hello.

Im trying to get from painting into actual gaming, but all the various amounts of errata/faq/commentary/books/etc confuse me. I thought i just needed to use book + errata, but seems i was wrong.

After some digging, i've come to the conclusion that this is the order in which i would need to read rules to be "up to date". My question is - if im playing necrons in a semi-casual environment (aka no tourneys), is this correct order? Do i really need all of this? Am i missing anything?

1. Take core rules and codex for necrons
2. Add Errata for Core Rules and Codex
3. Add Designers Commentary
4. Add "Stepping into new edition"
5. Add Chapter Approved 2017
6. Add Big FAQ
7. Add Big FAQ2
8. Add Big Rule Book FAQ
9. Add Codex FAQ
10. Add Chapter Approved 2018
11. Add Chapter Approved 2018 FAQ
12. Add Vigilus
13. Add Vigilus FAQ


Is this for real? I haven't even started reading the rules properly yet and im already overwhelmed. Surely im understanding something incorrectly? Or is imperial bureaucracy present even in the rules, and the whole "Buy this box with core rule book and you're ready to play" complete lie?

I was looking forward to getting into gaming but at this point im not even sure anymore... Plus i knew WH40k was expensive, but with this i would end up paying more for all the rulebooks (core book, codex, chapter 17, chapter 18, vigilus) than for my whole army... And considering i use android (so "enhanced editions" arent available to me) i will be stuck with paper & ducttape to keep updating the rules every few months?

Yes, that is for real. Welcome to Games Workshop, where even their book of errata needs errata. Where they refuse to update their digital books despite charging out the nose for them. As grumpy as it sounds, my actual advice for anyone wanting to start the tabletop game is simply "don't".

However, you don't need to buy CA17 unless you want the mission rules, the points changes in CA17 are superseded by CA18.

You're missing the Advanced Rules (+Errata/FAQ)(found in the BRB), which contain the rules for Battle-forged Armies, Detachments, etc.

I would say the first big faq and chapter approved 2017 are no longer necessary, but the rest seems valid.
For necrons you may want imperial armour xenos and the corresponding faq. They may even have index options still available, so index xenos (2?) And faq as well.


Vigilius content is completely optional. I would recommend sourcing the points changes from chapter approved elsewhere if you have no interest in the other content.

Captyn_Bob wrote:
I would say the first big faq and chapter approved 2017 are no longer necessary, but the rest seems valid.
For necrons you may want imperial armour xenos and the corresponding faq. They may even have index options still available, so index xenos (2?) And faq as well.


Vigilius content is completely optional. I would recommend sourcing the points changes from chapter approved elsewhere if you have no interest in the other content.

CA2018 also has updated Matched Play rules and updated Terrain rules. I would say it's pretty mandatory.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Ythe points changes in CA17 are superseded by CA18.

This is very important, thank you!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Captyn_Bob wrote:

For necrons you may want imperial armour xenos and the corresponding faq. They may even have index options still available, so index xenos (2?) And faq as well.

Isnt index basically the outdated codex? Isnt it superseded by codex?

Not strictly. A small number of options are still index only and valid (I don't know if this applies to necrons).

Anakonda wrote:
Hello.

Im trying to get from painting into actual gaming, but all the various amounts of errata/faq/commentary/books/etc confuse me. I thought i just needed to use book + errata, but seems i was wrong.

After some digging, i've come to the conclusion that this is the order in which i would need to read rules to be "up to date". My question is - if im playing necrons in a semi-casual environment (aka no tourneys), is this correct order? Do i really need all of this? Am i missing anything?

1. Take core rules and codex for necrons
2. Add Errata for Core Rules and Codex
3. Add Designers Commentary
4. Add "Stepping into new edition"
5. Add Chapter Approved 2017
6. Add Big FAQ
7. Add Big FAQ2
8. Add Big Rule Book FAQ
9. Add Codex FAQ
10. Add Chapter Approved 2018
11. Add Chapter Approved 2018 FAQ
12. Add Vigilus
13. Add Vigilus FAQ

Is this for real? I haven't even started reading the rules properly yet and im already overwhelmed. Surely im understanding something incorrectly? Or is imperial bureaucracy present even in the rules, and the whole "Buy this box with core rule book and you're ready to play" complete lie?

I was looking forward to getting into gaming but at this point im not even sure anymore... Plus i knew WH40k was expensive, but with this i would end up paying more for all the rulebooks (core book, codex, chapter 17, chapter 18, vigilus) than for my whole army... And considering i use android (so "enhanced editions" arent available to me) i will be stuck with paper & ducttape to keep updating the rules every few months?

As far as expense... you don't need to buy Chapter Approved, and if you're playing Necrons you certainly don't need Vigilus since they didn't get anything there. There is a handy android app and windows app called Battlescribe that is community updated, and has all current points values in it. https://battlescribe.net/?tab=news

Download that to make an army list, and it folds in all the changes in the other rulebooks, as well as providing "cheat sheets" for stats. Honestly this game is borderline unplayable without it.

 Horst wrote:

Anakonda wrote:
Hello.

Im trying to get from painting into actual gaming, but all the various amounts of errata/faq/commentary/books/etc confuse me. I thought i just needed to use book + errata, but seems i was wrong.

After some digging, i've come to the conclusion that this is the order in which i would need to read rules to be "up to date". My question is - if im playing necrons in a semi-casual environment (aka no tourneys), is this correct order? Do i really need all of this? Am i missing anything?

1. Take core rules and codex for necrons
2. Add Errata for Core Rules and Codex
3. Add Designers Commentary
4. Add "Stepping into new edition"
5. Add Chapter Approved 2017
6. Add Big FAQ
7. Add Big FAQ2
8. Add Big Rule Book FAQ
9. Add Codex FAQ
10. Add Chapter Approved 2018
11. Add Chapter Approved 2018 FAQ
12. Add Vigilus
13. Add Vigilus FAQ

Is this for real? I haven't even started reading the rules properly yet and im already overwhelmed. Surely im understanding something incorrectly? Or is imperial bureaucracy present even in the rules, and the whole "Buy this box with core rule book and you're ready to play" complete lie?

I was looking forward to getting into gaming but at this point im not even sure anymore... Plus i knew WH40k was expensive, but with this i would end up paying more for all the rulebooks (core book, codex, chapter 17, chapter 18, vigilus) than for my whole army... And considering i use android (so "enhanced editions" arent available to me) i will be stuck with paper & ducttape to keep updating the rules every few months?

As far as expense... you don't need to buy Chapter Approved, and if you're playing Necrons you certainly don't need Vigilus since they didn't get anything there. There is a handy android app and windows app called Battlescribe that is community updated, and has all current points values in it. https://battlescribe.net/?tab=news

Download that to make an army list, and it folds in all the changes in the other rulebooks, as well as providing "cheat sheets" for stats. Honestly this game is borderline unplayable without it.

That sounds great, thanks. But thats just for point values right? What about actual rules & rule changes though? I still need to actually read rules, so i need to know what to read etc so i dont accidentally learn wrong rules :/

Anakonda wrote:

 Horst wrote:

Anakonda wrote:
Hello.

Im trying to get from painting into actual gaming, but all the various amounts of errata/faq/commentary/books/etc confuse me. I thought i just needed to use book + errata, but seems i was wrong.

After some digging, i've come to the conclusion that this is the order in which i would need to read rules to be "up to date". My question is - if im playing necrons in a semi-casual environment (aka no tourneys), is this correct order? Do i really need all of this? Am i missing anything?

1. Take core rules and codex for necrons
2. Add Errata for Core Rules and Codex
3. Add Designers Commentary
4. Add "Stepping into new edition"
5. Add Chapter Approved 2017
6. Add Big FAQ
7. Add Big FAQ2
8. Add Big Rule Book FAQ
9. Add Codex FAQ
10. Add Chapter Approved 2018
11. Add Chapter Approved 2018 FAQ
12. Add Vigilus
13. Add Vigilus FAQ

Is this for real? I haven't even started reading the rules properly yet and im already overwhelmed. Surely im understanding something incorrectly? Or is imperial bureaucracy present even in the rules, and the whole "Buy this box with core rule book and you're ready to play" complete lie?

I was looking forward to getting into gaming but at this point im not even sure anymore... Plus i knew WH40k was expensive, but with this i would end up paying more for all the rulebooks (core book, codex, chapter 17, chapter 18, vigilus) than for my whole army... And considering i use android (so "enhanced editions" arent available to me) i will be stuck with paper & ducttape to keep updating the rules every few months?

As far as expense... you don't need to buy Chapter Approved, and if you're playing Necrons you certainly don't need Vigilus since they didn't get anything there. There is a handy android app and windows app called Battlescribe that is community updated, and has all current points values in it. https://battlescribe.net/?tab=news

Download that to make an army list, and it folds in all the changes in the other rulebooks, as well as providing "cheat sheets" for stats. Honestly this game is borderline unplayable without it.

That sounds great, thanks. But thats just for point values right? What about actual rules & rule changes though? I still need to actually read rules, so i need to know what to read etc so i dont accidentally learn wrong rules :/

Scribe gives special rules for characters and units.

As far the gaming rules go scribe can't help there but it is extremely useful. Just be wary there are "those guys" who won't play a list built with Scribe. (not many but I have come across two of them myself).

For the rules BIG RUle Book, CA 18, and the most up to date designer and FAQ should help. Most recent FAQ contains previous FAQ's too.

"Just be wary there are "those guys" who won't play a list built with Scribe."


How would they know though? And whats the difference?

I prefer an app called Quartermaster over Battlescribe. It is a little more user friendly in my opinion and list building seems easier. It's $10 but worth it's weight in gold for how often I use it. Each army template is periodically updated when new rules are released so points are up to date and contains all special rules. For the most part the only books I buy are the codex and then find the other stuff elsewhere easy enough.
List building without BS or QM is a nightmare. Don't even try referencing the ton of books and updates. Let the app take care of that.

Remember the FAQs are not rules they are questions and answers. Many of them can be quite logical and simple to work out and you might not need the FAQ to answer.

Errata are corrections and adjustments to the rules and thus are often of more use; but remember many armies have less than a page of Errata - heck the Necron Errata is less than a page.


If I were starting right now then Core rules and Necron Codex is all you need to begin with. Nothing more.


Get a few games and then add the Errata for both those products and the Chapter approved for 2018 and its errata. This isn't changing the game, its refining and adjusting a few elements here and there and some of them won't be relevant to your army anyway.


The FAQs might well start to become more relevant as you play more games and start to encounter things that you can't work out on your own and need to turn to the FAQ.



If you try to use it all at once you'll overload yourself. I will agree that it can be confusing and its likely that every so often GW will have to do a big new edition of things to collect it all together (personally I wish they'd put all the Errata into the Generals Handbook each year). You don't need everything to get started - the core mechanics are still the same for the game; the rest is just tweakingit.

Allright thank you all!

Lots of good advice, appreciate it!

 Overread wrote:
Remember the FAQs are not rules they are questions and answers. Many of them can be quite logical and simple to work out and you might not need the FAQ to answer.

This isn't strictly true, there's been more than one occasion where GW has used an FAQ to pass a new rule. Or to clarify extremely poor wording into a functionally new rule.

Pakman184 wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Remember the FAQs are not rules they are questions and answers. Many of them can be quite logical and simple to work out and you might not need the FAQ to answer.

This isn't strictly true, there's been more than one occasion where GW has used an FAQ to pass a new rule. Or to clarify extremely poor wording into a functionally new rule.

Absolutely. Sometimes it's even as silly as an FAQ that says in the answer "Remember that X" where X is something that was never previously a rule!

Yeah I’m confused too. I played 6 and 7th editions and I got the rules for 8th, ready to get back in and there’s apparently a dozen other books I need to buy. It’s so overwhelming I might just play what’s in the Core book and imperial armour for dkok and say feth it.

 Stumme wrote:
Yeah I’m confused too. I played 6 and 7th editions and I got the rules for 8th, ready to get back in and there’s apparently a dozen other books I need to buy. It’s so overwhelming I might just play what’s in the Core book and imperial armour for dkok and say feth it.

If you and your friends want to play that way then that's totally cool!

Bare in mind though that if you want to do pick up games with randoms, most people will assume you're playing with all up to date FAQs and errata. For someone who has kept up to date with them, playing without any of it will likely be just as confusing and frustrating to them as getting on top of it all will be to you!

 SeanDavid1991 wrote:

As far the gaming rules go scribe can't help there but it is extremely useful. Just be wary there are "those guys" who won't play a list built with Scribe. (not many but I have come across two of them myself).

For the rules BIG RUle Book, CA 18, and the most up to date designer and FAQ should help. Most recent FAQ contains previous FAQ's too.

"Those" guys have rather valid reason that scribe data is not bullet proof and I have found myself several that scribe says is OK but rules say illegal. So if somebody has only scribe it's 100% sure he hasn't checked relevant points and rules to be valid...

edit: NVM, answered my own question already.

 Stumme wrote:
Yeah I’m confused too. I played 6 and 7th editions and I got the rules for 8th, ready to get back in and there’s apparently a dozen other books I need to buy. It’s so overwhelming I might just play what’s in the Core book and imperial armour for dkok and say feth it.

If you're playing DKoK, all you need are:

1. Rulebook (for core + advanced rules)
2. Chapter Approved 2018 (for additional Matched Play rules)
3. Codex: Astra Militarum (for Leman Russes etc)
4. Index: Imperial Armour: Forces of the Astra Militarum
5. Relevant FAQs - I don't even bother printing these, I just download them when I need them and search for the keywords I need at the time

Whoever told you that you need a "dozen other books" is lying to you, even if it's just hyperbole. You need four - and that's only because you're using a FW army. In theory, you might even be able to get away with using just the Codex to represent your DK.

tneva82 wrote:

 SeanDavid1991 wrote:

As far the gaming rules go scribe can't help there but it is extremely useful. Just be wary there are "those guys" who won't play a list built with Scribe. (not many but I have come across two of them myself).

For the rules BIG RUle Book, CA 18, and the most up to date designer and FAQ should help. Most recent FAQ contains previous FAQ's too.

"Those" guys have rather valid reason that scribe data is not bullet proof and I have found myself several that scribe says is OK but rules say illegal. So if somebody has only scribe it's 100% sure he hasn't checked relevant points and rules to be valid...

Well, you’re more than welcome to come point those out to those of us that volunteer our time to maintain those datafiles instead of simply badmouthing our work every chance you get. It’s a tool that is designed to assist people having precisely the kind of problem the OP is having, and instead of being maliciously grumpy about it we’d welcome any input you have to give, either by creating issues on the github or by coming into the open/public gitter chat room most of us hang out in daily to discuss stuff. The average turnaround time to fix reported issues that are valid is usually less than a week

As far as the files being wrong, you can simply teach peoplehow to double-check if they’re reliant on the tool, and point them at how to report issues to make it better for everyone.

+1 for BattleScribe, and it’s pretty sad that one or two folk seem to need to drag it so often. It doesn’t purport to be a replacement for owning the relevant rules, just a tool for easier list building and gameplay. And you can use it for free.

In response to the OP, while you're technically correct (the best kind of correct), the reality is in most games you'll need your Codex (maybe 2 or 3 depending on your army), CA 2018 for your points and maybe some other source for the mission, though that will often be CA as well. The core rules are simple enough you probably won't need to refer to them after your first few games.

Yes, from time to time you'll need to refer to an FAQ or errata and it may be a good idea to familiarise yourself with some of the commentary documents but for general play you don't need most of that stuff. Even the bits you do need quickly become second nature after a few games.

If you're justing starting as a player, don't bother reading all the FAQs. That's too much information to memorize in one go, and most of it is redundent or won't apply to your games.

Get the rules (core + codex), and read the erratas and the optional matched play rules (most people play with them and treat it as the de facto ruleset). A few things in matched play rules (like no reserve on T1) or erratas (like no fly bonuses during the charge phase) change the game in a pretty big way, so you really can't skip on those.
At first, try to focus on your army's rules, especially if you're playing with someone familiar with the game, because that person will probably know the main rules but might not know Necron rules that well.