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I guess that's pretty much it.  I'm thinking of trying to get back into the game, and all I've got is Prime.  It's not like 40K where you need the rule book and your army's codex, and I'm not really sure what other books I need to get.  Do you need all of the books?  Do you need the book with the rules for each unit you want to use, or are the cards that come with the minis enough? 

You can play the game with just Prime and be competitive. Having the other books will help you know what your opponent can do, but they're not necessary.

Well, if you want the full range of power attacks and the rules for Cavalry, Apotheosis and Superiority are also important.

I remember playing a Cygnar player recently and getting into a HUGE argument when I trampled up to his centurien and tore it to pieces with a Synergized Castigator with Infuse on it. He very nearly quit the game.

He had never heard of trample, and didn't know I could use it to engage him with his magno shield. Basically he accused me of cheating and ended the game.

Anyway, if you can familiarize yourself with the Cavalry and New Power Attack rules somewhere online (maybe Battle College) they ARE important.

If you go with Hordes you can get away with just the cards and Primal, as Primal lists all the new moves.

If you go WM, all you really NEED (as others have said) is Prime, plus buy the "Deck" of cards for all your faction unit choices.  The 'deck' includes everything from Prime and Escallation.

That said, here is my brief book review from the WM line:

- Primal: Must buy, all core rules plus core units from all 4 factions. This book is always in my army bag for quick refrence. 

- Escallation: (Fanboy Only), new rules are available online, FAQ available online.  All units introduced are available in decks of cards.  Does have cool fluff.  To date, I still don't own this one, although I think about it a lot.

- Apotheosis: Recommend strongly, awesome artwork, full color, new rules, great campaign rules.  Can get away without, but very nice.  I own this one and love it, but I don't bring it to my weekly games.

- Superiority:  If you only get one suplement, get this one.  The Merc Contracts are requried to understand how they work, and until Superiority the rules for these where only available in out of print NQ#1.   Cav rules are also a must own.  In addition the amount of detail fleshed out for each faction will help new players even further to make a choice.  I've got the hard cover edition of this one, and consider it one of the coolest books I own. 

In short, if I were just starting out, I'd buy Primal and Superiority.  The only downside to this is the fluff "story" which is a giant arc spanning all 4 books.  If you get into the background of the game, someday you'll want them all.  Which is clearly PP's evil plot. >

Primal is the best for the basic rules of the game. The only thing that hurts losing is the rules on focus. If you can get those from another source, then you're golden.

As said, the card decks cover all the choices in Prime and Escalation, plus the first wave of epics from Apoth. Anything after that, you'll either have to get the book, or check the card from a buddy that already has it.

Superiority is a solid investment. Mainly for the cav rules and the large number of selections that are in the book.

Escalation isn't bad for the story line campaign rules in the back. Its actuall y pretty fun.

Thanks, guys!

Edit to my post: If you are interested in WM more than Hordes, get PRIME and Superiority (Primal is the Hordes book). DarkTemplars is correct, if you want get a good understanding of focus you need that one.

Posted By RussWakelin on 09/05/2006 8:01 PM
Edit to my post: If you are interested in WM more than Hordes, get PRIME and Superiority (Primal is the Hordes book). DarkTemplars is correct, if you want get a good understanding of focus you need that one.

Which is sad considering that the basic rules in Prime is so outdated now. This is the one place that I think PP is missing the boat on. The really need something to get the correct WM rules in one place. Just a new printing of prime with all the current errata would be sufficient.