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Hey all, I mainly play with my gf, me being Khorne and her playing Sigmar, and I was wondering if any of the books were worth buying? Im interested in the fluff somewhat and want to know if the price is worth it for what they will add to our games. Is the story interesting? and are the scenarios in the books fun to play? Also, would you recommend digital or hardback if you had the choice?

No, no they are not.

It has no standing in the forever 8 worlds. They are as inspired as any made up story set in aos. Guys go to forever land 2 fight forever people they win or lose. Both sides go forever and done.

It is like kinda reading a book called dave the space marine where everything that heppens doesnt matter and at the end your like hmmm k.

Doesn't need the reeeeally heavy sarcasm in the middle, that's rude. Thanks

In short you remember the HH books about side events? Where they put like five short stories in one book? Ya me neither and thats what all aos books are.

OP, are you referring to the three campaign books?

I like the books. Some of them are harder to read than others, but the later novels have been quite good.

The campaign books are also essential in my opinion because not only are they an outline of events that are happening, they provide scenarios to play which makes the game a lot more fun in my opinion than the standard default scenario in the four page rules.

yes I am referring to the campaign books currently available.

I've shelled out for the battlepacks on the app because first and foremost I want the rules.

If you're interested in the fluff, then you really need the full books too, although the BL novels alongside cover the main part of the story developments.
If all you want is rules, I'd go digital.

In terms of book choice though, go with the first one. If you're playing Khorne vs. SIgmar, that's a large part of the book.
That said, the new Balance of Power book has made me wonder if just buying rules is the best approach. Fluff-wise there's a lot of turning points as up until now things have broadly been going the Stormcast's way.

RoperPG wrote:
I've shelled out for the battlepacks on the app because first and foremost I want the rules.

If you're interested in the fluff, then you really need the full books too, although the BL novels alongside cover the main part of the story developments.
If all you want is rules, I'd go digital.

In terms of book choice though, go with the first one. If you're playing Khorne vs. SIgmar, that's a large part of the book.
That said, the new Balance of Power book has made me wonder if just buying rules is the best approach. Fluff-wise there's a lot of turning points as up until now things have broadly been going the Stormcast's way.

Just bought the first book on the ipad, thanks for the help, will report back to let you know if it was worth the buy!

XvReaperXv wrote:
yes I am referring to the campaign books currently available.

I have the first and third.

If you're actively playing AoS they're worth it. They provide battleplans/flavour for your battles. Makes a decent bedtime read.

 ShaneTB wrote:


If you're actively playing AoS they're worth it. They provide battleplans/flavour for your battles. Makes a decent bedtime read.

Indeed. And if you are wanting to get into the background and storyline (the latter of which is getting pretty cool!), they are the main vehicle - the Black Library novels are worth a look too on this score, and flesh out areas that are not directly covered by the big hardbacks.

Let us know what you think when you have finished the first one!

Yes they are worth buying. The story is getting better book by book and the battleplans are really entertaining.

Of course if your sole interest lies in the rules then you should buy the Grand Alliances books instead since they are a much handier reference.

I just want to make sure, people who are saying it's worth it. For me it costs $90 Canadian a book. Is it $90 worth it? For me the artwork is really not grabbing me, so besides the artwork, am I missing out?

I keep seeing people say I need to go to Black Library to get more fluff for AoS. For me, paying $90 I should be getting all the fluff I need, I shouldn't be going somewhere else to be getting the fluff. Is this the case?

Davor wrote:
I just want to make sure, people who are saying it's worth it. For me it costs $90 Canadian a book. Is it $90 worth it? For me the artwork is really not grabbing me, so besides the artwork, am I missing out?

I keep seeing people say I need to go to Black Library to get more fluff for AoS. For me, paying $90 I should be getting all the fluff I need, I shouldn't be going somewhere else to be getting the fluff. Is this the case?

Depends on what you value. For example, I just picked up the first 3 AoS novels for £15.
The big books switch between inset stories of "And then Gardus said, as he threw his hammer" to flesh out key events, and the main plot points of "The Hallowed Knights got womped by Nurgle here, here and here" along with maps etc.
The novels are just that, so full of dialogue, descriptions etc.

What order should one read these books in to get a start to current view of the AoS world?

Helpfully, on the BL site the pictures of the books show the number on the spine...
Gates of Azyr (novella, details the first attack of the Stormcast to open the Realmgate on the Brimstone Peninsula)
Warstorm
Ghal Maraz
Hammers of Sigmar
Call of Archaon
Wardens of the Everqueen

The 'big' books go Age of Sigmar, Quest for Ghal Maraz, Balance of Power.

Thanks!

Compare to other books from other game systems, the campaign books are over priced, imo. But that seems to be a normal sentiment shared by many people on GW pricing. I have read through the first two hardback. If price is not of concern, these campaign books give:

1. An ongoing narrative that reminds me of the End Times books. Since you and your opponent are playing Khorne and Sigmar's factions, the narrative in the first hardback book would have some directly-related fluff for you guys to build on

2. "Times of War" rules that you can use on top of the basic 4 pages of rules. This was the most interesting thing for me in the campaign books, though there are not that many per book. It gave me some ideas on how to take the basic 4-page framework of free rules and add to it (thus making the game however you want to play it). So far the "Times of War" rules provide more options to where and when you are fighting your battles. The "where" Times of War stuff provides rules for fighting in a specific region within some of the realms where the narrative is taking place. For example specific rules for fighting in the Brimstone Pennisula within the Realm of Fire. The "when" Times of War stuff provide rules for fighting in a specific "phases" of the ongoing conflict in the narrative. For example, the Storm of Sigmar Times of War rules give any armies led by a general aligned with Order or Destruction the ability to ask for Sigmar's aid (sending Stormcast Eternals into the battlefield). In the first two hardback books, there are 5 sets of of "where" Times of War rules within 3 realms and only 1 "when" Times of War set of rules.

3. Battleplans - different victory conditions and setup for the competition. 8 battleplans per each hardback campaign books.

So if you are invested into the AoS game, they do provide more options to build and expand upon the 4-pages of basic rules.

I wouldn't bother with the audio books. £48 quid and nothing changes in the background, endless repetition of prior events, tedious monologues from Nagash, very disappointing. Arkhan the Black's appearance was a highlight, as was the final battle. Just get the last cd if you want the best bits. You aren't missing anything from the first three.

 JamesY wrote:
I wouldn't bother with the audio books. £48 quid and nothing changes in the background, endless repetition of prior events, tedious monologues from Nagash, very disappointing. Arkhan the Black's appearance was a highlight, as was the final battle. Just get the last cd if you want the best bits. You aren't missing anything from the first three.

I disagree I think the fluff in the audio drama was pretty good we learned more about the people of the realm of death than sigmar's realm. Still I think the audio drama's are a good listen to and they are not audio books. Personally I thought nagah's monologues were good but to each and their own I personally liked the development of mannfred and it actually got me to like the hallowed knights. I swear sigmar abuse these guys too much.

 shinros wrote:

 JamesY wrote:
I wouldn't bother with the audio books. £48 quid and nothing changes in the background, endless repetition of prior events, tedious monologues from Nagash, very disappointing. Arkhan the Black's appearance was a highlight, as was the final battle. Just get the last cd if you want the best bits. You aren't missing anything from the first three.

I disagree I think the fluff in the audio drama was pretty good we learned more about the people of the realm of death than sigmar's realm. Still I think the audio drama's are a good listen to and they are not audio books. Personally I thought nagah's monologues were good but to each and their own I personally liked the development of mannfred and it actually got me to like the hallowed knights. I swear sigmar abuse these guys too much.

As a series, I just really don't feel that they are worth £50. Being told the same backstory in every cd wastes time that could have been spent on plot development (I know that that is for new listeners, but new arrivals being prioritized over those who have bought into a series from the beginning bugs me). Mannfred's character doesn't develop, he's exactly the same as he's been since the undead book some twenty years ago, manipulative, arrogant and self serving. Same as he was during the vampire wars trilogy, and the end times. I think I've been a fan of Nagash too long to be pleasable, so that's my impossible expectations rather than him being 'wrong' in all fairness. I'm pleased for anyone who found it worth the money, but I can't help feeling short changed.

Well, finished reading the first book, and I did enjoy it and it will add a lot to the game. Although, the whole time I was reading it it felt like the writers used big words for the sake of using big words, and really made it hard to follow at some points. I read all the time but damn, chill out with the big words that aren't needed and make it a bit more streamlined lol. More then once did I have to re read a sentence to figure out what the hell they were trying to say!

Kind of disagree with some of the previous comments on the audio books. IMO, while his writing was fine, Arkhan's voice and performance were all wrong, and the portrayal of Nagash when he finally shows up was somewhat lacking. Very petulent. Not the sort of character I could imagine having formed his alliance with Sigmar in the first place, let alone maintained it as long as he did.

IMO the best of the audio dramas was the second, where you got to see some of the mortal people of Shyish and a glimpse at their relationship with the undead. If you were to get one, I'd suggest that one.

Otherwise... honestly you can take a pass on the lot, they're not great, especially for the price. As mentioned, very repetitive.


As for the campaign books... I don't know, if you have a regular group, maybe one for the group to share? Especially if you stick to one army, if that army isn't chaos or Sigmarines the campaign books don't have a lot for you. Like, I play undead, and we show up in one shapter of only the most recent campaign book, and while it's a decent chapter, I wouldn't say it's worth the price of the entire book on its own.

Maybe the price of the scenario/whatever packs in the app... although, as a warning, never buy entire books in the app, as unless its changed since its release, the app's reader is worthless. No table of contents, no page skip, doesn't even remember what page you left off on, so every time you want to check something or even continue reading where you left off, you have to start flipping again, page by page, slowly loading each one, all the way from the front cover.


As for the grand alliance books? That's iffy. The chaos one was great - tons of factions, bit of fluff for all of them, lots of formations, very nice. The Death one coming out this weekend, though? Drops half of the 2 death factions there were, drops a bunch of special characters, only one formation that is pretty redundant with the old deathrattle horde. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend it.


The battletomes, on the other hand, while narrower in focus, have a lot of fluff and interesting missions and such, and if you play the relevant subfactions those are definitely worth picking up.


So the books in general are kind of iffy overall.

I bought the campaign books mainly because of the inspiration and the fluff. Pictures are always nicely done and put you in the right ambiance for the game, I feel. There are some painting guides and battleplans to "remake" the historic battles or just play with your own armies and, of course, the entries for each "emblematic unit" showed in the story.

As for the price, well...it's entirely subjective, they say. I feel like it's a fair price for a book of that size with this quality.

They're easy to read and heavily focus on the battles (not surprising for a wargame). If you begin AoS and want to link your games in a set background, I think you can find your pleasure with these books.

Wow. Definitely not sold on the Grand Alliance: Death book, and having flicked through the Chaos one I thought that was pretty good.

I'm enjoying the BL stuff, but not having bought the Realmgate Wars rulebooks (bought the battle packs on the app) I'm thinking I've missed out after thumbing through a friend's copies.

So I'm building a Khorne Bloodbound army and I've bought so far:

Grand Alliance Chaos (print version)

Digital Ebooks:
Khorne Bloodbound Battletome

WH AOS App (ipad):
WH AoS Painting Guide
Path to Glory ($30 version)

Novels (ebooks)
Gates of Azyr
Realmgate Wars Ebook collection (first three after Gates of Azyr)


I like everything I have gotten so far. I definitely prefer having books on my ipad vs. print versions. Buying through the AoS app gives the advantage of having the battle plans, time of war, etc. in your AoS Warscrolls and my Battle. However, buying as a digital epub may allow you a better opportunity to resize pictures.

I have not yet tried one of the digital extended editions where you can change the angle for photos, etc.

Especially with the world being so new (8 months now) the books provide a lot of supporting fluff and some guidance through scenarios of how GW suggests you enjoy the game. I'd also add that the Black Library fiction plays a heavy roll in fleshing out the AoS universe. If you haven't already might be worth listening to a recent episode of Heelanhammer or Mortal Realms podcast to hear about some description of the universe as it unfolds, and so you get a hint of the fluff before buying anything. Good luck!