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I own Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, and Tau, and would be interested in being competitive in all three.

Give a Plasma Gun to every Chaos Marine that can carry one, and a Combi-Plasma to all the Champions. Basic Squads, Havocs, Raptors. Everyone.

You. Win.

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
I own Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, and Tau, and would be interested in being competitive in all three.

Codex (x3), Rulebook--Battleprimer PDF [free] (x1), Index (x3), ALL the relative FAQ documents (all the general/rulebook ones+designer commentary, then the FAQ for each faction).

From there, research army lists, playstyles, combinations, etc.

A lot of the latter information can use 1d4chan as a jumping off point - they have great overviews of all the units, strategems, etc.

Familiarize yourself with detachments, faction/keywords, and "the rule of 3", and the latest facebook ruling on turn1 and deploying outside the deployment zone.

Reserves and infiltrators are the two main ways to enter the board outside the deployment phase at the start of the game; Outflanking, etc, are named/variants of the standard reserves rule.

Plasma is the superior special weapon this edition - while the above poster is simplifying how Chaos, and all factions operate; Plasma pound for pound is the superior choice in many situations. Lascannons are also a go-to weapon.
Start there...

Thank you both. I was hoping it wasn't going to be a laundry list of books. So 2 books per army.

The PDF rulebook replaces a printed rulebook?

Turns out I owned my chaos army long enough that I had gone through the trouble to make combi-weapons for my champions. lol

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
Thank you both. I was hoping it wasn't going to be a laundry list of books. So 2 books per army.

The PDF rulebook replaces a printed rulebook?

Turns out I owned my chaos army long enough that I had gone through the trouble to make combi-weapons for my champions. lol

You can buy the rulebook, but you can also print out the section of the rulebook that is the rules for free. So you can play and have access to the rules for free.

You'll need the codex for each army, but you don't need the index.

If I were you, I'd just download BattleScribe and use that to fill in the gap between codex and index (codex + Battle Scribe is plenty). If you decide you want to buy the Index, I think Eldar and T'au are in the same book, right? So it'd just be the 2 Index books (Chaos and one of the Xenos ones, or both).

I assume fe40k is telling you to get the Indexes because there's some obscure wargear option in those books that's not covered by the Codexes? Otherwise you won't need the Indexes, as a Codex is now available for all three of your armies.


The PDF rulebook covers the core rules of the game. With that and a Codex for the datasheets for your army, you can play a game. You'll need the actual hardback rulebook (or the digital edition) for the Matched Play rules - the different scenarios and the detachment lists.

You need The Main Rulebook, Chapter Approved 2017, Codex: Heretic Astartes Chaos Space Marines, Codex: Heretic Astartes Death Guard, Codex: Heretic Astartes Thousand Sons, Codex: Chaos Daemons, Codex: Craftworlds, Codex: Drukhari, Codex: Harlequins, Codex: T'au Empire, Index: Chaos, Index: Xenos 1, Index: Xenos 2, The Main Rulebook FAQ & Errata, The Chapter Approved 2017 FAQ & Errata Codex: Heretic Astartes FAQ & Errata, Codex: Heretic Astartes Death Guard FAQ & Errata, Codex: Heretic Astartes Thousand Sons FAQ & Errata, Codex: Chaos Daemons FAQ & Errata, Codex: Craftworlds FAQ & Errata, Codex: Drukhari FAQ & Errata, Codex: Harlequins FAQ & Errata, Codex: T'au Empire FAQ & Errata, Index: Chaos FAQ & Errata, Index: Xenos 1 FAQ & Errata, Index: Xenos 2 FAQ & Errata, the Designers Commentary FAQ and Stepping into a New Edition FAQ.

Most Playtested Edition ever.

Is there anything in the Harlequins book that's relevant to non-Harlequin Eldar armies, or are you just listing every possible document he might need at some point?

Also, a large number of errata is a sign of playtesting. Be careful what you ask for.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Is there anything in the Harlequins book that's relevant to non-Harlequin Eldar armies, or are you just listing every possible document he might need at some point?

Also, a large number of errata is a sign of playtesting. Be careful what you ask for.

Pretty sure if they playtested it properly, they'd get the rules right the first time?

And he said "CSM" and "Eldar", with no other qualifiers.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't mind they are issuing errata, but they should have done it properly to begin with, especially with the memetastic "Most Playtested Edition" moniker.

Depending on your Collection you won't need the indexes as codexii have been released for these factions. That said, Eldar and CSM especially have several index only options that many legacy layers have. You can still field these, but you will need the appropriate index.

The notable ones are
Chaos Characters on a Bike
Chaos Characters on Daemonic Mounts
Eldar Autarch Weapon options.

Eldar Autarchs are the most common one, as the Reaper Launcher is index only, and Eldar Autarch with a Reaper Launcher, and the Sniper Warlord trait is the net list HQ for the faction.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
You need The Main Rulebook, Chapter Approved 2017, Codex: Heretic Astartes Chaos Space Marines, Codex: Heretic Astartes Death Guard, Codex: Heretic Astartes Thousand Sons, Codex: Chaos Daemons, Codex: Craftworlds, Codex: Drukhari, Codex: Harlequins, Codex: T'au Empire, Index: Chaos, Index: Xenos 1, Index: Xenos 2, The Main Rulebook FAQ & Errata, The Chapter Approved 2017 FAQ & Errata Codex: Heretic Astartes FAQ & Errata, Codex: Heretic Astartes Death Guard FAQ & Errata, Codex: Heretic Astartes Thousand Sons FAQ & Errata, Codex: Chaos Daemons FAQ & Errata, Codex: Craftworlds FAQ & Errata, Codex: Drukhari FAQ & Errata, Codex: Harlequins FAQ & Errata, Codex: T'au Empire FAQ & Errata, Index: Chaos FAQ & Errata, Index: Xenos 1 FAQ & Errata, Index: Xenos 2 FAQ & Errata, the Designers Commentary FAQ and Stepping into a New Edition FAQ.

Most Playtested Edition ever.

The fact that you bothered typing this out is honestly kind of sad.

 Sim-Life wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
You need The Main Rulebook, Chapter Approved 2017, Codex: Heretic Astartes Chaos Space Marines, Codex: Heretic Astartes Death Guard, Codex: Heretic Astartes Thousand Sons, Codex: Chaos Daemons, Codex: Craftworlds, Codex: Drukhari, Codex: Harlequins, Codex: T'au Empire, Index: Chaos, Index: Xenos 1, Index: Xenos 2, The Main Rulebook FAQ & Errata, The Chapter Approved 2017 FAQ & Errata Codex: Heretic Astartes FAQ & Errata, Codex: Heretic Astartes Death Guard FAQ & Errata, Codex: Heretic Astartes Thousand Sons FAQ & Errata, Codex: Chaos Daemons FAQ & Errata, Codex: Craftworlds FAQ & Errata, Codex: Drukhari FAQ & Errata, Codex: Harlequins FAQ & Errata, Codex: T'au Empire FAQ & Errata, Index: Chaos FAQ & Errata, Index: Xenos 1 FAQ & Errata, Index: Xenos 2 FAQ & Errata, the Designers Commentary FAQ and Stepping into a New Edition FAQ.
Most Playtested Edition ever.

The fact that you bothered typing this out is honestly kind of sad.

Some people try to be helpful.
Or work hard to make a point.

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
I own Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, and Tau, and would be interested in being competitive in all three.

So, ignoring the usual trolls that pounce on every post to try and discourage people from playing 8th, you'll want:

-Battle Primer. This is a free PDF with the core rules of the game - i.e., bare minimum you need to play. It'll tell you how to move, shoot, fight, and cast psychic powers, but it will not tell you the advanced rules for terrain, give you the missions, or tell you about detachments and command points and whatnot - that's in the next document. But you should absolutely play a few games with the Primer before picking that up.

-Core Rulebook. The 'you pay money' version of the battle primer, with the aforementioned advanced rules.

-Codex for your relevant factions. So, Codex: eldar craftworlds, codex: chaos space marines (unless you play Death Guard or Thousand Sons, who have been added as full fledged factions like Blood Angels and Space Wolves in 5th) and Codex: Tau Empire. Give the Indexes a miss for the most part.

-Relevant FAQs/Errata for your armies. These are here: https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/

As to the indexes: Indexes came out when 8th ed first dropped, because the core stats for all the models had changed drastically and every model needed rules to be playable. They're 25$ books that contain multiple factions (Index Chaos for example contained CSM, Daemons, Thousand Sons, and Death Guard all in one book) and ONLY contained the rules for the models, no art, fluff, whatever you'd expect out of a codex.

When the codexes started trickling out, GW announced that any options that historically had existed in the rules, but were not represented on the models, would stay in the Indexes only. This is why BCB is claiming you "need" the index to play - certain characters on bikes, or with jump packs, or wargear may not exist anymore in the codex, even though it's still technically legal.

In reality, you most likely will not need the index for much of anything, if anything at all. What few rules you do need out of it can most likely be replicated using a program like Battlescribe, a free list building app.

Ignore the trolls
You need your codex (all three of those armies have 8th ed codexes now).

You probably want the BRB, but you can get by with the free rules primer GW puts out.

There’s errata and FAQs for the main rule book and the codexes you might want to take a look at. The “Big FAQ” has some beta rules that people usually use these days. These are all on the community site.

The indexes have a few datasheets that weren’t in the codex, and a few extra wargear options you can still use, but generally you’re supposed to use the codex instead of the index. I wouldn’t make owning the indexes a priority. BattleScribe will still list options, if not the full rules for them.

Chapter Approved has some updated points values for certain armies. It also has missions. The open source list builder BattleScribe has those points values and there are many other missions you could play, like the BRB ones or community missions like ITC.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Is there anything in the Harlequins book that's relevant to non-Harlequin Eldar armies, or are you just listing every possible document he might need at some point?

Also, a large number of errata is a sign of playtesting. Be careful what you ask for.

Pretty sure if they playtested it properly, they'd get the rules right the first time?

And he said "CSM" and "Eldar", with no other qualifiers.

From 5th edition. He might want to get Codex Harlequins to use that one squad, but saying he “needs” it is stretching things.

Same goes for the Death Guard and Thousand Sons.

But aren't eldar lists either inari soups or use DE ally post faq? So he needs at least the inari, DE and eldar rules to play eldar.
I have no expiriance with chaos and list building, because the only people here that play chaos are playing for decades and have a unlimited pool of models.

Let's stick to the topic, folks, and not derail the thread trying to start arguments about the quality of this edition, hmm?

You need always two things when the dreaded and inevitable edition change comes around: New WH40K Basic Rulebook + new Codex for your faction.

 Strg Alt wrote:
You need always two things when the dreaded and inevitable edition change comes around: New WH40K Basic Rulebook + new Codex for your faction.

And a couple model kits with bits lying around to update a few things to the new "hotness". Some of the larger models I ensure I put magnets in the weapon bits so I can change things up and not have to buy another model.
In the end, they keep largely to the core models and as stated the BRB and Codex is typically all you need.

This edition, keeping track of the various stratagems to spend command points on is a big tactical concern for me as of late.
Dunno if I will copy some of them and mark-off the more interesting ones to keep in mind.

I am trying out a Space Marine Black Templar "Brigade" formation (gets you 12 command points: 9 plus the base 3) that is not optimal but all my models are fully painted so it at least will "look pretty" and force me to play 8th to the max.
Oddly enough the joking comment of "equip plasma everywhere!!!" is the core troop choice: special weapon and Hvy both plasma for the 5 man crusader squads (x6).
So model-wise 2 HQ and 3 Troop and that is the baseline "core" unit.

OP, if you played 5th before, I think you will not mind 8th at all, it plays a bit like Bolt Action in my mind and that is a good thing.
If you have the disposable income, getting your opponent's codex as well is worth doing to better understand how other armies work.
I don't mind the reading anyway.
You could also consider allied armies you may want to slap a detachment on to your core army.

My main opponent has an unholy amount of Orks so we are looking forward to my Black Templar / Deathwatch / Imperial Knights Apocalypse game.

If you want to be competive index is required. Gw wants to sell books. Don't forget to check also 40k fb posts since these days that contains official rules not found elsewhere

Battle primer

Codex for the army you want to play with first. (You need them for all 3 tho)

Grab a game with a friend or local gw manager, learn the rules, enjoy yourself. Don't bother with points or anything for now.

Welcome to 8th!

Run and find a more positive environment than dakka

tneva82 wrote:
If you want to be competive index is required. Gw wants to sell books. Don't forget to check also 40k fb posts since these days that contains official rules not found elsewhere

None of this is true. Aside from GW wanting to sell books.

Its really kind of disgusting that people would post misinformation they know to be dishonest to someone returning to the game and is honestly asking for help just so they can have a dig at GW.

 Sim-Life wrote:

tneva82 wrote:
If you want to be competive index is required. Gw wants to sell books. Don't forget to check also 40k fb posts since these days that contains official rules not found elsewhere

None of this is true. Aside from GW wanting to sell books.

Its really kind of disgusting that people would post misinformation they know to be dishonest to someone returning to the game and is honestly asking for help just so they can have a dig at GW.

+1.

Regardless of your own thoughts on the edition, nothing's wrong with pointing people in the right direction.

Yup. It is.

To be specific, you really dont need index for any of your armies, they were made as stopgags to be used until codcies were released,

Aside of a handful of lecagy options (things that used to be a in the game and are phased out, like demonic steed chaos Lords, practically all legacy options never had models to begin with. ) the codex has it all and more.
I'd say not far is the day indices are phased out and won't be allowed in the competetive scene either.

To look at each index
Imperium 1 only has space wolves and then it's obsolete
Xenos 1 needs yanari and it's obselete
Chaos is practically obselete already other than legacy options.
Xenos 2 needs orks and genestealer cults before it also gets obselete.
Only imperium 2 has quite a few releases left.

 BoomWolf wrote:

Aside of a handful of lecagy options (things that used to be a in the game and are phased out, like demonic steed chaos Lords, practically all legacy options never had models to begin with. ) the codex has it all and more.
I'd say not far is the day indices are phased out and won't be allowed in the competetive scene either.

So if the OP has lovingly converted one (or more) of these models then people who rightly suggest they need the indexes (considering they last played in 5th this is highly likely) are just "haterz" that should be ignored?


Riiigggggggghhhtttt.....

If you played in previous editions, especially if you played Chaos, you need the indexes.

As a chaos player, false.
There are only a handful of index only options for chaos, they are all conversion only units to begin with, and can all easily represent a codex unit. (juggerlord as biker lord is, for example)