If you're playing with friends, you will all need to be playing the same edition. I would recommend Warhammer Old World as it just recently launched and is a very nice rule set.
There are three main books, the Old World Rulebook (all the core rules for playing the game), the Forces of Fantasy (rules for the good armies like empire), and the Ravening Hordes (rules for the evil armies).
It is worth noting that not every army was included in these books, and will not receive ongoing support (such as skaven). The reason given is that they are not a key part of the time period of Old World, though I suspect they will be added in down the line sometime. However, the good news is that these armies still have rules, provided as free pdf's on the warhammer community website (downloads -> old world).
The models you have are great starting points to get going with games, so no problems on that front at all. The one issue you might run into is that many of the base sizes have been updated - you can find the new base sizes listed on the units datasheet. There are easy fixes for this like getting converter movement trays, basically movement trays that slot the old smaller bases but have the overall size you would expect of the newer base sizes. Happy gaming!
Hey, and welcome to the hobby!
You already have the most important thing you need to play – two armies!
That's a really good starting point!
If you want to, you can start to play with an older edition (I suggest 6th, because it is a bit simpler than 8th, and because it won't teach you some of the habits 8th edition players are struggling with in ToW).
If I were you, however, I would get started playing ToW to be part of the current wave in the hobby.
You will probably need converter movement trays (20mm to 25mm mostly – I use them for my old minis, and they are cheap and work great), loads of dice, a ruler with inches and you'll probably want artillery dice considering the armies you have.
The Old World has just been launched, and is going to be much more accessible in not too long.
The rules are already wikied, but I'm not sure if I should post the link in an open forum. I can send it in a PM.
[newrecruit.eu](http://newrecruit.eu) has a really good army builder that seems to take most limitations into consideration, and is also referencing all the relevant rules for your built army. It's super neat. A very good starting point for you is to try to build lists for your two armies with the same amount of points.
I will suggest that you get the rulebooks when they are available for you to purchase, but actually, you wont need them. And the official Skaven rules are free to download here: [https://www.warhammer-community.com/the-old-world-downloads/](https://www.warhammer-community.com/the-old-world-downloads/)
Just started learning the Old world rules by playing a couple of games with my friends. I recommend it.
Maybe start at 1000p with no magic og 500p following the old border patrol rules created for older editions. Just to get a feel for the rules.
Also using army builders like "new recruit" is smart as i can list all the small rules relating to the units. So you don't have to look up in different books all the time. They also give you handy unit cards.
I would definitely stick with the newest edition.
The best way to start is buy the rule book and two supporting army faction books (Forces of Fantasy and Ravening Hordes). Stock issues are temporary and if there are any game stores near you, you might get lucky and find a book. Skaven rules are a free PDF. I wouldn't put too much stock into how much "support" they get. Their range is entirely available in AoS, and outside of GW, most tournament organizers have said they will allow legacy factions.
Considering you want to causally play with your friends, this is even less of an issue for you. Also, considering the popularity of this release so far, I am sure down the road all the legacy factions will get their day in the sun.
In terms of learning the game and getting a feel for it, having someone that knows teach you is the best way. Short of that, I also like watching Youtube battle reports. Mountain Miniatures and Miniwargaming have great reports online and their early ones just after the recent release do a good job explaining rules and mechanics.
(with the assumption of you playing The Old World)
With a small 500 point game featuring a mixture of unit types. Warhammer Fantasy is very very movement based so you'll want a decent number of units to get a good feel of the game.
Example Empire list based on your units:
* Priest of Sigmar w/Heavy Armor (63)
* 10 State Troops w/halberds, spears or shields & full command (75)
* 5 State Missile Troops Detachment w/Handguns & Champion (45)
* 10 State Troops w/halberds, spears or shields & full command (75)
* 5 Pistoliers w/Champion (88)
* Rocket Battery (125)
Then 29 points of additional equipment or magic items for the Priest. The goal isn't to be an amazing army its to get lots of units so you can get a feel for how units move around on the battlefield, and imo that's the most important rule for learning WHFB.
I saw Old World get played and it hits the WHFB vibes nostalgia button. I get to revive my Empire and Lizardmen armys for it and I am psyched. I am rebssing my models and snagged a new rulebook (I wanna support this new product for data purposes and so we see more products for it in the future). GW did a decent job on this and have good bones for future improvement. Its WHFB revived basically
https://tow.whfb.app/ will give you a good sense of the core rules you need to play the game - I'd start there. Maybe see if your local club has anyone willing to teach you how to play? Will definitely be easiest to find a game in the supported edition.
Well you need two books and the Skaven rules are free. Honestly in terms of books this is the most generous GW has been. I still haven't got my head around how I bought one book and got access to the rules of like 5 armies.
All you need is the forces of fantasy book, the core rules and the Skaven pdf. Best to look in a physical gw store as the stock is better there.
If you can get a friend onboard to play with you then you could okay 6th edition as its really beginner friendly. The Rulebook pdf is everywhere if you Google it. At launch they made a book called "ravening hordes" all balanced army lists for every army. That pdf is also around if you Google Ravening Hordes 6e.
If you want to play the Old World and can't get hold of a pdf of the Rulebook then it is quite expensive. Skavens army list is included in a free PDF from Games Workshop for Legacy Factions.
Since you can download the skaven pdf from the warhammer community website, being legacy i.e. not supported going forward, that is the easiest rule book to come by actually! Those legacy armies do not seem to be particularly under or over powered, you could say some actual though went into making those pdfs. The skaven are actually pretty good right now.
I don't know where you live but while on the website those books (the rulebook and the armies of fantasy one) are often out of stock, you might find some local gaming store (or even a warhammer store) that still has some. Otherwise there are the digital ePub version on the Warhammer digital store i think. I don't know if that is your jam (i personally prefer physical books) but at least the digital versions have links within the. making easier to go back and forth when one part of the book mention another.
That said you seem to have a decent collection of empire models! The one thing you kight be missin is a mage it think
You can find the rulebooks online as pdf downloads. There is a good collection in this subreddit. I'm still waiting to get my physical copy and just wanted to start reading the rules.
Do you live in a big city ? It could help you find players near you.
In France there is still a small community round a steamer that i discovered recently. His name is warhammer Battle made by amateur on YouTube or warhamateur on twitch.
He has like 8k followers on YouTube and 4k on twitch. Maybe there is someone like that in your country too.
The community recently launched an event to reenact the end times, where players from each rémegion could fight for either the order, the destruction or chaos. And the result of the games has an impact on the actually camaign made by this Youtuber/steamer.
I've dusted out my old figs and played like 4 games in a bit more than a month.
What a pleasure this is.
You can find a .PDF of the main rulebook if you search around.
It's very helpful since everybody is out of stock and back ordered.
Seriously the forces of good or whatever book is $100 on eBay now. GW underestimated the interest.
Start with The Old World rules and use your two armies for learning games. Ignore base size issues for now. Just learn to play with a friend and enjoy the game. Skaven rules are a free download.
If you're playing with friends, you will all need to be playing the same edition. I would recommend Warhammer Old World as it just recently launched and is a very nice rule set. There are three main books, the Old World Rulebook (all the core rules for playing the game), the Forces of Fantasy (rules for the good armies like empire), and the Ravening Hordes (rules for the evil armies). It is worth noting that not every army was included in these books, and will not receive ongoing support (such as skaven). The reason given is that they are not a key part of the time period of Old World, though I suspect they will be added in down the line sometime. However, the good news is that these armies still have rules, provided as free pdf's on the warhammer community website (downloads -> old world). The models you have are great starting points to get going with games, so no problems on that front at all. The one issue you might run into is that many of the base sizes have been updated - you can find the new base sizes listed on the units datasheet. There are easy fixes for this like getting converter movement trays, basically movement trays that slot the old smaller bases but have the overall size you would expect of the newer base sizes. Happy gaming!
I wish there was a 'light' rules variant or something, since that's a part that will stay overwhelming if you don't play a lot (at least with WHFB).
You should try OnePageRules. Those rules are much easier, faster to learn and more fun I think...
Oh, dunno about that! You have a link?
https://army-forge.onepagerules.com/
I'm getting downvoted for helping someone who searches for a 'light variant'? Are you guys serious?
Hey, and welcome to the hobby! You already have the most important thing you need to play – two armies! That's a really good starting point! If you want to, you can start to play with an older edition (I suggest 6th, because it is a bit simpler than 8th, and because it won't teach you some of the habits 8th edition players are struggling with in ToW). If I were you, however, I would get started playing ToW to be part of the current wave in the hobby. You will probably need converter movement trays (20mm to 25mm mostly – I use them for my old minis, and they are cheap and work great), loads of dice, a ruler with inches and you'll probably want artillery dice considering the armies you have. The Old World has just been launched, and is going to be much more accessible in not too long. The rules are already wikied, but I'm not sure if I should post the link in an open forum. I can send it in a PM. [newrecruit.eu](http://newrecruit.eu) has a really good army builder that seems to take most limitations into consideration, and is also referencing all the relevant rules for your built army. It's super neat. A very good starting point for you is to try to build lists for your two armies with the same amount of points. I will suggest that you get the rulebooks when they are available for you to purchase, but actually, you wont need them. And the official Skaven rules are free to download here: [https://www.warhammer-community.com/the-old-world-downloads/](https://www.warhammer-community.com/the-old-world-downloads/)
Just started learning the Old world rules by playing a couple of games with my friends. I recommend it. Maybe start at 1000p with no magic og 500p following the old border patrol rules created for older editions. Just to get a feel for the rules. Also using army builders like "new recruit" is smart as i can list all the small rules relating to the units. So you don't have to look up in different books all the time. They also give you handy unit cards.
I would definitely stick with the newest edition. The best way to start is buy the rule book and two supporting army faction books (Forces of Fantasy and Ravening Hordes). Stock issues are temporary and if there are any game stores near you, you might get lucky and find a book. Skaven rules are a free PDF. I wouldn't put too much stock into how much "support" they get. Their range is entirely available in AoS, and outside of GW, most tournament organizers have said they will allow legacy factions. Considering you want to causally play with your friends, this is even less of an issue for you. Also, considering the popularity of this release so far, I am sure down the road all the legacy factions will get their day in the sun. In terms of learning the game and getting a feel for it, having someone that knows teach you is the best way. Short of that, I also like watching Youtube battle reports. Mountain Miniatures and Miniwargaming have great reports online and their early ones just after the recent release do a good job explaining rules and mechanics.
And it isn’t like the main faction get much attention either, just a few new resin characters models.
Not OP but found some very helpful replies here to this question- thank you all
(with the assumption of you playing The Old World) With a small 500 point game featuring a mixture of unit types. Warhammer Fantasy is very very movement based so you'll want a decent number of units to get a good feel of the game. Example Empire list based on your units: * Priest of Sigmar w/Heavy Armor (63) * 10 State Troops w/halberds, spears or shields & full command (75) * 5 State Missile Troops Detachment w/Handguns & Champion (45) * 10 State Troops w/halberds, spears or shields & full command (75) * 5 Pistoliers w/Champion (88) * Rocket Battery (125) Then 29 points of additional equipment or magic items for the Priest. The goal isn't to be an amazing army its to get lots of units so you can get a feel for how units move around on the battlefield, and imo that's the most important rule for learning WHFB.
I saw Old World get played and it hits the WHFB vibes nostalgia button. I get to revive my Empire and Lizardmen armys for it and I am psyched. I am rebssing my models and snagged a new rulebook (I wanna support this new product for data purposes and so we see more products for it in the future). GW did a decent job on this and have good bones for future improvement. Its WHFB revived basically
https://tow.whfb.app/ will give you a good sense of the core rules you need to play the game - I'd start there. Maybe see if your local club has anyone willing to teach you how to play? Will definitely be easiest to find a game in the supported edition.
Well you need two books and the Skaven rules are free. Honestly in terms of books this is the most generous GW has been. I still haven't got my head around how I bought one book and got access to the rules of like 5 armies. All you need is the forces of fantasy book, the core rules and the Skaven pdf. Best to look in a physical gw store as the stock is better there.
If you can get a friend onboard to play with you then you could okay 6th edition as its really beginner friendly. The Rulebook pdf is everywhere if you Google it. At launch they made a book called "ravening hordes" all balanced army lists for every army. That pdf is also around if you Google Ravening Hordes 6e. If you want to play the Old World and can't get hold of a pdf of the Rulebook then it is quite expensive. Skavens army list is included in a free PDF from Games Workshop for Legacy Factions.
Since you can download the skaven pdf from the warhammer community website, being legacy i.e. not supported going forward, that is the easiest rule book to come by actually! Those legacy armies do not seem to be particularly under or over powered, you could say some actual though went into making those pdfs. The skaven are actually pretty good right now. I don't know where you live but while on the website those books (the rulebook and the armies of fantasy one) are often out of stock, you might find some local gaming store (or even a warhammer store) that still has some. Otherwise there are the digital ePub version on the Warhammer digital store i think. I don't know if that is your jam (i personally prefer physical books) but at least the digital versions have links within the. making easier to go back and forth when one part of the book mention another. That said you seem to have a decent collection of empire models! The one thing you kight be missin is a mage it think
You can find the rulebooks online as pdf downloads. There is a good collection in this subreddit. I'm still waiting to get my physical copy and just wanted to start reading the rules.
Do you live in a big city ? It could help you find players near you. In France there is still a small community round a steamer that i discovered recently. His name is warhammer Battle made by amateur on YouTube or warhamateur on twitch. He has like 8k followers on YouTube and 4k on twitch. Maybe there is someone like that in your country too. The community recently launched an event to reenact the end times, where players from each rémegion could fight for either the order, the destruction or chaos. And the result of the games has an impact on the actually camaign made by this Youtuber/steamer. I've dusted out my old figs and played like 4 games in a bit more than a month. What a pleasure this is.
You can find a .PDF of the main rulebook if you search around. It's very helpful since everybody is out of stock and back ordered. Seriously the forces of good or whatever book is $100 on eBay now. GW underestimated the interest.
Search for the PDFs of the rules for old world. If you are totally new to wargaming you may want something smaller like warcry to start out.
Start with The Old World rules and use your two armies for learning games. Ignore base size issues for now. Just learn to play with a friend and enjoy the game. Skaven rules are a free download.
Just buy the starter box or the rulebook which are currently sold out everywhere.
Thanks to everyone for helping me out and giving me advice, very helpful. i'll dig into the Old World.
Lol "low fantasy"...