Do you need a battletome or the Core Book to play Age of Sigmar?

What you get for nothing

• The app. Games Workshop's Age of Sigmar app is free. It holds the core rules and the advanced rules. Armies without a battletome have a free faction pack there, with its warscrolls (the rules for each unit), and each faction has Spearhead rules.
• The handbook in the box. The Introductory Set has a 48-page handbook and the Starter Set a 64-page one. Both teach the game by scenario or tutorial, so your first games need no other book.
• Points and updates. Points for battletome armies are published online, not printed in the book, and rules updates arrive as downloads. The latest came on 28 October 2026.

What the printed books add

The Core Book is in stock here. We have not listed its page count, so ask us if the exact edition matters to you.

Which book suits which player

• Your first games: neither book. Use the handbook from the Introductory Set or Starter Set.
• Spearhead: neither book. The rules are free, and what you are missing is a board and cards, as the Spearhead page explains.
• You dislike playing from a phone: the Core Book, for a printed copy of the rules.
• One army for the long term: that faction's battletome, once it has one. Its code opens the army's rules in the app, and the book adds the lore and a printed reference for the table.

Check the edition before you buy a battletome

Games Workshop retired every battletome that existed before the 2024 edition, and gave each faction a free pack of new rules instead.

1. Check the copyright year on the credits page. A book from 2023 or earlier is for the old rules. Treat a 2024 date as doubtful, because new battletomes only began to follow in autumn 2024.
2. Ask us before buying if you are unsure. The battletomes collection lists the books we hold, and our contact page reaches the shop.