Hey guys, I was a 40k player around 5 years ago but I stopped loving my army (I had Dark Angels and I just thought they looked a bit plain) and I sort of gave up on it all. Recently I found the army, and have decided to sell it on. Minor details. Being curious me I looked at how Warhammer is going, and found out about AoS, which seems pretty cool as I was always fantasy over sci-fi. I looked at all the armies and I was like ‘Hold up. Dinosaurs.’ So now I am thinking of getting back in with some Start Collecting boxes, gonna make full use of all the guides on this site, and that’s me. Just a quick question, because the warscrolls are all available for free online, what is the benefit of actually getting the Battletome? I’m not too fussed about the whole AoS lore, it’s a bit confusing and space dinosaurs is all I need to know, so what do you get from it? And same sorta concept behind the General’s Handbook, what is the reason for getting one?
Welcome to the forums! Apart from fluff and the convenience of having a physical book, there isn't much in the Seraphon book that isn't fluff. They do have starhost options. Essentially a Starhost is "If you take X, Y, and Z units, you get a small bonus when using X, Y, and Z units." The General's Compendium is for points values. Age of Sigmar is doing what I wish 8th edition did and is making mild revisions to the points. So if after time they decide Unit X is too overpowered they can make it cost more points next compendium. If someone who has done more than dabble in Age of Sigmar has a deeper answer, let me know.
I agree with @Scalenex here. The Battletome you don’t really need unless you love the AoS lore (which I’m not really a fan of) while the General’s Handbook is vital if you want to play points match games (which you should 99% of the time) because it gives all the points values for every unit in every faction and also introduces updated rules for armies with older Battletome, such as the Seraphon and (my fave) the Fyreslayers. I imagine that the 2018 version will be on its way soon though, so I would wait for that one if I were you.
Welcome!!! I see that the old bloods have already answered your questions, and so will not bother to chip in on that. But seriously, welcome!!
Thanks guys. I can try and ask some more questions if you want to answer, but most of them have already been resolved by various bits and bobs I’ve already found here.
Welcome aboard. Yeah, Battletome is precious for Starhosts (aka battalions), but those can be found as single pdf. However, it's the reference book for Seraphon, as you can use the free battlescrolls, but the updated battlescrolls are only for discontinued models, and the old battlescrolls are slightly different from the ones in the battletome (keywords and so on).