Main Rulebook
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Prepare thyself to enter a world of Daemons and vile sorcery, of battle and death, of violence and of madness. Chaos infects this world like a malignant disease from which there can be no recovery. Logic, reason and sanity have no place here. Even the earth and the air are suffused with the stuff of raw magic, causing gnarled hag-trees to come alive, men to devolve into monsters and castles of bone to form from the mass graves of ancient battles. In this blasted realm you will see wonders and horrors alike that you shall carry to the grave.

Look to the north – tribe upon tribe of barbarians and iron-clad immortals charge into the teeth of a thousand cannons before crashing into mile-long lines of brightly uniformed infantry. Behold the great equator, land of the warrior sun, where skeletal legions and armies of living statues rise from the desert to crush the crusades of plate-armoured knights. Across the Old World, bestial and nameless things pour out from the endless forests to besiege, burn and topple fortress-cities. Orc Warlords stand atop storm-wracked mountains, bellowing raucous battle-cries. A constant flood of savage greenskins, slime-skinned monsters and ramshackle war engines emerges from the caves below in answer to the call. In the earth below, scurrying Skaven infest the depths like a tide of filth in a stinking sewer. Their verminous hordes crashing into the unyielding shieldwalls of grim Dwarf tunnel-guards who fight daily for the survival of their cavernous dominion. In the far-off lands of the Elves, brother fights brother in a war that has raged for time immemorial, the skies above alight with the fire of a hundred duelling dragons. Steam-driven towers prowl the borders of Mankind's realm, each one garrisoned by a regiment of war-hardened veterans. Above them come flocks of war gryphons and flying galleons held aloft by sorcerous pacts.

Yet amidst all of the fire, flame and fury, it is a world too of mighty heroes, of bold deeds and of great courage. These few champions stand against the encroaching darkness, rallying their warriors with acts of valour and hope of victory. The deafening roar of battle rises above them all, the sound of a thousand times a thousand men crashing body, blade and shield against a horde of daemonic terrors from the bowels of hell.

The fate of the world, be it damnation or salvation, will soon be decided. This is a world of eternal war and fleeting glory.

This is the world of Warhammer.

Welcome to Warhammer. Sound the trumpets and beat loud the drums of war, for the weighty tome you hold in your hands is your key to entering a dark and bloody land. It is a world of Daemons and sorcery, a brutal era of warfare and conquest. Warhammer, the game of fantasy battles, brings all the action onto your tabletop. You command armies of miniatures in a game that promises bold manoeuvre, daring riposte and untold slaughter.

The game of Warhammer makes you the general of an army of fantasy miniatures. Regiments of resplendent High Elves, the ragged hordes of ravenous ratmen known as Skaven, the Undead legions of the Vampire Counts or any of the other dozen army types, march, manoeuvre and charge into the fray on your orders. At your command, hails of arrows and eldritch bolts of magic are unleashed upon the foe. But it is in the brutal close quarters of combat that most battles must be won, by stalwart troops and legendary heroes.

Chapters