I called my local hobby store (well not all that local - about 30 minutes away) and asked if there were any Warhammer Fantasy games going on that he knew of - that way I could possibly sit in and observe and deciede about this.

This lead to a discussion about the game as the person working at the store was not too familiar with it either. He mentioned that he understood that if one bought the Hardbound books: Player's Guide; Game Master's Guide and Creature Guide there would be no need to get the boxes with all the cards and stuff.

I have to admit I am old time gamer and when I cut my teeth on AD&D we never even used a board to draw anything out - everything was 100% descripiton so I have to admit as well that I am not a huge fan of the cards and card-board cut outs. If one could play the game without those by purcahseing the three hardbacked Guides that would go a long way to selling me on this game (as I think the Warhammer 40K RPGS are great!!!)

So does just buying the three guides get the job done? I probably would not mind all the cardboard cut-outs or cards if they were dressing and not 100% necessary to play.

BTW I do like the dice!!!

So... Your thoughts?

Todd

Other than needing to purchase several sets of dice, you can play the game using just the hardcover books and not needing to buy the Core Set. That was actually the primary reason they were produced.

Stand ups are not needed if you plan to either be completely narrative or use miniatures.

Cards are not needed if you're ok writing all the information down somewhere.

You might want to make your own Party Sheet, since that's something that should probably be out in the play space to remind the players of their bonuses and socketed talents, as well as the fortune pool.

While the new edition can be played without the "Itz and Bitz", I think you'd be missing out on to much of the game, and eventually beat yourself for not just buying the whole package right away.

In fact I'd say, that if you havn't played Warhammer before, I'd purchase used 2nd edition books (amazon, ebay etc...) rather than try'n play 3rd edition without "Itz and Bitz".

But that said, I was raised without even playing with miniatures, and hated the whole idea of 3rd edition when I heard of it. But seeing is sometimes believing, and I loved this new edition from the second I opened the pack (well I had a quick hate when I: saw the errors in the book, found out that you needed more dice and then again when I saw how crappy the dice-packs are sorted regarding amount of specific dice....).

Thanks for the feedback.

I do have the original core boxed set - it was a birthday gift from my players in my Dark Heresy game that I run. I opened it up and thought "oh no I have to use cards and other 'itz and bitz'" and that turned me off. If I understand they are optional and thus I would be more likely to dive back in.

Thanks I think I will give this another look-see!

todd