The Miniatures Wargaming Union

As we are all battling away in WAR, let it be in PVP, RVR or questing, we are also building our characters to our fitting. Some of us have an idea to what to go for, others just want to get into the fray. The lovely folks over at Prima Games have released their Warhammer Online Strategy Guide, we have received our copy so its time to see whether or not these types of books are still worth their value over the internet.

First and foremost you will notice that this book is indeed thick compared to the other books they have released, considering its for a MMO, thats a good thing. The build of the guide is sturdy, pages are held into the binding well, nice full colour bled pages, and thick glossy card cover, though a hardback variant would of been nice, considering the thickness, probably best be paperback. One thing I had noticed was throughout the book, it shows off some art and character models from the game, though nicely implemented there are some images that are pretty pixelated most likely from being enlarged, its a shame with all the very nice large clean art from the game in the book that these images can offset it and make it seem rushed.

The guide starts off by covering each and every class in the game, starting with order then working its way to destruction. Each page details the class in depth from gear and abilities to tactics. With every class there are charts that list off every ability and tactic for the class, a great quick reference guide when not near a career trainer in game. Beyond that, each class is given an overview on its strengths and weaknesses, which I myself learned a thing or two for even my own character that I was not aware about. This helps you understand your weak point and how to make sure the enemy does not take advantage of it. There are also PvE and PvP advice as well, mostly stuff already know but still worth a read over. Within each class’ section, there are windows of tips that usually range from lore stories, fun facts, to quests for certain levels of that class that have major benefits.

The majority of the book is mainly focused on the races and their respective classes, after that section we get to maps. Now this part is broken up into zones then tiers much like in-game. Starts off with the Dwarfs vs. Greenskins zone which shows a flow chart of the maps and their layout. Each tier is then broken down into its own page where in depth descriptions are given of each map, the areas chapters, public quests, major landmarks, battle objectives, lairs (which is not marked in game, so this actually reveals their hidden locations.) and flight masters. This happens for every map of every tier of every zone, its quite helpful. The only complaint I have and its nit picking really, is that the maps in-game and the maps in the book are different, done by different artists, the maps in the book, though identical in layout are different artistically and I find a little tougher to understand than the in-game ones, but if you have already traveled to the areas in-game, you’ll right off the bat know what each area is, probably more of a problem for newcomers relying on the book for map info, though unlikely.

The end of the guide consists of descritpions of each RvR scenario and each character class. Lastly it finishes off with info on Reknown Rewards as well as information on guilds.

Now comes the million dollar question, with the internet at our finger tips how does a physical strategy guide compare to those you get for free for online? This is a tug-of-war answer, its really hard now a days to justify buying a guide when there are some equally good, if not better free guides on the internet. After checking out the online guide scene, I can say that this guide holds its own compared to those, the class information really helps out, its great to have maps on hand without having to find them in-game or online, and just having everything at hand in a easy to navigate book is great for quick reference. I wouldnt say the book outshines everything else since there are some decent online guides, FAQ’s, and some fantastic databases such as WARdb, but rather complements them. Online guides have their pros and cons and sometimes offer some different content, but the information included in this book keeps itself up.

Overall is the book worth its $25 value? Yes. The varied content listed above is fantastic for newcommers but also for veterans of the game it offers some interesting information that you may not have even known about. Greatly detailed, nice full color pages chalked will content, plus not to mention that the book also includes an atlas (the atlas book is a seperate bundle, you can buy just the book at a cheaper rate.) which expands upon the map section of the guide with larger color pages of all the maps in the game, very handy indeed and makes it a greater value. The guide has its flaws, but its easy to overlook them considering the vast helpful information that is sure to make WARing more enjoyable.

PROS:

• -Great Character Class tips and tables.
• -Lots of Quest, PvE, PvP, RvR, Scenario infomation.
• -Detailed maps of the Warhammer world.
• -Good content makes it stand on its own in the ocean of free online guides.

CONS:

• -Maps might be hard to read for new commers to the game.
• -Some unfortunate usage of low resolution images makes it feel rushed graphically.

Overall: 4.5 / 5