For all that the core rules of Warhammer 40,000 have changed over the years, one feature has stayed the same - the rulebook itself is big enough to beat an Ork to death with. Giant rulebooks with hundreds of pages have been the standard for the game since third edition released in 1998, hugely fat tomes bursting with rules, lore, and hobby advice. But it looks like that's going to change for Warhammer 40k 11th edition.
First, GW revealed that the core rulebook coming in the Armageddon launch box set would be a slender small-format volume that is "light enough to slip into any bag or big pocket", with nothing but rules in it. Then on Monday, GW revealed the upcoming Combat Patrol Compendium supplement - which seems to contain everything that's been trimmed from the core rules.
The WarCom article announcing the Combat Patrol Compendium says it's a 184-page book that gives "a general overview of the Warhammer hobby and key concepts useful for new players", plus "an expansive guide to the setting and each of the armies you can play". Looking at the photographs that come with the article, it seems to cover exactly the same material as the hobby, army-collecting, and background sections from the 10th edition rulebook.
GW promises this will be the "perfect starting point for new builders, painters, and players". Though the article states the book can be "used in concert with an upgraded Warhammer 40,000 app to play games of Combat Patrol", there's no explicit mention of any rules content in here. Elsewhere in the same article GW states that the Core rulebook from the Armageddon launch box will get a separate release - but there's no mention of a combined Fat Rulebook.
Pour one out for the old Fatbook, then, because it looks like it's gone, at least for this edition. GW could yet announce another all-in-one book, but I just don't see that happening now that it's confirmed two separate book releases.
It's a kick in the nostalgia gland, but practically speaking I think it's going to be an improvement. 'Massive lore guide' and 'rulebook' are two products that don't need to be bound inside the same cover, and a small format rulebook will be way easier to transport and flick through at the tabletop. While we don't yet know the prices, the new Core Rules should be cheaper than the Fatbook - a boon for anyone who just wants to upgrade to the latest edition of the rules and doesn't fancy paying for a reprint of setting information they've seen before.
Do you have a groaning shelf full of out of date rulebooks? Will the promise of this slender volume pursuade you to actually pick up a dead tree edition of the rules after using digital rules? Come and chat with us about it in the Wargamer Discord community!