Warmachine Core Book
Publisher: Steamforged Games
Release Date: December 11, 2025
Price: $44.99
Format: Hardcover, Full Color
Pages: 140
ICv2 Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Overview. The latest edition of the Warmachine Core Book is a 140-page hardcover that is presented in full color. It contains the entire core rules set for the miniatures game as well as a quickstart guide. This rulebook features stunning artwork and photos to provide hobbyists with potential paint schemes for their miniatures. The book also contains the basic lore about the Warmachine Universe, and has individual sections about the factions in the game. This is the first Warmachine Core Book published under the SFG banner.
Streamlining. One of the trends in wargaming core books that has been going on over the last decade has been the streamlining of rules sets, and the SFG version of the Warmachine Core Book follows this trend. The biggest complaint among wargamers is that “it takes too long to look up rules in mid-game.” SFG designers have clearly listened to this feedback and created a miniatures core rules book in more of a reference manual style.
The scope of the book is mostly focused on rules and elements that players would need to during a game. The lore is fairly limited for a core book, in comparison to amount of lore in the Warmachine Universe, but that seems to work because the bulk of the game’s lore can be accessed from the Warmachine app anyway. The book does provide exactly what players’ need to charge onto the tabletop battlefield, and this is a good thing.
Positive Aspects. The book is very pretty, and it showcases solid artwork. The map of the Iron Kingdoms in the interior pages of the book is gorgeous, and enhances the lore quite a bit without saying a word. The illustrations are a clear highlight of this book, and a sales point for retailers. The book is also sturdy and bound-solidly, giving it some durability, but isn’t too heavy, so it can be carried comfortably in a backpack or travel bag.
As far as the rules go, it is a well-written reference manual for gameplay. The Table of Contents makes the book easy to navigate, and the Appendices in the back of the book offer clarity on rules timing issues. In general, the book serves its purpose as a well-written, rules reference manual.
Possible Improvements. There are very few actual problems with this rulebook, but there are some things that could’ve been better. One of the main things that could be improved was print size; it could’ve stood to have a slightly larger font size for easier reading when referencing unit abilities. This is by no means a problem relegated to this rulebook as several other miniatures core rulebooks, from other game lines, have made it a habit to reduce their book font sizes in order to cram more rules onto less pages.
The Verdict. As far as miniatures core rules go, this book ranks an ICv2 rating of 4.5 stars of 5. The book does the job as far as offering player a concise, pick-up-and-play rules set for Warmachine. The less enthusiastic aspects of the rulebook are limited to style guide choices, so this book receives almost full marks.
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