The Forge World Imperial Armour books are a series of rules and background supplements for Warhammer 40,000, made by Forge World, Games Workshop’s specialist resin subsidiary. They cover the vehicles and war machines that don’t fit in the standard Codexes, from super-heavy tanks to aircraft and conversion kits, and they’ve been part of the hobby since the early 1990s.
What the imperial armour books actually are
Imperial Armour started life in 1990 as a Forge World product range: tanks, vehicles and conversion kits for pretty much every major 40k faction. From 2000 onward, Forge World also published rulebooks under the same name, giving official rules and lore for fielding those resin miniatures in games.
The books exist because Codexes can’t cover everything. Super-heavy tanks like the Baneblade, variant Hammerheads, flyers, static defences and non-combat vehicles all live here instead. Forge World sells the matching multi-part resin kits, or conversion parts you can add to existing plastic and metal models.
How the range evolved
The first books were softbacks, written by Warwick Kinrade and produced by Fanatic for Forge World staff, tied to miniatures originally made in Epic scale. Two main softbacks and four Updates ran from 2000 to 2006.
The softbacks did well enough that Forge World moved to hardback numbered volumes, thirteen of them between 2003 and 2014. These raised the production quality and the amount of background material. Six of them later got Second Editions updated for 6th and 7th edition 40k.
From 2015, Forge World dropped the ‘Volume X’ numbering and just used Imperial Armour plus the book’s title. Later editions shifted again: the 8th edition indexes and the 9th edition Imperial Armour Compendium collected the rules into slimmer, current formats.
Notable volumes
The numbered run covers a lot of ground, from faction-focused vehicle guides to full narrative campaign books. The Siege of Vraks trilogy and the two-part Badab War are probably the best-known, and they’re as much lore as they are rules.
| Volume | Focus |
|---|---|
| One | Imperial Guard & Imperial Navy |
| Two | Space Marines & Forces of the Inquisition |
| Three | The Taros Campaign (T’au) |
| Four | The Anphelion Project (Tyranids) |
| Five to Seven | The Siege of Vraks |
| Eight | Raid on Kastorel-Novem (Orks) |
| Nine and Ten | The Badab War |
| Eleven | The Doom of Mymeara (Eldar) |
| Twelve | The Fall of Orpheus |
| Thirteen | War Machines of the Lost and the Damned |
Why they matter
For players, these books are how you get official rules for the weird, huge and faction-specific stuff that never made it into a Codex. For lore fans, the campaign volumes are some of the richest 40k background ever published, especially Vraks and Badab.
They also shaped how Forge World models were used at the table. Early on, players were asked to tell their opponent before bringing Forge World units, since they sat outside the standard army lists.
A lot of the older rules are outdated now, superseded by newer editions and the compendium releases. The background and the models still hold up, though, and the books remain a big part of 40k’s history.
Key facts
- Imperial Armour is a Forge World range of resin vehicles and rulebooks for Warhammer 40,000.
- The product range launched in 1990; the first rulebooks followed in 2000.
- Thirteen numbered hardback volumes were published between 2003 and 2014.
- The books cover super-heavy tanks, aircraft, defences and faction variants missing from Codexes.
- From 2015, Forge World dropped the ‘Volume X’ numbering and used book titles instead.
- Later collections include the 8th edition indexes and the 9th edition Imperial Armour Compendium.
FAQ
Are the old Imperial Armour books still usable in games?
Most of the older volumes are outdated, their rules replaced by later editions and the Imperial Armour Compendium. You can still read them for lore, but check the current rules before fielding anything.
Who wrote the Imperial Armour books?
Warwick Kinrade wrote the early rules and background. Later volumes were by Kinrade and/or Alan Bligh. From Fall of Orpheus in 2013, Kinrade wasn’t credited as a writer.
What’s the difference between Imperial Armour and regular Codexes?
Codexes cover the core army lists for each faction. Imperial Armour books add the specialist Forge World vehicles, super-heavies, aircraft and conversion pieces that don’t fit in those lists.