The Battle Barn

Since I'm new to the battle barn, I apologize in advance as I'm sure it's been asked before, but what is the barns position on content from Forge world/IA books? For that matter, what is the general rule in the 40K hobby in regards to them? I've seen forum posts claiming they are at opponents consent, then others saying they are official and legal in 40K games (though all such posts tend to be years old).. I'm just curious, there are some interesting/fun options in there that aren't in my codex (knarloc, turrets, sensor towers etc..), but I wouldn't waste my time/money buying and painting anything I couldn't use at the barn and or tournaments supposing I eventually wanted to attend one.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Generally we're OK with Forge World items being used. You can proxy them for a little while if you wish but eventually we'd prefer you to buy the actual model being used. As far as tournaments are concerned, most do not allow Forge World units to be used. Whether they are allowed or not will be in the tournament information.

I personally love Forge World models and would almost never have a problem playing against an army that included them. Not super heavys or gargantuan creatures, but anything that is meant for a normal codex.

As Mike stated above, I think that if you are going to use a Forge World unit, then you really should have the actual model for it. To me that's the whole point of using Forge World, the fact that their models are almost always amazing looking. I also believe that you should own the physical book that has the rules for your units. This way your opponent can easily see the rules for the new items.

As for tournaments, you will very rarely get a chance to use them. Most tournaments disallow Forge World completely. There's a few here and there that allow them, but not many. I may look into testing the waters over the summer with a tournament that allows them, but that's a ways in the future yet.

I would say to make sure your opponent knows in advance of the game what IA/Forgeworld units you are using and give them a chance to look them over and understand them. Getting blindsised by a non-standard unit you've never heard of before could certainly ruin a game very quickly.

I don't know Eric. I'm new to this, every game I play is against units that I've no idea what they are capable of, and I'm still having fun. But your point is well taken. I wasn't thinking of adding any forgeworld stuff starting out, but it'd be fun to have the option of playing some at some point. Probably after I've got 2000pts or so of Tournament worthy models.