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The Witch Hunter's Handbook is a small format hardcover book, the second in what I hope is an ongoing series of books including The Life of Sigmar. In the case of the Handbook the interior pages are black-and-white and printed on a low-gloss stock, rather than Sigmar's bond. It includes a bookmark. I'm not sure it's worth $20, but it sure is nifty. The Witch Hunter's Handbook is a small book, and at 96 pages, it succeeds at being brief as well. Word-wise it is far less dense than Life of Sigmar – which I felt was kind of a chore to read – and the Handbook seems to have struck a better balance between artwork and text. Aside from some questionable comma usage and a very few typos and layout oddities, the book is technically quite sound.

This is a little book, so this is going to be a little review.

Like Darkness Rising, Loathsome Ratmen and other Black Library background books, The Witch Hunter’s Handbook is written in character. The Handbook discusses the origins of the Witch Hunters and their attitudes toward Undead and Chaos. For this reader, most of what is found here is an entertaining and enlightening internal report on the secretive and superstitious order of the Witch Hunters.

At one point I felt that I was reading dry summarized information from Liber Necris and Liber Chaotica. I wondered if these compulsory descriptions of the basic forms of Undead and Chaos might have benefited from more of a Witch Hunter’s perspective. At another point I felt as though the in-character ‘author’ were revealing information that he would not want made public, or certainly not in the possession of other Witch Hunters.

These blemishes notwithstanding, I enjoyed The Witch Hunter’s Handbook and I’d recommend it for Warhammer players of all stripes. As a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay gamer, it’s going to see use right away at our gaming table, and I suspect the same will be true of other WFRPers that get hold of it. You tabletop Warhammerers might like this book. I imagine it would act as a tray to move a unit of about fifty minis.

How I rated this book: For Style, I give this book a 5 for great craftsmanship and visual appeal. The artwork is outstanding, however simple and petite. Your Warhammer buddies will ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over it. (As I write this review, my copy is being whisked away by a fellow player.)

For Substance, I give it a 3, since I felt some passages were rehashed and there was a break in my suspension of disbelief. Considering the limited space, I feel like some space could have been better used to talk about Witch Hunters, not their prey.