Wow, I've hit 100+ committed readers. Thanks folks! Hope most of you are still checking in now and again! I've made some more painting progress and will get some pics up early in the week, including a mostly-completed Killgore, the 40K minotaur.
IA9 General Impressions
I won't go into a full detailed breakdown, at least not here, but some general thoughts.
The Good:
- The story is pretty good, following pretty well along the lines of the original Badab War storyline, but adding detail to some parts and fleshing out the background a bit more, including motivations for most of the different factions/chapters. In an empire so spread out and factionalized as the Imperium of Man is, a lot seems plausible.
- The characters, boarding rules, scenarios and army list are good and workable, if nothing incredibly exciting. With a little tweaking the boarding rules could work really well alongside Killzone.
- It's pretty, with a number of nice pictures. The Fire Hawks pics especially look really cool, but I'm a sucker for flame jobs.
The Disappointing:
- For me, it's a bit disappointing having to wait for the next book for most of the Chapters I'm really interested in. Space Sharks, Minotaurs, Mantis Warriors, etc.
- While I think the new Astral Claws scheme is fine, didn't really see the need to change it.
- It feels a bit light in content in some respects, but I guess they had to cut some places in order to keep it from being three volumes. The chapter sections feel kind of meh, not up to the level IMO of the old Index Astartes articles. I didn't see any kind of Table of Organization for the forces involved, which would have been nice. Aside from the special characters, nothing new was really introduced. Something, even an Astral Claws dread option variant or some kind of tank thrown together by the Tyrant's Legion would have been a nice addition.
- The pictures that were included were nice, but IMO lacking. While 2-d paintings are nice, I'd like to have seen good pics of actual miniatures converted and painted to match the chapters and Tyrant's Legion showcased. The only pics of minis were obscured behind computer screen effects and the like, very atmospheric, but disappointing compared to the showcases we get with regular codexes.
Congrats on hitting 100 readers!! Thanks for the heads up on the Badab War book. I think the war and the story sound interesting, but the whole Guard + Marines thing is just a little meh to me. I would love to see what forge world does with some of the other chapters in terms of minis though. I think Mantis Warriors with Drazhar type power weapons would be amazing!
ReplyDeleteWoo-hoo!! Congrats on passing the 100-mark! I had not realized both the Mantis Warriors and the Space Sharks were left out of this edition which is a bit disappointing. I really like the story of the Badab War but it does seem like this volume is somewhat lacking in content. The rules for boarding actions sound neat, though, especially with your reference to Killzone. As described in this IA book, are the rules intended for full scale games?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 100 readers! That's an excellent testament to your great writing and interesting content. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the rules are for regular games, with some restrictions (like no non-walker vehicles). Given the type of terrain, I do think that Killzone/Kill Team type of play would work better.
ReplyDeleteThe Mantis Warriors do feature in the story at this stage, but just aren't detailed out like chapters such as the Fire Hawks or Marines Errant. Presumably they'll be featured along with the Tranquility Campaign in the second book.
@Old School Terminator - Here's an example of just such a Mantis Warrior:
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.target-gaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Captain-Mantis1.jpg