The Chime of Eons - Decree of Ruin

“I've travelled a thousand stars and a hundred years to conquer this damn planet, and conquer it I will!”

- Lord Alberan Varn, upon learning that his invasion fleet has lost 107 years in the warp and his destination Warzone Vengeance was now a smouldering tyranid-infested ruin.

“A good soldier obeys without question, a good officer commands without guilt.”

- Tacita Imperium.

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New Cycle, New Chime of Eons!

My fluff loving friends, it has been far, far too long!
After a lengthy period of staring at the same cards, the Planetfall Cycle is finally upon us. In the game itself, we're reaching a point of maturity in the LCG: that break point where its harder for newer players to buy into the game, but where the card pool is sufficiently large to allow for diverse gaming experiences, and multiple builds out of each warlord.

In terms of the game fiction, the representation of the 40k universe has grown more detailed within the LCG, with many of the key factions and iconic units now found within the game, and even some new lore added to the overall 40k mythos thanks to Conquest.

The Planetfall Cycle looks to be largely about additions to the mythos. Through spoilers and cards we're finding out more tidbits about Traxis Sector, and every one of the new Warlords is a brand new and original invention.

As a writer of fluff-comparison articles, this puts me in an interesting position: without established lore to report on, there's less to teach about the new Warlords, but we'll have a look at their contexts within the fiction and discuss the fluffiness of the game mechanics in terms of how well they fit factions as a whole, and the concepts they seem to represent.

The new Cycle also is different in that it has two warlords per pack, which forces me to change the structure of the articles as well: I can't open with blurb about the central feature, as there's two central features!

So instead, let's start with the titles of Cycle and Warpack.


Planetfall

In science fiction, the word Planetfall probably first saw use in the 1983 computer game of the same name as a portmanteau of the words planet and landfall. However, in 40k its use in the fiction has always referred to a different idea: that of space-borne forces (usually military ones) arriving on a planet. In the 40k fiction, to "make planetfall" is to deploy to the surface of a planet from space.

40k has always thought a lot about this concept, giving us such ideas as the Space Marine Drop Pod, Mycetic Spores and the Thunderbolt Drop Ship (which in turn was clearly heavily influenced by the Colonial Marines Drop Ship from the Aliens movie).

The Decree of Ruin warpack's art looks to be taking Planetfall more literally - the act of something falling to a planet. My own thought is that the art shows multiple Ork Roks, which is a meteor converted into spaceship, aimed at the planet surface as a typically orky haphazard means of space-to-planet deployment.


Decree of Ruin

In the fiction, I can't find any specific reference to a Decree of Ruin, though the term Decree is almost always used in the context of the Imperium.

Examples include the Decree Passive, which forbade the Ecclesiarchy from holding men under arms, the Decree of Nikaea that forbade the Space Marine Legions from using psykers, and the Decree Assassinorum, a kind of mission statement of badassery from the Officio Assassinorum.

Ruin, meanwhile, is a word used almost always in the context of chaos, though of course it has been used in passing with regards to other faction. The four Chaos Gods, for example, are often known as the Ruinous Powers, there's a chaos titan legion called the Lords of Ruin, a chaos-centred audio-book entitled Echoes of Ruin, and a Nurglish coalition called the Servant of Ruin.

In this context, I think that FFG have just put together two 40k-sounding words that seem to go well together, and have a suitably ominous feel to them.

However, if I were to engage in a little headcanon, I'd like to more closely associate the term with the Terminus Decree, a highly secret set of orders and protocols in the Grey Knights Fortress Monastery on Titan, accessible only to the Supreme Grand Master, and to be opened in the most extreme of circumstances - when humanity is on the brink of extinction and destruction. Its not known what is in the Terminus Decree, as it could be the salvation or annihilation of mankind, but if anything in the game lore deserves the title "Decree of Ruin", it is this!



Commander Starblaze Signature Squad

Commander Starblaze

Some warlords have massive game implications off a single paragraph of rules text. Baharroth manages the same off a single word: Mobile.

Starblaze? 4 lines of rules to say he has Astra Militarum allies, and 6 more to say that he can call them to his side. Its a lot of rules to reflect a small fictional implication: this Tau leads humans to war.

If you recall back to the original Chime of Eons article on the Tau, I commented on the oddness of the Tau position in the alliance wheel, saying if anything that the Astra Militarum should be a valid alliance, representing the fact that many humans have gone over to the Tau Empire to serve the Greater Good. That's what this warlord represents: a fluffier alliance than the default one.

The Tau Empire is somewhat different from the Imperium, not just in its fluff but also in its outlook. While they (like the humans) believe in the manifest destiny of their own race, they'd rather rule over a dominion including other alien races, while the Imperium would happily see all xenos exterminated.

The Tau race's first contact with humans was when human explorators catalogued the Tau in their primitive form. The Tau Empire's first contact, however, was with rogue traders and pirates on the coreward edge of the Damocles Gulf, sometimes met with hostility, and sometimes with trade and diplomacy.
At first the Tau simply didn't understand the extent of the human Imperium, treating encountered humans as just another minor alien race, much like the Kroot or Vespid. However over time they became aware that the humans they were encountering were just the scattered and forgotten outliers of a galactic civilisation vast almost beyond comprehension.

At the end of the 2nd Sphere Expansion, the Tau crossed the Damocles Gulf and encountered human-held worlds of the Timbra sub-sector. At the direction of the Ethereals, the Fire Caste's desire to militarily engage was held back, and the Water Caste moved in, trading superior Tau farming and industrial technology to the humans, and arming dissident anti-Imperium factions. Then, in one swoop, they closed their strategy with subverted Planetary Governors declaring en masse for the Tau.

The Imperium's response to this was the Damocles Gulf Crusade, the first interstellar war of note that the Tau had to fight.

The Tau call humans Gue'la, because GW does love its simian puns (the Eldar, incidentally, call humans Mon-Keigh). From this we also get Gue'vesa, which is "human helper", or a human loyal to the Tau Empire, and Gue'vesa'la (human soldier of the Empire, using the same suffix as Shas'la for a tau soldier).

If we're being really strict to fluff, its likely that Gue'vesa'la don't really resemble Astra Militarum troops much, and thus the Astra Militarum common card pool isn't that appropriate for them. However, if we squint a little, its a good enough fluff picture for the LCG.

The art here shows our hero in a Crisis battlesuit (and sadly here, my Tau-specific fluffology is failing in being able to tell the exact model of battlesuit) armed with a burst cannon and a fusion blaster. I'm placing the sept colours as those of Dal'yth a world known for its high levels of contact with alien species, though I may be wrong.

Dal'yth was also significant in Tau history as being the Sept World where the Imperial forces of the Damocles Gulf Crusade were finally brought to a halt.

Searing Burst Cannon

One of the cool (and according to some, unrealistic) features of current 40k is that every race and faction has a unique basis for its wargear and technology, with some overlap of principles but essentially with distinct faction identities.

The Tau Pulse Rifle is their most iconic firearm: a small arm that fires pulses of superheated plasma at near light-speed, and which is by any measure a far better gun than the lasgun of the Astra Militarum or even the holy boltgun of the Space Marines.

The Burst Cannon is basically the "gatling gun" version of the pulse rifle: spinning barrels firing off bursts of firepower at such a rate that the noise of shooting is a high pitched scream, followed by the crackling and hissing of the seared targets.

The Burst Cannon is noted as having sufficient punch to wreck light vehicles, though with the manoeuvrability of Battlesuit, its often possible to target weaker rear armour to take on larger tanks as well.

The game mechanics here are a nice representation of that: either you have the defensive solidity to shrug off the bulk of the damage, or you get wrecked totally.

Ardent Auxiliaries

The card art here shows Vespid and Kroot, two races which have appeared previously in the LCG, and which are amongst the many ally races in the Tau Empire.

The flavour text explains the ability text in a nice way, and helps build the "combined arms" flavour of the Tau as a faction. Likewise, this being a readying ability that triggers on commitment, there's a natural synergy with Experimental Devilfish that is very fluffy.

What I like best here is the combination of principles of Kauyon and Mont'ka - an ambush laid, then a killing blow delivered.


Starblaze's Outpost

The moody artwork here is quite lovely, but this is a card bereft of any fiction or context, which makes the job of this humble Chime of Eons author somewhat difficult.

What I do like here, however, is the ability text. The support creates classic Kau'yon plays, in a much more classic interpretation of the strategy than even the Kau'yon Strike card does. The poor gue'vesa gets jumped by enemy forces, but there's a sly smile on the faces of the former Iron Guard Recruits. No longer are they meat for the grinder, expendable numbers in the war of attrition. Instead, they fade back from the enemy assault, hastily evacuated by a Tau Empire that values lives more than territory, and in swoop a cadre fresh from Bork'an, to ambush the would-be attackers.

Yeah, I like this card.


Bond of Brotherhood

Despite the lack of flavor-text on this card, and despite the seriously cartoonish and silly artwork, this is a card that is very pleasing to a fluff point of view.

The game effect of this is actually so very Tau in its philosophy.

"Yes, we are all brothers and equals here for the Greater Good!

"You human soldiers, loyal and equal citizens of the Tau Empire... you charge forwards! Here's some extra ammo and big guns for you! Forward my brothers, my beloved comrades! Forward to glory!"

"Oh, us Tau guys? We'll play to our strengths. Which is shooting, from a distance. We'll be laying down supporting fire, from behind this barricade here.

"For the Greater Good!"

At the end of the battle, the humans have either been gunned down or won glory for the Empire. The some-citizens-are-more-equal-than-others Tau troops? They all seem to be wholly intact...



Broderick Worr Signature Squad

Broderick Worr

While Worr himself is a new character made for FFG (unless you count his quote in the Conquest rulebook) ther's actually a fair amount you can say about him, as Commissars are one of the most iconic parts of Astra Militarum lore.

Before we delve into that, I have to say there's something squiffy about Worr's left hand in the art. Also, lets get all the Worr puns out of the way first.
Worr, what is it good for?
There is only Worr.
Worr, Worr never changes.

Ok, that out of the way, lets talk Commissars!

The Astra Militarum is really, really big. There's likely more soldiers in the Imperial Guard than there are Tau and Eldar alive, whether civilian or combatant, and this is likely true by orders of magnitude. Every Imperial world is required to maintain its own Planetary Defence Force, and must regularly tithe a proportion of their armed forces to the Astra Militarum (a typical number being a tenth of the PDF on any given tithe).

The logistics department of the Astra Militarum is the Departmento Munitorum, and even they have only the vaguest idea about the current strength of arms of the Astra Militarum. Astropathic interstellar communication has a significant time lag, bureaucracy and inaccuracy muddles the numbers, and in a single day casualty and recruitment numbers can run into the millions.

The sheer scale of the Astra Militarum combined with the massive cultural diversity of humanity within the Imperium means that a Regiment from one world may bear almost no resemblance to one from another world. Such a disparate force has the potential to be ungovernable, impractical and ponderous (and indeed, to an extent this is the case), so the Astra Militarum must take steps to create some kind of uniformity of operating protocol, discipline and ideology.

Enter the Commissars.
The Ordo Tempestus maintains and recruits from the Schola Progenium, who in turn are supplied by the multitude of Imperial orphans whose parents have died in Imperial military service and who are funded by and staffed by the Ecclesiarchy. The Ordo Tempestus maintains the Tempestus Scions, and also provides Commissars to the Departmento Munitorum Commissariat.

The Commissariat never attaches Commissars to regiments from their homeworld, but instead ensures that a Commissar is an outsider to the Regiment: a voice of Imperial Creed and Imperial Authority that has no loyalty to the world of origin, and whose duty to the Regiment is secondary to his duty to the Emperor.

The Commissar's primary organisational role is in the retinue of the regimental commander, but not a subservient role as aide, but rather as an observer and advisor to keep the Regiment close to the Imperial Creed and the approved holy dictates of the Tacita Imperialis. In extremis, a Commissar may execute a Regimental commander and take temporary command of the regiment, though most are loathe to do this unless they have to.

In the battlefield, Commissars may lead men from the front, serving as an example of heroism. Or, they may lead men from just behind the front with pistol at the ready to shoot down any soldiers who disobeys orders or shows cowardice. Either way, a Commissar has a bolstering effect on morale!

The known named characters in the fiction that hold Commissar rank are generally interesting because of the ways they are not typical Commissars. Commissar Yarrick, for example, had a healthy disregard for Imperial authority and is almost psychotically determined to defeat his nemesis: Ghazghkull Mak Uruk Thraka.
Ibram Gaunt was unusual in his devotion to his men, and in his loyalty to the Tanith-First-And-Only, then later unusual in adopting a regimental command role.
My own favourite, Caiphas Cain, was lauded as a venerated hero of the Imperium, but was actually a "scoundrel and self-seeking rogue", ever seeking the easy life, and only ever showing courage for the sake of his reputation and the illusion of heroism. Despite low motivations, his actions made him a hero, and despite deep character flaws he remained uncorrupted and resoundingly successful in his career.

I can actually see why Worr is a better choice than any of these more notable Commissars: in the LCG he represents Commissars in general, rather than the cult of personality around a pre-existing named character. His signature cards are supremely fluffy in this respect, representing the typical role and methodology of the Commissars.

You can always tell when I like a card, because I witter on for far too long. Such are the dangers of writers without editors!

Anxious Infantry Platoon

This card is excellently Astra Militarum, as it reminds us that the organisation's chief strength is that they are a cheap source of quantities of manpower, not that they are of exceptional quality.

I love the idea of a platoon that needs to be induced to stay in the fight, whether its by direct payment or by the threat of death. I also like that in combination with Worr himself, they're much more likely to stay put if you put them inside a Stronghold. After all, if you're interested in self-preservation, where better to be than inside a fortress?

Forward Barracks

The greatest thing about this card is what it tells you about the Astra Militarum in this LCG in general.

One of my biggest gripes about the core game was the lack of sense of scale, with piddling little forces of a handful of soldiers fighting over whole planets.

This card implies that when an Astra Militarum deck goes to war there's actually a vast number of Guardsmen in the warzone, its just a case of getting them to the battle fast enough to make a difference.

The philosophy of this card seems to be that given enough time and enough bodies to soak up enemy fire, the sheer numbers of the Astra Militarum will eventually win through.

How can you not love a card like that?

Summary Execution

Amongst the rank and file of the Imperial Guard, the Commissars are most notable for one thing: their right to carry out battlefield executions on any troop that is disobeying orders or showing cowardice.

In various editions of the wargame, this has been shown as the Commissar getting to gun down one of his own men to turn a failed Morale check into a passed one, a game rule that one of my opponents remarked upon as "so f**king metal".

If anything, the LCG version is even more metal. Now the Commissar is not just taking down one retreating soldier. Now, he's demolishing a whole unit of troops in order to bolster the morale of an army, and not necessarily the ones that were going to retreat. So bad-ass is this move that it creates a virtual "stronghold" in terms of morale.

I love the art of this card especially: such is the nature of 40k that few cards convey any emotion other than "raaargh!". This one is different, with the body language and facial expressions telling all.

Commissarial Bolt Pistol

Commissars carry a side arm, usually a las-pistol, but if they are lucky a bolt pistol or plasma pistol. There's nothing special about this piece of equipment, so it has to be questioned why it adds so much firepower to the warlord.

The Reaction is kind of odd as well: your own units die, and the Commissar increases his firepower as a result?

More broadly, if we don't look at the detail, this card does give the feel of an Astra Militarum warlord who achieves victory by sacrificing his men, and that at least is quite fluffy.



Other Cards

Accept any Challenge

The Black Templars are new to the LCG, but a well fleshed out Chapter in the lore. We'll come back to them in extensive detail when we reach the new Black Templars warlord, but for now, let's just summarise them as "crusading knights in space".

As the traits imply, the Black Templars are all about Vows. These sacred promises are "Suffer Not the Unclean to Live", "Uphold the Honour of the Emperor", "Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch" and "Accept Any Challenge No Matter the Odds."

Each has its own special rules in the wargame, and the last one gives an "invulnerable save" that gives Black Templars about a 1 in 3 chance of shrugging off pretty much any injury. That's a little odd, but I suppose it represents the sheer determination of a vow-bound Templar, able to ignore being shot with a volcano cannon because they are so damn religious.

The LCG effect is odder still, with the vow seeming to be translated as "we vow to deliver reinforcements to Black Templar domianted armies that capture ancient archaeotech." Yep, that makes exactly zero sense.

On the upside, the art is very appropriate for the card title, depicting an Emperor's Champion, who is a sword-wielding zealot maniac that the Black Templars always push to the front of their armies to challenge enemies to duels of holy honour, and who indeed are sworn never to refuse any challenge to a duel.

Acid Maw

Those crazy tyranids and their biomorphs, eh?

As the name of the card suggests, this reflects a monster whose mouth has been modified so that it is full of acid, which is pretty much me the morning after a heavy night out.

Its an exciting effect from a gamist point of view, though it doesn't make a lot of sense in the fluff. Are you an Indomitable Space Marine who can shrug off a Leman Russ Battle Cannon shot to the face? My spit has totally made you, uh, domitable! Got yourself a crazy Ork Kustom Field Generator that bounces incoming kinetic energy all over the place? Behold the fearsome power of my corrosive mouth! Your soldiers saving you from harm in a Glorious Intervention and a cry of "Look Out Sir!"? Well, they're not getting in the way of MY bad breath.

Oh, and never mind that my tyranid bio-attack that represents my main armament is a blast of bio-plasma, or a bio-propelled explosive that I bio-fling across the bio-battlefield, or a big ass bio-explosive bio-firegun on my bio-back. I have acid coming out of my teeth! You can't shield me now!

Also, can you pass that gaviscon?

Deathly Web Shrine

I admit, when I saw Baharroth had a new option to make his deck work well, I squeaked a little with excitement, and my wife gave me a funny look.

Ah yes, this most excellent card representing the mobility of the Eldar and their ability to outmanoeuvre their foes. The Eldar fight a battle of cleverness and guile, with superior technology and speed giving them the opportunity to strike a killing blow before their foes can even raise their guns. The Swooping Hawks, the Soaring Falcon, the Wildrider Squadron: all these forces can use their sudden approach to catch an enemy off guard and...

Hang on a second, isn't this a Warp Spider shrine? Well, I guess that makes sense: the Warp Spiders are the Aspect most skilled in the art of surprise attack, using their warp jump packs to appear in the midst of the enemy, and their short ranged but deadly death spinners to make a mess of opponents. Clearly, this is a card that should enhance our Warp Spiders!

So let's look through the card pool and see how many Warp Spiders we have access to. Ah here we are, Biel Tan Warp Spiders. Well, thats a start... but wait, this card does absolutely nothing with Deathly Web Shrine.

To be fair, the fluff failing here is in the Core Set, not in this pack, but its quite jarring to have warp spiders and a warp spider shrine, and to have absolutely no link between the two mechanically.

Holding Cell

Well, this is more like it. The Dark Eldar raid for slaves and captives, right? That means that prison-related tech is somewhat appropriate for them, and thus the Holding Cell is an appropriately fluffy card.

Except, of course, it makes no damn sense at all. So you have captured a 10th Company Scout. Does this now mean that other 10th Company Scouts can't be used by the enemy? The whole point of non-Unique Army Units is that each card represents a different entity: its just silly to think that a warmaster would hold off deploying troops because the Dark Eldar have captured other troops of the same type.

On the upside, the card does add to the Dark Eldar meta-feel of being the "choke" faction, that gradually tightens a painful noose around the opponent. That the card is pretty rubbish at doing so (see my Warpack Review) is besides the point.

Also on the upside, this has to be one of the most awesome 40k art pieces I've ever seen.


Lone Wolves

Lone Wolves are actually an organisationally recognised soldier-type in the Space Wolves Chapter. The logistically simplistic way this Chapter approaches packs (squads) is that when Space Wolf Space Marines start off as Blood Claws they get put in a big group of 10 or more. Then, as they progress through the ranks they stay in the same squad, so Grey Hunter packs tend to be a bit smaller than Blood Claw packs, and Long Fang packs the smallest of all.

If at some stage every member of a pack save one gets killed, then the last one gets called a Lone Wolf.

A saner Chapter might reassign such an individual to a new pack, but Space Wolves are not a sane Chapter. Instead, these Lone Wolves are sent out on solo missions, and sent into the heart of danger where they can meet a glorious death, because lets face it, other happy family pack-member Space Wolves don't want their emo glumness getting in the way of a good carouse and drinking session.

The game mechanics here are good fun and excellently fluffy: they only head off to places solo, and they always aim at the biggest target. They're also likely to die pretty quickly, as the enemy Warlord gets to punch them first, but likely they'll do some damage on the way out.


Lucky Warpaint

We've met and described the Deathskulls ork clan before with the Deathskull Lootas card in the Howl of Blackmane pack. That card focused on one aspect of the clan - their propensity to nick anything not nailed down, and if something is nailed down, to nick the nails too.

This card looks at a different aspect of their orky kultur, which is their superstition, and in particular their belief that blue is a lucky colour.

Orks being orks, of course, if they believe something hard enough and in sufficient numbers, it tends to be true. Thus with orks, red wunz goes faster, and blue is indeed lucky. This likely leads to some feeling of trepidation when Deathskulls go up against Ultramarines, of course.


Prophetic Farseer

This is an oddly titled card, as all Farseers are prophetic: that's what makes them Farseers. However, the card effect is quite nice in representing the Eldar approach to psionics, which is the manipulation of the paths of fate to find the best way forward for their race.

Its a shame that after the initial usage this becomes a beat-stick unit, and that the effect is so weak. I'd have liked this unit to just be a Runecasting Seer rather than a Prophetic Farseer, and to have had weaker stats and lower cost, as its kind of pathetic that an individual as notable as a Farseer (which in Eldar terms, is about as high ranking as you can get) is treated as a rank and file unit.

I suspect, however, that the purpose of this card is to give a more thematic feel overall to the upcoming Eldar Warlord who gives bonuses based on the Psyker and Warrior trait. Within that context, this card gives a nice feel of psykers supporting a war effort primarily executed by the warrior paths.


Ravening Psychopath

It is basically impossible for me to dislike this card. The card name and the art alone are enough for me to enjoy its presence in the game. Fluffwise its great to see that all Cultists are not the same, and for the flavour of the chaos gods (Khorne in this case) to come through in the ability text.

The only complaint from me as a fluff-lover is actually my favourite thing about the card as a gamer: the lovely synergy of this card with Zarathur.

Part of me, the Chime of Eons part of my soul, wishes that traits were more thematic and that each Chaos God trait meant that the card was designed to be best with the Warlord of the same Chaos God trait. As it is, Tzeentch seems to rule all when it comes to synergies, as pretty much any ability based damage dealing is always going to look better out of Zarathur.


Rickety Warbuggy

Shamefully, the gamer part of me has been so excited about the stats, efficiency and game implications of this card that I hadn't noticed till now just how unfluffy it is.

A warbuggy is a 2-man orkish fast attack vehicle, notoriously frail but highly beloved of Speed Freeks and Evil Sunz for the sheer rush of pelting across open plains on an open top high speed vehicle, while laying down copious amounts of firepower. Orks being notoriously bad shots, the armaments have to compensate with sheer volume of fire.

A specialisation named "Goes Fasta" makes sense. The specialisation only triggering when you don't have initiative is a beautiful bit of game design, but is devoid of any narrative meaning. An immunity to damage when non-Warbuggy army units are about: well that makes no sense in mechanical terms either, so much so that the only mental association that fans have made with this card is "a bit like a budget-version of Honored Librarian."

Conceptually, this card is flawed, even if mechanically its one of the most exciting cards in the pack.


Righteous Initiate

As mentioned before, we'll come back to the Black Templars in detail once we get the warlord Chaplain Mavros.

For context, however, its worth noting that the Black Templars are NOT a codex chapter, and have different ranks and structure to other chapters. Notably, their infantry squads field Neophytes (new inexperienced marines) alongside Initiates (rank and file troopers, the Black Templar equivalent of Tactical Marines).

The old issue of scale raises its head again here: it seems a little unfair that a single member of a Black Templars squad gets the same resource cost and power level as a whole Ultramarines Tactical Squad or Imperial Fist Siege Force.

Setting that aside, the introduction of the Unstoppable trait on a Black Templars unit is very appropriate: as gene-stock descendants of Primarch Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists they have stubborness and determination in their very DNA, and it makes sense that if you shoot them this just makes them advance towards you all the more implacably and determinedly. Its a shame that the Imperial Fists themselves so far introduced don't share some sort of thematic mechanical unity, as such groupings of similar mechanics make a game feel richer in its fiction.


Sowing Chaos

Blue planets represent archaeotech, which is powerful but often heretical, and this card would seem to show why that should be the case.

Its a hard card to interpret without the context of the flavour text and art, but it seems to suggest that the archaeotech in question has daemonic associations.

I don't particularly like that the artworks visual focus point is a Black Templar space marine, and clearly the provenance of this piece is in art done for the Black Templars, not for chaos. Thats a dubious art direction choice in my mind, reminiscent of the misplaced visual focus point of The Emperor's Warrant.


Stalking Ur-Ghul

In the later editions of the Dark Eldar codices, the faction was given more distinct identity in the wargame with a new miniature range, a makeover of their aesthetic and an increased emphasis on the monstrous.

The Ur-Ghuls were introduced the same time as the Ssylth and various other beasties, as a fancy option for Archons who want a slightly more freaky retinue.

Ur-Ghuls are xenos native to the ziggurat labyrinths beneath the city of Shaa-dom. Sightless but with an enhanced sense of smell (yep, those four holes are nostrils, not eyes) they track and stalk their prey relentlessly.

Shaa-dom itself has a fun history as well: once a satellite city to Commorragh, its overlord was starting to get a little too powerful, and planned to challenge the dominance of Asdrubael Vect. In response, Vect captured a human starship, and sent it through a portal to crash into Shaa-dom, with the detonating warp drives fracturing that realm and opening it to the daemons of warpspace.

While my warpack reviews have shown my disdain for this card mechanically, I have to admit that fiction-wise it has some nice features. It needs a trail of blood to hunt down its foes, as otherwise its striking blindly. It can't hunt warlords because... because... game balance I guess.

Striking Ravener

Raveners are fast-assault specialists, burrowing through the ground at breakneck speeds, then bursting up amongst the enemy to lay about them with their scything talons. Specialised senses let them pick up the electromagnetic transmissions of voxcast communicators and even of teleport homers.

IRL, the Ravener is something of a memetic lovechild of Games Workshop and Blizzard (the makers of Starcraft). Its kind of obvious that Starcraft took inspiration from the Tyranids when they designed the Zerg, and its kind of obvious that GW copied the idea of burrowed Tyranid units ambushing foes from the Zerg. Even the aesthetic of the Ravener resembles the Hydralisk from Starcraft. As neither company seems to object, I think this cross fertilisation of ideas remains a good thing, making both IPs stronger.

Its odd to see this unit designated an Elite (and one that is so hard hitting as well) but the scale of this game is one of my established gripes. In a broader sense, the ability is a very nice way of showing the devastation this unit can wreak. I'd have been even happier fluff-wise if it had Ambush instead of 2 command icons, and if it was a little more of a glass cannon.

Wraithguard Revenant

Its very appropriate that a Wraithguard unit is one with the ability to return from the grave, and I love the possibilities of a spirit / drone themed deck that is rapidly emerging, even if a lot of the obvious elements to make it work are unfluffy (Earth Caste Technician, for example).

Regarding the fluff of this card, this is something we've actually looked at before way back in the Core Set, for Iyanden Wraithguard. A lot of my complaints about that card back then are now rectified: this is an appropriately command-free unit, and it has a weird sort of resilience in that even if it is knocked down it'll keep getting up again. Even the different attack stats can be accounted for, as the original Wraithguard card is depicted as being armed with D-Cannon, and these are armed with D-Scythes, which are far less useful against heavy armour.

One notable thing about a D-Scythe, however, is that it emits no visible blast and causes no obvious physical damage, with targets instead dropping dead for no apparent reason, as their souls are severed from their bodies. Someone likely should have told the artist this...


Conclusions

Both as a fan of the game and the fiction, its incredibly exciting to see the cardpool expanding again after such a long hiatus.

The additions to the game still have some of the longstanding flaws in representing the fiction, many of which are unlikely to ever be fixed. However, broadly speaking, FFG is actually getting better and better at this, with the cards moving closer to the original fiction than they were before. We're no longer seeing cards as blatantly unfluffy as Vespid Stingwings that can neither fly, nor are mobile, and hit at long range with their short range weapons. Instead, fluff inaccuracies look to be conscious choices, compromising perfect depiction accuracy for the sake of excellent gameplay, which as a tournament player I can entirely appreciate as necessary.

My main complaint as a gamer is that I only have a finite number of Astra Militarum cards, so its going to be hard to try out both new warlords at once. Mechanically, I love Starblaze, but as a fan of the fiction of the Imperium, I think I absolutely have to take to the field with Worr first.

See you all next time, hopefully in the not too distant future! Boundless Hate approaches, and with it, my favourite of all the Chaos Gods. So keep that blood spilling and those severed heads flying: Khorne demands it!