The Chime of Eons - Neutrals

Every servant has his place, no matter how lowly or modest. To know it is his greatest comfort, to excel within it is his greatest solace, and his master's contentment is his greatest reward.

- Codex Administratum


Many thanks to you all for reading The Chime of Eons thus far, and struggling through the ranting and the joyful "squee" noises as I examined the worst and best fluffed cards of the core set.

Here, at the end of the first series, we take a look at the handful of cards that remain. For some, there is not much to say at all!

Sadly, I've found that as articles in the series go, this is proving to be one where I've had to level the most criticism, as the fluff-concordancy of the cards is weaker in the neutral and planet cards than in the faction. It pains me to write this, as being a dedicated fan of the game I want you to hear nothing but praise for what is a truly excellent gaming product! If you haven't yet bought this game, please don't be put off: it's well worth it!

To balance the negativity of these card assessments, I've aimed to end on a more positive note: those who want to skip straight to that, please feel free!

The Neutral Cards
Neutral Meta-fluff score: 2/5

How can we judge the meta-fluff score of the cards that aren't of a faction?

The obvious choice is to see how well they represent true neutrality. Are these really cards that we expect any and all factions to be able to include? Are the unit cards allies that would work for anyone, and are the events representative of strategies that any faction would employ?

Well, there's only six cards, so we'll look at them one by one. Broadly speaking though, we have a mixed but generally weak bunch, so lets call it 2/5!

Fall Back! (Core Set) +
Overall Fluffiness Rating: 2/5

(Apologies for the weird character string in the title above. For some reason, this is how the deckbuilder insists the popupcode has to look for the link to work)
Falling back is pretty much a universal option for the factions of 40k, with every faction capable of making tactical retreats. Some units within some armies are frenzied, fearless or stubborn, however, and so would never fall back regardless of the situation. Daemons tend to be too enamoured with battle to ever retreat, while an Imperial Fist space marine will almost always hold the line even if it is tactically unwise because of their sense of honour.

The card art is a little off on this card, as it clearly shows a panicked rout rather than a disciplined withdrawal. As I mentioned in the Astra Militarum article, I personally think the art for Glorious Intervention would sit better here. Also, it seems a shame to have to include cards with Imperial Guard art within decks of other factions. Something more generic might have suited better.

The greatest annoyance here, however, is that it only targets Elite units, which doesn't make a great deal of sense to me. Are we saying that only Elite units make tactical withdrawals from combat? This in itself would be fine if Elite was a trait that was assigned to indicate tactical prowess rather than "Cost > 4 ", and if the elite units didn't include at least a couple of candidates for being most likely to stick around rather than retreat. Its much easier to imagine Tactical Squad Cardinis making a strategic withdrawal than it is for a Vicious Bloodletter.

On the upside, its good to see a card that represents a simple and straightforward combat tactic: running away to fight another day!

I'd actually to see more generic neutral tactics cards to allow players to tailor the feel of their decks, as this gives a nice emergent play feel of you as your warlord pre-planning your battle strategy, then seeing if you can execute it in the crucible of war!

No Mercy (Core Set) +
Overall Fluffiness Rating: 2/5

The art depicts a Chaos Space Marine of undefined Legion shooting apart Necron Scarabs. I'm thinking that the art probably makes most sense, however, if you look it as being the Necrons not showing mercy. One would hardly think of attacking automata swarms as being merciless, any more than attacking a bunker is merciless. Rather, what we're shown in the art is a necron unit that is typically used to destroy heavily armoured targets, with specialised weapons that deal with this.

Its not clear why being merciless lets you bypass shielding. The fairly generic card name doesn't suggest to me anti-shielding properties. Of course, in 40k in general, while shields exist they aren't universal to every faction nor to every unit, so its also unclear what shielding represents.

If you look at this as an abstract combat effect dealing with an abstract defence effect, then I suppose its necessary to have a fairly generic card name.

While I applaud the design choice of shielding effects (and the clever way it allows card advantage to be turned into tactical advantage in combat) the whole game mechanic is on iffy ground fluff-wise.


Promethium Mine (Core Set) +
Overall Fluffiness Rating: 3/5

Promethium, in 40k fluff, is a flammable fuelstuff, and may well refer to multiple different materials in the same way as the modern usage of the term "fossil fuels". Its noted in particular to be used in Flamer weapons but has also been noted to be involved in synthetics, plastics, and so on. The main difference between promethium and fossil fuels in general is that promethium is often reported to be so volatile that it ignites immediately on contact with normal atmospheric levels of oxygen. However, promethium is also noted to be flammable even underwater or in the vacuum of space.

Promethium is sometimes harvested from gas giants, from mining of fossil fuels and from rare ice-extraction processing plants.

The art shown looks more like a deep stone quarry than a drilling rig or fossil fuel mine, though we could conceivably say they're just digging deep to the promethium source far below. The stepwise cutting of the rock and the nearby cranes definitely say quarry to me, however.

The game effect here is solid enough in one sense, in that an initial capital outlay later feeds back to provide greater resources, but eventually the mine runs dry. I'm pleased on that level, as it suggests the LCG simulating not only the frontline of a war effort, but also the logistics of the Imperium. However, this doesn't sit well with how the rest of the game depicts things: we don't see the Mechanicus Forge Worlds, or the Agri-planets, or the Departmento Munitorum, so it seems odd to see a civilian mining operation.

The greater fluff disconnect here is that factions outside of the Imperium generally aren't much interested in Promethium, and indeed even the Imperium isn't ranking it highly in the list of raw materials for warfare. The Eldar, for example, form their wargear from Wraithbone which is powered by the psycho-active conduction of warpspace energies. They don't really bother with mining or refining fossil fuels.


Promotion (Core Set) +
Overall Fluffiness Rating: 3/5

This is a well designed card, in that it helps us realize that command icons actually represent leadership abilities in some way. What is very nice to see here is the emergent play restrictions, where we notice as we play that you can't promote a Snotling or Khymera, or a Murder of Razorwings.

The trait choice of Skill and the fact that this Promotion requires a card suggests your Warlord taking the time to find a suitable candidate amongst the massed troops, and revealing their potential by promoting them.

Rogue Trader (Core Set) +
Overall Fluffiness Rating: 0/5

Its entirely apt that we see a card of this name in the Core Set.

As I'm sure you've realised by this stage, the words Rogue Trader have a long association with Warhammer 40,000:

• The first edition of the wargame was called Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.
• FFG themselves have released a Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying game called Rogue Trader.
• Black Library, the Games Workshop novel publisher, has two novels that are part of a Rogue Trader series.
• The Rogue Trader himself is considered to be the ultimate heroic protagonist of the original game, with more wargear options, more fluff dedicated to him and a better all round battle effectiveness than even Inquisitors or Space Marine heroes.

Since that first edition, Rogue Traders have moved from foreground to background, and they're not statted up at all in the current edition of the wargame. Still, thanks in particular to FFG's roleplaying game, they remain firmly in the centre of the imaginations of 40k fans!

In the 40k fiction, a Rogue Trader is at his simplest level a merchant who is trusted and allowed by the Imperium to trade freely.

The Merchant Fleet (that comprises the majority of spaceships in the Imperium, and is separate to the military of the Imperial Navy) has each captain operating under a different level of Charter.

Fleet Charters are the most common and least prestigious: a grant to a captain to run a fixed route or routes, with a fixed cargo type. These will be assigned by Administratum to ensure that supply routes and trade are sustained and steady, but can be reassigned at short notice.

Hereditary Charters are the same, but can be passed from a Captain to his heir (normally via familial inheritance, but sometimes through other means). Essentially the Captain owns the charter, and can dispose of it as he will. The autocratic Imperium can remove a Heriditary Charter, of course, but its an act akin to the seizing of private property, as opposed to that of terminating a contract or employment.

Free Charters allow trade anywhere within a Segmentum, though with limitations to Imperial worlds only, and normally with multiple additional terms and conditions limiting types of trade. Free Charters are normally Fleet Charters, and a common limitation is to be obligated to avoid competition with existing chartered routes - this can make them less desirable, but for an entrepreneurial captain willing to take risks, potentially more profitable.

Hereditary Free Charters are the best of all standard Merchant Fleet charters: a combination of Free Charter and Heriditary status, and such a charter is frequently the source of the wealth of Imperial nobility, and much sought after.

However there is one step higher than this: the Warrant of Trade possessed by a Rogue Trader means that the Captain and his ship are given free reign to trade as they will, anywhere within the Imperium, anywhere beyond it and with any goods they wish. The limits of their power are almost non-existent: in the Imperium's name they can raise armies and conquer planets, they can explore uncharted space and stake a claim for the Imperium, they can engage in diplomacy with alien species, or declare war on the Imperium's behalf, they can seize property if they feel it is justified.

Warrants of Trade are not easy to come by, and many originate from the pre-Heresy era, issued by the Emperor himself, by his Primarchs, or by the High Lords of Terra. This exceptional legal status tends to be issued only to the most trusted and proven of Imperial servants.

In the original fluff, Rogue Traders were of such status that a Warrant of Trade was even more desirable than an Inquisitorial seal, as such that an honoured and long serving Inquisitor Lord might be rewarded with one for a profitable retirement. In the current fluff, Rogue Traders are now below the authority of beholden to the justice of the Imperial inquisition, but they are certainly above the dictates of anyone else. Rogue Traders aren't part of the Merchant Fleet, they don't have to listen to Administratum and in military and temporal power level they can be as puissant as the greatest of Space Marine chapter masters or Imperial Guard warmasters.

Coming back to the card, we have a unit that while Imperial in origin makes full sense as a neutral: their mandated authority means they can send their support wherever they deem fit.

On the other hand, their power level is miniscule. A 1/0/1 card that gives a small resource bonus is not representative of the exceptional status of these individuals. A Rogue Trader should be a powerful unique character at least, or as a Warlord card if we're being more accurate. It makes absolutely no sense for a Rogue Trader to stop at a single planet, then to be outfought by a Guardsman. It makes no sense either for a Warlord who has recruited 3 Rogue Traders as allies to see those allies as being essentially disposable, and the least part of his army.

In design functionality terms, this card's neutral status, effect, cost and stats are all excellent for the game. The only thing that doesn't fit is the card's name, and the fluff that it represents.


Void Pirate (Core Set) +
Overall Fluffiness Rating: 3/5
In contrast to that long-winded complaint, we have a card that is perfectly functional and sensibly generic. My only concern here is that he gives cards, when you'd expect a pirate ally to bring you resources. Its not entirely clear what cards and resources represent in fluff terms though, as they're broad abstractions of "options" and "logistics" respectively.

Void Pirate is fine as a card, though if it were up to me, I'd have made this and Rogue Trader into support cards that are played at planets, but which represent a Beachhead and Logistics Support. This would, of course, be within a rules-set that looks almost unrecognizably different and within a game at a vastly different scale!



The Planets
Planets Meta-fluff score: 1/5

I said we'd touch briefly on the planets, so here we go!

Atrox Prime, Barlus, Carnath, Elouith, Ferrin, Iridial, Osus IV, Plannum, Tarrus and Y'varn are the ten planets that we are told are the key battlegrounds and locations of the Traxis Sector.

They, like the Traxis Sector, are entirely new to the fluff of 40k. We have no fiction references to explain these planets' strategic importance, nor any explanation of why they have the planet types, abilities or command rewards that they do.

Before we go further I should observe that from a mechanical point of view, the planet array, the First Battle mechanic and the planet types are all GREAT game mechanics at the core of a wonderful game.

In fluff terms, however, the game fails to make sense on many levels. We have no indication as to why these planets are important to all the various possible faction match ups, and indeed it seems very unlikely that every faction will pursue the same sort of war goals. While the Dark Eldar seek to take as many slaves as possible, the Orks are just looking for as big a fight as possible and the Tyranids seek biomass to consume. We also have a scale mismatch (which I have mentioned many a time) where tiny tiny armies are working to conquer multiple planets, and where a Colonel Straken, an Ogryn and a Ratling Deadeye could face off across Commander Shadowsun and a Recon Drone and decide the fate of a planet. The fact that these are planets at all makes the Mobile trait fail to make sense on almost every occasion, and despite the varying game effects these planets lack character: aside from their stats and rules, there's no sense that these places mean anything at all to the eye of imagination.

By creating a new Sector and new planets to fight across, we've lost the opportunity to see vast wars that see Armageddon fall to a chaos invasion, and Terra threatened by Necrons arising out of Mars. We don't get to see a Hive Fleet descending on Craftworld Iyanden, or Catachan raided by the Dark Eldar.

As the generic approach was chosen, it almost makes no sense to pick names for the planets at all. Generic planet titles like "Forge World", "Hive World", "Asteroid Mines" would have been oddly, more evocative than the random collection of syllables we have.

The art rescues us to a degree, as it tells a story in itself. The Emperor Titan, ominously dominating the skyline at Iridial, the skies filled with gunfire as the guns of Atrox Prime fire at an unseen enemy... these things suggest a great story hidden away. Sadly, these artworks stand alone, and while they might hint at the reasons for the cards' battle abilities its just not enough for me to praise.


The Best of the Best!

A barrage of negativity seems a poor way to end this series of articles, especially for a game that is awesome as Conquest, so lets be sure to note that while the Neutral and Planet cards are a slight letdown for a fluff-lover like myself, we've also had some amazing high points.

My top four picks fluffiest moments of the Core Set, which I hope you'll go back and revisit were:

Gift of Isha (Eldar) - A great reference to marginally obscure fluff, with card art and game effect that leads us deep into the fiction if we care to stop and consider the card for more than a few moments. This card wins my "Card that made me think the game designers really do care about great fluff" award.

Snotling Attack (Ork) - Not a card I gave a 5/5 score to, but one tied to one of my favourite stories in 40k fiction: the secret history of the Snotlings! This card is even more darkly humorous once you realise just who you're sending into battle to die in droves! This card wins my "Card that is so much better when you engage with the game fiction" award.

Pact of the Haemonculi (Dark Eldar) - A wonderful card that has an excellently horrifying feel that utterly typifies the faction: sadistic cruelty as you break open your opponent's game plan, callous calculation as you dispose of your expendable minions, a feeling of a deal made with the devil and of a world that exists beyond the game elements in play. This card wins my "Card that creates compelling narrative in emergent play" award.

Murder Cogitator (Chaos) - This is a card that represents something new to the fiction, yet feels completely natural as part of the 40k universe. This is probably the hardest thing for a newcomer game to the IP to do: to not just echo that which has gone before, but to make it their own by creating new background-consistent fiction. This task is doubly hard for an LCG, given the limited text on a card that can sell a concept. This card wins my "Card that adds to the lore of 40k best" award.


What's Next?

The Warlord Cycle rapidly approaches (and by time of publishing may hopefully already be here). From the previews, we have some real treats for lovers of the fiction of 40k. The Space Wolves! The Ethereals! A first class signature character Inquisitor!

Hopefully, I've engaged you enough in the fiction of the game to keep you coming back to The Chime of Eons!
There's loads of great stuff to discover about the cards that are upcoming, and with all the oft-repeated complaints I've made in this first series (problems of scale, of certain traits, and so on) we can take those criticisms as "stated by default" and focus on more (hopefully) interesting observations and reflections.

Till then, keep gaming!




The Secret Small Font Footnote Quiz!
For those of you who are fluff lovers immersed in this game's fiction, here's some bonus material... an end of series quiz!
I've made these questions hard as I can, but with only one answer to each. I'm hoping they'll be things you can't google, though with some work you might find the answers through internet searches. The real goal here, however, is to separate the mere fans from the true fanatics! Let the game commence!
1) On Holy Terra there resides an individual whose death would result in Imperial warp travel becoming near crippled. He is one of a kind, a powerful psychic. He is not the Emperor. Who is he?
2) Eternal candle, serenity, cleansing water, torch. What links these things?
3) His name is Khan, and he's a Space Marine described in a 40k-related fiction piece. He's not of the White Scars chapter (or Legion). What Chapter is he, and which enemy does he hate most?
4) A chapter begins with a lion with a sword, looking to break a cypher. Who am I referring to?
5) What has five deathspitters, but is mostly dangerous because of what is inside it?