The Chime of Eons - The Gift of the Ethereals

"I have taken great pains not to laugh at the actions of aliens, nor to weep at them or to hate them, but to understand them."

- Aun'shi

"Our tanks were useless. As soon as we broke cover, their battlesuits' heavy guns were locked on to us. I swear it was as though they had someone nearby aiming for them before they shot. And when they did shoot...Emperor's mercy! Their guns punched through our armour like it was paper. all I could see were trails of fire where the projectiles had ignited the air."

- Guardsman Cauley, 25th Graian Rifles

"One of their light walkers carried a weapon of lethal effect. It fired a form of ultra-high velocity projectile. I saw one of our tanks after having been hit by it. There was a small hole punched in either flank - one the projectile's entry point, the other its exit. The tiny munition had passed through the vehicle with such speed that everything within the hull not welded down had been sucked out through the exit hole. Including the crew. We never identified their bodies, for all that remained of them was a red stain upon the ground, extending some twenty metres from the wreck."

- Major Kane, Mordant 607th Heavy Armoured Regt.

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Welcome back to the Chime of Eons, now settled into a nice and steady monthly pattern, frequent enough to keep me writing but sparse enough for my poor shattered sanity!

There's no mistaking here: Warhammer 40,000 Conquest is a game that is coming into adulthood! While the core set was likeably complete, we're finding that the addition of the Warpacks is adding new dimensions to this game, taking it in unexpected directions and turning it into a competitive LCG that requires deckbuilding skill and clever piloting in equal measures. When top players are disagreeing over the relative strength of cards and decks, you know that the game has reached a complexity threshold to become something truly interesting!

If you haven't bought into this game, do so now! We're at the stage of the game's life cycle where its still cheap to get a complete set, and where its complex enough that skill, not luck, is the factor that determines victory.

With the advent of the War Pack Reviews, I've decided to abandon scoring the fluffiness of cards on a 0-5 scale. Frankly, I think its confusing to have two sets of articles assigning scores on different bases, and this leaves the Chime of Eons free to talk about what really matters to me: the exciting fiction of Warhammer 40,000, which is what makes this game come to life.

I'll still be criticising and celebrating the fluffiness of cards, but will be doing so without assigning an arbitrary score.

Also, I've come a long way personally since writing the first article. Playing this game several sessions a week on octgn, and encountering a more diverse player base in real life, I feel like I can categorise myself as at least competent at playing this game now even if I know there are much better players out there. For that reason, I'm no longer going to hold back from commenting on mechanical aspects of the cards as well, at least as far as they impact on the fluffiness of the overall experience.

Fear not though, loyal readers! The emphasis of this column is very much still on the fluff of the game, not the gameplay!




Unity through Creepy Space Communism

We've introduced the Tau before:

http://www.cardgamed...s-the-tau-r1202

If you haven't already, I humbly beg you to go back to that article, which covers the basics of what this race represent in the game and in the fiction.

What we'll look at more here is how the Tau Empire itself came to be, and most notably the role of the Ethereals.

Most importantly, just what is The Gift of the Ethereals?

In early Tau history, the Tau were a primitive and warlike people. As the dominant intelligent species of their planet, they developed their technology at a far faster rate than we humans managed, and this rapid advancement outstripped their societal and cultural development.

Imagine if you will, a planet Earth where societal ideals had advanced only to the time of the Dark Ages, but where technology had reached 19th century levels.

This was essentially the state of the Tau: a mass of warring nations and ideologies, with too much firepower and aggression, all heading towards self-annihilation. In particular, the fierce warrior tribes of the plains were looking to drive the fortress-dwelling inhabitants of the valleys into extinction, and given their own war-like naturess, would likely turn on each other soon after. Even if they did not, it would only be a matter of time before the Imperium discovered them again, and a divided and war-torn Tau would be easy for humankind to purge and purify them. The Tau didn't know it, but their long term survival was being doomed by their internal strife.

This was the Mon'tau, the darkest time of Tau history.

The Ethereals would change all that.

At the fortresss city of Fio'taun the warriors of the plains had laid siege to those within. Thick walls, good preparations and technological superiority had those within surviving under assault for longer than expected, but as disease, starvation and attrition took its toll, it looked as if this beacon of Tau civilisation was going to fall to barbarians.

As the siege reached its critical moments two Tau, each radiating a strange sense of authority and power, arrived on the scene. One went to the Fortress, and asked to be let in, and could not be denied. The other walked straight into the plains warriors' camp, and straight to their general. Both seemed to have such presence and moral rightness that none would lift a hand against them.

These two persuaded the leaders to parley, and under their watchful guidance peace was established. They spoke of unity for their race, and a single destiny for all Tau people.

Most of all, they spoke of The Greater Good, a guiding philosophy that would unite their people.

This dedication to The Greater Good has led to the fanbase sometimes tagging the Tau as being as close to "good guys" as this setting has, with detractors tagging them as "space commies".

When you look at it though, the idea of the Ethereals is actually as creepy as hell!

Here we have a warlike and primitive people, fierce in spirit but on a road to self destruction. Then you have the Ethereals, who come out of nowhere, play saviour to the race and who somehow convince every one of them to accept their rulership and guidance.

To add to the creepiness, its notable that the Tau are a psychically inert and have barely any conception of psionics. The effects the Ethereals have on other Tau sound very much like the application of psionic force.

There's an old short fiction piece in White Dwarf Magazine where the Rail Rifle (now a Tau staple piece of wargear) was being prototyped and tested, and it misfires, killing the Fire Warrior testing it. The Fire Warrior commander is furious, and about to strike down the Earth Caste technician who has dared to kill his soldier with the faulty equipment. The Ethereal steps forward, and says "It was For the Greater Good", and the commander's rage dissipates, immediately, and he agrees that it is a necessary sacrifice, for the Greater Good.

That to me is really something horribly dystopian and frightening: a caste of outsiders who have such a level of control over their followers that a single phrase can dissipate emotion and free will...

Looking further at the evidence, we have Commander Farsight, once the darling of the Tau Empire, who won countless victories for the Tau Empire in the Arkunsha War and who was well recognised as a hero of the Empire, loyal to the doctrine of the Greater Good. He was then sent by Aun'va (the Tau Ethereal Supreme) on a mission across the Damocles Gulf in the Farsight Expedition, a campaign designed to raise Tau morale and expand the Empire. However, following the battle of Arthas Moloch, Farsight realised that the interests of the Ethereals were not the interests of the Tau, and broke away from them, founding the Farsight Enclaves.

There's two ways to read this. One is that it was the corrupting influence of the Dawn Blade, an alien artifact that Farsight acquired at that time. Another is that the distance from the Ethereals and a psychic nudge from the Blade helped Farsight break free of the psychic/psychological conditioning the Ethereals had put him under, and that a desire for self-rule and freedom is actually something that the Ethereals are oppressively negating. Evidence points largely towards the latter, as so far the Farsight Enclaves have persisted as a Tau dominion and show no sign of being chaos-corrupted or unstable: rather they're an alternative model of Tau society that doesn't need or want ethereal control.

Read this way, the Ethereals are at the heart of what makes the Tau faction not the good guys at all. It also makes them fit the fiction of 40k better, as its always been the case that in this dystopian setting there are no good guys: its not a world of black and white, but black and grey!

The Gift of the Ethereals is unity of purpose, survival in a hostile universe and selfless devotion to the Greater Good.

The Gift of the Ethereals is also control, force of propaganda, a conspiracy of secrets and denial of the Tau right to determine their own destiny!


(inevitable caption: "I tell you, my robes are blue and black!")
Signature Squad

Aun'shi

Eagerly anticipated, this Warlord has a truly terrifying card ability, along with a forced reaction that beautifully typifies the Ethereal caste, and is nicely echoed in every other card with the Ethereal trait.

If anything, the fluff depiction created by this mechanic is far superior to the tabletop game, as it helps reflect the two facets of where Ethereals are in Tau society. On the one hand, it shows how the other Tau castes are inspired by the presence of the Ethereals, but are loathe to see them put to risk. On the other, it shows the strong sense of self-preservation the Ethereals themselves have: its telling that while the Ethereals believe that Tau should sacrifice their own lives for the Greater Good, they place their own value as so high that their own survival is the Greater Good.

Aun'shi himself was introduced in the third edition of the Tau Codex, in 2001. He's as close as the Ethereals have to a career warrior, and is adored by the Fire Caste. His cited achievements include fighting off a tribe of orks almost single handedly, slaughtering dozens of orks with nothing more than his Honour Blade, and a huge marble bust of him is erected in the battledomes of Vior'la.

Put on your sceptic-goggles, and it all seems a bit fishy. Orks are incredibly potent in close combat, and while Aun'shi is no slouch its seriously against the odds that he could defeat dozens with just an honour blade. Add this to the fact that his legend is strongest with the Fire Caste and on Vior'la, and it looks like a deliberate ploy on the part of the Ethereals to undermine Commander Farsight's credibility. Farsight himself is from Vior'la, has a reputation built on personal combat prowess, and as the Farsight Enclaves are strongly militaristic, so it'd be unsurprising if many Fire Warriors "back home" (especially on Vior'la) were thinking "maybe Farsight has got the right idea".

In other words, it seems pretty likely that the existence of Aun'shi is an Ethereal propaganda response to undermine the Farsight alternative, and to keep Vior'lans and Fire Caste loyal to the party line.

Corroborating evidence? The current mission of Aun'shi is leading an expedition to the Farsight Enclaves, to reclaim them for the Empire!

The game mechanics here are wonderful: they encourage a deck that is as close to pure Tau as possible, without any allies asking inconvenient questions about Aun'shi's right to lead. They have Tau units gaining a fighting bonus, as Aun'shi drives them to righteous aggression. And yet this "warrior hero" is still an Ethereal: he'll remove himself to safety before the battle is done, he'll send his army into the fray before he himself attacks (unless he needs to run away even faster), and once you've bloodied him it turns out there was nothing special about him after all: a 1/5 no abilitiy Warlord is pretty much an Ethereal unmasked!

In a meta-sense, this Warlord also creates the sort of decks that are no longer as dependent on technology and attachments, but more dependent on the psychological power of The Greater Good narrative, which is equally fluffy and Tau-feeling, while expanding the character of the faction in the LCG.

Well designed, FFG!


Ethereal Envoy

The Ethereals themselves are divided by rank as all the castes are, and we can easily imagine that this card represents the trainee Aun'saal rank. Likely what we're looking at here is a system that has different levels of initiation, with the secrets of this most secretive of societies revealed as an Ethereal proves his loyalty and competence.

Because these are entry-level guys, they don't have the ability to inspire yet. As they're still ethereals, they still hang around out of harms way (abstracted to higher HP), they can still provide some leadership (command icon) and they still get the hell out of the warzone before the battle heats up (forced reaction).

A nice and fluffy emergent effect here is that the Envoys' low cost shifts the resource curve of a Tau deck, allowing more expensive Tau guys to be included within a deck while maintaining effectiveness. This is nice in fluff terms, as it means that a deck that has Ethereals will have more firepower and sizeable armies assigned to it, which sounds like exactly the sort of thing the Ethereal Caste would engineer.

Aun'shi's Sanctum

The word Sanctum is originally from Latin, and most commonly used in the phrase Sanctum Sanctorum, a translation of the biblical phrase "holiest of holies" (referring to the holiest place within the holy Tabernacle), and went on to be the root of the word for Sanctuary, and the concept of sanctuary provided by the church.

Modern usage, of course, has sancta being places of safety, and the meditative traditions of the modern day tend to use sanctum more in its sense of being a place of introspection and closing off of the outside world.

To swing this back to 40k, its clear from the art that Aun'shi's Sanctum is somewhere he meditates or think, likely dwelling on the Greater Good and how best to serve it (or, if you're cynical, how best to apply it as a tool of control over the hapless Tau).

Its not entirely clear why a Sanctum specifically readies troops. The Ethereal inspiration thing fits broadly, but a degree of abstraction and mental gymnastics is needed to render this card fluffy. We perhaps visualise that exhausting this support means that at some time in the past Aun'shi meditated on how to get the most out of his followers, and he now applies those ideas on the field, pushing his Tau (or indeed his allies) to greater heroism.

The fact that his signature squad is an Envoy is good here too, as that word could mean diplomat, but could also mean messenger: thus when you use this effect where Aun'shi isn't present, its still his cleverness that is driving the effect, just through his mouthpieces.


Honor Blade

The wargame, being British, calls this weapon an Honour Blade, but the LCG's choice of American spelling is likely to appeal to the larger LCG market of that country.

Its good here that the effect in the LCG is again of indirect inspiration rather than direct combat enhancement of the wielder: the honour blade is primarily a symbol of office. As a piece of combat wargear, its little more than a blade on a stick!


Ethereal Wisdom

Playing on with the Ethereal inspiration theme, this card complements the set both mechanically and in fiction terms. It makes sense that a card temporarily gains trait from this, as it could be read as the Unit temporarily being given leave to speak with Aun'shi's voice. A small attack boost also makes sense: a nice representation of the power of positive morale on battlefield effectiveness. That is, you still need troops and guns, but morale will make those troops optimally effective.


Other Cards

Ammo Depot

To get why this card is so fluffy, its necessary to understand the mechanics of the game.

In itself, there's nothing about Orks that would make them well supplied on ammunition, and the card effect doesn't make sense either. Why does having a big heap of ammo let you draw cards faster? Why do Chaos and Astra Militarum guys benefit from this as well?

That's missing the point though: the fluffiness of this card is on a different level.

Essentially, if you're playing competitively, the sort of deck that runs three of this card is going to be one that plays a horde of cheap units. Its the sort of card that lets a deck like that remain optimal and efficient, as it helps the horde keep growing and thus for your combats to remain winnable, despite the lack of higher cost quality cards.

Its a great card already for being a card that allows those sort of decks, as both Orks and Astra Militarum are factions that I initially criticised for not strongly enough mechanically representing the theme of an endless horde of low quality troops. A card that enables that fluffy bit of mechanical faction identity is already one that strengthens the meta-fluffiness of the factions as a whole. As for chaos, it works too, in the sense that a big daemon-heavy chaos strategy has no use for this card (daemons don't need ammo supplies) but an alternative horde-of-mortals approach surely does!

So where does this leave the ammo dump itself in fluffiness terms? Well actually, you have shift to your fluff-seeking mindset and don't think "how does this cause me to draw cards?".

Instead, you have to think, if I have a vast army, what do we expect to back at camp? The answer, of course, is munitions supplies. Likewise, if my enemy wants to cripple the ability to fight of my vastly superior numbers, how does he do so? By attacking my logistics chain and ammunition supply, of course!

This then, is a card that is truly fluffy not because of its effect and text in isolation, but because of the emergent effects across gameplay and in shaping the factions that can access this.


Crushing Blow

In the wargame "crushing blow" was an Eldar Exarch ability. Thus for me, its instantly a little discordant to see a card of this name as a Space Marine card.

That aside, the card name and the card effect suit the Space Marine faction far better than the Eldar, so this can be chalked up as another instance where the Conquest LCG is fluffier than the wargame!

The Space Marines are always fluffed as being superhumanly strong, and this card helps reflect those reserves of strength they can call upon, while being abstract enough to also represent moments of heroic firepower! The "combat surprise" set of game mechanics is also something that enhances the broader mechanical character of the Space Marine faction.


Despise

A card name like "despise" could be Imperial or Dark eldar, and it more or less fits. Likewise, the Dark Eldar tossing away their "allies" like the broken things they are is entirely in-fluff.

What lets this card down is two things.
Firstly, the card doesn't really tell us why the Dark Eldar despising allies causes an opponent to sacrifice an ally. Its clearly not a targeted sacrifice (that would look more like "sacrifice an ally to deal X damage" or "sacrifice an ally to destroy target ally"). Rather, it seems to be a card that forces an opponent to despise his own allies. It seems a stretch to have someone like Cato Sicarius break faith with a Rogue Trader working with him at the Dark Eldar's say so. It makes even less sense for Eldorath to sacrifice his Survivalists or Biel-tan Guardians out of sheer disgust.

Secondly, there's the ally trait itself, which seems to have been assigned somewhat randomly across the game. The Rogue Trader and the Void Pirate are the only cards that perfectly deserve this trait: every other example looks to have been assigned on a mechanical basis rather than a fluff based ones. What exactly does ally mean on a loyal Biel Tan Guardian? Why is a Murder of Razorwings an ally when a Khymera isn't? How can a mercenary Carnivore Pack NOT be considered allies when an Earth Caste Technician devoted to the Greater Good IS?

This is a real case of fiction being discarded in favour of mechanics, whereas good game design would have married both together. Even for those who prefer mechanics to fluff, how is this something that makes the game better? Its an aribtrary trait, that isn't even applied consistently across low cost units. It has no game meaning either, other than "card we thought needed a hose-option".

I disapprove!

Eldritch Corsair

Fun fact: the Eldritch Raiders appeared in the Rogue Trader rulebook right at the start of Warhammer 40,000, alongside the Void Dragons and the Sunblitz Brotherhood.

Right at the start we didn't know the names of the Eldar Craftworlds, and the Rogue Trader book was very much told from the viewpoint of the Imperium.

As time has gone on we've learnt more about the Eldar, and the fiction surrounding the Eldritch Raiders has expanded considerably.

Now the Eldritch Raiders are known to be a fleet of Eldar Corsairs, under the command of the charismatic Prince Yriel.

Admiral Yriel (as he once was titled) was a prideful Eldar fleet commander, whose aggression and strategic genius was well recognised but tainted by hubris. When a chaos fleet threatened the craftworld, he led a preemptive strike against the attackers, destroying them utterly with the force of surprise attack. However, in leading the Eldar fleet away from Iyanden he also left them undefended, and a small splinter chaos fleet managed to slightly damage the Craftworld.

Rather than be lauded as a hero - as he expected - he was censured and called upon to justify leaving the Craftworld defenceless. In a rage, he left the Craftworld, abandoning the Eldar path at the same time, and taking on the life of a Corsair Prince. His raider company became the bane of Imperial shipping lanes (which retrospectively explains why the Rogue Trader book had them recognised as one of the most commonly encountered faces of the enigmatic Eldar race).

However, when Iyanden came under threat from the tyranid Hive Fleet Kraken, Yriel could not standby. He returned at the head of his fleet, and while the cost to Iyanden from the Tyranids was dire, it was his intervention that saved it from complete destruction.

He is now saviour of a Craftworld that is near extinction point: a Craftworld that was once proud and powerful but which must now rely on the necromancy of its Spiritseers to defend itself. His help is both welcome and timely!

This card is also a welcome and timely addition to the beleaguered Eldar LCG faction, which has slipped considerably since the core meta. Some of us have doubts about its playability in mechanical terms, but fluffwise it makes a lot of sense: this is a card with decisive hitting power that works best when it follows a Warlord into battle, or when facing the dire threat of an enemy Warlord. At other times, they're not fully committed to the war, and so fight at diminished effectiveness.


Foretell

Mechanically, this card beautifully reinforces the theme of the LCG Eldar as being masters of destiny and the long game. Its a subtle psychic manipulation that lets the Eldar play clever games of brinksmanship. As a cantrip that self replaces, its also a card that allows more controlled card drawing, though at slight cost of tempo.

In other words, this is an Eldar card through and through!


Goff Big Choppa

My fluff objections to these are the usual ones: a single weapon, which is more or less a standard issue one, costing as much as a whole deployment of troops and providing a powerful effect that is completely out of proportion with what it represents in fluff terms.

A Choppa is basically what orks call a sharp close combat weapon. As orks use them, choppas have to be durable and heavy: an ork will break a sabre within seconds of contact with the enemy, but a solid axe or over-sized cleaver does the job just fine.

A Big Choppa is a Choppa that takes two hands for an ork to use, because its bigger. We're not talking high tech wargear here: just a large piece of metal!


Honorifica Imperialis

As the psuedo-Latin suggests, honorifica are a category of gallantry medals rather than a single award, given to Imperial servants whose actions have proven them to be a hero of the Imperium.

In a way, this card is basically "Promotion" and then some.

The effect doesn't make a lot of sense on an individual card level, though in game terms its quite nice, reinforcing the general Ranged-heavy feel of the faction while giving them some nice hitting power. The timing of this card being an attachment helps the overall feel of a faction too: the Astra Militarum is rapidly becoming the faction that telegraphs its every move but is super-efficient at what it does.

In other words, just because you can see the Imperial Guard coming, it doesn't mean you can stop them! Thoroughly appropriate for the organisation nicknamed the Hammer of the Emperor!

Know No Fear

The Emperor, on creating the Adeptus Astartes, famously ended his speech with "...And They Shall Know No Fear."
In the wargame, a Know No Fear rule has been a key part of the character of Space Marines on the tabletop in most editions: something that isn't quite as balls-to-the-wall as a proper Fearless rule, but which makes Space Marines exemplars of perfect battlefield morale.

The artwork here is really great and easily my favourite thing about the card. The effect here is very clever and fluffy too, though my preference would have been Action rather than Deploy Actioni if only for the amazing narrative potential of a Space Marine unit bouncing back from being routed: you thought they'd fled, but actually it was a feint, and they're opening fire on you again!

As it is, there are better ways that the fearlessness of Space Marines could have been shown, and while the effect here is in keeping with the Space Marine theme, I'd have rather seen this card entitled something like "Codex tactics", reflecting the doctrinal flexibility and relentlessness of the space marines at war.


Mekaniak Repair Krew

Pleasingly, this card encompasses both aspects of Orky technology: that they're extremely unreliable / dangerous to those who make and use them, and that they can defy the normal rules of what technology ought to be able to do. A broad array of funky tricks you can play with this card also adds to the fun factor of the orkish game in general, while the sheer swinginess of this being a card that is generally overcosted but might luck into nice combos is also very, very orkish.

Looking forward to seeing more trait-related game effects: hopefully we'll see something that triggers off Oddboy trait in fun ways some time soon.


Mystic Warden

The flavour text explains what this card is: a disposable psyker kept by an inquisitor. The zero cost emphasises their disposability, as does the forced reaction ability, while their decent combat stats reflect that even a disposable psyker is a useful weapon.

It might have been nice if they had some sort of anti-Ambush ability to reflect their fluff, or if they felt more like psykers in general, but overall this is a card that well supports the idea of the AM-horder: something which is broadly desirable.


Nurgling Bomb

Jury is out as to whether this card has any mechanical worth, but the effect is nicely fluffy for a Ku'gath deck. Ku'gath does in fact use Nurglings as grenades, flinging them into the enemy battleline to field test his perfect contagions. Its also well represented that this attack takes the form of a spreading haze of nastiness, as Nurglish units pass unharmed and other units have time to either choose to take the pain, or to flee screaming from the battlefield.

A loyal trait would have been nice to see here, as the effect seems out of place in an Ork or Dark Eldar deck.

Personally, for the sake of this cards playability and for added fluffiness, I'd have loved to see Nurgle-traited units get healed for a damage as well when this is played: that'd mechanically make the card more playable, while being true to the fluff.


Rotten Plaguebearers

Google Tim The Enchanter, and watch the Monty Python video. Next, google Prodigal Sorcerer, and look at the art of that Magic: The Gathering card.

Now you know why CCG/LCG players call any card that says "tap to deal 1 damage" a "Tim" card.

I would have loved to see this grand heritage acknowledged subtly in the artwork or flavour text, and am disappointed that Conquest's first Tim doesn't recognise its own card-design genealogy.

Additionally, the Tim effect seems to be shoehorned onto a Nurgle unit here purely for the mechanical synergies with Ku'gath (though as many have commented, its actually a better unit for Zarathur, especially used in the action window at the end of the command phase for a "Ranged 2, but so Ranged that Fenrisian Wolf can only be reached by a warp jump" strike). I'd have liked to see this game effect on a Tzeentch card instead, as pinged direct damage doesn't seem Nurglish at all.

Ssylth Mercenary

In an effort to make Dark Eldar less like Eldar-with-spikes, the last revisit to that faction in the wargame gave them a sizeable aesthetic overhaul, providing us with many of the finest miniatures in the game. Likewise, more personality was injected by giving an Archon the option of including strange alien creatures in his retinue, including the Lhamaean, Medusa, Ur-Ghul and of course, the Ssylth.

The nice thing about this retinue option is that it associates the whole Dark Eldar with a Hammer Horror vibe: a vampire bride, a dream eating monster, an eyeless flesh-eater and a four-armed snake man!

This was one of my favourite changes to the Dark Eldar, and I'm glad to see the Ssylth has turned up in the LCG, complete with an inbuilt treachery mechanic!

The odd thing here, of course, is that in the fluff Archons will use Ssylth mercenaries because they can be depended on to honour their contracts, as compared to over-ambitious Dark Eldar, who are prone to treachery (unless part of the Incubus cult). An Archon who gains himself a Ssylth bodyguard can feel far safer than if he were to surround himself with eager Kabalites!

High command value is an oddity here too: these are not troops who excel at strategy, nor at garrison work.

As is sadly often the case, the LCG has taken a unit card that has really cool fluff, then got it exactly backwards! However, slack will be given here, as in a broader sense the Dark Eldar faction is the best place for a treachery mechanic.


Throne of Vainglory

A card title with a nice biblical ring to it, the sin of Vainglory is certainly one in keeping with the temptations of Slaanesh. Empty pomp, excessive pride over one achievements, hubris, these are all aspects of the Prince of Perversity! Indeed, in the Realm of Slaanesh there are six concentric domains surrounding the Palace of Pleasure, and the innermost one before reaching the Palace itself is the Circle of Vainglory, where damned souls can be lulled into false and idle bliss. This is a nice echo of Dante's description of the Nine Circles of Hell in Paradise Lost.

Likewise, trying to build a deck with this card is likely to be an exercise in hubris, where you declare that "behold! I have summoned a mass of big ass daemons through my cleverness!", but with pride preceding the fall, as the deck crumbles in the face of more conventional decks.

Still, as a fluffy card, one cannot complain here. A specific "Throne of Vainglory" isn't directly mentioned in existing fiction as far as I'm aware, but its a sensible and consistent addition to the chaos lore. The "upgrade" tag suggests this is a state of being for your exalted warlord, rather than a location. I'd even suggest that the very fact that this is a "trap" card mechanically is in itself fluffy!


To Arms!

Your boots go to your feet. The amasec goes to your head. But where do your regulation elbow-length woolen gloves go, Guardmann?

That's right!

Fluff wise this is tagged as a "tactic", and going from the art it suggests a mobiisation to a state of war, with the increased activity from that. One has to wonder, of course, if the Astra Militarum should have gone To Arms at the start of the game, rather than halfway through it, buts that Deparmento Munitorum bureaucracy for you!

Warlock Destructor

In the wargame and fiction, Destructor is the name of one of the Eldar Warlock's psychic powers rather than a description of a type of Warlock. Its basically the same effect as a heavy flamer, but powered by psychic power rather than promethium.

Still, the idea of a unit named Warlock Destructor isn't too discordant:units being identified by their primary armament is a common convention.

Mechanically, there's fluffy and potentially unfluffy halves to this card.

On the upside, the maintenance mechanic very much reinforces the idea of an Eldar race that is diminished in numbers and resources, and cannot survive an extended war of attrition. The upkeep mechanic creates a fluffy and appropriate feeling of reluctance in deployment, knowing that it will cost you down the line, and that you can't sustain this unit's presence for long. Upkeep is something I'd like to see explored more as an Eldar theme.

On the downside, this is a very well rounded card, and I feel this dilutes the feel of Eldar as specialists first and foremost. Also, its potentially a card that dilutes the existing Eldar mechanic of "weak in the short game, strong in the long game" that was so very fluffy.

Of course, a lot of that depends on how you play this: played callously and unfluffily, you throw this unit in on Planet 1 early on, reasoning that if he lives or dies his job is done. Thats the out-of-fiction approach. On the other hand, if you hold it back, and play it only at the critical final battle, knowing that this is the one that matters and the one you have to commit to, thats the in-fiction approach.

Overall, I know that mechanically this has been a very welcome power boost for Eldar, Dark Eldar and Tau alike, but in terms of the game fiction, its basically a weak representation: the card could be called anything, and as long as it was 1/3/4 for 2 cost 1 upkeep, people would still be seeing it in the same way: as an efficient frontline unit. There's nothing "Warlock Destructor" like about this, and a Biel Tan Swordwind Host, a Wraithlord or any number of other concepts could have looked exactly the same.


White Scars Bikers

Making their debut here in Conquest, the White Scars are a fan favourite, though one whose challenging paint scheme and high minature cost has kept many from collecting.

The Fifth Legion of the twenty original Space Marine Legions, their Primarch Jaghatai Khan was raised as a steppe horseman on the planet Mundus Planus, and united that planet under his rule before the Emperor found him. His Legion adopted the tribal ways of the Talskar tribesmen, naming themselves White Scars for the ritual facial scars that marked a tribesman as attaining manhood.

Yes, these are walking sterotypes. And yes, GW really was so tremendously lazy that they named the Primarch "Jaghatai Khan" and gave him the homeworld of "Flat World". Whereas many Chapters have many and nuanced influences, these really are just Mongols... in... Space!

However, the Mongol-style warfare gives the White Scars a very distinctive feel and look on the tabletop. They're recognised to be the masters of hit and run warfare, "born to the saddle" of their bikes, and superb at lightning assaults and raid work.

A heavy offensive emphasis is very sensible here, though the card is clearly just one lifted off a cross-faction template (see the Eldritch Corsairs for a direct twin, and Bork'an Recruits for a very similar concept). There's nothing in particular about the White Scars to suggest that they'd be at their finest while hanging onto the coat tails of Ragnar or Cato.

On the other hand, they are a unit that is well suited to comboing with Drop Pod Assault, with the rapid deployment of that card especially suiting them. To be honest, if any Chapter deserves the Ambush trait, its the White Scars, and its very disappointing to see the first White Scar card depicted with no mechanical reference to their style of warfare or their strengths.


Conclusion

A mixed bag overall, but the most important part of the pack (the new Warlord and his signature cards) is supremely fluffy, introducing a whole new style of deck to the Tau that is extremely consistent with the fiction of the Ethereals.

My early testing of Aun'shi has woven great narratives in the minds eye, and forced a very Tau style of warfare, as well as encouraging a mindset suitable to the Ethereals: deploy a big army before Aun'shi turns up, have him commit, claim the glory, then run away again before his precious Ethereal hide can be put in any real danger. The lack of real backbone is readily apparent when Aun'shi faces off against a Warlord worthy of having "warlord" in his card type, while the quick one-round no-attrition battle style is very much in keeping with the Tau way of war.

This, combined with the "pseudo-signature" cards from the last packs, Kauyon Strike and Homing Beacon, have created a fun and interesting playstyle that is both mechanically rewarding and feels like playing a war-effort led by the Ethereals.

In the other cards, it looks to me as if game balance and mechanical considerations are ruling the day in terms of card design. In itself, this is the right way to go, as the LCG first and foremost needs to be a playable, interesting and dynamic game: something FFG have achieved excellently!

However, I have some concerns that design symmetry between factions is slightly diminishing the mechanical character of each faction, and mildly homogenising the experience. This in turn runs the risk of making the game less engaging. I don't think this is at the level where it is a problem, as the clever game design of having Warlords and Signature Squads helps maintain faction and warlord identity, but I do worry that if the cardpool continues along that path, the bulk of every deck will look the same, and the playstyle of every Warlord will feel the same. If Eldorath gains the tools for a rush game or attrition game, he no longer feels like Eldorath. If Straken can play the slow patient game of command and fate manipulation, he'll cease to be Straken. Right now, faction and Warlord identity remains very strong, but there is a risk of things going the wrong way.

More problematic is a lack of attention to what concepts cards represent, and just assigning names to card effects with no link between the two: White Scar Bikers is definitely an offender here. I think that the 40k mythos is rich enough that FFG can adopt its seeming current approach of designing card mechanics first, and still find a suitable card title for each effect.

Lets not end on negativity though: this remains the best LCG the company has made, and the finest cardgaming experience in the world. The woven narratives remain compelling, and the attention to the game fiction remains overall very strong.

What's next?

Our favourite Greenskins!



Oh, and some Orks too.


Look, its a 40k quiz!

It was popular last time, and it keeps the comment thread busy, so lets throw out some questions! Some of them are dead easy, some are properly difficult.

1) Born of hunter and harvest. Who are they?
2) During the 13th Black Crusade, a spaceship that bears the same name as a notable Astartes Captain sent a wave of terror through an Imperial system. What was its name?
3) An excess of psykers, reverence for a great father, and ready for battle in the morning. Who are they?
4) His parents died in service to the throne. His teachers were missionaries. His brothers come from a thousand worlds. He will follow any order given, regardless of immorality, illogic, inhumanity or danger. What organisation is he part of?
5) A House of Iron on a World of Death, this alliance of families is the trade hub of the other Houses, and their namesake is vampiric. Who are they?

I'll give it till the next Warpack to reveal any unanswered quiz questions, but will let you know if you are correct, so reply away!

Till next time, quiz fans!