Imperial Armour vol.9: Badab War Part One

[TorogTarkdacil 0]

I just want to remind everybody of this book, which is made of more win than natural child of Chuck Norris and Sebastian Yarrick.  IA9 is absolute must-read for any SM fan and still a good thing for anybody else.

Describing the events of infamous Badab rebellion, it shows us possibly the greatest insight into Astartes psychology, art of waging war, conflicts and misunderstandings with common humans and differencies between various Chapters ever. And in bring us descriptions of several less-known Chapters, their history, psychology, traditions, famous campaigns and it shows, that not only SW, BA and BT are quite divergent from codex. Converting them into Deathwatch RPG would be possibly beyond awesome.

There are heroic but arogant Astral Claws (and as little spoiler, their relatives Tiger Claws). quarrelsome, genocidal and furious Fire Hawks, masters of the void and void combat, the Marines Errant, pure and proud Red Scorpions, young rising star of astartes, the Fire Angels, grim and stealthy Raptors, cursed Lamenters, codex-adhering Novamarines, dedicated and honourable Howling Griffons...

...and more to come in IA10. Repeating myself, this book is recomended for all Deathwatch gamers, SM fans and backround-addicts.

 

[Direach 323]

I'll add my strong recommendation as well, the book is very well written and adds enormous depth to the events surrounding the Badab War. It also very vividly points up the diversity of the Space Marines, from the grim practicality of the Red Scorpions to the near-berserker fury of the vicious Minotaurs. My only quibble is that I wish they had offered more information about the power armour suits illustrated in the Chapters section; there are a number of suits that I couldn't readily identify by mark, and more details about these variant suits would have been appreciated. Regardless, this book is an excellent addition to any 40K or Space Marine fan's librarium.

[Steeljaw 35]

 It saddens me that this would cost me over $72 US dollars + shipping to get.  They should release it as pdf download and make it a reasonable price.  Since I won't torrent it I guess this means I just go without having that knowledge of the Warhammer 40k Universe

[Adam France 2]

Whilst still an extremely good book, I must confess to having been just a tad disappointed that they'd dropped the amount of (front half) fluff detail from the levels of the amazing Siege of Vraks books.

 

[schoon 13]

I've picked up this book as well.

It is true that it is quite pricey. However, for those with the pockets to handle the purchase, it is well worth the cost.

The production values are very good, both for writing and graphics, and it has a huge amount of material on both the Badab War and the chapters that participated - including a number that have not previously been covered in any detail.

[peterstepon 14]

Thanks for the updates and a description of the Chapters involved.  Weren`t the Mantis Warriors part of that conflict as well?

[Da Boss 0]

I would also recomend this book - copy of my review postd over at Dark Reign

Imperial Armour Book 9
The Badab War Part 1

 

As with All Imperial Amour books, this publication is a hardback book – in this case just over 200 pages (208)

The Book takes as its subject the attempted succession form the Imperium by the Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter under its Master, Lugft Huron, the infamous Tryant of Babab. The book is divided into two main sections:

Part 1: The background to the conflict and the first phases of the war, the participating Chapters
Part 2: Scenarios and rules for Loyalist and Secessionist special characters as well as the Tyrants Legion (his attempted melding of Space Marine and Auxiliary human units)

Part 1 – perhaps describable as background fluff and imagery takes up the first 131 pages and is a involving read, including the motivations of the major players. It begins by describing the Maelstrom – the area of warp-real space interface where the conflict takes place and a bit about the “Warden Chapters” who safeguard the populations nearby and crusade within it.

As the story continues, characters are outlined, mostly Chapter Masters but also including Inquisitors, opposing Imperial Commanders such as the Karthan Sector Satrap Tanit Koenig – she initially petitions the Fire Hawks to intervene against Huron and hence provokes the first Marine vs Marine conflicts.

The narrative is easy to read and is interspersed with many sidebars describing points of interest – for instance -Imperial planets fought over in the early parts of the conflicts ,as well other important worlds such as the fiercely independent Force World Angstrom. The story is also enhanced with several POCV short story’s (1 page) or transcripts of individual actions in a fairly standard (and effective) Black Library style. Illustrations are excellent – although the maps of the space conflict zones are somehow less satisfying than previous books illustrations as they try to describe the areas of space fought over.

A number of Chapters are given a fully realised background – foundation, traditions, selected battle honours and lovely pictures which would be both useful and inspirational for those wanting to paint up a less common Chapter. The Chapters are a good, characterful mix of hard-line codex adherents and those with a more independent style.

The Chapters covered in Book 1 are: Astral Claws, Fire Angels, Fire Hawks, Howling Griffons, Lamenters, Marines Errant, Novamarines, Raptors, Red Scorpions (seemingly IA “home chapter”),

The Second section covers the additional rules – beginning with large scale campaign rules, a good map of the warzone in battle fleet gothic style and a number of special scenarios/ missions – including some interesting rules for conflicts aboard a spaceship/station – which I personally like the look of – Space Hulk styleee. These rules include a variety of Stratagems for defender and attacker to make it more interesting. From a background POV there some nice little snippets here allowing us of graviton guns, boarding shields, Automated weapons platforms, Tunnel access etc. There is also mention of the Astartes Fire Wasp Combat and Devastation drones.

Lords of Destruction describes in game terms the major Characters of the conflict – there are 13 in the book – mostly Chapter Masters or Senior Officers. Again good variety – some look pretty powerful – especially Magister Loths ability to use a psychic power to give him n invulnerable 2+ save for his turn but others appear less of a worry………..

The book concludes with rules (and detailed background / operational procedures) for the combined arms Legion Huron created. As noted this would also serve well to represent Space marine forces with integrated allies in an extended conflict or renegade forces commanded by Alpha Legion or Iron Warrior Chaos marines. Several Apocalypse formations round it all off

As is to be expected the book is beautifully presented – as it should be with a price tag of £45 – however perhaps it should be viewed in line with the seemingly ever increasing cost of rpg books – the last b/w rulebook I bought new was around £30. All IA books are IMO really very nice coffee table books

I would highly recommend it if you are looking for background and/or inspiration for a new 40K Chapter to collect / paint. The book could also serve as an interesting setting for a campaign using the Deathwatch rules and involving the players in the ongoing conflict (on either side). Given the described background and interactions between chapters on both dies – there is certainly scope for some excellent role-playing experiences. Alternatively a High level Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader – at least one Chapter has a bond with one and they do venture into the maelstrom, could work as the conflict rages about them.

It’s a shame that there is no actual Battle Fleet Gothic content given the large amount of space battle described as well as the intriguing variety of new vessel classes introduced. These are only vaguely described and to me cry out for a whole section dedicated to them (As well as some new models and rules). This is frustrating given the main map is in BFG format!

For example:

Adeptus Mechanicus Locus- Caravels and Typhoon Class Hunter Killers (which are able to drive off Marine Strike Cruisers), Chartist Mass Conveyors (Dune high Liners), Space Marine Barques, Forge-Ships and Scout Surveyors,. Plus the Fire Hawks pre-Imperial, warp capable Star Fortress – Raptorus Rex.

 

[Face Eater 35]

Da Boss said:

...It’s a shame that there is no actual Battle Fleet Gothic content given the large amount of space battle described as well as the intriguing variety of new vessel classes introduced. These are only vaguely described and to me cry out for a whole section dedicated to them (As well as some new models and rules). This is frustrating given the main map is in BFG format!

For example:

Adeptus Mechanicus Locus- Caravels and Typhoon Class Hunter Killers (which are able to drive off Marine Strike Cruisers), Chartist Mass Conveyors (Dune high Liners), Space Marine Barques, Forge-Ships and Scout Surveyors,. Plus the Fire Hawks pre-Imperial, warp capable Star Fortress – Raptorus Rex.

Thanks for the info, you make quite the compeling argument for. As well as the price of the book you might also bear in mind that may HAVE to buy some of the accompanying models (the Astral Claws Huron is already out and is basically as good a SM model as I've ever seen).

I can't say if they are still comitted to BFG but If they are I wouldn't put it past them to include the rules in a later book, as they would probably want to release models at the same time if they were going to.

[Guest Not In Sample]

I think there is a bit of a diminishing returns effect when it comes to recoloured profiles of Space Marines.

When you have seen one you have seen them all.

[schoon 13]

peterstepon said:

Thanks for the updates and a description of the Chapters involved.  Weren`t the Mantis Warriors part of that conflict as well?

They were. Some of the chapters involved (in no particular order:

• Astral Claws
• Fire Hawks
• Marines Errant
• Red Scorpions
• Fire Angels
• Raptors
• Lamenters
• Novemarines
• Howling Griffons
• Carcharodons (the old Space Sharks)

There might be one I missed, but that should be most of them

[Tygre 16]

peterstepon said:

Thanks for the updates and a description of the Chapters involved.  Weren`t the Mantis Warriors part of that conflict as well?

 

The Mantis Warriors were involved they were one of the three secessionist Chapters.  They are talked about quite often in the Chronology.  They seem to favour hit and run attacks.

 

A detailed background section for them is not in the first book.  The first book contains information mainly about the Astral claws and their loyalist opponents.

I suspect that the second book will have more information on the Chapters supporting the Secessionist cause such as the Mantis Warriors and the Executioners Chapters.

 

[Meph 0]

AluminiumWolf said:

I think there is a bit of a diminishing returns effect when it comes to recoloured profiles of Space Marines.

When you have seen one you have seen them all.

 

True that! It's a very fancy book but the colour sections for the different chapters do have an annoying copy/paste look and feel to them; there are only a few illustrations that are sufficiently different to make it truly interesting. They could have gone for some more inspired artwork in the second half of the book. Although the chapter profile pages do provide a good source of space marine names, names for vehicles, squad names etc etc.

But compared to the first half, the chapter profiles artwork did feel like a rush job to fill pages.

[Direach 323]

Also, I withdraw my earlier quibble, and chastise myself for Didn't Do The Research. On further investigation, most of the armour components depicted in the Chapters section can clearly be traced to various armour marks between II and VII (and a few Mark VIII's). I was thrown off mainly by the head of the Mark V Heresy armour, which I forgot had studs on. There are a few pieces that are unidentifiable, but they're mostly artificer pieces or on special characters.

In addition, a lot of the depicted suits are a combination of various marks, reflecting pieces that have been replaced over centuries of use. Detailing what parts came from what marks and so forth would probably be a book in and of itself. Great book, looking forward to Part 2!