I just got IA 9: The Badab War part one in the mail today. It was a nice surprise because I was home early, it's raining in this neck of the woods, and work was moderately blah. However, anytime I get a Forgeworld delivery, my spirits soar. It's almost as warm and fuzzy as seeing my eight week old daughter smile.
For Space Marine fans, this is a must by, not only does it have the second most infamous Space Marine on Space Marine wars, but it is chock full of great fluff. For one thing, there is the first half of the Badab War recounted in general terms. This IA does not follow a planet by planet, blow by blow account of the War, but highlights the key actions such that the flow of the war is fairly well paced. In this section, I think the best parts are in the motivations and frustrations of the Astral Claws (and especially Lufgt Huron) and those of their opposites, most importantly the Fire Hawks.
The second section is a look at some of the chapters that participated in the Badab War (with the promise that the rest will be examined in volume two). The Astral Claws, Fire Hawks, Marines Errant, Red Scorpions, Fire Angels, Raptors, Lamenters, Novamarines and Howling Griffons are all detailed. My only complaint here, is that the Howling Griffons are depicted in an almost all black scheme and it is called night camouflage. On one level this feels like a cop out, as their are so many more complex schemes that could of been used. On another, I've always thought that - fluff wise - only Scouts used camo, and here are marines repainting their armour, possibly angering the machine spirit of their armour. Their are two other sections, one is the campaign and boarding rules. The other is a special character and Tyrant's Legion section. The Tyrant's Legion gives you rules for fielding Huron's forces during the Badab War.
All in all, this is a solid IA, worth buying if you are a Space Marine fan, a lover of historical battle type books (along the Osprey vein) or just a 40k collector.
I have to agree. A great book with lots of details. As I said before, the night camo stuff for the Griffons is pretty lame, and maybe a deal breaker for me choosing to redo them for my next marine army as I want to do a new marine army in the next year that extensively uses the new FW Marine kits as a basis. Currently Fire Hawks and Marines Errant are in the lead as the paint scheme for my new army though it could end up being Griffons as I already have a host of partially completed models/vehicles hanging around. I may just pickup and few things like a Chaplain Dread and finish painting what I have laying around before moving on to the new chapter.
ReplyDeleteAnother possibility is Fire Angels as I really like components of their scheme and the special character at the back of the book.
The Fire Angels and Fire Hawks have a certain appeal to me. Though I am interested to the Space Sharks (now Carcarodons I suppose), Mantis Warriors and Executioners. Of course, i do have a bunch of red scorpions shoulder pads, and will probably get a few more before I am done building current projects, so they are also a possibility.
ReplyDeleteWe should try to find some time to play some of the campaign scenarios. I wouldn't mind proxying some of my dudes for either side if need be. LMK