Book 9 appears to be on U.S. soil

[WrathOfTheLion]

Since the II and XI legions were involved in the Rangdan Xenocides, isn't it obvious we would never get deep detailing of it?

[Gederas]

I'm liking the depth that's gone into the DA's organisation. Not just the six wings but their precursor hosts and the dozens of different orders, it's exactly as byzantine as it should be. The faintly desperate note about how you should really represent this on the models, please, just do it, think of the other player, is welcome as well. Kind of similar to what we got with the Ruinstorm list. In practice the rules impact of these don't seem to be huge but it's nice to see.

 

Also dang but the Legio Victorum background is cool. A triple legion, together nearly as large as the likes of Legio Mortis. Victorum I (the Foe Slayers), Victorum II (the Foe Hammers), Victorum III (the Foe Slayers), each with their own contingent characters: prestigious but gone-to-seed, Horus-loyal embittered veterans, underresourced and half-forgotten innovators. That's a cool take and a cool way to play with a heresy-long narrative while still leaving a lot of room for player customisation. It's a little disappointing that they only got two pages of background compared to what we saw in e.g. Tempest but it's quality stuff. If the Adeptus Titanicus books came with even just this much non-rules text, I'd be overjoyed. Cool colour scheme too.

Ooooh, this tidbit makes me excited :lol: I can't wait for my book to show up Tuesday. :yes:

 

Also, the Legio Victorum thing is interesting. Do we know their colour scheme? What's their connection to the Dark Angels? (I'm assuming there's one since they're in the book...)

 

Since the II and XI legions were involved in the Rangdan Xenocides, isn't it obvious we would never get deep detailing of it?

Pretty much my thought as well. The Rangdan Xenocides are where the II and XII Legions and their Primarchs were last recorded. So we're never going to have much information on the Rangdan Xenocides on it BECAUSE of that.

[RedFurioso]

 

Also dang but the Legio Victorum background is cool.

Was the name of Gulgorahd Titan Legio mentioned too?

[Erren]

Unless I’m misreading Scion of the Ironwing, it’s not about your vehicles. It’s saying that when the unit rolls armor pen against an enemy vehicle, they upgrade Shaken to Stunned, which is a pretty solid upgrade to anti-armor units.

[Sandlemad]

So both 1 and 3 are the Foe Slayers?

 

Whoops, 3 should be Foe Breakers, my bad. 1 keeps the original name from old Adeptus Titanicus.

 

 

Also, the Legio Victorum thing is interesting. Do we know their colour scheme? What's their connection to the Dark Angels? (I'm assuming there's one since they're in the book...)

 

Very similar to the old one, sort of a dark ultraviolet blue with silver trim, at least for Victorum I.

 

Their connection to the DA was purely through the crusade, the vagaries of war and forge world politics. It's fiddly. Victorum I and II both fought against the DA, III were always loyalists. The legion being based around three forge worlds also sort of sews up what was apparently a canon conflict about where their homeworld was, Phall or Galatia.

• Victorum I were battered and surrendered to the Lion in return for their forge world, Triplex Phall, being spared, fighting at his orders for the rest of the war.
• II, the biggest portion, were ride-or-die for Horus and the Night Haunter, and were basically wiped out by the DA. Triplex Galatia was destroyed. A handful of maniples survived and escaped to be absorbed into other traitor or blackshield legions.
• III were never traitor and were almost totally wiped out in a sudden by Victorum III on their forge world, Triplex Thule, at the war's outset before the DA arrived. Three remote maniples survived and fought for the Lion. They were granted some of the engines taken as spoils from Victorum II and were happy to install the vengeful cores of fallen Victorum III engines into them.

Towards the end of the Thramas crusade you effectively had one consolidated loyalist legion operating in any significant strength, going by Victorum I's colours and Victorum II's name, the Foe Hammers.

[SkimaskMohawk]

@slips thrust is the jet pack assault move. It exists, but its just not compatible since there's no jet pack access. That being said, it does fit the theme of ancilliary movement buffs for raven wing so I dont think you can argue rai for charges.

[Gederas]

 

So both 1 and 3 are the Foe Slayers?

 

Whoops, 3 should be Foe Breakers, my bad. 1 keeps the original name from old Adeptus Titanicus.

 

 

Also, the Legio Victorum thing is interesting. Do we know their colour scheme? What's their connection to the Dark Angels? (I'm assuming there's one since they're in the book...)

 

Very similar to the old one, sort of a dark ultraviolet blue with silver trim, at least for Victorum I.

 

Their connection to the DA was purely through the crusade, the vagaries of war and forge world politics. It's fiddly. Victorum I and II both fought against the DA, III were always loyalists. The legion being based around three forge worlds also sort of sews up what was apparently a canon conflict about where their homeworld was, Phall or Galatia.

• Victorum I were battered and surrendered to the Lion in return for their forge world, Triplex Phall, being spared, fighting at his orders for the rest of the war.
• II, the biggest portion, were ride-or-die for Horus and the Night Haunter, and were basically wiped out by the DA. Triplex Galatia was destroyed. A handful of maniples survived and escaped to be absorbed into other traitor or blackshield legions.
• III were never traitor and were almost totally wiped out in a sudden by Victorum III on their forge world, Triplex Thule, at the war's outset before the DA arrived. Three remote maniples survived and fought for the Lion. They were granted some of the engines taken as spoils from Victorum II and were happy to install the vengeful cores of fallen Victorum III engines into them.

Towards the end of the Thramas crusade you effectively had one consolidated loyalist legion operating in any significant strength, going by Victorum I's colours and Victorum II's name, the Foe Hammers.

Hmm... Okay. Seems like I decided on my Adeptus Titanicus then :yes:

 

Do we know anything about the consolidated loyalist's force disposition? Like, numbers of titans and types? Etc.

[Billy the Squid]

Is anyone able to provide a summary of any new information on the Rangdan xenocides?

 

Eh, I think they fluffed it, I was disappointed, they basically gave an summary of the first Rangdan Xenocide from a tactical perspective of the campaign, without tying in any of the plot hooks that Alan Bligh had littered through out the literature. It's not badly written, it's just ... lacking, and doesn't add anything to the mythos of the Rangdan.  

 

It's like they didn't appreciate the work that he had done, of a truly malign species that lurked in the outer dark of the Halo stars and turned it's gaze on a fledgling Imperium, and for once this species had the ability to follow through. 

 

The mentions of the Slaugh murder minds in prior black books were missed/ ignored, the Rangdan Cerabvores were dropped,  Rangda Osseiovores had no mention, no hints about the lost legions and potential links to their fate in the Rangdan conflict or why the Rangda were so dangerous ie: were they able to infect other biological species and shape shift forcing the 1st & VIth to engage in a series of bio pogroms to wipe out entire populations touched by the Rangda on Imperial worlds. Nor any mention of the Emperor being forced to unleash something the form the Noctis Labyrinthus to styme the tide in the second Rangdan Xenocides. 

 

Blighs mentions lots of bits in the Dark Heresy RPG books, details about the Slaugh and their links to the Halo Stars, their existence has been known as dark rumour to the Imperium since the age of strife, lots of plot hooks and tit bits of information setting the ground work, but they never mention any of it, I don't think anyone was expecting them to explain everything about the Rangdan, that'd spoil the mythos around them, but it's like they didn't bother or weren't aware of any of the info that had been previously put out; shame really. 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Billy the Squid

[Marshal Rohr]

They’ve already mentioned those things, not mentioning them again doesn’t invalidate or change them. They said, themselves, no explicit details would be given because the mystery is better. Expecting them to just drop artwork and details is a waste of time given that they’ve said they won’t be doing that. Edited September 12, 2020 by Marshal Rohr

[Billy the Squid]

They’ve already mentioned those things, not mentioning them again doesn’t invalidate or change them. They said, themselves, no explicit details would be given because the mystery is better. Expecting them to just drop artwork and details is a waste of time given that they’ve said they won’t be doing that.

 

Nobody said it does. There's a difference between reeling off explicit details and tying the various threads together in the context of a camping without specifically establishing what the Rangdan were or are and leaving questions unanswered. 

 

If anything the whole section of the Rangdan Xenocides was a waste of time as it added nothing to the mythos, it was simply a summary from a battle which added nothing of note and was indistinguishable from any of the other battles exemplar mentioned  in other legion's history. 

 

If you're not going to use any of the information that had been scattered through the literature, then what was the point in including any mention of the Xenocides at all.  

[Marshal Rohr]

What was the point? To scatter references throughout the literature.

[Billy the Squid]

What was the point? To scatter references throughout the literature.

 

Yeah, with no rhyme or reason, it was just completely random, no thought went into it, Alan Bligh didn't link the various bits of information together referencing one another for any reason whatsoever. It was just random info scattered about haphazardly for no reason. It's how we write fiction, random words on a page, so we can scatter references through out a book. 

[Marshal Rohr]

That is, almost verbatim, exactly what Anuj, Andy H, Alex Tuxford, Rick Priestley, Andy C, Phil Kelly, and others have said. So yes, they put random blurbs in all the time with no intention of going anywhere with it.

 

Are you as mad no one ever went into more detail about the Badab flavor tidbits? Because there’s dozens of references across both books that never got expanded. It’s no surprise they don’t do more community engagement. If people aren’t complaining about rules theyre complaining about lore, if they aren’t complaining about lore they’re complaining about models. There’s no winning anymore.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Marshal Rohr

[Billy the Squid]

That is, almost verbatim, exactly what Anuj, Andy H, Alex Tuxford, Rick Priestley, Andy C, Phil Kelly, and others have said. So yes, they put random blurbs in all the time with no intention of going anywhere with it.

 

We're not talking about random blurbs are we, we're talking about info and sections written about the Rangdan by Alan Bligh, repeatedly, over various books and materials which referenced one another.

 

Now I'm happy for you to continue tilting at windmills, but as I've said, no one was expecting an encyclopedic data base of the events and history, that's not how it works, but if you're going to make it a central point of a Legion's history and early Imperial record, and explore it in other literature, you should probably do a better job tying the threads together and presenting the events than. "This campaign was bad, lots of pew pew, but all hush hush, not chatting about it" 

 

Have you actually read those section from book 9? because for blurbs, they spent 6- 8 pages on it, which frankly would have been more interesting if they'd brought in some of the mythos and tied it to the events that they're writing about. As I've said, functionally, it's written okay; yet, if you're going to spend time writing about something, why don't you use all the back ground info that's back scattered through the literature. 

[Billy the Squid]

That is, almost verbatim, exactly what Anuj, Andy H, Alex Tuxford, Rick Priestley, Andy C, Phil Kelly, and others have said. So yes, they put random blurbs in all the time with no intention of going anywhere with it.

 

Are you as mad no one ever went into more detail about the Badab flavor tidbits? Because there’s dozens of references across both books that never got expanded. It’s no surprise they don’t do more community engagement. If people aren’t complaining about rules theyre complaining about lore, if they aren’t complaining about lore they’re complaining about models. There’s no winning anymore.

 

Alan Bligh expanded on the Badab war in those 2  Imperial armour books dedicated to the campaign, it's pretty damn extensive and I was perfectly happy with what they delivered. 

 

No one's mad, although you seem to rubbed up the wrong way that criticism is getting levelled at how they handled the writing, but I think your point was obtuse, that writers just throw random blurbs of info into books with no rhyme nor reason and no thought, If that's the case I expect to see giant pink bunny rabbits appearing out the Eye of Terror if we continue down that line of thought. 

 

As I keep saying, for your benefit, no one reasonable is or was expecting an encyclopedic detail of the campaign, that's not how it works, nor should it it's important to leave questions unanswered. But the Badab campaign books do show how it can be done right, tying together plot points, strands and blurbs and building on it without ruining the mythos of a historical event. 

 

How do you think we got to the Horus Heresy where it stands now? I remember back in the 2nd and 3rd edition, all there was was a few pages of info and snippets scattered through the  literature. Nothing like what we have now, all of this started from somewhere. 

[b1soul]

I would've liked some more intelligently-structured teasing about Rangda...like being drip-fed some additional info tying to prior clues but still not spilling any major beans like the exact fates of the IInd or XIth. Will have to judge for myself when my copy comes in.

[Marshal Rohr]

I would've liked some more intelligently-structured teasing about Rangda...like being drip-fed some additional info tying to prior clues but still not spilling any major beans like the exact fates of the IInd or XIth. Will have to judge for myself when my copy comes in.

It’s good and covers plenty of new info, he’s just off his rocker.

[Billy the Squid]

I would've liked some more intelligently-structured teasing about Rangda...like being drip-fed some additional info tying to prior clues but still not spilling any major beans like the exact fates of the IInd or XIth. Will have to judge for myself when my copy comes in.

 

As I've said earlier, it's not badly written it just feels lacking, like it could have been handled better, which is a shame really as it would have been a good opportunity to give some space to one of the big campaigns of Imperial History.

 

It summarises the play by play of the First Rangdan conflict, but never really ties it back to the background info you can find in the Dark Heresy RPG books and other literature etc., it doesn't really tease anymore info than we already know about the Rangda themselves (It actually makes very little reference beyond generic descriptions in comparison to the Bligh's writing on the Rangda and the Slaugh)  This is where my issues with it centre. It doesn't draw you in with extra info, or tease with hints like they've done with ****Censored by Imperial Decree**** leaving some questions un answered for you to try and piece together.

 

It's fine as a battle exemplar fluff piece like with other legions, but considering it's been built up as some Lovecraftian horror from the Halo Stars that threatened the existence of the Imperium over the years, it feels like a bit of a let down now they've got to it, I was reading it, turned the page and though ....  what? That's it?

 

Hopefully you'll get a copy soon, have a read and you might see what I mean.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Billy the Squid

[Slips]

@slips thrust is the jet pack assault move. It exists, but its just not compatible since there's no jet pack access. That being said, it does fit the theme of ancilliary movement buffs for raven wing so I dont think you can argue rai for charges.

Shows how much Ive interacted with Jet Pack units in the game: never :/

[Marshal Rohr]

@skimask, I’ve spent all morning trying to find the rule. Is it in the AoD rulebook or a wargear section somewhere?

[ChargingSoll]

Hey quick question for the dreadwing rite of war what are the stasis grenades, are they just the ammo type or similar to rad grenades.

[Marshal Rohr]

They shoot out of grenade launchers and make your opponent initiative 1 that turn

[SkimaskMohawk]

@skimask, I’ve spent all morning trying to find the rule. Is it in the AoD rulebook or a wargear section somewhere?

 

Yea its in the AoD rulebook under jet pack unit type, its not a usr or wargear.

 

Now the problem is the Scions rule only applies to units wholly made up of LA:DA, so it doesn't get conferred on the only jetpack units that come to mind: Thallax, Cyber Occularis, and Magos (with the proper upgrade).

 

I'm not sure how they consciously thought to include Thrust, but then didn't check to see if there's any marine unit that has access to it. And I don't want to hear  no "but there could be units down the line that will benefit"; they could have included a marine jet pack unit in the book with its missing 100 pages, or have made one in the last 8 years the game's been out. I guess all their brain power went into making the spicula rockets. Which doesn't have the caveat they need line of sight in Crusade...Which doesn't matter because it just made you play "calculate the parable  to where the point is over the target area" because its arcs are non-functional to begin with, effectively still cheating past LoS.  Still makes its side guns useless since they never target a unit. 

 

Anyways, I'm sure all of these problems will be faqd soon. 

[WrathOfTheLion]

Got my copy earlier today, wasn't expecting it until Monday.

[Aztek]

*sad lack of book noises*