How are the expansions?

[Scribe]

So I'm looking to maybe (probably) go all in on this game, but having been burned by GW before many times over the decades, how 'unified' is the system and its expansions?

 

Are all of the campaign books balanced in regards to each other as a cohesive whole? 

 

I've heard good things about the game system in general, and I absolutely adore the miniatures, so thats 80% of the battle right there for me, but if the whole system is good from start to (expansion) finish? I'm sold.

[nagashnee]

They are great value for money if you both enjoy the lore and gaming aspects, that being said.

 

Rules wise if you dont play narative scenarios or more wacky missions ( roll for planetary terrain etc) the two big books took away allot of the rules values as each book that came out would present a certain number of legions/knight households. These have all been rolled into ( and in many cases updated) in the two big loayl/traitor books.  That being said for me the scenarios, planets, campaign mechanics etc still make them worth having. 

 

Now lore wise, each book is themed around a conflict, each books contains a good number of maps, artwork and lore for said conflict, the real treasure for me is that many of these are either not covered at all or not very well elsewhere. So titan death gave me the beta garmon i wanted, maps and basic info on all the planets in the system, a basic outline of the various stages of conflict for control from early to end heresy etc. 

 

Then you have Doom of Molech which i never bothered with as i dont care for the conflict and don't play knights in AT, both lore and rules in this book are themes around knights it made it a pass but for someone who loves knights ( like a mate of mine) its a must buy. 

 

All in all i find them much better value then say 40k codexs, they have a page marker which is something all FW books do but the main studio pretends should cost 20 pounds more in 'special editions', they are hard back, they contain by vast majority fresh info, rules and artwork and cover many of the non marine centered conflicts of the HH which would otherwise be ignore ( like BL was going to skip titan death).  I own all of them except Doom of Molech because knights, and Defence of Ryza because i have not got around to getting it yet, but of the 4 books i own i dont regret buying any of them.  Most have gone direct only sadly and have had their price go up, but i was buying them for around 24 euro a pop and  i never felt i over paid, which for GW is impressive. 

 

So yeah read what each is about and what additional stuff its gives ( map campaigns, build your own legion rules, etc) and pick one up as a test i say.  

[Noserenda]

AT had effectively a .5 edition with the Loyalist and traitor books so the vast majority of rules content in them has been superseded they have some alright fluff and a boatload of scenarios though if your group is into working through that kind of thing.

The game is excellent though :) You wont regret it!

[Mandragola]

As others have said, you don't really need the expansions other than the loyalist (and) or traitor books. Those contain almost everything you could need. There's also quite an extensive FAQ, which is essential as - while the rules are excellent - it's not always obvious what the writers meant when they originally wrote them down!

 

The game is nicely balanced, helped by the fact that everyone has access to almost all of the same stuff. There's really only one major outlier, which is that the Acastus knight is spectacularly broken. There's a broad agreement to just not use these.

 

Finding rules can be a bit awkward. Newer stuff tends to come with the rules in the box but older things didn't. This can cause confusion because it's not obvious sometimes where you should look for stuff. The loyalist/traitor books have helped here though, with things like tables of most weapons.

 

Overall this is a great game system and you'd be joining when it's already "mature". The models are out, they've been tested and in some cases rebalanced. There's a good community and even a few events now that things are reopening. It's my favourite game and I'd definitely recommend it.

[Scribe]

Fantastic, thanks all.

 

Edit: Curses, the local has nothing! Will have to order online.

Edited June 2, 2022 by Scribe

[schoon]

You'll certainly not regret getting into this game.

 

The rules are some of the best GW has written (though as pointed out above, there's the occasional foible), and the miniatures are fabulous.

[Interrogator Stobz]

Bit late, broken record:

It really is that cool, I have all the books and enjoyed them all.

As the others have said, the two faction books are better value if you only want rules.

Don't forget to buy magnets for your weapons, that's where the really gun stuff happens.

One down side to the books, I don't want to waste more money on 40k books now, these are simply better in every way.

[Taliesin]

I wonder when they plan to release a new supplement for Adeptus Titanicus.